Chapter 29

He shouldn't have been shocked, but seeing it sent eighteen jagged blades through his gut: The rankings for the exam results were posted, and his name had plummeted to the number eighteen spot. A new name had taken over the number two spot where his name once stood right beneath Mitsuru's. Ryuichi shoved his hands deep into his pockets, put his head down, and left, tired of facing his own failure tacked up on the wall for everyone to see. Back at his desk, he set his head down on his arms and exhaled slowly through his nostrils. He wanted to be angrier, but exhaustion took away most of his ability to care anymore.

His mother had asked him to stay and help out the previous Saturday, and he was still expected to show up Sunday for his turn to watch over his sister. With Shizue's due date looming near, they wanted to take every precaution possible to ensure that she had a way to the hospital, even if it meant she had to ride in Ryuichi's motorcycle's sidecar. Despite their logic behind their request for him to stay, he had a feeling that they just wanted him to stick around to do repairs and help clean around the house, as that was what he ended up doing under their mother's supervision. On Sunday, Shizue started to act up again, where she would be raging over dying in her video game or weeping so badly that she almost started to hyperventilate.

He had to go back again that afternoon. The thought of it almost brought him to tears as he recalled the questions his mother asked him last Saturday.

"Why do you always want to take the easy way out?" she had asked him when they spoke again of hiring a nanny. "What if you don't have the money to hire one? Would you just abandon your sister when she needs you most?"

Repeating her words in his mind shattered him. Hot tears blossomed hotly on his sleeve as he replayed the scene in his head. He was slowly breaking, feeling the thin cracks spreading throughout his body.

"Well done, Ryuichi," Mitsuru said somewhere above him. "For someone with such a full schedule, I'm impressed that you were able to score as high as you did."

He rubbed his eyes on his sleeve before lifting his head. "Yeah, but I could've scored higher," he murmured darkly. He forced himself to lighten his voice. "Before I forget: congratulations on getting number one."

He managed to smile for her, not wanting to take away from her victory. She didn't share his smile; instead, worry crossed her face as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Congratulations, Mitsuru-san!"

"Way to go, Madam Prez!"

"You're amazing!"

"Wouldn't expect anything less!"

Mitsuru glanced up to see their classmates congratulating her. She took the time to respond to their greetings with her own humble replies. When she had her back to Ryuichi, he slipped out of his seat and headed for the boys' restroom. He didn't need to use the toilet, but only wanted to escape the glaring greatness that was Mitsuru, so as not to highlight his own unremarkable score and tarnish her image by association.

As he relieved himself at the urinal, the PA system played a little tone to get the students' attention.

"Ryuichi Okazaki, please come to the faculty office immediately," came a woman's voice.

He let out a groan. "What did I do now?" he croaked, finishing up. He washed his hands and dried them on his pants as he hurried downstairs to the faculty office, where his homeroom teacher was practically bouncing on her toes when he arrived.

"Your mother called," she said excitedly. "Your sister went into labor!"

All the blood drained out of his head. "What? But she's not due yet!"

His teacher chuckled. "Yes, but the baby couldn't wait that long. Your mother said that they would meet you at the hospital as soon as possible."

He started to ask about leaving class early when his teacher said that he was excused. Panicked, Ryuichi thanked her and dashed upstairs to his classroom to get his things, alarming everyone around him.

"What's wrong?" Mitsuru asked.

"Baby's coming," he said curtly as he dumped books, notes, and his pencil bag inside. "Gotta go! Congratulations again!"

He didn't give her a chance to ask about anything else before speeding back out. He ran, stopping only to get into his normal shoes and sprint all the way to the hospital. The city was more alive around lunchtime, demanding that he leap, roll, dodge, and slip his way to the hospital. He dove over a baby's stroller, rolled, and popped back up on his feet unharmed and continued his ballet of twirling and almost dislocating parts of his body to weave through all the people who crowded the sidewalks.

