Ah, good. It wasn’t that she didn’t think he’d be willing to help- there was just some relief to be had that he sounded very determined. She smiled- a welcome turn to her cheeks that she hadn’t expected. Emi knew she couldn’t just keep lying there, or she’d go completely under again. Finally, she was able to pull herself over by the counter, leaning her back against the doors and coughing a bit, exasperated by the motion, taking a second to let her head settle before shaking her head. He couldn’t see that, genius.
“No!.. I can’t… Go to the Hospital… I’ve got to handle it here… They’re probably waiting for… someone with my injury report… it’s… a .32 cal… Heh. I’ve had… worse, I guess… There was some.. shrapnel too, from…" She paused, swallowing and laughing humourlessly, "I’ve already removed the pieces, I just… can’t…" It was from a minor explosion in the warehouse she and a few accomplices had taken down, no big deal, or anything. The Police should be arriving there soon if they responded to her message quite timely.
"I locked the door.. The key is.. tucked behind a loose piece of trim… on the wall." There was a clatter as she tugged the handtowel down off the wall, covering the place of her wound and applying as much pressure as she could, howling a slight at the initial pain before ‘laughing’ it off and biting the inside of her lip, and hissing air out.
There was a clear red stroke where she’d dragged herself across the tiles. "You remember the room?.. it’s on the third floor. 332 C. Sorry if the place.. is a mess." It was good, really, that she keep talking. Keep herself busy. Something had to keep her awake.
Nice that the first time he’d see the inside of her apartment she’d be shirtless with a towel rack ripped loose from the wall and blood all over the floors. Oh well.
No hospital. .32 caliber. Shrapnel. They’re probably waiting for someone with my injury report.
The detective managed to breathe out his sigh inaudibly, knuckles white as his fingers tightened around the steering wheel. So it was one of these situations. He honestly hadn’t expected that from Himura-kun, but then again, she was a brilliant girl and he had a knack for attracting this sort of trouble.
Fortunately, it meant that he was also quite practiced at dealing with it. And with the information that she’d specified, it sounded like she had as much a handle on the situation as could be hoped for.
"That’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’m almost there – about three minutes once I get off the motorway."
The coughing didn’t sound good. Really, Emi sounded exhausted. Pain level estimated at about a seven… possibly an eight. But she was tough.
"How long have you been bleeding?”
Hakuba was careful to keep his voice as calm and level as possible. He merged into the next lane, then the next, signal on, letting the bmw do its handling as smooth as silk to the exit. Then into the city again, reluctantly reducing speed.