Saturday, November fifth 2022. Slightly cold, chance of rain.
Last night she slept a little better, but she spent the last two hours laying there, staring up at the ceiling. When she sees the sunlight start to peek through her thin white curtains she sits up, pulling her dark hair into a messy ponytail on top of her head. Grabbing hold of her book she slips on some fluffy socks that used to be white but are slowly graying as they ware. Saturday is a day that Yuri absolutely adores.
On days like this everyone sleeps in, so silently she opens the door to her bedroom, peeking out into the hallway. No sounds are made. Smiling she pulls the door open completely stepping out and into the open. Immediately her bare legs freeze in the morning breath of the cool fall breeze, drifting in casually from the partially open kitchen window. Last night she only slept in a long orange t-shirt, and she regrets, briefly, her lack of pants. Ignoring the chilled air she walks down the hallway, careful to be quiet as possible when sneaking by Hideki's room. Entering the living room she stops, making sure that no one is there.
No, everyone is still asleep. She makes a right turn into the kitchen, walking to the steel colored refrigerator. Quietly she fills a glass bowl with a few strawberries, and then with book and strawberries in hand, she opens the creaking door that leads to the back yard.
The brunette takes a seat on the wooden porch, her feet draping off of the side. She open the book to the page that she last read and pops a strawberry into her mouth. Yuri has done this every Saturday morning since she was a little girl. Her parents didn't know about it until she was a bit older, and they didn't stop her from doing it, yet she still keeps up her old habits of being sneaky.
This was a routine that she started shortly after her Grandpa passed away. When she was very small they would sit out on his back porch together. He would read her a story, picking up from where they had last left off, enjoying a bowl of strawberries together. She remembered the way the grass felt when it tickled her dangling feet. She remembered the way the wind and sun felt each changing season that they read together. It was him that got her into reading, but it didn't become vital to her until she was diagnosed.
When Yuri was about six, Hideki was born. He was never interested in the atmosphere that books created, so he and grandpa would search the garden for grasshoppers while Yuri sat on the porch with a bowl of fresh strawberries and a book. It wasn't to long after that when Yuri's grandfather passed away. Hideki doesn't remember him very well but Yuri doesn't blame him, he was only three, and in the midst of the family's grieving, she was diagnosed.
She finished about four chapters when she heard the TV get switched on in the living room. Smiling she finished the remaining strawberries and went inside. Kyo sat in his usual place in front of the TV, tiredly holding onto his stuffed monkey that he got for his second birthday four years ago. Yuri placed the empty bowl in the sink before returning her book to her room and joining Kyo on the floor. He gently accepted her presence, leaning into her shoulder and sharing his plush blanket.
The next to wake was their dad about an hour later. He leisurely ambled to the kitchen to make himself a pot of coffee and cut the fruit that they ate for breakfast each morning. Yuri left her place on the carpet to go to the kitchen. Her dad smiled at her and together they put together breakfast.
Yuri didn't do as much to help as she would have liked to. When she was little her dad would let her pour pancake mix into the pan, or even crack a few eggs. But once she was diagnosed most of those things stopped. This is because now she seemed weaker in his eyes, and so he babies her.
Yuri set the table frequently and poured juice on occasion, along with other smaller jobs that even Kyo could do. She didn't like this, but because of her dislike towards conflict, debate, argument, she never complained about it or asked to do more. She just did as instructed.
Hideki and her mom were the last ones to get up. It wasn't much of a surprise to Yuri. Hideki took after their mom, who would sleep until dinner if not disturbed. Giggling at her yawning brother stumbling into his seat at the table, she also sat. Her father placed a plate of food in front of both of them before calling to Kyo to join.
The family silently ate, just like any other meal until Yuri brought up her doctors appointment.
"Oh, that's right! I totally forgot-" Her mother glances down at her watch before continuing, "It starts in forty minutes!"
Her mother quickly eats the rest of the food on her plate before rushing into the bathroom to tame her bed head. Yuri chuckles at her mom, she always was one of the kids, and Yuri's best friend.
Yuri eats until she is full before placing her plate into the sink and taking to her room to get dressed. She pulls a baby blue colored top on, tucking it into a pair of old skinny jeans that have a couple of tears and faded spots. She throws a black jacket over her shirt before swallowing her pills and combing her messy hair. She decides to leave it down,Not really having the time to style it much.
She rushes out of her room to meet her family who all seem to be ready. Although, she can tell that Hideki didn't even try, what with his uncombed hair and clothes from yesterday on.
"Hurry, or we'll be late!"
She ties her shoes as fast as she possibly can before running to catch up with her parents. On their way to the appointment they plan to drop Hideki off at a friends house, and Kyo at her aunt's.
