"What do you mean I did something to her?" Doumyouji asked arrogantly. It
was after school, and he had been in his house when Rui came poking around
the estate gates.
"Open the gate so that he can come inside!" Doumyouji barked to the security guard, so that Rui could come in.
The gate opened, but Rui regarded Doumyouji coldly.
"Yes, I just told a couple of people to spread the rumor that Makino recently fooled around with Mr. Kang, their Chemistry teacher."
Doumyouji laughed at his ingeniousness. "It worked pretty well, if I do say so myself."
"Well, tomorrow, you can spread the rumor that it was completely false, too."
Doumyouji's smile slipped from its place. "Why would I do something like that.No.Don't tell me you actually feel sorry for her! She's just a poor, stupid girl!" Rui didn't say anything. "If you don't say anything about it tomorrow, then I'll spread the rumor myself."
Doumyouji drew in a deep breath, and took a look at his large garden, and high metal gates. His gaze drew back to Rui, and then to the person behind him.
"Speak of the devil," he said. Rui turned around, and came face to face with Makino Tsukushi. She seemed to be in a hurry, but determined as well. The side of her face was slightly purple.
"Doumyouji! I want to talk to you!" she shouted at him. The gates were still open, so she went through. The guard didn't stop her when his master didn't seem overly concerned.
Doumyouji looked at her without much interest.
"What is it this time? It's no use begging for mercy."
Tsukushi stopped in front of him, her arms shaking from vexation. From behind her, Rui said without much interest:
"Tsukasa, remember what I said. I'm going home."
Makino whirled on him. "No! You stay here, too!"
"I don't need to take you seriously."
Doumyouji smirked. "Should I call Soujiro and Akira, too?"
Makino was still hurt from Rui's last statement. He was already starting to walk away.
"Why-"
Rui stopped, and Doumyouji stopped his mockery.
"Why do the four of you hate me so much?!"
Makino said in a barely controlled voice.
"Why do the four of you try your best to make my life so miserable?! You're a bunch of overgrown losers!" Makino stopped. There was a strange sound...Someone was laughing. It was Rui. He was running his hand through his hair and laughing.
"Tsukushi, go home. We don't make your life miserable. That's because it already is like that. Look at you! Who would take someone like you seriously?"
He walked away, while Makino stood there, her mouth slightly open, her arms hanging limply at her sides. Leave it to Rui to say something completely hurting like that. Was it true that nobody took her seriously.?
She didn't realize that the hurt was showing clearly in her eyes. Doumyouji saw it and knew that he should have been happy, but he wasn't. He was furious, not with Makino, but with Rui. Makino turned back to Tsukasa, deciding she might as well tell him off now that Rui was gone.
"Tell me what you did," Makino said to him. But the fire was gone from her argument. She was trying to puff in a little fire back into her, but she couldn't. Rui was the only one who could hurt her so much with words like that because he was the only one she cared about enough to let him hurt her.
Doumyouji shuffled his feet, and grew serious. He honestly didn't know what to say. The easiest option was to...
"Go away, Makino. Tomorrow, you're going to return to your loser-y life. I'll stop the rumor."
"The rumor? What rumor?!"
Makino made a grab for him. She held on to his white t-shirt.
"Wait! What rumor?!"
"Guard! Show her out of here!"
Makino felt the police grab her arm to pull her backwards, outside the gate, but she didn't care. She was too busy shouting at Doumyouji some of the names that she had in her mind.
"D-Doumyouji!"
The gate locked in front of her. she watched his retreating back, and her hands fell from the metal bars. Her eyes fell on her watch, and her eyes boggled. She was thirty minutes late for her dango job!
She ran all the way to the shop, and when she arrived, Yuuki was already there, behind the counter, in her uniform kimono.
Makino ran to the back room to change as well. When he went out, the manager was there, frowning at her.
"I'm so sorry!" Makino said hurriedly, explaining that there was something important that she had to attend to. The manager continued to frown at her, and Yuuki was acting like she didn't notice anything was happening.
"That's fourth time from today and last week. Makino Tsukushi, what's wrong with you? Yesterday you fell asleep on the job, towards the midnight shift."
"That's because of my medicine! I'm sorry, Mrs. Fukagawa! Please, just give me one more chance! I wont blow it, please."
Mrs. Fukagawa looked at her sadly, her frown replaced with a kindly smile.
"Yes, Mrs. Fukagawa, please, give her another chance!" Yuuki's plead came from the other part of the counter. Mrs. Fukagawa's eyes narrowed slightly.
