Part 3
We walked out of the ward after I was able to convince her to take the job offer. I may hate my dad, but that was a good opportunity for her. That kind of opportunity only came once in a lifetime. When we walked back to the front of the ICU, Yuko-san weren’t around.
“Where’s Yuu-chan?” Torigoya asked Black as we walked closer to the others.
Black pointed out at a ward`s door with her thumbs. “Kokabuki has awakened. Sado-san, Maeda and Captain Takahashi were there too.”
“Is she alright?” I asked Black too.
She was only looking at me for a few seconds, looking at my slightly red eyes to be exact. With a sigh, she said, “Just like what the doctor had said before.” She moved closer to Torigoya and me and said, “You know, you don’t need to hide from us if you want to cry. We won’t tease you about it. We understand.” Geki nodded to gave her opinion too.
From the corner of my eyes, I could saw the others Rappappa, OUR KOUHAI, were looking at us. They definitely heard that. And since I still have to protect my pride, I hurriedly said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And with a hushed whisper I added, “Damn it, girls, don’t say things like that in front of them will you? I still have my pride and honor to protect.”
Black shook her head as she mumbled out, “tsundere as usual.”
I heard a sound of a door being opened, and when I turned my head to look at the direction of the sound, I saw Yuko-san, Sado-san, Maeda and Captain Takahashi walked out of the ward Kokabuki was in. Yuko-san eyes immediately ran towards Torigoya. After a brief silent communication, Torigoya nodded and I saw Yuko-san shifted her gaze to me. She sighed and walked closer to me.
“Her doctor came out of the ICU while you were away.” She said.
“How is she?” I asked her, fear and anxiety slowly but surely gripped my heart again. I glanced at the ICU sign. “Is she still there?”
Yuko-san turned her gaze away for a few second, rubbed her forehead and said, “sit down.” My only response was to frown at her. And then, she added, “Sit. You just given your blood. I don’t want you to faint or something.” Which I did. After I was seated in one of the benches in the hallway, Yuko-san smiled triumphantly and within seconds, her smile disappeared, replaced by a frown instead.
“She has a few ‘nice’ diagonal bruises in a shape of a baseball bat on her back.” Yuko-san sarcastically said. “A broken nose, a big bump on her left cheek, and… the worst is…” She took a deep breath and sympathetically said, “She has nineteen stitches on her abs because of the slash of katana. Thankfully it wasn’t deep enough to reach her internal organs, but it was wide enough to make her loss quite amount of blood. They,” Yuko-san pointed at the ICU room, “had to given her three blood bags to cover it. Yours was the third. Based on what Kokabuki said, she probably lost that much blood because she was still fighting even though she’s injured” She pause a bit to take a breath and released it with a sigh. “If only the ambulance came ten seconds too late, she might… we might lose her because of blood loss.”
My ears were ringing when I heard what might have happened, and my head felt like spinning. “Wh-what…?” I asked to no one in particular. My throat clogged. My hands started to shook violently, I curled my hands to stop the trembled, and, “DAMN IT!!” I shout in irritancies, stood up and punched the wall behind me, again, and again, and again. I know my right fist was bleeding, and yet, blinded by rage, I didn’t feel the pain. At all. I heard the others asked me to stop, but I kept on punching the wall, desperate, angry, mad. All of a sudden I felt someone yanked my right hand, stopping me from punching the wall again.
“I said, stop!!” Yuko-san yelled at me, I turned to looked at her, saw her glaring at me, saw the concern in her eyes and I felt my anger slowly slipping away, being replaced by pain, fear and undescribed sadness again. I shifted my gaze down, unabled to meet her eyes. “Sado…,” I heard her said. And not long after, I heard some footsteps and I knew Sado-san had come closer to us. Another hands grabbed my right hand, and lightly pressing some spots in my hand, checking it.
“Yep,” Sado-san said, “as I predicted from the cracking sound earlier, this baka breaking her fist.” She sighed and threatened me, “Shibuya, go to the clinic or else….”
I pulled my hand from her grip and turned to looked at the ICU door. “I’ll go after I see her.”
