March.
It was march.
But not just one day.
It was the fifth march.
His birthday
And he wanted to cry. Cry as loud as he could, until his voice left him.
Until his despair left him.
Because everyone else left him.
Today was his birthday. Nurses, some doctors and some patients came in to congratulate him. But even if he smiled at them and thanked them with his gentle and calm voice, it didn't matter to him. Their congratulations and greetings didn't matter to him.
Like Seiichi didn't matter to his family and friends as it seemed.
The nurse was finished with the check-up and left him with a, "Have a good birthday, Yukimura-kun."
As soon as she closed the door, his smile dropped.
Was she mocking him? Were they all mocking him? They could see after all. They could see, that it didn't matter how much time was going by, how much years were going by, his family never came. They never came on his birthday. They never visited him on his surgery or a day before.
And they never visited him, when his disease came back.
So why would that change now? Now, where even his friends seemed to have enough of him.
Only rival schools visited him. Heck, even Echizen Ryoma gave him a present and congratulated him. And all knew the boy had problems being friendly with others.
So why did his own teammates, his friends and the people he loved as if they were his own family, not visit him. What did he do? What happened?
Gripping the white sheets, Seiichi wore an expression of sadness, frustration and anger. Was he…
Was he too weak for them? Did they maybe start to believe, that now where he was a second time in the hospital, he was too weak? Did they? It made sense and he couldn't even be made at them for it… But, no! He wasn't weak! He couldn't be! He survived this disease once and he could do it a second time! But what… If not? His friends wouldn't leave him that easily after all…
So maybe, maybe he needed to accept the truth.
Accept the pain and the harsh reality.
Accept that they left him, because he was we-
The door banged open and two of his friends walked in.
Sanada and Yanagi.
"Sorry, we're late, but here."
With that Sanada gave him flowers and Yanagi an explanation.
Kirihara, Marui and Niou broke something by one of their quarrels and now are currently speaking with some teachers. Yagyuu and Jackal decided to wait until they were finished and defend them against the teachers. They would come later. He noted to punish them later with some laps. Maybe thousand?
Yanagi and Sanada wanted to give him flowers, so they got to Seigaku, just to ask Fuji for the flowers Seiichi liked. They met Ryoma and asked him to bring them to Fuji. Dumb idea, because apparently Ryoma didn't have any sense of direction. So they took hours until they met Fuji.
Seiichi couldn't help but smile brighter than usual. He really believed for on moment, that they would…
"Seiichi? Are you okay?"
"Well, what do you mean by okay?" He said with a dark aura surrounding him.
How could their little, cute kohais just break something on his birthday? His childhood friends gulped and awaited the next words, but before their captain could say anything, the door opened again.
"Yo, buchou!"
"Missed us?"
Seiichi wanted to respond a bit… Unfriendly, but before he could do so, all his teammates smiled and smirked at him, while saying the same words.
"Thank you for being born, buchou! Happy birthday!"
A blush covered his cheeks, as he hid his smile from them by looking to the side.
Yes, he really wanted to cry right now.
Of joy.