Chapter 783: Medical Check-up [2]

"...Well, let’s start with dizziness, headaches, and my nodes not working properly as my primary problems?"

The doctor wrote something down before looking up again.

"How long has that been happening?"

"A while. It has gotten worse recently."

"After using your abilities?"

I nodded, rubbing my wrist. Looking at the bruise, I raised it to show it to the doctor.

"This is something else entirely. Line of duty and all of that."

"Anything else?"

"...Voices."

His pen paused.

"You hear voices?"

"Yes. Usually telling me to do things."

"And do you?"

"Not the unreasonable things. I’m trying to be a good influence on them."

He waited, seemingly expecting me to continue or at least explain what I meant by unreasonable, but well... my voices were telling me not to.

Talk about being unreasonable.

A woman entered carrying a tablet as the doctor stepped to the side and nodded at her.

She walked past him and stopped before me.

"Mr. Thorne? I’m Dr. Bell. I’ll be carrying out your examination."

"Seth is fine."

She smiled and placed the tablet beside me, showing me the examination consent and confidentiality agreement. I read through both before signing.

"I’m only here to do the scans. Nothing deeper."

I reminded her after going through the paper one more time.

I didn’t want any of my secrets to be found. I just wanted a simple look at my nodes.

"Yes, please don’t worry."

The doctor moved his chair closer to the desk while she checked my wrist and asked me to move each finger. I did as instructed, although I stopped appreciating the examination when she pressed against the bruises.

"...That hurts."

"I can see that."

"...Oh. Oohhh."

She moved her hand away before preparing the equipment beside the bed.

The scan itself was considerably less unpleasant. A band went around my head, with several small pads resting against my temples. I sat still while the machine hummed.

Then, things suddenly turned for the worse as my face changed.

"Don’t activate your nodes."

"...I’m facing more serious problems here."

"Huh? Something wrong?"

"Yes, the back of my head. Ugh..."

"Hold on, let me⎯"

"Can you scratch it for me?"

"....."

She started to ignore me from that point forward.

"No, but seriously. It’s really itchy."

Several images appeared on the monitor. Dr. Bell adjusted something on the machine, checked my blood pressure, then had me follow her finger with my eyes.

By the time she removed the band, I was starting to feel a little better.

"I’ll collect the remaining results. Stay seated for now."

I nodded as she left.

The doctor was still looking at the monitor.

His pen had stopped moving.

I watched him lean closer to the screen, his expression changing as he went over the image. Then he looked at me, only to return his attention to the scan almost immediately.

"...Is there a problem?"

He didn’t answer right away.

That wasn’t particularly reassuring.

"How are you still using your nodes?"

His next words made me smile.

So that’s why he’s making that face...

"I wonder too."

"No, I mean..."

He stopped, his brows drawing together.

For a moment, the only sound in the room came from the equipment beside me.

"Your condition is serious."

My hand stopped against my wrist.

"How serious?"

"Continuing to strain them like this could cause further damage. I wouldn’t recommend using your abilities until we understand the full extent of it."

"....."

I looked towards the monitor. There were several pale shapes on the screen, but I couldn’t tell which parts I was supposed to be concerned about.

All of them, apparently.

"Can it be treated?"

"The nodes themselves will require further investigation. I can’t promise anything based on this examination alone."

"...Right."

"However, the voices may be treatable."

I looked back at him in surprise.

He pointed towards one section of the image.

"There’s foreign material accumulating within several of your nodes. It’s obstructing their normal activity."

"Foreign material?"

"Something like a plaque."

I leaned forward, trying to make sense of what he was showing me. The area looked denser than the space around it, although I wouldn’t have noticed without him pointing it out.

"What does that have to do with the voices?"

"The obstruction is interfering with the signals passing through. Activity that should settle is being repeated instead. That’s what you’re hearing."

"...A side effect?"

"Of the interference, yes."

I remained quiet.

For a moment, I thought about what it would be like to go through an entire day without the voices, then I recalled my experience with the Mimic.

Well, not bad, I guess.

But I did miss the voices for a moment...

Oh, no.