“You could get an infection if you wait longer.” Sado-san said
“I’ll wait until she wakes up.” I stubbornly said.
“Fine then.” Sado-san sighed again. “Shaku, go buy an ice-pack and a Tylenol. If this baka-tsundere insist to stay here and wait for her girlfriend to wake up, at least we should prevent her broken fist from getting worst.”
“Alright.” I heard Shaku’s voice from behind me and not long after, I heard her walked away.
“Um… it’s still visiting time, right?” Youran asked, “I’m going to check Kokabuki.” And she walked to the ward.
“Wait, we’re coming with you…” Wota said and she, with the rest of Team Hormone, followed Youran to Kokabuki`s room.
“Shibuya, sit.” Yuko-san said from behind me. And when my silence greeted her, she flung her arm around my neck, dragged me, “I said, sit down,” and pushed me to the benches. Forced me to sit down on the benches, and smirked triumphantly after she succeeded.
‘Damn, even though it has been a while for her to not using her power, she’s still strong. How could she drag me that easily?’ I scowled at her, irritated at her display of power. Thank God, our kouhai weren’t around.
“Itano-san, perhaps they would charge you for that.” Captain Takahashi said. I looked at her inquiringly and my eyes followed her gaze to the spot on the wall that I had punched earlier. There, on the sparkling white wall, was a blood-stain that formed a fist mark. “But, that’s if they knew who did that.”
“They’ll know for sure if they see her hand.” Sado-san said while she shook her head. “Shibuya, do you know how long it takes to heal a boxer’s fracture?”
“What’s that?” Geki asked as we looked at Sado-san inquiringly.
“That’s boxer’s fracture.” Sado-san pointed at my hand that, by now, bruised and swollen, especially in near the knuckle of my ring finger. “And it’s usually takes about two to three months to heal completely. What if you have to fight during the healing time? You surely didn’t think that far, huh?”
“Um… no.” I said as I lowered my gaze.
“Just pray that your hand`s condition isn’t that worse and your healing process can be much shorter.” Sado-san said, then she shook her head as she mumbled, “and she said she want a revenge… do tell me how could she revenge her with that hand? Baka-tsundere…”
I scowled at her for insulting me, though it was mostly true. I was about to opened my mouth to retort back at her when a group of women came closer to us. At this Captain Takahashi smiled brightly and came towards them.
“Hey, girls… thanks for coming.” She said as they did a group hug.
“Hey, Sachou, still as short as usual, I see.” One of them with a red hair said.
“Hey, what do you mean by that?! I’m your sachou!” Captain Takahashi said.
The other woman with a seductress face, and oddly familiar, giggled and teasingly said, “But that’s didn’t change the fact that YOU ARE SHORT.”
They kept on talking to themselves while we looked at each other with an imaginary question marks floating above our heads, save for Maeda who looked like she was on the verge of explosion. Hmm... was that jealously that I saw on her?
After watching them interacts for a few more minutes, Yuko-san exclaimed, “Ah! They are her Shitennou. I forgot to tell you two.”
“About what?” Torigoya asked her.
Yuko-san gloomily smiled at us, “Well, while you and Shibuya were away, I talked to her and we’re considering calling her Shitennou to help us in case something happen again.” She sighed and pointed at my hand, “This baka broke her fist, the Kabuki Sisters… well, they definitely won’t be able to fight for about two months or so. Even if they’re willing, I won’t let them. And I… I can’t fight yet. So… they’ll be the back-up when needed.”
After her explanation, I felt even more guiltier and we were immersed in a heavy and tense silence, in contrast to the other group who were chatting happily in their reunion. It was all silent here, safe for the older Rappappa`s voices, but inside, my mind, my heart were in turmoil, with guilt, pain and remorse. With each seconds passed, I felt more and more anxious. I kept on glancing on the ICU`s door and window, hoping to see… anything… just… any progress was fine.
All of a sudden a loud voice could be heard, “Hey, I got it!”, came from the direction of the elevator from a girl with a long red coat.
