V
Tadase felt increasingly anxious as he waited for Amu's friend. How was he even gonna know what she looked like? How was she going to know what he looked like? Not to mention, the nurse reported Amu had been moved to the ICU temporarily until her friend could be there or until they could find more appropriate blood bags.
Tadase wished he could offer his own blood. He wished he was O type so Amu didn't have to wait. Why did she have to wait? Would it be faster or slower if the hospital just asked another hospital for more blood bags? As Tadase was pondering, a small girl with her hair in ponytails burst into the hospital and frantically called out for Amu. Behind her was a stoic looking teenager looking as if he regretted coming in with her.
"Are you…Yuiki Yaya-san?" Tadase inquired, walking up to the flailing teenager.
Yaya stopped flailing immediately and looked at Tadase. "That's me! Are you the one who called me? Where's Amu-chii?"
Tadase frowned slightly and gestured towards the ICU. "I'll take you to her. The nurses sent me out to get you."
Yaya pouted and nodded. The taller boy with her just stayed quiet as Tadase lead them towards the ICU. Yaya was whining the whole time and Tadase was struggling to not tell her to shut up since he was already stressed and anxious enough as is. After what felt like an hour but was actually only 5 minutes, they arrived in front of the waiting room by the ICU.
The nurse said that Amu was awake but weak and fatigued. Tadase, Yaya, and the third guest walked into the ICU room, where Amu lay staring up at the ceiling. She looked over upon hearing footsteps and offered a weak smile.
When Yaya saw Amu, she threw practically herself at the pink-haired teen. "Amu-chii! Why are you in a hospital like this? Why do I need to be here? Are you dying!?"
Amu was trying to seem happy to see her friend but Tadase could tell she wasn't really in the right condition to be being squished this hard. Luckily, so did the other guest and he quickly stepped in, pulling Yaya off of Amu as the nurses voiced their concern as well.
"Yaya-san, please. Clearly, Amu-san is in no condition for you to be doing that," he said in a very serious, monotonous voice. "Perhaps you should ask someone else to explain it to you.
Yaya seemed to realize that Tadase was likely the person who promised to explain everything and immediately glared up at Tadase. It wasn't very intimidating considering Tadase was several inches taller and Yaya's cheeks were puffed out.
"That's right! You were the one to said you would explain everything once we got here!" she exclaimed, crossing her arms.
Tadase blinked and stared down at the teenager, who looked a year or so younger than him but acted several years younger. "How about I explain it to your…friend here? I think you'll be needed immediately."
"Yuiki Yaya-san was it? You're needed for a small blood transfusion. Not too much, we just want to be safe." The nurse explained. "Since…your friend has gotten into a lot of…scuffles."
"B-blood transfusion…" she gulped, her lips forming a pout. She seemed visibly scared for a second but after looking at Amu, her hands curled into determined fists. "Anything for my Amu-chii!"
The nurse smiled and put a hand on Yaya's shoulder. "I promise you won't feel anything except the initial prick of the needle." the nurse turned to Tadase and the mysterious person Yaya had come in with. "Would you two mind leaving, for now? I'm sure Hotori-san has a lot of explaining to do and we have to get Yuiki-san ready as well."
Tadase nodded and lead the other male out of the room, where they stood just outside in the waiting room. The other boy seemed mature, so much so that Tadase couldn't tell if he was older or younger than him. He had teal hair and wore ovular thin-rimmed glasses. This must have been the 'Kairi' person Yaya had mentioned on the phone.
"I guess I should introduce myself first," Tadase said politely, offering his hand out. "I'm Hotori Tadase. I'm Amu's…ah, friend."
"I hope that you're taking good care of Amu-san, Hotori-kun." He shook Tadase's hand but not before giving him a brief look over as if judging his ability to be Amu's 'friend'. "I'm Kairi. Sanjou Kairi."
Tadase didn't like how this guy had looked at him. It was almost as if he already knew everything with just one look. There was also something about his surname that was vaguely familiar. Regardless, he kept up appearances and took his hand away, gesturing for Kairi to sit down at a chair.
He sat down himself and chuckled a little nervously. "So…do you want the whole story or part of it? If you want the whole story…don't judge me too harshly."
Kairi tilted his head in intrigue. "I'll try not to do anything rash, so feel free to tell me the whole story, Hotori-kun."
"When Amu-chan first moved here, as our school's Student Body President, I wanted to be a good person and try to be her friend. At first, she tried to brush me away but I guess I was too persistent and we started hanging out…" Tadase started slowly, unsure how this seemingly stoic, serious person was going to react.
He continued explaining the whole story to Kairi, telling him to promise not to tell Yaya or any of Amu's other old friends just yet, not wanting to get them involved. Surprisingly, Kairi didn't seem too angry or judging. Then again, it was hard to tell with how little his facial expression changed. The only vibe Tadase could get off from him was 'I may or may not know everything before you even say it.'
"I see," he said, simply. He paused and casually took off his glasses to clean them. "Well, even if I had any of my gear on me, you can trust I wouldn't harm you."
Tadase couldn't help but notice that Kairi was quite handsome without his glasses on. He had sharp bright blue eyes and his teal hair was neatly combed to frame his face in a way that made him look put together. For some reason, Tadase was reminded of himself; definitely, someone who would attract a lot of female attention without, and even with, his glasses.
