There he sat, upright against his pillows, gaunt and tired. His face was pale and sickly and his hair was gone. The midnight black spikes that were much softer than they appeared had vanished, and Mori's bare scalp was covered in a grey bandana. His eyes were bloodshot and had large circles under them. Mori had always been in the highest amount of physical fitness, but now they would see he had lost allot of weight and his muscles were much smaller, his hands looking like claws against the white linen. It seemed impossible that this was Mori-senpai. He had always been so strong, so confident, so permanent and reliable, that the more they all gazed, the less they we convinced. But this was, despite the unconscious hopes of all inside the room, Mori-senpai. Or rather – what was left of him.
It all hit Haruhi like a blow to the gut and she longed to shut her eyes tight, so she could never see the injustice of life ever again. She kept them open and focused on the figure in the bed in his light blue pyjamas. Her eyes began to itch and she felt her breathing become uneven.
No. She could not cry damn it! Not here. Just suck it up, for her friends' sake.
"M-Mori-senapai, we came to visit you." Tamaki said meekly, trying to cut through the awkward silence. It dragged on for a few moment when Hunny-sempai wriggled forward and hopped off a chair. He too looked tired, and his usually cute pink cheeks were gone. His face was withdrawn, his eyes spoke of pain. He made a smile stretch across his face, but his eyes stayed the same, making the expression more like a grimance than anything else.
"Hi, guys, I'm glad you decided to come!" He said as cheerfully as he could.
"Of course we came, we haven't seen our beloved Mori-senpai in such a long time." Tamaki said, putting on an equally cheerful façade, the twins nodding with cheesy grins. Kyouya stood behind them, seemingly relaxed with an unreadable look on his face while he watched the idiots make fools out of themselves so he could distract himself from his senpai's pain.
Haruhi stared with large eyes at her tall friend, her fingers gripping the plastic bowl filled with the food. Her stomach was in knots and her hands were sweating. She took a large breath as quietly she could, and, going unnoticed, she decided to take a few more just to calm herself down.
"Thankyou for coming, it's good to see you all." Came the deep rumble of a voice that was Takashi Morinozuka. It was far raspier than they remembered, but he talked so little they didn't know if it was their ears or his condition.
"We all brought you gifts!" Tamaki stuttered out hopefully. He brought a parcel from behind his back, wrapped in white paper with a light green ribbon. It looked hand wrapped and it warmed Haruhi's heart to see his handy work. He laid it on the bed and with a flourish, tugged the ribbon to reveal a large, decadent cake. Hunny's eyes immediately widened. Mori was so close to smiling and he looked directly into Tamaki's eyes.
"Thankyou," he said solemnly. The only way that Tamaki knew how to make his senpai happy was to make Hunny happy. And he knew exactly how to do that.
"Hai! Senpai, we got you something too!" The twins added a little more genuinely than before. They were dragging a big expensive suit case behind them and Haruhi was sure it would be full of clothes. But to her upmost surprise it was swung open to reveal hundreds of tapes and magazines. The left half were all about martial arts and the others were general interest. Haruhi was really surprised that the twins had tried, honestly tried to put some thought into the gift. Kyouya said nothing as he had already upgraded Mori into his private hospital suites, which were better than any five star hotels. He would be moving there tomorrow after the test results came back.
So it was now Haruhi's turn. It took her a moment to realise that they were half waiting for her to speak, she shook herself, mentally and look down at plastic bowl. She sat it on his bedside table,
"I cooked you some ramen noodles, if you think you can keep them down. But with home made, the flavouring won't stick to the lid." her lip quirked slightly; those where the first words he had ever spoken to her, before he even knew she was a girl.
Damn it all.
She felt large tears fill her eyes and her vision was blurring. He throat was experiencing the ever so familiar tightening sensation in her throat and she pushed her hands to her sides to stop them from shaking.
"Arigatou gozaimusu," Mori rumbled. He too remembered the day when the Host Club had named Haruhi sensei and taught then how to cook 'peasant' ramen. He felt a small bubble of amusement deep in his chest but it was evaporated almost immediately when he saw the tears in the younger girl's eyes. She was fighting a losing battle and Takashi knew that if she would soon be smothered to the extent she would hardly be able to breathe.
But it was now Mori's turn to be surprised, as he watched Haruhi regain composure as the others watched the little blonde boy devour the cake as if he hadn't eaten one in days. It was a cheerful thing to see and, to all of the Hosts, it didn't seem to last very long. It was odd, they were never this thoughtful about Hunny eating his cakes but it got them thinking how often it would happen when Mori – if Mori was…not with them any more.
