Chapter 24:Fuuka Akitsuki #1

Fuuka Akitsuki felt her heart would beat out of her chest as she watched the truck barrel its way down the street. There was a sharp pain somewhere and her light blue eyes stung with tears. Her hands were trembling as she checked herself for visible wounds. Towards her right were the broken remains of her orange-ish red headphones and CD Player.

This could have been her, she thought with another violent shudder.

"Hey, you okay?"

Fuuka turned to the stranger. He looked disheveled, dark hair a mess, one hand hovering over her protectively. It didn't take long for her to realize what had happened. This guy had pushed her out of the way of the oncoming truck and saved her life.

"I am fine."

He didn't seem to believe her words. He had long fingers like those of a pianist and she thought about asking whether he played something. It was an odd thing to think about at this present moment, but it was better than thinking about the worst thing that could have happened seconds ago.

"I think we should get ourselves checked in a hospital." He said.

While he said those words, he ran his fingers gently up and down her scalp. Fuuka realized the position she was in: there was this guy who had tackled her out of harm's way and now he was lying almost on top of her in a – dare she say it without jinxing it – protective manner. But they were in the middle of a road and though there wasn't much traffic, it was evening and she was feeling rather cold.

"Don't go into shock." He said. "I'm not a doctor. And I don't think I can explain myself to a police officer if I showed up to a hospital with a dead body."

"I'm not dead." Fuuka replied. It felt relieving to say those words out loud.

"Good to know." Then almost to himself he mumbled. "Can't believe I had to save another woman from vehicular manslaughter. Is this some kind of weird twist of fate?"

"What?" Fuuka wondered whether she had a concussion.

"Nothing, I'm just trying not to be mad at you for crossing the street while listening to music. Yuigahama had the excuse of trying to save her pet dog and running after it without seeing where she was going. But you are an idiot."

Fuuka blinked. Weren't guys supposed to be more charming after they save your life and even if they were not, the least they can do is not call her stupid names like she was a fourth grader. "I'm not an idiot. You are an idiot!"

The two of them were still entangled in a mess of limbs and she didn't know much about him, but she could tell, it hurt to move, for both of them. She saw him hide a wince several times and saw the cut in his palm. It was bleeding. Some of the blood had stuck to her light blue hair, when he had checked her head for any injuries.

"Yeah, I'm the idiot. I should have let the truck isekai you to a better dimension. What the hell was I thinking?" He made an effort to get up, wobbled on his feet a little and then stood with a slight slouch. Fuuka immediately felt his warmth leave her prone body and she shivered.

He took note of it. "What's wrong? Where does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt." Fuuka tried to get up on her own, but her feet felt rigid. They didn't listen to her command. What was wrong with her, she didn't know. "I can't get up."

"Okay. Take my hand."

It really wasn't as cheesy as it sounded in her head. Judging from his reaction, he didn't mean it in that way. He was just being kind and offering her a hand, so that she could get up on her own two feet. Without hesitating too much she took his hand and got up.

Her stumble was far worse and as she closed her eyes in anticipation of her fall, she felt a strong pair of arms engulf her. There was blood, wet and flowing, but not hers. He had torn his shirt somewhere around the elbow while he had tackled her to the ground. There was a nasty looking gash and this time she saw him wince.

"You shouldn't move your arms too much." Fuuka told him. Her voice sounded muffled, because she was talking to his chest, engulfed in an impromptu embrace.

"This isn't too much." He said. "If you asked me to carry you bridal-style to the hospital, now that would be too much."

Fuuka Akitsuki blushed and head butted him in the chest.

"Ow!"

"Don't talk stupid, stupid!"

"You called me stupid twice."

The two of them had to hold each other for support. As her senses kicked in, she realized it would be difficult to walk to the hospital. The two of them had to share a cab.

"It's because, I don't know your name."

"I don't know yours too, CD-san."

"What?"

There cab driver thought, the two of them had got into a fight and thought better not to intrude on to a lover's quarrel. He had to jump quickly to the front of the cab like a suicidal maniac to stop the cab from leaving them in the dirt and then explain their situation and make it believable.

Now the conversation taking place inside the cab did feel like two people talking to stay awake from making worse their concussion.

"My name isn't CD. Those even aren't my initials."

"I don't care. It's been ages since I saw a person walking around the street with a CD Player. To me, you will forever be known as CD-san."

"Fuuka Akitsuki is better." She said with a small smile. "In case you need to brag to your friends about how you saved another woman's life."

He returned her smile. "Hachiman Hikigaya. In case you want to know the person who tackled you to the ground in the middle of the road."

Fuuka Akitsuki raised an eyebrow. Didn't boys like to gloat, about saving the damsel in distress, she thought. "Not the hero, who saved my life?"

He gave her a look a mild disgust. "Do I look like I wear spandex and leather?"

Fuuka Akitsuki gave him a slow once over. He bristled under her attention. Looks like he is not used to female attention, she thought. Good, why she didn't really know.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Hachiman asked.

"Using your shoulder as a pillow to rest my head," Fuuka replied, unashamedly. "Now don't move and stay quiet and wake me up when we reach the hospital."

"Tch, so bossy."

His last words only made her smile a bit more. As she expected Hachiman Hikigaya did as he was told. Wouldn't you know, he was a nice guy, after all. A bit grouchy, not exactly what you might expect, but still nice.

A/N: I thought, I couldn't write a chapter until February. But wouldn't you know I found a stable internet connection and some piece and quiet and I wrote down this chapter. Hope you guys liked it.

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Option 1: Kuriyama Mirai – Beyond the Boundary/Kyoukai no Kanata

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Option 3: Rory Mercury – Gate.

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