"Here you go." The doctor gave Rigaku an encouraging smile after he fixated the hurt arm.
"Arigatou." The boy slightly bowed.
"As I said, take plenty of rest. You still have tests in front of you, and your brothers need you healthy and not dead tired."
"I know."
The doctor touched Rigaku's bowed head with his notes. "You should. Now go, and don't forget to visit the hospital."
"I won't. Arigatou."
Rigaku left the room, and his brother and Freya waited for him.
"I know which hospital admitted Ka."
The oldest Kamini's eyes shone. "Let's visit him. I need to go to the hospital anyway."
They nodded and headed outside. The lessons already ended, and only a few people stayed behind. In front of the school gate, they got in the car, and the driver headed into the hospital.
"I've spoken with Father," Aiyoku said as they turned a corner. "The school already informed him about everything. It seems the headmistress is his business partner and acquaintance."
"Really?" Rigaku pondered a bit about it since he didn't hear anything like that. "That makes her Ueno-san's mother."
Aiyoku's eyes narrowed as he dug his fingers into his pants. "You don't think Ueno-san would... be behind this?"
Freya's body jerked, and she bit her tongue. 'No way!' Flashes and glimpses of memories blinded her for a short moment. 'She wouldn't!'
For the first time in her life, she wanted to scream and yell the truth into the world. Yet her throat tightened, and she gasped for air. The brothers didn't know the truth, she promised to keep a secret.
'If only they could know.'
She listened to them, finding to her relief Rigaku didn't agree with this theory. No matter what Ueno did before, she had no strength to push Kagetsu, much less to get him near water.
Aiyoku wasn't keen on this theory either, but given their history, nobody could blame them for suspecting her. She had enough lap-dogs and cats to do it.
Both of them agreed it's too soon to be sure. Kagetsu knew the whole truth, and so they should ask him once he would regain consciousness. From the call, their father told him doctors assured him their youngest brother's condition was stable.
For the rest of the ride, none of them uttered a word.
\\_(''>_<'')_//
At the receptionist's table, they stopped to find what room Kagetsu was in. The middle-aged woman wasn't keen to let them in since Kagetsu had been admitted only a few hours ago. But once all three of them deeply bowed, begging, she allowed them ten minutes. Nevertheless, that was all Rigaku needed. Seeing his brother could lift the boulder off his shoulders.
His stomach squirmed, twisted, and expanded before shrinking in an attempt to throw away whatever he had eaten. The smell of disinfection and white walls with light green in the middle didn't help his mood, neither settled down his guts. Only his willpower stopped Rigaku from dashing through the corridors.
If his arm wasn't sending pangs through his arm, he would climb the outer wall to get there faster. Counting the numbers of the rooms while everything else turned into smudged pictures, he stopped.
The heartbeat resonated in his ears, speeding the blood in his system with is heart working on the double. Shaking, he placed his fingers on the doorknob, but nothing in the world would force him to press it. His ragged breath evaporated in front of his eyes.
And then, his heart stopped.
The pain stepped back.
People around him ceased to exist.
With the exception of two whose hands rested on his.
Freya and Aiyoku send him sad smiles, sharing his exact thoughts and fear of learning the truth.
Pressing the doorknob at once, the hinges pivoted, opening the path into a tiny world known as a hospital room. The curtain divided the area into two. The front one served for nurses or visitors to place their belongings.
Behind the cloth, curtains wavered around the open window. The fresh air filled their lungs as if they couldn't breathe before. Overcoming the few steps, they faced their brother and friend.
Kagetsu laid in bed with tubes in his nose, and a machine next to him pumped nutrition inside his veins. The beeping sound ensured them of his periodical heartbeat.
Aiyoku patted the only chair next to the bed, prompting Rigaku to sit down. Listening, he assumed that place, his legs giving up under him.
Minutes of silence passed, before Rigaku whispered, "You would make a great Sleeping Beauty, Ka."
A quiet snicker and giggle reached his ears, but none came from his youngest brother. For how long could he be this way? Hours? Days? Weeks? Or even years? The escalating swirl of thoughts terrified him, his frustration reflecting in his clenched fingers and teeth.
Not even the strongest pat could bring him out of his thoughts, not now. Calculating and running different scenarios occupied Rigaku's exhausted brain. No time for rest. There had to be something he could do except for waiting at the edge of a cliff.
The wind howled from inside the endless darkness under the cliff. Daring him to jump into swirling madness and insanity. His brain failed him time and time again in the most critical moments. So what was the point of his intelligence?
'Ka didn't read the new chapters yet.' Silent thought flashed inside his mind like a ray of light in the middle of a raging storm. 'I wanted him to see it.'
The wind bellowed.
'There is this upcoming scene I would love to see on paper drawn by his hand.'
The dark clouds towered, reaching down from the sky to gulp him like a hungry monster.
'I want to see his smile...'
The clouds spread like snakes around him, pushing him toward the edge.
'I can't...'
Biting his lip, he lifted his hand, reaching inside the clouds. Their thick mass slowed him down, but inch by inch, he reached further.
His fingertips burned, almost bursting in flames, as they touched Kagetsu's forehead.
"Onegaishimasu, wake up," his oldest brother whispered, in the hope, those simple words could awake him.
Yet, all the hope evaporated after minutes ticked away as nothing changed. The time for them to leave came too soon, even if they could stay there for an eternity. Leaving his brother in the hospital's care, Rigaku headed to get his shoulder examined.