"After tonight you'll receive your payment for this month. Goodbye, Makino."
Mrs. Fukagawa continued shining the counter tops.
***
"Makino! You really should finish that sardines piece!" Her mother was, as usual, dominating the dinner table, waving her chopsticks around. "Susumo! That bowl of rice is the seventh highest quality rice in the whole market!"
Makino didn't mention that there were only eight types of rice, and the last type was the rice made for pudding. She moved the sardines around in her bowl in distaste, not wanting to eat any of it.
"And Makino-! Why didn't you say anything sooner about being fired from that Dango shop? Now what do we do? Your wages were the money we used to buy our water supply!"
Makino stood up from the traditional Japanese eating table, and finished up her chopsticks.
"Mom, Dad, don't worry. There's this supermarket slot in Shinjiku, and I just applied tonight after work. They were looking for a job, and I think I was able to get it."
"What time is the work shift?"
"Three to eleven."
"What?! Double shifts?! How are you going to keep up on your grades?"
"Mom! Don't worry about it! I can study at the same time! Trust me!"
***
THREE WEEKS LATER
"Tsukushi." Mr. Kou, her homeroom advisor, called. It was the end of homeroom, and everyone was already on their way to PE class. Makino went up to him.
"Yes, Mr. Kou?"
"Tsukushi, about your grades. if they continue to be the way they are right now, then you're going to lose your scholarship."
It took her a while to process the words. She had heard them, and had seen his mouth move, but it took her a while to get their meaning. She was bleary eyed, and she had been lacking sleep since the week before. Her stomach problem, if anything, was getting worse. She put her hands on his table.
"Mr. Kou.If this has anything to do with the F4, then please! Reconsider. I'll talk to them. Those bastards cant kick me out of this school, not this way!"
"Ms. Tsukushi!" Mr. Kou shook his head and pulled out a folder from his desk. "It's not the work of any other person! Look at this!" he opened the folder and let her take a look. Makino saw that indeed the grades she was getting were inching towards below what she needed to keep up her scholarship.
"I.I'll improve my grades!" Makino said, starting to panic. Mr. Kou adjusted his eyeglasses.
"Well.you see.that might be a problem. If only you had money."
Makino stared at him in disgust.
"I don't have any money. I can't bribe you.sorry, Mr. Kou. Just wait.my grades will improve."
THE NEXT DAY, AFTER RETURNING HOME FROM WORK
"Makino! Explain!" It was eleven thirty in the night. Makino had come home, her eyesight blurred, and her stomach aching despite having eaten a large snack.
"What, ma? What, pa? What's there to explain?" Her mother and father looked at each other.
"Makino! Mr. Kou called us today! Is it true that you might lose that part scholarship of yours?!"
Makino, too tired to argue, nodded. "Yes, ma. Now, can I go to sleep?"
"NO!" Her mother said. "What am I going to tell my colleagues? It's too late to transfer you to another school, and even if we did that, our family cant take the financial strain!"
"I'm tired!" Makino half shouted, her head now pounding with a headache. "Ma, let me sleep."
She stood up and went to her room. She looked for the bottle of medicine that had been prescribed by the school nurse, and drank her dose for the day. The bottle was almost empty, and she knew that she was going to have to buy a new bottle soon. It was an expensive medicine, although it didn't seem to work at all.
She looked at her futon, wishing she could lie down, but then forced herself to get her schoolbag.
She turned on her school lamp and started studying for the three quizzes the next day.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~*~*~*~*~*
Kazuya laughed, and so did Makino.
"And he said.Don't tell him that he's eating a poisoned kryptonite- filled pure poison toxic substance, and not apple pie!" Makino finished, coming to the end of the joke. The two of them keeled over, laughing. They were sitting under the tree. It was lunch time.
"Doesn't that annoy you? The two of them acting like they know each other so well."
Doumyouji shook his head in annoyance. The F4 were eating on a blanket on the school's field, and they all just happened to have a great view of Tsukushi's and Kazuya's backs.
Nishikado shrugged. "It's you who's letting it all get to you."
Their gazes went to Kazuya, who was telling another funny experience.
".And he said! Stop! Or I'll shoot!" The two started laughing all over again.
"Wait. I'll go get us some sodas. My treat." Kazuya stood up and sped off. From where he sat, Doumyouji stood up. He made his way to Makino. It had been some time since he had last talked to her, and now, he wasn't sure what he wanted to say.
