“Damn, girl, you’re a hero. I would have stepped right over him. May I ask what you are doing in Osaka this time of night, anyway?”

Lieko rolls her eyes like she’s back to her old self. “Cybelle has been talking about visiting Spa World, Yoshino-sensei. That must be where she was. Why else would she be in this part of town?”

“Um …” I shrug with an embarrassed grin. “Yep, you know me. I’m all about my onsens?”

“Oh,” Yoshino nods. “That makes sense.”

A nurse comes through a set of double doors and over to us. “The man you brought in is awake,” she says in Japanese, directly to Yoshino and Lieko. “He’d like to thank you. Please, come with me.”

“Just a moment, Yoshino-sensei.” Lieko stands up abruptly. “Maybe, only Cybelle should go. She can take the form to the gentleman while you inform Manager that everything is all right. He must be worried.”

“Yeah.” I grin. “Manager’s probably shitting himself right now.”

“Okay, sure. Good idea.”

I bow, thanking her. “Azassu!”

Lieko hands me the clipboard as Yoshino turns away on her phone. She holds onto it a second too long, giving me a slight but meaningful nod of her head. It’s almost a bow. “Tomodachi o tetsudatte … onegaishimasu,” she mutters under her breath, too quiet for Yoshino to hear. Go help your friend … please. I nod back, then follow the nurse. I didn’t see it coming, but we’ve come to some level of understanding. That, or she just wants me to get rid of him. Most likely the latter. Either way, I’ll take it.

“Cybelle-sensei will be all right, won’t she?” I hear Yoshino say behind me.

“She is gaijin,” Lieko replies. “If gaijin cannot do their best, they should not live in Japan.”

I groan. Two steps forward, three steps back, Lieko.

The nurse leads me into an already-busy short-stay room. At least a dozen beds are spread around with thick curtains drawn and hushed voices on the other side. The nurse stands in front of one bed, ready to draw the curtains once I step in. She says something very soft and muffled about keeping quiet because many residents are sleeping, etc., etc. I ask the nurse in Japanese what happened to him. She puts her hands together under her face and cocks her head to one side. “Sleep,” she says in English. But she quickly adds something in Japanese that I don’t quite catch. I don’t stop to think about asking her to slow down and repeat herself. I just want to see him.

The nurse bows and closes the curtains around me. Zaniel opens his eyes and looks up at me. They’re so clear and piercing I can’t help holding my breath. “Hey, look who’s here,” he smiles. “My hero.”

I grin. “Ha, ha. How are you, Mr. Kamisawa?”

“You remember me now, do you?”