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As promised, the update!

This one ended up longer than I thought it would! 8k words I knew what I wanted to cover in this chapter, and by the time I got to it all, it took more time and words than I anticipated

The artwork for this chapter is commissioned from galia-and-kitty on Deviantart. I absolutely love the way this picture came out, and was the push I needed to make sure the chapter was finished! Had a lot of projects the last few weeks. Hope it's worth the wait!

Comments and feedback appreciated!

Act 2: Countdown

Scene 5: Manly Fishbowl Rocks

“Oh my God,” Chisato says, closing her eyes in appreciation as happiness washes over her face. “I've been looking forward to this all week.” She hungrily goes back to attacking her chocolate ice cream cone. The other girls and myself share in her enthusiasm as we all enjoy our frozen treats.

“That good, huh?” I ask, amused.

“Fantastic. I never get to eat ice cream unless we come to the city. The Aura Mart doesn't sell anything like this that I can eat.”

“Doesn't the cafeteria have food you can have?”

“Of course they do,” Chisato chides. “But most of it tastes like cardboard. Nothing sweet, nothing spicy, nothing good.”

I can't say she's wrong. It would make sense though, given how varied the students at Yamaku are. You wouldn't want to trigger a condition someone has, so the food has to be tailored so it's safe for nearly everyone. When you think about how the food tastes there, it's easy to understand why countries used to go to war over things like salt and pepper.

“Your taste buds must be completely destroyed,” Saki says. “That's still as bad as it was the last time you made me try it.”

Chisato had grabbed a few sample spoons and graciously allowed us to try a taste of her ice cream. Noriko simply raised an eyebrow. Saki took a taste and remained impassive for about two seconds before her face scrunched up in disgust. To me, the flavor wasn't as pronounced as I would have expected and there was definitely a chemical aftertaste...but it wasn't the culinary disaster Saki led me to believe it was.

“Maybe I'm just more sensitive because you keep pouring sugar down your throat,” Chisato fires back before taking another bite.

“I make no apologies,” Saki replies with mock indignation.

Noriko laughs. “The strawberry is good. What kind did you two get?”

“Vanilla,” I answer. “You're right, this is pretty good.”

“Just vanilla?” Saki scolds. “How pedestrian.”

“I happen to like vanilla, thank you very much.” I say, matching her tone. To prove my point, I take two more quick bites, and then abruptly stop when I feel a slight twinge of pain starting behind my eyes. I squeeze them shut and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Ah, damnit...”

“Serves you right,” Saki says teasingly, but with a hint of concern. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I groan, blinking hard as the feeling passes. “Haven't had brain freeze in a while.” I look at Saki's cone, which is much further along in being consumed than the rest of ours are. “How do you not get one?”

“More practice,” she grins.

We all find seats on a pair of benches outside the ice cream shop, and take a few minutes to relax. We're in a plaza in the heart of downtown, with the city very much alive. The sounds of a bustling metropolis surround us. I hear cars driving, people walking and chatting, even the subtle shifting in the wind as it caresses the buildings around us.

Even the smell is different. It's not one I would want to be around all the time, but it's a nice contrast to both Yamaku and the hospital. All of it combines into a subliminal feeling that the world around you is alive.

“Noriko!” Saki asks suddenly, shaking me out of my thoughts. “I have to know where you got that dress.”

Noriko seems preoccupied with finishing her ice cream, intent on not letting any of the sticky liquid run down her cone and onto her hands. “Oh,” she says, a bit startled. “I got it from a shop a few blocks from here. Plus Two.”

“Really? We were just there last week, and I didn't see that anywhere.”

“It was from their spring lineup last year,” her friend clarifies. “It was on clearance and I didn't have a chance to wear it earlier. Sorry...”

“Damn,” Saki says. “I really wanted a yellow one.”

Chisato speaks up. “Maybe they'll bring it back if it was popular. You know how they change out things every year.”

“I guess...” Saki huffs, still holding on to her dejected tone as tightly as her cone.

Part of me doesn't want to finish my ice cream, because that means it's time to go shopping. I'm already dreading the hit my wallet is going to take today, and I would like to postpone it as long as possible. I look down at my hand to find it empty, except the paper wrapper that encircled the bottom of the cone. I look around me to find that everyone else is in the same boat or very close to it.

Chisato bounds to her feet, stretching, completely recharged. “Where do you want to go first?” she asks all of us. I stand as well, throwing my trash into a bin right beside the benches.

Noriko gets up a little more reservedly, brushing off the back of her dress and smoothing it out. “We could head back to Plus Two and see if they have something like this for Saki.”

Saki's mood seems to become more positive as she juggles her cane and purse into comfortable positions. She reaches both of her hands out towards me; one empty, one holding her cane.

“Hey Hisao, can I borrow you for a second?”

I smile inwardly at the reference to how she rescued me from the middle of the student council's fury and offer my hands to her. She grabs onto them tightly and uses them to haul herself up, flashing me a brief smile of appreciation.

“Alright!” Saki says. “Even if they don't have it, they should have some other neat things, right?”

