AN - Well it may be a bit late, but hey! Better late than never right?
Here's my Valentine's gift for thee!
Enjoy the chapter and please Follow, Favorite and leave a Review or I'll summon the Great Red on yeh! ;)
No seriously; Reviews are the only thing that keeps an Author motivated!
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Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD it belongs to its respective owner.
I only own the SIOC.
Speech: "What"
Thoughts / Inner speech: 'What'
Speech in non-japanese language: "What"
Demonic/Distorted voices: "What"
Tiamat Speech: [What]
青竜帝 - SEIRYUUTEI
THE BLUE DRAGON EMPEROR
=INTERLUDE=
=Hyoudou Haruna=
-Kuoh Hospital, late evening-
-8 days after the car accident-
Hiroshi has always been a peculiar child...
Always…
Ever since his birth… unlike what most parents would typically expect from their newborn; Hiroshi has always been collected, well behaved and most of all incredibly intelligent for someone not even five years of age yet…
However it was also his mature personality, that always made me worry Hiroshi may end up a loner, as it is very common for the smarter kids to be singled out from the masses due to the vast difference in intelligence. Something which often leads to becoming bullied and socially withdrawn...
This also made me fear my son could suffer from autism!
But fortunately it turned out my worries were for naught and got soon put to rest... seeing how Hiroshi, despite his smarts and maturity, was actually highly social boy. As was seen how he always hung around with Issei and Irina, despite their very energetic natures that is a high contrast to Hiroshi's own.
And his fondness of Irina was certainly not lost to anyone either, nor the fact how Irina basically has always stuck onto him like a glue, much to my and Maria's absolute glee.
For so many years my dearest husband and I have always struggled in conceiving a child… After so many failed attempts, having even gone through two miscarriages (both of which felt as if a knife was stabbed through my heart)... And then one day... Not only was I blessed with a child, but a set of perfectly healthy twins! My own little miracles of Honesty (Issei) and Generosity (Hiroshi)...
I was given a taste of the ultimate bliss that only those experienced with motherhood would ever know of…
Everything felt perfect in our small but happy family... And yet...
*Beep* … *Beep* … *Beep* … *Beep*...
How... Why did it all go so wrong so fast…
For our happiness to be torn apart like this…
A-and why d-did it have to be Hiroshi!? Why did it have to be one of my precious little boys!? WHY!?
This whole fiasco has been destroying me from inside-out… Every day had been an unending agony, as I desperately prayed for my comatose son's recovery...
While our family are all technically of Christian fate; we however are not what one would call true believers of our religion, but ever since the... incident, there has not been a single day where I haven't been praying for my son's life...
Every morning, every night... I'd pray for all deities out there for my son to just wake up and return to his family… Back to me...
All this because of one wretched man... the driver, who did this to my son... Later it was uncovered by the police that the driver had already been intoxicated with something once the doctors had finished with their autopsy on the man's body (yes it turned out he didn't survive the crash) and not only that, a couple days later the driver's face was shown in the television news (covering the whole incident). There it was then revealed that the man was in fact a convicted criminal (literally some drug addict scum!), who was apparently let out of prison temporarily on a parole period due to good behavior...
But as was seen; it didn't take long for him to break into the first sportscar car he saw and decided to go for a test ride right then and there... Which turned out to be the last for him… Good riddance, people like him...
They say that Karma is a bitch, but I now believe otherwise...
As I gazed upon my son's peaceful face as he slept, I smiled down at him lovingly, before I reached over with my free hand, while my other hand still held onto one of his (as I refused to let go of his hand even for a second), and gently brushed his left cheek with the back of my fingers.
"Mou… Just how long are you planning to sleep, Hiro-chan? Your mommy is starting to get anxious, you know..." I whispered to him, and subconsciously felt myself tightening my grip on his small hand slightly.
