Dr. Tomi was not in her office - and neither was Soushi's file. He stood in front of the desk, knowing this was the exact spot where he had left it. On the other hand, there was nothing else that looked like unfinished work around, so she had probably already left and headed home.

It was time to ask the Alvis security, and a short call confirmed to him that she had indeed gone home. In that case, he would wait a while and call the clinic.

It seemed like it had been a long day, but Chizuru wasn't about to rest just yet when she had some work to check. On top of that, while picking up her things from the office, she had found that Kenji - whom she could have sworn she had seen a glimpse of in the corridor while entering her office - had brought in the records they had been supposed to look over together. Maybe he was unsure of them and had left them for her to check?

There had been another file, which she guessed was what Soushi had borrowed in the morning. She wanted to take a look herself so she had picked up that one as well and called it a day at Alvis.

Cooking sounded like such a bother tonight, and Maya wasn't probably coming home until late. With that in mind, Chizuru had ordered food from Rakuen and was just going to spend the rest of the evening with her research.

The phone rang just to snap her out of her thoughts, and she picked it up. "Hello? Tomi Clinic."

"Dr. Tomi?" Soushi's voice asked. "Ah good, I was calculating you'd be home by now. You left Alvis before I made it back to your office."

"Is there a problem?" She questioned. "Do you...?"

"Ah, no," Soushi stated. "Nothing wrong with my health. It just happens... Remember that file I borrowed? I thought I returned it earlier, but it turns out I mixed it up with another file and I still have that restricted one on me."

Chizuru smiled. "Oh, that's all right," she said. "I can bring your file back tomorrow and you can give me the-"

"No, actually," Soushi cut in. "It's a personal research log of mine, and since I'd rather have it back as soon as possible, I'll come over to pick it up right now and bring the other file to you."

"Well... If you insist," Chizuru replied. "I have something important to work on, so I'll be at the clinic all evening. Just come stop by, I'll definitely be here. I even ordered food here so I don't have to leave my desk."

"Thank you," Soushi said. "I'll be there soon." He hung up, and Chizuru put the phone receiver down and looked to the side where she had put the files. She picked them up, put Kenji's record file on the side table and looked at Soushi's file. There were dates, so she assumed it was some kind of a journal, important enough for Soushi to want it back right away.

...But why was the latest entry talking about erotic asphyxiation and experiments? Surely Soushi knew the risks involved in something like that. Just what exactly was this file of his? Taking a look at the beginning of the log would probably give her a better idea, so she clicked the file to check from the first entry.

"Date: 16/xx/2148," it started. "I had sex with Kazuki." Well, that did explain a little about this file. Reading on, it continued, "Ever since I returned to the island, Kazuki has been coming to my room to sleep more often than not. I made him sleep on the sofa for the first few nights (and as usual, he didn't even complain) then finally just let him crawl into bed next to me. He never said anything, but he seems to be extremely comfortable with this arrangement."

Chizuru raised an eyebrow before reading on. "Last night, I wrapped my arms around him, and he responded by pressing himself against me. It made me... bothered, like one of those times when we messed around when we were younger. On the other hand, we were stupid teenagers back then and didn't even know what we were doing."

Ah, did Soushi know what he was doing now, then? Most likely. Come to think of it, Chizuru recalled Soushi coming to her sometime few years back and bluntly asking if she had study material on how two men had sex. He had apparently checked the archives but had been a little unsure what to look for.

"Like back in those days, it just happened; I removed Kazuki's shirt and went from there, but I have to regretfully admit that it wasn't very special and not much different from two idiot hormonal teenagers fumbling around. The thought came to me later - I don't even know what Kazuki likes in bed. Considering I made him wait for me for so long, I feel like I should at least make the effort to learn his preferences. I'll have to do research on the matter, and test things to find out his responses and likes. I will then proceed to record my findings here."

Personal research log, indeed. Chizuru put it down on the desk with a hint of a smile on her face and swore in her mind to not say a word about the contents unless Soushi specifically asked. It was just so typical of Soushi to keep track of something like this, and the fact that he had somehow mistaken this log file for the restricted medical file just made him human. It was accidental file mismanagement on his part, and Soushi was probably more angry at himself for that than the fact that it had been this particular file.

As for erotic asphyxiation, either Soushi had already looked into it, or would come to her to make an inquiry about it within a few days. There was no way he was going to experiment with something like that before finding out the risks involved, and Chizuru definitely had nothing to worry about.

Right, she had work to do...

She had barely looked at her work for two minutes when the phone rang again, and she picked it up. "Hello, this is Tomi Clinic."

"Dr. Tomi!" A man's voice from the other end stated, sounding relieved to have her answer the phone this soon. "There's been an accident in Alvis involving one of the maintenance workers. There's a possibility of head injury and a fractured bone on the hip. First aid has been administered, but we don't dare to move him before you..."

"I'll be right there," she quickly replied. "Which level and area are you on?"

The necessary information was provided, and she put the phone away and headed out, only to stop to hastily put on her shoes before dashing off to the nearest Alvis entrance.