I do not belong here.

That is the one thought that is pounding through my head in time with the pounding of my heart. I reach up to pull on my collar, which feels uncomfortably tight.

I mean, physically, there's nothing that says otherwise. There's no signs keeping me out. There's no barriers to entry. It's entirely open to the public. But the first glance that the salespeople give me, combined with the décor of the store which I can't make sense of, all give me that impression. This was cemented the first time I glanced at a price tag hanging from what I thought was just a simple dress shirt. I stared at it, thinking they had misplaced the decimal.

I was wrong.

All four of us are technically inside the clothing store Plus Two that Noriko mentioned, although I wouldn't say all four of us are together. All the girls split up the second we strolled in the door, and I'm kindof wandering in the area where that happened, unsure of what to do. I can hear the other three piping up loud enough to be heard occasionally, but I can't see them through the dense maze of clothes oppressing me from all sides.

Mannequins and display racks surround me, full of trendy clothes for both men and women. I look at the ensemble that one of the male mannequins is wearing, and I can't help it; the outfit just looks silly. A plaid beret, a blood red dress-style shirt with a black scarf, and jeans that are...

Wait, these are mens jeans? No. Someone must have put on a pair from the womens section. There's no way a man could wear anything that tight without some serious consequences.

Well...at least it doesn't cost anything to look, right? I look at the price out of curiosity and my eyes widen.

I used to do my own clothes shopping back home for anything that wasn't required for school, and I swear I could afford an entire wardrobe for the price of this one “outfit.”

I shake my head in wonderment, and make eye contact with a man across the store from me. Through his glasses, I can see the look in his eyes. He's no more comfortable here than I am. He tilts his head in the direction of Saki's excited voice, asking an unspoken question. I dip my head in a nod, and give an exasperated sigh. He responds to my gesture with a small, sad smile, shifting his eyes to a woman a short ways away from him digging through the racks with a focused intensity.

For this one moment, we are inexorably linked as kindred spirits, he and I.

“Hisao?” I hear Saki ask. “Where are you?”

“Over here,” I reply, and make my way deeper into the store trying to find her.

“Where's 'here'?” she says, a bit louder.

“I'm right he-oof,” I manage to get out, as we both turn around opposite sides of the same rack and bump into each other. I'm barely knocked off balance, but I'm instantly reminded of Saki's cane and balance issues. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine,” she answers, reaching up to brush her hair out of her eyes. Her other arm, which is holding her cane, has a few garments over it. “Can you help me with something really quick?”

I'm instantly put on guard by that question. There's about a fifty-fifty chance of “something really quick” meaning just that or something that will take all day and involve pain. Given our circumstances at the moment, I'm hoping it's the former.

“Sure,” I say, hesitantly.

“I can't choose between these two outfits,” she says, holding them out for me to inspect them, but I can't get a clear view of them draped over her arm. “Noriko likes one, Chisato likes the other. Can you be our tiebreaker?”

“Okay,” I agree dumbly. Warning bells are going off in my head.

I follow Saki to the back of the store where the other two girls are already seated on low padded benches in front of the dressing booths, talking among themselves. I take a seat next to Noriko as Saki disappears into one of the booths, closing the door.

(continued...)

“I don't know anything about fashion,” I wonder aloud. “I don't know if my opinion is going to count for anything...”

“That's why you're the perfect judge!” Noriko says. “You won't be able to tell how horrible the colors are on the jacket she took in there...”

“Now wait a minute,” Chisato snaps back. “Those leggings aren't much better. It's too late in season right now for black...”

I understand the words they're saying. I just have no idea what they mean. I endure the banter for a few minutes, hearing various shifting and a thump or two inside the booth.

“Alright, I'm coming out,” I hear Saki announce through the door. Her outfit is much different than the one she was just wearing.

Her top is a strange combination of solid white with a black lace pattern moving down the sides with a nearly identical stripe moving down the center of her chest. A dark pink skirt flows to her knees, held in place by a large white belt made of a similar fabric to the top. Plain black leggings finish the outfit, tying it all together. She does a small spin to let all three of us see her.

“Well, what do you think?” Saki asks, looking at me.

“It...” I stumble. My brain is doing flips right now. It's like tasting a strange yet appealing food combination. You're torn between the flavor in your mouth being good, but still mentally confirming that such foods should not be mixed together.

That's what's happening visually right now. I don't think you'd see many people wearing that combination of colors or even that outfit, at least where I used to live. But still, on Saki...

“...it...works,” I say, my eyebrows raising in astonishment at both how Saki looks and my own thoughts on that appraisal. Her eyes light up, and she gives a very slight bow. Noriko gives out a “yessss” in a stage whisper, while Chisato sighs theatrically.

No way to guess wrong on who sides with what outfit.

Chisato waves her hand impatiently. “Yes, yes...now try the other one on. I'm not admitting defeat that easily.”

Saki sticks her tongue out before retreating back into the changing room. I hear the rustle of fabric as she starts to undress.

