Ushijima laid with his face up in bed, on his back. That was how he slept. He thought it was comfortable. People told him he looked like a serial killer, but that was just how he liked to sleep.

The room smelled of antiseptic and something faintly floral—a futile attempt to mask the sterile white of the hospital walls. Ushijima Wakatoshi lay on his back, as still as a corpse, eyes fixed on the ceiling. A nurse had once told him he looked like he was practicing for his own funeral. He hadn't disagreed.

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