Page 13 of Spider Demon's Kiss

“I’m sure I don’t know,” she said backing off her position. “But, I thought you would want us to be alone when I told you that you crashed your car after blacking out from a panic attack.”

Of all of the things that she could have said, panic attack was nowhere on the list. I processed it for a second.

“No. What else you got?”

“I’m afraid this isn’t a multiple choice situation.”

“Nah. Can’t be. I don’t have panic attacks.”

“Have you been under an increased amount of stress recently?”

Have I been under an increased amount of stress? Let me see. My idiot brother killed a Yakuza made man, I’m waiting for my father to make his move to remove me as leader of the pack, and I was tricked into marrying a man who has killed all of his past lovers.

“Not more than usual,” I told the doctor knowing it wasn’t true.

“None the less, all of your symptoms point to an acute panic attack that lead to you feeling light-head and briefly passing out, which lead to you running into a tree. Did anything stressful happen right before the accident?”

Let’s see, the man I married did kiss me in front of my brother and one of my biggest rivals, and it felt so good that my head almost exploded.

“Not that I can think of,” I told the doctor.

“I see,” the Doc said considering it. “Well, we’re still running tests. But until we find contradicting results, I would recommend lowering your stress levels. Can you take some time off from your job? Is that possible right now?”

“That is absolutely not possible. And neither is the chances of me having a panic attack. I hope you didn’t write that down in your records anywhere,” I said as threateningly as I had intended it.

“You were brought in by a representative of the Sato family. And I can assure you that we will extend you the same privacy and discretion we show them.”

Ah! Now I was getting it. This was Sato’s doctor who, I was sure, would say anything Sato asked her to.

“I see,” I said, my mind finally starting to click into gear. “But let’s say that I hadn’t had a panic attack. What else could it be?”

“What do you mean?”

I thought of Kuroi.

“There’s a history of men in my situation having heart attacks. Could I have had something like that?”

The doctor gave me that confused look again. Why was she doing it?

“Yes, that is a possibility. But usually a man of your age and physical condition wouldn’t be a candidate for a myocardial infarction. And we did run a test for markers of such an event and they were all negative.”

“But, it could have been a heart attack?” I clarified.

“The symptoms did present in similar ways. But, like I said, the most likely cause remains a panic attack.”

“So, either I had a panic attack, which, if true, would make me too weak to do a job as stressful as mine. Or, I had a heart attack under very suspicious circumstances. Is that right, Doc?”

“Panic attacks are very controllable with the right lifestyle changes and regulation techniques,” she replied avoiding my question.

“I see. Tell me, Doc, is it also possible that I was shot with something. Not like a bullet, but maybe a dart or anything? Because I definitely felt something hit my neck. Is a pinch to the neck also something that comes with a panic attack?” I challenged.

“Not usually. But…”

“So, it’s possible that something could have shot me in the neck as well.”

“Mr. Ricci, I’ve found that the most likely cause is usually the right one.”

“Just answer my question. Is a pinch on the neck also a symptom, or whatever you call it, of having a panic attack?”

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