“You know Chisato,” Noriko starts, leaning forward to look around me, “at least she can wear that outfit on a normal day. She won't be able to wear that dress anywhere.”

“Pfff. We women with a sense of style find events to wear clothes to.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Noriko heatedly asks.

The temperature just went up a few degrees. I hope my brother-in-arms is having a better time than I am right now.

Two more minutes go by, and Saki re-emerges. This time, my eyebrows shoot up and my mouth opens slightly as I see what she's wearing.

The dress she has on has a minimalist style, but what it lacks in flashiness it more than makes up for in elegance. The scarlet fabric almost looks like a wrap. It flows down to her knees and around her body, hugging the right areas to accentuate her figure before seeming to pull and gather at the left shoulder. From there, it lightly cascades in ruffles down the left side of her torso to just past her waist. A few lines of sequins embedded in the folds catch the light as she moves, an amazing contrast to the darkness of the shadows. Every move she makes sends light rippling through the iridescent cloth.

Almost as an afterthought, I realize that it matches her earrings.

Saki's cheeks turn pink as she sees all of us simply gawking.

<<Art by Tediusman>>

“Okay,” Noriko says simply. “You were right. It didn't look nearly that good on the mannequin.”

“Told you,” Chisato laughs. “What do you think, Hisao?”

Did someone just call my name? I think they did. I'm not sure. I feel the heat in my face and much to my astonishment, Saki's face turns a shade redder as we make eye contact.

Chisato shakes me out of my trance with a slap on the shoulder. “Hey, Hisao!”

“Y...yeah. Um...wow,” is all I'm able to get out before my brain kicks in. “That looks great.”

“I don't know which outfit to get, though...” Saki says, looking down at the dress and feeling the texture between her fingertips. “My dad might give me a call if he sees that I put that big a charge on the card...”

Her dad might call her? There's no way I could even attempt to buy one of those things on my emergency card without the bank instantly closing the account.

“If you can only get one, get the first one,” Chisato says, shocking the three of us with her reversal. She sees the look on our faces and continues. “What? The first outfit is on sale and Noriko is right. You can wear that all year, but the dress? Eh, wait until it goes on sale and your family looks in the other direction again.”

Something tells me that they've had conversations like this before.

Saki's eyes brighten as she makes a decision. “Alright, I'll do that. Give me a few minutes to change.” She slips back behind the door.

I catch Chisato giving me a look out of the corner of her eye. It's that look. Uhoh.

“So,” she says lightly. “What did you think of that dress, Hisao?”

“Why, what's wrong with these?” I ask, holding the pair of black trunks up for inspection.

We're currently in a much larger – and less expensive – store in the shopping district. After Saki had bought the clothes she wanted and Chisato picked up a gift card, we thankfully left Plus Two. I was breathing easier the second we walked out the door. Maybe one day I'll make enough money where walking into a place like that doesn't phase me, but I don't think it's very likely.

The girls decided that it was time to indulge my quest for some manly fishbowl rocks and something to swim in besides my gym clothes.

Subsequently, it's now my turn to model for the girls. Well, not literally. I'm not stripping down to just the swim trunks in the store. All I need to do is look at the tag to tell if something fits me or not. Ah, the privileges of being a peasant.

“They're so...plain,” Noriko states. The look on the other girls' faces seem to support this statement.

“Well unlike you, guys don't have much of a selection when it comes to what we can wear to the pool.”

“What are you talking about? There's a whole rack of spandex behind yo-”

“No.”

“Aw, come on,” Saki teases, pouting. Nope. Not gonna work.

“I'm trying to find something less revealing than my track shorts.”

“Alright, alright. You don't want those though. Try these,” she says, reaching into the rack next to me and pulling out another pair of shorts. I can't see much difference between the pair I'm holding and the pair she is. “These are made out of a lighter material, so they'll dry quicker,” she explains.

I feel the fabric. She's right. It's a bit rougher, but doesn't feel as heavy. A quick glance at the waistband shows that it's my size. And to top it off, they're less than what I was currently looking at.

“Huh, you're right...alright then. Where did Chisato run off to?” The short-haired girl wandered off sometime in the last few minutes, obviously bored waiting for me to pick out something.

“She went off towards the book section, I think,” Saki replies. “Some new book came out she wanted to pick up.” She turns and looks over her shoulder towards me. “She won't have gotten far.”

“I'll go find her,” Noriko says. “I wanted to check out the sales in the women's section anyway. Meet again in about ten minutes?”

“Sure.”

Noriko nods and walks off with purpose, giving a wave over her shoulder, leaving Saki and I alone.

“Ready to find some stuff for your fish?”

“Sounds good,” I say, draping the shorts Saki picked over my forearm. The pet section is only a few aisles over from the sports section, stocked with all manner of items for cats and dogs to more exotic pets like birds.

“I don't see what's so bad about the pink,” Saki comments as we turn down the fish aisle. “At least it was free.”

I find it interesting that someone who just dropped that much money on a few pieces of clothing is touting the merits of getting something for free. Interesting contrast, that.

