Setting: Pre-Despair

Rating: T

Genre: Friendship

Characters: Ryouta, Mikan, Imposter

Word Count: 1,749

A/N: *wipes single tear from cheek* I love them and I'm glad they're finally happy even though that ending feels a bit too rushed

The great enabler Ruby made me write this fic.

This is me being a huge sap and giving in to writing when I noticed Impostor wasn't in the picture in the Zetsubou ED where everyone else was watching the fireworks and figured he must be with Ryouta.

This is also me immediately jumping to conclusions and making a big issue out of Ryouta saying he doesn't have enough time and assuming he meant he's going to die soon and me deciding he has a weak heart since childhood.

the stars shine from the heavens (and watch over us)

Mitarai Ryouta awoke with a start, breath hitching in his throat and the glare of the sunlight entering through the window to his right making him shut his eyes close again.

Except, wasn't his window located above his bed? For that matter, exactly when had he fallen asleep?

When he caught the faint scent of alcohol in the air and felt his heart erratically beating against his chest like a sledgehammer, realization hit him like a brick. It happened again, didn't it?

Before he could get lost in thought about his own mortality, however, he felt a strong, warm hand gently squeeze his own.

He didn't even need to open his eyes to know who it was. He knows his parents would never come to visit him, emergency or no, being located a whole prefecture away from Hope's Peak, and he only knows exactly two people in the academy that he could count as friends and care enough about him to visit. Tsumiki-san is still too nervous around him to try and communicate with him without being prompted first, which only leaves —

"I know you're awake, Mitarai."

Sagishi's voice was laced with relief and just a slight hint of annoyance. He was also using his neutral voice. Well, as neutral as it could get, since Ryouta very much doubted that Sagishi's real voice sounded like Togami Byakuya's.

When Ryouta finally opened his eyes and turned to face his friend, he saw that Sagishi's face looked the same way his voice sounded like. Sagishi's eyebrows were furrowed with concern, the eyes themselves shining in unmasked relief, and his lips pursed together as they always were when Sagishi was about to give Ryouta a stern lecture. He also wasn't wearing any disguises, opting to show his real face today.

Ryouta smiled a little at the sight of him.

"Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?" Sagishi asked, still not letting go of Ryouta's hand.

"I didn't think it was that bad," Ryouta replied rather sheepishly, his voice sounding far too cracked and hoarse for his own liking.

At this answer, Sagishi gently flicked a finger to Ryouta's forehead.

"You idiot. You always say that, but I still keep on finding you collapsed in your room at least twice a month. And where would it leave us if, god forbid, one day I don't find you in time?" Sagishi was glaring down at Ryouta, making him sink into the bed.

"I'm sorry," Ryouta said, not quite meeting Sagishi's eyes. "I even made you miss class."

Sagishi sighed as he waved away the apology. "Class doesn't start for at least another hour, I still have plenty of time to prepare for it. I just want to be here when you wake up. Please take better care of yourself. You're lucky it wasn't a really bad episode or we wouldn't even be talking right now," he said while reaching out to smooth away the wrinkles of concern already forming on Ryouta's face.

"I'm trying, you know. But I really am sorry I'll miss our plans for Tanabata tomorrow."

"Don't worry about that. Tsumiki and I will think of something."

"When you said you'll think of something, I didn't realize the plan involved having to sneak me out of the hospital," Ryouta was sitting at the edge of his bed, a bit more colour returning to his cheeks, his hands fidgeting because of nervousness from the plan.

"If you have a better idea, then just say so. It's actually easy, really, since you don't have an IV line this time. And Tsumiki will be here in a bit, just in case anything happens while we're outside," Sagishi replied while holding up a yukata for Ryouta to inspect. Sagishi himself was already wearing his own plain pitch black yukata, hair tied back and still foregoing a disguise.

Ryouta sighed and accepted defeat. "Where is she, anyway?"

"She's with the rest of the class, but she says she'll slip away later. How she'll do it, I don't know. I swear, Yukizome-sensei must have the eyes of a hawk," Sagishi replied, depositing the yukata down onto Ryouta's lap, making Ryouta flinch.

"What?" Sagishi asked dryly.

"I haven't worn a yukata since my shichi-go-san," Ryouta admitted, his face flushing in embarrassment.

Sagishi was incredulous in an instant. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Ryouta said, blushing an even deeper shade of red that Sagishi was starting to wonder if he'll have another episode right there and then.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped," Sagishi said, tapping Ryouta's skinny knees lightly. "I'll help you get dressed. I don't want you putting it on the wrong way and freaking Tsumiki out."

Getting Ryouta ready was easier said than done, but dressed he was, in a yukata blue as the August sky and dotted with white meant to symbolize the stars and his hair tied back in a neat ponytail mirroring Sagishi's own.

"You know, if you aren't sickly pale right now, we could actually walk through the front door without anyone noticing a patient just slipped out," Sagishi commented, still gazing at his handiwork.

"Wait, so we're not going through the entrance? Then how are we getting out?" Ryouta asked, his eyes not leaving tearing away from a random spot on the floor, still embarrassed for needing help to dress himself.

"We're going through the fire exit."

"What?!"

After an uneventful trip through the fire exit that took at least half an hour (normally, it only takes fifteen minutes for one to go through it, but they had to pause every few minutes and wait for Ryouta to catch his breath, which lead to several streams of stuttered out apologies and at least two threats from Sagishi to piggyback him the rest of the way), they were met at the door by an obviously disheveled Mikan, who was too eager to help them out that she slipped while running towards them and almost fell face first into the damp ground has Sagishi not been quick enough to catch her.