"And you can get rid of it?"

"We would need to remove the obstruction."

"How?"

"Surgery."

"No."

The answer came out before he could say anything else.

He looked at me.

I looked back.

"...No, not surgery."

Anything but that. I already had someone wiggle their fingers against my brain. Hell no.

"Well, in that case, that’s all we can determine. You should feel a little bit better in the coming hours, though. Since I’ve identified the cause, then I do have a way to ensure that you’ll be fine for a little bit."

"Oh?"

I was suddenly curious as the doctor moved to the end of the room and handed me something.

This is...?

"Just a node suppressor. If you wear this, your nodes will be completely shut down or at least numbed. That will help considerably. You can adjust how much you want your nodes to be suppressed for."

Oh.

Actually, this was quite smart.

I took the device.

"Thanks a lot."

"If you want this to truly be fixed, I recommend surgery. This is merely a temporary fix. Whatever you’ve ingested, it caused plaque to build up. We need to remove it before things get worse. That’s why surgery is important. You don’t have to do it with us. If you can contact your Guild doctor, I’m sure they can take care of this better than us."

Surgery.

I considered it for a moment before shaking my head.

There were too many things inside me that I couldn’t explain. I also didn’t trust anyone to get close to my brain.

Especially while I was unconscious.

What if they were from the Hand or some other organisation?

The voices were unpleasant, but at least I had some experience dealing with them.

"You don’t have to decide immediately," he said. "We would need further examinations before considering an operation."

"...Then I’ll think about it."

I wasn’t entirely refusing.

Maybe one day...

If it got really bad.

The door opened again before he could continue. Dr. Bell returned with an older man, who introduced himself while taking the seat beside the examination bed.

"I’m Dr. Reeves. We went in depth with the analysis, and I’d like to ask a few follow-up questions about your symptoms."

"Sure."

I nodded.

That sounded considerably better than surgery.

He asked about my sleep, when the dizziness had started, and whether I had lost consciousness recently. I answered as accurately as I could without explaining anything that I didn’t want him to know.

When he asked about medication, I simply shook my head.

He asked several more questions before looking back at Dr. Bell.

"We’ll need more time to review the results. I’d also like you to come back for a follow-up."

The older doctor spoke from beside the monitor.

"We can discuss treatment once you’ve had time to consider it."

I looked down at the bottle before putting it away.

"...All right. But nothing beyond examinations for now."

"Of course," Dr. Bell replied.

By the time they finished, my wrist had been wrapped, and I had received several instructions about resting.

Apparently, I wasn’t doing enough of it.

Outside the broken wrist and nodes, I was also suffering from fatigue.

That much I knew.

***

Guild Master Maren arranged a car for me.

I thanked her before settling into the back seat, placing my injured hand on my lap as the driver pulled away.

The Guild’s entrance disappeared behind us.

For a while, I watched the buildings pass without paying much attention to them.

’Surgery...’

I rubbed the side of my head.

It would’ve been nice if the answer had been something less troublesome. Sleep more. Drink water. Stop being bothered by people.

I could attempt at least two of those.

Krrr...

A soft crackle interrupted my thoughts.

"Hm?"

I looked down.

The sound was coming from my pocket.

Reaching inside with my other hand, I took out the radio and held it above my lap. A soft static sound came through the speaker before fading softly.

It sounded like several people speaking at once.

I moved my thumb towards the dial, when⎯

BANG!

My hand jerked, nearly dropping the radio.

The murmur stopped.

I stared at the speaker while the sound continued echoing inside my head.

My fingers tightened.

For a moment, I could almost picture the room.

Rows of seats behind me. A high desk ahead. Someone sitting above it, looking down while I stood with my hands resting against a wooden railing.

"...?"

I blinked.

The car was still moving.

I could feel the seat beneath me and hear the quiet hum of the engine. The driver was still looking at the road, seemingly oblivious to what was happening behind.

Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was standing somewhere else.

Waiting for someone to finish speaking.

A chair scraped through the static.

Then... a voice came from the radio, loud and clear.

"...I hereby pronounce you guilty!"

BANG!