The baby was coming, and he was the one freaking out when he wasn't even the one about to push a life out of his body. All he could think about was how scared Shizue must be, even after they both looked over all the books he got about childbirth, the Lamaze classes, and even all the videos they found online. Hell, he was scared no matter how much he prepared for the actual birth. And aw, hell! She was stuck alone with their mom!

He could picture their mother yelling at Shizue when she was already in tears and hyperventilating while trying to give birth. The image stuck with him as he shot through the hospital doors, panting hard as he propped himself up on the front desk with his elbows so he wouldn't collapse.

"Sh-Shizue Okazaki," he sputtered. "Baby, coming, now—"

"Ah, Okazaki-san," the nurse said kindly to him. "Your sister's just arrived."

She told him the room number and where to go. On shaky legs, he managed to navigate the hospital hallways until he found his sister's private room. She was already changed into a hospital gown and was sitting up in bed while their mother lovingly stroked her hair. They both looked up when he entered the room.

"Did you run here straight from school?" Shizue asked in awe.

Huffing and puffing, he nodded for the moment so he could catch his breath. "Did you do it? Is she—?"

"Not yet," Ayumi said, smiling as she shook her head. "The nurse said that she still has a long way to go before she's dilated enough to give birth, so it could be some time."

"Didn't you get my message?" his sister asked, prompting him to check his phone. He saw one email from her, telling him that her water broke.

Ayumi's phone made a twinkling noise. When she saw the message, her face collapsed into a frown.

"Honestly, your father," she grumbled. "He would miss the birth of his first grandchild for his restaurant."

"Let him stay," snorted Shizue. "He'll just get fidgety waiting for—Oomph!"

She clutched her stomach. Ryuichi rushed to her side, taking her hand to hold. He set the breathing pace for her, coaching her through the pain as she crushed his hand in her powerful grip. After a few seconds, she loosened her hold on him and settled back down on the bed. Ayumi went to soak her handkerchief under the tap in the bathroom while Ryuichi pulled up a chair to sit closer to his sister, still holding her hand. Her face shone with sweat, and her hair, though pulled back in a high ponytail, had some strands that came loose and tangled about her head.

"How are you holding up?" he asked her softly while Ayumi dabbed her damp handkerchief at Shizue's face.

"I can't wait to get this cannonball out of me," she moaned, making the others chuckle.

Their mother's phone twinkled again. She checked it, looking even more annoyed.

"Your father wants to know if I'm still coming in to work today," she reported to them, angrily smashing her thumbs on the keys as she typed out her response. Before she could finish the message, her phone twinkled once more. "Now he's saying that it might be like when I was in labor with Ryuichi: he thinks it'll be twenty-two hours before you're ready to give birth."

Shizue held her hands over her stomach. "Well, that's one less person to worry about."

There wasn't much else for them to do at that point. Ryuichi gave Shizue control over the TV remote to keep her mind off of giving birth, at least between contractions. Ayumi kept getting up to get her some ice chips, and every now and then, a nurse would come to see how dilated she was. Each time, it seemed as though she had either not dilated at all, or shrunk.

No matter how Toshio blew up Ayumi's phone with demands for her to come to work, Ayumi refused to leave her daughter. Ryuichi watched his mother in admiration as she stood up to her husband. At the same time, he worried that their little spat might turn into a full-on argument. For Toshio, the restaurant was everything, but to see that he would miss the birth of his first granddaughter for a few hunks of meat made Ryuichi ashamed to even call him his father.

Evening came, and still no baby. Shizue became incredibly fussy from hunger, pain, discomfort, and agitation, and from the way it looked, Ryuichi and Ayumi were only making things worse. Even just being there seemed to make his sister irascible. When a nurse came to check on Shizue, Ryuichi excused himself to walk around a bit.

"Still?" Shizue's shrill rage raked across his back as he left. "Are you kidding me?"

