Ch. 12: Areyouokay?!
Monika hastily left the campus sports complex, and picked up her phone to check the time. It was a few minutes past two thirty in the afternoon, so still early. About an hour after Natsuki had fainted, Monika had to go into work. She had a job at the university sports complex where she would work several short shifts per week. Her family was financially well off, although not nearly as rich as Yuri's family, but financially secure nonetheless. However, at the beginning of the academic year the sports complex was looking for employees and she had signed up, mainly because she did not want to rely upon her family's wealth but also because she wanted to have a worthwhile activity to occupy the long gaps between classes. She was good at her job. After all, she knew the gym in and out since she would often go there to exercise.
Her shift ended at two thirty, but she had just finished cleaning up a puddle of spilt Gatorade, which had taken far longer than she had anticipated. Now, Monika rushed through the hot afternoon sun on the way to the medical center. Their campus was fairly large, and so it took a while to reach her destination, but when she arrived, she burst through the electric doors, sweating and out of breath. She did not check in or ask where Natsuki was for she already knew thanks to Yuri's texts, and the medical center also served as a classroom setting for med students making mandatory check ins very impractical. As a result, the med building was like any other on campus, with students casually coming and going, but silence was demanded on the upper floors where the occasional sick patient rested.
She opened the door to see Natsuki sleeping soundlessly in the hospital bed with the afternoon sun filtering in through the blinds covering the window. Yuri sat by her side on a visitor's chair. Her head was resting on the side of Natsuki's bed, and Monika could see Yuri's hands grabbing Natsuki's as they slept. She took a minute to appreciate just how adorable those two were.
Monika thought back to how much they would fight in high school, every day for all sorts of reasons. Ironically now those two were almost inseparable. She had planned for this outcome, of course. Back in high school when they were all in the literature club, Monika had facilitated dialogue between them, working to find common interests and planning projects for them to do together. Eventually, they grew close, but still when they applied for housing on campus, they were only casual friends. Monika had suspected that they both wanted to room with her. However, Monika felt as if she was responsible for Sayori, almost as if they were sisters, so she planned to room with Sayori in advance thereby forcing Yuri and Natsuki to be stuck together. She had engineered two outcomes to come to pass with one action and a bit of foresight. Momentarily, she pictured herself in long, black Sith Lord robes- everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.
Monika closed the door behind her. Yuri stirred and woke up, looking at Monika. Monika could tell that Yuri had been sleeping like that for a while as her face was red and had lines from where the fabric pressed into her skin. Yuri sat up and stretched, but one hand continued to hold Natsuki's. Then Natsuki stirred, either the noise of the door opening or the sudden shift in Yuri's body alerting her. She opened her eyes and looked around. Then noticing that she and Yuri were holding hands, she immediately and casually slipped hers away and placed it under the covers. She was resting at an inclined angle, but still sat up to talk.
"Oh, hey Monika," she said.
"Hey Natsuki," replied Monika with a smile, "How's it going?"
She shrugged. "I think I'm good. When I came in they ran several tests, but none were too in depth."
"What caused the…" Monika gestured seemingly at a loss to find the right word, "fainting spell?"
"They think that that's all there is. People occasionally are sent here with fainting spells, but they just decided to keep me a little longer to make sure that I… I- calmed down."
"Oh, I see."
"Hey Yuri," asked Natsuki, "You're the smart one, do you remember what they said?"
"Well yes, but they have your papers here too," she said reaching for a stack of papers united by a clip.
"They said that you likely had a fainting spell, also known as syncope. It's very common."
"Is it dangerous?" asked Monika. The term was familiar to her, but she was no doctor.
"Not really," said Yuri, "All sorts of people can have syncopal episodes, but they are not usually characteristic of any underlying problem. Usually they're just caused by a lack of blood pressure or blood sugar circulating in the brain. Since you made a fast recovery, it's probably nothing."
"What do you mean by 'fast recovery'?" asked Monika.
"Well Natsuki was only out for a few seconds to a minute, and right after she came to she could speak and had control of her limbs. Plus there seems to be no lasting mental damage, although we can't be sure." Yuri didn't seem to want to elaborate on some of the things that Natsuki had ranted about when seemingly insane.
"Well that's good," said Monika, "But are you sure it's not a seizure?"
"The doctors don't seem to think so, but they recommend coming back to do a MRI scan or something just to make sure."
"Wait," interrupted Natsuki, "I don't remember that part. They said they want me to come back?"
"Well yes," said Yuri, "Just to make sure that there is nothing wrong with your brain."
"I'm fine!"
"Well I suppose you don't have to go, but they would recommend it."
"Oh no," interrupted Monika, "If they want to see you, you should go to your appointment."
"I don't want to."
"You're going Natsuki. Plus it could get worse, what if this happened again?"
"You're not my mom."
