Chapter 3
Time continued to flow by. A week has passed and finally the doctor announced that Fuji's condition became stable. Even so, Yumiko and Yuuta still couldn't put down their alert so soon. After all, their brother was still in coma. They seized every opportunity to stay in the hospital to take care of Fuji.
In the following weekends, the Seigaku boys came to visit Fuji together regularly, bringing him flowers and greeting cards from his schoolmates. Back to school, everybody seemed to be very much shocked by the incident. Never has anybody thought that the tensai would encounter such a severe accident. It was as if it has become the talk of the town. During tennis practices, team members often discussed the issue, but nobody actually knew all the details, of course, except for the Regulars.
Life went on without the presence of Fuji. Nothing much seems to have changed. They continued to work hard for their everyday training and different matches. It was just that the atmosphere among the Seigaku boys has become entirely different. The usually cheerful and noisy gang grew a lot quieter. Normally it was Fuji who liked to tease and make fun on others in order to enjoy a good show of seeing other people suffering. That did create a lot of laughter, although they were quite afraid of the sadistic tensai. Everybody just wanted to concentrate on training and not to think about any other matters. However, they could never convince themselves to believe that nothing was wrong. Somebody was missing, somebody who was irreplaceable, somebody who was so unique, somebody who was called Fuji Syusuke.
Three months flew by. During the period, the boys still keep visiting Fuji each week, but not all of them really went to the hospital every week, except Tezuka and Oishi. Some of the Seigaku rivals also came to see the hospitalized tennis tensai, who needed to wear an oxygen mask all the time. They include Tachibana from Fudomine, Atobe and Oshitari from Hyotei and Saeki, who has been Fuji's friend and rival since they were kids, from Rokkakuchu. It was late spring, the time when the Seigaku boys have almost get over from the lost of Fuji. They have won a few matches, although they had quite a tough time with the absence of the No.2 Single Player of Seigaku.
One humid evening, Tezuka received a phone call from Yumiko that Fuji has just regained consciousness abruptly, to everybody's surprise. Even the doctors didn't believe that Fuji could get pass his coma so soon. They noticed that his determination to live was extremely strong and perhaps that was the reason behind the fast recovery, even though his body was extremely weak. Ending the conversation calmly, saying that he would head for the hospital immediately, Tezuka tried very hard to hide the mysterious excitement in his voice. It has always been exceptionally difficult to cause any emotional change in Tezuka, but after hearing the news, his heart seemed to have lightened up so much that he even has the sudden intention to laugh out. Surely he didn't do so, but he himself was surprised by his own reaction as well. After calling Oishi to inform the rest of the team about the shocking news, Tezuka went to the hospital hurriedly.
Receiving phone call from Oishi, all the Seigaku boys made their way to the hospital straightaway. When they arrived, Yuuta has just come out of room 229. He led the boys aside and told them that his brother was being examined by the doctors currently. If they would like to see him, they should return later. Those who rushed there, such as Momoshiro, Kaidoh and Kawamura, took a deep breath and found a bench to take a rest. Kikumaru pushed Oishi outside for a walk. Inui was making some kind of notes. Ryoma went off to the vending machine to buy Ponta again. Tezuka sat down in somewhere. So they had to wait for Fuji again, but this time was different from last time. This time waiting was full of relief and hope, as well as excitement.
Waiting after all was a time-consuming and dull activity. After approximately two hours, the boys were permitted to enter Fuji's room finally. Yumiko has also arrived.
Fuji sat on the patient bed, still talking to the doctors. He looked a bit thinner and paler than before, also not as energetic. At least he looked much healthier when he was lying in bed, breathing with the oxygen mask. As normal, he was wearing a warm smile on his face. Yuuta greeted Fuji, and the doctors finished their words and exited, thus asked Yumiko to come out with them. The boys approached Fuji's bed.
"I seem to have a lot of visitors! Are they your friends, Yuuta? Nice to meet you all! Sorry that I cannot leave my bed, so I can only talk to you in this way." Greeted the boys politely, Fuji said.
Silence.
"Fuji..." Kikumaru and Kawamura said that together. They couldn't believe their ears.
"Aniki..." Yuuta called his brother, who was as shocked as the others.
"What's matter?" asked Fuji innocently, still smiling.
Five minutes of silence marched away. Yumiko reentered the crowded room.
"Nee-san, what did the doctors tell you out there?"
"Oh, that's nothing at all. Don't worry. It's so good to see that you revive."
"I didn't remember what has happened before actually. I just know it seems that I have slept for a very long time... And when I woke up, I found myself in the hospital. How strange. Is there something wrong with me?"