"Shizue," Ayumi said gently, "I know it's taking a long time, but you've got to hang in there."

"I know, Mom, I know. Just, ugh—Just go ahead and get yourself something for dinner, okay?"

"No, I can't just leave you alone—"

"Mom, it's cool. At this rate, you can probably go home and come back tomorrow morning and she still won't be born!"

Ryuichi ducked back inside to lightly tug on his mother's sleeve. "Come on, Mom," he whispered to her. "I think she needs some time alone."

Reluctantly, Ayumi let Ryuichi guide her to the cafeteria. He walked her to the different cuisines they had available, but his mother kept quietly raging about the whole ordeal. It took some coaxing, but she finally chose some Napolitan pasta, looking as though she wasn't even aware of her selection. Ryuichi paid for both their meals and found a table to settle down and eat.

"I think your father cursed her," Ayumi spat. "If he hadn't brought up that I was in labor for almost a whole day, Shizue might not have to go through the same thing."

"I don't know if it works that way, but yeah, let's say that."

She wasn't done. She spent some time complaining about Toshio's preference of his food over his own granddaughter's birth, illustrating in Ryuichi's head an image of his father coddling a hunk of marinated and seasoned ground beef swaddled in a blanket. The man loved his beef, no doubt, a love that often cost his family much grief whenever they were dragged into the family business.

"To be honest, I actually like that I had to cut my work hours," his mother admitted to him. "It was always work, work, work, work, work. At least when Shizue came back, I'm lucky enough to have some quiet time every now and then."

Ryuichi had trouble believing that "quiet time" could happen between his mother and sister. Still, he said nothing, only nodding along with whatever Ayumi said.

She pushed her pasta around on her plate. "But, even watching your sister can be tiresome," she sighed. Ryuichi couldn't believe that he was actually connecting with his mother. "You know what she said to me the other day? She said I was unreasonable because I wouldn't let her go grocery shopping with me. That's why I had to ask you to do it for me."

He nodded along, letting her continue. "The problem with your sister is that she doesn't think ahead. She doesn't think about how difficult it would be if she did go with me to go shopping. Can you imagine? What if she went into labor at the store or on the way? What if she over-exerted herself and caused harm to the baby? She only thinks about herself!

"She and your father are so alike. Did you notice that?" she asked. He nodded again, his mouth stuffed from his grilled chicken sandwich. "And Toshio just keeps acting like he doesn't know where she got her unruly side from! He even blames me for it sometimes!"

Ryuichi finished his meal before his mother even touched her food. "I'm gonna head back up to the room, but you just take your time and rest, okay?" he said kindly to her.

She patted his arm. "Yes, go watch over your sister," she agreed, sounding appreciative of his gesture. "Thank you, Ryuichi."

On his way back, Ryuichi stopped by the ice machine in the hallway to get his sister more ice chips. It was when he started filling the cup that he received an email from Mitsuru.

"Has she given birth?" she asked.

"Not yet. Still in labor," he wrote back.

Back in the room, Shizue had her eyes fixed blankly on the TV overhead as she changed the channel in a dull rhythm. Ryuichi offered her the cup of ice chips, causing her to abandon the remote and land on a comedy cooking show to take the cup.

"I'm gonna pretend that this is one of Dad's Tempura Burgers," she murmured woefully. "Speaking of Dad, I'm actually pretty glad that he didn't show up. Can you imagine having the two of them here?"

"I thought Mom was pretty okay so far," he replied as he took a seat by the bed.

She rolled her eyes. "She's pleasant now because we're not at home. I swear, on days when you're not there, she keeps ragging on me about finishing up my degree, not helping out around the house—I'm freakin' pregnant, dammit!"

Uh oh. Ryuichi could tell that he made a mistake coming back on his own.

Shizue grabbed the bed control to adjust the mattress so she could sit up higher. "I don't think I'll survive if I stay with them," she told him. "I'm seriously thinking about moving out."

