Beep, beep, beep.

She hated seeing him like this. Pale skin compared to his usual tan, white hospital gown instead of his maroon coat, connected to the countless machines that were the only thing keeping him alive. She hated seeing him weak, hated not seeing his cocky smirk, hated that he could no longer make his usual cynical retorts.
She hated this whole situation.
Casting a tired glance towards the clock (white, of course, everything in this damn hospital was white), she stood up, chair scraping harshly against the bleached floors.
"I'm sorry Shinji, the others will be expecting me back soon. I'm already going to be a couple of minutes late." she ran her fingers through her hair sheepishly, smiling as if she was talking to a fully functioning human, and not a body lying on a hospital bed. "I'll be back tomorrow, though, and Akihiko-senpai said he'd come visit too! Maybe I'll make manju tonight, to bring with me? That recipe you showed me really is great, senpai..." taking in a shaky breath, she grabbed her bag and made her way towards the door, hurrying to leave before any tears spilled from her eyes.
"I miss you, Shinji."

Beep, beep, beep.

It was amazing how quickly a relationship could form, Minako mused, staring up at her ceiling from her comfortable bed. In the space of about three and a half weeks after Shinjiro Aragaki had moved into the SEES dorm, Minako was head over heels in love with the gangster looking teenager- and her feelings seemed to be reciprocated, in the very least. Turning onto her side, Minako's gaze fell upon one of the many pictures adorning her bedside table. It was of her and Shinji at Hagakure, she smiling cheekily at the camera, and Shinji with his usual cold glare, staring irritatedly at the girl beside him, though if you looked very, very closely, there was a hint of a fond smile on his face. Minako gently traced the outline of her senpai's figure on the photo, before rolling over once more onto her back, and allowing her day dreams- though it wasn't exactly 'day' anymore- to return in full force.
"Shinji's different." she spoke aloud, "Different from any other boys I've crushed on. He's reliable, and serious, and though he seems so cold, he's really kind. And he can cook! He can cook! What more could you ask for?" sighing a little, she reached over to her lamp and with a push of her fingers, turned it off, immediately surrounding herself with darkness. Pulling her covers up to her chin in an effort to keep warm- it was almost October, after all, she smiled at the picture of Shinjiro on her bedside table one last time, before drifting off into the land of dreams, dreams about her and her boyfriend, of their sure to be happy future, of marriage and of children and of the amazing life that would follow this mess with the Dark Hour.

Beep, beep, beep.