"........ Not very serious illness, that is. Your brother and I only wanted to make sure that you are fine and we took you to the hospital. Ah! The doctor just reminded me that you would need plenty of rest. You better get some sleep now. Yuuta and I will visit you again tomorrow!"
"Okay! Though I have such long sleep, I am still quite exhausted now... Come back later!" Fuji then turned to the Seigaku boys. "Sorry for bothering you all to visit me. You look familiar to me, but do I know you? Ouch!" While Fuji was trying to think, a severe headache strikes. It seems to hurt so badly that he held his head and moan painfully. Yuuta quickly got to his brother and helped him to lie down. All of them were anxious.
"Don't think so much! Get some rest now, Syusuke!" ordered Yumiko worriedly.
"Okay, nee-san... See you... Yuuta's friends, when you are free, please come back as well!" Fuji gave a weak smile and went to sleep.
After settling Fuji down, the boys and the lady left the room.
"Thanks for coming today, everybody. Syusuke is lucky to have friends like you all..." said Yumiko.
"Excuse me, Yumiko-san. Can you please tell us about Fuji's condition? We would like to know what the doctors said," interrupted Momoshiro.
".........." Yumiko hesitated.
"Why can't Fuji recognize us? He could recognize Yuuta-kun and Yumiko-san!" asked Kikumaru.
"Please tell us." The rarely speaking Tezuka opened his mouth as well.
".......... The doctor said that Syusuke have lost part of his memory due to the shock in the head caused by the accident. We are his family members, so perhaps that's the reason why he recognized us. It is a miracle for him to recover from his coma so soon, they said. Therefore, we cannot expect his health condition to be perfectly fine in this stage. Although he should be okay physically, there is still some mental problem that he has to deal with. I know that you all are Syusuke's close friends. I just hope that you can come back for him from time to time, to accompany him and assist him during this time of crisis. That's my only request."
Yuuta bowed down his head in a formal manner, "Please help Aniki out."
"Of course, why not? Fuji is very important to us! As his friends, we must help him, right, Oishi?" Cheered up and determined to come to his-only- classmate-in-the-tennis-club's rescue, Kikumaru held up his fist and said confidently.
"Yea," replied Oishi, pleased to hear the positive response from Kikumaru.
"Let's do it!" said Momoshiro.
"Yes!" answered the rest of them.
"Don't worry, Yumiko-san. We will try our best to assist Fuji. We promise," said Tezuka.
Time continued to flow by. A week has passed and finally the doctor announced that Fuji's condition became stable. Even so, Yumiko and Yuuta still couldn't put down their alert so soon. After all, their brother was still in coma. They seized every opportunity to stay in the hospital to take care of Fuji.
In the following weekends, the Seigaku boys came to visit Fuji together regularly, bringing him flowers and greeting cards from his schoolmates. Back to school, everybody seemed to be very much shocked by the incident. Never has anybody thought that the tensai would encounter such a severe accident. It was as if it has become the talk of the town. During tennis practices, team members often discussed the issue, but nobody actually knew all the details, of course, except for the Regulars.
Life went on without the presence of Fuji. Nothing much seems to have changed. They continued to work hard for their everyday training and different matches. It was just that the atmosphere among the Seigaku boys has become entirely different. The usually cheerful and noisy gang grew a lot quieter. Normally it was Fuji who liked to tease and make fun on others in order to enjoy a good show of seeing other people suffering. That did create a lot of laughter, although they were quite afraid of the sadistic tensai. Everybody just wanted to concentrate on training and not to think about any other matters. However, they could never convince themselves to believe that nothing was wrong. Somebody was missing, somebody who was irreplaceable, somebody who was so unique, somebody who was called Fuji Syusuke.
Three months flew by. During the period, the boys still keep visiting Fuji each week, but not all of them really went to the hospital every week, except Tezuka and Oishi. Some of the Seigaku rivals also came to see the hospitalized tennis tensai, who needed to wear an oxygen mask all the time. They include Tachibana from Fudomine, Atobe and Oshitari from Hyotei and Saeki, who has been Fuji's friend and rival since they were kids, from Rokkakuchu. It was late spring, the time when the Seigaku boys have almost get over from the lost of Fuji. They have won a few matches, although they had quite a tough time with the absence of the No.2 Single Player of Seigaku.
One humid evening, Tezuka received a phone call from Yumiko that Fuji has just regained consciousness abruptly, to everybody's surprise. Even the doctors didn't believe that Fuji could get pass his coma so soon. They noticed that his determination to live was extremely strong and perhaps that was the reason behind the fast recovery, even though his body was extremely weak. Ending the conversation calmly, saying that he would head for the hospital immediately, Tezuka tried very hard to hide the mysterious excitement in his voice. It has always been exceptionally difficult to cause any emotional change in Tezuka, but after hearing the news, his heart seemed to have lightened up so much that he even has the sudden intention to laugh out. Surely he didn't do so, but he himself was surprised by his own reaction as well. After calling Oishi to inform the rest of the team about the shocking news, Tezuka went to the hospital hurriedly.