Then my smile shifted into that of melancholy, when a sense of irony came to me as I called him by his nickname…
I always did have the habit of calling my little Hiroshi "Hiro-Chan" every now and then, mostly to tease him a bit since I've always loved how bashful he gets whenever I call him that (especially with his usual calm demeanor), although it came to no small amount of joy, when it came to my notice how I was literally the sole person Hiroshi ever allowed to call him with the "Chan" suffix without being in the receiving end of his rather infamous stinkeye for the effort, or as Irina liked calling it, The Hiro-Glare™.
Even Maria isn't spared from that look, if anything she gets the worst of it for some reason. Irina is the same in that regard, except she simply calls him "Hiro", a nickname that kinda just stuck considering Irina has called him that from since she spoke her first words as a baby... first words which funnily enough turned out to be my son's name (or at least the first two syllables of it).
I couldn't resist the small, nostalgia-filled giggle from escaping my lips as I recalled the day when Irina repeatedly called her father an idiot along with my son and Touji's over-the-top reaction to it.
But now... To think something that had started out as an endearing nickname for my baby boy has turned into something borderline iconic...
Hiro... just stretch the "i" in it a bit during pronouncing and you get the english word, Hero. Which couldn't be closer to truth when it comes to my son's actions...
While I still feel greatly conflicted between great pride for my son's heroism for how he came in to Irina's rescue without hesitation and maternal fury for how his altruistic recklessness had made his family worried sick! One thing is for sure however...
Hero or not, once he wakes up; I swear he will be grounded till the time he enters college!
Then my gaze lingered towards the bandaged portion of my son's head… And almost immediately I felt my breath hitch as my throat quenched.
Under that… is Hiroshi's permanent reminder of the whole incident…
Before I knew it my hands started shaking, and I had to close my eyes in order to focus on my breathing to compose my nerves.
Hiroshi... isn't the only one left with a scar from the incident… Although in my case… it cut deeply into me on a physiological level...
Ever since Hiroshi's hospitalization; I found out I could no longer stand the sight of blood...
The intensity of my reaction tends to vary, ranging between momentary freezing to outright panic attacks, depending heavily on the amount of blood seen and how I come into contact with it…
At worst cases I would lose all sense of my surroundings and start breathing erratically, until I fall into a sense of hysteria as I get locked inside my own mind, forced to relive the God-awful experience, where I was holding onto my son like a lifeline as he slow̖͠l͐ͅỳ̥ ͇̻̱͂͊̌bl̢̞̦̪͌̓̒͗͢͠—̧͙̺͍̃̃̓̓͘͢
