Takemichi paced back and forth in front of the operation room, his nail pressed between his top and bottom tooth as he lost himself in his thoughts. His flattened blonde hair was pushed behind his ears and his clothes were wrinkled as a result of the rain, however he didn't bother to go home and clean up when he was so worried over his friend's wellbeing.
[ Name ] had her head pressed against the wall as she fell asleep despite insisting she wasn't tired the whole time she was there. She was even offered a room to sleep in from a familiar nurse, however she would deny the offer. This nurse would periodically come to check up on [ Name ], not being a stranger to the girl since this was the hospital she often visited.
"Takemichi!"
A yell was followed by quick-paced footsteps as a group approached the two, Takemichi's hand falling from his face and his head snapping over in their direction. He saw the group they had left behind when they went into the ambulance had just arrived, all looking terribly exhausted and anxious just as he was.
"Hina... Emma... guys..." he trailed off.
He glanced over to [ Name ], making everyone follow his line of sight, before explaining how she was tired after tonight and to just leave her alone, followed by how she was expected to heal with no repercussions. He then went on to explain Draken's well-being, which wasn't nearly as good of an outcome as the one [ Name ] had.
"Cardiac arrest...?" Emma trailed off in shock, her voice coming out meek in disbelief.
Hina shook her head back and forth. "No, this can't be real," she denied.
Emma quickly turned to Hina and grabbed onto her arm, wrapping her two around it and moving closer to her body as she sniffled.
"I'm scared, Hina!" Emma cried as it hit her that Draken was in critical condition and may not even live.
Hina soothingly rubbed the girl's back, feeling her own eyes sting in frustration. She found her attention drifting over towards [ Name ] as she continued to mindlessly console Emma, biting the inside of her cheek before she looked away.
It wouldn't be long before more footsteps would echo from down the hallway, gradually growing louder. More people were beginning to gather as news of Draken's condition spread.
"Takemitchy! How's Draken?!"
"Mitsuya! Peh-yan..." Takemichi voiced out the two's names in recognition.
Takemichi looked down, kissing his teeth as he clenched his fist at his side in frustration.
"Before we even got to the hospital, his pulse..."
Before he could finish, another person came around the corner. His footsteps were much more quiet and calm as he walked in what seemed to be no hurry, his hands shoved deep into his pockets as he looked forward with an apathetic expression.
"Mikey..." Takemichi mumbled out in shock, his heart dropping knowing just how close he is to Draken. And the thought that this event could be the start of Mikey being led astray should Draken really die, was all the more alarming.
"Where's the waiting room?" Mikey asked, looking around at the people outside of the emergency room to see they were all very familiar.
When he got no response aside from cautious and pity-filled stares, he sighed and lowered his head to stare down at the floor.
"Ken-chin...," he trailed off.
He looked up with an intensity that made everyone shiver, staring at that bright red sign that indicated that surgery was on-going within the next room.
"He's not gonna die here. He's always been a man of his word. He'd never do something so disingenuous," he said in full confidence.
A firm nod of his head was followed by his apathy dissipating into a reassuring look. "He promised me that we'd rule the world together," he mentioned with a grin.
This made everyone visibly relax, feeling reassurance in Mikey's confidence that Draken would be alright. Mikey's attention would then divert to look at the side where the seats were pressed against the wall, and what he saw was a familiar girl sleeping with her bandaged hand resting carefully on her lap.
His face softened. "And [ Name ]. She's okay?" He asked.
Takemichi looked over at her and nodded his head. "Just sleeping. She defended us and fought back the guys intending to finish off Draken."
Mikey's look turned into something similar to appreciation, an audible hum rising out of him as he looked her over for a moment longer. He then turned his attention to the operation room and remained quiet for the remainder of the time they had until that door would open once again.
For the next hour, they would continue to patiently wait. The more time passed, the more anxious they grew. Soon enough, everyone's hearts dropped to their stomachs when the light of the operating room shut off.