Minako returned the next day, arms bearing flowers and sweets in order to brighten the room up. Sitting in her chair by Shinji's bedside- she visited almost every day, so the nurses had just called this particular chair hers and brought in another one for other visitors-, she started speaking with a smile, recounting her day to him, telling him about Junpei's latest embarrassing muck-up in class, how Yukari-chan and the Archery Club had won a competition, how she was practising sowing with Bebe-san, "so that I can maybe make you a scarf or something for Christmas, even if it is a little cheesy..", telling him how everyone was doing in general, and how they all missed him, and "when you wake up, senpai, we'll have a huge party! We'll order out, and decorate the dorm, and have a great time! And we can go Christmas shopping together, too! I wonder what I should buy Mitsuru-senpai..? After all, she has basically everything she wants... maybe I should give her Hagakure coupons, so she has an excuse to go?" and throughout this all, her hands would occasionally brush with Shinjiro's, her eyes would keep constant vigilance over his almost-prone form, her ears would be straining to hear any sign of speaking from the brunet.
But still, nothing happened. There was no twitching of his fingers, no smile or fluttering eyes, no sharp intake of breath...
She smiled sadly, having already expected this, and continued to talk.
"Y'know, senpai, our home economics class was so easy today! Loads of people found it really hard to make tonkatsu, but you made it for us all that one time...so I guess it wasn't so hard for me... oh, and did you know that one girl from 3-A has been expelled? I can't remember her name, but apparently it was because she was brought in by the police for selling cocaine in Tatsumi's back alleys. Hah, I remember when we went back there! We were so lucky that you were around to save our butts, senpai...!" She trailed off, no longer able to find any threads of conversation to cling to. "Well, I may as well start on my homework... you'd be pretty irritated if my grades dropped, right senpai? You hypocrite; you don't even attend school enough to get any..." she smirked fondly as she reached into her bag, pulling out her maths homework and proceeding to complain about how evil Ms Yamamoto was, to give them so many exercises to work through.
The sudden sound of a door opening had Minako pause half way through her rant, and glance at the man entering the room.
Akihiko Sanada looked tired. Not physically tired- he retained his straight posture, there were no bags under his eyes, and he didn't look like he was about to collapse, but he walked in a way that spoke of the weight of the world being dropped on his shoulders.
"Hey, Minako." he muttered, dropping into the seat beside her.
"Hey, Akihiko-senpai." she returned, lowering her gaze back to the textbook on her lap. They remained in comfortable silence for a good half hour, both too absorbed in their own thoughts to hold a stable conversation. Minako frequently found her focus drifting from her textbook to Shinjiro, and with a final sigh snapped the evil book shut, causing Akihiko to look at her.
"Done for the night?" he asked.
"Nah, I don't really feel like doing homework anymore." Minako admitted with a chuckle, reaching into her bag to put her work back.
"When does anyone ever feel like doing homework?" Akihiko questioned rhetorically, eyes and mouth smiling at the two brunets in the room. Minako giggled in response, getting up and stretching as she tried to work the stiffness out of her back.
"See you tomorrow, Shinjiro-senpai. I'd better go home and do some homework, and I bet Akihiko-senpai would like to have some time to talk to you alone." she stated, swinging her bag over her shoulder and waving at Akihiko in goodbye.
The moment the door shut again, Akihiko looked at Shinji with remorse in his eyes.
"Damn it man, you're really taking your time waking up, huh? We need you back on the team again." he stopped to correct himself, "Minako and I need you back on the team again. We miss you, y'know?" there was silence for several moments before Akihiko spoke up again. "She misses you a lot. She's been visiting every day, she's been smiling just as much as before, but she's definitely not happy. We're all getting worried, but every time we mention it to her, she seems to form an even better act to hide her feelings. It's not healthy Shinjiro, so you'd better man up and take care of it instead of just lying here sleeping all day!" Kicking the bed in frustration, Akihiko staggered up, grabbing his bag and making his way out of the room.
"Wake up soon, Shinji."

Beep, beep, beep.

It was Christmas day, and everything was just going to Hell. Minako had taken the day off school, claiming illness, and was now tucked into a ball on her bed, despairing over her life. Really, what had her previous incarnations done for her to do this? Committed mass murder? Organized the killings of millions of people? Slaughtered three thousand puppies and kittens? Because whatever had been done, it had to have been some unimaginable atrocity, for it to land Minako in this much of a mess.
Because in less than a week's time, Minako was going to have to make a choice that she really, really didn't want to make. A choice to either kill Pharos, Ryoji, her almost-brother and the one who had been with her since the beginning of this whole ordeal, or to let him transform into the immortal harbinger of humanity's doom, and accept the fact that they were all going to die. She was going to have to make a choice that would affect the entire world, and oh God, she just wasn't ready! She wanted a third choice, a choice to run away, to be with Shinji and live in a house somewhere far away from Japan, a choice that meant anything but this!
But there were no other choices. Shinji wasn't recovering.
Minako had given up hope.
But, no, she couldn't give up hope yet. She had to push through, at least for the others' sake. She had to find a way out, so that one day, Shinjiro would smile at her again, and cook for everyone, and SEES would be like the happy family it used to be.
Minako made up her mind to fight.

Beep, beep, beep.