“It's a guy thing,” I say, teasing her. “You just wouldn't understand.”

Saki rolls her eyes and blows a raspberry to show me just what she thinks of my statement. “So, what's going to be manly enough for you? This?” She bends over and plucks a decoration from the shelf and hands it to me. It's a skull with a large pirate hat, with two cartoonish eyes bulging from its sockets. It looks absolutely ridiculous.

“It's perfect.”

“You can't be serious.”

I was teasing, but seeing her reaction now, I'm totally getting this.

“Absolutely.”

“You're right. I don't understand.”

I select a plastic palm tree and a bag of white gravel from among the wares. “See? This matches his coloring.”

Saki laughs and shakes her head. “So do you have anything else you need to get? It's getting late and I'm getting hungry.”

Now that she mentions it, so am I. The snacks we had with Ms. Sakamoto at the cafe earlier only took the edge off our appetites. I mentally go down a checklist in my head, thinking if I forgot anything.

“What are you in the mood for?” Please don't tell me we're heading back to the area Plus Two is in. I imagine the food in the area is just as expensive as the clothing.

“I don't know yet. I thought, if the other two were okay with it, that we could wander around until we found something that looked good?”

“Count me in. Let's just grab a few more things.”

Saki and I wander through the rest of the store. Both of us pick out some odds and ends like deodorant and toothpaste, things that you can find at the Aura Mart but are a little less expensive in the city. We make small talk back and forth, finally reaching the front of the store where the registers are. Noriko is a few places ahead of us in line, and Chisato is already seated on a bench by the door, holding a bag and patiently waiting.

Browsing for places to eat when you're hungry is an interesting experience, depending on how hungry you are. You know you're hungry for something, but you just don't know what, and nothing looks like it will hit the spot. Choosing something in that circumstance means you'll spend the entire meal wondering if that other restaurant you passed would have had better food.

Fortunately, when you're with multiple people, you can leave the decision to someone else and just go along with the flow. Unfortunately for the four of us, we all seem to be in an identical state. We're kicking around ideas as we see the various places around us, but nothing seems too appealing. Every time someone suggests something, there's not really any consensus.

The city is definitely picking up in its activity however, as the first hints of the nightlife to come start to make their way into the urban jungle surrounding us.

“Hey,” Noriko says excitedly. “How about there?” She points across the plaza through a gap in the people. It takes me a minute to see what she's pointing at, but when enough bodies move, I can see she's drawing our attention to a ramen stand.

“Ramen?” Chisato asks, but with an inflection to her tone that suggests she's open to the idea.

“I've always been meaning to try that place,” Saki says. “We're never here when they're open, though.”

The general positive attitude that the other three are exuding, along with the pangs in my stomach, lead me to find the idea attractive as well.

“Let's do it.”

(continued...)

Approaching the stand, we see six stools in front of it, all empty. It looks like they just opened for the evening. We all take our seats and are greeted by a pair of men behind the counter, one elderly and another much younger. Placards listing types of ramen and prices are lining the wall behind them, a little inflated but still more than affordable.

“Greetings!” the older of the two men says with a large smile. “What can I get for you?”

After a few moments of scanning the menu, we make our decisions and relay our orders. All of us have settled on a simple miso ramen with roast pork, upon the enthusiastic recommendation of the owner. The younger man goes to work, and soon the aroma of the cooking broth and meat hits my nose, causing my mouth to water.

“So when do you think we'll be able to come down here again?” Noriko asks. She's staring off out the side of the stand, watching the people go by.

“Give it a few weeks. I want my dad to pay off the credit card before I go back to get that other dress,” Saki says, drawing a smirk from her friend.

“Can I come with you when you two go back to the recording studio? It seems really interesting.”

“You might get bored,” Chisato says. “We spend about ten times as much time arguing over different things than we do actually playing.”

“Well, some of us are more difficult than others...” Saki playfully says in a sing-song voice.

“Really? And who would that be?” Chisato replies in kind.

“No, that's okay. It's fun,” Noriko laughs. “I can mediate between you two, since I don't play anything.”

“What about you, Hisao?” Saki asks, turning towards me.

“Can I bring a book?”

“I think Hisao's implying that hanging out with us is boring,” Chisato says.

In reply, I take a very pointed sip of my water while refusing to look in her direction.

Our conversation is cut short by the arrival of our food, as the steaming bowls are set down in front of us. The scent is amazing.

We're about to dig in, when a ringing sounds through the air, more specifically from Chisato's purse. She fumbles for a minute and pulls out her phone, the screen lighting up her face.

“Crap. I have to take this.” She casts a longing glance at her bowl and sighs. “Give me a few minutes.” With that, she stands up and walks away from the stand, raising the phone to her ear.

“Um...” Noriko says, suddenly looking around. “Is there a restroom around here?”

Saki turns around and scans the area. “You can probably pop into one of the shops over there really quick.”

“Great. I'll be right back! Watch my purse?” Noriko gets up and strides towards one of the brightly lit facades.

