Katsuko's breath escaped her in a long, low hiss. She dropped the chest plate on the floor with a thump. "Holy shit," she told Ryouma flatly. "Your shoulder looks like burnt steak."

He made a funny sound at that, but she ignored him and leaned closer to examine the wound. Oozing burn in the hollow of his collarbone; slight swelling around his shoulder; no skin sloughing off, though, and the bruises made the lightning-gash look larger than it actually was. So, not as bad as she'd originally thought.

She shrugged, stripping off her bloody gloves and going to retrieve her med-kit from her belt-pouch. "Well, look on the bright side. You're not gonna die, and all the skin will grow back. Eventually."

Her touch as she cleaned and bandaged his shoulder, though, was gentle.

"You're like one of those rubber punching dolls," she said a while later. They'd sat on the bench in the shower-room to make her job easier; steam from the bath billowed out through a connecting door, making her sweat under her armor. "You get hit with freaking lightning and thrown headfirst into a wall, and the worst you come out with a toasted shoulder and bruises. Just keep on bouncing right back."

Shaking her head, Katsuko cut off the ragged ends of the gauze roll and fastened a clip on the end, fixing it in place.