“Oy! Spoiled-brat! Don’t yell in the hospital!” Sado-san hissed at her in irritancies. “My colleagues might kick you out for being noisy.”
“Whooooops~~~,” the spoiled-brat said while grinning innocently. She walked towards Sado-san and gave her an ice-pack and a bottle of Tylenol, then she gave one plastic bag to Yuko-san. “Here’s some foods and drinks, I guess I might buy you all something as well. We haven’t eaten anything yet since noon, right?”
“Thanks,” Yuko-san took the bag full of foods with a grateful smile. It was a good thinking for Shaku, at least I could admitted it.
“Wait,” Torigoya piped in while the others were already started to dig in the bag for food, the older ex-Rappappa were already continued their chat that was interrupted when Shaku came back, “what about the one you’re holding?”
I kept on watching them in silence, not even bother to moved, while Shaku grinned again and said, “this one for me~~.”
“What?!” Almost all of us shouted in response of what she had said, save for Sado-san whose hissed at us, telling us to lower our voices. Well, it’s not our fault, there’s a lot of food there, just like the other bag. Onigiri, melon-pan, sandwich, even some bento box. Sado-san was right, that Shaku really ate too much. It was a miracle that she didn’t get fat. The glutton only smiled at us, at our response actually.
“Melon-paaaan~~~,” Geki said with a smile as she took a few melon-pan from the bag. Heh… that girl really like melon-pan.
Black smiled at Geki, then she took one bento box and gave it to Geki, “don’t eat too much melon-pan, you have to eat real food too.”
“Oh, alright.” Geki said as she put back two melon-pan back into the bag and received the bento from Black.
Sado-san and Yuko-san shared a knowing look and then they turned to looked at me. I grinned at them, signaling that I saw what they saw. After that, Sado-san walked closer to me while Yuko-san opened her bento box, Torigoya, Shaku and Maeda already started eating.
Sado-san opened her hand with palm up. “Hand,” she said shortly. I brought my hand upward and she gave me the Tylenol. “Take this first.” Which I did, and afterwards, she tended my hand with the ice-pack.
“Oy, you two, what do you want? I’ll save it for you before the others came back.” Yuko-san said during my ‘treatment’.
“Anything’s fine.” I answered.
“Same here.” Sado-san said.
“Minami,” I heard Maeda said with a scowl, “why don’t you introduced your friends too us and eat?” Her irritation and anger were clearly apparent on her face.
At this everyone focused their attention to the two of them, even Sado-san neglected my hand for a while. Captain Takahashi noticeably gulped and scratched her head, while her friend smirked behind her.
“Minami, huh?” the red-head said.
“So… that’s the girl….” The seductress face drawled.
“Nice~~,” the voluptuous woman said, and then she whistled, “I have to admit that you’ve got a good taste, Sachou.”
Captain Takahashi immediately turned back to looked at her friends, “Wh-what?! Cut it out, girls…” and then she whispered something to them. When she turned back to looked at us, she forced out a smile and said, “Ah, yes, um… they’re my Shitennou.”
“But, there are only three of them.” Shaku said. They stiffened up immediately in response. “U-um, is there’s something wrong?” She asked.
Captain Takahashi forced a smile again and said, “I rather not talk about it, sorry.” I glanced at Maeda and saw her frowned in response. “Ah, by the way, this,” Captain pointed at the red-head, “is Oshima Mai, and-”
“You’re Oshima too?” Yuko-san asked as she gaped at the red-head.
“Yeah, you too?” the red-head asked back and then she smiled cheerfully. “Small world isn’t it?”
Captain Takahashi shook her head and while pointed at the voluptuous woman, she said, “This is Noro Kayo, and this,” she pointed at the other woman, who, as I said before, oddly familiar to me, “is Ohori Megumi.”
By the time she finished introduced her friends to us (Ohori was looking at me strangely when Captain Takahashi said my name, my real name, not as Shibuya), the other Rappappa came out of the ward, and looked at them questioningly. “Who are they?” Youran asked Yuko-san. Aaaaaand… the introduction started again. After that, we ate together in the hallway, which was harder for me considering the state of my right hand. Thank God, Yuko-san saved me the sandwich and onigiri, not the bento. There’s no way in hell I could held a chopsticks with my hand being wrapped like that. Maeda was scowling all the time, while Captain Takahashi kept on glancing on her for every ten seconds or so.