Saki and I both wait a few seconds by ourselves, staring at the ramen before us. I'm torn between my desire to eat and the social contract that says we should wait for the other two to get back. I hear a slurping noise, and turn my head. Saki has obviously reached a decision, based on the noodles forming a connection between her lips and the bowl. We make eye contact.

A chuckle starts deep in my chest as I see her expression, which soon has by whole body shaking as I try desperately to contain it. Another sip of water helps, but only just.

“What?” she says, as soon as her mouth is empty. “I'm hungry.” She raises her chopsticks again. “Besides, you should try it! It's delicious!”

Resigning myself, I sip some of the broth. The flavor hits my tongue and seems to explode there. After the relatively bland food at Yamaku the last week, this is just amazing.

Saki must see my thoughts reflected in my face, because she starts to laugh in approval. “See? Told you! The noodles are really good, too.”

I decide to give them a try. She's right.

<<Art by Gala-And-Kitty>>

After the two of us take another bite or two, better judgment prevails and we reluctantly put out chopsticks down. Tasting is one thing, but it would be in pretty poor form to have Chisato and Noriko come back to find that we were almost done. A look behind me shows that Chisato is still on her phone, and Noriko is nowhere in sight.

“Well, Chisato's still busy, and I don't know where Noriko is. They better get back here soon.”

“Don't worry, Noriko should be fine. Unless she sees something shiny.”

Noriko. I've noticed something about Noriko today. Whenever I see her at Yamaku, she seems withdrawn, not really keen to opening herself up to anyone but Chisato and Saki. I thought that her nervousness at the festival was just because I was there and she didn't know me, but that doesn't seem like the sole reason. I decide to bring it up with Saki.

“She's really enjoying this trip out here. It's like she's a totally different person than she is at the school. She's a lot more outgoing than I thought she'd be.”

“The same can be said of you, you know.”

“Oh?” I ask, raising my eyebrow.

“You've managed to loosen up quite a bit today. Not just today, but this whole last week.”

“I'm finally starting to settle in, I guess. Plus, this whole day has been pretty fun.”

“Good. It's good to get out and do stuff like this once in a while.”

“I've been meaning to ask,” I say. “How did you meet Noriko? I know you met Chisato in band, but did you meet Noriko the same way I met you?”

“What, by acting as a tour guide? No. We were first year students together in the same class. She didn't have any real friends, so I asked her if she wanted to hang out at lunch one day. We've been friends ever since.”

Hearing that story provides just as much insight into Saki's character as it does into Noriko's. She really does seem to be a kind person at heart, for all the teasing she likes to do. To willingly search out others that are having a hard time, and offer them friendship...

Still, it leaves a few new questions in my mind. I'm sure that there are some other people at Yamaku who just don't have much in the way of social lives, and until very recently, I could have counted myself in that number. But I had a reason, or at least an excuse, for being antisocial. You wouldn't guess that about Noriko from her demeanor today, and how bright she is. That would be something you would notice, even in a school that didn't cater to people like us. Speaking of which...

“Just...ah...just what is Noriko's...”

I can't seem to finish the question, whether it's from my own reluctance or if I'm trying to display some social tact.

“Her condition?”

“Yeah,” I say, a little uncomfortable. “I mean, I have my heart, Chisato has her diabetes...”

“Actually...Noriko doesn't have one.”

“Wait...really?” I ask, my brow knitting in confusion. “I thought Yamaku...”

“Yamaku is a school that specializes in disabilities, but anyone can go there.”

I think I knew that, but it just never registered as applicable. “So, why is she so different there than she is out here?” I also think I know the answer to this too as I ask it, but it takes what Saki says next to solidify it for me.

“Well...how would you feel at your old school? You'd be the only one with a heart problem, while everyone around you would be normal. At Yamaku though...”

I instantly see what she's getting at, but it floors me anyway. Noriko's sense of social anxiety comes from the fact she's normal?

Ironically, after a few more seconds thinking about it...it makes sense.

What constitutes the idea of “normal” anyway? If almost everyone at Yamaku has some sort of condition or disability...then someone who doesn't have anything would be the odd one out.

If the students at Yamaku really are like students everywhere else, then do the same types of cliques exist? The same bullying? The same social pressure that comes with trying to fit in, and the stigma associated with it if you don't?

Noriko is the different one inside the school walls. Out here though, away from all that, she's not. It's twisted, but it does make some sort of perverse sense.

I'm not quite sure what to think about it, and I can tell I won't know what to think about it for a while.

“Huh,” I say, the heaviness I'm feeling squeezing the words out of me. “I see what you mean.”

“It's not that bad, Hisao,” Saki assures me, almost as if she's reading my thoughts. “But it is there.”

Chisato and Noriko both reappear within a few seconds of each other, and I don't have any time for a followup question. This wouldn't be the mood or the time for it anyway.

“Who was that?” Saki asks Chisato, as the dark haired girls sit down on either side of us, eyeing the ramen hungrily.

“Ayame. She wanted to go over some final details for that presentation we're doing in class tomorrow...hey, you two didn't start without me, did you?”

