Tezuka slowly opened his eyes, first noticing the hand on his face…
'It's probably Syuusuke…' he thought, without looking first.
He slowly sat up, and wore his glasses. "Syu, Yameru- Amy!" he yelled, holding onto Amy's face.
"Ano… Ohayou, Onii-chan… Ano… Let go please…" Amy said, feeling the pain of her cheeks being squished.
Tezuka took his hands away from Amy's face, then hugged her. "I'm so glad you're awake!" he yelled, hugging her.
Amy giggled. "Maa maa, didn't the doctor tell you that I was just asleep?" Amy asked, wondering why her brother would cause such a scene in front of his team mates.
"Actually, he did, but not before Tezuka nearly beat the pulp out of him…" Fuji said, entering the room, with a wet handkerchief.
He gave the handkerchief to Amy, then turned to Tezuka. "Tezuka, the doctor said we can take Amy-chan home, now… You're grandparents paid for the bill, and Inui, Eiji, and Echizen are outside, should I call them?" Fuji informed, with a smile.
Tezuka gave a nod, then turned back to Amy. "Fuji… can you leave the two of us alone for a minute…?" he asked, not looking over to him.
Fuji nodded, then left without complaints.
As soon as he left, a dark atmosphere was placed in the room, until, "Onii-chan," Amy spoke up. "Honto ni gomenasai," she said, with a bow.
Tezuka looked over to her, unsurprisingly.
"I know I was a bad sister, since I did not tell you about my condition… but I have a perfectly good explanation, Onii-chan!" she begun, her head still low. "I… I thought… I thought I was a burden to you… so I thought, maybe… just maybe… if I died… Onii-chan will have the life he wanted… not the life that involves taking care of me…" with that, she cried. "Honto ni gomenasai, Onii-chan… I'll understand if you hate me… I'll understand if you don't want to speak to me anymore… Just don't despise me…"
Tezuka watched his sister, with a stern look. 'This time… I can't tell whether she's faking or not…' he thought, with a sigh.
He sighed once more, then hugged Amy, but Amy pulled away, still crying. "Onii-chan… I'm no longer worthy of your warmth…" she cried.
Tezuka looked at her, with a stern expression. He hugged her forcefully, not listening to Amy's squirms. "Amy… you may do reckless things… you may hide so many things that can make me worry, but that doesn't mean you're a burden to me, Amahime… There's only 2 things I have… Tennis… and you… In fact, if my arm gets severely injured… and I had lost you… I don't want to go on living anymore…" he pushed Amy back, wanting her to face him. "Amy… you are my sister, no matter what… and I shall do anything to protect you… even give my life…" with that, Amy snapped, not believing what her brother just stated.
"Iie, Onii-chan… Iie… Iie! Don't talk like that! I don't want you to leave… I don't want you gone from my life…" she sobbed.
Tezuka looked at her, warmly. "You don't want me to go… and that's the same way I feel about you, Amy… I love you, as my sister… and that's that…"
Amy hugged her brother, sobbing on his chest. "Honto ni gomenasai, Onii-chan… honto ni gomenasai…" she sobbed.
Tezuka held onto her, tightly, forcing in the tears that were threatening to come out. "Amy… I'll ask you only one thing…" he begun. "…Trust me…"
--
After a while, the drama ended, and it was soon time for Amy to leave the hospital.
"Amy-chan, daijobu desuka?" Eiji asked, worried.
Amy gave her usual smile. "Aa... gomen that I made you worry…"
Eiji jumped. "You sure did! You just suddenly passed out in the kitchen nya! Who wouldn't get worried?" he yelled, hugging Amy tightly.
Amy chuckled. "Hehe, gomenasai," she said, nicely. She looked around, and noticed only Eiji, Ryoma and Inui were there, she thought, 'Where's Suyusuke-kun?'
Inui pushed back his glasses, then faced Amy. "Fuji is in Tachibana-san's room, you want me to show you to him?" he asked with an evil smirk.
Tezuka grunted, then went back to picking up Amy's stuff.
Amy chuckled, because of her brother's attitude, but soon nodded. "Ano… Tachibana-san…? Does this Tachibana-san happen to have a sister?" Amy asked, wondering.
Eiji and Inui wondered how she knew. "Aa… nande? Do you know her by any chance?" Inui asked, taking out his evil green notebook, which he obviously never leaves behind, regardless of any situation.
Amy gave a thinking expression, thinking if it was too much of a coincidence, to meet her in the hospital. "Ano… I don't think she's the one, so-."
"AMY!" yelled a familiar voice.
Amy paused, eyes wide, showing her beautiful emerald orbs. She slowly turned around, and sighted the person she longed on seeing.
They ran towards each other, then hugged. "Ann-chan, it's so wonderful to see you again!" Amy said, hugging her.
Ann separated from her, and playfully punched her on the arm. "You ass, why didn't you visit me once you got here? And also, what are you doing here in the hospital? Did you do something stupid again?" Ann scolded, putting her hands on her hips, teasingly.
Amy laughed nervously, wondering how she could answer her last 2 questions. "Well-."
"Again? You did something before, Amy-chan?" Eiji asked, as well, putting his hands on his hips.
Amy gave another nervous laugh. "Well-."
"You bet'cha! Here's the story! Amy was playing basketball with me, she didn't want to win right away, so she tried to play lamely, but she wasn't used to that kind of play style so she ended up slipping on the ball, hitting her head on the hard pavement... It was a good thing Tezuka-niichan got to her aid immediately, and it was lucky that she didn't suffer any brain damage…" looks at Amy suspiciously. "You better not do anything that will get you back in the hospital!"
