"So Love, should we tell her?" Kojima asks, adjusting his bed so that he is sitting in an upright position making it easier to see his boyfriend.
"Psh do we even have a choice? She'll find out eventually. This is your mom after all," Seiji responds, flopping back first on the foot of the much too long hospital bed. Mirai left not long ago, saying that she had to meet someone important
Kojima moves around the various tubes and wires in such a way so that there's more room, beckoning him to join afterwards.
"If we do tell her, we will really be official huh?"
Seiji obliges and sits in the cleared spot, gently resting his head in the crook of his lover's neck, "uh-huh..."
"Hey, Love, If telling her means that we're moving too fast we don't have to you know," Kojima wraps his arm around Seiji and pulls him in even closer.
"No it's not that. It's just..." he sighs and lets out a breath he didn't know that he was holding in, "what if she doesn't approve y'know? What if-"
"Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, I'm almost a hundred percent sure that she'll approve of us. I know how you feel, I felt the same way just before I came out to her. But when I did, she hugged me in delight and told me, 'I love you, that stuff doesn't matter to me'." Kojima kisses the top of his boyfriend's head, "she also told me that she was getting worried about me being in the closet so long I forgot I was there. And if for some idiotic reason she doesn't, then screw her. That won't change how I feel about you."
"But-"
"No buts about it! There's a reason why I've been head over heels for you since the final year of highschool."
Seiji relaxes, "okay, thank you Yosh."
"So, when should we tell her?"
He smirks, "probably the last day she is here, but it should be like this big dramatic reveal!"
"Heh, you're on it Sage-boy," Kojima snickers as Seiji glares at him.
"Hey watch your mouth Small Island!"
"Yeah can you do that for me?"
"How?"
Yoshiyuki smirks as his lips gently caress those of Seiji's. "Just like that~"
"That was smooooooth man! Like god damn!" Seiji laughs.
The Next Day, Tokyo U Hospital, 12:46 P.M
"You know, they should really redesign how these IV's work, if I wanted I could yank this right out of you putting your life at risk," Mirai says, inspecting one of her son's IV lines, "I remember when your sister was in the hospital due to diabetic shock, and since she talks with exaggerated hand movements she had this problem where whenever she really got into talking she would accidentally pull out her saline line!"
"Yup, eventually I had to grip her arms just so that would stop," Kojima adds in, "she would get so pissed at me when I did that, that I made it a habit to grab her arms randomly for years just to annoy the hell out of her, it was hysterical!"
Mirai giggles, "as revenge didn't she start taking away your plate of food every time you got distracted when eating, and wait to see how long it would take before you noticed?"
"Ugggggggh! Yes she did," he tilts his head back in annoyance.
"One time I think it took you half an hour to realize you weren't eating anything, just air," Mirai looks out the large window in the room, "I miss her, you two were perfect in my mind."
Kojima just nods in response.
"Yoshi!"
"Hey Mom," he gulps, twiddling his thumbs nervously, "I have something I need to tell you."
"Hm? Yes, What is it?" she asks, turning around to face her son.
"When I was passed out... I saw her. I saw Yume."
"You...saw her?" Mirai's eyes widen in disbelief as she sits down in a chair beside the bed, "what do you mean?"
"I was in a strange...place... I don't know how to describe it. I was floating, and the background was black and blue, and I was in my monster form, but I couldn't feel or smell anything, it was a void. Then I looked to the side...that's when...I saw her. She wasn't fifteen either, she was all grown up and was my exact age." Yoshiyuki describes. His mother nods in acknowledgement as he puts his hands on his face, messing up his glasses, "I know that it was probably a dream but..."
"It didn't feel like a dream,
No,
This felt...real."
"It felt real?" she repeats,"how so?" could it be?
"It felt real because I touched her. I touched her with my own two...well paws, and I remember what she felt like."
"How so?"
"I don't know how, but as soon as we saw locked eyes, we ran towards each other, and just as we were about to touch we were stopped by some-sort of forcefield that rippled when we touched it. I don't think that it was even an atom thick. We banged against it for god knows how long, trying to reach each other. She was so close! Until suddenly, our arms went through as if it had weakened and we touched each other's shoulders. We just stared at our hand then back to one another, and touched each other again. We did this a couple of times just out of disbelief. Then we grabbed each other and hugged, squeezed even. She felt real, she looked real, she smelled real, I even felt her tears against my coat. We clung on for dear life, crying and never letting go, when the forcefield snapped and tore us away from each other, and I woke up." Tears are now streaming out of Yoshiyuki's eyes as he vividly remembers each moment, feeling it with his entire body, "I saw her mom! I really saw her!"
