53. Solace

I know this really isn't the time to be out shopping with girls in the middle of the day, but that's exactly what I ended up doing. 

"C'mon, Rei, you have to try the new apple cake in the store!" Kyoko tugged at my arm, pointing at the cake store.

"The chestnut tart too!" Haru added, holding my other arm and taking me along.

"Cakkkeee!" Sae yelled as she tagged along on my left leg like a koala.

"Go go, Rei-chan Taxiii," Sui's monotone was a strange contrast to how excited she sounded, but she held onto my right leg as her eyes sparkled in the direction of the cake shop.

Oh god, how did I get into this situation??

-

A while ago:

We were sitting around Lambo's bed, chatting in hushed tones as Nana peeled an apple for everyone.

"But did you see Yamamoto-san just now? How did he get those injuries?" Haru spoke up worriedly, "Is it really just some Sumo match?"

"It happened to my Brother too, and Gokudera-kun." Kyoko added grimly, "I wonder if they'd actually tell us what's going on."

It was a moment of silence before they turned to me synchronously.

I gulped. I coughed, but covered my mouth in time. I have a very bad feeling about--

"Hey, Rei-kun, do you know what's going on?" Kyoko asked me.

I furiously shook my head and my hands, "Nope! I don't!" I answered hurriedly.

Kyoko's eyes narrowed at me skeptically. 

I had to look away. Another cough.

"You know something, don't you?" Kyoko asked again.

"I don't!" I answered in a panic-- "I don't, really! Not at--" then a cough abruptly interrupted.

Both girls, even Nana and I-pin were staring at me now. Dripping with cold sweat-- I slowly stood up, and bolted out the door.

"He knows something, catch him!" Haru declared.

I got caught.

-

I sighed.  "Kyoko, Haru." I addressed them, "If anyone's gonna tell you guys anything, it has to be them. Not me. I'm barely involved at all." 

I forced out a sad, apologetic smile, coughing into the back of my palm as the girls' eyes, narrow and stern, considered me.

My response didn't seem to satisfy them. 

"Then," Haru inched closer to me, "In exchange for not telling us anything--"

"What about we have Rei-kun pay us some shush fee so we'd give up?" Kyoko took a step closer.

Huh?

And that brings us here, to my crying wallet and my little sisters whining for more sugar.

What is this cliche anime harem nonsense?!

--

All jokes aside, I paid for the cakes and we left the store. I had to accompany the girls as they took their leisurely stroll around the shopping street-- eyeing for any interesting places they could go see-- but didn't really go into many.

My head lifted toward the sky, registering the fact that this was, in fact-- a calm. 

Although war-- conflict was definitely burning behind the scenes-- but with the girls... The girls were the one and only comfort of peace the guys had.

No matter what goes on, the girls were there to provide them with solace.

A hand landed on my eyes.

"Bianchi-san!" Kyoko and Haru were quick to notice her, "Why are you here?" How did she find us, know we are here, or why did she even follow after us at all?

"Rei, you're being called." she told me, "Some doctor in the hospital was asking for you."

"A doctor?" I had to ask in surprise, "...wait, you came all the way out here to say that?"

Bianchi shrugged. "It seemed urgent .Neither Mama or I had another means to contact you." she explained, a sigh afterwards, "If Mama didn't ask me to come I would've let you be."

"Well, thanks a lot for that." 

-

It was about the time we made it into the front desk of the hospital where another cough struck me. It's been going on nonstop all day, and it's getting to be quite an irritation now.

"Rei-kun!" Nurse Fujimiya, a familiar face that passed by coincidentally, "Amano-sensei's waiting for you in his office." 

She informed me quickly and promptly left as soon as she appeared.

"Huh? Oh, alright."

But just then, I let out another cough. This time, it hurt-- and another cough followed. A sharp pain burned my throat-- and suddenly I realize there was a tangy taste of copper in my mouth.

I looked at my hand-- and saw it was splotched with blood now. There was a trail of red sliding down the left corner of my lip--

Before I could even register to hide it, the girls had already seen it.

"Hahii!!" haru shrieked louder than she should've in a hospital.

"Oh no!" Kyoko panicked too, trying to figure out if she was to get a handkerchief or a tissue or call an ambulance wait we're in a hospital--

Meanwhile, Sae and Sui were at the front desk, screaming "AMANO-SENSEI!!!" at the poor receptionist that jumped in absolute horror.

Calmer than I thought I'd be, I pulled out a handkerchief from my pocket and covered my mouth with it. 

At this point, Kyoko and Haru were stuttering out incoherent sentences because they didn't know what to say and couldn't reach an agreement. "Are you alright" and "Call for a doctor" became "Are you a doctor, wait no, call for an alright-- NO!"

Their panic was wildly amusing.

People were eyeing the panic in bewilderment, and upon meeting eyes with a random man on the couch to my right, I gave him a light bow and an apology for the noise.

-

Ninomiya Rei has been detained on a bed in the ER.

Amano

"Amama-sensei, is Rei gonna die?" Sae asked worriedly.

"Amama-sensei, is Rei gonna be alright?" Sui continued, concerned.

Amano in fact, recall these two mischievous girls yelling his name --correctly-- at the top of their lungs just a minute ago, but for the sake of his sanity and for the sake of anger management, he will pretend that his name is Amama.

With a smile, he gave the trained, professional answer every doctor needs to give to children: "Of course!" with ultra assurance and confidence in his tone, "He's immortal, if I recall."

"Uh, Amano-sensei," spoke the girl with a dark brown ponytail, "Is Rei-san...alright?"

That made Amano's face fall.

He could only sigh at this point, scratching the back of his head and eyeing in the direction of the boy who was on the bed behind the curtain.

"I honestly don't know," he admitted softly, "But we always do all we can."

Kyoko, the young girl with auburn hair-- the one that's been around since Rei's childhood-- she was much more calm about it. "Hey, Amano-sensei, will Rei-kun be up anytime soon?"

Amano, following a tut, shook his head gently. "I'll be detaining him for the next two days for a checkup. That was the reason I called for him in the first place, anyways."

"Two days?" Sui let out a little heartbreaking sob.

"But Rei-chan promised to spend time with us tomorrow!" Sae cried in despair.

The young girls were clinging to his stomach now, eyeing him with those puppy teary eyes that begged and pleaded with tears in the corners--

Amano let out a groan of utter annoyance.

"Now, now," out came Kunomasu from behind the curtain-- wait a fucking minute when the hell did you go in there did you do something to my patient-- and Kunomasu walked toward the two girls, crouching down to their eye level. 

Amano peeked into the curtain and saw Rei glaring at a new IV drip attached to the back of his left palm. Rei scrutinized it, and seemed to be debating the pros and cons of keeping that needle inside his hand. He looked like he was having a silent conversation with Mr Irritating Needle.

"Your Rei-chan needs rest." he heard Kunomasu explaining to the sniffling girls, "Once he gets released, you can hog him all day long, if you want!"

Sniffling, with Sui burying her face into Sae's shoulder, the two girls reluctantly nodded.

Kyoko and Haru looked sad, but they were understanding. 

Amano sighed at the sight. "Well then, Kunomasu, I'll leave them to you." he dismissed himself, "I'll be calling up Yuuichirou about how he should stop leaving his children alone because his son gets hospitalized every fucking minute he's gone."

-

Behind the curtain, Rei internally screeches in frustration.

Frustration, because he really didn't need to be adding anymore worry on everyone's plate.