"That's right, Amy-chan! You need to take care of yourself nya!"
Amy gave an uneasy smile. "Wait, I'm being double-teamed. That's not fair," Amy said, jokingly, still feeling a bit uneasy.
Someone held onto Amy's shoulder, startling her and said, "Well, we'll just have to join you, now won't we?" said a familiar voice, jokingly.
Amy turned around, wearing her fantastic smile. "Suyusuke-kun, you shouldn't startle people like that," Amy said, putting her hand behind her.
Fuji gave a chuckle. "Gomen, gomen," he said, with 'his' fantastic smile. He looked over to Ann, and, "Ann-chan, your brother is asking if you and Amy-chan can go see him."
Ann nodded, then turned to Amy. "Do you mind, Amy?"
"Not at all. I'd be delighted to see Kippei-Oniisan again," she said, taking Ann's hand, and walking to the room.
When they entered the room, in an instant, their eyes were on Tachibana's warm smile, taking it as a greeting.
"Ohayou gozaimasu, Kippei-Oniisan," Amy said, with a bow.
Tachibana gave a chuckle. "No need to be so formal, Amy-chan. My… have you grown… You're just as tall as Ann…" he said, eyeing her.
Amy smiled, then nodded. "Hai desu… Arigatou," she answered, politely.
Tachibana released again his warm smile. He looked over to Ann and asked, "Ann, can you please wait outside for a moment? I need to speak with Amy-chan, alone…"
Ann gave him and Amy an odd look, then just walked out, hesitantly.
A dim atmosphere was placed in the room, once Ann went out of the room.
"Amy-chan… are you still planning on this suicide thing?" Tachibana asked, with a strict expression.
Amy looked at him with her usual smile. "Whatever do you mea-."
"Amy, I am serious… Please… a lot of people will get hurt if something bad happens to you… Tezuka will blame himself, and other will as well… Amy, I'm one of the people who know you best, so it's best you finish your act, because in the end… you'll end up regretting everything you've done…" he scolded.
Amy just kept a blank expression. "Hai, Onii-san… Arigatou…" with that, she quietly left the room, putting on her smile once she got out.
Ann approached her looking worried. "Amy, what did Onii-san talk to you about?" she asked, concerned.
Amy just gave a sigh. "Well, the usual, he gave me some advice, and that's it. There's nothing to be worried about," Amy said, her smile getting a bit weaker, but not noticeable.
Fuji walked towards her, hearing their conversation. "Saa should we be going, then?" he asked, holding onto Amy's shoulders once more.
Amy nodded, then turned back to Ann. "See you sometime?" she asked, her normal smile coming back.
Ann gave her one last hug, then realized something, "Oh! I almost forgot something!" she reached in her bag, and took out a piece of paper. She handed it to Amy, with a smile. "Read it, and Echizen-kun will explain everything, ne? Ja, Amy!" with that, she left.
Amy gave one last glance at her, then left with Fuji to the car, wondering what the paper might be.
--
Amy and Fuji sat in the back, with Ryoma, and Eiji, while Tezuka and Inui sat in the front.
"Ano… Onii-chan, I've been wondering… how old are you desu?" she asked, wondering why he was able to drive.
Inui, Eiji, and Fuji chuckled. "You may not know this, Amy-chan, but your brother can sometimes bend the rules," Fuji explained.
Amy tilted her head not knowing what he meant. She had never heard someone say that her brother 'bends the rules'… She had always thought he was such a model citizen…
"Amy-chan, people thought Tezuka was 18, so since they didn't bother to check his ID when he got his drivers license, Tezuka just went along nya," Eiji said, laughing slightly.
Tezuka sighed, then started the car. "Enough, enough, you'll distract me…" with that, the car motioned to wherever the people in the car planned to go.
As they were in the car, "Ano… don't the teachers know about Onii-chan's story about the drivers license?" Ay asked, after a while.
"Aa, but some teachers just kept quiet, because 90 of them are afraid of Tezuka…" he explained, pushing back his spectacles.
Amy nodded, getting it. She remembered about the paper, then showed it to Ryoma. "Ryoma-kun, Ann-chan told me to ask you about this… Would you care to explain?" she asked, politely.
Ryoma grabbed the paper, examining it. "Oh… so you're the Amy-chan, Tachibana-san was talking about…" he said, just realizing it.
Amy looked over the paper, wondering what he meant.
The paper clearly said: 'STORY BY: AMY TEZUKA'
"Ano… what does this mean, Ryoma-kun?" she asked, looking bewildered.
Ryoma looked at her, not so surprised. "We're doing a musical… You're making it…" with that, he looked away from the paper.
Amy looked at him concerned. 'I wonder what's wrong with Ryoma-kun… he's totally different from yesterday night…' Amy thought, her smile weakening.
"Saa…" came Fuji's relaxing voice. "I'm here as well…" he said, pointing at his name next to Amy's.
His role was: AMY'S RIGHT HAND MAN
His role was the same as Ryoma's, but obviously, Ryoma didn't care.
"Hmm… I guess we've got to do our best, ne?" Fuji asked, with a chuckle.
Amy smiled, then nodded. "Aa… we have 3 months to put this all together… so I say let's give it our best shot…" she said with a smile.
Suddenly, Tezuka's phone started to ring.
He picked it up, noticing it was a message. He read it, focusing on the road, now and then, he read:
This is Fudomine's Tachibana… Tezuka, I ask you…please take great care of Amy-chan… we're not sure how long she can keep living this kind of life…
He closed his phone, then went back to the road. 'Tachibana-san… you can trust me…'
