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Chapter 58
By Shell97
A few hours after the confrontation with Darian, Hihori awoke to a splitting headache. As he shifted on the bed he noticed additional aches and pains--there was a burning in his ribs and his face itched all over. He raised his hand to his face slowly, only to meet with a heavy layer of gauze bandage. His heart skipped a beat as his fingers searched a breach in the dressing. Hihori didn't think it was possible but his face hurt even more after he unwound the bandages. Little by little the gauze drifted down to the floor.
A startled gasp brought Yodama's attention to the entrance to his bedroom. Gina stood in the doorway, her hands pressed up to her mouth. An ominous sensation came over Hihori and he spoke to give her an order, "Gina, get me a mirror."
"I… I c-can't," she stammered.
Now Hihori knew with an absolute certainty that something was wrong, in all the years she had worked for him he had never heard her stutter. His desperation increased dramatically as he inched his way out of bed.
Gina took a hesitant step forward, "sir, you mustn't get out of bed yet."
"I need to see what you're so afraid of," he said roughly. Hihori watched as she retreated out of the room. What was wrong with him? The last thing he could remember was seeing Darian falling out of his office window, he would have to send someone to retrieve his body.
Gina pressed the heel of her hand to her breastbone. She needed to calm down and school her emotions. But good lord! Mr. Yodama's face had been hideous, like something out of the horror films she used to watch with her friends. She ran down the hall to grab the doctor and a few of Mr. Yodama's men, who knew what his reaction would be after he saw his new visage?
As Gina heard the tinkling of broken glass hitting the floor, she knew what Mr. Yodama's reaction was. She sprinted the last few feet and came to a halt just before she bowled over Dr. Itoga. All she managed to say was, "Hurry," but the doctor wasted no time in waiting for Gina to explain, in a flash he was at the master bedroom.
Dr. Itoga cringed at the sight that met his eyes. Yodama stood before the bathroom sink, blood dripping from his hands. He had managed to knock out all but a small piece of mirror and was staring at his face in the one shard that remained. Unexpectedly he turned around and spoke, "Why don't you tell me how this," he gestured to his broken face, "happened?"
It took the doctor a second to respond. He had to figure out how exactly to tell Mr. Yodama that he was permanently disfigured. Dr. Itoga decided to go for the straightforward approach. "You were shot it the face," he explained. "The bullet was tumbling and entered at an odd angle. It entered right beneath your jaw and shattered your mandible. From there it continued until it hit your cheekbone, where it broke up from the impact of hitting the bone. One fragment blew through your nasal cavity, while the other lodged in your orbital socket. I reconstructed your face using bone from your rib to rebuild your orbital socket and I harvested skin from your inner thigh to patch your face up. Don't worry, there should only be some minor scarring after the swelling goes down."
Hihori listened to the doctor patiently. So this horrid misshapen mass was only caused by swelling? He turned around and examined his face, ignoring the doctor. He ran his fingers over the blue and red discolorations, his left eye seemed a little lower than his right and it was swollen shut. Somehow, Dr. Itoga's assurances didn't ring true.
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