Author's note: hey guys, Fire Slash here with another chapter of Healing Wounds. Sorry for taking so long, a lot of stuff came up in my life which prevented me from completing this chapter earlier. I also have minor writers block, so yea. I'm also sad to inform you that I won't be updating this story till the end of January, seeing as I'm dealing with a crap ton of stuff as well as writers block. Lastly, check out my new story, Soldier of Hope. Now enough of my blabbering, review and enjoy :-)

0000

"Shit! This wasn't supposed to happen" Hinata stated as Tsumiki, Sonia, and he dragged an injured Souda to the school's infirmary. "We were supposed to have fun. It was supposed to be a regular day. Then, this happened…"

"Indeed. It is sad to see one of our friends injured" Sonia responded as Hinata put Souda on one of the few beds in the infirmary, making sure not to hurt him. "Even if said friend has a few screws loose."

"Hey! It seemed like the perfect idea at the time" Souda complained before groaning as he held his leg.

"Yes it did. But then I realized how easily you can screw things up" Hinata responded, causing the mechanic to let loose a loud sigh.

"N-not to interrupt, but I think you two are over exaggerating the s-severity of Souda's state" Tsumiki stated to Hinata and Sonia. "A-all he has i-is a broken leg. He'll live."

"How long will I be unable to use my right leg?" Souda asked as he whimpered in pain.

"S-six to eight weeks depending on the severity" Tsumiki said. "T-though it could take longer depending on how badly you broke it. I-I need to examine your leg before I can officially tell you. Um, could you two please leave? I w-work better when no ones watching."

"We'll give you some space to do your thing" Hinata said before leaving the room with Sonia. Turning her attention to Souda, she gave him a sympathetic smile.

"I'm s-sorry, but this might hurt a bit" Tsumiki said before examining her patent.

0000

"Hinata, I must ask you, how did Souda wind up injuring himself?" Sonia asked once the two were outside the infirmary. The two were casually standing outside the room, attempting to ignore Souda's loud screaming. It seemed like whatever Tsumiki was doing in there was torturing the young boy.

"Well" Hinata began. "It all started when…"

0000

Flashback

"Damnit! Why won't Sonia notice me?" Souda asked Hinata as he took a seat next to him. Two hours had passed since Mioda had officially started the party by yelling. For the majority of the party, Hinata hung out with both Tsumiki and Nanami, swimming with the former and playing video games with the latter after swimming. Meanwhile, Mioda, Koizumi, and Saionji were swimming as well. Well, Koizumi was attempting to teach Saionji how to swim while the musician tagged along, attempting to get the two to play some ridiculous game. While they did this, Sonia and Owari were having a small swimming competition. As expected, the ultimate gymnast ahead by several laps. Lastly, Pekoyama was intently watching everyone, making sure everything went smoothly. However, Hinata swore he saw her watching him, as if he was some type of criminal or pervert.

"I have no idea" Hinata told him. Well, he knew exactly why Sonia was ignoring Souda, but he didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Maybe I do something cool she'll notice me…" Souda thought to himself, his eyes widening a few seconds later. "I've got it! If I do the most amazing cannonball ever, she'll notice me! She's gotta."

"I don't think that's a good idea" Hinata stated. "You might get hurt."

"Psh, yea right" Souda retorted. "I'll be fine." With that, Souda made his way to the diving board, eager to make the biggest slash ever. Upon reaching the top of the diving board, which was several meters off the ground, Souda began to plan out how exactly he wanted to jump off the diving board. He wanted to do some sort of fancy trick, something like a summersault or a front flip. Eventually deciding on doing a backflip, he shouted at everyone to get their attention.

"HEY EVERYONE! CHECK THIS OUT!" He shouted, jumping as everyone began looking at him. Unfortunately, as he attempted the backflip, a loud cracking noise echoed the room. What followed next was Souda letting out a high pitched scream of pain as he fell into the water. Sensing his friend in trouble, Hinata dove into the water, pulling a very injured Souda out of the water. Turning to the closest person to him, which happened to Sonia, he began to ask for her assistance.

"Sonia. Get Tsumiki and help me bring him to the infirmary" Hinata told her in a panicked voice. The princess was about to question the situation, but seeing Hinata's panicked expression, she immediately did what she was told.

End flashback

0000

"Oh…I see" Sonia stated after Hinata finished his story, soaking up all the information given to her. "I always knew Souda had some…unhealthy feelings for me, but to do something as risky as that was illogical on his part."

"To be honest, I do t think the stunt was that risky" Hinata told her. "A lot of people do similar stunts like that and are fine afterwards. I think Souda just rushed the entire stunt. After all, he immediately jumped off after snagging our attention, not planning exactly how he was going to jump off and what time he was going to flip. When it comes to doing something new, you should always take time to decide when each step should be completed."

"Wow! Such words of wisdom" Sonia said as her eyes began gleaming. "Where did you learn such a thing?"

"I think you're overreacting" Hinata said, startled by the girl's excitement. From what Hinata currently knew about the princess, he could tell she was one of the smartest individuals in the class, but always got excited from the smallest of things despite the amount of knowledge she had. "It wasn't anything special. I read it from a textbook. A math one in fact."

"U-um, not to interrupt" Tsumiki timidly said, causing the two students to turn to her. "But you can come in now."

"Oh. Thanks Tsumiki" Hinata said as he and Sonia entered the infirmary. Upon entering, the two teens ran towards Souda, who seemed to have calmed down.

"Hey Souda, how are you feeling?" Hinata asked.