Tired eyes fluttered blearily, wincing at the harsh light that immediately struck the disused retinas. A strong hand twitched slightly, fingers grasping for the warmth of another's touch. And finally, looking very befuddled, Shinjiro Aragaki sat up in his hospital bed, startling the nurse at his side.
"Y-You're awake!" she stuttered, before hurrying off- presumably to find a doctor. The teen tched at his current state of dress; he really didn't look good in white, there was a reason he wore dark colours! Glancing around his room curiously, his eyes fell upon a calander in the corner of the room.
"March 3rd, 2010- Graduation Day. Meet up on the roof! -Minako." it read in block letters, and suddenly Shinji had an awful sense of foreboding in his mind. Something was going to happen. And out of all the possible candidates, the one who was the most likely to get hurt was-
"Minako." he whispered, hurriedly throwing off the covers and grabbing his clothes that were sitting in the nearby closet. Pushing past the nurses as he finished dressing, ("I'm perfectly fine and I don't need a fucking check up!") he broke into a sprint the second he exited the hospital doors, heading in the general direction of Gekkoukan High School.
Running up the stairs was a lot tougher than he remembered, "I guess that's what happens after a five month coma, huh?" He thought sarcastically, forcing his body to continue on through the aching muscles. He could see the light coming from the roof top now, just a little further and...
Shinjiro skidded to a stop as he surveyed his surroundings frantically, looking hard for a red eyed brunette with a pony tail. It didn't take him long at all; she was lying on one of the benches, looking absolutely exhausted. Panting, he made his way over to her.
"It's... not nice to make an ill man run so much.." he wheezed, enjoying the look of shock on her face. He was mostly ready for the speeding volleyball named Minako that knocked him to the ground, and so managed to only stagger back a little, drawing his arms around her in a tight embrace.
"Hey, Minako...how's it going?" he chuckled, not even trying to hide the tears that may or may not have been slipping down his face.
"S-Shinji.. I thought, you, I mean...!" Minako cried, burying her face in his chest and clinging to him for dear life. Placing the distraught girl back on the bench, he placed her head on his lap, running his fingers through her hair in a calming motion.
"I'm here now, I'm sorry for forgetting." he whispered to her, getting nothing but a choked sob and a nod in return.
"I knew you'd remember, just.. I didn't know if you'd wake up." she returned back, throwing a smile full of tears at him, before calming down slightly.
"Yeah, well it was your writing on the calender that made me remember. Jeez, you're always pushing me around to get your own way, aren't you?" he laughed poking at her cheek, and Minako squirmed, trying to get away from his finger. Both laughing at the childishness of their actions, Minako let out a huge yawn and rubbed her eyes tiredly.
"Rest for a bit, Minako. I bet the others will be here soon to ruin the moment, so you might as well get some sleep before they force us all to party." he muttered, undoing her ponytail and returning to running his hands through her hair. She looked panicked for a second or two, and Shinji would later curse himself for not reading this correctly, as he told her gently (or as gently as a man like him could speak) "Don't worry your pretty head, I'll be here when you wake up." the panic lingered for a couple of seconds, before disappearing from her face entirely. Shinjiro could see finality in her eyes, and that scared him, but he figured that he could talk to her about it later.
"I..love you Shinji. A lot." she said softly, voice cracking ever so slightly.
"I love you too, Minako." He reassured her, ruffling her hair teasingly.
"I'm so glad I got to spend these moments with you..." she breathed out, before slipping into sleep. Shinjiro felt as if he could spend an eternity just looking at her face, admiring the simple joy of being together with this girl, but as always the moment was broken up by the rest of the gang turning up.
"I'm so glad I met you." he whispered in her ear, before returning to the jubilant conversation around him, certain that he and Minako would spend the rest of their lives together.

Their picket fence would turn to ash the next morning, as the last of Minako's soul slipped into maintaining the Great Seal, keeping humanity safe from themselves. Shinjiro would scream, and in the safety of his room collapse into tears, cursing life, Strega, Ikutsuki, cursing fate. And Minako, frozen in stone, would smile down at her beloved, because in the end, her sacrifice would be protecting him and all of her friends.
And that was all that mattered.

Beep, beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep...beep...
Beep...
Beeeeeeeeep...
…...