Okay, here's another chapter! Sadly, no climactic battle between Kanone and Gerard just yet, apologies.
Jay Hayden: Thanks, I'm sure he will.
Draisen: I know, I figured it would be more rewarding than seeing Elaina get beaten by him.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Fairly likely, yes.
Pokemonking0924: You seem to have severely misjudged Dakota's character.
Hellraiserphoenix: Well… they aren't.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 92
"Dakota!" Serefina ran into the waiting room of the infirmary, panting. "What's going on? What did they say?"
"They… he's going in for an MRI Scan," Dakota muttered. To Serefina's eyes, she looked completely drained of energy. She wasn't sitting in her chair, more like collapsed on top of it, utterly defeated. "He… he didn't ever wake up, so… they think…"
Well, she was clearly no help. Serefina turned away from the stunned reporter and walked over to the help desk, a determined look on her face.
"Excuse me!"
"Yes? How can I help you?" The receptionist asked.
"Our friend just came here by the ambulance, and I was wondering if he was okay?" Serefina asked, frowning.
"He? Oh, the head trauma one…" the receptionist glanced at her clipboard, and then turned to her computer, typing some things in. "Akira… Saroyan, yes?"
"That's him."
"According to this, his procedure is all over and done with. They just moved him into Room… 114."
"Can we see him?"
"The nurse is probably still with him now, but I suppose it's okay. If his injuries were critical we'd be transferring him to a real hospital, after all."
"Oh, that's a relief," Serefina sighed, holding her hand over her chest. "Dakota!" Her sharp voice snapped Dakota out of her fugue after a few seconds, the redhead glancing up at her in confusion.
"They said we can go in to see him."
"Really?!" Dakota jumped to her feet, reinvigorated. She pushed Serefina out of the way and sprinted past the double doors towards the infirmary wards.
"Hey! No running in the hallways, you'll disturb the other patients!" The receptionist snapped.
"…Sorry," Serefina said apologetically, shaking her head. At least wait until I give you the room number.
Needless to say, when Serefina got to Akira's room, Dakota was nowhere to be seen. She stepped inside, greeting the young nurse who had just finished hanging a clipboard in front of his bed.
"Oh!" She said, surprised, glancing up at the student. "I didn't expect him to have visitors so soon."
"I came here straight from the scene," Serefina explained, smiling. "Well, we did… We were concerned about him, and…"
She glanced at the bed where Akira was laying. Thank god he wasn't hooked up to any sort of machinery. His arm was in a cast and he was bandaged up, particularly his head, but he was breathing under his own power, at least. He looked like he was just enjoying a restful sleep.
"Oh, I see," the nurse said, smiling kindly at her. Her eyes held a bit of a laugh to them, as though she was thinking something humorous as she looked at Serefina, much to the girl's confusion. Oh, well, there were more important things to consider, at any rate. Serefina blinked, and reached into her purse for her phone. Room 114, she typed.
She turned back to the nurse, her serious expression returning. "So what's wrong? Is he going to be…"
"He had a pretty severe concussion, but luckily there wasn't any brain damage. From what the doctor said, it seems he might wake up at any time," the nurse explained. Another sigh of relief from Serefina.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, and a panting Dakota burst into the room.
"Shh!" The nurse hissed. "There are sick people here!"
"Sorry," Dakota said, not even sparing the woman a second glance. She ran straight to Akira's side, looking down on him with tears in her eyes. She sat down beside him, placing a hand in front of his mouth. "Akira… is… is he…?"
"Well, as I was just telling his girlfriend, it appears that his concussion is nothing serious. His other injuries have already been set. He could wake up at any time." Her expression darkened. "Still, though… if he doesn't wake up by tomorrow evening… that could be a sign of serious problems. We'll have to transfer him to the hospital on the mainland… if his condition deteriorates instead of improves, well…"
She paused.
"O-oh! But that's just in the worst case! Like I explained, the doctor says he will most likely be fine after some rest! So don't worry!"
"I see…" Dakota said, nodding. Serefina glanced after the nurse as she left, suddenly realizing something she'd missed her saying.
"W-wait, I-I'm not!" But the nurse was already gone. Serefina went chalk-white. She slowly glanced back to Dakota.
