REVIEWS :
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kuronai
Shiranai Atsune
Cheshire sneko (AHAHAHA IT'S A COINCIDENCE BUT I GUESS YOU COULD SAY THEIR SONGS LIVE WITHIN MY SONG THAT I ACCIDENTALLY POUR IT OUT)
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Kuronomitsuki (you're not the only one that cursed me ahahahaha I AM A CURSED AUTHOR ALREADY)
Note : In all seriousness, this chap is dialogue-heavy and not much of Tetsuya eheh
Love Me For Thirty Days
DAY TWENTY-FIVE
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FIVE MORE DAYS
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Tuesday
Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision.
—Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving
Panic in a vehicle, panic evident all within speed. Sakura came with her mother the instant they heard about the news. Her mother, white-knuckled and a tight grip against the steering wheel. Along the way, it made her uneasy and agitated, and she too, found her tiny fingers curling around the fabric of her dress. It took them about an hour to arrive after the red-haired Akashi called. She had been excited to meet her godparents again for the next day, but it was not the way she imagined it would be when the mumbles of her mother turned to a sharp gasp in between calls turned to a rapid motion on grabbing her hand and car keys. No, young Aomine Sakura expected a greet at the doorstep and a warm embrace. Sooner enough, a nervous-looking Seijuurou detected the sound of two different footsteps — one lighter and faster, another clacking of heels in long strides — approaching the singular ward. Two person with similar soft pink tufts huffing by the door, but the smaller one had worry heavy within her navy eyes. A bizarre look with a false bravado she was attempting to place, but couldn't quite doing it so well.
"Chichiue?" She asked, innocently but was aware to whatever was happening around her, "Will chichiue be alright?" Her voice was cowering and small, almost as if she barely muster a sound.
"Y-yeah," he tried smiling, one hand propped against the soft patch of hair and his fingers slid down to her cherubic cheeks. Though, Seijuurou himself wasn't quite sure of what was to come. Tetsuya passing out was definitely not alright. What was he supposed to say to a little girl?
Satsuki, on the meanwhile, did not looked too pleased. Her face marred a scowl, not an austere one but it was firm enough to chill the ionised air of the ward. "What happened?" After all, she had came all the way to the city hospital, obviously her own fatigue stirred her mood bitter.
It was difficult to explain when the start of yesterday, they were doing pretty fine on their own. But even with the question, Satsuki didn't force herself to pry. She was well aware of Seijuurou's wellbeing too, his red-rimmed eyes and sunken cheeks. The exhaustion was clear, and even if she wanted to express her irritation, all that Satsuki could do was to land a soft pat on one of his shoulders.
"How long has he been unconscious?"
"Thirteen hours."
"And you just told us on midnight?" The pink-haired woman didn't mean to scoff, but she felt being ridiculed. This wasn't instant news, though perhaps Seijuurou was too shocked to even budge his phone. Satsuki didn't know what to think. She just twisted his shirt, a notion that meant her frustration — just a little show — and ushered to cradle her daughter instead.
Seijuurou understood. He lifted his gaze from a lowered head, "I didn't really think about calling you at first, knowing that we have been busy adults and I don't intend to worry a child if the matter itself isn't so heavy," the redhead sucked a breath, "Unfortunately, it does become a grave matter because he hasn't even flinch the slightest." He was being genuine at least, wearing a grave expression that Satsuki couldn't quite argue with. At least, not in a crummy place such as the hospital itself.
"It's fine," she huffed, "But what did the doctor said?"
"Apart from the fever that's rising, the doctor couldn't tell what's wrong with his head," the redhead mimicked Satsuki's sigh, "He wasn't a specialist in the neurology but he conclude that the shock must have come from previous head trauma that nearly damaged the hippocampus," a fleeting pause, morose and brooding, "Sometimes I wished that it could at least be anterogade amnesia."
Satsuki furrowed her brows, giving him an incredulous look over his foolish prayers. Of course, some would wish that their loved ones wouldn't be affected by anything at all. As if reading her mind, Seijuurou scoffed at the surreal thoughts. "Life wouldn't be fair if you wished for all the good things. But in a sense, I wouldn't want the worst thing to happen is something like this. Anterogade amnesia. . ." a lowered voice resumed his ponders, "At least he would remember something that happened in the past."
"Look, let's just wait for him to wake up — okay?" Hand on one broad shoulder as means to comfort.
Sakura, hinting distress, sniffing out the thick tension underlaying the already ionised air, approached her godfather and gave him a tight squeeze on his hand. A wordless gesture, but Akashi Seijuurou found comfort in it. Not too long after that, the slight ease churned to drowsiness, and he found his mind blank and dark.
Seijuurou didn't remember when was the moment he had closed his eyes and dozed off. By the time he cracked those dual shades of eyes, he was met with a faint light in thin drapes that made out silhouettes of small, tweeting birds. The room was filled with beeps, the door giving way to the entire hustle filling the corridors. The redhead detected the rrrr of trolleys, the slight screeches of wheelchairs against shining tiles and the chatters of nurses and doctors discussing analysis of patients' conditions. Not a single nurse stepped inside their room yet, however. It felt like a humdrum, and Seijuurou wasn't one to fond hospitals — considering his mother had always been into one, lying sickly upon a deathbed. And now, it was his. . .