"Hey, Hey my Yoshi it's okay," Mirai wipes the tears from his face with her sleeve and pulls her distressed son in a caring embrace, stroking his hair lovingly, "maybe You really did see her."
Several hours later...
"Hey guys, they just released the cosplay contest theme for the Halloween dance," Ryoku pipes up from his phone, "...and it's kinda weird."
"What is it?" Kojima asks, sticking his tongue out in concentration. Yesterday, Seiji brought in a couple gaming consoles and hooked them up to the TV on the wall of the hospital room, and as of right now Kojima, Umi, and Seiji are playing some battle game, and it's a pretty close tie.
"You little motherfucker...get back here I'm not done with you yet!" Seiji mutters under his breath
Ryoku lightly chuckles and shakes his head, "Couples cosplay. It says in order to enter, you must be a couple gay or straight, and at the end of the night they have to perform some kind of skit. Kiddish I know, but what're we gonna do? It's not like we're dating anyone right?"
Completely forgetting that the other two are there, Seiji and Kojima give each other a look before raising both of their arms, almost as if they are gonna hit each other.
"Guess we're screw-"
"BAKUGOOOOU!" Seiji yells, locking his eyes with his boyfriend's.
"KIRISHIMAAA!" Kojima yells back as their hands hit each other and lock in place, pulling the other close with big grins on their faces.
"Heh heh heh! We're so gonna win this thing!" He cackles.
"We'll be the manliest couple there!" Seiji exclaims, flexing his bicep before the two raise their free fists into the air, tilting their heads back for an extra effect. Umi clasps her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide like saucers while Ryoku just sits there completely dumbfounded.
"OMG YOU GUYS ARE DATING! I CALLED IT, I FUCKING CALLED IT!" She squeals.
Both Kojima and Seiji just freeze in place, suddenly realizing their fatal mistake as their faces immediately become engulfed in flames. Oh shit... Sweat drops from their foreheads as they scramble to try and bullshit their way out of the now awkward situation.
"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Kojima blurts out in a flustered rage, waving his hands back and forth, "we-we mean as a couple of friends!"
"Y-yeah! a couple of friends, not anything romantic or anything like that!" Seiji chuckles, nervously scratching at the back of his neck.
"Hmmm..." Umi narrows her eyes as they shift from one liar to the other, "if that's true, then why are your faces so red? And-" she glances at Kojima's heart monitor, "why is your heart beating so fast?"
SHIT SHIT SHIT! THINK OF SOMETHING FAST KOJIMA! "I uhh...I'm, I'm dying? Yeah my heart is going because I am dying, really fast...right now!"
Seiji shoots him a glare that says, "what are you doing?"
Umi immediately bursts in a fit of roaring laughter "oh my god you two are the worst at lying!"
"Okay what is going on?" Ryoku interrupts, "so you guys are dating?"
"I-I...Um... w-well..." Kojima gulps.
"There's no point in hiding it Yosh," and in one fell swoop, Seiji kisses his boyfriend directly on the lips, which immediately make his heart monitor go haywire, while Umi just stands there smiling and giggling like an idiot My plan worked! she thinks to herself.
Meanwhile...
Mirai nervously taps her foot against the hard linoleum flooring of a quaint little coffee shop with only about four tables that seat approximately three people each. Her head is down to the floor but her ears are wide open, listening for a familiar voice to say.
"Micchan!"
Her face brightens up like an Led come to life as he lifts her head up to see a woman with brown curls in a wheelchair rolling her way towards her.
"Shuuchan!" Mirai runs up to Shuko and immediately squeezes her.
"Sis! It's been too long!" Shuko exclaims happily.
"Well, when you're a neuroscientist who has to travel the world it kinda takes you away from home," Mirai chuckles, rolling her sister to an empty table.
"I see you're still sporting a lab coat."
"They're useful what can I say?"
The two order coffees and immediately get to talking.
"So how have you been?" Mirai asks
"Oh you know..."
They end up talking for hours and wondering around the Japanese city as the sunlight slowly fades away from behind them.