"So, Seri," Dakota murmured, not even looking back at her, "I believe I heard something about someone's girlfriend?"
"D-did you?" Serefina asked, looking away, trying to put an innocent expression on her face. "I-I wouldn't know anything about that… are you sure you didn't just mishear because you were concerned with him?"
"Ah, I misheard, huh?" Dakota said, nodding.
"R-right, it's gotta be that."
"After all, Seri wouldn't be interested in Akira at all, right? She wouldn't do something stupid like that."
"Dakota-"
"It would be quite shocking," Dakota continued, "if I found out that my best friend actually had feelings for a guy like Akira, and not only that but she was in relationship with him, and that the two of them were hiding it from me this whole time, I don't even know what I would do if something like that happened. I'd be so shocked I might even do something stupid like post every single photo I have of you, uncensored, on every online account I have, alongside your phone number. But I mean, that's just silly, right? No way something like that could happen. Right?"
Serefina rolled her eyes. Dakota didn't even need to turn around for Serefina to feel the sheer malevolence rolling off of her.
"Dakota, it's not what you think. It's all a big misunderstanding. I don't have any feelings for Akira, I promise."
"Of course you don't, Seri, like I said, you would never do something like that." Serefina rolled her eyes again.
"Wow, you really are worried."
"…Of course I am…" Dakota said, her shoulders starting to tremble. "The nurse… she said… that he might have brain damage? That he might not wake up?"
As usual she's only taking things in the worst way possible… Serefina sighed, stepping up to Dakota and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"He's going to be fine, I'm sure. You two will be back to bickering before you know it."
Dakota nodded glumly.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Serefina reached into her purse and withdrew something, holding it in front of Dakota's face.
"My camera!" Dakota gasped, her face lighting up as she turned to Serefina. She took the device, cradling it lovingly against her cheek.
"I figured you wouldn't want to lose it, so I picked it up before we left," Serefina said, smiling.
"Thanks, Seri," Dakota said. "I'd hate to lose it! It's got amazing quality in both video and stills, and the shutter speed is-"
She paused, fumbling with it.
"…Is…" Dakota looked up at Serefina, her face filled with heartbreak, much to Serefina's confusion.
"It won't turn on…" she sniffed, shaking her head. "It won't turn on! It… it's…"
"It's okay, even if… even if, you know, it's broken!" Serefina said, waving her hands frantically. "We can go buy a new one!"
"But… I don't… I don't want a new one…" Dakota whined, tears falling from her eyes. "I just… I just got this one… Akira… Akira bought it for me… and now… now he's…"
She broke out into sobs at this point.
"What if… what if he never wakes up? This was so important… he bought it for me, and yet… if I won't ever see him again… I completely ruined it."
"He will!" Serefina exclaimed. "He's waking up soon! And when he does, I'm sure he'll be willing to go buy another camera with you!" She didn't really believe that, but it was better than seeing her friend cry.
"But… but what if…" Dakota looked down at the camera, and then turned her head to look at Akira's sleeping form. In a voice softer than a whisper, she voiced her fears as honestly as she could. "What if he doesn't want to 'buy another camera' with me?"
"Huh?" Serefina asked. "Well-"
"What if this was only a one time thing?!" She asked. "And… and… when he wakes up, then even if I tell him how I feel and ask him to 'buy another camera' with me he tells me that he doesn't want to? I mean… he was…" She swallowed.
"He 'bought this camera' with me… and even though I should have kept it close to my heart and treasured it… because I was selfish, I ended up making a huge mistake and completely ruining it, and now it won't ever be fixed!"
Serefina took a step back, sighing. She knew what Dakota meant, and she knew that the best thing she could do was to just let her work it all out of her system.
"And now… now I might never be able to tell him how much it meant to me when he 'bought this camera' with me… And even if he does wake up, then… it won't change anything. I had my one chance… and I blew it. All because I had to write that stupid article. There's no way he would ever want to 'buy a camera' again for someone as horrible and mean as me, right? After everything… what I've said, what I've done… he won't, he just won't, I'm so… so scared…"
She clenched the black casing of the broken camera to her shaking chest, looking up at Serefina with another heartbroken look that sent Serefina's heart aching.
