The man standing in the darkened room watched him quietly until a knock at the door alerted him to someone wishing entry. "Come in."
Three individuals entered the room, nodding briefly to the person holding the door for them. As the door closed behind them, the two women and a man turned their attention to the two people who'd been in the room.
"It's good to see you again, Yasuura-san," smiled the standing man.
Detective Yoshinosuke Yasuura smiled back. "I just wish that you and I could have met again under other circumstances Fujita-san."
"It can not be helped. This is an... unusual time."
"That is too true..."
"So why did they send a homicide detective to investigate this?"
"Most of the force hasn't returned yet."
"I could see why. And what about you?"
"Er... Yumi-san took care of me at her bar."
"Care to introduce me to your lovely companions?"
"Certainly. This is Haruko Tazaki, my partner," the fifty-something detective told him, gesturing to the shorter haired woman in her late thirties. "And then here is Detective Noriko Tsukiyama. Ladies, this is Doctor Ichiro Fujita."
"It is nice to meet you both."
"The same to you," replied Tazaki. "Same here," said Tsukiyama.
"Tsukiyama.., I believe that I heard Doctor Sugi talk about you."
"She did?"
"We occassionally consult with one another."
"Is that so?"
"Oh, yes. But where is your partner?"
"Still out with... a friend."
"Sorry about that."
"I'm sorry to interrupt," cut in the last person in the room as he started to rise, "But I believe that we have more important things to do."
"And you are?" asked Yasuura.
"I'm sorry," apologized Fujita. "Detectives, this is Doctor Mark Hendricks from the American Centers For Disease Control."
Haruko raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and what were you here for?"
"I was attending a confrence with my collegues in the Ministry of Health."
"On what?"
"'Airborne contageous diseases and possible future countermeasures'," Hendricks said with a lopsided grin.
"I think you're a little late on that."
"You don't say."
Yasuura frowned. "Then it is a virus then?"
"Most likely, given the reports. First flu like symptoms set in, then a raise of certain... drives accompanied by other effects we can't tell right now."
"So why are we here?" asked Noriko.
"A certain patient," answered Fujita, "Just look through these windows down on the room below."
They did so, but there was obvious confusion about it. In the white room, the young man still sat, his back stiff and his hands folded in his lap.
The youngest of the three detectives shook her head. "All I see is some guy sitting on a cot."
"Well then, we'll just have to show you why he's in there. Stepp closer to the glass please."
"Why?"
"Just do." After the attractive police woman grudingly complied, Fujita pressed a button on a panel before speaking again. "Gendo? I know you can hear me. Please look up at the windows, if you would."
Down on the cot, there was slight movement, beofore Gendo caught sight of the detective. At the look in his eyes, she backed away, gulping slightly.
"You see?"
"Who is he?" questioned Yasuura.
"His name is Gendo Rokubungi. A post-gradual student at one of the universities. Apparently he's been one of those odd characters who tend to spend most of their time by theirselves reading books with titles that freaks bullies into going away."
"So why is he here?"
Hendricks smirked. "As far as anyone can tell, he was so wrapped up in his research that he didn't get outside to get what hit the city until late and he didn't manifest enough to be noticed until this morning. By that time, officers had recovered enough to get him under control."
"That has to be rough," commented Tsukiyama.
"Nah, that's not the worst we've heard."
"There's others?"
"Yup. There was one guy, Kihl was his name, that got stuck with a group of women who were heading to a women's sumo tournament."
"So?"
"They were competitors, and not attractive either physically or personality wise to boot."
"Gah..."
"Exactly. While I don't have much problem with that sort of women, by all accounts these girls were not the sweethearts of the circut by any means."
"So this means?"
Fujita shrugged. "Not much. What we can tell you is that it seems to power up the metabolism of the infected person for the duration of the illness."
"So no real problems on the medical front then?"
"There were, and are, but whatever it is, it does not seem to be harmful in anyway by itself."
"So what do we do about it?"
"Not much to do at this point," put in Hendricks, "It's too early to tell what exactly it does, but it is also too late to stop the immediate spread."
"What about Rokubungi?"
"Not much to do. We've thought about trying to get a female to agree to... help him out, but they all seem to... wary of doing it. And the only other way we can think of clearing it up is to let it run its course, we've just been letting him stay here."
As the five of them sttod there and contemplated the problems with the situation,:
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(Posted Sun, 08 Dec 2002 17:44)
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