Chapter 115: Episode 14 - A Fair Warning
*SMACK!*
"OW!"
Kashino felt a sharp pain on his forehead after getting hit by a small golden staff.
He slowly opened his eyes and noticed that he was handcuffed to a bed. He wore soft pajamas and had a blanket covering him.
From above, he could see Chocolat scrunching her face up in annoyance after he slowly woke up.
"Geez, how long do you plan on sleeping, Kashino?!" Chocolat scolded, getting up in his face. Frustration was written all over her but it wasn't like Kashino could do much about it in this situation.
Instead of answering her, he thought back to before.
'Was that just a dream or had I actually met Ella Fournier when I was younger? It's strange because I don't remember much. Even so, it felt *too* real to have been a dream… a forgotten memory? Nah, maybe I'm just overthinking things.'
*Cling! Cling!*
He tried to shake his wrists to test how stable the handcuffs were on him.
"Seriously, handcuffs? Where am I?" Kashino scoffed before he could even observe the room.
"Oh, how pathetic. You forgot about your own home, Makoto?" A woman's voice entered his ears as he could catch a glimpse of her walking in the room.
He didn't need to see who it was to tell whose voice it belonged to, instead, it was a voice he could recall even if he didn't want to.
"M-Mother…" Kashino stuttered, noticing his mother whom he took after the most in appearance. She had short dirty blonde hair like him but green eyes. She wore a white doctor's coat which had her name, "Kashino Asa" embroidered on her left breast.
If Kashino Makoto was fierce, he was nothing compared to his elegant yet strict mother who could rattle fear in anybody she encountered.
"I collected some of your blood while you were asleep and got all kinds of information," his mother declared, reading papers in her hands. "If we can cure your lack of sleep, you'll be fine. I actually thought you had become overweight since joining that school."
She smirked at her son which only made him frustrated.
"As if! Even if I eat sweets, I can't gain weight! Anyways, what are you planning, kidnapping your own son!?" Kashino exclaimed with slight irritation.
His mother approached him and opened his mouth to observe. Her face turned even more serious but even he was used to it by this point.
"Hm, your tongue is normal too," she analyzed. "Huh. If I didn't do this, you'd never come home. Today your grandfather came here from France to celebrate his birthday. You'll greet him properly later."
After she stood back, Kashino began furiously tugging at his handcuffs.
"Let me out of these handcuffs! I don't have time for this right now. I've got to get ready for the Grand Prix! OI, OLD WOMAN!" Kashino continued pulling but his mother had a calm and collected face as she ignored his pleas.
"Geez, a doctor's son becoming a patissier? Having my brother as one is more than enough," his mother declared with no emotion as her green eyes glowered down at her son.
"But you said I could keep going to St. Marie as long as I remained at the top!" Kashino rebutted but all he could see was her chuckling.
"Hah, I said if you were the *only* one who remained at the top. I got a report from your school not too long ago and heard that two people shared the top spot. I don't know who it was but I'm curious to know who managed to be equal to *my* son," said his mother with a smirk on her face. It was as if she was looking down at him as if she caught her prey.
"W-WHAT? That makes no sense! That was only one time! It didn't even change my record since we both shared 1st place!" He defended but she disregarded it.
*Ring! Ring! Ring!*
From her coat pocket, her phone began beeping and she immediately picked it up.
"Oh? Is that so? Yeah… I'll be right there. I want to meet them *personally*," a wicked cold smile formed on her lips after she ended the call.
"What is it?" Kashino inquired once he noticed her cold smile. Even he could feel some goosebumps on his skin.
"Turns out I'll be meeting some interesting people. Since you dare to rebel against your mother, you will stay like that until your grandfather's luncheon," his mother affirmed with a cold voice, turning her body around and walking straight for the door.
She turned to the bodyguard that waited outside the room, who was responsible for abducting him.
"Look after him, understand?" She ordered and the man nodded his head.
They both made it outside his room and closed his bedroom door to leave Kashino and Chocolat alone.
Kashino turned stiff, realizing that he couldn't do anything to get out. He was completely helpless in this situation, especially since the one who locked him up had the keys to get him out.
"It's okay, Kashino. I contacted Keiko and the others, so they're coming to save you," Chocolat tried to ease the tense situation which only made him feel even more hopeless.
