"Huh?" It was the only thing Shintaro could say. "You, are you serious?"

"Yeah. Something wrong?" asked the green-haired girl in front of him.

When Kido asked to speak to him alone, he expected a confession of some sort, but not this. Anything but this.

"Does everyone else know you're planning this?"

"No. You're the only one I've told."

"Why me?" was the obvious thought that went through his mind as he put his head in his hands. The former future doctor—as strange as that sounded—remembered that he kept a pair of scissors in a case in his pocket.

And so, he could only sigh. "Is there a reason for this?"

Kido was silent for a while. "…I think, I tried to hard to be like Onee-chan."

He raised an eyebrow but let her continue.

"I was worried our…'family' would break apart without her, so I tried to be like her. I even grew out my hair." The girl closed her eyes. "But now, I don't think it was ever necessary. So please," Her eyes opened, filled with resolve. "Cut my hair."

Shintaro silently flipped open the plain black case, revealing red barber scissors. He glanced back up at Kido.

"Alright. You want to cut it now, or…"

"Now is fine."

Though she said that, the two were in a different hospital room, with only a bed and a table.

I guess they can deal with a bit of a mess, he thought as he scratched his head.

"Just wait a minute, okay?"

He walked out to get a couple more supplies. When he went to ask for a bowl of water, the nurses just looked at him funny. When he explained it was to cut a persons hair, they were even more reluctant.

And to think, had it been a couple years later in a different future, there wouldn't have been any problems because he seemed to be cutting more hair than issuing prescription and the such. He almost missed that future.

Shintaro tuned his thoughts back on the present. If he wasn't going to get anything by asking, he'd just have to take matters into his own hands. Getting water wasn't too tough, As for the bowl, though…

He had to use Tupperware as a replacement.

This would have been much easier if Kido was not as adamant as to stay inside the plain hospital room that lacked a sink. Her reasons for doing so were a mystery to him.

After filling the Tupperware with tap water and sealing the lid, he proceeded back to where Kido was waiting. On the way, he was stopped by Kano.

"Yo, Shintaro-kun!" the cat-eyed boy greeted. "Have you seen Kido anywhere? I can;t seem to find here."

"I-I don't know." Shoot, he stuttered!

"Hmm?" Kano stared at him curiously. "Hey, why do you have water in a box?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I just wanted to put a goldfish in it." What the heck was he saying? The raven-haired boy's mouth moved faster than his mind.

"I mean, there's a guest who brought a couple of goldfish with them and let me have one so I' going to get one so you can all see the fish swimming around and—gah!" He just had to bite his tongue. Maybe that was a good thing. Now he could stop talking.

"Oh, I see. Then go ahead and get that goldfish so we can name it Seto #3," said Kano with a smile.

"O-okay." It didn't matter if the younger boy was fooling him. He just wanted to get back to Kido.

Luckily, he didn't meet any other members of the Mekakushi Dan. They were probably resting in their rooms. They were still injured, after all. Even Kido was.

He stopped. And so was Kano. Kano should have been covered in bandages, but there was nothing. He was even wearing his regular clothes instead of the hospital gown. Shintaro was an idiot for not noticing this. He spun around on his heels and hurriedly ran back.

"Kano!" he called out as he looked around for the cat-eyed trickster.

"Yes? What is it?"

And he promptly forgot to turn and ran into a wall.

"There's a wall there," the blonde ever so kindly pointed out.

The NEET rubbed his reddening nose. "I can see that. What are you doing out here?!"

"Eeh? Is there something wrong about me being here?" he asked.

Shintaro grabbed his wrist. "Pulse is abnormal, clammy skin, low body temperature. You aren't fit to be walking around in your condition. I don't care how well you can disguise yourself. You're not fooling me anymore."

Kano gave a smug smile. "Shintaro-kun, you shouldn't pretend to be a doctor. That's my job."

"Your job is to rest, so your injuries can heal quickly," he retorted.

"They're already fine."

He was used to stubborn patients. He had dealt with those that tried their hardest to pretend that they were fine. Some pushed themselves to fulfill a promise or meet with someone. Every time, he would persuade them back to rest. Of course, there were some who didn't listen, and they paid the price. Shintaro didn't want to see that happen to Kano.

Because that meant coming face to face with a motionless figure on a hospital bed yet again.

"Why do you keep saying you're fine? You obviously aren't. You'll worry everyone like this! If you think acting tough like this is going to make you cool, you're completely wrong!"

The facade was dropped. Bandages appeared on the short boy's skin out of seemingly nowhere. His dark-colored clothes were exchanged with the white hospital gown. His complexion was also far from well. Even so, the boy still tried to smile as if it was nothing.

"Kano, you're only ruining yourself like this."

With his hand still gripping the said boy's wrist, Shintaro walked to where the Mekakushi Dan were staying. Surprisingly, Kano didn't try to resist, but a shaky grin was still plastered on his face.

"Why did you leave in the first place?" Shintaro asked, trying to make the other relax.

"You really expect me to stay cooped up in a hospital room?" Kano asked back.

A faint smile crossed Shintaro's face. "I guess not. But weren't you having a pillow fight one day?"

For the first time since returning to the past, he heard the boy chuckle. Through his hand, he could feel a steady pulse beating not too fast and not too slow.

"Well, I do admit that it was rather fun, though we were scolded by the doctors for that."

Ah yes. The appearance of a doctor was uncalled for because Shintaro really was about to give them bad haircuts. A pity.

"By the way, I still don't know what you're planning to do with that water," Kano commented, pointing at the Tupperware with his free hand.

Shintaro didn't know how he forgot about it when he had been holding it the entire time. "Crap." When he thought about how long a certain girl had been waiting for him, he paled.

"You'll have to go back without me!" He relinquished his hold on Kano's wrist. "Make sure you actually go back, okay?" he reminded.

"Kay~" replied the younger flippantly.

Shintaro was still skeptical but decided to trust him. He sped in Kido's direction.

Kano stared at his running figure with a hint of jealousy. "How nice, being able to run. How was Shintaro the only one to have light injuries?" he said to no one in particular.

Ahead of him, the older boy couldn't hear him. Shintaro was only hoping that he didn't make the girl wait too long.

This was supposed to be mainly about Kido, but then Kano invaded it. I have no control over the details of my stories. Ah, but I guess it turned out fine. I will say one thing. The word "Tupperware" is the bane of my existence for some reason.

And was it okay to put in a bit of humor in this. I always get paranoid about it.