"What happened to you? Your yukata wasn't that messed up when we met this afternoon," Sagishi asked as he helped Mikan get back on her feet.

"I–I slipped on the hill where everyone was watching the fireworks show and I told Yukizome-sensei that I'll just go to the infirmary to check for injuries," Mikan replied, her nervousness making her stutter every few words. She was busy tugging at the ends of her too short purple yukata in an attempt to make it reach her knees. A similarly coloured pouch was dangling from her left wrist.

"Uh, shouldn't we be leaving? Before they find out I went missing?" Ryouta asked hesitantly, raising his voice ever so slightly.

Sagishi mussed Ryouta's hair in response just to annoy him. "You're right. Let's go."

"Of course, you had to buy mitarashi dango first. Of course," Sagishi complained to Ryouta right before shoving another piece of takoyaki into his mouth.

Ryouta was quick to jump to the defense, blushing again. "S–Shut up! I like them."

"We all know you only like them because they share your name, Mitarai. Right, Tsumiki?" Sagishi said, his mouth still half-full with takoyaki.

Mikan smiled shyly and opted instead to continue nibbling at her piece of taiyaki. A wise decision, really.

"Look! They have goldfish scooping over there!" Ryouta said, taking both of their hands in each of his own and trying to pull them to a nearby stall, the argument over dango already forgotten. There were already little children milled about in that stall, each of them in deep concentration as they try to catch a fish without breaking the fragile onion paper net. Ryouta himself was smiling widely at the thought of the prize. Seeing him smile like this, it was easy to forget that just yesterday he almost died again. Just for tonight, they were all just normal children having fun on Tanabata.

Sagishi pretended to mull it over, his free hand set beneath his chin. "I don't know about this, Mitarai. What if Muta decides to eat the poor fish?"

Ryouta pouted and flashed his best attempt so far at puppy dog eyes. "Muta won't eat it if I feed him cat food regularly. Can't we at least try to catch one?"

"Fine, but don't blame me if you blow up your whole allowance in trying to catch a fish."

Ten minutes worth of frustrated screaming from all three of them later, they finally emerged from the stall triumphant, each of them proudly displaying the fish they caught in a little plastic bag dangling on their wrists. The goldfish catching, however, made them lose track of time, and they had to run and attach their tanzaku to the bamboo before it was sent floating down the nearby river.

When the bamboo was already floating away from everyone watching the ceremony, the fireworks were lit up once again, turning the night sky into different brilliant shades of color. It was midnight, and Orihime and Hikiboshi were already overhead, finally able to cross the Heavenly River to meet each other.

The three of them were sitting down on the grass, contentedly watching the fireworks show. Ryouta and Mikan were leaning on each of Sagishi's shoulders; Mikan on his left, and Ryouta to his right.

"What did you wish for on the tanzaku?" Mikan was yawning while she asked.

"It's supposed to be a secret, Tsumiki. Right, Mitarai?" Sagishi replied while trying to shift his position so all three of them could be comfortable.

Ryouta didn't reply, having already fallen asleep, a peaceful expression on his face.

Sagishi lowered his voice so he won't disturb Ryouta. "Should we take him back now, Tsumiki?"

Mikan shook her head. "Let's let him sleep first. He looks like he hasn't slept that well in weeks."

"We haven't even given him his birthday present yet," Sagishi said, gently shifting Ryouta from his shoulder to his lap so Ryouta could sleep better.

"We can wrap it around him and just tell him it's a present when he wakes up later," Mikan suggested, her eyes blinking to stop herself from falling asleep, as she took out a small package from within her pouch. It was the aforementioned present. Opening the package, it revealed a soft knitted red scarf.

"Happy birthday, Mitarai," Sagishi said as he carefully tied the scarf onto Ryouta. "We're going to do this again next year, so try and stay alive until then."

A/N: Not seen: Mikan and Sagishi getting the dressing down of their lives from the nurses and almost getting a perma-ban from the hospital from visiting for sneaking out a patient.

And I forgot to write down the scene where they all promise to do this again the next year, screw me.

Also, this was set August of the same year Class 78 officially enrolled in Hope's Peak, just in case you guys needed that fridge horror. A few months after this, Junko will send these kids through a living hell.

Shichi-go-san is a ceremony for girls of age seven and boys of ages three and five celebrated every November 15.
Taiyaki is that fish-shaped fried pastry that has a bean curd filling.
Tanzaku is the strips of paper written with wishes for the year and attached to the bamboo floated down a river during midnight of Tanabata.
I'm using the fanmade August 30 birthday for Ryouta since the official one still hasn't been revealed and it's actually close to Tanabata which can either be celebrated on July 7 or August 7, depending on which prefecture you're in, and if you're in a prefecture that prefers to follow the lunisolar calendar in celebrating matsuri, Tanabata can fall on August 30 in some years.
Sagishi was talking about the fact that both the dango name and Ryouta's surname can be written down using the kanji 御手洗
Muta is Ryouta's cat who is extremely illegal in student housing regulations which he named after an anime cat, Muta the fat white cat from the 2002 Studio Ghibli movie Neko no Ongaeshi, aka The Cat Returns.

It's 2 am and there are probably some errors I didn't catch so I might edit this later after I get some sleep like these beautiful dumb babies.