Those who were sitting stood up, and a moment later, the door opened and out came one of the operators with a gentle smile on her face. Emma and Hina clasped their hands together as they awaited for her to announce how Draken was, while the others began to bite their lips or fiddle with their hands in their pockets in anticipation.
"The operation was a success," she announced.
Mutual breaths of relief echoed throughout the room.
"Hell yeah!"
Some people immediately burst out into tears out of relief, the commotion making [ Name ] stir slightly as she blinked repeatedly from being woken up.
"Draken's okay!"
"All right! All right! All right!"
"Shut up you guys, let's go let everyone waiting outside know!"
Takemichi was grinning from ear to ear as he eagerly nodded his head, quickly wiping at the corner of his eyes to rid the tears that were daring to slide down his face.
"He's alright I presume?" [ Name ] asked with a deeper, more raspier voice than her normal one. The sleep she had gotten may not have been much, but it was refreshing and replenished a good amount of energy for her standards.
Takemichi turned and looked her way, a relieved breath of air being taken in through his nose seeing her expression was way less strained than earlier. Her furrowed eyebrows and pain stricken face may not have been acknowledged by herself having been used to it, but he could recognize it right away and could tell she was suffering.
"You're up! Yup, the surgery was a success!" He assured her.
She placed the palm of her hand flat against her chest, a soft, graceful smile lifting her cheeks and expressing nothing but happiness.
"Thank the archons— I'm so relieved."
——————♡——————
Takemichi and [ Name ] were quick to follow the others that were in the waiting room outside, where a majority of the Toman members were anxiously awaiting news of Draken. [ Name ] separated from him as she was pulled away by curious Toman members who wanted to know who she was.
Takemichi would go over with Hina, Emma, Takuya, Akkun, Yamagishi, and Makoto. He wasn't sure where Mikey went off to, but he knew he would be okay with confirmation that Draken would live.
The group happily talked about Draken's well-being and about all of the events that happened today. There were some curious questions on Kiyomasa's whereabouts, seeing as the Moebius goons did decide to abandon him. Either he's in police custody, being treated in the hospital, or still lying unconscious in that road, they concluded.
The group ignored the sliding doors at the entrance of the hospital opening up, a woman wearing all white emerging with her hands clasped in front of her chest as she looked around. When she spotted the group of seven, she made her way over until she was close enough to hear their conversation.
"Excuse me... you guys are friends of [ Name ]?" She asked. The group turned to see who was talking, and seeing one of the nurses was a surprise to them. Takemichi easily recognized her as the one that kept checking up on [ Name ], however she had stopped when everyone began to gather.
Emma pivoted her foot and smiled, responding with, "Yes, we are. Thank you for treating her."
The nurse's eyes were shadowed by her wispy bangs as she tilted her head to look towards the ground. Her hand squeezed tightly around the other and her breathing picked up as she grew frustrated. Suddenly, after a moment of silence, her head snapped up and she sent the group a much different expression than what any of them would have thought she would have. Her eyebrows were furrowed in anger and her lips were downturned into a frown.
"Please, what kind of friends are you!" The nurse suddenly spat, making some people's jaws slacken and eyes widen in shock.
"HUH?!" Takemichi exclaimed with bulging eyes.
The nurse's hands fell down limply to her side before she clenched her right hand into a fist, squeezing her thumb with her other four fingers tightly.
"She's such a sweet, genuine girl, I hate seeing her like this." The nurse quietly said, however it was loud enough for everyone to clearly hear.
Takuya stepped forward as he took his hands out of his baggy pants pocket and sent her a look of concern.
"What're you talking about?"
The nurse looked up at him and only stared for a moment, before she seemed to give in and audibly sigh.
"Where do I even start? We've operated on her from her gunshot wound, she's been admitted for being found unconscious or in near-death exhaustion, and now this! All within a month! Some friends you are for not even knowing that," she bitterly said.
