Aikawa. I Used to Think… I Was the Protagonist of This Story – Part 02

The chief smiled at me. “Hey. Thanks for coming.”

His voice sounded strong. He looked a little thinner, but his expression hadn’t changed since the last time I saw him.

Messy hair. Unshaven stubble. A blue hospital gown.

“So you’re not shaving, huh? I figured they’d make you if you were hospitalized. Not that I’d know. I’ve never been.”

Not knowing what else to say, I walked closer, filling the silence with pointless chatter.

It hurt to look at him. That was the only thing I felt.

This wasn’t some stark white hospital room, so why did it feel that way?

He was hooked up to machines. Hooked up to an IV. That alone made it painful to see.

If I weren’t a zombie, I probably would’ve gone through something like this more than once.

“This is my trademark,” he said, stroking his stubble. “Even if they operated on