PAIGE
I stood in the hallway for a long moment after the call ended, the cold weight of the phone in my hand feeling like a weapon I hadn't asked for. Yamada Fujii's voice, so calm and calculating, seemed to echo in the sterile, antiseptic air, a stark contrast to the life-and-death worries inside the hospital room.
I took a deep, steadying breath, trying to shove the chaos of that conversation into a mental box to be examined later, with him. Right now, we had a more immediate reality to face.
I pushed the door to Nana's room open slowly, careful not to make a sound. The scene inside stopped me in my tracks. Reomen was standing by the bed, his back to me. He had just finished adjusting the thin hospital blanket, tucking it gently around Nana's shoulders.
