I look down at her, my position on her clear in my gaze.

  I have no interest in pursuing her.

  She backs away from my chest, hands curling towards her own heart. Why is it that I keep making girls act like romcom protagonists?

  Ignoring her now apathetic look contrasting the love in her eyes as she gazes at me.

  Makes me shiver.

  Ok, what was I doing? Oh yeah, priorities. What I need to do first is probably get treated. This definitely needs a couple stitches.

  I reach in my pocket for my phone to find it missing. Darn. I need someone's phone.

  “You wouldn't have a phone, would you, Sute?” I ask.

  She perks up like a dog when I talk to her and hands me a black phone, with the phone case filled with pictures of me.

  “Have you been stalking me?” I mumble aloud, not really bothered because a lot of girls do it here.

  Like a lot. Ignoring it for now, I turn on the phone and stare at the wallpaper. It's me, swimming at night in the cove. I look at her in surprise, because this cove is part of my property.

  “How did you find me?” I ask quietly.

  “I was just looking for you that night, like I've been for years, and just found the cove. I was sitting, camping, because I'm homeless, and you came in and started swimming. I ended up too entranced and flustered to quietly leave and just watched.” She replies.

  I turn the phone to her face and use face recognition to unlock and call the authorities.

  The home wallpaper is an altar to me, but I'm not horridly surprised. After all, she's Sute, my apparently new stalker.

  I sit on the ground as the sirens come closer, and I hear shouts from the school as Josh and Natalya sprint out of the side door for the school.

  "Are you ok?!" Natalya screams when she sees the wound.

  "Yeah, I'm fine." I reply, slightly cold.

  She seems off put, but doesn't mind. Probably saying the coldness is just the situation. Which is true. But it's mostly just Sute. A bubble of blood pops when I move, and Natalya moves forward, shouting she’s a med student, and starts to apply pressure.

  She was obviously crying earlier, but they seem to have dried, and she wears a look of anger as she pushes on my gut.

  “Why the hell did you jump after her, you dumbass?” She mumbles to me as she does.

  I lay there, quiet.

  “Because I don’t want more death on my hands.” I reply.

  “More?” She wonders.

  I ignore the clear question.

  “When the doc’s gonna get hereeee?” I whine as I push up to my elbows.

  Natalya gives me a side eye, but doesn’t question my dodging.

  It’s weird, the doc’s should’ve popped up by now, I’m pretty familiar till the point they recognize my voice when I’m calling to get patched up.

  We aren’t far either, maybe a mile from the clinic.

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  It is a small one though, perhaps they just got caught up with another patient.

  As I think about it, I feel rain dripping down from the sky and looking up, it is raining, But I see a dark shape above. A girl, one I’ve never seen before, leaning over the edge of the roof, the long hair falling over her shoulder. She doesn’t stay long, and soon leans back out of view.

  I frown, fascinated at how a girl in this school manages to get around without me ever noticing. It’s quite the skill when my detection is sharpened by real danger. I was still staring up when the sirens arrived and a man approached the edge of my view.

  A middle-aged man with a scruffy goatee leans over me.

  “Hey Leon.” I smirk at him.

  He flicks my forehead, “Can't you go between appointments and not get hurt?” He asks, while taking a puff off his cigarette.

  “Can you go five minutes without a cigarette?” I fire back.

  He's silent for a moment. “Touché.” He replies.

  He kneels down and slings me across his shoulder and heads to his ambulance.

  As I let him, because I've done this too much, but we chuckle as we hear the group gasp.

  “Must be shocking to see their prince carried like a sack o’ potatoes.” He rumbles.

  “Prince? What do you mean?” I ask, looking at the back of his head.

  He glances back at me, looking a little surprised.

  “You mean you kick people's ass every week in a fight ring, but you're too innocent to know they li–”

  “Shhhhhhh!” I grunt. “Not everyone needs to know. Wait, what were you saying?” I mumble.

  He rolls his eyes. “I'm not gonna say if you're gonna cut me off.” He grumbles.

  “Well, back to the important stuff. Do I need to go to the clinic, or patch me up here, and you just send me back on or what?” I ask.

  He lays me on the…what is it called? It's the place where the patient lays when being transported.

  He speaks as he begins to poke around it. “Well, it's not life-threatening now that the major bleeding is over. Your organs aren't damaged, quite the luck. If I stitch you up, and you sign off on a no persecution form for whatever reason, I can let you go.”

  “Sweet!” I grunt as he grabs a sterile needle and attaches the weird thread that dissolves after a while. I don't know, maybe I can ask the apparent med student Natalya. How did I not know that? Maybe I can hire her…

  I flinch softly when the needle pokes my skin and moves through, but after a moment I relax. It didn't take long for him to finish and pat my knee, though it was holding the needle by accident.

  “Ow dude. You stabbed my knee.” I reply calmly, because this isn't the first time his scattered brain healing has backfired slightly.

  “Sorry. Oh, and I was late because he got in a fight again and got stabbed. You should be more strict with Soru. He keeps getting in trouble.” He rumbles under his voice so no one will hear.

  I sigh, knowing I have to talk to Soru when I get home about it. It isn't rebellious or hot headed, but he doesn't have a massive set of balls that doesn't let him take bullying lying down.

  I guess I'm too mad about it. I know what I'm in for with each of my kids.

  “Thanks for telling me, Leon. I'll talk to him tonight.” I mumble, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

  “Do you have a spare uniform?” Leon asks incredulously when I hop up and start to head back to school.

  “Oh, yeah. Mine kinda got ruined. No, I don't have another.” I reply, rubbing the back of my head.

  Sighing, Leon digs through a cabinet in the ambulance and fishes out a loose, baggy t-shirt and some sweatpants.

  “Knew you were gonna need these eventually.” He grunts.

  “Did I leave those the last time I crashed at the clinic?” I ask, scratching my chin in thought.

  “Yeah, you went home that night in scrubs.” He replies. He tosses them at me and jabs a thumb behind him towards the back of the ambulance.

  “Hop in and get dressed before you go back to school, I have the feeling that your school won't mind your return very much.” He says.

  I shrug and climb in and close the doors. Pulling over the t-shirt, I shake off my pants at the same time before slipping into the sweatpants before I notice something.

  Of course, it's thirst trap clothes, baggy t-shirt, but it raises just so much that my stomach shows. Or in other words, it flashes my abs. Oh, and the pants I think are just pants. I think he just meant for it to give off a lazy boy vibe.

  I'll knock some sense into him later using his wife. Turning to open up the back of the ambulance, I notice two faces ducking back. It looked like it was Natalya and Sute. But why would they be looking in here? Is there money they plan to rob?

  Hm. I grab the door handles and as I open it, Sute and Natalya fall to the ground, blushing for some reason, and stammering in perfect sync.

  “Why were you guys peeking? Are you planning to steal medical stuff? I expected more from you. This stuff saves lives. Go rob a convenience store.” I frown as I scold them.

  “That view saved my life…” they mutter in unison, though I'm not really sure what they mean by that.

  I'll ask him later.