Makino looked up in surprise, and when she saw his face, she immediately looked down again. Doumyouji was taken aback. When she had looked up, he had seen there something that made him worried. Her eyebags were huge, and her eyes were tired. Her hair was even messier than usual, not anymore in their neat pigtail braids, but now in a low ponytail. She was pale and sweating. He crouched.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" He asked, making his voice rough to hide his sudden concern. He couldn't explain why he was anxious; all he knew was that he was.
Makino stopped eating from her bento lunchbox. She looked at him.
"There's nothing wrong with me, so don't feel so good about yourself," she said. She started packing her lunch and Kazuya's lunch.
"That's too bad," Doumyouji said meanly, inwardly relieved. He stood up, and so did Makino. The two of them stood face to face.
"Hey," Doumyouji started, then stopped abruptly. Makino's body grew limp, and the two bags fell from her hands. Her eyes rolled up in her head, and she fell forward. Doumyouji caught her.
He looked around in panic.
"Nishikado! Rui! Akira! Help me here!"
FIVE HOURS LATER
Makino woke up, and saw that she was in the clinic's office in her school. She tried to remember what had happened, but as far as she went was up to the part where she was talking to Doumyouji. She turned to the nurse.
"Ms. Jinsai, what time is it?"
Ms. Jinsai looked up from her chart. Ms. Jinsai was a plump woman in her late thirties, pale and dark haired, as if she didn't go out often. She looked at her watch.
"Almost six PM."
Makino sighed. She was going to be fired from her grocery job. She had been warned from the beginning that once she was late, she was going to be fired immediately. There was no room for 'lazy' workers. Only at that moment did she realize that she was breathing heavily.
She sat up to breathe better, and looked at the mirror in front of the bed. She couldn't believe her reflection. Her skin was pasty, looking even more pale in the clinic gown, and her dark brown hair was messy and uncombed.
Her lips were pale and her eyebags were huge. She looked as if she hadn't slept in a week. She was perspiring. Ms. Jensai was looking at her in concern.
"I think.Makino.I think you'd better tell your parents about this. I think I misdiagnosed your stomach problem. I'm going to call your parents."
Makino's mind raced. "Wait-" she said quickly. "I'll tell them myself. Don't worry."
Ms. Jinsai hesitated, and then nodded. She gave Makino a business card. "This is my friend from high school. She's a doctor now, in Chong Hua Hospital. I called her earlier to ask if she could test your blood. She took a sample an hour ago."
Makino nodded. "Do I have to pay for that?"
Ms. Jinsai shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Now go on home and get some rest. My doctor friend will call you tonight. I wanted you to get the results as soon as possible so that you can decide what to do about it."
Makino nodded. She slipped away from the clinic bed. Her head felt as if someone was hacking through it using an ice pick. She bit her lip to keep from crying. The moment passed, and the pain subsided to a more bearable level. She took the aspirin Ms. Jinsai gave her.
"Kazuya!" she said in surprise. Her friend sat down in the dark hallway, his book bag beside him. He looked at her.
"Makino, you look horrible," he kidded her with concern. He stood up to walk beside her, reaching only a little more taller than her.
"You should be home by now." Kazuya shook his head.
"I wanted to see if you were okay."
Makino smiled. "That's nice."
"Makino." Kazuya stopped in his tracks.
"What?" Makino also stopped walking.
"Makino, I like you a lot."
Makino stared at him.
"Do can we...go out sometime?"
She was speechless. It was completely unexpected. She opened her mouth to speak.
"Tsukushi!" she whirled on the voice behind her, glad for the interruption, until she saw who it was. Doumyouji was walked towards her, his face dark.
"What happened to you?" Doumyouji demanded, stopping in front of her. "You just fell as if you were going to die. Everyone was staring! I had to bring you to the clinic."
Makino stared at him, and realized that she didn't know what to say. Doumyouji had just admitted that he was the one who had brought her to the clinic when she fainted, and not Kazuya.
'Hey, we're in the middle of something here!" Kazuya said loudly in an annoyed voice. The two of them turned to look at him.
He was looking at Doumyouji in annoyance, and then his gaze shifted to Makino. To her surprise, she realized that she could not hold his glance. His confession had changed something between them and made her uncomfortable.
"Thank you for what you did, then." Makino said it hurriedly, not used to thanking someone like Tsukasa Doumyouji. He laughed arrogantly.
"I saved you! You owe me one! Come on, working class girl, I don't want to, but I'll give you a ride home!"
Tsukushi hesitated. If it were any other situation, she would have refused him directly. But if she didn't go with him now, that would mean that she would be stuck with Kazuya. As of the moment, she wasn't sure how she felt about him, and that was making her uncomfortable. She followed Doumyouji, who was walking out the building.
