I announce Lilly's presence with a level-enough voice, but Hanako spins around with such force I'm amazed she doesn't give herself whiplash.
"Lilly..."
Hanako purrs her name softly.
It's barely more than a whisper, but it's evidently enough to get her attention.
Adjusting her collar, she walks in, trailing her fingers along the edges of the desks as she makes her way back.
"Hisao?" She calls questioningly.
I leave aside my amazement that she was somehow able to tell.
"Yeah. Right over here."
She gives a small nod.
"You're feeling alright then?"
I haven't slept in several days. I feel like someone's polishing the back of my eyes with a sand-blaster.
"Yup. I'm fine."
The blonde girl breathes a small sigh of relief at my lie. "Glad to hear it then."
Hanako, on the other hand, looks at me with a pair of widened eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh." Right... She was probably out of the room already. "I sort of fell in the library after you left. It's nothing to worry about."
Despite this, Hanako looks very worried, gazing her me with her hands clenched before her.
Silence...
"Then. If you're feeling up to it, would you care to take tea again?" Lilly suggests, breaking the awkward moment.
I smile at her. "Yeah. I'd like that."
"Same place as always?" Hanako probes, moving over to Lilly's side.
She nods and we all file out of the room.
As we walk, I notice that Hanako almost presses herself up against Lilly - almost. She leaves a barely perceivable distance between them.
Oh yeah, I remember reading somewhere about how important an internal sense of balance is to the blind.
Hanako keeps herself close to Lilly, but doesn't actually touch her.
Instead, she opts to walk at her side with her expression downcast.
It's a small gesture of tact, but I can't help but find it kind of ch-
BAM.
As we exit into the hall, something approaching the land speed record smashes squarely into my chest.
I'm winded before I can even yell.
My vision flashes black as I careen backwards in silence, unceremoniously smacking to the floor.
"Hisao?!" Lilly and Hanako squeak in unison.
Being the gentleman I am, I'd feel horrible about making two girls worry themselves despite the pain of being hit by whatever.
So as I try to rise, I weakly lift my hand and move say I'm alright.
It's at this moment that my vocal chords seize up.
"AAKKKK~"
What I produce instead is strained choking sound.
Waves of pain shoot outwards through my body.
A sense of terror floods through me alongside them.
My chest feels like it's being smashed in a trash compactor.
Lululududbudubdbdbdbdbduuuuu uuu
My heart has no beat anymore. I'm in complete fibrillation.
A sickening dizziness overtakes me as my brain starts malfunctioning from a lack of oxygen.
Then darkness.
Medically speaking, unconsciousness isn't really the same thing as sleep.
I heard that once while I was in the hospital and didn't really get it. They seem pretty similar to me.
Now though, experiencing a contrast of this magnitude, I wholeheartedly understand.
I come back to the world still feeling like death.
I'm still exhausted. Maybe even moreso than before.
And on top of that, my chest hurts.
Groaning, I pull myself up a little, trying to re-orient myself.
This is the school clinic. Ok. No surprise there.
What is surprising are the two girls sitting in the chair against the wall.
Lilly and Hanako.
What-
As I try to wrap my mind around the situation, Lilly gently closes her book and smiles. "Welcome back, Hisao." She softly speaks.
I can't help but gawk in amazement that she'd have waited for someone she just barely knew.
As I do so, Hanako practically leaps up and takes my hand with a small smile.
"You're ok..."
Hanako...
"How do you feel, Hisao?" Lilly asks tentatively. "The nurse would only say that you were stable..."
A pang of emotion surges through me at these words.
Lilly doesn't know about my heart condition. This episode must have been a complete surprise for her.
"Did... you wait the whole time?"
Lilly's expression falls a small note. "I was worried. I couldn't just leave."
"W-we... c-c-can go if you want." Hanako peeps up.
This comment sends a surge of terror down my spine as memories of being isolated in the hospital well up in my mind.
"No!" I grab Hanako's hand since she's within reach.
Her eyes shoot open in shock, but amazingly, she doesn't recoil or anything of the sort.
Still, it's enough to make me release her quickly.
Looking down a bit sheepishly, I answer in what I hope to be a more calm manner.
"I'd... prefer it if you stayed."
