Chapter Four: Friends Are Good For The Soul

Aki stayed home from work the first two weeks. Her PTO dried up after eight days, yet she stayed with him through the end of the second week. "Money can wait," she told Eiji, even though he knew that wasn't exactly true, not when there were bills to pay and mouths to feed.

The first two weeks seemed to drag on forever, yet the days somehow blurred into one. Miyuki went to school during the days and he and Aki would stay stranded in the too-quiet house. Miyuki's coming and going served as the only tangible marker for the passage of time.

Aki went to his school during the first few days and picked up all his school books and the contents of his locker. He'd be at home for the rest of the school year, the doctor had made that pretty clear. His teachers were gracious in offering extensions for the assignments he'd missed, as well as extra help for all the remaining lessons and assignments.

He spent his days laid up in bed with a bamboo cutting board on his lap as a make-shift desk. Sometimes his head still spun and lost focus with the lasting effects of his concussion, but it seemed to be improving overall. Eiji was a bright student, though he had focused on his sport more than his academics this past year, meaning everything was a little more challenging than it needed to be. If he had studied harder earlier in the year, he would have been in better shape now. But at least it gave him a challenge, something to focus on other than his likely lost scholarship and throbbing leg. Still, he emailed his work to his teachers and received decent grades, "hard work paying off," as Aki said.

His best friend, Daichi, came to visit him on Friday after school at the end of the second week. Eiji wanted to crawl beneath his blankets and hide as he heard Aki welcoming his friend into the house. Bathing was no easy feat and he had only managed it twice since being home. It was mortifying to have his mother help him, even though she assured him time and time again that she was not looking. Still, no teenager wanted their Mom helping them bathe. Now, as he heard his mother leading his best friend down the hall to his room, he wished he had bathed more.

"Eiji," Aki announced her presence at his doorway, "Daichi came to visit you."

"Mom, I'm disgust—" but Daichi was already walking into the room.

"EI-CHAN!" Daichi practically screamed upon seeing him.

Aki smiled and disappeared down the hall, knowing full well that Daichi couldn't care less about the state of Eiji's hair or the slight odor of sweat from several days of not bathing.

"Aww man, can't walk at all?" Daichi asked upon seeing the wheelchair beside Eiji's bed.

"Not yet. I start therapy next week. They said then I'll be able to move around on crutches." Eiji gestured at his disheveled state. "It's why I look so gross, I can't really shower too easily—"

Daichi waved dismissively, "Relax, man, I'm not worried about it. Not like I haven't seen you sweaty before."

Which was true. After all the years they spent together on the field, Daichi had certainly seen him look worse.

Daichi shrugged off his school jacket and hung it on Eiji's doorknob. "Can I sit?"

Eiji smiled for the first time all week, "Yeah, man, I'm not gonna make you stand." Eiji patted the other side of his bed, which was the only other place to sit besides his wheelchair.

Daichi plopped down beside him. He lifted a brown paper bag he was holding and placed it on the bed. "I brought you some manga," he told Eiji with a smile.

"Oh, that reminds me! I finished Full Metal," Eiji said excitedly.

"SHH!" He clapped his hands over his ears. "Don't tell me! I only have four episodes left!"

"Okay, okay."

"Anyway, here's this." He handed a stack of manga to Eiji. "Consider this a sampler platter, I figured you might want some variety. It's the first three volumes of Attack on Titan, then the first three of Bakuman, that one's made by the same team who did Death Note. I'm on volume 10. It's good so far. And then we have Noragami, volumes 10-15."

"Eight and nine are in my room," Eiji said. "I finished them, you can grab them before you leave."

Daichi nodded and pulled out a final manga. "This one's a stand-alone. Called 'I Want To Eat Your Pancreas.' I'll warn you now, it's sad, but I think it's worth it." He reached into the bag again to find it empty. "Well, that's everything, but I figure that'll keep you busy for a bit."

"Thanks, Daichi," Eiji said sincerely. "I've been bored as hell now that I've finished Full Metal."