"Wait-Tsukushi!" she pretended not to hear Kazuya calling her, and she plopped in Doumyouji's limousine. The driver immediately perked up. He looked like he had been waiting a long time. His shoulders sagged, and he was tired.
"Where do you live?" Doumyouji asked Makino. She told him.
The limo pulled away, and Makino watched Kazuya run after the car for a short while. Then he stopped. He pulled something out of his bag, and there, he held the two cans of soda from that afternoon.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You live here?" Doumyouji asked as they pulled up in front of her house. When she didn't answer, he looked at her, and saw that she was sleeping. Something about the way she looked, pale and ragged, made him worried. He put his thoughts aside.
He shook her awake.
"Hey, don't drool on the leather like that. This leather is from Africa!"
Makino sat up, dazed. "Thanks for the ride."
".Listen," Doumyouji said. "Take care of yourself."
Makino nodded and went out of the limo, feeling the cold air hit her skin. As soon as she entered the house, the phone rang. Since she happened to be in front of the phone, she picked it up.
"Tsukushi residence."
"Hello, may I please speak to Makino Tsukushi?"
Makino paused. She couldn't recognize the voice.
"Speaking. I'm sorry, who's this?"
"This is Doctor Sakura Yabu. Makino, I've just run a quick test of your blood sample, and you have a stomach infection that has spread to your liver and might be developing into cancer. Give the phone to your parents. I have to explain a couple of things to them."
TWO DAYS LATER
"Tsukushi, this is your last warning," Mr. Kou had said testily. "If next week, you don't get at least a ninety five in your final exam, you're going to forfeit the scholarship."
"Tsukushi, you'd better get a new job. now that we have to worry about your medical bills.we cant afford another week's dinner.We cant even send you to the hospital now." her mother had said the night before.
"Tsukushi, this might sound strange to you, but me and your mother are thinking of moving to a fishing village near Hokkaido. It will be more easier to make a living there," he father had said.
"Tsukushi", are you avoiding me? Was it that thing I said two days ago, when I told you I liked you? Fine! If you're going to keep ignoring me, then I'll go leave you alone now!" Kazuya had said.
"Tsukushi .I know the F4 aren't bothering you as much as before, but I really think we should stop talking to each other.Our classmates are talking about me behind my back.I'm sorry, it makes me nervous," Makiko had said.
"Tsukushi, if you don't watch your stress level, the infection is going to act up again, and its going to develop into something worse," Doctor Yabu had said.
Tsukushi wasn't paying attention to her surroundings anymore. She was detached from everything. After school, she wandered around the campus, and her feet led her yet again to the emergency stairs. She hesitated only a moment, then opened it.
Rui looked at her from the stairs. He was wearing a sweater, and jeans.
"What are you doing here?" he said automatically.
Makino smiled wryly. Rui watched her. She looked pale and serious, but that was all there was to how she looked. There was no underlying emotion. That made him curious, so when she squatted down next to him, he didn't say anything like he would have done any other day.
"Hanazawa Rui," she started. "This sounds stupid, but someone I know feels like her life is falling apart. Literally.she's-"
Rui's eyes started to close. This was a self-pity session. He didn't like hearing people talk about themselves like that. Besides, whatever it was she was going through, she could most definitely handle it. He leaned back.
"Can you talk to someone else? You're destroying the peaceful atmosphere around here."
Makino stopped mid-sentence. She looked around a little.
"What peaceful atmosphere?" she asked softly. She looked away from his face. She really did care about him in a way she herself couldn't explain, and to hear him talk to her like that hurt her deeply.
"Rui...I might... lose this scholarship. my family can't take the financial strain anymore..." she started to choke on her words.
"Is that what you're worried about? That's fine, but...I'm not interested in other people's problems."
Makino kept her eyes shaded to hide the hurt. "Wait...that time in the cafeteria, when you saved me and Kazuya-kun.why did you go and do that?"
Inside, she begged him to tell her that he did it because he cared about her. He looked at her with emotionless eyes.
"You were so loud. You were destroying Shizuka's lunch. I didn't do it for you; so don't misunderstand what I did. I would never do something like that for you."
Tsukushi's heart skipped a beat. Several beats, in fact. She started to stand. Her eyes were empty. She knew that if it were a month ago, she would have been screaming at him insults, but now, she just felt tired and drained. Aside from everything that was happening already, now the guy she liked had just told her that she was worthless to him.
"Come on, Tsukushi. What brought you here? What's so wrong that you need to tell someone about it?" Rui asked.
Makino turned away to enter the school building.