Visuals aside, the 'gear' part of what Kairi had said scared Tadase a bit. He didn't know exactly what kind of gear Kairi had, but he was relieved to hear and see that didn't seem all that upset. He definitely didn't want to find out what Kairi's 'gear' was unless it was like…math or science gear.
"She'd also recently started receiving some creepy anonymous texts. She didn't tell me until this evening." Tadase added, for some reason feeling the need to tell that too.
"Creepy anonymous texts?" Kairi hummed in thought as he put his glasses back on. As the lights glinted off the lens, he looked like one of those mysteriously intelligent anime or cartoon characters. "Interesting… If you need any help with that… Get me Amu-san's phone and I might be able to track the IP address of the sender."
"You could?" Tadase's eyes lit up. He immediately frowned when he realized Amu would never agree to that. "Dp you think…we could do it without Amu-chan knowing, though? She told me not to get involved but…I can't help it."
Kairi nodded and, surprisingly, let out a small smirk. "Of course. I'll give you my phone number and we can talk about it later."
"Thanks, Sanjou-kun," Tadase said, briefly forgetting Kukai had been trying to get him to be less formal. "I can tell you really care about Amu-chan. Yuiki-san too."
Kairi nodded, smiling fondly, now. "Yaya-san and I are actually younger than Amu-san and Nadeshiko-san. It's weird how we became friends, but I don't regret it."
"Same," Tadase responded, smiling as well. "I don't regret meeting Amu-chan either."
Kairi sighed softly. "Amu-san doesn't know this but…I used to have a crush on her." he looked over at Tadase. "Though, it seems I have some competition now. While your situation isn't the greatest, I can tell you will treat her better than I could ever."
Tadase blinked in surprise. This was quite the confession to make to someone you only just met. He wasn't even that surprised that other boys had liked Amu; that seemed natural. He was more surprised that Kairi had been able to tell that Tadase had feelings for her. They hadn't interacted in any way that would give off that vibe… Kairi really had a keen eye. Before Tadase could say anything, Kairi had patted his shoulder and stood up.
As soon as Kairi stood up, the nurse came out and told the two boys that they were free to come in again. Tadase was starting to question if Kairi was just that smart or if he was psychic. Still, Tadase sighed in relief and was about to stand up himself when he noticed a hand hovering in front of him; Kairi's hand. Tadase smiled gratefully and took his hand, allowing Kairi to pull him up. It was almost as if they had a weird mutual understanding after he had offered to help Tadase with Amu's anonymous messenger and Kairi's confession.
When they walked into the hospital room, Yaya was still lying on the bed, while Amu's bed was propped up so she was sitting upright. She grinned widely, her eyes lighting up upon seeing Tadase and Kairi entering the room. "Iinchou! I didn't expect you to be here too!"
"Yaya-san forced me to go with her on the train," Kairi grumbled. "Still, I can't say I wasn't a bit intrigued about what this was about. How are you feeling, Amu-san? Your…." Kairi looked over at Tadase, "Friend told me about most of it."
Amu shrugged. "I could be better given the circumstances." she looked towards Tadase and smiled, "I'm doing okay though. Thanks to Tadase-kun."
Tadase returned the smile and walked up to the hospital bed. He then glanced at the other bed in the room and noticed Yaya was still lying down, seemingly passed out. "Is…is your friend okay?"
"She has a weak stomach." Kairi and Amu said at the same time before looking at each other and laughing.
"She faints whenever she sees even a spot of blood," Kairi explained after. "I'm actually surprised she agreed after hearing why she was needed."
"Thanks for coming with her, Kairi," Amu said with a smile. "And thank you, Tadase-kun, for getting into contact with Yaya."
Tadase patted Amu's hand gently, returning the smile. "Anything for you, Amu-chan."
It took a little while longer, but eventually, Yaya woke back up. Immediately, she clung to Amu again, but Kairi managed to get her off of Amu yet again and then walked her out of the hospital room. Tadase joined them after to see them out, as Amu was told to stay overnight for further testing and to recover.
"Yaya-san and I will head out after we deal with any paperwork we need," Kairi said, yet again having to adjust his glasses. "I'll probably just forge my sister's signature though."
Tadase laughed a little awkwardly, not expecting to hear that from someone who he assumed to be between 15-17 years of age but decided not to mention it. Instead, bowed his head in gratitude.
"We would have been in a real pinch if Amu-chan hadn't remembered Yuiki-san had the same blood type as her," he said with a small, polite smile.
"Yes, of course. It's a relief Amu-san had someone she knew with that blood type." Kairi reached his hand out to shake Tadase's. "Right, Hotori-kun, let me see your phone so I can give you my number."
Tadase nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket, handing it to Kairi. Kairi put his number into Tadase's phone and sent a message so Kairi himself would know the number. He then shook Tadase's hand and lead Yaya off to the front.
"We'll see you later," Kairi called out as he walked away. "Possibly."
A/N: I can't believe I have to tweak something I've already tweaked once just to make sure it makes sense. I could re-write something 3 times and still not be satisfied, sometimes, I swear.
Anyway, I changed a bit here but I think I also opened up space for a new friendship as well as a better solution to the 'problem' of this story. I hope whoever is reading this is enjoying this so far. (I see u, 1 follower of the story, who I won't call out besides that)
Until next chapter
-Artiikii