The Humanity Club | ✓

22. It's like you don't even try

CHAPTER 22

"Mi-chan! You came to see me!"

There wasn't even a second's delay for Saki to tug my arm forward and enclose me into a squeezing hug. There was no other option than to unappealingly gasp for air, which was ironic considering the girl was having such a hard time doing so herself an hour earlier.

        "Saki, stop getting worked up," Hiro hissed, securing his grip around Saki and yanking her back the same time Yuji did for me.

I was freed after nearly dislocating my shoulder from its socket, and I inched to a safer distance in the bleak room. Where the hell did she store all that inhuman strength of hers?

         "What do you mean?" Saki demanded, sitting upright on her bed with a frown. "How can I not get worked up when Mi-chan came all this way to see me? I'm so touched!"

        She sent me a wide smile for emphasis to which I involuntarily shivered. But despite her vigour, Saki's pale complexion proved her feeble state. Goosebumps appeared across my arms but they didn't disappear as easily as the tension in the room did due to Yuji's loud sigh.

         "I can't believe you, Saki," he said, frowning as he ruffled his messy helmet hair. "You worried the crap out of me."

"She worried the crap out of the both of us," Hiro said, hands behind his head. Unlike usual, he wasn't wearing a hat. His hair was styled to neatly hover above his eyebrows and he was even dressed in a fancy black suit, which oddly enough kind of suited him. "Seriously, people can die from an asthma attack and here this girl didn't even have her inhaler on her."

         "That's because I haven't had an emergency in months!" she defended. "Hiro just started freaking out over nothing! I only reacted to some kind of pollen that drifted into the hall so I would've been fine with some fresh air!"

         "You could barley breathe!" Hiro pressed. "You're always so fixated on other people—all the goddamn time. Why do you never look out for yourself?"

          "I don't need to." Hiro paused to stare at her in stunned silence, moreover when her energy diminished into the form of a weak smile. "Even if everyone hates me, and I end up hurt, it doesn't matter. The only thing I need to do is grin and be the happy-go-lucky idiot I am... That is the reason they've kept me around so long, anyway."

        Not only Hiro and Yuji were stuck gaping—I even had to keep my jaw from plummeting. This wasn't the Saki I was familiar with. The clingy, bubbly girl I'd been around for months. And the words pooling from her mouth were even more difficult to absorb.

         A raucous slam nearly jolted me from my skin. My neck jerked in the direction of the wall where Yuji's balled fist had made frightening contact with. My heart stopped in my chest at the rage in his eyes as he lowered himself to Saki's side.

        "Was it Ikumi?" His voice carried a louder decibel I would've never believed he possessed. "Did Ikumi say something to you again?"

        At his proximity, Saki heaved a strained chuckle. "Yuji, you're not acting like yourself. Iku-nee did nothing."

        "I don't buy that!" Yuji once again rammed his fist. "Don't you dare listen to a thing that girl tells you. So pompous and entitled all the time—"

        "Excuse me, is everything alright in here?"

        All eyes swivelled to the doorway where a sheepish nurse had poked her head inside, medicine in tow.

         "Sorry if I'm interrupting," she went on as she fully pushed open the door, "but, Yamamoto-san I have to check your current condition..."

          "Oh, of course!" Saki responded, flashing her a fuller smile. She rolled her shoulders as she laughed, "I'm perfectly fine though, ma'am! Full of energy! See?"