Fuutarou walked back and forth in the hospital hall. Looking out a nearby window he could see glimmers of light coming from the horizon signaling a new day. Even though hours had passed it felt like a blur of time to him.
The crash, the body, the shock, and now the fear. He hadn't bothered to try and sleep in the faculty room as he knew that no matter what he'd stay awake. Rubbing his eyes tiredly Fuutarou tried to remember the events in greater detail even with sleep trying to consume him.
The second they rolled Itsuki into the hospital he put on a coat and tried to assist. But his thoughts were all too sluggish from the fear, shock, and anxiousness as well as the alcohol. It took most of the staff to convince him to step away and let someone else handle this.
However, he did manage to relay most of her injuries to the other doctor who nodded in understanding and called for an x-ray and a surgery room after having stabilized her enough.
That was almost 4 hours ago.
The sound of clacking against the floor tiles made Fuutarou turn to the person. A nurse he'd seen around the hospital before approached him. He noticed her smile was not a wavering one that most would associate bad news with but yet he steeled his nerves.
"First of all, before I say anything else, how are you feeling?" The nurse asked unsurely, likely surprised to see someone so well renowned in such a state. "If you want we could-"
Fuutarou raised his hand in anxiousness, "I'm fine, just… what's her condition."
The nurse paused and observed him before nodding and looking at her notepad. Fuutarou felt a need to reach over and grab those damn papers himself but couldn't process the thought enough to go through with it.
"You'll be glad to know she's stable." The nurse started with a soft smile. Fuutarou let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"As you probably knew her lower ribs were fractured but hadn't punctured anything luckily. Her cranium sustained minimal damage but will require stitches on the back. But as for her legs…" The nurse trailed off uncomfortably.
"I saw." Fuutarou breathed discomfort.
"Her left legs tibia and fibula we're snapped from the crash. It's likely she'll be needing a cast but likely not for long. We suspect that's where she took the impact of the vehicle-" The nurse explained, showing an x-ray of her left leg.
Fuutarou thought about it. The tibia and fibula we're the two bones of the leg below the knee joint. It was bad enough to have one of them broken, but both? Depending on her other foot she may have to settle for crutches or a wheelchair for some time.
"-her other leg is thankfully in a better condition minus some bruising." The nurse finished and looked at the notes again to see something missing. "Also, I know this might be a bad time for you, but who is she? You know we can't id everyone."
At first, Fuutarou was shocked she knew he had a past with Itsuki but remembered that it's not every day he worried for a patient like this, actually scrap that, he seldom worried for a patient this much.
"Nanako Itsuki." Fuutarou mumbled quietly but loud enough for the nurse to hear. She gave a couple of nods as she wrote down the name on paper.
"If you don't have any question then I'll leave you alone for now. Your friend is still under sedation, so she won't likely wake until tomorrow-" She then looked at her wristwatch and smiled, "-well today actually."
As the kind nurse walked away Fuutarou reached into his pocket to see if he had really been here for so long. While searching around he felt something smoothly sharp run by his fingertips.
He pulled out the little foreign object. It was yellow as the light of the sun and shaped in a start, made to perfectly fit snuggly in someone's hair as a pin. He looked at the star-shaped hairpin and started to flip it between his fingers.
Why was she here? The thought lingered in his mind. It was a question with many plausible answers yet all of them unnerved him because in the end… she was still here.
'What to do now?' Fuutarou asked himself and looked up as he held the star high. Should he give it back when she wakes up?
No, he shook his head. Fuutarou didn't want to talk to her, yet he felt the need to see her. It was a weird feeling, similar to how Raiha would be excited to see him every time he came by, due to their distance building up some sort of longing.
But why? She would be angry with him, neglect him. Just like he did to them. How he could barely cope to look at them after that day.
Fuutarou clenched his fist with the star inside and fell back against the couch. He couldn't think now, his head wasn't clear, and his drowsiness wasn't helping. His eyes fluttered and the need to sleep began to take over and Fuutarou was consciously letting it.
Fuutarou paced back and forward in his house with a nervous look. It had been two days since the festival concluded and currently, the study freak was contemplating if he should look at the countless messages he likely received.
Eventually, he found himself sitting down on his desk with his phone right beside him unopened and with any sound turned off. Was he prepared to respond; did he even know how? It felt bad keeping out of touch for so long, especially after pulling something like that.
Maybe he should talk to them in person instead. He expected it to be awkward, but scientific studies had shown people respond bett- no wait, now was not the time to get all geeky!
He scratched his head in irritable frustration, 'What should I even say?'
He opened his phone for the first time in a long time and was greeted by the expected sight of missed calls and messages. He prepared to click into one of them.
"Onii-san!" Raiha slid on the ground into view. "Lunch is ready!"
"Coming!" He called back and glanced back at the phone before waiting for a second and closing it.
'I'll put it on hold, it's late now, they're probably off doing something else and I still need to think of what I should say.' Fuutarou convinced himself and put the phone down before joining his family to eat.
Little did he know his so-called delay would remain indefinite for longer than he thought.
Waking up Fuutarou rubbed his eyes expecting to see the same celling as usual. He slowly stretched his body as a cover fell off him and onto the floor.
Slowly coming to his senses Fuutarou went from half-awake to fully awake in an unbeatable time. He shot up from the couch and felt slightly embarrassed that he'd slept in a public place that also was his job.
