[Summary: Nanako continues to recover in the hospital.]
Nanako was feeling marginally better the next day. The next day... It was another day, wasn't it? Her room didn't have a window nor did it have a clock, so it was kind of hard to tell. She slept a lot, too, since there wasn't anything else to do. She'd been given a magazine, but it was meant for housewives. It didn't even have one small article about keeping it fresh in the bedroom. How useless.
The nurses tried to get her to attempt to walk, but she couldn't get out of the bed without help, and when she got to her feet, she nearly collapsed from the effort. Her legs hurt, her back hurt, her body hurt. The nurse kindly directed her into a wheelchair, and she was at least able to see a little more of the hospital. She liked being out of the bed and out of the room. It made her feel like there was more to the world than it.
She asked the nurse to get her a drink and tried to see if she had the strength to wheel herself around while she was away. The answer was, 'sort of.' Not very far before she had to rest from the effort, at least. When the nurse returned, Nanako asked her to wheel her back to big window in the hallway outside her room and just leave her alone for a bit.
The view wasn't anything amazing: it was a small grass lawn with one small tree in it. She was grateful for the view, anyway—if this was a hospital in Tokyo, outside would probably be an alleyway if not just another wing of the hospital. That tree didn't know how lucky it was.
"Hey Senpai! Good to see you up an' about."
Nanako turned her head to see Kanji heading towards her. Her eyes widened when she saw that Souji was perched up on the teen's shoulder, looking for all the world like he was having the time of his life.
"Big sis!" the little boy squealed. "L-let me down, p-please, Kanji-san...?"
After setting down the basket he'd been carrying, Kanji put his arm around the boy's waist and – "Alley-oop! Down we go!" – settled him safely on the floor.
Souji thanked him and then ran headlong to hug Nanako's legs. Nanako bent down and pulled him up into her lap for a real hug, biting her tongue when his weight on her bruises caused her to wince.
"I miss you..." Souji murmured against her chest.
"Missed you too, honey." Nanako pushed her nose against his hair and nuzzled him. "When I get out of here, I am so making up for lost time with you." She looked up at Kanji. "But what's Sou-chan doing with you?"
"Oh," said Kanji. "Well, yesterday Naoto was watchin' him, but he had to go to the police station today, so he asked me to do it, and... yeah."
Nanako sighed. Aunt Seta didn't waste any time, did she...?
"It was awkward at first, man," Kanji went on. "The kid kept staring at me. Think he could stare down a chargin' rhino."
"Or a triceratops," Nanako murmured.
"Then I asked him about the little fox, and he showed it to me, and..."
Souji shuffled around in her lap, and a moment later Foxie was in his hands and giving Nanako a kiss. She kissed the plush back and then kissed her little cousin's temple, too.
"Big sis," Souji said. "Kanji-san said he's going to sh-show me how to make a friend for Foxie..."
"Is that what the basket's for?" Nanako asked. "I see some yarn in there!"
"Yeah!" said Kanji, standing proud. "I'm gonna teach both of you to crochet."
Nanako glanced down at her bandaged hands. "Uh, I'm not sure if I'm well enough to—err." Kanji's eyes seemed to be bulging out at her, and his eyebrows were bunched together tighter than usual, and his lips were drawn. "Uh, that's a pretty good glare, Kanji-kun. Who taught you that?"
"Ma," he replied, still subjecting her to it.
"Right. Well, uh, hand me a crochet needle, and let's get started!"
The hallway was lined with chairs interspersed with the occasional small table. Kanji spread out his crafts upon the nearest table, and Souji climbed into the chair right next to it, watching him curiously. Kanji started off by demonstrating how to hold the crochet needle. Nanako found it too difficult to hold it like a pencil, so he showed her an alternate way. He then showed them how to make a slipknot in the yarn.
"The chain stitch is like, the basic part of crochet," Kanji explained, "so we're just gonna do that today 'til you get real good at it. I know, you wanna make something cool right now, but you gotta walk before you can run, right? Get the basics down and you'll be makin' cool stuff in no time. I promise, alright?" He looked at them for confirmation. Nanako didn't really respond—more important to her than learning a craft was spending time with her cousin—but Souji nodded solemnly at him.