"Hanazawa Rui," she said bitterly. "I might be dying."
"Open the gate so that he can come inside!" Doumyouji barked to the security guard, so that Rui could come in.
The gate opened, but Rui regarded Doumyouji coldly.
"Yes, I just told a couple of people to spread the rumor that Makino recently fooled around with Mr. Kang, their Chemistry teacher."
Doumyouji laughed at his ingeniousness. "It worked pretty well, if I do say so myself."
"Well, tomorrow, you can spread the rumor that it was completely false, too."
Doumyouji's smile slipped from its place. "Why would I do something like that.No.Don't tell me you actually feel sorry for her! She's just a poor, stupid girl!" Rui didn't say anything. "If you don't say anything about it tomorrow, then I'll spread the rumor myself."
Doumyouji drew in a deep breath, and took a look at his large garden, and high metal gates. His gaze drew back to Rui, and then to the person behind him.
"Speak of the devil," he said. Rui turned around, and came face to face with Makino Tsukushi. She seemed to be in a hurry, but determined as well. The side of her face was slightly purple.
"Doumyouji! I want to talk to you!" she shouted at him. The gates were still open, so she went through. The guard didn't stop her when his master didn't seem overly concerned.
Doumyouji looked at her without much interest.
"What is it this time? It's no use begging for mercy."
Tsukushi stopped in front of him, her arms shaking from vexation. From behind her, Rui said without much interest:
"Tsukasa, remember what I said. I'm going home."
Makino whirled on him. "No! You stay here, too!"
"I don't need to take you seriously."
Doumyouji smirked. "Should I call Soujiro and Akira, too?"
Makino was still hurt from Rui's last statement. He was already starting to walk away.
"Why-"
Rui stopped, and Doumyouji stopped his mockery.
"Why do the four of you hate me so much?!"
Makino said in a barely controlled voice.
"Why do the four of you try your best to make my life so miserable?! You're a bunch of overgrown losers!" Makino stopped. There was a strange sound...Someone was laughing. It was Rui. He was running his hand through his hair and laughing.
"Tsukushi, go home. We don't make your life miserable. That's because it already is like that. Look at you! Who would take someone like you seriously?"
He walked away, while Makino stood there, her mouth slightly open, her arms hanging limply at her sides. Leave it to Rui to say something completely hurting like that. Was it true that nobody took her seriously.?
She didn't realize that the hurt was showing clearly in her eyes. Doumyouji saw it and knew that he should have been happy, but he wasn't. He was furious, not with Makino, but with Rui. Makino turned back to Tsukasa, deciding she might as well tell him off now that Rui was gone.
"Tell me what you did," Makino said to him. But the fire was gone from her argument. She was trying to puff in a little fire back into her, but she couldn't. Rui was the only one who could hurt her so much with words like that because he was the only one she cared about enough to let him hurt her.
Doumyouji shuffled his feet, and grew serious. He honestly didn't know what to say. The easiest option was to...
"Go away, Makino. Tomorrow, you're going to return to your loser-y life. I'll stop the rumor."
"The rumor? What rumor?!"
Makino made a grab for him. She held on to his white t-shirt.
"Wait! What rumor?!"
"Guard! Show her out of here!"
Makino felt the police grab her arm to pull her backwards, outside the gate, but she didn't care. She was too busy shouting at Doumyouji some of the names that she had in her mind.
"D-Doumyouji!"
The gate locked in front of her. she watched his retreating back, and her hands fell from the metal bars. Her eyes fell on her watch, and her eyes boggled. She was thirty minutes late for her dango job!
She ran all the way to the shop, and when she arrived, Yuuki was already there, behind the counter, in her uniform kimono.
Makino ran to the back room to change as well. When he went out, the manager was there, frowning at her.
"I'm so sorry!" Makino said hurriedly, explaining that there was something important that she had to attend to. The manager continued to frown at her, and Yuuki was acting like she didn't notice anything was happening.
"That's fourth time from today and last week. Makino Tsukushi, what's wrong with you? Yesterday you fell asleep on the job, towards the midnight shift."
"That's because of my medicine! I'm sorry, Mrs. Fukagawa! Please, just give me one more chance! I wont blow it, please."
Mrs. Fukagawa looked at her sadly, her frown replaced with a kindly smile.
"Yes, Mrs. Fukagawa, please, give her another chance!" Yuuki's plead came from the other part of the counter. Mrs. Fukagawa's eyes narrowed slightly.
"After tonight you'll receive your payment for this month. Goodbye, Makino."
Mrs. Fukagawa continued shining the counter tops.