Looking at the blanket Fuutarou picked it up. Likely it was one of the passing nurses who decided to be nice.
As he got up, thinking about getting water, or even better, caffeine, Fuutarou felt something remaining in the palm of his hand. Holding it up with two fingers Fuutarou sighed at the star.
'Better give it back now than never.' Fuutarou thought with reason.
He started by walking to the reception since the nurse, who he realized might be an intern, hadn't said any room name to his recollection.
After a quick talk, the receptionist told him she was on the second floor on the right side of the building. Fuutarou gave a blunt thanks and strolled.
However, on his way, he stopped by a coffee machine for his daily dose of coffee. Long shifts had practically forced him into what someone might call a maniac caffeine addiction, well, only one person really called it that. Still, depending on coffee too much made it much harder to go without it in the mornings, something he knew but only realized when he was out of coffee before a long shift.
"Wait, isn't that Uesugi?"
"You mean new blood? Why's he here?"
"Maybe he got called in?"
"Can see why he's held in such a high regard if he's willing to show up now."
He purposely avoided their gazes. Whether it was a hangover from his night out or just general annoyance Fuutarou.
With coffee at hand, Fuutarou made his way upstairs and turned to the corridor of patient rooms. The closer he got the more anxious he became. His hand played with the pin subconsciously to try and ease it.
Only three doors away from the room a doctor exited where Itsuki was supposed to be. The same doctor that had taken over his job so he could slack off in worry.
"Ah, Uesugi. I'm assuming the nurse told you about the tibia and fibula situation?" The doctor stared at him with sympathy. "My condolences goes out to yo-"
"Save it for her family. Don't really deserve the comfort." Fuutarou responded monotony with his same tired look.
"Nevertheless she's awake right now, although a bit dazed." The doctor replied.
"Have you cleared her?" Fuutarou asked.
"No, not yet. I was planning on doing it, but she requested something to eat first." The doctor gave a good chuckle. "Isn't often a patient asks for food right after a crash like that."
'Of course.' Fuutarou deadpanned with a sigh. Even after a car crash, the girl remains the figure of hungry gluttony.
"Anyways I won't hold you up any longer." The doctor walked past him with a wave but stopped behind him. "Also, for all the worrying you've done I'd say you deserve some comfort to, so don't deny yourself of that."
Fuutarou nodded plainly and walked forwards. In one swing he drank down what was left of his drink and threw it in a nearby trashcan.
He put his hand on the handle and breathed, "Here goes nothing." He whispered to himself and pushed the door open.
Looking inside the room, an all-white room with some medical supplies in cabinets, his eyes went to the patient's bed where a red-haired woman has turned away with a phone in her hand talking to someone.
"Mouu don't tease me at a time like this!" Itsuki pouted angrily at her caller.
"C'mon it's a bit funny that something happens two days after you leave." The caller teased.
"No it's not! Aren't you even worried about me?" Itsuki whined and recalled a memory where an illusion of the past had run up to her after the accident. After a moment she heard a heartfelt laugh from the other side of the call.
"Of course I am, just trying to lighten the mood." The voice calmed the laughing but obviously maintained a genuine smile for her sister's wellbeing.
"Well, it's not funny." Itsuki pouted harder and crossed her arms.
"Look, how about I visit you after I wrap up my shoots. Maybe you'll be luckier than to get into another accident." Her sister offered, "Especially if you're going to be on crutches for a while."
Itsuki looked at her leg, wrapped in a cast hanging up by a line. "Don't remind me. Worst of all I'm going to have to call them to move the interview."
"Anyways I asked for food earlier, so it'll probably be here soon." Itsuki switched subject as the conversation ran dry.
The sister understood where this was getting at, "Okay, I'll let you eat the buffe in peace. Make sure you don't eat everything they have, there are other patients hungry there after all."
Before Itsuki had time to reply the call ended with a click. With slight annoyance, Itsuki closed the phone and put it away.
Why did she have to tease her! Itsuki shifted her leg around into a more comfortable spot, luckily without much pain thanks to the given pain medication.
Wonder when the kind doctor would show up with her food? Sure, the food here wouldn't be something akin to a 4-star or 3-star restaurant but her hobby as a food critic had taught her to respect all kinds of food, well as long as it was edible. After all she –.
"Um, hey." She heard a familiar voice call out.
It felt as if her body stopped. As if she wasn't believing her ears, she whipped her head to the side with mixing emotions. The voice was too distinct to not be recognized. A voice that gave her a second of nostalgia.
There, leaning against the side of the doorframe was a sight she'd never thought she'd see again.
She stared at him and he stared at her. An awkward silence overtook them with none of them knowing what to say.
Itsuki opened her mouth to say something but just then he moved away from the doorframe preventing her from saying anything.
With a deep breath, Fuutarou Uesugi straightened himself and walked inside while Itsuki blinked in disbelief and sat up as much as she could.
With quick steps, he walked to her desk and dropped the pin off.
Itsuki looked at it in surprise and then at Fuutarou. How did he have it? She knew one was missing after all, but for him to have it didn't make sense, it wasn't as if he'd been… there.
It took her a few long seconds to realize that her weird memory of Uesugi by her side just after the crash as her consciousness wavered wasn't some illusion or made-up thought but rather reality. He was there!
"Uesugi…" She muttered in disbelief.
A shorter chapter but an important one at that. Fuutarou has finally met with Itsuki but both don't know what to say. Will they remain at a standstill or they talk it out?