Chapter 6 – The Welcome Home Party

The last three days of the suicide watch had come and gone. I was going to be discharged from the hospital today. I'm so excited to be finally leaving this place. Having nothing to do but watch anime reruns, eat fruit cups, and messing with this giant scar on my neck (which is probably something I shouldn't do. But I was bored, okay?).

I had just changed out of the gown I was wearing since I came to this hospital into a grey t-shirt and some blue jeans that Mom had dropped off before she left for her overseas job.

Yeah…she left. She didn't really have a choice. Yesterday she came by and said her final goodbye before catching her flight to England. Luckily, it was just her and I that day. So the others didn't have to see me cry again.

Once I was finished getting dressed, I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and stared at the giant scar. It was so noticeable. Taking up the entire right side of my neck. And even the stitches didn't make it look pretty.

"*sigh* I really have to go outside like this?" I asked myself. With the amount of rest I've gotten, my voice isn't all low and scratchy anymore. Plus my throat doesn't hurt whenever I yell or swallow stuff.

But the proof that I tried to commit suicide is visible for the world to see.

"*sigh* I really got no one else to blame but myself. Maybe Ana was right…"

"You're really going to believe that, Kyouko?" This sudden voice surprised me. When I turned to the door, I saw Yui standing in the doorway. Wearing light-blue clothes and a jacket, which were not usually what she wears.

"Huh? Yui? What are you doing here?"

"I came to pick you up. Someone has to leave with you when being discharged. Hospital rules."

Well, that's a dumb rule.

"So anyway…do you really believe what that nutcase of a therapist told you?"

"Damn. So you were listening, huh?"

"Pretty much."

"*sigh* Well, what am I suppose to think, Yui? It technically was my fault. If I didn't take those damn toys home, these past events wouldn't be happening right now."

"That may have been the start of all this, but we've all gotten past that. You should too."

"It's not that simple. Because of that, I started hating myself. And when Akari rejected my love confession, I hated myself even more. To the point where I tried to end my life. Sure I survived, but now I have to live the rest of my life with the choices I've made. And by only thinking about it just hurts my already shattered heart. My life is just a pain in the ass."

"Hey. Don't say that."

"But it's true. After all, you, Chinastu, Ayano, and Chizuru tell me straight to my face that I'm hopeless. None of you would continuously say it if it wasn't true. I just hate the fact that it took me so long to notice."

I felt like I was going to cry. But before that happened, Yui walked up next to me and placed her arm on my shoulder.

"Kyouko…I'm sorry. You may have annoyed me from time to time, but saying that you're hopeless was going too far. Especially since this is what it led up to. From the bottom of my heart as your childhood friend, I'm truly sorry for the hurtful insults. I hope you can forgive me."

I couldn't really say a response right away. What Yui said to me was…rather unexpected. Her apologizing to me?! I NEVER thought that would happen. Especially with all the times I had to apologize to her for the tricks and traps I've pulled. I wanted to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming, but not now. Maybe when I'm alone or something.

But as of right now, I turned around and hugged Yui as tight as I could. Her words were so touching that I couldn't hold in my tears anymore and let them drip from my eyes.

"*sniff* Thank you, Yui. That really made me feel better. I'm so glad to have a best friend like you."

"Th-That's great, Kyouko. B-But I really can't breathe right now…"

"O-Oops. I-I'm sorry." I let go just in time for Yui to catch her breath. Taking sips of water from the sink facet as a bonus tactic.

"G-Geez. You really do have a strong grip. No wonder Chinastu was afraid of you."

"Hehhehheh…yeah." I said while rubbing my head with a little embarrassment. "Anyway, let's go. I'm so ready to get out of here."

I walked out of the bathroom and eventually out the room itself into the hallway. Yui caught up to me and we were now in the elevator heading to the first floor.

"Hey, didn't you come here with shoes?" Yui asked.

"I think. But I had to wear these flip-flops everywhere in the building during the rehab sessions."

"Wait, you had to do rehab sessions?"

"Yeah. Turns out being in a coma for a month makes you forget how to walk. It was a huge pain. Literally."

"I see. Didn't you ask for your shoes back, though?"

"Well, they said I could keep these. So I am. They're so comfy. Like I'm on a cloud or something."

"That's an answer I'd expect to hear from you."

"Hey…" I got insulted.

"*giggle* Sorry, sorry."

Once we got out the elevator, I went to the front desk to get my phone and wallet back from the nurse. It's been so long since I've seen either one, that I had a hard time recognizing them. Luckily, Yui did say that they were in fact mine.

Now we were walking down the streets heading to…

"Wait, where are we going?" I asked.

"Oh, right. We're heading over to my apartment for a party."

"A party?"

"Everyone was so excited about you being discharged that they wanted to throw a party for your return. Everyone's already there and waiting."

"Everyone, huh?" I then started feeling sad once more. And this time, Yui knew what the reason was.

"You miss your mom, do you?"