***
"Makino! You really should finish that sardines piece!" Her mother was, as usual, dominating the dinner table, waving her chopsticks around. "Susumo! That bowl of rice is the seventh highest quality rice in the whole market!"
Makino didn't mention that there were only eight types of rice, and the last type was the rice made for pudding. She moved the sardines around in her bowl in distaste, not wanting to eat any of it.
"And Makino-! Why didn't you say anything sooner about being fired from that Dango shop? Now what do we do? Your wages were the money we used to buy our water supply!"
Makino stood up from the traditional Japanese eating table, and finished up her chopsticks.
"Mom, Dad, don't worry. There's this supermarket slot in Shinjiku, and I just applied tonight after work. They were looking for a job, and I think I was able to get it."
"What time is the work shift?"
"Three to eleven."
"What?! Double shifts?! How are you going to keep up on your grades?"
"Mom! Don't worry about it! I can study at the same time! Trust me!"
***
THREE WEEKS LATER
"Tsukushi." Mr. Kou, her homeroom advisor, called. It was the end of homeroom, and everyone was already on their way to PE class. Makino went up to him.
"Yes, Mr. Kou?"
"Tsukushi, about your grades. if they continue to be the way they are right now, then you're going to lose your scholarship."
It took her a while to process the words. She had heard them, and had seen his mouth move, but it took her a while to get their meaning. She was bleary eyed, and she had been lacking sleep since the week before. Her stomach problem, if anything, was getting worse. She put her hands on his table.
"Mr. Kou.If this has anything to do with the F4, then please! Reconsider. I'll talk to them. Those bastards cant kick me out of this school, not this way!"
"Ms. Tsukushi!" Mr. Kou shook his head and pulled out a folder from his desk. "It's not the work of any other person! Look at this!" he opened the folder and let her take a look. Makino saw that indeed the grades she was getting were inching towards below what she needed to keep up her scholarship.
"I.I'll improve my grades!" Makino said, starting to panic. Mr. Kou adjusted his eyeglasses.
"Well.you see.that might be a problem. If only you had money."
Makino stared at him in disgust.
"I don't have any money. I can't bribe you.sorry, Mr. Kou. Just wait.my grades will improve."
THE NEXT DAY, AFTER RETURNING HOME FROM WORK
"Makino! Explain!" It was eleven thirty in the night. Makino had come home, her eyesight blurred, and her stomach aching despite having eaten a large snack.
"What, ma? What, pa? What's there to explain?" Her mother and father looked at each other.
"Makino! Mr. Kou called us today! Is it true that you might lose that part scholarship of yours?!"
Makino, too tired to argue, nodded. "Yes, ma. Now, can I go to sleep?"
"NO!" Her mother said. "What am I going to tell my colleagues? It's too late to transfer you to another school, and even if we did that, our family cant take the financial strain!"
"I'm tired!" Makino half shouted, her head now pounding with a headache. "Ma, let me sleep."
She stood up and went to her room. She looked for the bottle of medicine that had been prescribed by the school nurse, and drank her dose for the day. The bottle was almost empty, and she knew that she was going to have to buy a new bottle soon. It was an expensive medicine, although it didn't seem to work at all.
She looked at her futon, wishing she could lie down, but then forced herself to get her schoolbag.
She turned on her school lamp and started studying for the three quizzes the next day.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~*~*~*~*~*
Kazuya laughed, and so did Makino.
"And he said.Don't tell him that he's eating a poisoned kryptonite- filled pure poison toxic substance, and not apple pie!" Makino finished, coming to the end of the joke. The two of them keeled over, laughing. They were sitting under the tree. It was lunch time.
"Doesn't that annoy you? The two of them acting like they know each other so well."
Doumyouji shook his head in annoyance. The F4 were eating on a blanket on the school's field, and they all just happened to have a great view of Tsukushi's and Kazuya's backs.
Nishikado shrugged. "It's you who's letting it all get to you."
Their gazes went to Kazuya, who was telling another funny experience.
".And he said! Stop! Or I'll shoot!" The two started laughing all over again.
"Wait. I'll go get us some sodas. My treat." Kazuya stood up and sped off. From where he sat, Doumyouji stood up. He made his way to Makino. It had been some time since he had last talked to her, and now, he wasn't sure what he wanted to say.
Makino looked up in surprise, and when she saw his face, she immediately looked down again. Doumyouji was taken aback. When she had looked up, he had seen there something that made him worried. Her eyebags were huge, and her eyes were tired. Her hair was even messier than usual, not anymore in their neat pigtail braids, but now in a low ponytail. She was pale and sweating. He crouched.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" He asked, making his voice rough to hide his sudden concern. He couldn't explain why he was anxious; all he knew was that he was.
