Alright time for Ch. 9. Much thanks and love to you all who continue to read my work. Almost to 1k views. Let's get this started.


Ch 9.

"Mild dehydration, anemia, a bit of blood loss, and a level of cortisol I had to measure twice to confirm the number. I honestly didn't know someone that small could create that much cortisol in twenty four hours." the doctor explained to the chairman as Ume held the sleeping Blondes bandage wrapped hand in her hospital room just staring at the ground ruefully. "We have her on an IV drip and some antibiotics to prevent any infections in her lacerations as well as some pain meds. She's asleep right now but she should regain consciousness in an hour or less. She should be ok to go back home after she wakes and ok to return to school tomorrow. Just be sure she get's plenty of water, relaxation, and therapy."

"Thank you doctor." the chairman said giving a nod as the doctor bows before leaving. The chairman moved his gaze over to Yuzu and Ume walking into the room and standing at the foot of the bed "She'll be fine." the chairman said.

"I never should have left her alone." Ume whispered "I should have run after her, confronted her, and comforted her." tears began to fall down ume's face "I could have prevented this."

"No you couldn't have." the chairman said "Yuzuko is a stubborn girl and in the mental state she was in when she ran away from us she wouldn't have listened. She might have gotten violent in order to get away-" the chairman was then cut off by Ume

"That would have been better than this!" ume said squeezing Yuzu's hand. "I can handle a few kicks and punches, a temper tantrum... this, this hurts more than anything she can throw at me. To see her hurt like this."

"You can not blame yourself for her actions Ume." the chairman said

"Of course I can. I raised her." Ume replied

"no, you are raising her. To say you have raised her implies that you are finished. But to even once think that you are done influencing the way your child, the way anyone in your family, grows before you are in your grave is both naieve and unfair to them." The chairman said walking over to yuzuko's other side and reaching down to gently squeeze the unconscious blondes hand as well "She will come to you with many problems as she grows. Their will be times where you hold immense pride for her and times when she will frustrate you to no end. All you can do is trust your judgment." The chairman let go of the blondes hand

"I'm taking her home tonight." Ume said moving her gaze from the floor to looking at Yuzuko.

"So long as she is at school tomorrow I will allow it." the chairman said

"How can you expect her to go to school when she's like this?" Ume looked up angrily at the chairman

"Yuzuko's education is important to her future. I also think that spending time alone may not be healthy for her given her current mindset. A distraction such as going to school and seeing her friend again would be best I believe."

"I still don't think it's a good id-" ume began

"The doctor himself recommended it." The chairman said. Ume sighed. She didn't feel like it was her place to argue with a doctor but she had a nagging feeling that it was still not a good idea.

"Fine." she said simply.


Yuzu groaned as the sun dipped low enough to allow the rays to shine directly on her bringing her to a more lucid state. She groans slowly opening her eyes and blinking at the room around her hearing the sounds of people talking and bustling about nearby. She blinks a few times clearing her blurry vision and realizes she was in the hospital, quietly watching the doctors and nurses walk by. She looks down at her bandaged arms, one with an IV stint buried underneath attached to a now nearly empty IV bag. Her other held by her mothers hand.

"I'm still here honey." Yuzu hear her mothers voice off to her right and she rolled her head slowly to look at her, feeling the worried gaze of the woman piercing into Yuzu trying to determine what was wrong and how she could fix it

"I..." yuzu said... "I'm sorry mama..." Yuzu said as a few tears began to roll down her face

"It's alright sweetheart." Ume said leaning forward to embrace her daughter pulling her close and rubbing her back gently

"I wanna go home." Yuzu said between near silent sobs

"I want you to come home." Ume replied holding Yuzu until the blonde calmed down. "Alright I'm going to go sign some papers for your release I'll be right back." she said to Yuzu calmly before getting up

"W... where's gramps?" Yuzu asked

"Your coming home tonight. He didn't need to be here so he went home." Ume said with a sad soft smile "I'll be right back." and Ume left to sign Yuzu's release papers.


"We're home." Ume called out as she and Yuzu entered the apartment, Ume firmly but gently holding Yuzu's bandage covered hand who had been staying close to her mother the entire way back from the hospital almost like a young child.

"Welcome home." Mei said as she exited her room having been working on student council work and spots Yuzu. Mei frowns seeing Yuzu remembering what she had done to the poor girl the last time they had been around each other. "Welcome home, Yuzuko." Mei said

"Yuzu is fine..." Yuzu said quietly still not looking up from the floor.