While we ate, a doctor came out of the ICU. Yuko-san immediately stood up and walked closer to him. I wanted to ask him about her condition too, but somehow I couldn’t move myself. Somehow, I was paralyzed on the bench. I could only watch and listened.
“Her condition is stabile for now. She already passed the critical state, but we still have to watch her closely for tonight in case something bad happen. So, right now, we put her on a drug-induced sleep. Perhaps tomorrow we can move her to the ward.” He answered Yuko-san`s question. And then he looked around and as he saw Captain Takahashi, he asked, “Miss, you said you are a police officer?”
“Yes, I am. Is there something wrong?” Captain Takahashi said calmly. The aura around her suddenly changed. All of a sudden she looked… big? I didn’t know the right words, but somehow when I saw her, I instantly knew why she could be a Captain despite her young age.
“The patient`s injuries are too severe, and so does the other patient before. Even in delinquents` standards. I think-.”
“They’re under my cover, you don’t need to worry.” Captain Takahashi cut him out. “Just, please make sure they’ll be alright again.”
The doctor frowned for a moments, and with a sigh, he said, “Alright then. Do you want to look at her? I could open the window`s curtain if you want.”
“Yeah…,” I gnarled out, “I want to see her.”
The doctor nodded and went back to the ICU. In the span of ten seconds, the window`s curtain that was directly in front of me lifted up. When I saw her, I gasped in pain and I felt like the food that I had eaten climbed up my throat. I wanted to puke, but I held it back. The onigiri that I held in my hand fell to the floor. The others were talking about her, but oddly, it felt like they were far away from me. Their voices felt like coming from a far.
“Ookabuki…” Shaku said sadly.
“She looks… bad.” Youran said. “Didn’t the doctors said her major injury is the slash on her stomach? Why does she got so many bandages like that?”
“A broken nose and a bruise on her cheek.” Sado-san said, perhaps quoted the doctor`s words. “It might because of that.”
“That’s… Tomo-chan?!” Ohori, Captain Takahashi`s friend gasped in surprise when she saw Tomo.
Her friends, including the captain, looked at her questioningly, “Meetan, you know her?”
“Yeah… she was my neighbor. My parents` home is was next to her. I haven’t seen her again after I moved out of my parents` house though. Oh, God… Kasai-san won’t like it, both of them.”
“Of course they won’t. What kind of parents would like to see their daughter in that condition?” I heard the other woman, Noro, said.
“No. What I mean is, they don’t even know that their daughter-”
“Stop.” I managed to cut Ohori and glared at her. “Don’t say anything about her family. She never said anything about it to the others. Don’t spill it out without her concern.” I hoarsely said, though my death threat clearly apparent in my tone of voice, and after I glared at her for a few more seconds, my eyes went back to the figure on the bed.
“Shibuya-san, is there something wrong with her family?” Akicha asked.
“Yeah,” Shaku butted in, “come to think of it, she has never invites us to her home.”
“And if I remember correctly, Kokabuki had said that she had never met her aneki`s parents.” Youran added.
I was only stood up and walked closer to the window without answering them. I moved my left hand up slowly and touched the window, hoping that the damn wall could just disappear so that I could be with her. Not being outside the ICU like this. They kept on pestering me and when I was about to snap at them, Mukuchi had beat me to it.
“Stop it. If Ookabuki want us to know, she’ll tell us. If she didn’t then at least we should respect her decision and not trying to dig out her secrets.”
It was the first time I heard her speak, I didn’t even know that she was that wise. The others were kept on talking, but I didn’t hear any of it. All that’s matter to me at that moment was… her. I watched her from the window, analyzing, studying, trying to find some indication to assure myself that she’ll be fine, that she’ll get better.
“You… Shibuya, right?” Ohori said hesitantly. “You… looked familiar somehow. Hmmm… Wait, you know her parents? Then could it be… Hey, Sachou what’s her real name again?”