"Gunshot wound?!" Hina exclaimed in horror. She clasped a hand on the bottom half of her face as she stood shocked, not even processing her own words for a moment.
Before the nurse could even respond, Emma asked a question in disbelief, equally as shocked as Hina and everyone else.
"What do you mean near-death exhaustion?" Emma asked, wondering what exactly that could mean as she felt her blood pressure sky-rocket once again.
Takemichi was nearly as lost as the rest of them minus the whole 'gunshot wound' part. He figured the exhaustion could have stemmed from the karmatic pain she often experienced, but that made no sense. She's always returned home relatively alright and would literally sleep off her wounds to replenish her energy and be fine in the morning. There's never been any mention of her being so severely out of it that someone had stumbled upon her and had to bring her to the hospital other than the first time the two have met.
"[ Name ], you better start talking!" Takemichi angrily yelled as he pivoted his feet and began to storm over in her direction.
[ Name ], hearing her name, popped her head around the broad frame of a Toman member she was talking to.
"Hm...?" She hummed. She quickly apologized to the gang members that were talking to her, to which they replied that they totally understood, before leaving with the promise that they would talk again.
As Takemichi and the others approached her, she turned fully in their direction and crossed her arms under her chest while tilting her head to the side curiously.
Hina stomped over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, a flustered look on her face as she began to shake her back and forth. The movement startled [ Name ] which caused her to unfold her arms and hold onto Hina.
"You were shot!" Hina exclaimed. [ Name ] quickly ducked out of her hold, however when she stood up straight, Takemichi was right in front of her.
"You've been in the hospital other times I didn't know about?!" Takemichi interrogated.
She stepped backwards a few steps as her eyes glanced over everyone, eyebrows furrowing as she tried to comprehend what all the excitement was about.
"What the hell-- What's going on?" She questioned.
The nurse from earlier stepped out from behind the boys, her cheeks brightened with a pink, embarrassed hue as she entangled her fingers slowly.
"I'm sorry, I was really frustrated, and I told them..." The nurse trailed off, [ Name ] immediately understanding what she was implying.
"Oh, how troublesome." She said before shutting her eyes and rubbing her eyelids gently with her thumb and pointer finger.
Takemichi suddenly grabbed her hand and brought it back down away from her face, the nearly undid bandages on her hand almost showing her close-to-perfectly healed wound.
[ Name ]'s eyes opened instinctively and she stared right at Takemichi, who never let go of her hand. His eyes shined with a watery glow, like the moon reflected over a subtly moving pool of water. She stopped whatever protest that was going to emerge, and instead patiently waited for him to talk.
Takemichi gently lowered his hand with hers still held in it, and when he brought it back to her side, he let go.
"Listen [ Name ], is it true you've been here on other occasions than when we first met?" He asked.
"...But I've already told you that I have? I've never been dishonest with you."
Takemichi began to sweat profusely. She wasn't the type to lie and he could tell she was being truthful. The 'Takemichi' she must have told these occasions about must have been his past self when he went into the future. Suddenly he was the one feeling guilty, backing up before rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and muttering out an 'oh'.
"I'm not letting this go, [ Name ]. You were shot?" Hina asked.
Emma, Makoto, Akkun, Yamagishi, and Takuya remained quiet as they let Hina and Takemichi take over with the questioning. Yamagishi had his hands shoved in his pockets and his lips slightly parted as he listened in shock, each of them showing their individual concerns in their own ways.
[ Name ] sighed. "I apologize. I didn't want to worry you all, so I figured I would keep it to myself."
"You're an idiot!"
Takemichi gasped in horror and the other four boys began to sweat with widened eyes, all knowing that she was a genuine gang member with an implied bad past. And she was tough, not someone they would outright disrespect or curse, holding a similar authority to Mikey in their eyes. Emma sweat-dropped and watched the interaction between the girls, Hina taking the words right out of her mouth.
