Masamune glowered at the ceiling, ignoring the chatter next to him.
The guy's name was Onodera Ritsu. Ritsu.
But that wasn't the thing that made him glower.
It was her.
Shorter than him and Ritsu (he assumed since he hasn't got to stand alongside him), long, light brown hair, light brown eyes... he hated to admit that she was a nice, cute looking girl.
And while he wasn't like, in love with the guy or anything, pssh- her presence looming over his brunet annoyed him greatly. Wait...
His brunet? Masamune's glower intensified as he tried to overturn that notion. He just met this guy. What was wrong with him? This woman was obviously his girlfriend...
"Oh Ricchan..." He reluctantly side-eyes her, narrowing his eyes as she miserably gazed at Ritsu.
"Is he up?" He tilted his line of sight to see a taller, dark haired man about his age, maybe a little older. His eyes were gray, and unexpectedly not intimidating for his slightly bigger than lean build. 'Who's he?' Masamune wonders.
"Not yet," the young woman pouts, reaching her hand towards Ritsu. Masamune glares.
"OY!" She and the older guy startle at his shout, looking over at him as they realized he was awake.
"Y-you're awake?!" She asks him in a fluster. "Are you hungry?"
"Do you need something?" To Masamune surprise, the older guy goes over to him worriedly. "Do you need to use the bathroom? I can take you to the bathroom. Do you need to be carried? Cause I can totally carry you and hold up your leg while you-"
"No thank you," Masamune says quickly, finding the guy's oddly enthusiastic concern making him uncomfortable.
"It is lunch time," The girl brings up, looking up at a wall clock. "They said Ricchan was going to wake up about now." She looks over at him. "Want me to go ahead and call the nurse up for your food?"
...
So minutes later, Masamune learned the names of these two people: Kohinata An and Hinamori Kazuto. Funny thing is they met just last night too. What a night.
Apparently, Ritsu got into a fight because some brawny guy tried to get An to go out with him forcibly. She told him how the man had been eyeing her the minute they got there since she was one of the few girls closest to him in area. He finally went up to them after seeing Ritsu drop his head on the table after his drinking limit. When An tried to tug on Ritsu to get him up and leave the brawny man simply yanked him away from her before trying to pull her away.
Hearing An protest was enough for Ritsu to get up and drunkenly throw a glass at the back of his head. Thus, the fight began.
And on his own (with some help from the brawny man), Ritsu consequently broke through a wall, at least three tables, dented one car (will be explained), stepped on his own cell phone, crashed almost 200 shot glasses, 70 regular glasses, some guy's eye glasses, some guy's camera (unrelated to the guy who had his glasses broken), saved a girl from being hit on by three guys, accidently knocking out said three guys with two chairs when he was trying to slow down brawny guy (who was at this point really, really, really scared), damaged some stairs, and finally, the second story window wall that faced out with the entrance because he had tackled brawny guy through it.
"Wait," Masamune couldn't believe, "That's why he ended up like this?"
"Yes," An nods sadly, "He landed on a nearby car with a tarp on the top because something had happened to the roof of it."
"The other dude got caught by the huge crowd that was piling up near the car," Kazuto further explains, "He was crowd surfed to the road because it was the closest thing and he was heavy."
"That is..." Masamune looks over at the sleeping man, no doubt exhausted. "How..."
"Ricchan can be very expressive when he's drunk..." An admits, "He was very stressed lately too since he had a fight with his mother."
"Oh?"
"Yes. We cancelled our engagement."
"Oh..." Why did this make him feel happy inside?
"Actually, it turned out she set it all up first with my mother when we were little..." An trails off, "My mother just said as long as I was happy, so she was okay with it. But, Ricchan's mother..."
"So you two aren't together?" Masamune asks, just to make sure. Make sure for what, he didn't quite know.
"No. He sees me as a little sister." She gives a small smile. "Ricchan is so nice..."
"An...? Nggnnh..." Ritsu groans in pain, a tad confused when he realized he couldn't move. "Wh... What happened? Why can't I move? Am... Am I wearing a neck brace?!" All he can see mostly now are the white walls, the white ceiling, and especially the white neck brace curved towards him like a small hill.
"Ricchan!" An goes to stand closer to him so he can see her. "Are you okay?"
"Does it look like he's okay?" Masamune says.
"H-huh? Who's that?" Ritsu tries to turn his head, but to no avail. "Is that the doctor? I'm at the hospital right? Doctor?"