He set them both to work, Souji with red yarn and Nanako with yellow, watching them and guiding them through the first several stitches before he was sure they had the hang of it. While they continued working, he began to work on his own project, something with a lot of blue, white, and red.
"Umm..." Souji murmured at some point. "H...help..."
Kanji set his own project to the side to take a look at what was going on in Souji's hands. From her seat in the wheelchair, Nanako couldn't really see what the problem was, but it didn't matter because a few moments later Kanji was leaning back and Souji's small smile of determination had returned. Possibly he'd got the needle stuck in the yarn and needed some help extracting it.
Nanako's heart wasn't really into working on this crochet project. Crafts weren't her thing... but seeing Souji so intent on his own made her turn back to hers with renewed purpose.
At one point, she shifted in her wheelchair because she was getting a cramp and the ball of yarn in her lap decided to make a run for it. It fell down onto the floor, unraveling as it went on its adventure. She swore softly and tugged at the string in her left hand, but that only made the ball unravel further until Kanji put his foot out and stopped it.
He didn't say anything, just gave her an amused look as he rolled it up and handed it back to her, and she rolled her eyes at him.
When Kanji stepped away, she noticed a golden hue over his skin and clothes. She glanced out the window—holy cow, the sun was already setting? But they'd only just started! She hadn't been having that much fun, had she?
"It's easy to get lost in the work, yeah?" Kanji remarked. "All right, Souji, that's probably enough for now. Put the yarn down—yeah, now can you show me how you're supposed to hold it again? Make one last chain stitch for me."
The boy obediently followed his instructions. He held up his work high above his head. "Look at my chain, big sis...!"
It was twice as long as the one Nanako had made. They had a nice little laugh when they compared. "Yeah, my fingers aren't cooperating too much," she said. "But I bet Kanji-kun is real proud of you!"
"That's right, little guy," Kanji said, clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Next time we'll work on single stitches, okay?"
Souji nodded up at his newest friend.
"What have you been working on all this time, Kanji-kun?" Nanako asked.
Kanji shifted his weight. "Well, this. I actually finished it." He handed her the small crocheted figure.
Nanako swallowed. Oh.
It was a round figure, with a red and white striped bottom, a blue head, and big black eyes. A miniature facsimile of Teddie.
"Who's that?" Souji asked while Nanako stared at it in her hands. "It looks... cute..."
It took Nanako a long moment to find her voice. "This?" she croaked. "He's... Let me tell you a story, honey."
She took a deep breath.
"Once upon a time," she began, "there was a very brave, lonely little bear who tried to protect a world much larger than he was."
From the corner of her eyes, she saw that Kanji's posture had gone stiff, but she didn't stop.
"Though he had lots and lots and lots and lots of brothers, the little bear couldn't talk to any of them!"
Souji made a sad face. He probably imagined that having brothers and sisters meant you always had someone to talk to... Well, Nanako wouldn't know any better, being a single child herself.
"Because you see, though some had very large eyes," she continued, "and others had very large tongues, none of them could see or talk. They felt nothing, they thought nothing, and they did nothing but roam aimlessly through their foggy world, day after day."
"T-that sounds sad..." Souji interjected.
"Yes," Nanako agreed, "and the little bear was like that too, at first, until one day..."
Until one day, what? Nanako didn't know, she had never asked Teddie about it, and didn't pay attention the few times he'd talked about it. But the story had to continue, right?
"Well, one day, someone new arrived in his world! The little bear was very confused, and also a little bit worried. There was a single day where everyone would get so very upset. The day the fog that covered his world lifted, they would claw and roar and hurt anything around them! Not the little bear, though. He never wanted to hurt anyone, and it was so very scary to see his brothers so angry. Instead of getting angry himself, the little bear used his head! Mmm, what did the little bear do?"
"H-hide..." Souji whispered.