A flushing sound interrupted his morose, and out came two cerise-haired people — Sakura fixing her new garments properly. "The sleepyhead is finally awake," Satsuki smirked lopsidedly, holding a slight fatigue from her expression but it was meant to tease anyway.
Seijuurou scoffed at her attempt, "Didn't mean to."
"Bakashi, you deserve a damn rest."
"My God, if you weren't a friend of mine, I would incline to throw scissors at your face."
"Never changing, do you?" She snorted a laugh, but then her expression dropped just as fleeting as the merry, "I wonder how others would react to find Tetsuya in a hospital bed."
"Ryouta would freak out as well. But if he isn't so touchy, I'd let him a visit."
"You mean, you wouldn't?"
Seijuurou blinked for a moment. "I'm re-considering."
"Otou-san gets jealous easily, is it Ma?"
"Oh, you wanna heard all about it? I could be a millionaire each time he threatened or almost decapitated someone for being too close to your chichiue back in school," she made light of a scary look and the younger cerise-haired girl laughed at her mother's antics.
The redhead returned the scoff, "Oh please, do enlighten her."
Satsuki chuckled lowly at his agreement, then there was a pause to allow a breather from all the slight laughter. The woman allowed herself to ponder, and soon she came across a wandering thought that lightened her with realisation, yet heavy with a burden of guilt. Even so, she let her mouth ran with the curiosity anyway. She sat up straight, and soon the heaviness could be seen in deep cranberry-shaded eyes. "If you were so protective of Tetsuya back then. . . what causes it to change, Akashi-kun?"
There was a scowl. In all honesty, Seijuurou didn't want to dwell into the matter once again. But once he had done his sins, of course, it was bound to be remembered even if he was to drag himself to the afterlife. "To tell you the truth, I don't even know what's wrong. . ." he looked at Satsuki, a lingering stare that demanded full understanding, "You get me, Satsuki. You and I, we both once lost the feelings which nurtured within ourselves back then," his gaze darkened slightly, Satsuki had to swallow hard against the shift of mood, "The only difference is that I didn't let go when I had the chance and you did even when it isn't needed." Seijuurou ended his response with a warming smile. Satsuki bit her lip, somewhat regretting upon her choice of asking the stupid question.
"And the difference of you and I is that I didn't look for another person," she bit back her words, scared that the room might turned cold and the tension layering the atmosphere thick with underlying, raw emotions.
But Seijuurou only chuckled, for a brief moment, he wore a grave, forlorn look. "Point taken."
"That's pretty much a stupid thing to ask —" Satsuki hacked and coughed, clearing the awkwardness, "I'm sorry."
"I'm glad you noticed," and she was glad the fearless redhead returned to the usual mood.
Perhaps, it was the noise, the chatters that rose within the space — or whatever was going within Tetsuya's head — that the bed creaked from a lithe body shifting his weight and there was an apparent groan from grogginess. Long, jaded moan that was in the interim of pain and confusion. The room went silent for a moment as three heads turned to shift their gaze to the newly-awakened pallid blue pools.
Tetsuya blinked and stared for as long as he could, lips quivering to a small smile and he whipped his head to scan the space around him. As much as Sakura wanted to approach him to give him a huge hug, she held back. Her hands trembled and she quickly clutched her mother. Seijuurou quickly rushed to his side.
"Tetsuya. . ." clasping the pale hand, the blunette flinched from the touch. "How are you feeling?"
"W-Why —" Tetsuya didn't look too pleased, he seemed to be frantic at the fact that he was in a hospital, "Why am I here?"
"You passed out when we were having lunch yesterday —"
Before Seijuurou could explain any further, Tetsuya pulled away from his hand and the blunette bore an offended look. "Don't fuck with me, Sei-kun. I know it when you're lying!"
"Excuse me?"
Satsuki dared to interfere, "Tetchan, wh-what are you talking about?"
The blunette was surprised to see the two pinkette at presence. His lips curled to a scowl, every ounce of anger evident in the cold azure. "Yesterday, you told me you want to divorce with me, and now I'm — I'm. . ." there was a long sigh drawled out from his lips, exasperated and absolutely frustrated, "What did you do to me. . .?"
"Tetsuya, that was —" Everything clicked inside his head all at once. Of course, how could he be so stupid? Instead of finishing his sentence, the redhead could only turned to face Satsuki. "Satsuki, call the doctor."
As hesitant as she was to oblige, she ushered from her spot and left the ward.
"Otou-san, what's wrong?"
A hand patted her soft pink tufts. Warmly, he stroked the long locks and finally shifted his eyes back to the person sitting confusedly on the bed. "Tetsuya. . . How much did you remember?"
TO BE CONTINUED
Mozu : AHAHAHA FUCK ME FUCK ME OH MY GOD I DIDN'T EXPECT TO END IT LIKE THIS HAHAHAHA! There's like. . . 5 or 6 more chapters left and now everything's going downhill.
Will it be a happy ending? Or will it not be? Dun dun dun!
Before you attack me, I use my sister's friend as a source of inspiration on choosing this memory loss route. I mean - for someone who's in mid-twenties, he seems to suffer memory problems. But that's a long story to tell.
X for love O for hate?
-Mozu The Mochi (2018)