"This is…"

"Prez, you're still hurt. You should rest." Takuya move to stop him, concerned as he watched Kenjirou hastily get up.

Both of them were wrapped in bandages, but he was sporting the most.

"Most of the wounds have already healed. And it's not like I can feel any of it."

"Even so, it doesn't mean you should move around so suddenly. You had some pretty deep cuts. If it wasn't for the healing factor from the virus, you would've been a dead man Kenjirou."

Juntaro ran another scan of the two boy's body. While it was true that the smaller cuts and bruises closed up without any problems, there were still some that seem to take longer to go away. Indeed, they were more durable than the average human, but they were not invincible.

"Just because you can't feel anything doesn't mean that it's not serious. Just calm yourself down, big guy." Takuya exclaimed.

Kenjirou let out a sigh as he sat back down on the bed. They were in the school infirmary, him, Takuya and…

"How is she?"

"She's going to be fine. She's been fully infected, and all her existing wounds have long healed. If anything, she might be better off than us."

"Is that so? I'm glad then…"

Ryuuko was sleeping quietly in a bed across from them, breathing softly.

"Senpai, do you think she'll be awake anytime soon?" Takuya asked.

"I don't know. There isn't anything serious with her but…"

"It's fine. Let her sleep." Kenjirou replied gruffly. "Better that she gets some rest, after all that has happened."

Takuya stared at the ground; his face filled with guilt.

"Prez…I…I'm sorry. About before…"

"You don't have to apologize." His face was stern, yet his eyes was calm. "I'm just glad you're okay. Both of you."

"What happened to us back there? It was as if, something took control of our mind and body and…" Takuya softly touched the headphones on his head. "It came back, but…"

"I don't have a full report yet but from what I have looked over, it seems the virus in our body;" Juntaro interjected. "It…evolved. And might be all because of her."

Takuya and Kenjirou's eyes widen.

"Evolved? What do you mean, senpai?"

"I don't know. Like I said, I still don't have a full report but the virus running through our blood is completely different now. As if something has changed, as if its grown. More than what it was before, being just benign."

The two boys were silent. They did not know how to respond to the new information.

"Is…is it a danger to our bodies? Will there be any major side effects?" Kenjirou asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure about major side effects, but I do not believe it will be a danger…I hope. As you know, the virus shares a symbiotic relationship with our bodies. Although it had mutated us, it haven't done any actual harm."

"Rather its what's still keeping us alive. I don't think that has changed. But now it's more "active", if I can call it that."

"Active?"

Juntaro nodded his head through the screen.

"That might have been the reason for that incident earlier. Although, it seemed our bodies and minds had a hard time handling it. I'll run a few more scans and tests then get back to you once I have more information."

"Please do." Kenjirou nodded.

Takuya face was filled with confusion. He did not know what to make of all this.

"Evolved? More active? Geez, this is just crazy. How could this even happen? Are you telling me that we're...we're now..."

"Don't think too hard on it. I'm not surprise, that we are getting further away from being humans…he he he." Juntaro scoffed yet there was a pained look in his face.

"Senpai, you…!"

"Let's focus on our task at hand." Kenjirou jumped in. "That girl, Ryuuko? I think that was her name?"

"Takatora Ryuuko, from the records. She's a second year, same as Takuya, from class 2-4. That's all the important information I could find. How she caused what happen to us or what she did, it's still a mystery. But no doubt about it; she's an anomaly."

"I see. That's fine, we don't need to go that deep. She's one of us now and she's safe, that's all that matters. Yes, we should prepare for when she'll be awake. No doubt she'll have questions for us and…"

Kenjirou let out a weary sigh. "Hopefully she won't be like Takuya. My god, that was a handful."

"Urk… you don't really have to bring that up." Takuya looked away with embarrassment as Juntaro laughed.

"Ahem, well anyway, my concern is also of some other things." Kenjirou coughed, his face suddenly turned red.

"Prez, what do you…oh…OH!" Takuya's face also turned red when he realized what was going on.

Ryuuko was lying peacefully in bed, but her clothes were completely torn. Blood still covered her from head to toe. In haste of bringing her back, there haven't been any chance to help her as she had been unconscious this whole time.

"So…so what are we going to do? We can't leave her in that state. The rotting stench of blood is filling this room, even though I doubt you can smell it Prez."

"Well, err…um…" Kenjirou was flustered as he tried to think, carefully adjusting his glasses.

"I say we have Takuya deal with this."

"What?!"

"Oh! Yes, yes!"

"Prez?! You're kidding, right?!"

"I mean, you're a second year too. Just like her. What's better than having a fellow classman help another. Besides, as you said, Kenjirou can't smell or anything, so he'll be terrible at cleaning. Not to mention those gorilla hands of his."

"I agree! I agree! Yes, well said Mitsuhide." The giant man quickly nodded in agreement.

"But she's a female! How are you asking me to do this?! There is such thing as a boundary between genders. And what if she wakes up in the middle of all this?! Also, you know that there's no actual change in time in Artificial so the whole second year thing is just a bunch of baloney!"

"Hideyoshi…"

Kenjirou carefully placed his hands on his friend's shoulders, his eyes staring intensely into his.

"I trust you. You are a good, honorable man. You will never dare take advantage of a poor helpless girl; I know that. That's why, we ask you to do this. For you are the best man for the job."

"Prez…"

"Also think of how horrible it will be if she woke up and saw ME doing any of that. I will never be able to live it down nor could I ever face Mayu again. So, that's why; we ask that you take one for the team."

"You… scary face giant piece of rock formation. You're actually going to throw me under the bus to save face for yourself?"

"Yes." Kenjirou replied without a hint of hesitation.

Takuya was speechless. On one hand, he wanted to punch this big idiot in the face but he knew that even if he did, the big lug wouldn't feel any of it.

"I'll leave her in your care. Best to get a bucket and sponge." Kenjirou suggested as he quickly made his way to the door. "Oh, and by the way, I'm going to have Mitsuhide watch over all this so don't do anything…funny."

"YOU DON'T TRUST ME AT ALL!"

"I'll see you later!" He immediately ran out of the room.

Takuya let out a sigh.

"Hey now Takuya, don't be so down. Not every day you get to experience something like this and with a cute girl like her, no less. Just don't go crazy, cause I'll be watching! Ha ha ha!"

Takuya threw opened a window and tossed the cellphone out as hard as he could.

"You know that doesn't do anything since I can just jump somewhere else" Laughed Juntaro, his voice coming from the Infirmary's PA system. But Takuya did not hear any of that.

"I can't believe this." Takuya groaned.