Seiji walks out of the hospital after visiting his unconscious love with his brain nearly drowning in a sea of thoughts and questions that he isn't sure if they will ever get answered; the sight and feeling of Kojima's estranged paw is still fresh and vivid in his mind.
Yet, he isn't as baffled as he thinks he should be.
In fact the sight seems...familiar somehow.
Why do I have this overwhelming sense that I've seen that paw before? Maybe on a cat? In a dream. I don't know.
His stomach growls, interrupting his train of thought. Oh yeah, I haven't eaten anything since yesterday... The simple nudges of Deja Vu from earlier turn into harsh shoves as he stops and stands in a small park. Wait a minute...
7 years earlier, 7:15 PM, the middle of Tokyo.
"Geez it's cold! I hate Winter!" 13 year old Yoshiyuki complains, shivering as a blast of cold November wind hits his face, dislodging his already loose-fitting glasses.
"Oh stop complaining! It's only 0 outside!" Yumeyukki slaps her brother's back in annoyance, the force along with the wind cause his frames to slip off of his face, dangling off of one ear rendering him nearly blind.
"Only 0 degrees!? Onee-chan* that's the freezing point of water!" He shivers, fixing his glasses.
"Get over it, you've made it through worse."
"Yeah how 'bout you get over it?"
Seiji giggles a little bit as he listens to the twins' pointless bickering. The street they are walking on is pretty much packed with people hurriedly shopping and getting the last of the deals before prices skyrocket for Christmas, some are getting home, going to work, and just going about their daily lives.
It's dusk and a couple of stars are beginning to show some of their light despite the Tokyo glow.
"...well maybe you wouldn't be so cold if your body consisted more then organs, skin, and bones!" Yume finalizes, sticking her tongue out childishly.
"Um actually, Yosh has a point. We've been walking around outside for hours, and it feels pretty damm cold!" Seiji butts in, "but Yume is right it is just 0 degrees so calm down."
"HA! Told you I wasn't being irrational!" Yoshi says victoriously before realizing what is being said, "wait, what?"
"Ugh, you just have to settle the middle ground don't you Sage Boy?" Yume jokingly rolls her eyes and checks her watch, "Okay, it's 7:16. We should probably get something to eat before heading home."
"Finally! You say something rational!" her twin teases.
"Now that I think of it... I haven't eaten since yesterday," Seiji's stomach growls further proving this point.
"Bro are you trying to turn into me?" Yoshi snickers, "Oh the tables have turned haven't they? It finally isn't my stomach this time that's noisy!" He wraps his arm around his best friend's shoulders in celebration.
"Please, I'm willing to bet that soon your stomach is gonna produce a sound that's loud enough for other people around us to hear Mr. I haven't eaten in three days because I've been too busy tinkering with game codes." Seiji says in certainty.
"Hey, that's just the price you have to pay sometimes. Besides mine isn't that loud, I bet it'll barely noticeable." Yoshiyuki scoffs, "besides I wanna beat this big-shot Toby Fox at this Halloween Hack thing for Earthbound."
"If you say so, then I guess it's the truth nerd," Yume shrugs, the sarcasm is sickeningly thick in her speech.
However as predicted, a low and loud groaning noise soon emits from within Yoshiyuki's stomach earning the trio a couple of glances from a few people around them, and causing his face to go up in flames as he freezes.
"Holy shit Yosh! I knew that you were hungry but not that hungry!" Seiji barely manages to squeak out those words as he attempts to hold in his laughter.
Yume however does no such thing and just bursts out laughing at her brother's expense, "Oh my god Onii-chan! You speak too certainly too soon!"
"Both of you shut up!" the culprit of the growl yells, taking his hand out of his white jacket pocket and resting it on his abdomen, clutching it a bit. "besides it's not like it's my fault anyways."
"Oh yeah because it's totally my fault that you decided to neglect eating for three days therefore making your stomach growl louder than a freaking alarm clock on full blast!" Yume argues.
"Okay first of all, it was not that loud!" Yoshi counters.
"Pfft did you see how many people looked?"
"This is besides the point, I'm saying that it's your fault because you were the first to mention eating making Seiji's..." he beings to say, getting up in his sister's face.
The entire argument fades out of hearing for Seiji as he notices something...off about his friend's hand. It's not a hand, but a... a paw! A brown paw that matches the exact colour of his dark-chocolate brown hair. What the hell?
"... chain reaction my ass! Yours was gonna rumble no matter what, you just don't want to admit it!" Yume finishes.
Stirring back into reality, Seiji butts in yet again, "Yo Yosh, what's with the paw?"
"Huh!?" A brief look of panic crosses Yoshiyuki's face as he hurriedly looks down to see what he's talking about, "what the hell do you mean Seiji? That's just my regular hand."
"What?" Seiji looks back, and sure enough it had changed back to a normal hand when he wasn't looking, "but I could've sworn that you had a paw instead of a hand for a second there!"
"Maybe you're the one with the problems!" The twins both laugh in complete sync with each other.
"Well at least I can keep track of when I need to eat!" Seiji sneers.
"Bullshit you didn't eat at all yesterday!" Yoshi smacks Seiji's back with his free hand with a wide grin plastered on his face despite himself.
"Whatever, I'm better at it than you at least!"