Makino stopped eating from her bento lunchbox. She looked at him.
"There's nothing wrong with me, so don't feel so good about yourself," she said. She started packing her lunch and Kazuya's lunch.
"That's too bad," Doumyouji said meanly, inwardly relieved. He stood up, and so did Makino. The two of them stood face to face.
"Hey," Doumyouji started, then stopped abruptly. Makino's body grew limp, and the two bags fell from her hands. Her eyes rolled up in her head, and she fell forward. Doumyouji caught her.
He looked around in panic.
"Nishikado! Rui! Akira! Help me here!"
FIVE HOURS LATER
Makino woke up, and saw that she was in the clinic's office in her school. She tried to remember what had happened, but as far as she went was up to the part where she was talking to Doumyouji. She turned to the nurse.
"Ms. Jinsai, what time is it?"
Ms. Jinsai looked up from her chart. Ms. Jinsai was a plump woman in her late thirties, pale and dark haired, as if she didn't go out often. She looked at her watch.
"Almost six PM."
Makino sighed. She was going to be fired from her grocery job. She had been warned from the beginning that once she was late, she was going to be fired immediately. There was no room for 'lazy' workers. Only at that moment did she realize that she was breathing heavily.
She sat up to breathe better, and looked at the mirror in front of the bed. She couldn't believe her reflection. Her skin was pasty, looking even more pale in the clinic gown, and her dark brown hair was messy and uncombed.
Her lips were pale and her eyebags were huge. She looked as if she hadn't slept in a week. She was perspiring. Ms. Jensai was looking at her in concern.
"I think.Makino.I think you'd better tell your parents about this. I think I misdiagnosed your stomach problem. I'm going to call your parents."
Makino's mind raced. "Wait-" she said quickly. "I'll tell them myself. Don't worry."
Ms. Jinsai hesitated, and then nodded. She gave Makino a business card. "This is my friend from high school. She's a doctor now, in Chong Hua Hospital. I called her earlier to ask if she could test your blood. She took a sample an hour ago."
Makino nodded. "Do I have to pay for that?"
Ms. Jinsai shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Now go on home and get some rest. My doctor friend will call you tonight. I wanted you to get the results as soon as possible so that you can decide what to do about it."
Makino nodded. She slipped away from the clinic bed. Her head felt as if someone was hacking through it using an ice pick. She bit her lip to keep from crying. The moment passed, and the pain subsided to a more bearable level. She took the aspirin Ms. Jinsai gave her.
"Kazuya!" she said in surprise. Her friend sat down in the dark hallway, his book bag beside him. He looked at her.
"Makino, you look horrible," he kidded her with concern. He stood up to walk beside her, reaching only a little more taller than her.
"You should be home by now." Kazuya shook his head.
"I wanted to see if you were okay."
Makino smiled. "That's nice."
"Makino." Kazuya stopped in his tracks.
"What?" Makino also stopped walking.
"Makino, I like you a lot."
Makino stared at him.
"Do can we...go out sometime?"
She was speechless. It was completely unexpected. She opened her mouth to speak.
"Tsukushi!" she whirled on the voice behind her, glad for the interruption, until she saw who it was. Doumyouji was walked towards her, his face dark.
"What happened to you?" Doumyouji demanded, stopping in front of her. "You just fell as if you were going to die. Everyone was staring! I had to bring you to the clinic."
Makino stared at him, and realized that she didn't know what to say. Doumyouji had just admitted that he was the one who had brought her to the clinic when she fainted, and not Kazuya.
'Hey, we're in the middle of something here!" Kazuya said loudly in an annoyed voice. The two of them turned to look at him.
He was looking at Doumyouji in annoyance, and then his gaze shifted to Makino. To her surprise, she realized that she could not hold his glance. His confession had changed something between them and made her uncomfortable.
"Thank you for what you did, then." Makino said it hurriedly, not used to thanking someone like Tsukasa Doumyouji. He laughed arrogantly.
"I saved you! You owe me one! Come on, working class girl, I don't want to, but I'll give you a ride home!"
Tsukushi hesitated. If it were any other situation, she would have refused him directly. But if she didn't go with him now, that would mean that she would be stuck with Kazuya. As of the moment, she wasn't sure how she felt about him, and that was making her uncomfortable. She followed Doumyouji, who was walking out the building.