"No, but I'm Monika, and I'm the responsible one so you're going."
"Um, I'll help you schedule an appointment," offered Yuri.
"Whatever," said Natsuki, clearly annoyed, "it's probably nothing."
"Probably not," said Yuri, "but it's still a good idea to go to follow-up appointments."
"Anyway," said Natsuki, "Is it okay for me to leave now?"
"Uh yeah," said Yuri checking the papers, "I think so. You'll probably just have to check out."
"Great, let's go," she said kicking off her covers. She was wearing her normal clothes, not any type of hospital robe. "Hospital rooms are boring anyway."
Yuri helped her to gather up her belongings and they left the room and walked downstairs. After checking out, they walked out into the hot afternoon air. Yuri checked the time. It was a little after three o'clock. Their shift at the university library had already started.
"Hey Natsuki," said Yuri, "I think I'm going to go to work."
"I thought you said you canceled our shifts for today," said Natsuki.
"Well, yeah, I did call in earlier to let them know what had happened and they said that we could take the day off, but they also said that if things change and I could make it, it would be appreciated."
"Come on! Aren't you already late? Just take the day off."
"No, I'm serious Natsuki. Unless you really need me to stay, I would like to go to work. I've never really had a real job before, and I kinda want to not get into the habit of skipping work. I mean, you don't need me to stay or anything?"
"What- um, no, of course not," stammered Natsuki, "I'm fine. Thanks. See you later?"
"Yeah, sounds good," Yuri said as she began to break away from Natsuki and Monika, "Bye."
"Wait- um," Natsuki said, and Yuri stopped walking.
"Is something-" asked Yuri, but she was cut off by Natsuki darting over and wrapping her in a crushing embrace.
"Thanks Yuri," said Natsuki, her voice somewhat sad and for once willingly revealing her vulnerabilities, "be safe."
Yuri hugged back. "I will." They separated, and Yuri hurried off in the opposite direction. Natsuki and Monika turned around and continued to walk.
They silently continued on their way. Monika replayed the events in her mind. Obviously Natsuki cared deeply for Yuri and vice versa, after all they were best friends, but something seemed different. Natsuki very rarely dropped her tough and confident demeanor, especially when she knew others were watching. The fact that she was willing to embrace Yuri in front of Monika showed that she was genuinely concerned. Something that she had seen while out had frightened her, made her especially concerned about Yuri. She wanted to ask, but not even she knew how to approach this situation.
"Hey Natsuki," she began.
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay?" Monika mentally kicked herself. Real smooth.
"What do you mean?"
"I dunno, just… I guess I'm just concerned, that's all. Since you fainted and all. Is anything different?"
"Uh, I'm not sure. I feel okay," said Natsuki, somewhat annoyed.
"Sorry," said Monika, trying to do emotional damage control, "I guess I just get really nervous when people are in danger or bad stuff happens."
"That's okay Monika. Thanks for being concerned and all, but I'm fine."
"Just things don't seem to add up," she said trying to continue the conversation from a different angle, "Yuri said that syncope is caused by loss of blood or sugars in the brain, but she also said that you two had dinner yesterday. I don't know, something just seems off."
"Look, it's probably nothing-" said Natsuki, but before she could continue she was cut off by a loud female voice.
"Natsuki! There you are, areyouokay?!" And suddenly, it was Natsuki's turn to be on the end of a crushing hug.
"Oh, hey Elyssa," she said between breaths.
"I didn't see you in class, and I didn't know what had happened, and I tried texting you, and you didn't respond, but then I heard rumors, and I got scared, and I tried to find you, but I couldn't, so I decided to go to the medical building-" she paused and took a breath, "but on the way there I found you, areyouokay?!"
"Dude, chill! I'm fine!" said Natsuki finally separating herself from Elyssa.
"I heard you fainted!"
"Yes, I fainted," she deadpanned.
"What happened? I'm so glad you're okay; tell me everything!"
"Uuuuuugghhh! Do I have to? You should have been there!"
"Yes, you have to, what happened?" Elyssa pressed.
"Ugh, I think the worst part about fainting is having to tell the same story to over and over again to everybody on campus!"
"Good, so what happened?"
"I should have stayed in a coma," murmured Natsuki, but she began to tell Elyssa what had happened anyway.
Monika smiled as she watched Natsuki talk and fight with her friend. She didn't really know Elyssa all that well but knew that she and Natsuki were good friends. Monika was glad to see that Natsuki had so many friends who cared about her. According to Yuri, Sayori had even made time to pop in for a few minutes a little after noon before she had to leave to go to another class. Monika hoped that if something like that happened to her, that she would have so many people who cared. But while Monika was glad to see Elyssa caring so much about Natsuki's wellbeing, she couldn't help but feel frustrated at the girl for interrupting them. No matter, Yuri may be able to shed some light on what had happened.