B̙̾̕͟L̼̙̓̋E̹̒E̯͋D̢͗Į͎̅͒N͔͔̅̍G̨̓!͖̮̺͐́͝ M̥̫͛̎Ÿ̦̹͒B̧̘̭̗̐͛̑͞A̪̽BY̝̣͞͞'̭̼̀̔S͓̅B͍̌L̥̺͒͞Ē̜̺̬̆͗E̼̺͋̆D̯̦̍̕I͈̙̮̊̌̂NG!̣́ ̧͗B̖̅̂͜L͉̘̱͒̏̍O̘̾O̰̒͐͜D̄ͅ!̡̜̬̾̃͊ ̪͕̊̈́B̖̂L̞̥̓͋̉ͅO̞̙̮̔͐͡OD͔̽!̫͛ ̧͍̽̂B̘̕L̢͈̂̽Ǒ̹Ȏ̱̉͘͜͢D̝͗͐͢! ͈͍̗̒̌͝S͎̥͚̱͗̉̚͡Ȍ̩͈̂M̤̱̺͌̏̿Ǔ͇͓̚͢͢͞͝C̨͎͇̙͌̔̿͋H̤͙͗̀B̪͝Ḷ̢͚̌̿͝Ỏ̜͉͒̆ͅÒ̧̪͊D͈̓̈́͢!̻̪́̕ ̖̠̪̱͒͗̋̚ ̭͚̓̔S̟̅T̛̞̼̻͂̿͂͜Ǫ̰̮̓̉̏P̨̆!͓̙̮̉͌̓ ̟̝̯̏̿͑͋͟S͓̾T̤̽Ó̡̤̘̭̊͊͞P̲̏!̣̂ ̪͉̯̯͊̎̈́͞P̺̫̈́̕Ḷ͇̖̓̆̕E͔͎̎͡A͆͢S̬̫̾̅E̼̥͌̑Ş͞T͕̫̰̑̐͗O͓͙̽͑P̢̡̟̣͂̾̓͛!̪̪̰̐̎́ ͔̐W͈̤̞͂̂͢͝͡H̪̲̏͠Y̬̞̓͠W̹̆O͔͝N͖̖̒̀T̬̝̈̑Î͔T̰̔S̖͖͖̔̉͋͐͟T̙͍̜̅͊̎O͍̞̞̮̿̃̾̕P̹̟͙̀͊͛!̥̀?͎͕̼̓͒̇
S̮͇̎̌OM͚̩̹̭̓́̑͑Ẻ̠̩͐B̯͉̱̦͛̋̏̕O͉͓͒͘Ḑ̺͛͘Ỹ̬͈̜̮̂̊͋M̟̬͖̹̉̄̆͆A͕̍̓́̎͢͢͢K͖̯̭̓̽̐Ẻ͉̥́I̖͘T̻͍̽͐Ș̙̉͐T̿͢Ó̻̯̙͚̀̅̈P!͉̍͢͡S͔͖̃̈Ö̺́MEB͔͖̉̋͟͠O̧͉̽̔D͍̒Y̭̜̔͠P̖̒LE͉͆͌ͅA̭̼̺͐͆͝S̨̗̐̕E̛̫̐͜Ś̡̹͍̿͑̓͜À͉̻̺̊̌V͇̲̾͘È͓̘̥̉͛M̞̠͎͛͂͠Y̘̣͑͡B̰͡Ḁ̰̈̃̀ͅḄ̡̨̐͐͗͒͟Ỹ̮̜̏̐ͅ!̙̫̰̓̚͡
I slammed a palm against my mouth, forcefully holding myself back from throwing up as the bile begun to form down my throat!
D-de-deep breaths Haruna! Deep breaths~...
Now... ever since then… if I ever get as much as a glimpse of anything that resembled blood… I'd always feel myself flashing back to that day... the day I held my precious son in my arms… his broken form, completely covered in blood… his own BLOOD...
NO!
I shook my head furiously, to rid myself of that image!
One of the psychiatrists I was told to visit, after the traumatizing experience, has diagnosed me with a case of PTSD… which triggers in the form of hemophobia, the fear of blood… It doesn't even have to be actual blood… During tests it turns out that any sort of liquid that shares the same color and consistency as blood, could trigger the attack…
After a few minutes I finally managed to get regain the control of my body and most of all my breathing, just in time as I heard the door of the entrance open behind me.
"I had an inkling you'd still be here this evening as well, Hyoudou-san." I heard feminine voice which I recognized coming from the entrance. I turned towards the voice and was met with the same nurse who has been taking care of my son since his hospitalization. Nurse Murayama. She was a beautiful young lady, with a slender body type, captivating grey eyes and chocolate brown tresses framing her face while the hair in the back was braided into a professional bun.
When our eyes met; the said nurse immediately flinched at seeing my face. I honestly can't blame her, I must look absolutely dreadful with my bloodshot eyes and the dark bags beneath them...
"My goodness, Ma'am... You need to get some rest! You look like you're at the brink of collapsing." Nurse quietly but strongly reprimanded in clear concern, seeing my condition.
I couldn't help but let out a mirthless laugh. "Easier said than done, Murayama-san... How do you expect me to get a wink of sleep, when I always go back to that day whenever I dare to close my eyes?" I asked the younger woman in a rhetorical manner.
