There was a snap as soon as Catheris entered the dark basement—it was the sound of a woman's neck against a chair's headrest as she looked behind. The dull rectangle LED ceiling light flickered behind her. Equipment buzzed.
"My my my, looks like my test subject came in... finally?" Her voice sounded with a fragility that threatened to crack any second.
It was Ms. Shishiro 'Shiitake,' the angel (of death) nurse of the Bureau's basement. Her hot pink eyes glared at him, and her long silver hair shone under the shoddy lighting.
Catheris liked keeping his apartment tidy, so he clicked on one of her videos every once in a while. He enjoyed the camera work and the lax vibe as she went through her daily life. It was odd seeing her so differently from her online persona. She was in a white doctor's coat instead of a cozy pastel sweater. What was it called again...? She was like a mad scientist.
She came off more as an overworked college student in this instance, which was perhaps equally as eerie.
The fact that he indulged in her type of content said a lot. It was jarring when Catheris became apathetic to the demon fucking up his place. He now understood why his mom never bothered cleaning. His mom was a busy lawyer and he had to clean up after her. Cleaning was tiring, he liked cleaning, but cleaning with the demon around was hellishly excessive.
Catheris was a good kid—at least, he thought that. He didn't remember many of his early memories. But it was Catheris—of course he was a good kid.
Ms. Shishiro looked at him like she drank 15 energy drinks, and it was getting to her nervous system.
"So short..." She kicked herself around on the spinny chair to meet him, and swatted her hair to the back.
Ms. Shishiro turned to her computer, resuming her data input. "Just let me finish this up and-"
The keyboard clicked and clacked.
"The guys from above didn't tell me much about you. Those guys said since I was the expert, I should be handling this," Ms. Shishiro swiveled back to him, "—would it fucking hurt those idiots to get me the bare minimum." She muttered underneath her breath, which probably was not intended for his ears. She didn't care either way.
She gestured to him to take a seat on the table. "I heard you've been paired up with the pup, you should come with me when you're done with him. My place covers a lot of the basement. I'd get a second couch for you to nap on, too."
Catheris: ?
"You're right. Now give me the details of your possession, please."
??? What did she mean with 'you're right'?
"I don't have a clue about its reasoning. I'm here because Mr. Beo figured out I should've been dead." He didn't elaborate.
"Whewwwww." The nurse swallowed her dry saliva. "Really scary, it'd be classified as a higher ranking anomaly then... And you said you don't know why? These guys don't pick out their victims by weighing the benefits like a job."
"All it does is mess with my belongings."
It... sounded really lame to tell this woman.
"—Like what, work papers? Items with personal attachments?-"
"Like messing with the order of my kitchen. Lately, it's taken a liking to putting the small spoons with the large spoons."
"Are you particular about that stuff?"
"Not that much..."
...
"Weird." She finally whipped out a notebook. "And how's your body doing? I got your assessment, so I know you're fine right now. But I need to confirm some things from victims' autopsies."
"Last week I cried ink. I still don't know what that means, but I don't think that's good..."
"Oh, saintess-"
"It was after it hunted me down in a dream." If she pressed further about the matter, he could tell her what went down...
"So it runs that psychologically deep. That's a first. Anything else?"
"I also felt it scrape my cheek."
She looked up at Catheris from the notebook, eyes wide, "Are you sure it wasn't just in your head-"
"Well, now that you're asking, I'm not sure."
"Physical and mental toll. Crazy." Ms. Shishiro coughed and spun herself away from him.
"My body can also sense the possession before it sets in. I can't pinpoint it to a definitive description because everything's all over the place. That's all I can say, really."
"That's fine. I was told I should examine your ink as well. Give me your palm."
He did as she told. Humming, she rotated his arm around to palm side up.
"Ok, just keep your hand still and keep that palm open for me, alright?" She hovered her own palm over his.
-!
It felt like needles pricked his skin as suddenly shards of ink spurred from his fingertips, flowing upwards and reacting to the nurse's own ink.
"Ngh..." Her hand convulsed as she began jotting down her experience. Pain radiated up her arm, trembling upon contact with his ink as it paralyzed her nerves.
Ms. Shishiro gritted her teeth. "You're a really good test subject."
"..."
Test subject this, test subject that. All everybody wanted was his body.
She stammered, "So this is what it feels like..."
Her eyes twitched. A sweat broke on her forehead. She hunched over as if an invisible weight were on her back. Finally, she slammed her hand on the table as the tip of her pen dragged the last stroke of a 'k' off the page.
"...Are you okay-?"
'-Better than ever, actually." Ms. Shishiro bit down as she inhaled a sharp breath.
"I'll be bringing this bad boy to the lab later." She showed off the blackness of her veins with a lunatic's enthusiasm. Giggling, she turned away to cool her head off for a bit.
"It's just that you're a really big deal, more than you think." She paused, thumb on her chin. "It must've hurt for you too, right?"
'Yes, is there anything more you need?' Catheris nodded, tiredly massaging his temple.
Ms. Shishiro grabbed her lunchbox at the side of her computer. She hastily unzipped it and yanked it out when it got stuck. It was revealed to be a cute bunny-themed bento. She dove for a strawberry candy and presented it to Catheris.
"Should I buy lollipops? What does my favorite patient think?" She winked.
***
Shiitake
Ink results
Hello Mr. Orial, down below are the lab results for your ink. Currently, the levels in your body are very volatile. I'll need further analysis to figure out what's wrong with your immunity. Your ink composition doesn't look familiar to me. Please come in as soon as you can and notify me when.
-Your Fun - Gi