Receiving phone call from Oishi, all the Seigaku boys made their way to the hospital straightaway. When they arrived, Yuuta has just come out of room 229. He led the boys aside and told them that his brother was being examined by the doctors currently. If they would like to see him, they should return later. Those who rushed there, such as Momoshiro, Kaidoh and Kawamura, took a deep breath and found a bench to take a rest. Kikumaru pushed Oishi outside for a walk. Inui was making some kind of notes. Ryoma went off to the vending machine to buy Ponta again. Tezuka sat down in somewhere. So they had to wait for Fuji again, but this time was different from last time. This time waiting was full of relief and hope, as well as excitement.
Waiting after all was a time-consuming and dull activity. After approximately two hours, the boys were permitted to enter Fuji's room finally. Yumiko has also arrived.
Fuji sat on the patient bed, still talking to the doctors. He looked a bit thinner and paler than before, also not as energetic. At least he looked much healthier when he was lying in bed, breathing with the oxygen mask. As normal, he was wearing a warm smile on his face. Yuuta greeted Fuji, and the doctors finished their words and exited, thus asked Yumiko to come out with them. The boys approached Fuji's bed.
"I seem to have a lot of visitors! Are they your friends, Yuuta? Nice to meet you all! Sorry that I cannot leave my bed, so I can only talk to you in this way." Greeted the boys politely, Fuji said.
Silence.
"Fuji..." Kikumaru and Kawamura said that together. They couldn't believe their ears.
"Aniki..." Yuuta called his brother, who was as shocked as the others.
"What's matter?" asked Fuji innocently, still smiling.
Five minutes of silence marched away. Yumiko reentered the crowded room.
"Nee-san, what did the doctors tell you out there?"
"Oh, that's nothing at all. Don't worry. It's so good to see that you revive."
"I didn't remember what has happened before actually. I just know it seems that I have slept for a very long time... And when I woke up, I found myself in the hospital. How strange. Is there something wrong with me?"
"........ Not very serious illness, that is. Your brother and I only wanted to make sure that you are fine and we took you to the hospital. Ah! The doctor just reminded me that you would need plenty of rest. You better get some sleep now. Yuuta and I will visit you again tomorrow!"
"Okay! Though I have such long sleep, I am still quite exhausted now... Come back later!" Fuji then turned to the Seigaku boys. "Sorry for bothering you all to visit me. You look familiar to me, but do I know you? Ouch!" While Fuji was trying to think, a severe headache strikes. It seems to hurt so badly that he held his head and moan painfully. Yuuta quickly got to his brother and helped him to lie down. All of them were anxious.
"Don't think so much! Get some rest now, Syusuke!" ordered Yumiko worriedly.
"Okay, nee-san... See you... Yuuta's friends, when you are free, please come back as well!" Fuji gave a weak smile and went to sleep.
After settling Fuji down, the boys and the lady left the room.
"Thanks for coming today, everybody. Syusuke is lucky to have friends like you all..." said Yumiko.
"Excuse me, Yumiko-san. Can you please tell us about Fuji's condition? We would like to know what the doctors said," interrupted Momoshiro.
".........." Yumiko hesitated.
"Why can't Fuji recognize us? He could recognize Yuuta-kun and Yumiko-san!" asked Kikumaru.
"Please tell us." The rarely speaking Tezuka opened his mouth as well.
".......... The doctor said that Syusuke have lost part of his memory due to the shock in the head caused by the accident. We are his family members, so perhaps that's the reason why he recognized us. It is a miracle for him to recover from his coma so soon, they said. Therefore, we cannot expect his health condition to be perfectly fine in this stage. Although he should be okay physically, there is still some mental problem that he has to deal with. I know that you all are Syusuke's close friends. I just hope that you can come back for him from time to time, to accompany him and assist him during this time of crisis. That's my only request."
Yuuta bowed down his head in a formal manner, "Please help Aniki out."
"Of course, why not? Fuji is very important to us! As his friends, we must help him, right, Oishi?" Cheered up and determined to come to his-only- classmate-in-the-tennis-club's rescue, Kikumaru held up his fist and said confidently.
"Yea," replied Oishi, pleased to hear the positive response from Kikumaru.
"Let's do it!" said Momoshiro.
"Yes!" answered the rest of them.
"Don't worry, Yumiko-san. We will try our best to assist Fuji. We promise," said Tezuka.