"Look! My friends from school were talking about that during break!" Hideki's eyes light up as he practically climbs over Yuri to get a look at the electronic billboard advertising something that looked like a metal helmet. With his face pressed against the car window he rambled on and on about it.
"It was built by this super smart guy, Akihiko Kayaba! I want to be like him someday! He created this game, Sword Art Online, or SAO, beta testers say that it feels like real life!" His excitement causes Yuri to smile. She has no doubt in her mind that her younger brother will someday create something amazing.
Yuri listened with mild interest as her brother continued to tell her about the game, Kayaba and the metal helmet that she learned was called a NerveGear. Occasionally she would ask a question, watching his eyes sparkle at her interest. She likes seeing her brother like this. Because he is happy, she is happy.
Kyo fell asleep somewhere in the midst of Hideki's rambling, so they were careful not to wake him up as their mom passed him onto their aunt. Hideki eventually calmed down and stared out of the window. When they made it to his friends house Yuri watched him leap out of the car and run to a boy who stood in the yard holding a robot toy.
She waved goodbye to him as her and her parents drove off.
The hospital. A place that kills her a little inside each time she comes. The gardens are well maintained, the sidewalk kept clean, a pleasant place if not for all of the death that surrounded it.
As they moved in strides to the polished glass entrance, they would pass the occasional patient conversing with a visitor, breathing the fresh air for the first time in a long time.
Soon the sights end as they enter through the spotless sliding doors and turn to the left to talk to the pretty receptionist at the front desk. It's deathly silent.
"Dr. Fujimoto will be with you soon, for now please take a seat in our waiting area." Yuri follows her parents there, lagging behind a few steps to take in her surroundings. How could someone want to work here? She could feel the life being sucked out of her, just walking around the main floor.
Her parents already sit in the cushy chairs of the waiting room when Yuri caches up to them. She takes her seat between them, staring out of the window not far ahead.
She hates this place.
"Yuri!" Nurse Mahki ran to the short girl, her curly blonde hair bouncing behind her. Nurse Mahki is like a second mother to Yuri. When she was first hospitalized, Mahki not only took care of her, but also read her stories every night until she was released. Mahki graduated from the Tokyo Self-Defense Senior Nurse Academy. She is supposed to be working in the National Self-Defense Hospital, but somehow ended up here, with Yuri.
"You don't know how much I've missed you, kiddo!" Mahki runs her fingers through Yuri's messy bangs. Yuri swats her hand away just as Hideki did yesterday. Smiling, they stroll to the elevators. Once Yuri's parents have joined them inside Mahki jams the button labeled with the number five.
On the way up, Mahki chats with her parents about the weather and other pointless things, allowing Yuri to enjoy the view of the city through the glass side of the elevator as they move up. This used to scare her, but now that she is older she enjoys it, a lot. She recalls when she was thirteen and would sit in the elevator for hours at a time, pressing the buttons to take her up and down. Smiling at the thought she is tempted to press the button back down to floor one so they have to do it again, but seeing as it would make Mahki irritated, she does not.
Mahki does the usual before Dr. Fujimoto gets there. She takes a sample of Yuri's blood, weighs her, measures her height, asks her a few questions about her health and performs a few tests. Then she leaves.
Yuri sits on the examine table looking down at the dinosaur band-aid that Mahki put over the small bleeding hole created by a needle that drew her blood. It has a heart drawn in blue pen over the blue dino. She smiles. When she was ten she used to demand the dinosaur kind. Each time she claimed that the blue one was the best. Since then it was the only one she ever received, with a heart around that specific dino.
She looks away from it, and turns her head down to her parents that sit across from her on the chairs provided a few feet away. Her mother reads a book, her father stares down at his phone, probably looking at a new recipe to try. With nothing to do she swings her feet, looking out of the small window to her right. It's different, she thinks, Looking out of this window and seeing the small cars race to their destination, then being in one of those small cars yourself.
"Good morning," Dr. Fujimoto nods at each of them, entering the room in a cheery fashion. He applies some disinfectant gel to his hands before looking over the information that Mahki collected earlier.
"How has the sleeping medication been working?" He asks Yuri as he takes her heart rate.
"Fine, I guess... actually, the real question is when does it work?"
He chuckles slightly at her answer. He has always been something like an uncle to her, so their chatting is pretty casual. He has been taking care of her since the day she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital only to be diagnosed.
He turns to her parents, asking them a few questions about her health. It is then that a small knock is heard, and Mahki enters the room, a dejected look on her face. She hands a few papers to Dr. Fujimoto before leaving the room silently. After a while he speaks.
"Um... Mr. and Mrs. Endo, may I have a word with you out in the hallway?"