The Last Song
By Yoshiko Hatake
Ayumu doesn't like playing the piano, but circumstances bring his fingers to the ivory keys. Hiyono begged him forever, but as her last song she might hear, she wanted it to be his music, before she might be gone.
Disclaimer: I do not own Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna/Spiral.
"Come on Ayumu!!" Hiyono begged for the hundredth time of that day. They were sitting on the top of the roof, eating his lunch. Emphasis on his lunch, he was forced to share with her.
"No."
"Please??" She begged.
"No." Another blunt answer.
"Oh come on!!!" She replied, as she ate a bit of the rice he had in his bento box.
"I might if you stop eating my lunch."
"But yours tastes better!"
"That doesn't justify you stealing it every day…"
"But, it does taste good." Was all she said as she stared at the box.
He sighed and pushed the rest of it over to her, "You can have the rest."
"Really?!"
"…Yea…"
"Thanks, Ayumu!!" With that she continued eating the lunch he had supplemented.
This had been the first time ever he would give her his lunch, well most of the time she'd eat most of it.
He was staring at the sky, while silently watching her from the corner of his eye.
"Hey, Hiyono, where are you going?" He asked, seeing her walking out the door.
"I have to get home early, I have some cleaning to do!" She said, and grinned at him.
"Oh...okay." He watched her walk off, his eyes narrowed, something was going to happen, and he wasn't sure just what, but his gut could feel it, his intuition, everything.
…It happened…
He had been watching the news, it came on there was a huge fire at a building, they were able to pull the girl from the building, it was Hiyono, she was badly burned and scarred, she was shot in the leg, she was also unconscious. He stared at the screen, in shock, wondering, just what was happening.
But in the next moment he turned off the tv, and was running out of the apartment pulling on his jacket. He took a taxi and was at the hospital, but before he could reach her room, he was stopped by someone.
"Eyes." He said, "Move."
"No, please understand, she did this on her own. She took the part of one of us to guide the hunters away. It got a bit dangerous, he started a fire, and tried to kill her, she was able to make it away from most of the fire, but it reached her and the fire men finally came and got her out."
"What?! Why?! Why would you send her in?!" He asked, "You sent her in all alone?! For what?! She could have died!!"
Eyes didn't seem moved what so ever by his yelling.
Ayumu getting frustrated, pushed past him and into the room Hiyono was in.
"She did it for you…"
The words reached Ayumu, he looked at Eyes who was turning around and walking away.
He narrowed his eyes at the man who was walking from her room, he sighed and walked into the room.
There she was lying still and motionless on the bed. He slowly made his way over to her. He was leaning on the edge of the guard rail that was around her. He just watched her, the beeping of the machines surrounding her disappearing to that of utter silence.
He closed his eyes, just standing there, over her, waiting.
"…Ayumu?…" A quiet, raspy voice, reached out for him, he opened his eyes, and stared at Hiyono.
"You're awake."
"Ayumu, what are you doing here?"
"I heard on the news. Are you stupid? You should have let me come with you. I could have helped." He said, standing up straight, and staring down at her.
Her eyes left his and went to the vase of flowers that were by her bedside, "Ah…they're from Eyes Rutherford." she said, "Did he visit me?"
He didn't answer for awhile, "Yes." he said.
"Oh…"
"Hiyono, you haven't answered my question, yet."
"Isn't it an easy answer?"
"…"
"Don't tell me, Ayumu, you don't know why?"
"Hiyono, quit joking around, and tell me."
"Why? Because the answer should be obvious." Her hand reached up, and touched his, "I didn't want you to get caught up in all of this. I didn't want you to get hurt, that's why…Ayumu, you're put into dangerous situations all the time. But, I'm almost never a big help. When they came to ask for some help from me, I was going to ask them why not you help. But it turns out it was their own little trick they were going to play on the hunters, they didn't want you in on it. So, they made me not tell you. But I'm glad, that I could help you, that I could get rid of one less pain for you."
Ayumu was staring into her eyes, as she talked, then he pulled his hand away.
Hiyono looked hurt and he looked away.
"Any ways, I should get going, is there anything you'd like? Flowers? Candy? My cooking?" He knew she would want his cooking most of all.
But she simply shook her head slightly, "Can you…play me a song on the piano?" she asked.
"How do I get a piano up here?"
"It doesn't matter, I'd like to hear your music, before-"
"I'm sorry sir, but it's time for the doctor to check in on her. You'll have to leave now." A nurse had walked in, cutting off Hiyono.
"W-Wait…" But he was pulled out of the room, and the door was shut in his face, the moment the doctor had walked in.
"Um, excuse, what is going to happen to this patient?" He quickly asked the nearest nurse who was about to walk in.
"Oh, she needs to go into surgery, she's badly injured, so it'll be pretty risky. Pardon me." She walked around him and into the room, leaving Ayumu alone in the hall, just standing there, his hair covering his eyes.
Now it had been nearly a week, Hiyono was still in the hospital, Ayumu didn't bother to go visit her. He himself was worried, just what happened during the surgery? He didn't even know if she was still alive.
But soon, he was in front of the hospital, he walked in and found himself in front of her room. He walked in and was relieved to see that Hiyono was still there, lying peacefully, asleep. But when his eyes traveled around the room, he was shocked to see a piano near her bed. Only a few feet from the end of her own bed. He walked over to it and lifted the top and his fingers glided over the ivory keys. He gently tapped one of the keys and the sound that came awoke Hiyono.
"Ayumu?" She asked seeing him.
"H-Hiyono!" He jumped up and ran over to her side.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." She answered his unasked question, right off the bat.
"How did you get that piano in here?"
"I asked for a little favor." She said, "Ayumu…They did some testing, and well, I'm going to have surgery. After the testing, they figured it would be completely safe so, I'll be going under the knife tomorrow. So…I was wondering, will you play me one song?"
"Sure."
Another week passed, Hiyono was let out from the hospital, better, with only a few scars. It was Christmas once more, and the two of them were shopping for presents together. An almost-happy ending…
I believe that was my worst work ever. Sigh…I think it's pretty bad, but tell me if it is or not, don't be blunt and say it sucks. I'll keep it up if someone says they liked it. But I think I did bad. Oh well. I hope you liked it. I enjoyed writing it, but I keep thinking back, wondering if it was good or not…
-Yoshiko