Internship: The Grim Depth [Haruto, Airi]

"Eleven thirty-three."

Airi muttered to herself, staring at her phone whilst walking. "Great..."

Being late was quite a rare occurrence for someone like Airi and to those that knew her well, it was really unusual for her to be so nonchalant about being tardy considering the circumstances. However, Airi wasn't feeling too great and she hadn't been for a few weeks or so. The small, bratty girl had just been in an overall bad mood and the little voice in her head that kept her motivated to be as studious as she normally was had begun to fade. She was slacking off.

Recently, she had begun to stay up later than she normally would just to be on her phone. In fact, the reason why she was late today in the first place was that she was so busy reading webcomics and watching videos online that she forgot to set an alarm to wake up.

In all honesty, as much as this was a great opportunity to see a career path that only slightly veered off the course of her intended one, it wasn't what she wanted. Earlier, she had gotten an invitation to one that just fit her, yet for some reason, it didn't work out. Fortunately, Gyousomo-sensei was kind enough to also offer an opportunity to return and be mentored but it was nagging at her. A golden goose of an internship had just disappeared into thin air for no reason other than the universe wanting to spite her.


While she was grateful, Airi didn't particularly feel motivated to show up. She didn't feel motivated in general. Outside of preference towards her internships, she had stopped feeling the urge to do better whenever she could. Why should she? Still, she had to come. She couldn't miss something like this. So here Airi was entering the hospital with messy hair, dark black bags underneath her eyes and a whole lot of attitude to spare.

After showing her ID and explaining her tardiness to the secretary at the front desk, she made her way to the main hall with a grim look on her face. "I'm so sorry about arriving so late Gyousomo-sensei, my uh.. alarm didn't go off. It won't happen again." Airi said to her mentor, bowing while she did so.

Deeply enjoying the chance to learn from one of his idols, Haruto properly listened to what she had to say! “I see, that does make sense! Thank you for your guidance!” See, he was learning already! As expected of Gyousomu-sensei! Rather than a bore, he found this sort of thing fascinating! But why did she refer to it as her mundane work? To him, this sort of work on quirked individuals was easily the most fascinating of what she had done! Certainly, he was impressed by the sheer volume of difficult procedures she had performed… But to him, compared to performing a procedure, wasn’t the person who created a new one even more impressive? And with quirks being so recent, there was so little in the way of literature… Making the headway she had made, all the more inspiring to him!

But before he could further probe the doctor, a new voice appeared from the hallway. It was another student, a girl who Haruto had never properly met before- Although he recalled seeing her around the school. Perhaps he had even met her over the school’s internal chat room without ever knowing who it was- Although he was rarely on it himself, so that was unlikely. In any case, he took her claim of a missed alarm at face value.

According to Gyousomu-sensei, his partner was Kurusu Airi- Not an especially familiar name, though he had the feeling that he’d seen her before on the school chatroom. “Ah, good morning, Kurusu-san.” Well, it was technically still morning, after all. “Shimizu Haruto, nice to meet you.” He offered a polite bow as he introduced himself. Well, they’d be working together the whole internship, so they’d get to know each other whether they liked it or not! And for Haruto, who was always happy to get to know fellow students, that suited him just fine! Although he didn’t really see what their instructor meant by her going downhill… Well, it probably wasn’t too important!

He listened intently to the next part- Addressed to the both of them. At the conclusion, Haruto would grin and fetch the items from his backpack! The notebook was obvious, he would have brought it even if nothing was said. The other two, less so. A camera wasn’t too outrageous, he had a small one that was not especially fancy- But why moisturizer? Hand sanitizer, he would have better understood… Well, they would learn soon enough, most likely! “Here you are,” Haruto would display the three for inspection. If there was one area of concern- It wasn’t an especially powerful camera, only slightly better than the one on his phone… But there wasn’t much he could do about that on short notice!

However, he was caught off guard by the next reveal! “A body from a crime scene? That’s…” He wanted to say, was it really okay for students to get involved in such a thing? But air was Gyousomu-sensei who had arranged it, so obviously it had already been okayed! “Err, so you’re aware… My quirk works in a way that cannot be turned off, so, just by being near the body, I’m liable to cause interference with any investigation.” Purification was great for curing the illnesses caused by toxins, but it wouldn’t stop just because the patient was dead! And even if it wasn’t a death by poisoning… A history of smoking, recent intoxication, the evidence for such things would be erased by his mere presence! While he believed that their mentor would have taken their abilities into account… He wasn’t sure if the full scope of his was understood, especially with said understanding changing almost monthly!

However, the chance to see Hikawa Gyousomu in action was one rarely found by a student. Following her directions, and trusting in her decisions, he would tag along through the area she called restricted… His hands held tightly behind his back, he was careful to not even bump into something by accident! He could barely even speak, so high was his tension… But eventually, they came to their destination. “To be honest… I feel like being in there is even more intimidating…” Haruto whispered nervously. But he shook himself out of this. If he couldn’t handle this much, how could he ever become a doctor? With renewed vigor, he followed inside, and looked down at the capsule which held a dead body. His emotions were mixed, looking at it- Pity, Of course, for the loss of a life. Fear, of death itself. And the memory of trauma, the last dead bodies he’d seen- The man he’d failed to save, and the subjects wheeled in on carts. The worst day of his life. Unintentionally, his hand balled into a fist- But no, this wasn’t the military camp! There was to be no plot twist! And even if there was… Shimizu Haruto was not the same person he had been back then! “I understand!”