Heartwork
She had kind eyes, he thought, and a kind smile. She was nicer than the nurse at his school, nicer than the nurses at the Inoue Hospital, his father laying silent and hurt in the room beyond, his eyes shut, silent even when he reached out for him, calling his name again and again. He knew he wasn't supposed to cry, he knew there was danger in what his father did, but that had never made sense to him before, not even when he had seen him in his armour, his massive sword at the ready, monsters before him. It was only when the other man arrived at his grandparents' house—the man in the blue linen jacket and white trowsers, hair, maybe once dark, now shot through with silver smoothed into a quiff, the man who had introduced himself as his father's teacher—that Oogami Sora had begun to understand what had happened, that he had begun to understand that somehow, his father had lost.
He looked down glumly at his hands, idle in his lap, kicking out his feet before, listening to the sound of the doctors and nurses passing him by, ignoring him as he waited in the corridor.
"Hey now," she said, crouching down before him, "I'm sure your father wouldn't want you to be sad."
He looked up, meeting those kind eyes, that kind smile, and he smiled back, even though there were still tears in his own eyes. She reached out, taking his hands, opening them up and placing a small bundle of sweets into his grasp, and he quickly looked down at the packaging, bright colours, a smiling bear with a halo proclaiming the words, Calohan Family Candy.
"Thank you," he sniffed, eagerly unwrapping the packaging.
"You're very welcome, Sora," she said softly, straightening up, her knees clicking as she did.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as she turned away from him, the hem of her white coat swept back so that she could stand with her hands in the pockets of her trowsers. He kept his attention on the packet before him, peeling open the packet, shaking out the hardboiled candy within, but also kept one eye on her as she stood with her back to him, watching the closed door that his father rested behind.
"Ms Meiou," he said hesitantly, "how do you know my father?"
She looked back at him, still smiling, and he lifted his gaze to meet hers.
"I don't," she answered.
A sudden sense of nervousness stirred within him, and she nodded, as if she sensed this.
"Don't worry, I'm not one of the bad guys," she said, and winked at him.
He remained serious, holding the candy still, hesitant, trying to ask himself what his dad would do.
"My dad says that sometimes bad guys hide themselves as good guys."
He had been told that his father had been injured not fighting monsters, but instead standing up to people he had thought had been his allies, people he thought had been his friends. The recollection stirred up something sad in him once more, something angry.
Her smile faded, and she nodded once more.
"Your dad is right, sadly." Turning, she looked again at the door, hearing the low voices of doctors, of Sora's grandparents. "But sometimes we have to hope for the best, sometimes we have to place our faith in others."
"I agree," said a voice behind them, and Sora felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see the man with the greying hair, the man who had first come to tell them of his father's wounds.
Meiou Setsuna looked back, her eyes narrowing, her expression suddenly firm. He nodded in her direction.
"Amamiya Yusuke," he said. "I'm a friend."
Setsuna regarded him carefully.
"Meiou Setsuna. Sometimes bad guys hide themselves as good guys," she echoed Sora's words.
The man in the blue linen jacket smiled back, and repeated her own words back to her.
"Sometimes we have to hope for the best."
Sora looked from one to the other. He felt helpless, lost, all the anger, all the sadness becoming feelings that were too big for him to hold inside. He tightened his hands around the candy. Why was it his dad who was hurt? Why weren't the people who were supposed to be his friends by his side now?
"Do you know Ryo?" the older man asked, and though it was faint, Sora could her that same challenge familiar in his father's own voice.
Setsuna shook her head.
"I'm here on private business."
"Perhaps you should tell me what that is," Amamiya said firmly.
Setsuna bristled visibly.
"Perhaps I'm uncertain if I can trust you."
Inside him, those feelings burst suddenly forth, and angrily, Sora jumped out of his seat.
"Stop it!" he said, looking from one to the other. "Stop it! If you care about my dad, then stop fighting!"
Amamiya looked at the boy and nodded.
"I apologise, Ms Meiou," he said gruffly.
She was silent for just a moment longer than was necessary.
"No need to apologise. The blame is all mine."
"You're here on business?" Amamiya asked.
"Of a sort," Setsuna replied, and then gave way, but only a little. "I'm investigating a matter."
"Oh, really?" Amamiya answered quickly, his voice firm. "You'll have to tell me all about it."
How had this happened, Sora asked himself, still standing, the candy gripped in his hand. How had his father been the one to get hurt, who were these people arguing outside of his room? He thought that good guys weren't supposed to lose, and his dad was a good guy, wasn't he?
The door suddenly slid open, revealing the doctor standing within the frame of the room, and Sora instantly looked past him, past his grandparents, and his face lit up as he saw his father sitting up in bed, awake again at last.
"You can go in now, Sora," the doctor said, and Sora wasted no time, rushing into the room, abandoning the confrontation taking place in the corridor in favour of the excitement and happiness of seeing his father again.
At his back, glaring daggers at one another, Amamiya Yusuke and Meiou Setsuna stood awkwardly alone.