The next morning, when Valenti came to Hestad's ward early, she saw Chiba sitting beside Hestad's bed, lying in her clothes.
The sound of her entering the door made Chiba open her eyes.
"...You're back," Valenti looked at Chiba's face, "How is Ava?"
Chiba's throat moved slightly but she didn't answer.
Valenti understood the answer immediately. She lowered her eyes and quietly dragged another chair and sat down next to Chiba.
"Jane is fine these days, but she is sleepy and not paying attention to others."
"Ava says I'm largely responsible for Jane's situation."
Valenti was startled, "...Why did she say that?"
Chiba's voice was extremely hoarse: "Because I'm not...frank enough."
Valenti was confused, "I don't understand?"
"I don't understand either, so I... keep thinking," Chiba looked at Hesta on the hospital bed, "Where am I not being candid enough?"
"Masaki..." Valenti took a slow breath, "I know you are still sad about Ava leaving, but she has not participated in your and Jane's life over the years, and her judgment is just an opinion. , is not necessarily right——"
"I know." Qianye whispered, "...I know."
"It's not like we haven't seen this kind of sudden accident before. It is a bad thing, but it does not mean that it is the responsibility of any one of us, especially it is not your fault-"
"I really hope this is my fault," Chiba murmured softly, "If it is my fault, then I will definitely be able to fix it."
Valenti sighed, and just as she was about to say something, there was a slight creaking sound from the bed - Hesta moved and slowly opened her eyes.
Chiba stood up almost immediately, and she approached Hesta's bedside, "...Jane."
Hesta's eyebrows moved slightly, but she quickly calmed down. She half-opened her eyes and looked indifferently ahead, like a statue of a god who was neither sad nor happy.
Chiba grasped Hesta's left hand tightly. This hand was obviously dry and warm, but there was no response.
"The doctors will come for consultation at eight o'clock," Valenti said softly. "Ms. Yanni, Jane's attending physician, would like to talk to you alone to learn more about her condition."
"Let Dr. Yani go read Jane's files... I have nothing to say." Chiba held Hesta's hand and squatted down by the bed. She looked into Jane's eyes, " Apart from the time Jane went to court last month, I haven't seen her alone in the past two years...I can't be of much help."
Looking at Chiba like this, Valenti suddenly felt very sore in her nose. She couldn't express any relief. She only felt a huge sense of powerlessness that almost suffocated her.
"I...I'm in the doctor's duty room," Valenti stood up. "If you need it, come to me at any time."
Chiba closed his eyes and nodded.
…
In the next two weeks, Chiba didn't go anywhere and stayed in the underground hospital at the base.
She declined all visits from outsiders, and quickly raised Hesta's injury information to a confidential level, so that external mercury needles like Victoria would not get any news about Hesta;
And when the hospital retrieves the battle history of the "Murder Photography" case for treatment purposes, Chiba can review the materials in advance - usually, these contents will be desensitized by the 002 office before being provided to the hospital. There would be no details unrelated to Hesta himself, but for the sake of caution, Chiba still read through all the materials until it was confirmed that there was no suspicious information before handing it over to the hospital.
The hospital arranged many more in-depth and detailed examinations for Hesta. During the process, one thing caught the attention of the base - they suddenly discovered that the smell of Hesta's first awakening disappeared.
Researchers within the base had a heated discussion, and Chiba went to listen to it several times. Due to the previous strict confidentiality of Hesta's abilities, this incident did not cause a large-scale sensation.
Researchers at Tan Yi Reserve Base related this incident to several other accidental mutations in history - such as an isolated case in District 12 in 4614, where aberrations tried to capture and tame them in battle. Mercury needle. The client was imprisoned underground for eighteen days. Even if the mercury needle received good treatment afterwards, he would still be unable to enter bullet time for the rest of his life.
It can be seen that some strong external stimuli may indeed cause profound changes in the state of mercury needles.
Unfortunately, due to Hesta's current poor mental state, the researchers were unable to get any effective information from the client. They could only analyze the brain MRI images collected by the underground hospital over and over again.
Like most people with chelation, Herstad's brain is dim - her prefrontal lobe is barely half as active as the average person, but the amygdala, the region responsible for fear and anxiety, is brighter than ever . More than one person pointed to Hesta's orbitofrontal cortex and told Chiba that "her brain activity in this area is not quite right."
Orbitofrontal cortex.
"This is the part of the brain involved in emotion and reward in the decision-making process," Valenti explains. "Abnormal activity here means that Jane will feel more frustrated when something doesn't work out."
Valenti linked this incident to the many failures in the "Homicide Photography" case, such as the assassin going unpunished but the duchess committing suicide by taking poison... But Chiba understood that things were completely different.
From Valenti and the doctors, Chiba got many possibilities about Hesta, some of which were not optimistic, and some of which were full of hope. She really struggled for a while, and finally decided to forget all these things. back.
She borrowed an old-fashioned wheelchair from the hospital. Every afternoon, Chiba put Hesta in the car and pushed her out for a walk without moving.
Over the years, although Chiba has continued to pay attention to Hesta's every move at the base and on the battlefield, she has never experienced such intensive companionship like today.
This reminded her of her time with Ava, but now the roles were reversed - Hesta remained indifferent to her one-sided conversations... This was so similar to the situation back then.
When the sun was nice, Chiba and Hestad sat on a bench on the boulevard for half an hour. She held Hestad's hand tightly, and the two of them didn't say a word.
Occasionally Hesta would close her eyes and raise her head toward the sun, like a sunflower in winter.
During this walk day after day, the midwinter passed quickly.