The woman gave me a look of sympathy. "Do you need any water? You look… incredibly pale..." She offered in concern.
Right, I was at the brink of another panic attack a minute ago...
I gave the kind nurse a small smile, before I shook my head in negative. "That won't necessary, but thank you for concern."
Murayama nodded in an uncertain manner. "If you say so… but that still doesn't change the fact you look like a dead woman walking." The woman preached to me, before she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.
Well… This nurse certainly is not the type to pull back punches to get her point through...
Then she walked up until she stood right beside me, in order to check on the medical equipment my son is wired to.
"So with that in mind; would you like for us to prescribe a medication for you? Something... Anything to help you sleep?" Murayama kindly inquired, only giving a small side glance my way, as she took in the readings given by the vital sign monitors.
"I..." I was hesitant at first, not exactly all that fond for medical sleep induction methods due to their side effects and how they always produce dreamless sleeps... However at this point the latter sounds like a blessing over the alternative I suffer from now... "I'd appreciate that... Thank you."
The nurse, after finishing up with her adjustments on the IV, she then turned to address me fully and gave nod in acknowledgment. "I'll see what I can get for you before you head home. Which reminds me; Just letting you know that the visiting times are almost up Hyoudou-san. I hate to say this, but you have to vacate the room soon... and really get some shut-eye while at it, Ma'am..." The nurse told me gently, but there was a clear hint of sternness in her tone by the end of her sentence.
I bit on the corner of my lower lips and honest to God whimpered at the thought of leaving my precious son behind, despite it already been over a week since Hiroshi was brought in...
"C-can't I stay for couple of more minutes?" I pleaded the nurse, but never did I avert my eyes away from my baby as I gently caressed the brown locks of his hair as he slept with such a peaceful expression.
Murayama seemed hesitant for a moment. "That's..." before she relented with a sigh. "I understand, Ma'am. I'll tell the staff that you will be here for ten more minutes, once I'm done with the scheduled checkups on your son... But that's all I can give you..."
I inclined my head for the kindhearted nurse, in gratitude. "T-thank you, Murayama-san... I mean it..."
The nurse smiled at me in great sympathy, before she shook her head. "Think nothing of it, Hyoudou-san. After all I... I know full well just what you are going through right now..."
That one was enough to give me a pause and this time I turned my full attention to the nurse, narrowing my eyes at her. "How...?" I asked, or more like demanded, in a whisper. Could you really blame me? If this was one of those fake sympathizers, I'd maul this girl's face off in a heartbeat.
Nurse Murayama let out a sad sigh as her expression turned melancholic. "A year ago... I lost my parents in a car accident..." I gasped at that, placing a hand over my mouth in shock. All my previous doubt gone in an instant.
Murayama took this as her cue to continue with her tale. "That time, my family were only visiting some of our relatives living in the countryside a couple dozen miles to the south-east from Tokyo. Mom and dad took my 3 year old baby sister along the trip, however since the entrance exams for the college I wished to enter were right behind the corner; I had to pass up on the offer to go with them and stay at home instead to prepare... Which ironically turned out to be the sole reason I'm still even here, living 'n kicking, speaking with you right now..." She gave me a bittersweet smile, filled with melancholic sadness.
There was something in the way she phrased it that made my curiosity piqued. "W-what do you mean by that?"
Murayama gave a sad smile, before she faced the lone window in the room (a few feet away from Hiroshi's bed), looking outside, at our hometown highlighted by various night lights, with a faraway look in her steel grey eyes.
"That decision may've just saved my life... The car my parents drove was hit by a speeding truck at a traffic intersection… According to the police, the sole reason my sister even managed to survive through the crash was because how small she was... But unfortunately it was not without repercussions… Both of my sister's legs got severely damaged from it…" She said forlornly...
I gasped. "My God… w-was she…?" I started with hesitance.