"Uh, what about Megumi?" Ryuichi pointed out. "I mean, you're gonna need someone to watch over her, right? And you're most likely going to have to work if you—"

"I know, I know! Dammit, it's like I'm destined to be stuck with them! But, come on—you know how much better it is when we're not living with them, right? Don't you like living in the dorm more than at home?"

"Yeah, but Megumi kinda changes all that."

The conversation ended when Ayumi entered the room. A nurse followed her in to check Shizue once more. Shizue was still not dilated enough to give birth, but that didn't mean that Ryuichi and Ayumi were going to leave. They were ready to stay with her all through the night, Ayumi sometimes sitting on the bed next to Shizue, other times sitting in the chair at the bedside. Ryuichi sank low in his chair and napped, waking up every few minutes with a stiff and sore neck.

As midnight approached, Ryuichi kept checking his phone for the time.

"Waiting for a call from your girlfriend or something?" his sister snarked. He wanted to snap back at her harsh tone, but kept reminding himself that her prolonged discomfort and lack of food was to blame.

He said nothing. Shortly after, the world went completely black for just a second, and then the rotten moonlight filled the room. Ryuichi shuddered when he saw the coffin on the chair opposite from him, and the other coffin on the bed where his sister had been. The Dark Hour had struck.

The silence made his skin tingle. Ryuichi tried to combat his uneasiness by pacing the room, but the sight of his mother and sister as coffins made him ill. He left the room to wander the halls, realizing what a mistake that was when he saw how dark the hospital had become. Coffins stood in the halls, sat in chairs, and occupied beds, as if foretelling the fates of those who were there for treatments. He thought back to his mother and sister, having to tell himself over and over again that they were still alive. He shuddered at the thought that there could be another miniature coffin inside his sister's that held her unborn baby.

Ryuichi returned to his sister's room and stood by the window. He could see Tartarus piercing the sky and wondered if the others had gone on another excursion. If they had, he hoped that Mitsuru took Akihiko along for protection.

There wasn't much else to do. For the remainder of the Dark Hour, he sat in his chair and tried to sleep, managing only to twitch awake every few minutes in anticipation of Shadows attacking.

Early the next morning, Megumi Okazaki was born. The first time Shizue held her, Ayumi snapped a few photos to commemorate the occasion, and then left to call Toshio to berate him for missing Megumi's birth. Ryuichi stayed with his sister and newborn niece, keeping a short distance away from the bed to give Shizue some space.

"Good morning, Megumi," he heard her whisper faintly to her daughter. Her exhausted, pale face smiled as her baby slept. "You and I are the same, you know. But don't worry—I love you very much, and I want you to know that."

Ryuichi wasn't sure what Shizue meant when she said that she and Megumi were the same, but whatever it meant, it looked to him like something had changed within his sister.

She gave Megumi over to her brother to hold. When he held her in his arms, he realized something: Here was this little baby who was not yet aware that she had no father, a mother with a shameful past, grandparents who could crush spirits with just a few choice words, and an uncle who wanted nothing to do with their family. Looking at her red face and chubby cheeks, he found himself full of regret for not wanting to help take care of her before. All he wanted now was for her to feel love, to shield her from the ugliness of their family, and protect her from the truth of her conception.

"Hey, Megs," he whispered to her. "I'm your Uncle Ryu. I'll do my best to be here for you, okay?"

Shizue let out a yawn. "I really hope she ends up liking the same boy bands as you," she groaned. "I'm not going to sit by and listen to you and Megumi argue over who is the better band."

Ryuichi sheepishly beamed at her. "I'm going to teach her to appreciate all of them," he answered indignantly.

"Oh, balls. She's gonna be just like you!"

When everything had settled down with his sister, Ryuichi headed home to the dorm to freshen up before school. He took a quick shower, but when he sat down on his bed to pull on his socks, he ended up passing out and missing the school day entirely.