"Excuse me?" [ Name ] asked with an irritated tick mark forming at the corner of her forehead, though the clear annoyance didn't deter Hina in the slightest.
When [ Name ] heard that sniffle and saw Hina's nose scrunch up slightly, she felt her anger dissipate. Hina's bottom lip wobbled as she voiced out her own frustrations.
"You could have ended up dead and none of us would have known! What is wrong with you, being so distant like that. Aren't we friends like you told Kiyomasa?"
"We are--"
"--So then why are you acting like we're not! Tell us these things! Take better care of yourself!" She lectured, everyone more afraid of her in this moment rather than whatever wrath [ Name ] could provoke from being insulted.
Suddenly she turned on her heel and glared at Takemichi, her hand lifting as she jutted a finger in his direction.
"And you!"
Takemichi swallowed down a nervous lump that formed in his throat as he shakily pointed to himself.
"Me?"
She nodded.
"You live with her! How come you didn't know about this?"
The five in the background didn't know if they should intervene or not, but perhaps these were things the two needed to hear. They all wanted nothing more than for them to be safe. Today was too much of a close call with Draken, and they don't think they can handle something like that repeating.
Hina swears these two brought out the anger in her she didn't know she had. They worried her to no end, and she showed that worry through scolding them.
"Hey, what're you guys arguing about? Is everything okay?" Mitsuya, the boy with purple hair asked as he approached the group with a concerned look. His hands were shoved into his pockets and his eyebrows were quirked upwards as he looked between those who were standing around.
"We're fine."
"We're not."
Suddenly, [ Name ] did something that would make everyone in the group stop talking and lose their train of thoughts. She bowed. The action of her hovering her hands gently over her lap and folding her upper half slightly forward made everyone freeze in shock, not expecting her to do something like that. She did have really formal tendencies, but even this felt almost flustering.
Her eyes were gently shut as she spoke sincerely.
"I never meant to upset you to this extent, I was trying to avoid making you worry. I really am sorry, I've just been overworking myself and I get hurt as a result of my exhaustion. I promise, I will take better care of myself for you guys," she promised.
She continued to hold that bowed position, however when she felt the touch of someone's hand on her shoulder, her eyes slowly opened and looked to see Hina standing next to her. Hina smiled gently and pushed her shoulder back in a motion that urged her to stand up straight.
"That's more like it," she said.
Suddenly, stepping forward to make herself known once again, the nurse from earlier smiled in the direction of the two girls and felt every ounce of stress leave her body after hearing them converse with her.
"I hope to see you less, in a good way, [ Name ]. I love your visits only when it's to check up on us and bring us flowers." She then glanced at where the boys and Emma stood. "Please, take care of her."
"We will!" They replied in unison.
A warm feeling enveloped [ Name ], one she could only describe as feeling noticed. She had this sense of belonging in the group, finding that the way they genuinely cared over her well-being and shed tears on her behalf was a heartwarming feeling. A shy feeling arose as she glanced at each one of them, from Hina and Emma, to Takuya, Makoto, Yamagishi, and Akkun, and to Takemichi. They all meant a lot to her, and knowing that the feeling was mutual brought a sense of peace.
This world that she's been trapped in may not be so unbearable after all. Perhaps she won't rush through her tasks to return home as she's been attempting, which have been a contributing reason for her getting so injured.
Her peaceful state of mind would be shattered as Takemichi snapped his head in her direction after he waved the nurse off, an irritated expression coming to his face before he shouted,
"YOU!"
Takemichi wasn't done as he walked over to [ Name ] and slung his arm around her neck. [ Name ] stumbled in surprise as he tugged her closer, bringing them to relatively the same level of height. He then clenched his fist before planting it atop of her head and rubbing harshly in anger.
Her eyes shot wide as she reached up and attempted to pry his arms off from her, but to no avail.
"Let go before you end up in the emergency room next!" She declared as she struggled against him, still feeling exhausted to the point Takemichi could overpower her.
