A Second Chance
I slowed as I neared Harry's. What on earth did Sakaki want to tell me? A voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Karasuma! Hey, Karasuma! Karasuuuuuuuumaaaaaaa!"
Whipping around, I saw the running figure of Doujima waving at me. She stopped, blonde hair askew, to catch her breath in front of me.
"Hi, Karasuma," she panted between gasps. "Sorry, do you mind? I was just going to take a break from shopping and I saw you running to Harry's, so I thought I'd join you."
"Sure," I said, shrugging. "I don't mind."
We entered the café. At the bar counter, both of us ordered an iced coffee. As we sipped the cool drinks, we chatted amiably. Soon, we ran out of things to talk about, and fell silent, each in our own thoughts.
"Sakaki needs you, you know."
Funny
way how life and love works
Those who you thought were cool are
just jerks
Yet it is those who are gentle within
That make you
feel almost like kin
I looked up in surprise. Doujima was staring at me with a gaze I never thought achievable to her.
"What?"
"Sakaki. He really likes you. I think he'll go crazy if anything happened to you."
"D . . . Doujima, are you okay?"
She did nothing, just stared at me with the intensity of a hawk.
"Can't you hear him?" she asked softly, in a tone that sent shivers down my spine.
"Hear . . . who? Doujima, I don't understand."
"He's calling to you; can't you hear him?"
"No, I ca----"
I stopped mid-sentence. I could hear . . . was that Sakaki?
"Karasuma . . . I don't know . . . how you th- . . . think of me . . . but . . . even . . . even if . . . you . . . hate . . . me . . . I . . . I need . . . I need to tell you . . ."
"Sakaki?" I asked tentatively.
"Wake up, Karasuma," Doujima commanded in a powerful voice, very much unlike her own. "Go to him, Karasuma. Wake up. He needs you. Awake!"
Everything dissolved into darkness, and I felt myself drift up.