Chapter 4 – Time"Satoshi-kun has a low chance of relapsing again, but we still have to be careful around him," the doctor said as he looked through the data in the documents. Shion sat in front of him, fidgeting nervously. Two weeks had passed since the incident and Satoshi was behaving normally like usual. Nowadays he frequently sat on the bed, eating fruits as Shion chatted with him while he responded normally. It seemed like the old times, but something was missing.
"Coach," she said nervously. Irie looked up from his documents, raising a brow at her. She looked to the ground, fiddling with her fingers and opened her mouth.
"Today's the day Satoshi-kun will be doing rehabilation...right?"
"Yep," Irie answered, going back to his documents again. "After the rehabilitation, Satoshi will be able to lead a normal life but he also will have to take daily injections like Satoko and that doesn't really count as-"
"Um," Shion interrupted, her voice still nervous. "How long will it take?"
"Depends on his progress." Shion gave a sigh.
Satoshi-kun, you can do it!
She was now standing outside his room, peering in through the glass window. Satoshi was obeying the nurse's instruction while Irie stood by them to keep watch. She had decided to stay out of this, mainly because she wanted him to be independent.
At the word independent, she gave an exhausted smile as she thought about all those times when she had to feed him or read him books.
She watched as Satoshi tried to stand to grab the railings at the side of the wall. What was going through Shion's mind wasn't about his progress, but rather about how fragile he looked. It was as if he was a puppet following its master's orders. His face looked pale and lifeless, though he showed some sort of expressions whenever he almost fell.
The green head couldn't help but shiver as negative thoughts came clouding her mind. Would he continue looking like that even if he went back to his normal lifestyle?
Shion shook the thoughts out of her head and focused on the ragged figure. Satoshi was finally clinging onto the railings with his knees bent and he hung there by exerting his arm muscles. Beads of sweat were rolling down his face and dripping to the ground where his feet rested uncomfortably. He scrunched his nose up and clenched his jaw as he tried to lift himself up properly, but to no avail.
Finally, he dropped to the ground with a soft thud.
When she saw the nurse attending to him, Shion's muscles relaxed and she realised that the inside of her cheek stung a little. She gave a sigh. She usually bit them whenever she felt stressed or extremely anxious.
She felt a little disappointed at Satoshi and the thoughts of blaming him and his stupid slow progress kept screaming at the back of her mind. She suppressed it with her reasoning - "you would never understand". However she couldn't keep the rude expression off her face and unfortunately for her, Irie saw it.
"Don't worry," He said beside her. "Satoshi is doing pretty well."
How is that pretty well? Can't he just get on and walk already?! Her demon kept screaming yet she remained completely composed while fighting back in her mind. He is just like a newborn baby; he needs time.
"That's great," She finally managed to say.
That day, she went back home straight after Satoshi decided to take a break for the rest of the day. He had mumbled that it was too exhausting for him and Shion immediately regretted blaming him after seeing his pained face. He was still expressionless though he started to show signs of happiness whenever Shion talked to him about how Satoko was faring. "Time," Irie had said. "He just needs time."
Shion lay on her bed, her limbs spread out as she closed her eyes and began drifting herself into a void of peace. All the thoughts about Satoshi had been taking up her mind and she wasn't in the mood for school or friends anymore. As she felt herself sinking deeper into the abyss of silence, her heart felt much lighter. She finally heaved a long sigh and opened her eyes.
She'd never imagined that Satoshi would be so tiring.
She wanted to convince herself, saying "But he just woke up! Treat him like a child or something!" but at the same time, another part of her was chiding, "Just give up already. It's taking too long."
At those thoughts Shion tossed around in her bed, groaning in frustration. Thank goodness Kasai wasn't around or he'd call up Mion to check on her or something and that was something she wouldn't want, because-
The doorbell rang and Shion got up to answer it.
-Mion would-
She found an exact replica of her facing right before her.
-force everything out of her.
"O-Onee..." Shion trailed off but she couldn't keep her surprise and dread in her tone. Speak of the devil.
Mion stood before her, holding a box of pastries with her huge grin. "Hey Shion!" She exclaimed as she walked in freely. Her younger sister followed behind her, trying to calm herself down and carry on the facade she had been giving ever since Satoshi woke up.
"Hey," Shion greeted back as she poured tea. "What brings you here?" She asked curiously while praying hard it was about trivial stuff that was totally not related to her.
"Well..." Mion trailed off.
It's not anything about me, right? I have kept up a great act, after all. Shion's heart beat faster.
"Just wanna ask you a few things." Mion ended.
A bad feeling crept up Shion's spine as she sat before her older sister while pushing herself to smile at her. However her smile slowly faded away as Mion looked at her with worried eyes.
"Shion." Mion opened her mouth and Shion tensed up. She wasn't ready to spill out anything about Satoshi to anyone yet, even if it was her sister. Furthermore, she hadn't got the mood to talk about him.