“Itano Tomomi.” I heard Captain Takahashi said.
“Ah! You’re the other Tomo. Her childhood friend. Am I right? …. That’s why you looked familiar. Man, you’ve grown now, last time I saw you, you were only a kid. When did you get back? She was so sad when you moved out of Tokyo. I still remembered all the things she had said about you, or more like her admiration and love.” She snickered. And when my silence greeted her, she said, “She’s right, you’re too silent.”
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*Because at the moment Shibuya put all of her attention on Ookabuki, I change it to third person POV.
“Meetan…,” the Captain chided her friend with a whisper, “stop your teasing this is not the time.”
“Yeah, don’t blame us if Shibuya over there,” Yuko said as she pointed at the said Shibuya with her thumb, “beat the hell out of you. She’s emotionally unstable right now. Even when she’s emotionally stable, she was always gets riled up easily.”
“And stop blurting out things from their childhood, if Shibuya wasn’t already distracted by Ookabuki`s condition, she’ll surely punch you out.” Torigoya added. “She is a very proud person and very private. She tends to keep all her feelings and emotions inside, … beside her temper of course.”
“Yeah, she has never even told us anything about her past, beside the fact that they,” Sado butted it while she tilted her head towards Shibuya, “were childhood friends. If she didn’t want us, her friends, to know, she surely wouldn’t want them,” she pointed at the current Rappappa, “to know any of it. Which is probably why Ookabuki had always keep her mouth shut about their relationship.”
“Is that the reason why that even Kokabuki doesn’t know anything? The Kabuki Sisters used to tell each other anything.” Youran said.
“Yeah, most likely. That tsundere… is too individualist.” Yuko answered. “Anyway… How’s Kokabuki? Any change?”
Youran grimace slightly and said, “she insisted to hop off her bed and look at her aneki. The nurse had to tie her on the bed, to prevent her injuries to re-open again… Other than that… fine.”
“I see…” Yuko-san said, “Have you able to contact her family?”
“Yeah, she called her dad earlier.” Wota said, “He’s on a tour with her teammates so, he asked her to ‘do as what the doctor has said to recover fast’, since he can’t visit her.”
“So… the only problem left is… how to contact Ookabuki`s family.” Yuko said, then she glanced at Shibuya. “I actually want to ask Shibuya to do it but…”
At the same time, the older ex-Rappappa was standing in a small circle a few feet away from their successor. “I just want to know her better, I used to heard a lot about her.” Meetan said in a defensive manner.
“As they said, Itano-san is very individualist and she has a very-short-temper.” Captain Takahashi said, “the only ones that can control her are Oshima-san and Kasai-san. Not only that, she’s also quite strong. As for you… it has been years since the last time you fought, right?”
“Oy, Baba,” Noro said as she flung her arm around Meetan`s shoulder, “I understand your… tendencies to tease younger-cute girls, but that girl over there,” she pointed at Shibuya, “don’t. Just don’t. At least not now.”
“Yeah, she looks like she is on the verge of breaking down into rubble.” Mai-mai said, “And yet, the way she glared at you earlier, sent the chill down on my spine.”
“I’ve told you they’re strong. Too strong. Thank God, at least they still got some sense on their skulls.” Captain Takahashi exclaimed. “And thank God that they’re Rappappa.”
“Fine, fine, I get it.” Ohori said. “You said Tomo-chan can control her, right? I’ll wait until she’s in a better condition and I’ll ‘play’ with her friend.”
“Girlfriend.” Captain Takahashi said and when she saw the bewildered looks her friends gave her, she added, “Itano-san and Kasai-san are ‘together’. Like most of them are.”
“Ah… so that’s why her glare was almost like a jealousy glare.” Mai-mai said as she snapped her fingers. “It was like ‘even though you used to be her neighbor, she is mine now, so shut the hell up’.”
“Well then, it’s all makes it more interesting, right?” Ohori added with a mischievous smirk, made her friends face-palmed at her ‘habit’.
