red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter xliii: miracles

new years were meant to be spent with the ones you love. visiting the temple with them wearing traditional japanese clothing to welcome the new year is the way to go.

mikey was doing just that with emma and draken. the three of them had their emas ready, and are just awaiting the new year to come. however, one of them is quite impatient.

"sazu must be lonely! i should've stayed with her." he pouted childishly, following the two who were enjoying their precious time together as mikey served as their third wheel. if it wasn't for emma forcing him to visit the shrine with them, then he would have long been at the hospital with food and a blank ema ready for kazua to write on.

"oh, shush. we're going to visit her after." emma looked over her shoulder with a light smile. "kazu-neesan wouldn't want us to celebrate the new year in a hospital room, anyway."

"you can't speak for sazu, emma." mikey retorts.

"now, now. it's only five minutes before the clock strikes twelve. we'll be there shortly, mikey." draken says, an attempt to ease his best friend a little. he hasn't spent time outside the hospital room for and six days, and this is the only time that they managed to drag him somewhere other than the hospital.

"my ema!"

"your emma?" emma, along with draken and mikey, looked behind them to see takemichi tripping over himself and falling hard on the rough ground. mikey chuckles, picking up an ema near his feet.

"a-ah! emma-chan, draken-kun! and mikey-kun!" takemichi spots the ema on mikey's hands and nearly cried. "please give me my ema."

"you sound so desperate." mikey laughed. "here you go, then!"

"thank you so much." takemichi cuddles the ema sweetly.

"oh, you're all here!"

"hey, didn't think i'd bump into you guys!"

"all the division captains are here with their families, huh?"

"guys, ten seconds til midnight!" mikey exclaimed, happy to see the members of toman gathering together in one spot. "let's all jump together!"

"three..."

"two..."

"one..."

toss!

"happy new year!"

they all jumped at the same time, throwing their emas high up the sky the moment their feet left the ground.

***

"happy new year."

senju popped a bottle of ginger ale open with a wide grin, knowing that it is kazua's favorite soda. "i'm going ahead and drink first, kazzie! sorry, you can't drink this yet."

she pouts a decent amount in a glass and chugged it in, standing by the edge of kazua's bed with the curtains spread open behind her.

the fireworks were going off, and mixed sounds of horns and cheerful yelling were muffled out by the glass.

"ah, it sucks that i don't get to eat your sashimi this new year." senju put the glass down the table and sat beside the girl, not minding the fireworks behind her. she's happy enough to be with kazua, even if she wasn't mentally present. "it's okay, though. we have more years to celebrate, anyway. so, take your time and come back when you're ready, okay?"

she takes out her ema from her pocket, flipping it over to show to the unconscious girl. "look, this is my wish." she cheekily grinned. "i wished for us to enter our last year of high school as classmates again. let's eat discretely at the back during class again, then sleep at the library!"

"yeah, the air conditioning...is no joke. it's hella cold...and you can just...hibernate there."

"i know, right?!" senju giggled. "remember when you took a winter coat just to keep yourself warm in the library when you slee—wait."

senju blinked. her mind slowly processed what just happened, and her eyes landed on the pale girl's stature. her face was as pale as the falling snow outside, lips crusty after not being hydrated for so long.

yet, her eyes were tiredly open.

"i must be hallucinating. i don't remember ginger ale having alcohol to make me delusional?" senju rubbed her eyes furiously with both fists as she stood from the stool.

"dumbass...you're not...hallucinating." her voice was raspy. "i...water."

"k-kazzie! you're awake!"

senju goes to pour her water, but instead put in ginger ale on her glass. "ack! wait, hold on!" she was giddy, and her hands were literally shaking when she grabbed another glass that she brought over to pour her water this time. senju carefully raised it to her lips, letting the girl slowly drink it to hydrate herself after a week of not taking anything.

"you're awake. you're really awake." tears began to overflow her vision, blurring everything in sight. she quickly wiped them off with the back of her hand after putting the glass down, wanting to see for herself once again that the girl was woken from her slumber. "kazzie, don't fucking scare me like that."

she threw her arms around the girl, crying heavily onto her shoulder. she was mindful of the wires and the girl's weak state as she hugged her, happy that she's finally back to them.

"didn't know you're such a crybaby, frosty." kazua chuckled lightly, patting the girl's back with a single hand that she managed to raise.

"so—uhm—happy new year?"

"i'm gonna go call the doctor." senju carefully detached herself from the girl, still smiling through her happy tears. "happy new year, you idiot. don't even try pulling this shit on me again."

"heh, sorry about that." kazua snickers.

before senju left, she helped the girl sit up and piled two pillows behind her to let her see the ongoing fireworks outside. she then walked out of the room reluctantly to look for the doctor, announcing that the patient has awaken.

meanwhile, kazua looked out the window with a small frown. "was this the right decision?" she wonders to herself. "what made me choose life, anyway?"