Nanako smiled at him. "Very good! The little bear didn't have large claws or pointy teeth. Really, he was not m-much of a bear at all, but he was cute as a button, much like a certain someone I know." She winked, if only to try and hide the tears that were forming. "Yes, what the little bear did was hide, hide, hide, hide until the fog came back."
"W-what about... the new someone?" Souji asked with a cute little frown.
Yeah, Nanako had kinda forgotten where she was going with the story for a second there. "That's the problem! Did the new someone know all the good hiding spots? Of course not. Vowing to be brave, the little bear decided to show them, and so he began his search. That world was his home, but..." But suddenly everything seemed so different, she remembered him saying. "There were new places, and he couldn't find the old ones anymore. What could he do?"
Nanako sniffed and sniffed again, to clue Souji on what he had to say—or so she told herself.
"S-smell...!" Souji said quickly, and Nanako nodded.
"Though his claws were short and his teeth were round, the little bear had one thing to be proud of: his nose, or as he liked to call it, his sniffer! Though scared, the little bear d-did..."
Sniff.
Sniff.
Sniff.
"...until he found a big, scary building, and voices coming from inside, the first he ever heard apart from his own. But as the little bear went up the stairs, he noticed the place getting brighter, like his eyes were suddenly clearing up!"
"The fog!" Nanako and Souji said in unison, though his tone was more startled than hers. "Yes, the fog had lifted, the voices turned to screams, and when he got there, there was no one inside."
Kanji looked at her with a worried expression. That might give him nightmares, huh? B-better tone it down.
"This happened again once more. New people, new places, and then no one.
That is, until a special someone arrived."
Nanako had to repress a bitter laugh. Yeah, she was special all right...
"There was no new place with this new someone. The little bear was very suspicious! But he also wondered, would he fail, like the last time, and the time before that? No matter how hard he worked, he never did anything right. That was the first time he thought such an awful thing, but it wouldn't be the last.
Turns out the special someone came from another world to find out what was happening, though it wasn't easy for the little bear to find that out, because when he got close the first time, she ran the heck away, into a very, very dangerous place.
The little bear didn't fail then, he got the special someone out in time, saved her from his brothers and got her back to her world. But you know what's sad?"
"W-what?" asked the bewildered little boy.
"That was the only time she ever said thank you."
"Did... did she forget to, later?"
"Kinda, but she also kinda though the little bear was kinda useless. As she started to explore his world, she started to feel she knew it better than him, and why wouldn't she, when every new someone came with a new place he knew nothing about?"
"B-but that's mean... the little bear was t-trying hard, too."
"Yes, he was... but even though she never said thanks again, he kept helping her, kept thinking she was special, because she promised to save his world, and he knew she could. To save his world, they had to fight his brothers, and the little bear couldn't do that. He could do other things, but not that."
"Mama says that... everyone can do something different..."
I wish she'd told me, too, Nanako thought.
"One dark, gloomy night," she said, "many new someones and many new places appeared. The new someones were in danger, and the special someone wanted to save them fast, too fast for the little bear, too fast for even her own friends. By that point, the little bear was so very lonely again. Though he met others with voices, he couldn't talk to them, either, because they walked ahead of him, not by his side. What am I? he wondered. Why don't I get angry, like my brothers do? Why can I talk? There was no one to give him the answers for him, and no one that cared enough to help him search for them himself."
Nanako was breathing hard, but she wanted to finish the story, needed to.
"Th-the special someone and her friends were in big trouble. His brothers were too strong, his help was too little. The little bear was scared, and so very lonely, but he wanted to help, he wanted to help so much, he wanted to help more than he was scared, he wanted to help more than he was lonely, and in thinking like this, he found true courage, and power welled inside him. The brave little bear charged at his angry brother, to protect his world and everyone in it."
She paused, not intending to be dramatic, but because the truth was so painful.
"But he failed," she finished, "leaving behind only a small gift."
"N-no..." Souji looked downhearted.
"I'm sorry, Souji-kun. this story doesn't have a happy ending... This is a story about a very brave, lonely little bear who tried to protect a world much larger than he was. Even though he always gave his best, he failed at everything he ever tried. In the end, he turned his loneliness into his power and tried one last time to connect to other people also trying to protect his world. And although he failed at that too, d-dying in the process, he left behind something they could use to continue their fight. H-his name was T-Teddie, and he was the b-bravest little b-bear there ever was."