“No...?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chisato says, breaking apart her chopsticks. “Can't blame you though, this looks good!”

I find myself giving a sideways glance to Noriko. I realize that I shouldn't be doing it, but if I wasn't, I wouldn't see the look of pure bliss on her face as she tastes her food for the first time.

“Oh my god,” she exclaims, placing a hand over her mouth. “Why did we wait so long to eat here?”

“Whew, what a day,” Chisato says, stretching her free arm straight up into the air before placing it behind her head. “I'm exhausted.”

“Me too,” I manage to huff out.

We're making our way back up the hill towards Yamaku, having been dropped off at the bus stop a few minutes before. All of our footfalls are a little heavier than normal, punctuated by the sounds our various bags make against our legs and each other as we carry them with us.

“Look at that,” Saki says, checking her watch. “We'll even make it back before curfew.”

I'm breathing a little heavier than I would like, my heart working accordingly. The walk up the hill itself combined with all the activity we did today is taking a toll on all of us. Saki's walking with Noriko ahead of myself and Chisato, and I can see she's relying on the cane much more than she did at any other point during the day. I'm not the only one who notices.

“You okay, Saki?” Chisato asks. “I can take your bag for you.”

“I'm fine,” Saki says, but I can hear the subtle hint of annoyance in her voice. “Besides, you'd just make Hisao carry it anyway.”

“I don't mind,” I assure her. I'm already carrying two extra bags anyway. What's one more?

(continued...)

Saki turns towards us to speak, but stumbles. Her right leg buckles as she gives a sharp, short shriek of pain and falls to the ground with a crash, her lower body practically crumpling underneath her as she barely manages to break her fall with her hands. Her cane goes skidding off a few feet away, clattering as it lands.

It happens so fast that none of us can do anything but watch.

“Saki!” all three of us immediately shout out and rush to her aid. I reach her first with two powerful strides and kneel down. Her face is a mask of agony, her eyes closed tight and teeth bared as she draws her right leg tight against her chest.

“Oh my god, what happened?” Chisato yells, getting to Saki a split second after I do. She places a hand on her shoulder.

Saki can't answer. Tears are squeezing out of the corner of her eyes as a small, high pitched moan hisses out between her teeth.

“Should we go get help?” Noriko asks in a panicky tone, turning to look up the road.

“No,” Saki says, opening her eyes, moist with tears. “H...help me sit up...”

I give Saki my shoulder and arm to brace herself on as we get her into a seated position. The side of her right knee is bloody, the wetness shining black in the low light of the night. A few rivulets run down her pale flesh.

Chisato's already digging through her purse and comes up with a handkerchief. She folds it and presses it to the wound, causing Saki to hiss again.

“Saki,” Chisato says again, a little more forcefully. “What happened?”

“My ankle,” she manages to say, stretching out the leg. “It twisted...”

I look down at her ankle, but I can't see anything wrong with it. Saki's hand on my shoulder is practically digging into me like a claw, and she gives another small cry as the limb moves and the foot flexes.

“I'm going to run to the school and get help,” Noriko says, her face pale, but determined. “The front gate is just around the corner up ahead.”

“Noriko, no!” Saki yells. “Just...just give me a minute, okay?”

“Take your time,” Chisato says soothingly, brushing Saki's hair out of her eyes, keeping pressure on her knee. “We're here, okay?” She offers her hand, and Saki grasps it hard as she waits for the pain to subside. I shift my body so Saki can lean against me.

A few tense minutes go by. I feel my heart pounding, I can hear Saki's labored breathing. The good mood of earlier today just seems to be wiped out. This never would have happened if we just stayed with Ms. Sakamoto, she would have driven us back and now Saki wouldn't be hurt and-

“Can you stand?” Chisato asks, concern in her voice. “Because if you can't, Noriko's going to go to the school to get one of the medical staff, okay?”

“Let me try,” Saki says in a weak, shaky voice. “Help me...”

“Hold on a sec, okay? Hold this.”

Saki presses her hand to the cloth, while Chisato produces another one from in her purse. She uses this one to tie the first tightly in place, her motions smooth and delicate.

“Ready?”

Chisato starts to stand and grasps Saki's arm, taking some of her weight. I brace my legs under me, then wrap Saki's other arm around my shoulder and my own arm around her waist. Chisato looks at me with a grim determination. “On three,” I say. “One, two, three!”

With grunts of exertion, Chisato and I manage to stand up, sharing the weight of Saki in between us. I'm taking the brunt of it, but I'm more concerned with how Saki is. She has her left leg bearing most of her weight, keeping her right foot from touching the ground. Tentatively, she places it on the asphalt, but gasps in pain the second I feel her shift.

“No good,” Saki groans. “I can't put any weight on it.”

“Would the cane help?” Noriko asks, having retrieved it from the ground.

Saki shakes her head. “I don't think so.”

“Chisato,” I decide, my voice full of concern. “We're going to have to help her walk back. Here, switch sides with me.”