All of a sudden a shrill sound of a phone could be heard from Yuko`s direction. All of the eyes in the hallway were directed at her, including the tsundere Queen`s, as Yuko put her hand on her pocket and pulled out a phone.
“Ah, God…,” she grimaced as she lifted her hand showed the phone screen to the other, the words ‘Okaa-san Calling’ flashed on the phone screen. Ookabuki’s phone. “Should I answer it?”
Shibuya glanced at her watch and mumbled absent-mindedly, “It’s half past nine already. Her curfew has already passed. Just answer it.”
“Cap’n you answer it.” Yuko said as she gave the phone to the said Captain. “You’re a cop, she’ll believe you more.”
“Fine,” Captain Takahashi sighed in defeat and answered the phone. “Hello, I am Captain Takahashi from Tokyo Metro Police Department… Yes, this is your daughter`s phone…. I’m sorry, Kasai-san, but, the doctors have put your daughter is in a drug-induced sleep right now. She was…”
As Captain Takahashi on the phone, suddenly the tsundere said, “I’m going to the clinic,” with the same detached mask that she has been wearing ever since the curtains were lifted, surprising her friends with what she had said, “give me a call when something happens.” And she started to walked towards the elevator after gave one last look to the person in the ICU.
“Wait, Shibuya, I’m going with you.” Sado said after she was out from the shock from heard that the tsundere actually willing to see a doctor by her own will. Then Sado turned to her sachou before she left, “I have a night shift today, call me if there’s something happen or just go to the nurse office on the 2nd floor east corridor.”
“Yuu-chan… is Shibuya going to be alright?” Torigoya asked with a worried frown.
Yuko sighed while rubbed her forehead, “I hope so. That mask she’s wearing… it’s reminds me of how she was three years ago before ‘that’ happened.” A loud gasp from Dance answered her and she turned to looked at Shibuya`s follower while her Shitennou frowned. “You surely remembered that too, right, Dance?”
“She-she won’t do the same thing, right?” Dance asked worriedly.
“I-I’m going to check on her,” Torigoya said as she started walking towards the elevator, “we can’t let her to be alone on her own before Ookabuki awake.”
“What’s wrong? What’s that?” Shaku asked after Torigoya left.
“You don’t need to know that.” Yuko said. After that she sighed again and turned to looked at Rappappa members, “you guys, go home. It’s late already. Especially you, Black. Your son needs you.”
Black looked at her sachou with a contemplating look, “alright, give me a call if something happen. Anything.”
“I’ll escort you to home,” Geki said as she stood up, “after that, I’m coming back here.”
“I’m staying.” Youran said.
“Me too.” Shaku added.
“No… go home, all of you.” Yuko said, “Geki, you too. Stay over in Black`s apartment or go back to the orphanage or something.”
“But… what about you and Torigoya-san?” Wota asked.
“Two of Rappappa`s queens are hospitalize here. And one of the ex-queens is on the verge of mental break-down, and with my luck she is the hardest to handle amongst all of them. So, yeah, I’m staying.” Yuko said with a sarcastic tone. “You guys. Go. Home. And go to school tomorrow. Guard our base.”
“You three, go home too.” Captain Takahashi butted in after she finished with the phone call. “I’m staying here. They’re all under my cover. I have to stay, at least until Kasai-san wakes up.” She added after she saw the questioning expression her friends gave her.
“If Minami stay, I’m staying too.” Maeda said, made the others gaped or looked at her questioningly.
The said Minami also gaped at her and after a while, she let out a goofy smile, directed specially at Maeda, who’s hesitantly smiled back at her. Noro leaned her head to her sachou`s ear and drawled, “nice one, sachou.”
“Wh-what!?” Captain Takahashi immediately came back from her own little-world with Maeda and glared at her friends who were all smirking teasingly, “You all… Just. Go. Home. NOW!!”
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*At the Hospital`s clinic, Shibuya`s POV
Some young doctor was currently checking my hand when I was waiting the X-ray result, which in my opinion really wasn’t needed, I meant, my hand was already X-ray-ed, right? Why should he check it again? Felt irritated by it, I pulled my hand from his grab.