Nanako let her tears flow now, and held out her arms for a hug. Souji crawled into her lap, and he was crying, too. And Kanji, she heard him blow his nose on the sleeve of the jacket he carried about his shoulders.
They were still wiping their runny noses when Aunt Seta arrived to pick up her son. She didn't seemed fazed by Kanji's presence at all, and Nanako wondered if she was just unflappable—Nanako recalled that she hadn't commented on her long skirt getup, after all—or if they'd met before. After exchanging pleasantries and asking how Nanako was recovering, Aunt Seta called her son to her side. The boy gave both Nanako and Kanji one last hug before taking his mom's hand.
"Did you have fun?" she asked him.
"Y-yes, Mama," the boy replied, looking up at her with a smile. His mother smiled back, and the two headed down the hall together.
Nanako looked askance at Kanji, who was staring sort of forlornly after the boy. "Uh, you can go now," she said. "A nurse'll probably come by soon and put me back in bed."
"I can wheel you in, at least," he offered. "If you want. But Senpai... I didn't expect any of that. I mean, I made this guy because..." – he picked up the crocheted Teddie doll – "Well... We can't forget him."
"Yeah," Nanako replied softly. She sighed. "I hope I didn't give Souji-kun nightmares."
"He's prolly had worse," Kanji mumbled.
Nanako lowered her gaze, because he might be right, at that.
She allowed Kanji to wheel her into her room. He set her right next to the bed in her rather lonely room. Still he hesitated to leave her. In fact, he rummaged in the crafts basket and brought out a plastic bag with the Yomenaido Bookstore's logo on it.
"I got this for you a while back," he said, handing her the bag.
"You bought me a book?" she asked, uneasiness stealing over her. Was he trying to get back at her for all that bara she'd sent his way? Normally she'd more than welcome it, but what if those nosy nurses found out? Then again, such things were supposed to be healthy for a teenager, weren't they?
"To thank you for the stuff you sent me... y'know..." he answered, fidgeting. Damn it, that was a bingo, but she didn't want to be right this time!
Nanako was not the type to turn down a gift, though, so she took the book out anyway. When she did...
Sun.
When she did, she remembered the books her mother would read her at bedtime, and how, after Nanako'd found some raunchy books in the storeroom, her mom went and started to read them to her, albeit in a very light tone.
The book reminded her of all that, but it wasn't raunchy at all, unless pink alligators were the next big kink.
"This is one of my favorite books," he admitted. "Might help."
Nanako smiled. Yeah, of course he wouldn't bring porn to the hospital... Kanji was the sweetest, really.
"Thank you, Kanji-kun. I promise to give it a read tomorrow. Right now my meds are starting to kick in."
"No problem. Rest well, Senpai."
Holding the book in her hands after he left, she took a moment to consider that even though the room had no windows and the lights were off, it seemed brighter than when she'd left it earlier in the afternoon.
She could walk!
It was the first thing Nanako requested the next time she awoke—that the nurse help her to her feet and see if she could stand on her own. And then she took a tentative first step.
She could walk, but only bent forward like an old crone with a bad back. Because that's what she had, really: a bad back, or at least a very sore one. When the nurse helped her change into the clothes that Aunt Seta brought for her—a short skirt and a loose-fitting blouse—she saw how black and blue her belly, sides, and back were from still-healing bruises. Some of the bruises had gotten to that unsightly yellow stage.
Worse, though, were her fingers. The cuts, now healed, had left numerous scars along the bottom side of each digit and the palms of her hands. She'd have to use that aloe solution daily, and even then, they might never completely recover.
The nurse led her to the lobby, where her aunt was waiting for her, carrying a white bag that likely contained her prescriptions. "Nanako-chan!" the woman greeted. "Finally. Let's get you home." The woman nodded at the nurse and headed towards the automatic doors that led out of the hospital.