"Oh, I'm fine" Souda replied. "It's not like my leg is broken or anything."

"How long will his leg stay broken?" Sonia asked the nurse. Letting out a surprised yelp, Tsumiki answered the princess.

"H-his leg will heal in about a-six weeks" Tsumiki told her. "T-thankfully he didn't break his bone too badly. H-however, he'll have to wear a cast during this time. I'll begin making it right now."

"Hey, take it easy" Hinata said, sensing that the girl was getting anxious. "You don't have to rush."

"O-okay" the girl said before leaving the room. Hinata let out a loud sigh seeing as the nurse will most likely ignore his advice before turning his attention back to Souda.

"I'll be leaving as well" Sonia said before exiting. "Someone needs to tell the other girls about Souda's current state."

After Sonia left the room, Souda let out a loud groan.

"I must've looked like a big idiot to Sonia" Souda told Hinata. "Now I'll never be able to show my face to her again."

"It wasn't that bad" Hinata said. "If anything, she did look concerned, though what you did was a bit stupid."

"Shut up, I thought I would have been able to do that stunt. But Hinata, I've got to ask you something important."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you think I have a chance with Sonia?" Souda asked. Upon hearing his question, Hinata's mind went into panic mode. He knew that Souda had absolutely no chance with the princess, but at the same time, he didn't want to hurt Souda's feelings. As such, he began to lie.

"Well, its still early" Hinata told him. "As such, you do have a chance to win her over. However, I suggest you tone down the stalking a bit."

"I do not stalk her!" Souda shouted.

"Really? May I remind you why we even went to the pool party?"

"…" Souda opened his mouth to protest, but he immediately shut it, seeing as he couldn't refute Hinata's claim.

"Fine, maybe I do. I'll stop doing so, but just know that I'm never going to give her up."

"But you might let her down~" Hinata said in a sing song voice, causing Souda to give him an emotionless look.

"…Please tell me you didn't just do that."

"Sorry. I couldn't help myself."

0000

After keeping Souda company for a while, Hinata left the room. However, as he did so, he felt something bump into him. Looking behind him, he saw Tsumiki on the floor with a caste next to her.

"We've got to stop meeting like this" Hinata told her as he helped her up. After doing so, Tsumiki began to unleash another series of apologies.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you. I was in such a hurry to give Souda his cast and I've should of looked where I was going, please don't hate me."

"How many times do I have to tell you, I could never hate you" Hinata told her gently. "You're a wonderful human being. I could never get mad at you."

"W-wonderful?" Tsumiki asked, a blush appearing on her face. "I'm not that special."

"Listen, I'll say this as many times as I need to, you're a great person who will change the world for the better. I've seen it before. I mean, the reason you're helping Souda now is because you care about his well being. That makes you a good person."

"…" All Tsumiki could do was stare at the boy, an enormous blush forming on her face. It was right then she realized that she could truly trust him, that he truly cared for her. While he has proven time and time again that he really does care for her, she always remained skeptical. With a past like hers, it was understandable.

"Hey, once you finish with Souda, want to walk home together?" Hinata asked her, snapping the girl back to reality. "The walk home gets lonely."

"S-sure" Tsumiki responded. After Tsumiki attached the cast onto Souda's leg, the two friends walked home together, the girl standing a bit closer to Hinata than usual.

0000

"How boring" Izuru stated as he watched Hinata walk with Tsumiki. Unknown to the boy, when he was given his ultimate talents, he was also given Izuru Kamukura, a cold hearted being with only one desire, to find something which could keep the boy's attention. Ever since he was created by Hinata's self consciousness during the operation, the long haired individual had always felt bored. His boredom was so powerful in fact, it was able to transcend to Hinata's thoughts as well, causing him to get bored easily. As an attempt to gain some enjoyment, he decided to watch Hinata develop all his abilities and his relationships with his friends. Izuru already knew nearly everything there was to know in the world and if he wanted to, he could've started a harem with all of Hinata's friends. But to him, why bother? All it would do is prove to the world why he's the ultimate human being. So instead, he left Hinata live out his life without him interfering. The only time he did was when he warned Hinata about the 'despair disguised as beauty.' And even then, the only reason he did so was to see if it would spice up Hinata's life. While it was still too early to gain any results, Izuru still warned the boy, curious to see how he'll deal with the situation when the time comes.

"This is absolutely boring" Izuru muttered to himself. "Hinata is taking far too long to develop the abilities I already have, his classmates are all extremely predictable, and everything he does is far too simplistic. Yet…I won't interfere. After all, there is one thing that intrigues me."

Taking a glance at Tsumiki, his mind began analyzing every detail about her. Her appearance, her current mood, what she was wearing, and anything else about her was noted by the ultimate. Yet, there was one thing that was bothering him about her, the way she behaved around Hinata. The way she behaved around him was a bit…odd. Based on what he saw, the girl often secluded herself from others in fear that they will do something to her. Yet when it came to Hinata, the girl seemed to adore having him around. Granted, she was still a bumbling mess, but there was certainly an aura of happiness when she spoke to him. For whatever reason, Izuru could not figure out the relationship between the two.

"Maybe it has something to do with those things known as 'feelings'" Izuru stated to himself. When it came to emotions, Izuru was absolutely clueless about the subject. After all, the only emotion he's ever felt was boredom. In addition, he was created with the ability to suppress his emotions so they wouldn't become a hinderance to him. Unfortunately, boredom was an emotion so powerful not even he could hold back.

"For now, I'll stay back. But if things do not progress between the two of them, I'm taking over."