"Go lie down on the couch while I get dinner started." Ume said pulling Yuzuko close and kissing the top of her head before letting go of Yuzu's hand as Yuzu nodded and crossed her bandage swaddled arms across her body holding them close as she walked over to the couch. Mei eyed the bandages on her arms for a moment before walking into the kitchen to speak to Ume.

"Mother, may I ask what happened to Yuzuko? She seems upset. And what happened to her arms?" Mei asked Ume

"We'll talk later Mei." Ume said "Tonight I need to focus on Yuzuko alright?" Mei looked at Ume for a bit before simply nodding and returning to her bedroom for a few moments before coming out to the couch with a packet of papers which she placed on the coffee table in front of Yuzu.

"I took the liberty of retrieving your homework for you from the teachers from the past two days. If you need help feel free to ask." Mei said. Yuzu looked up at her, a dead and blank expression in her eye devoid of the fire the raven-haired girl had come to expect from her

"Thanks." Yuzu said a bit confused as she was certain the black haired girl still hated her so what was with the sudden willingness to help. Yuzu sat up and took the papers and would bring her knees up to her chest as she began reading through her assignments.

"We'll worry about the homework after dinner just set it aside for now and rest Yuzu." Ume called from the kitchen where she was working on dinner.

"There's a lot here, it might be better to start now. I can help her." Mei said

"Just leave it alone, no point in stressing her out right after getting back from the hospital." Ume said shooting a glare at Mei to get her to back off. Yuzu just quietly continued to look through the homework but otherwise didn't comment on ether's point of view.

"That seems irresponsible." Mei said turning to look back at her step mother "With this much work she's likely to run out of time and her assignments will be late."

"She just got out of the hospital Mei!" Ume said slamming her palms against the counter "Show a little compassion!" the loud noise caused Yuzu to jump a bit

"Mama she's just trying to help..." Yuzu said turning to look over her shoulder at Ume worried about her current attitude and hoping she wouldn't turn the attitude on Yuzu. Ume blinked at the concerned blonde and sighed

"Your right I'm sorry. If you want to work on it go ahead but if it starts to frustrate you take a break alright?" Ume said to which Yuzu nodded. Mei looked bewildered at what just happened but shakes her head and returns her attention to Yuzu who was now sorting her homework into subject before picking up her math homework and the textbook kept under the coffee table in order to begin. Mei went back into her bedroom grabbing her own homework and brought it back out to the coffee table sitting down next to Yuzu and would continue working on her own work but bieng out here she'd be available to help Yuzu with her work should she need it.

An awkward silence fell over the three women as Yuzu and Mei worked on their homework and Ume continued to work on dinner while taking occasional glances over at Yuzu worried about the state of the blonde. After a while Ume had finished making dinner and moved the serving plates over to the dining table "Alright girls, dinner time pencils down." she said. Yuzu and Mei stood up leaving their homework where it was and came over to eat. "So Mei how was your day at school?" Ume said trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"It went as any other day did." Mei said with a shrug

"How's Harumi? Based on her texts I assume she was pretty wigged out..." Yuzu asked

"Taniguchi-san has been acting differently since..." Mei suddenly went silent and looked down

"Since the incident at the front gate." Yuzu finished her sentence for her

"Yuzu I never got the chance before so I want to apologize to you for-" Mei began

"Theirs no need to apologize. What I said was hateful and I wasn't exactly myself at the time. I shouldn't have gotten involved between you and grandfathers argument." Yuzu replied quietly focusing on her food rather than looking at Mei when she spoke. "Anyway, what's for dessert mama?" Yuzu said plastering on a fake smile but both Mei and Ume could see through it causing Ume to frown a bit

"We should still have some ice cream in the freezer I believe." Ume said "But finish your plate first. Can't have you substituting nutritional food for ice cream." she gave her own strained smile trying to act as cheerful for Yuzu as she could. Mei could see both of their fake smiles and sat their a bit bewildered. She understood hiding one's true feelings but these two wore their hearts on their sleeves no matter what. To see them trying to hide something, even if they where failing miserably, Mei didn't understand.

"Hey Mei can you help me finish my homework after dinner?" Yuzu said turning her forced smile to Mei. "I don't want to fall behind."

"Uh... sure." Mei said


Welp that's a wrap for this mini-arc... Mostly... their are still plenty of story threads from it that will run through as I continue but the next chapter Yuzu should be going back to school. Thanks for reading and as always feel free to leave a review with comments, suggestions, and critiques. Ciao for now!