"Satoko-chan? Satoko-chan!"
Days like these didn't occur often, but when they did, a sense of dread shot down everyone's spine. The classroom of adolescent children clustered around the young girl, tangible concern falling from their temples in the form of nervous sweat. She was relapsing, and nobody could pull her out of it.
Growing claustrophobic of the huddled group of her peers flocking around her, Satoko stumbled backwards, tripping on her heel and hitting her head against the cold, unforgiving wall. Her hand flew up and latched onto her head as pain surged through her skull. It was happening again. Everybody was looking down on her. She was thrown against the wall by the demon of her past; the demon who took away her beloved older brother. Nobody cared about little Satoko. Nobody wanted this whiney brat. The girl's grip tightened, pulling strands of honey blonde hair from her fragile scalp by the root. Unable to control her urges, Satoko began to scratch her scalp uncontrollably, drawing from it small droplets of a warm, viscous fluid. I want to die! Just let me die!
"If you want to kill me, then just do it! Kill me! Please!" Satoko was begging at this point. She screamed at the top of her lungs, but she was unable to hear even her own words over the voices in her head, or the pounding of her meager heart onto her ribcage, or the footsteps… footsteps? Oh god, he was coming. He was going to torture her more, burn her and yell at her, push her to the brink of death and then bring her back up just to toy with her again.
"Nobody wants to kill you, Satoko-chan! It's Doctor Irie. Come with me, please!" He hated to see such a cute face so broken. It tugged at his heartstrings and pulled tears from his eyes. Irie yearned for nothing more than the happiness of the small, timid creature that cowered before him. His heart ached to witness the birth of just one more sparkling smile across Satoko's youthful face every time he saw her.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" It was the only phrase Satoko could bring to her lips. What else was there to say? Uncle was going to torment her again. He was going to abuse her the way he always had, and there was no way out. She fought the masculine figure away viciously, throwing punches left and right and crying her terrified apologies out as loudly as she could, until suddenly, everything turned black.
"Satoko-chan, can you hear me?" Irie gently stroked the flaxen strands of hair that fell over the petite girl's face. Her features were that of a porcelain doll, with perfectly sculpted cheekbones and an adorably round facial structure, framed even more exquisitely by the shaggy pieces of hair that rested strategically around it. His hand traveled downward until it came in contact with her lips. They were so soft, and the perfect shade of rose petal pink, with no flaws to disguise her vibrant youth. The doctor knew it was wrong to look at a young girl with such longing eyes, but it wasn't any young girl that he was looking at. Satoko was someone different to him. His heart fluttered rapidly whenever he saw her in her sea foam green school dress. The way that the fabric rested so delicately on her developing curves proved that she would blossom into a divine woman with a body that would please any suitor she chose, and every night in his prayers, he begged to someday be that suitor.
"Iri…e…?" Satoko's tired voice sparked another skipping beat in Irie's gentle heart as she opened her eyes for the first time in hours. The round orbs within her lids sparkled vividly, enhancing an already ravishing hue of purple; they were like violets, beautiful flowers that bend delicately in the summer breeze. Her hand reached for his, and in response he grasped hers with a firm certainty that let her know everything was over. "What happened?"
"Well, I guess you forgot to take your insulin this morning, silly. You got a little sick during class and I had to take you out." He covered the lie with a pained smile. It tore him apart on the inside to tell such a figment to the young girl, but he didn't want her to know of her level of mental distress. That would only add to the trouble that Satoko dealt with on a daily basis. "But you're better, now."
"I'm not really better, am I?" Satoko immediately picked up on the pain in Irie's eyes. The faded-green hue of the iris was hidden under the tears that began to form. He quickly wiped them away, attempting to disguise his agony from the young girl. "I'll never be better." Her frail figure sat upward as consciousness began to flood back into her body. She looked away from the man, biting her lip as a method of keeping back her own tears. She was strong; she couldn't let Irie see her cry. He was sad enough, already.
"Satoko…" He choked slightly on her name. Seeing a grown man cry must be embarrassing. It must have been especially embarrassing for someone who knew him like Satoko. He was flustered, himself. He was letting his emotions get the better of him in front of such a fragile person, and he couldn't get a firm grip on the reigns. Just as he felt his own miniscule tear slither down his cheek, the impact of a small head collapsing against his chest snapped him back into reality.
"I'll never be okay! I'm never going to see my mom again, and I'm never going to see Nii-Nii again! I'm going out of my mind and everybody knows it! I'll never be alright!" Satoko's cries were very apparent, muffled only by the thin fabric of Irie's pearl white lab coat. She buried her head into his firm, built chest, her tears soaking through his crisply ironed shirt. Irie had no idea how to respond to this. She wasn't going insane; the chances of seeing Satoshi again were slim to none, and her mother could never return from the dead. "Why? Why am I all alone?"
"Satoko-chan…" Responding to her anguish as quickly as he could, Irie reassuringly wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him. There was a rush as he felt the warmth of her little body against all of him, and he pulled her even closer, to the point where he was afraid that she might snap in half. "Don't ever say that again. You're not alone. You have Shion… Rika-chan… Maebara-san… and you have me."
"I-Irie," cried Satoko through staggering tears as she attempt to fight them back, "why did Uncle hit me? Why did Nii-Nii leave me? Why doesn't anybody love me?" Irie ran one of his hands gingerly through her soft, silky hair, calming her vehement cries to faint sniffles. He leaned his head downward and placed a tender kiss on the crown of her head, significantly slowing her sobs.
"Satoko-chan," he spoke once more, a calm tone to his deep, soothing voice, "I love you."