"No, I'm just a guy you're sharing a room with. You don't remember me? I was in the ambulance already when they got you." He scoffs. This guy gets louder when he's drunk and then forgets what transpires? "Obnoxious."
"Hah?! What are you-" he stopped. Hearing no reply, Masamune watches as a look of bafflement washed itself over the side of the brunet's face he could see. "..."
"AAAHHHH!" Ritsu cries, recalling that he broke a wall and threw a glass at someone. "I'm going to go to jail!" The stress of it all brought tears to his eyes. "They're going to sue me! I damaged property!"
"R-ricchan-"
"I'm the worst! I'm never drinking again! I-" A knock interrupts his loud babbling, and Masamune, An, and Kazuto looked to see a police officer with a clipboard.
"Onodera Ritsu?" The officer calls, eyebrow raised seeing the now trembling patient. "The doctor told me you were going to wake soon so I thought I'd come."
"H... How much trouble am I in?"
"None at all, provided you sign this." He presents the papers on the clipboard he was carrying. When he saw that Ritsu couldn't see it he walked closer. "You've helped us a lot."
"How...?"
"We've had an eye on the man and his friends for a long while. We've been working with some other countries on their branching trafficking game they got going on. He happened to be taking a break last night when you were there."
"...What guy? Was it the one I threw glass at?" The officer looks questionably at An.
"He doesn't really remember," An explains. "He knows he destroyed property though."
"Ah, then this will be easy then." He puts the clipboard on Ritsu's lap. "Onodera-san, we will pay for everything provided you hand the credit all over to us. You won't be involved in any of the news, and this way, you won't be targeted by anyone wanting a even score, if you get what I mean. You'll simply be referred to as an exceptionally trained officer."
"Okay," Ritsu agrees, before biting his lip. He felt a pen being placed in his hand. "I can't see where I'm supposed to sign."
"Oh, here," The officer helps him with Kazuto's aid, propping his elbow and hand. "Since we're covering the expenses, please relax and take care. Thank you for your work."
"Y-you're welcome...?"
...
It was quiet now. Visiting hours were over, and Ritsu was able to see around the room; the machinery under the bed allowed him to sit up. It was 9PM and the channel on the TV in the corner was on a variety channel.
His next-door bedmate's name is Takano Masamune. He had a fight at a bar too, but he wasn't as hurt as Ritsu was. No one came to visit him today, and Ritsu wondered if maybe it was because Masamune lived alone and was alone when he went drinking. Ritsu lives in his own apartment too, but he would normally go see his parents frequently. Well, not as much now, since his mother was most likely still mad with him.
"That was a little wild back there huh?" He startles from his thoughts to look over at his neighbor. "It was like reading through a synopsis of a action film."
"O-oh?"
"A bad one though. Everything was resolved too quickly, and it was nothing too impressive."
"Oh..." This guy sure knew how to make someone feel bad. He felt he was right though; if it was a movie it would suck.
"This is frustrating though," Masamune begins. "They won't let me call anyone yet. I need to call my co-worker and see if anyone can send work to me."
"You can do that?"
"Of course."
"But you'll be able to leave in maybe a week or two. You could maybe take this time to relax."
"There's not much to do here; might as well do something. I don't want to see piled up work when I get back either."
"I see..." Ritsu swallows, finding his own status miserable. "That's good then. I can't really do much yet."
"..." Masamune stares over at him, thinking to himself before speaking. "You're here for a month right?"
"Yeah. Two to three weeks if I'm lucky." A question pops into his head for Masamune. "Where do you work, Takano-san?"
"Marukawa Publishing."
"O-oh! I'm going to be working there too..."
"Really?"
"Yes... but," Ritsu frowns. "I was transferred to the Shoujo Division."
Masamune raises a brow at him. "What's wrong with Shoujo manga?"
"Nothing! I just never had experience in that. I've been in Literature in most of my working career. When I found out I was transferred to Shoujo they told me it wasn't a mistake so..."
"I see." Masamune crosses his arms, contemplating. "That sucks. With no experience either, you're useless."
"It's not my fault! They said I couldn't transfer again in such a small amount of time either, so I have to work there!"
"If that's the case then, I'll have to show you through the ropes." Ritsu looks at him quizzically. "I'm the head editor for the Shoujo Division, Emerald."
"Eeh?! Why didn't you say that before when I asked?!"
"Cause you asked 'where' did I work, idiot. Now quiet down, you're getting loud."
'I-Idiot...?' Ritsu faces towards his front now, annoyed in his weakened state. His neighbor really did know how to make someone feel bad. 'Jerk!'