He smiled his best smile, by the looks of it, and said, “is it still hurt?”
I gave a sarcastic smirk back at him, “no, I had been on a worse condition.”
Keeping his smile intact, he asked me again, “may I ask what made your hand became like this?”
“I punched a wall,” I said off-handedly while looking at the-oh-so-many-medical-pictures in the room, then I gave my best glare at him, a Rappappa`s Queens` glare, “and stop bothering me before I punch you out too.”
He gasped at me in shock and before he was able to speak again, the door was opened with a loud ‘bang!!’ by Torigoya who’s immediately attached herself to me after she saw me.
“ARGH!! Torigoya… Get! OFF!!” I shouted while trying to get away from her tight hug. “Why are you here anyway?!” I asked with a glare at her after she released me.
“Like before, I’m checking you up.” She said with her usual innocent grin.
I just only gaped at her in shock as a response, and after a few seconds, my mind finally finished with the rebooting process. “What am I!? FIVE?! I’m not a kid!”
And…. She was pouting… At me… At my response actually. “I was worried….”
I rolled my eyes at her and grumbled, “you don’t have too…”, and yet I was thankful she came, at least I wouldn’t have to be alone with this annoying doctor.
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After I got the damn result (thankfully, my hand`s condition wasn’t that worse, I didn’t have a fracture, only cracked, so the doctor told me to rest my hand for at least two weeks and not to used it too much for at least a month and now my hand was wrapped with a cast to prevent my hand from moving too much), I got back with Torigoya to the front of ICU room again, and now, I was stuck with this two couples. Damn….
The differences in how these two couples interacted with each other were just like day and night. Yuko-san and Torigoya were… as usual. They were snuggling together to find a better and more comfortable position in the hard bench and sometimes whispering something or throwing jokes at each other, bantering playfully. As for Maeda and Captain Takahashi, the two of them looked like they tried to imitate Black`s behavior and sometimes stealing glance at each other. What’s with the silence? And these two couples had been like that all night! ‘Hrm… damn! Why should I get stuck with them? Tomo… just wake up, please… I don’t want to stick with them longer…. They won’t go until you awake.’
I sighed while I looked at my watch, it was already seven in the morning, and they said they’ll move her to the ward in the morning, so why did nothing happen? Gosh… I felt like I was about to explode.
“Er….” Captain Takahashi suddenly spoke made us looked at her in response, “Itano-san, about Kasai-san`s family… I think you have to know, that her mother was… angry… during the phone call. She said things like… ‘had enough with all the yankees that bullying her daughter and want to move her to another school’ and also she said that she’ll come later today.”
“Bullying?” Torigoya said and she grabbed my upper arm to catch my attention. “Shibuya, her family…”
“Didn’t know she is also a yankee.” I finished the sentence for her while closing my eyes again, tired with all of this and… sleepy.
“How could that happen? I mean, she must’ve been a yankee at least before she came to Majijo, right? I still remembered the first time I saw her fought.” Yuko-san said in disbelieves. “She was only a freshman at that time and yet her stance and movement were better than half of the seniors in Majijo.”
“And now they want to move her to another school….” Maeda mumbled slowly.
“She won’t go, right? Shibuya?” Torigoya asked worriedly.
I only sighed as a response, because, honestly, I didn’t know who she would choose. Her family or Majijo. Her family or… me. Her family situation was different than mine. I was always been the lone kid, my parents never cared much about me. But her, she was used to have the perfect family. At least based on what she told me back then. And even though she never said anything about it, I knew, deep down, she was still hoping for her family, her parents, to go back to how they were before. And so, if her parents wanted her to move, if her parents wanted her to choose, then…
The sound of the door being opened pulled me out of my though. I immediately opened my eyes and there, in front of the ICU door, stood a nurse. She calmly smiled. “The patient has awake. She asked for someone named… Baka-Tsundere Queen?” She said with a questioning expression, because of the strange title I guessed. And when the other pointed at me with a smirk on their faces, she tried to hold her smile, stepped aside and made a gesture with her hand to let me in. “Don’t stay for too long though, she still need to rest.”