Nanako paused before following her. Where was Souji? she wondered. Shouldn't he be here to see her released? He'd be overjoyed. Heck, she'd be overjoyed!
But no, it was a Saturday, right? Aunt Seta had probably left him at the daycare.
With her mouth set in a grimace, partially from pain and partially from that thought, she followed Aunt Seta to the car and laboriously put on the seatbelt, though her aunt just kind of looked at her funny for wearing it.
During the drive, Aunt Seta told her about the long line at the pharmacy, but Nanako barely listened. She was looking out the window, watching Inaba's scenery roll by. The sky was mostly cloudy, but the sun was beginning to shine through.
She sighed. It was still the same old Inaba, but... She pulled the Star arcana mask out of the bookstore bag and stared down at it. Yeah, it was like the whole town had lost its innocence.
She turned back to the clouds outside the car's window. "Auntie...?"
"Hmm?"
"Can we stop by at the gas station? I've missed a few days of work there, you know, gotta let 'em know I'm alive and well. I was going to call but my phone kinda died. Should let them know it could be a while before I'll be well enough to return to work, too."
"You could call them on the house phone," the woman pointed out, "but it has been a while since I got gas for the car. We might as well stop by."
It wasn't far, and soon Nanako went through the toil of taking her seatbelt off and getting out of the car. She only emitted a few hisses. Her legs felt stiff, like she was a really old cat just waking from a nap.
There didn't seem to be an attendant on duty, to her aunt's annoyance, so Nanako volunteered to go inside and let the manager know. She told him about how she'd been in the hospital, and he seemed fairly sympathetic, since her cover story for coming here was at least partly true. Although she tended to work only when she felt like it, it was still a nice idea to give the old man some notice in case he wanted to hire another part-timer to cover for her.
When she returned outside, she spied her real reason in stopping by. She poked the shoulder of the uniformed man pumping gas into Aunt Seta's car, and when he turned around, she hugged him.
"…?" Izaya verbalized, taken by complete surprise.
She sniffled and pulled away. He smelled like mildew. "I... I need to talk to you. But not now."
"I'll be waiting," he replied.
She looked around for her aunt, wondering if she'd seen that, but the woman was walking around the far side of the car with a phone to her ear. Some things never change, she realized with a sigh.
The rest of the ride home was endured in silence. She didn't have anything to say to her aunt, and her aunt didn't seem to have anything to say to her. Maybe she'd noticed Nanako's twisted visage and decided not to talk. She needed to take some of those painkillers soon.
A cat ran away from the carport when they pulled up. Nanako envied its ability to move so fast. She exited the car and picked up the crafts basket that Kanji had left with her.
"I'll get the door," her aunt said when she climbed up the stoop. She waited with disguised impatience, thinking only of her pain meds and her futon.
It was dark in the house. Nanako sighed. Her aunt should've at least remembered to leave the kitchen light on! She put her basket on the counter, and while she was reaching for the light switch, she heard sounds of movement and whispers, and she paused with a frown, then shrugged and turned it on.
She stared at the sight that greeted her in the living room. Saki was on the couch, Souji in her lap, Naoto at the tea table, her back to the sliding glass door that led to the back yard, Kanji to her left and Yukiko to her right.
"Uh, surprise?" Kanji tried.
Souji blew a party horn, and Saki threw a handful of glittery confetti at her.
[Author's Notes: Nanako already forgot about the party that Kanji and Saki had been planning for her, hehe. And I swear that I had the idea of Kanji teaching Souji to crochet before I learned about the scene in PQ where Kanji teaches Ken. *heavy sigh* But would Ken make a crochet pterodactyl? That's the real question!
Anyway, here's a progress report: I've finished writing all of the summer break events, so I'd say the writing is going well! I promise I've written at least one scene with Rise in it, for those who've been asking :3
Currently working on the Tatsumi Port Island trip.
By the way, I started writing this story August 10, 2014, so it's almost a year old. Already?! T-time flies, doesn't it?
Here's to... another year...?
Next Chapter:
Nanako's body hurts so much that even taking a bath with little Souji is a monumental task.]