"Wait-Tsukushi!" she pretended not to hear Kazuya calling her, and she plopped in Doumyouji's limousine. The driver immediately perked up. He looked like he had been waiting a long time. His shoulders sagged, and he was tired.
"Where do you live?" Doumyouji asked Makino. She told him.
The limo pulled away, and Makino watched Kazuya run after the car for a short while. Then he stopped. He pulled something out of his bag, and there, he held the two cans of soda from that afternoon.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You live here?" Doumyouji asked as they pulled up in front of her house. When she didn't answer, he looked at her, and saw that she was sleeping. Something about the way she looked, pale and ragged, made him worried. He put his thoughts aside.
He shook her awake.
"Hey, don't drool on the leather like that. This leather is from Africa!"
Makino sat up, dazed. "Thanks for the ride."
".Listen," Doumyouji said. "Take care of yourself."
Makino nodded and went out of the limo, feeling the cold air hit her skin. As soon as she entered the house, the phone rang. Since she happened to be in front of the phone, she picked it up.
"Tsukushi residence."
"Hello, may I please speak to Makino Tsukushi?"
Makino paused. She couldn't recognize the voice.
"Speaking. I'm sorry, who's this?"
"This is Doctor Sakura Yabu. Makino, I've just run a quick test of your blood sample, and you have a stomach infection that has spread to your liver and might be developing into cancer. Give the phone to your parents. I have to explain a couple of things to them."
TWO DAYS LATER
"Tsukushi, this is your last warning," Mr. Kou had said testily. "If next week, you don't get at least a ninety five in your final exam, you're going to forfeit the scholarship."
"Tsukushi, you'd better get a new job. now that we have to worry about your medical bills.we cant afford another week's dinner.We cant even send you to the hospital now." her mother had said the night before.
"Tsukushi, this might sound strange to you, but me and your mother are thinking of moving to a fishing village near Hokkaido. It will be more easier to make a living there," he father had said.
"Tsukushi", are you avoiding me? Was it that thing I said two days ago, when I told you I liked you? Fine! If you're going to keep ignoring me, then I'll go leave you alone now!" Kazuya had said.
"Tsukushi .I know the F4 aren't bothering you as much as before, but I really think we should stop talking to each other.Our classmates are talking about me behind my back.I'm sorry, it makes me nervous," Makiko had said.
"Tsukushi, if you don't watch your stress level, the infection is going to act up again, and its going to develop into something worse," Doctor Yabu had said.
Tsukushi wasn't paying attention to her surroundings anymore. She was detached from everything. After school, she wandered around the campus, and her feet led her yet again to the emergency stairs. She hesitated only a moment, then opened it.
Rui looked at her from the stairs. He was wearing a sweater, and jeans.
"What are you doing here?" he said automatically.
Makino smiled wryly. Rui watched her. She looked pale and serious, but that was all there was to how she looked. There was no underlying emotion. That made him curious, so when she squatted down next to him, he didn't say anything like he would have done any other day.
"Hanazawa Rui," she started. "This sounds stupid, but someone I know feels like her life is falling apart. Literally.she's-"
Rui's eyes started to close. This was a self-pity session. He didn't like hearing people talk about themselves like that. Besides, whatever it was she was going through, she could most definitely handle it. He leaned back.
"Can you talk to someone else? You're destroying the peaceful atmosphere around here."
Makino stopped mid-sentence. She looked around a little.
"What peaceful atmosphere?" she asked softly. She looked away from his face. She really did care about him in a way she herself couldn't explain, and to hear him talk to her like that hurt her deeply.
"Rui...I might... lose this scholarship. my family can't take the financial strain anymore..." she started to choke on her words.
"Is that what you're worried about? That's fine, but...I'm not interested in other people's problems."
Makino kept her eyes shaded to hide the hurt. "Wait...that time in the cafeteria, when you saved me and Kazuya-kun.why did you go and do that?"
Inside, she begged him to tell her that he did it because he cared about her. He looked at her with emotionless eyes.
"You were so loud. You were destroying Shizuka's lunch. I didn't do it for you; so don't misunderstand what I did. I would never do something like that for you."
Tsukushi's heart skipped a beat. Several beats, in fact. She started to stand. Her eyes were empty. She knew that if it were a month ago, she would have been screaming at him insults, but now, she just felt tired and drained. Aside from everything that was happening already, now the guy she liked had just told her that she was worthless to him.
"Come on, Tsukushi. What brought you here? What's so wrong that you need to tell someone about it?" Rui asked.
Makino turned away to enter the school building.
"Hanazawa Rui," she said bitterly. "I might be dying."