"I bet." He moved the stack of manga to Eiji's dresser and adjusted on the bed so that he sat cross-legged. "Hey if you need any help with school stuff, just let me know. I probably already have grades for some of it so I wouldn't mind helping you out."

Eiji gave a half-hearted smile, "Thanks."

"So!" Daichi began cheerfully, "Want the latest gossip?"

"Is there any gossip?" He asked with an amused smile.

Daichi shook his head. "No, not really. You probably heard, but Haruto came in first, so he's going on to World's. Coach thinks he'll be offered a spot on the Olympic team." He watched as the smile slipped from Eiji's face. "And I'm an asshole who definitely shouldn't have said that. Cuz that shoulda been you, Eiji. Sorry. I'm an idiot."

Eiji shook his head. "It's fine," he muttered numbly.

"No. It's not. I'm sorry, Eiji." Daich flopped down against the pillow beside Eiji, arms folded behind his head.

An awkward silence fell between them, making the air too thick with tension.

"I'm sorry, Eiji," he repeated guiltily.

Luckily, the excess of tears Eiji experienced in the first few days after his injury had waned. As it turned out, it was a side effect of his medication and he had run out of pain meds last week. He still felt like he could cry, but he was now able to contain it around others.

"Wanna slug me?"

"Ha, no Daichi, I don't wanna punch you." He looked at his friend. "Two weeks and you're the only one who's come to visit. You're a good friend."

"I woulda come sooner but Mom said I should give you some space. She said you might not be up for a visit right away."

"She was right, the pain meds put me in a sorry state last week."

"Hmmm, then I'm glad I listened to her."

"And the other guys? What's their excuse?" Eiji's tone was teasing, but Daichi's face fell.

"I dunno. I asked them to come with me today but…" Daichi lifted his hands from behind his head and extended them in the air in front of him. He nervously picked at a callus formed from years of vaulting. "Well, they all gave their excuses. Yamato and Genkei had too much homework, Kaito had to run an errand for his mom, and Haruto…" He dropped his hands and flipped onto his side, arm supporting his head, and met Eiji's eyes. "Haruto's scared of you."

"Scared of me?" Haruto was one of the toughest guys he knew, physically and emotionally, he couldn't imagine him scared of anything besides failure.

"Your injury." He nodded to Eiji's leg. "I think he feels guilty. You're the better athlete, we all know it. He feels bad because he stole your spot."

"Huh!" Eiji huffed. "I'm not the better athlete, Daichi."

Daichi glared at him. "Well, you were, up until two weeks ago. Everyone slips up, that's all it was...a slip-up."

"Pretty big slip-up, if you ask me."

Daichi sat up, "I wasn't asking you." His feet found the floor and in an instant, he was standing.

"You're leaving?"

"No," he said while standing in the doorway, "I'm getting Noragami from your room before I forget. Need anything while I'm up there?"

"Yeah, bring my Switch, it's charging on my desk."

"K!" Daichi disappeared around the corner and Eiji heard him run up the stairs, taking them two at a time, by the sound of it.

There was a small knock and Aki appeared in the doorway. "He can stay over," Aki suggested, "It's been since the summer since you boys had a sleepover."

"I'm probably getting a bit old for that."

Aki rolled her eyes, "No, you're not. I could hear the sounds of your voices from the kitchen, you sound better than you have all week. Friends are good for the soul, Eiji." She spun on her heel and began walking down the hall. "I'm making duck curry for dinner," she called over her shoulder, "Daichi's favorite!"

Daichi stayed for dinner. Aki wheeled Eiji into the kitchen and together they ate her famous duck curry. Daichi caught Eiji up on some funny stories he'd missed from school and Miyuki asked Daichi a multitude of clarifying questions as he talked, so much so that Eiji felt like he'd actually lived the stories himself.

After dinner, Daichi rode his bike home to grab his things so he could spend the night. Despite Eiji's hesitancy, he clearly believed sleepovers were still socially acceptable for a boy his age.

In the time he was gone, Aki helped Eiji bathe and change into fresh pajamas, something he wished he had done sooner. Daichi returned a little over an hour later with a backpack filled with a selection of movies, video games, snacks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and a change of clothes.

