Kaede, still barely finished with her concert, couldn't believe with her own eyes how much praise she's getting. People waiting to get her autograph, flowers thrown on stage from higher seats, people cheering for her... If she had known, she would have prepared a second encore.
Her parents and friends were probably proud of her by now, and she hoped she had pleased Saihara with the second-to-last piece she played. Her concert was a success and it was in part thanks to his attempts at motivating her and making her feel reassured about her skills.
Nothing was better than getting motivated by the one she loved.
Backstage, she could see her parents in her preparing room, a wide smile on their faces. She rushed to them, despite wearing high heels, and hugged them.
"We're both really proud of you, honey! You were fan-tas-tic!" cried her mom with tears of happiness running down her cheeks.
"There was a boy next to us... Is he the Saihara you mentionned before playing Claire de Lune?"
"You mean Shuichi Saihara? Sure, it's him! I gave him my last VIP seat because sis wouldn't be here... I would have given him a place anyway..."
"He was, how to put it nicely..." suddenly changed in tone her dad, "noisy."
"Noisy?"
"He would cough, and I think spit, a lot. Don't worry, it didn't prevent us from profiting from your amazing performance honey!"
"Where is he?!"
Kaede's tone got far sharper once she heard the word "cough".
"He was in the bathroom when we left our seats. He should be in front of your room by now..."
A knock answered her question.
Kaede opened the door and, sure thing, here was her classmate dressed in a tuxedo in front of her.
"So you did come... I thought you may have something going on, but you still came!"
She wanted to hug him so badly, but in front of her parents who seemed mad at him, it didn't seem like such a brilliant idea.
He coughed in his sleeve.
"Hey, Saihara... You're all right? You seem so pale..."
"S-sure...!"
His other hand was behind his back. Kaede wondered what he could be hiding. She hoped it was a present though...
"Oh, huh... Here you go..."
He looked away as he showed her the most beautiful bouquet she had ever seen. She was probably biased...
"These are for me? They're so pretty! Thank you so much, Saihara!"
She took them with such delicacy that he visibly looked surprised.
"Oh, huh... I hope you liked the concert!"
"It was... Beautiful..."
He would cough every so often. She was seriously getting worried.
"He wears his shirt inappropriately, don't you think?"
"It seems perverted... I hope he's not planning to do such things to our precious daughter"
"Apparently he is a detective, but he seems shady..."
Her parents' whispers weren't... Not good to hear.
"You're sure you're gonna be alright?" asked Kaede, expecting him to cough up a lung at some point.
"I... Not so sure..."
He bent over to cough again, and soon enough, he spat, almost on either of her shoes.
"That's gross, Mr. Saihara..." whispered her parents.
He dropped to his knees and she kneeled down to him as soon as he did, supporting his shoulders.
"Fuck..." he panted.
"You should have stayed home, Saihara..."
He looked at her, half smiling and half crying.
"I couldn't... Not when you invite me to your big first concert..." he replied, out of breath.
"You've even coughing up weird stuff... I wouldn't hold a grudge because you were sick..."
She helped him to get up again by propping him on her shoulder.
Her mom's face distorted into some kind of horrified disgust.
"Darling, your dress... Your dress..."
It took Kaede a few seconds before looking at the source of the problem: an ugly, ugly spot on her dress. It looked brown from where she was, and she couldn't let him fall back to the ground just to check some dirt she put there by accident.
"Mom, it's not that important," she said.
"I hope it goes away at the pressing..." the mother continued.
Inside, Kaede wanted to scream "it's just a dress mom", but it wasn't a viable option when she had spent the afternoon trying to find this goddamn dress. She was just wondering where this spot came from. She could have sworn it was clean and pristine as new when she was playing the piano.
"What even is this spot?" asked her dad.
"It's just some dirt! Leave it down! We got a sick boy to take care of!"
"But, darling, he was being noisy during your premiere... Isn't it inappropriate?"
"He's sick, mom! And when you're sick you cough, jeez!"
Coincidentally, Saihara started to cough again as soon as she had pronounced the word "cough". It wasn't pretty, as what was expected.
He spat again, and everybody had to realize two things: the spot on the dress was his spit from earlier, and that it wasn't brown.
It was red.
"Goodness, what did you catch?!" yelled Kaede.
He jerked away from her shoulder, using the wall as support.
"None of your business... Goodbye..."
"How rude..." her mother whispered.
"Saihara, wait!"
He staggered for a few steps before promptly collapsing to the ground, still coughing, and now she was starting to realize his breathing wasn't normal. It sounded more than congested, as if he had trouble breathing altogether.
She kneeled down to him again, ignoring her parents' call for her to get away.
"Instead of whining about manners and a spot on a dress, what about calling an ambulance?!"
"An ambulance? You're sure bringing him to a doctor's not enough, Kaede?" asked her father.
"He coughs up blood and breaths horribly, what more do you need?!" she yelled back.
Her father, doctor as he was, rushed down to the boy's side.
"Darling... He's wheezing. Call an ambulance."
"Dad, why did you take so long?! You've seen that he wasn't feeling well!" she continued to scream, her fingers bent in anxiety.
"That's, huh..."
"Manners are less important than health, right?! Saihara wouldn't be so rude if he wasn't sick!"
Kaede Akamatsu, seventeen, piano prodigy who made a successful premiere, was crying in despair.
"I just want him to be alright..."
She sat him correctly against the wall before pressing her forehead against his.
"He's burning up too... It's already a miracle he didn't pass out..."
He looked at her, heavily breathing, quiet outside of his coughing noise.
"You really should have stayed in bed..." she whispered.
Her mom was telling their localization and her father had disappeared.
Her father came back a few seconds later with a stethoscope in his hand.
"He was wearing a mask when we were in our seats... Where it is?"
Saihara, with a shaky hand, took it from one of his pockets and put it back on.
"Kaede, sweetie, let me examine him."
She was resentful and doubting, but still let him do so.
She had both regrets and didn't have when her father started to open her friend's shirt. It wasn't the time to do so, but… But there was no excuse.
"Oh goodness, he is far sicker than he looked like he was earlier..."
"Ha, you finally notice!"
"Darling, what does this boy have?" asked her mother, still disgusted by what was happening.
"I would say something awful..."
"As in?" insisted Kaede.
Her father put the mask on Saihara's chin before inserting a thermometer.
"See? Bringing my first aid kit was useful" he teased his wife.
It beeped extremely fast.
"When do they arrive?" he asked, his voice going a pitch down.
"In a few minutes... Why?"
He didn't reply, but Kaede still looked at the thermometer before gasping.
40.4.
She hadn't hallucinate it.
Even when she could hear the sirens.
Even when she saw medical staff take him away.
Even in the ambulance.
She couldn't unsee the damn number.
She was crying, crying, crying.
Her parents were finally quiet.
It was midnight, and despite her success, Kaede was crying her heart out in worry.
