Sae groaned as he fumbled for his phone, ringing and buzzing loudly in the darkness. Blearily blinking his eyes, he grasped it. Who the fuck is fucking calling …. Of course, that fucking demon. Who else would be calling him at this god-forsaken hour. It was the middle of the fucking night, of course it was him. He never should have given him his number. He'd thought having to deal with the spamming of texts was bad enough until he'd told Shidou that he could call him tomorrow if he stopped blowing up his phone. Shidou had whooped excitedly telling him he'd be counting down the hours. But, of course, he hadn't been able to restrain himself. Sae was suddenly furious. Livid. He ripped the phone from its charging cord as he answered the phone, ready to unleash all his fury onto his little demon, when he saw it was not in fact Shidou but an unknown number. Blinking at it tiredly his anger melted away into puzzlement as he spoke.

"What?" he said blandly into the receiver.

"Hello, is this Itoshi Sae?" a female voice answered.

He immediately went silent. Fucking fans, how had they managed to get this number? He was going to have to change again. He was getting ready to hang up when the voice spoke again.

"Hello? Mr Itoshi are you there? I'm calling from Toyko Hospital on behalf of Shidou Ryusei."

His hand faltered as his sleep-addled brain tried to catch up with this new information.

"What?" he repeated blankly again.

"Oh, so you are there," the voice said again. "Yes, I'm calling on behalf of Mr Shidou Ryusei. He was admitted into our emergency department tonight and you are listed as his emergency contact."

Sae blinked in the darkness taken aback.

"I am?" he asked curiously.

Ah yes, Ego had said something about contacts with Shidou leaving Blue Lock. Sae also had to take responsibility for him, blah blah blah. He'd just nodded, telling Ego to stop boring him and relay the details to his manager. Then admittedly, he didn't listen much when his manager relayed this information back to him. He'd never thought he'd have to actually do something as his emergency contact, he'd thought it was just formality. Soccer was full of tedious bureaucracy and rules sometimes.

"Is he ok?" he asked, quietly, almost hesitantly, the words felt foreign on his tongue.

The woman hesitated before speaking. "Well, he has been in and out of consciousness and has suffered a seizure. He has been taken for Head CT scans to check for brain injury."

Sae sat up so fast he felt dizzy, gripping the phone tightly.

"Brain injury? What happened to him?!" he demanded.

"It appears Mr Shidou was in some type of altercation; he has other injuries. He was found collapsed, and someone called an ambulance for him. More information can be provided to you at the hospital."

Sae was scrambling for his belongings before he realised what he was doing. He stood out of bed in the darkness, looking for clothes, when he paused. What was he doing? Why was he getting ready to go to a hospital in the middle of the night? Shouldn't his parents be contacted?

"Why am I being contacted?" he demanded harshly.

"You are listed as the first emergency contact for Mr Shidou Ryusei. Are you able to come to the hospital? I cannot give out more information about the patient over the phone." The nurse responded, her impatience and irritation apparent.

He could hear scuffling in the background and the sounds of chatter, beeping hospital machines. As Sae breathed, pondered. How curious, he felt like he was thinking and not thinking at the same time, moving reflexively.

"Yes. I'm coming", he responded before hanging up.

He stood silently in his dark bedroom, his mind racing as he let out a small little huff of laughter. God what was he doing, running off to a hospital in the middle of the night, acting with no prior thought? The demon seemed always to be pushing him into things he wouldn't expect. Well, he'd said he was going now. He'd call his manager in the car and get more details to confirm the demon was fine. Then he could leave him in his manager's care and try to salvage some sleep so he wouldn't be utterly inefficient tomorrow. He quashed down any slivers of anxiety. It's not like he really cared anyway, he reminded himself. Shidou would be fine, he told himself firmly. You're not going to think about that. And so he didn't. Sae was a master at shutting something down, even within himself.

He contacted his driver to come and pick him up and began dialling his manager as he waited for a car to take him to the hospital, to take him to Shidou.