"I have practice in the morning but I don't need to be there until 9:30 so I figure we can stay up pretty late," Daichi told Eiji as he unloaded the goods he brought, showing each item to Eiji.

They both played Smash Bros for an hour or so on their Nintendo Switches, munched on snacks Aki didn't buy but Daichi's mom did, and chatted about this and that. And for that hour, Eiji was able to forget about his injury and simply enjoy his friend's company. He was able to shout at the TV when he lost a close match and cheer when he was the victor. For an hour, life felt normal again.

Later, Daichi helped Eiji into the living room and they watched one of the movies he brought, a horror film about a cemetery caretaker who had quite the unfortunate occupation at the start of a zombie apocalypse. Against Aki's wishes, Miyuki snuck down to watch it with them. Halfway through she decided it was too scary and ran down the hall and jumped in bed with her mother. Eiji and Daichi laughed harder than they should've.

Like the good friend he was, Daichi helped Eiji to the bathroom door when the movie ended, and then back to the guest room bed. They both climbed into the double bed like they had hundreds of times before, the only change being the location, and chatted in the darkness.

"Does it hurt?" Daichi asked into the darkness, breaking a spell of silence that had fallen only moments ago.

Eiji stared at his propped-up leg, barely visible in the dark. "Yeah. Not so bad when I have it up though. If I can distract myself enough I can forget the pain. It was better last week when I still had pain pills."

"Can't they give you more?"

"They don't want me getting addicted."

"Oh…"

"...Yeah."

The conversation fizzled out spontaneously, as is often the case in the wee hours of the night during sleepovers, and before they knew it, both boys had drifted to sleep.

At 8:30 the next morning Aki knocked on the boys' door. "Don't you have practice, Daichi?" She called through the wood grain. She heard both boys groan with fatigue.

Daichi checked his phone as his feet found the floor.

"Aw man, it's only 43°F out right now? What the hell? It's supposed ta" he yawned, "be spring." His phone fell to the bed with a soft plunk. "I hate running in the cold."

Eiji yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "It'll probably be close to 50 by the time we— you— get there." He scoffed at himself. "Wow, for a second I forgot my leg was completely fucked."

"Eiji," Aki scolded from the kitchen.

"How'd she even hear that?" He whispered to Daichi while glaring at the closed bedroom door.

"Mothers always hear. It's like a superpower. I swear my Mom can hear me cuss from a mile away." Daichi pulled his sleep shirt over his head and replaced it with his track uniform. "You want more visitors later?" He slipped seamlessly out of his shorts and into his track pants.

"Meaning?"

"Me and whoever else I can get to come. I think I can convince 'em now. You know Yamato and his week ass stomach—"

"Daichi," Aki scolded again.

"Sorry!" He blushed with embarrassment. "Well, you know how he fainted when Itsuki broke his arm last year...Anyway, I think Yamato was afraid you'd have some big open wound or visible stitches and he'd get all woozy. But now that I've seen you and lived, maybe he'll grow some— maybe he'll come."

Eiji snorted humorously, "Tell him I won't hold it against him if he faints."

"So that's a 'yes' then?" He pulled on his socks.

"Yeah, you guys can come by."

Daichi smiled, "Cool." He headed for the doorway, "See ya later, man."

Daichi convinced Yamato, Kaito, and Genkei to visit with him after practice. Haruto used homework as an excuse, but they all knew he still felt too guilty to see Eiji. Genkei, whose parents were very well off, bought lunch for everyone.

Despite the day's chilly start, the sun was shining brightly by noon. Aki wheeled Eiji outside and he and his friends enjoyed the pleasant weather as they ate. Eiji answered all their questions about his injury but then begged them to change subjects, telling them he'd rather talk about anything else. So they did. They ended up playing a game Genkei brought, which proved to be a good distraction for Eiji's pain.

Later that night, when they had all gone, Aki sat at the foot of Eiji's bed. "I'm so glad you have such good friends," she told him.

He smiled somberly, "Me too."