After a moment and with some fumbling, Chisato and I change places, so I'm supporting Saki from her right side. I'm the strongest of all four of us, so I want to take the most weight off that side. Chisato and myself link arms behind Saki's back, while she drapes hers over our shoulders.

“Let's try a few steps, okay?” I say. My voice and motions are deliberate, taking a few small steps. Chisato matches my pace, and Saki manages to hobble forward on her good leg, with us holding up her frame. I reach up with my free hand and grip Saki's wrist for added support.

“It's only a hundred meters or so,” Chisato says. “We can make it. Noriko, go ahead. Get the wheelchair in the dorm rec room. We'll meet you there okay?”

Noriko nods, and runs off as fast as her shoes will allow. I watch her go as we continue our slow pace, sweat already breaking out on my forehead.

For a moment or two, all that's heard is the three of us panting with the occasional grunt; Chisato and myself with the effort, and Saki in pain every time her right toes contact the ground. My heart is pounding harder against my chest, both from the work load and the adrenaline.

Please, not now. Don't give me any problems now.

Saki's face is a constant mix of anger, embarrassment, and pain. It simultaneously hurts and is scary to see her like this.

We continue like this for a few more minutes. We round the corner and can see the lights from Yamaku's front gate spilling out, along with a silhouette running towards us. I see the white coat the figure is wearing billowing out around it, and the way those lights shine off his blue hair.

Nurse.

“You three okay?” he calls out as he closes the distance to us. We stop to catch our breath, Saki looking up with regret an instant before the pain overwhelms her again.

“She twisted her ankle,” Chisato yells back as Nurse finally reaches us. He moves quickly to take Chisato's place, putting an arm around Saki and using his own strength to prop her up. I still hang on for balance.

Nurse's carefree attitude is gone for the moment as he looks down in worry. With an authoritative, yet calming voice, he addresses Saki. “We're just gonna stand here like this for a minute or two, okay? Noriko's getting the wheelchair from my office and should be here any second now.”

Saki nods, her bangs clinging to her damp forehead. I reach up and smooth the errant hair back.

“What are you doing here?” I ask Nurse, looking up at him. “I thought you would have gone home hours ago.”

“I was here late. I was walking up from the office to my car when Noriko saw me and flagged me down,” he explains. He then looks at me with concern, his eyes flashing down to my chest as he sees me breathing heavily. “What about you two?” he says, directing that question squarely at me. I nod shakily, still catching my breath.

We're kept waiting for maybe two or three minutes, although it feels like much longer. Noriko shows up pushing a wheelchair, and Nurse and I gingerly help Saki sit in it. Nurse kneels down by her feet to extend the footrests, and takes a look at the makeshift bandage around her knee.

“You did this?” he asks Chisato. She nods.

“Good...that's some really quick thinking, Chisato. I'm impressed,” he praises, with a hint of his trademark smile. Now that it seems the immediate problem has been taken care of, he stands up and brushes himself off. “All three of you did a great job,” he continues. “Saki? How are you holding up?”

“It doesn't hurt as much as it did when I twisted it, but it still hurts...”

“How does it feel? Dull pain, ache, stabbing pain?”

“Constant ache...it feels warm and tingly.”

Nurse nods curtly. “Alright. Let's get her to my office. It's too dark to do anything out here.” He moves behind her chair and grasps the handles.

“Is she going to be okay?” Noriko asks. There's a fear in her voice that causes it to waver.

“She should be. I'll take a look at her ankle when we get back, and if we need to, we can send her to the hospital for x-rays.”

Saki says nothing, merely hanging her head in defeat. I can see she's not thrilled with the prospect, despite the pain. Nurse sets off, apologizing for every bump he hits. The three of us struggle to keep up with him, which surprises me. I had no idea he had that much strength in that wiry body of his.

Through the gate and down one of the paths he leads us, inside Yamaku to the hallway where his office is. We arrive in short order, not seeing anyone else wandering through the school. It makes me realize how lucky we were that Noriko found Nurse. We may have never made it to the dorm with Saki if she didn't.

We pull up short in front of the door to his office. He pauses for a fraction of a second, looking to me and then at the other girls. “Chisato, get her inside. I'll be there in a second to get her up on the exam table, okay?”

Chisato takes the wheelchair from him, and pushes Saki through the door being held open by Noriko. I start to follow, but Nurse stops me with a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to wait. I look at him in confusion as the door closes.

“How are you holding up, Nakai?” he says, focusing his no-nonsense gaze on me. “That's quite a lot of exertion. You were breathing pretty hard when I found you, and you're still breathing pretty hard. Everything alright?”

I'm amazed and ashamed. I'm amazed that in the midst of the immediate problem with Saki, he noticed that I might be having problems. I'm ashamed that my condition would have turned his attention away from Saki or possibly been a hindrance.

“I'm okay,” I respond. “Heart's beating pretty fast, but no pain.”

“Are you sure?” he says, giving me one more hard stare. Above all else, I know that now is not the time to try and bullshit this man.