It seems she knew exactly what I was about to insinuate, seeing how she calmly shook her head in negative. "Luckily no, she was not crippled. Not for life at least, but she did have to go through a very throughout surgery for her legs to be properly fixed… such procedure of course required a lot of funds…" And she went on with her tale.
Murayama Ageha's story was sad, but incredibly inspiring one… Giving me the idea just how selfless of a person this nurse before me is…
Ageha, a young woman with great future ambitions to become a doctor, ever since she heard of her parent's fate and the horrid predicament her baby sister was in; without any hesitation whatsoever, she had all but abandoned her plans for college and used the money she had invested for her future tuition fees in order to pay for her sister's surgery instead. However knowing she had to plan ahead in long-term and find a way to earn money (since she couldn't just depend on her inheritance nor was she willing to), both to cover all the expenses needed for her sister's future treatments (something which is still ongoing) and to sustain their livelihoods.
However in Japan finding a well paying job without college degree would prove to be very difficult, but luckily Ageha didn't have to worry about employment issues for long. One day, during one of her visits of her sister, Hase Kazuto, a renown doctor and a close friend of her later mother's (the very same man, who's responsible for Hiroshi's treatment right now), had approached her with an offer for apprenticeship, knowing about Ageha's studies on medicine, which was accompanied with a chance for steady job and source of income...
Needless to say; it wasn't an opportunity she could just pass on...
And now here she is. Already past her internship period and a hard working full-time nurse of this hospital.
"Hase-sensei… He'd be the person I look up to the most." Ageha said with a bright smile, before the smile turned a tad forced. "Once you get over those perverted old man's antics of his.. I mean, sure there are times I want nothing more than shove a bamboo sword where sun doesn't shine, shiv him in the nuts, kick him down the stairs, perhaps break a bone at times when he—" And the rant went on, to which I couldn't help but let out a nervous laugh in response.
D-does this girl truly look up to that man I wonder…
"But! Despite his flaws… He took me under his wing, taught me in his ways of healing and even helps with my sister's rehabilitation whenever he got the time and yet… he barely asked for anything in return except to be his assistant and perhaps take over his mantle in the future." Her expression then shifted into that of forlorn melancholy. "And from what I've heard from him… had my parents had not died, and had I graduated from college proper; Mom, would've more than likely arranged internship between us… It's... ironic how the incident sped up that process..." She admitted sadly with a shake of her head.
Ageha then took another breath. "But still… while the loss of my parents had been devastating… I… I don't think I'd ever regret the decision I made to stay home that day... if I hadn't... my baby sister would've been left all alone in this world… Sure there is our uncle, but I don't think the neighborhood there would suit her that much." She finished in sheepish manner, packed with a small honest smile to which I couldn't help but return with a smile of my own.
"Murayama... thank you for telling me this… And I'm so sorry for your loss…" I gave her my gratitude and my deepest condolences, inclining my head for her.
Murayama gave me a soft smile, before she shook her head. "Don't be, I've gotten over it by now... I miss them dearly and there's not a single day I've ever stopped thinking of them... Honestly... it is rather refreshing to talk about it with someone, who at the very least knows what you are going through... At the times when someone who's life is practically filled with rainbows and ponies, comes up to you saying they know how you feel, despite that never being the case; makes you just want to maul their eyes out, am I right?" The woman asked with a knowing grin aimed towards me and I couldn't help but blush abashedly for being caught red-handed.
"W-was I really that obvious?"
The nurse let out a small laugh. "M-Ma'am, you looked like you were literally about to pounce on me if I so much as uttered a single word wrong!"
Needless to say, I had the tendency to look tad bit bashful (not to mention incredibly mortified) at that, as I covered my face with my left hand in embarrassment. "S-sorry..."
Ageha had another giggling fit. "Don't be. I told you didn't I? I know how it is like." Ageha remarked in a highly understanding tone, before glanced down towards Hiroshi with a soft smile. "Not to mention they're both of the same age..."