I stood up and tried to walked, but my feet felt like it was made of jelly. And when I felt like stumble, Yuko-san grabbed my arm and flung my arm around her shoulder to support me. “Brace yourself. Don’t make her worried just because you can’t control yourself.”
I gulped and said, “yes” and walked inside with the her support. After I passed the door, I saw her bed was covered from my view with the in-room curtain. I took my arm off from Yuko-san and opened the curtain slowly. The steady beeping sound from some machine made me nervous even more. And there she was, lying on the bed, with a bandage over her head, covering her nose and cheek, an IV drip connected to her left hand, a breathing mask covered her mouth and nose. The rest of her body was covered by a blanket. She glanced at my direction and slowly, painfully, tried to smile, although her smile was more like a grimace than a smile.
“…Hey…,” she slowly said, “sorry… for making you… worried…” Even for just said simple short sentence as that seemed to take a lot of her energy.
I hastily moved to the side of her bed and took her hand in mine carefully, and pecked her forehead. “No, it’s alright… just rest for now and recovers quickly. Don’t waste your energy.”
“Mmm…” She mumbled and then glanced at my hand. She instantly narrowed her eyes at me. “What… happened…?”
I quickly moved my right hand to my lap, hiding it from her view. “It’s nothing… just… um… cracked…”
“Hit… the wall… again?”
“Er… yeah.”
She rolled her eyes in exasperation and smiled at me again. “I’m… sorry…”
My throat started to clogged and my eyes were felt like burning. I don’t know how much time left until my mask cracked. Thankfully, the nurse came and told me to go out because, “The patient still needs to rest.”
“I’ll wait for you outside.” I said to her before I was out.
She shook her head slowly, and after I looked at her questioningly she added, “no… go home… rest… and… come back… here….”
I gave her a nod and walked out of the ICU. After I closed the door, I felt my strength left me, made me fall to sit the floor. The burning sensation in my eyes came back, so I squinted my eyes close and rubbed my forehead. Desperately trying to stop myself from break down sobbing in public and to ease the headache I was currently having due to lack of sleep.
“Hey, you okay?” Yuko-san asked me. Even though my eyes were closed, I knew she was crouched down near me. And at the same time, I felt a pair of hands massaging my back. It must be Torigoya.
“Yeah… just tired.” After a while, I stood up and grimly smiled. “She kicked me out. Said that I should go home and rest, so…”
Yuko-san smirked back, “Yeah, you should. Just go, we’ll go home too after the others came here.”
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Aish... finally this chapter finished.
13,900 words in one chapter, it's breaking my own record of my longest chapter. I hope you all still read it though.
Anyway, who can guess Takadeka`s Shitennou before I mentioned their names?
Hmmm... a lot of pairings made a progress in this chapter. Maybe... it's time for another side-story?
Ah, well, I'll wait until the inspiration strike me again.
@haruko: thanks for still reading. Mmmm.. i won't abandon it, but perhaps...
you have to wait longer for update, because a lot of things that's happened lately pretty much killed my muse
Argh!! I hate it!!
@minami-chan: it was pretty sentimental, wasn't it?
yep, that's the bad-effect of holiday, I was just received my type A too
@kahem: yeah, poor her... (especially in her real-life, not the one in my fic
)
@songbac: sorry, for making you sad
and sorry that I was late by two days in updating this
@BbSis: Yuko had fought 30 yabakune on her own, but, Kabuki Sisters fought the same amount of peoples... but their opponents use weapons.
Mm.. interrogation session in the next chapter (I hope so
)
@lollita90: yeah, you haven't come for a while. I thought you've graduated from the fandom
sorry for making you wait.
@cisda83: for Shibuya, that's the effect of relationship
as for the other pairs.... hmmm.... we'll see....
And as always, thank you for reading, commenting and the 'thank you's, guys. I really appreciate it. And um... sorry for the miss-spellings and grammar errors, I was on a bad mood for weeks, so my writing quality was affected by it.
Topic: my fanfics (MASK-MJGK world) TomoTomo + others - Side Story (Read 152445 times)