'Like I'd let them see me like this!'
"What do you think she meant when she said that?" Chocolat asked him, referring back to the conversation his mother had on the phone.
"Does it look like I know? With that kind of smile, she'll probably make them suffer…" Kashino responded nonchalantly.
'I somehow have a bad feeling about this…'
* * *
It was the next morning and the first day of winter break. We'd all gotten up early to go to Kashino Hospital.
In front of us stood a tall, large and luxurious building. I couldn't even believe it was a hospital because of its expensive decor and appearance on the outside.
"This is Kashino's family's hospital?" I inquired, still quite perplexed at the sight I was seeing.
"Yeah, it's the biggest local hospital managed by his whole family. Not to mention that it's the top hospital in the whole country," Andou explained which made me sweat a bit.
'I can only imagine what the hospital bill looks like…'
Even Andou, who's been here before, remained speechless after seeing this grand building in front of us.
'Oh right, we're here to save Kashino.'
"We don't have time to admire it, let's hurry," I said, snapping out of my distraction, and quickly entered the building.
As we entered, we could lots of doctors and people walking around of all ages. The floor was marble and seemed like it'd been recently waxed, not to mention that everything around us was spotless.
"Kashino's house is on the roof-ward," Andou instructed as we walked around.
I still couldn't help but think that this was deja vu, walking into the building as if I've been in here before. But still, I couldn't really recall why I have this strange sense of familiarity with this place despite never having stepped foot in it before.
I remembered seeing the image of Kashino handcuffed to his bed that Chocolat sent us early this morning.
"Why do you think they kidnapped and handcuffed him? Do they really want him to quit that badly?" I asked Andou and Hanabusa while we quickly sped towards the nearest elevator.
"I don't know what's going on but there might be a reason," Andou responded curtly, until—
"—Kashino-sensei!" Someone yelled which instinctively made all of us stop and turn back.
Thinking that it was our comrade, we looked to see another man in a doctor's jacket talking to a patient.
"That doctor is Kashino's cousin," Andou replied until we could hear the intercom all over the place reach our ears.
"Could the Kashino-sensei of Internal Medicine please come to room 2?"
"Kashino-sensei of Dermatology please—"
"Kashino-sensei from Ophthalmology, we need X-rays."
Everything around us was bustling with noise yet confusing me. I never thought I'd hear the name Kashino called all around us.
'I can barely even stand one Kashino but this place is full of them!'
"Director Kashino is making his rounds!"
All of a sudden, we saw an older-looking man who looked to be in his late 40s with glasses and brown eyes, walk into the large lobby with a line of other doctors. On his name tag was written "Director Kashino."
"That's Kashino's father," Andou pointed to him and we could see him kindly talking to one of his patients with a friendly smile.
"He seems nice," I noticed.
"Well, at least his father is. The only thing he and Kashino have in common is their eye color. The problem is Auntie," Andou began with caution. "He looks just like her and takes after her personality the most. Actually, I'd say she's much MUCH worse. Don't get me wrong, she's a skilled surgeon, but she's been called the 'Nightingale from Hell.' No one dares to defy her."
As he explained, we could sense a feeling of dread walk over to us. From behind him was a woman who glared at Andou as she twitched her eyes in annoyance.
"Huhuhu... Thank you for the kind introduction, Andou," she said, gritting her teeth until Andou finally decided to turn around.
"Whoa, Auntie! I wasn't badmouthing you, I swear!"
"Really? Then what would you call that?!"
"Um… a fair warning?"
She moved closer to us and I could finally catch a glimpse of her appearance. Exactly how Andou explained, she looked exactly like Kashino despite the green eyes. She would be the exact depiction of how I would envision Kashino if he were a woman.
She looked elegant and carried a tense air around her that could scare people away if they looked at her for more than a second.
Before she could scold Andou, she turned her attention to the rest of us. But when her green eyes landed on me, I could see them widen in surprise.
"Is that you... Keiko?" She asked me which made me all the more confused.
Her cold expression loosened up when she saw me and she spoke to me as if she'd met me before.
When I observed her, I looked at the name embroidered on her doctor's coat that read: Kashino Asa.
'Asa…?'