If I recall, she did mention her little sister was three, when she got into the accident… a year ago…?
Okay, my curiosity got the best of me. "Uhm… Say, Murayama-san…?"
"Ageha is fine, Ma'am. You're my senior after all." She said in a respectful tone, packed with a friendly smile.
"T-then… Ageha-chan?" I tentatively inquired, getting an approving nod from her for my choice of suffix. "I was just wondering… Y-you don't need to answer it if feels too personal, but… How old you were you again?"
The nurse blinked at me for a moment, then she began scratching the back of her neck with a hand, with a sheepish smile on her face. "Well… I'll be turning 19 by the end of the next month."
That's… quite an age gap between siblings…
Ageha averted her eyes in a slightly more embarrassed demeanor. "Let's just say my parents were sorta... carefree individuals during their youths until I was conceived…"
I blinked, before I covered my face in shame. "I… said it out loud didn't I?"
"Haha, relax you were only being curious." Ageha jovially proclaimed giving my left shoulder a gentle squeeze with a hand (which didn't alleviate my embarrassment all that much), but she let go shortly and went to finish up her check-ups on Hiroshi's vitals.
"Ageha-chan…?" I called out, after the moment of comfortable silence between us.
"Hm?" The nurse paused, giving me a curious side-glance.
"I… Thank you..." I bowed my head to her.
She gave me a soft smile. "It was my pleasure, Hyoudou-san."
I returned the smile. "Please, call me Haruna."
If anything Ageha's grin only brightened. "As you wish. Haruna-san!"
-Few days later-
-Hyoudou Household-
"Issei! Come down now, dinner's ready!" I called up the stairs for my younger son, as I was just about to set up the table ready for dinner.
"Coming Mom!" My son's voice echoed from the confines of his room.
It's been a couple of days since the talk I had with the nurse, Ageha. And ever since then… I've honestly been feeling a bit better.
I smiled lightly as my mind went back to the kindhearted nurse. If there's anything good that came out of this, it is that I've found a good friend in Ageha… And the sleeping aids she provided has certainly helped out to some degree as well, considering I no longer looked like a corpse walking now...
Humming to myself, I put on my oven mittens, before picking up the pot that contained the meal I provided for the family from the stove.
As I carried the stew over to our dinner table, my eyes subconsciously fell towards a specific seat by our table on the right side adjacent to mine… to which I couldn't help but stare at longingly… the spot Hiroshi usually sat at...
I let out a forlorn sigh, it just isn't the same without the whole family together…
I wonder if Ageha would be—
*Riiiing~~!*
I jumped and nearly dropped the stew I was carrying right on the floor, when the phone we had in the hallway began to ring all of sudden.
"I wonder who that is..." My husband mused out loud, placing his newspaper on the table before he stood up from his seat and walked outside the kitchen to answer the phone on the hallway.
*Click*
"Hello? Hyoudou speaking… yes, this is him… "
I placed the pot on the table and listened in with avid attention. Call it mother's intuition, but I had a feeling there was something very important about this call...
"Aha, yes. Hm? What was that? E-eh…? W-we'll be on our way, right now! Thank you very much!" *click* The phone was hang up.
"Haruna!" Keisuke suddenly called out, rushing out from the hallway and into the dinner room with a wide, tearful smile.
"K-Keisuke, w-was it...?" I asked, feeling hope rising in my chest seeing the smile my husband had.
"Dad?" Issei too called out in curiosity by the stairs.
"I-I got a call from the hospital... Hiroshi, he... Our son has woken up!"
We were off in a heartbeat, completely forgoing our dinner.
And never before has a 10 mile car ride felt so agonizingly long...
.
.
TBC
AN - Welp, took me basically another year, but here it is! Sonic the Hedgehog would be proud at my speed!
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And if interested; picture for Murayama Ageha will now also be available inside my profile page.