"PFFFT"
The group laughed at the interaction, glad to see that the tense air was completely gone.
Mitsuya sweat-dropped, but managed to let a chuckle fall from his lips seeing the two. But when he found that [ Name ] was completely serious in her threats, his chuckle became more fearful for Takemichi as he quickly intervened.
"Alright you two, that's enough," Mitsuya said as shook his head back and forth.
He didn't know [ Name ] personally aside from her being mentioned in a few conversations, but for some reason he figured he would be seeing her a lot more often.
——————♡——————
Steadily, everyone began to leave the hospital grounds and return to their homes with reassurance knowing that Draken was safe. Takemichi offered to walk Hina and Emma home, with [ Name ] intended to tag along of course, while the other boys would depart earlier on already.
As [ Name ] exited the building of the hospital after taking time to talk with the doctors and nurses she was familiar with, she looked around for Takemichi, Hina, and Emma. She tilted her head in confusion when her line of sight couldn't locate any of them, however for the time being, it seemed she would be distracted anyways as someone called out her name.
"Hey, [ Name ]!"
[ Name ] turned and saw Mikey jogging over to her, his hand falling back to his side after he used it to project his voice. He grinned and his other hand raised in the air as he waved at her excitedly.
She reciprocated the warm greeting through a small smile.
"Oh, Mikey. I'm assuming you heard the good news. I'm glad Draken will be okay."
Mikey stopped in front of her and could only nod his head at her words, re-calling she was fast asleep when he was there, so she probably didn't even know he was in the waiting room in the first place. He breathed out a relaxed sigh from his nose and eased his hands into his pockets, looking at [ Name ] with an expression she couldn't decipher.
"[ Name ]..." he trailed off, his expression turning into one of seriousness as his grin dropped into a smile.
She nodded her head, urging him to continue as she patiently waited for his thoughts to form.
Mikey chuckled lightly at her serious expression, finding it cute how her subtle shift in emotions were shown so brilliantly. It was mostly little things like a quirk in her eyebrow or lift at the side of her lips, but her expressions were vast in a sense she could express a lot of them depending on the mood. It was almost as if she studied and memorized every little reaction a person can replicate.
He lifted his hand and rested it against the nape of his neck, nothing but respect radiating off from him as he spoke.
"Thank you. I heard you fought against those bastards trying to kill him and you got yourself stabbed. You've already proven yourself to be a reliable Toman member." He said, his lips curling back upwards into his signature playful grin. But this grin was sincere and heartfelt, one filled with giddy appreciation and admiration.
She shook her head back and forth and lightly snorted, a silent message that it was no big deal in her eyes.
"It's my pleasure."
Now it was [ Name ]'s turn to take the mic as she took a step closer towards Mikey. Her arm raised up until it was leveled to her chest, Mikey watching as she then brought it closer to her so it was placed atop of where her heart would be.
"Mikey, please, call my name. Whenever you need me regardless of how trivial the matter, call out for me, and I will arrive."
Despite there being previously no airflow around on this still night, a strong gust of wind passed Mikey, making strands of his hair flow backwards. His eyes slightly widened and his lips slackened the slightest in awe, her words resonating deep within him.
He looked her up and down in silence, not responding for the moment as he got lost in his thoughts.
She was truly so pretty. Not that he didn't find other girls pretty, but her outdated traditional way of speaking and grace she constantly seemed to radiate was so precious. His thoughts could only focus on the fact that her beauty was something only gods could attain and that her aura was on par to one's too, despite being human through and through to his knowledge.
He felt his heart rate quicken, causing him to smile. Despite it being dark out and the moon glowing brightly, being around her felt like the sun was stampeding over his skin, even if her energy was more akin to the moon.
He closed his eyes lightly and shook his head, in disbelief that he truly trusted in what she promised.
"As ridiculous as you just made that sound, I can't find myself to say you're lying. Alright then, but if I call and you don't come, I'll be pretty disappointed."