So I have seen that paw before… now that I think of it, I think that there was another time where I saw it for a brief split second a couple years ago, but I can't remember it clearly enough to know for sure…
Seiji pulls out the coffee-stained slip of paper from last night and reads over Kojima's borderline illegible chicken scratch one more time, his hands trembling a little as he gulps down a lump in his throat. You sure are an interesting puzzle Dragonfly, I thought that I had all collected all of your pieces over the years, but it seems that I'm still missing a few. Looks like you're a harder case to crack than I thought.
Brrrrrzzzzt! Brrrrrrzzzzt! Out of the blue he can suddenly feel his phone vibrate against his thigh through his jeans' pocket, breaking his trance.
"Hello?" Seiji answers, putting the cellular device up to his ear, not bothering to look at who might be calling. Could be a serial killer for all he knows.
"Hello Seiji," Mirai's voice rings out from the receiver, "It's Mirai, I'm calling to let you know that I have booked my plane ticket to go back to Japan and to let you know how long I will be staying-"
"Oh hey! Perfect timing I actually just saw Yoshiyuki in the hospital," he says, accidentally interrupting the woman and sitting down on a nearby swing-set, swaying a bit back and forth.
"Really!? How is he!?" The concerned mother asks urgently, a bit annoyed that she was cut off. In fact it's why she avoids driving.
"Well he is still unconscious and attached to various machines. The doctors say that they don't expect him to wake up for a couple days yet," he relays, looking up at the slowly but ever darkening sky up above him.
"I see, well that's to be expected after all; he didn't wake up for several days after his heart transplant surgery. Not to mention he might not remember the past couple of days, depending on how long he went with out oxygen" she responds in a surprisingly calm manner, "I'm just so glad to hear that my son is going to live."
"Mmhmm, we all are."
"Anyways, as I was saying I will be arriving in Japan in two days and I will be staying there for four before I have to go back to Argentina," Mirai informs.
"Alright sounds good, hopefully he wakes up."
"Yeah, well I have to go to work. I'll see you in a couple of days."
"Okay, and Mirai when you're here I need to talk to you about something." he adds.
"Hm? Talk to me about something? Well okay. I have to go, love you, bye."
With that Mirai hangs up, and Seiji gets off of the swings before heading home.
A man dressed in all black clothing save for a contrasting white lab coat walks through the entrance of the hospital, flipping a coin in his hands. Receiving some side glances, he makes his way to the receptionist's cubicle where a persocom patiently waits hooked up to something out of sight.
"Hello," he greets, " I have received news that Yoshiyuki Kojima is currently admitted into this hospital."
"Let me just check here..." light streaks across the persocom's eyes for a split second as she processes the request, "ah yes, Mr. Kojima is located in room 6015 on the sixth floor."
"Thank you ma'am," he grabs a "visitor" tag off of the counter and clips it on to the hem of his shirt.
"As you are visiting I must inform you that due to his condition there is a maximum visitation period of twenty minutes, and due to privacy and safety reasons you must put any persocoms into specialized lockers," she informs.
"Thank you, I will keep that in mind," he nods before turning around and flipping the bottom of his lab coat like a cape as he walks off into a nearby elevator. He has a mischievous grin plastered onto his previously blank face as he presses the button for the sixth floor.
"Finally...finally! My grand experiment is coming together!" he cackles to himself with a crazy look in his eyes and on his face.
This only lasts a few seconds as he soon relaxes back into a neutral expression once the elevator doors open. He steps out into the dimly lit hallway of the sixth floor, walking with an invisible weight in his uneasy footing.
Opening the door to room 6014 the man takes a weary step inside. The sounds of various medical machines flow into his ears, while this melody keeps on getting louder and louder as he approaches the last curtain of the room and slides it to the side, grinning.
"So, it is all going as planned," his grin falters involuntarily as he looks over the unconscious body of his subject, that is covered in various wires and various implanted tubes that lead to various machines. "Has he seen her yet?"
"Yu...Yu...Yume..." Kojima mumbles, lifting up his arm as if he was reaching for something, or someone before collapsing it back onto the bed.
The man's eyes widen as an initial feeling of success quickly dissipates and forms into a dagger of guilt that stabs itself into his soul.
"Oh what have I done to you?" His emotional side soon takes over like a tidal wave as tears stream down his face and he gently touches Kojima's cheek, "I'm so sorry, I don't want to do this to you! I don't want to hurt you! I'm sorry that I wasn't there...for you two and Mirai."
Dropping down to his knees, he gently puts his hand on the middle of Yoshiyuki's chest. "But, I have to...for the sake of...well...everything."
"Hello ma'am," he greets the receptionist persocom once again as soon he had made it back down to the main level.
"Good Evening sir, done with your visit?" she asks.
"Ah yes I am," he yanks off the "visitor" tag and places it onto the counter, "I actually have a request to make."
"And what would that be?"
"I would like to cover all of Mr. Kojima's hospital and medical bills," he says, "is that a possibility?"
"Yes, that is a possibility," she responds, "what is your name sir?"
*for those who don't know Onii-chan, Onii-Kun, Onii-san, or Onii-sama are all different ways of saying "brother" in Japanese, similarily Onee-chan, Onee-san, and Onee-sama are all different ways of saying "sister".