"Yeah. I mean she's gone for a whole year. And with me held back a year, I'm going to be lonely as hell."

"Don't you have a family member that can stay with you?"

"No. They all live outside Tokyo."

"I see."

"Well…maybe I can think of something down the road. Maybe a roommate or something."

"A roommate? Is that even a good idea?"

"Well, it's something. Not even sure myself."

"*sigh* Fair enough."

We eventually arrived at Yui's apartment building and were standing in front of the apartment itself as Yui started opening the door. I was nervous, obviously. As I haven't seen some of them in over a month. I wasn't sure if they'll take kindly to the giant scar on my neck. But standing out here and worrying about it wasn't going to solve anything. So I had no choice but to go inside.

Yui fully opened the door and we went inside to find everyone standing together. With Akari and Chinastu holding a cake together with something written on it. They all had smiles. Like they were excitedly waiting for my return.

"WELCOME BACK, KYOUKO!" They all cheered.

I almost teared up once they said that. I didn't expect to see this many people at once. Some were even a total surprise. And by "some", I mean I'm shocked that Chizuru is here. I'm now well aware that she hates my guts due to an incident at the nearby library back then. I guess Chitose forced her to come. But I bet that she won't come near me at all. I wouldn't expect otherwise.

"W-Wow. Th-This is all…f-for me?" I asked.

"Yep. We all got together and decorated the place a bit." Ayano said.

"We even made this cake for you, Kyouko." Akari added.

"Wow. That's nice and…wait. ALL of you made it?" I started getting concerned.

"Not to worry." Himawari said. "We kept Chinastu and Chitose out the kitchen."

"Are you serious?!" Chinastu yelled.

"Is that why you sent us on that ridiculous errand?!" Chitose asked.

"It was either that, or we would've gotten food poisoning from whatever Chinastu throws in there and/or Chitose's drops of blood." Yui said.

"Come on!" Chinastu whined.

"I guess we should've noticed when we spent almost 2 hours looking for someone named Larry." Chitose said.

"And we even yelled it out too like a bunch of morons. Why did it take us so long to realize that we live in Japan, and there are no people here named Larry?"

"Well, you are kinda gullible, Chinastu." Akari said with a smile.

"*whine* Akari!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, someone's happy." Chinastu felt insulted.

"Sorry, sorry." It was a little difficult to stop laughing, but I managed to do so. Somehow.

The party itself wasn't as grand as say the one for Akari's birthday. Everything looked like it was last-minute. Which is to be understandable since not even I knew when I was going to leave the hospital. But it was still fun, none the less.

Now the party was over and everyone was going home for the day. I was doing the same…but then I realized something.

"Oh, yeah. Mom's gone. So I'm going to be alone at my house."

I stared at the full moon above the city lights thinking to myself what to do about the situation I got myself into. For an entire year, I can't go to school and I'm going to be the only one at home. All because of my cowardness. My fear of talking to people about my true feelings has lead me down a path that I can't fix. And now…now I must live through my mistakes. Which is something I rarely do. And won't be easy at all.

"*sigh* I don't wanna go home. I mean, I know I'll have to eventually. But not now. Maybe I'll walk around a bit."

I kept walking alongside the streets of this small part of Tokyo. Looking at the lights that surround this place. On buildings, towers, signs, lamps, freaking trees, even. They don't call this place The City of Lights for nothing. I'm shocked that I'm able to see the starry night sky with all this going on.

At one point, I ended up at a park that's near the school. Nanamori. Not the high school that I have to wait an extra year to go to. I grew tired of walking (or maybe tired in general) and decided to find a bench for me to rest on. While searching for one, I saw an ice cream stand on the pathway I was walking on. Even though I had food at the party, it wasn't really much. So I was still kinda hungry.

I stood in the line full of kids (because apparently there was a line full of kids at almost 8:00 at night) and waited for my turn to get ice cream. Whenever I feel down like this, there's only one thing that can cheer me up a little.

"1 Rum Raisin please." I said to the stand worker.

But I didn't get a response.

"Uh…hello?" I waved in his face.

"H-Huh? O-Oh. Sorry, Ma'am." He said as he started looking for my ice cream.

He was looking at my scar. No doubt he was. Am I going to have people ogling it like I'm some kind of freakshow?

"Here you go, Ma'am. 1 Rum Raisin."

"Thanks." I said.

As I grabbed my ice cream and started walking away, I could felt multiple pairs of eyes staring at me and my giant neck scar. Some were stares of fear, others were of disapproval. It made me feel uncomfortable. Like these people were looking at me as if I didn't belong here. Like I was a thug or something. I couldn't even open the container of Rum Raisin in my hands. As the stares became more and more unnerving.

"*sigh* On second thought…maybe I will go home."

I turned the other way, towards the park exit, and started walked back the way I came. On my way home so that I can have these countless eyes divert their sight away from me.

And leave me in peace.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Geez, it's just one problem after another for Kyouko, isn't it? How is she going to get rid of this one? Stay tuned to find out.