Mion's serious green orbs began averting from Shion and she tried to smile but it ended with an awkward attempt. "Um," she continued, scratching her head. "Um, I was wondering if you had anything to tell me."
Shion's lips formed into a thin line before breaking out into a terribly fake smile. "W-What thing?" Darn, since when had her acting gotten so bad? You can't fool her, the demon snickered. She's known you before birth.
"Don't lie to me, Shion." Mion immediately reverted back to her serious mode again. "I've known you since before we were born." Shion gave an inaudible 'heh' as her sister's words matched her demon's.
Shion remained quiet, looking down at her tea which was turning cold. "Lately you've been acting strange," Mion continued with worry evident in her voice. "You may fool Rena and the rest but you can't fool me."
"We're sisters aren't we? You can tell me anything." The tomboy smiled.
Shion looked up at her to see her sister's earnest smile directed towards her. She then gaze up to the ceiling and the leaned back on her chair, lumping her arm to cover her eyes. "Ah, I give up!" She groaned and ruffled her hair in frustration. She then sat back up, staring straight into Mion's emerald eyes. With an exhausted sigh, she opened her mouth.
"Satoshi-kun woke up."
A few solid seconds passed and Shion watched as her sister's jaw slowly dropped to the ground. What a reaction.
"W-What?!" Mion stood up immediately and leaned in to her twin. "Are you for real?"
"I wouldn't lie about such a thing."
Mion's eyes fell back to her tea as her sister's words processed in her mind. Satoshi finally woke up? It was quite unbelievable yet so real...it was like he's actually here yet he wasn't.
"T-Then what happened? How is he?" She asked Shion and sat back down, calming down.
Shion gave a bored look since all the surprise about him waking up was already all gone. She rested her cheek on her palm. "A few things happened here and there but he's on rehab now." She explained.
"I...I see..." Mion looked away and then back at her sister again. "But shouldn't you be happy and excited and stuff? You looked so down lately."
I did? Shion questioned herself. She rested her hand down and started stirring her tea for amusement. "I..." She began but she couldn't put the words to say it. "Let's just say...my demon blames him for not recovering quickly." Her heart seemed to twist as the ugly words came tumbling out of her mouth.
She glanced at her older twin who opened her mouth to speak and prepared to turn away if she ever said the word 'time'. What was time ever going to help with anything? She had waited so long for him to wake and just when he finally did, more time was needed just for a recovery to keep up with life. She couldn't wait any longer. She felt like all the energy and motivation had drained out from her.
But what Mion had said completely astounded and she stared at her in slight bewilderment.
"Huh?" Shion said, urging Mion to repeat her words.
"What you've got to do, Shion," Mion repeated calmly. "is that you have to support him with all you got."
Looking at Shion's confused face, Mion continued, "You see, I think that Satoshi is doing his utmost best at trying to recover but it isn't all about the time and pace that helps him...it's about the support he gets."
"In other words, just do what you can to help him and give him the motivation to do it so that he can have more will power. " Mion smiled.
Shion understood her sister's words yet she couldn't quite convince herself. She was supporting Satoshi all the way right? Like helping him to clean up and feed him, or read him stories and chat with him about Satoko and the others...isn't that what she had done to help him? She had also watched Satoshi from outside to see his progress-
Something clicked in her.
The next day she went to visit Satoshi again although she had planned to visit him a few days later. He was doing his rehabilation again and was just going to fall to the ground when Shion burst into the room.
She went to Satoshi's side, who was clinging onto the railings like his dear life depended on it. His knees were about to drop to the ground when Shion placed her hand onto his, gripping it tightly as she smiled at him warmly.
"I know you can do it, Satoshi-kun." She said and he looked at her, a little surprised at her sudden appearance.
Upon hearing those words and the warmth rested on his hand, he gave a brief smile and tried his attempt to stand up straight again. Shion watched and talked to him as he used his full energy just to stand properly on the concrete floor. Her heart beat in anticipation as he slowly got the hang of it. "Satoshi-kun, go for it!" she said.
After a few futile attempts, the blond finally rested his hand onto the railings and his body stood up straight. He finally managed to stand.
"I...I did it..." He panted in delight.
Shion almost cried tears of joy when she watched his eyes light up to their fullest. Mion was right. He needed support from the ones close to him and she couldn't just stand outside and watch him while making unsightly expressions.
She had to cast her thoughts away and settle on helping him to recover slowly one step at a time so that he could be in his best condition after that. She had to be right beside him and go through whatever obstacles that hit them together with him.
Shion let out a short laugh as Satoshi dropped to the ground, face full of sweat and exhaustion. It was the best progress so far and she knew that there was more to come. Miracles happen, after all.
A/N : I planned to publish these 2 chapters during New Years as a special but...I guess school just took up most of my time. :/
Anyway, please review and also I might be updating later than usual since I'm in my final year. ZZZZZ I can feel the stress.