“Yeah. I'm glad you showed up when you did. I don't know how far we could have carried her if you didn't.”

Nurse's face softens a bit. “That's good. I was worried about you for a second there. You did well helping to get her here. But let me take it from here. She's in good hands, Hisao, I promise you,” he finishes with a smile.

“Is there anything else I can do?” I ask worriedly.

“Try to get some rest. If it's not too bad, I'll send her with Noriko and Chisato to help her back to the dorms. You can see why that's not something you can really help out with.” He reaches into his coat and pulls out a pack of notes and a pen, starting to scribble. “Most likely though, we'll want to get her to the hospital to get an x-ray. But as for what you can do,” he pauses, tearing off the sheet of paper and handing it to me, “you go and get some rest. Your adrenaline is pumping pretty hard right now so it might be masking any problems. But I want you to promise me that once you calm down, if anything feels off with your heartbeat or you think you overexerted yourself, you give me a call. That's my cell number.”

I look at the number written down on the paper, not really comprehending.

“You did your part to help. Now go get some sleep. Doctor's orders,” he says firmly, but not unkindly.

I want to stay here, but I know there's nothing I can do. I don't think I'll be able to get to sleep, but I know Nurse is right. I have to try and calm down.

With a final nod, Nurse opens the door to his office and starts to go inside. I call out to him one last time.

“Can you do me a favor?”

Nurse looks at me expectantly.

“Can you tell Saki to text me when she finds out what's going on? It doesn't matter how late it is...”

“I'll make sure she gets the message. Get some rest, Nakai.” Nurse says. The door closes behind him, leaving me alone in the hallway.

I lean back against the wall, the exhaustion from the last half hour and the full day preceding it finally hitting me with full force. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

“Hell of a day,” I mutter aloud, with nothing but the stone and mortar walls to hear me.

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It's strange, but true. Until you have actually been shopping with a lady, you don't know her. Now that we've been out shopping properly in this scene, I feel I've come to know them a lot better. How odd. Warm and tingly, like Saki's leg.

brythain wrote:like Saki's leg.

Jesus, bry

Eurobeatjester wrote:I shake my head in wonderment, and make eye contact with a man across the store from me. Through his glasses, I can see the look in his eyes. He's no more comfortable here than I am. He tilts his head in the direction of Saki's excited voice, asking an unspoken question. I dip my head in a nod, and give an exasperated sigh. He responds to my gesture with a small, sad smile, shifting his eyes to a woman a short ways away from him digging through the racks with a focused intensity.

For this one moment, we are inexorably linked as kindred spirits, he and I.

The struggle is real.

So was the hype. I was so freaking excited when I saw the update earlier, and it was worth it. Great chapter, yooo.

Well worth the wait, as usual, and gods does the art look good! The plot thickens and the tension... tenses. I sense some Saki drama in the coming chapters, hospital scene or no. Much enjoyed, my man.

THE HYPE TRAIN DID NOT DISAPPOINT!
Ahem.
Anyways, I would call that a successful chapter . Already anticipating the drama and that wheelchair pic makes a lot of sense now.

Also, clothes shopping. I felt Hisao's pain badly there. Men were not meant to navigate racks of expensive fabric.

Well, color me impressed. Will be posting an update to the channel on FunnyJunk to boost traffic to your story, as always. Loved the chemistry and tension you brought to this chapter, EBJ!

Thanks, haha.

One of the criticisms I've been getting is that I'm this far into the story and there's been no real tension yet, compared to the other girls at this point in their stories. They're completely right. My response to this has been two-fold:

1) I didn't have the benefit of a real Act 1 that would have set up a lot of what I spent the first few scenes of Act 2 setting up
2) Shaddap, it's coming!

Hopefully this chapter did that

Eurobeatjester wrote:1) I didn't have the benefit of a real Act 1 that would have set up a lot of what I spent the first few scenes of Act 2 setting up

Thank your lucky stars that it didn't! I've been rewriting Act One from the Prologue and it's just .

In all seriousness, this is my "I.O.U." Post™ acknowledging that I read your update and really enjoyed it, but won't be able to provide thoughtful criticisms on it until a later date. I'll try and come back around in a week or so.

Take your time! You've been tremendously helpful with your feedback, and you're one of the people who I hope not only likes the story as it unfolds, but the way I'm telling it!

I feel like I should say something productive, but I can't think of anything at the moment. So take my wheelbarrows full of praise instead. No really, take them, I'm doing some spring cleaning and they're taking up way too much space in my garage.

I'll take what I can get!

Honestly, I'd like some feedback on the last part of the chapter, where Saki hurts herself. That was simultaneously one of the first and last things I wrote in the chapter, and I know it's not nearly as drawn out as some of the more "relaxing" scenes are, like the festival, the recording studio, etc.

I wanted to try and capture the feeling of time seeming to move really fast when you're dealing with a crisis, but as a result, that specific part was pretty short for how much it covered.

I plan on doing some scenes with similar "intensity" later on, and I'd like some ideas on how to hone that area of my writing, or what I could be doing better in situations like that.