"Seri…" Dakota wailed. "If I… if I asked him… I'm afraid that he would just tell me that I got the only 'camera' he would ever 'buy' for me…"
"What if I… what if I'm too late, Seri? What if I tell him how I feel… a-about my 'camera'… and he just tells me that I missed my chance?"
Serefina shook her head, tearing up alongside Dakota as the poor girl broke down crying, cradling her face in her hands.
"Dakota," Serefina said, kneeling down next to Dakota and draping her arms over her trembling shoulders, pulling the girl into a hug. "Akira will wake up. And when he does, then I think… you should be honest."
"Wha?"
"Tell him how you feel. How you're sorry that you hurt him and that you never meant to do something like that. Tell him what you really think about him, and maybe then you can ask him if he would be okay with going out to 'buy a camera' with you sometime?"
"He won't want to," she said, glancing away from Serefina.
"Akira's a shy guy. Sure, the two of you don't get along that well…"
Dakota snorted through her tears, cracking a tiny smile in spite of herself.
"…But I know that in spite of what he says, he doesn't hate you. In fact, it might be… that he even likes you. So why not give it a shot? You never know what could happen. Only this time, you won't have to wait up until 3 in the morning."
Dakota wiped her face, chuckling.
"Thanks, Seri… you really are the best," Dakota laughed, separating herself from Serefina, drying off her tears. "I… I'm good now, Seri. I really think I am."
"I'm glad," Serefina smiled, pulling back from Dakota so her hands were on her shoulders, staring the redhead in the eyes. "Don't worry, whatever happens, I'll support you. You'll be fine."
Serefina's phone dinged, and she glanced down at where she'd placed it. She reached down and lifted it up, her eyes widening.
"What's up?" Dakota asked.
"Oh, wow, you won't believe this, Dakota!"
"What?" Dakota repeated, slightly more insistent.
"Eli just texted me. It turns out that there's a certain, uh… match that's about to go down, right after we left."
"A match?!" Dakota said. "What kind of match? Not Kanone and Elaina! Elaina's in the infirmary, who the heck's fighting?"
"Well, you were half right," Serefina shrugged. "It seems that Kanone is going to be fighting against Gerard Alkwest."
"No…!" Dakota said, her mouth falling open in shock. "Seriously?!"
"I know, right?" Serefina said. "I'm gonna head over and check it out, wanna come with?"
"Of course, I-" Dakota halted her rise out of her seat, glancing back to Akira. "…You go."
"Seriously? You're missing your chance to get a front row seat for the match of the year!" Serefina gasped, smiling in spite of herself. "To think you'd give up something like that…"
Dakota looked down, blushing, the answer plain and simple to see.
"I guess you really have changed," Serefina smiled. "I hope he says yes."
Dakota smiled, saying goodbye to Serefina as the curvaceous brunette left.
Serefina stepped outside, blushing, holding her hand over her mouth.
Good luck~
She hummed to herself, a beaming smile on her face as she headed back to the stadium to watch this supposedly amazing match that was about to take place.
Meanwhile, Dakota was left alone with the slumbering Akira. Her heart was beating fast as she looked down at his face. She swallowed. He was going to be fine. She knew that. She'd cried more than enough today, and she hated crying. Tears weren't going to solve problems. She placed the broken camera down on the nightstand and scooted up next to him, placing her hand on his unbroken arm.
"Hey…" she whispered. "Hey, Akira…"
He, of course, did not respond, so she continued, "I told you to be careful, didn't I? What do you think you're doing, you big dummy, getting yourself all torn up like this? You insensitive jerk. No one… no one wanted you to get hurt. What… what would happen to Satsuki if she lost you? Did you even think about that? I can't take care of her, you know! Without you, she'd…"
Dakota paused, shaking her head. This was stupid. She was just projecting. What would "Satsuki" do if she lost him? That was just another lie because she couldn't come clean with how she really felt.
"Hey, dummy… didn't you even think… how I would feel? If you got killed… because of the information I worked my butt off for? I… I wouldn't know what to do with myself, I'd be completely lost. And now look… here you are… and I can't even yell at you for being stupid because you aren't awake to hear it."
Dakota slid her hand down his arm until she reached his hand. She gingerly wrapped her fingers around his, feeling the heat coming off of his body.
"You have to wake up. You… you have to. I don't… If I have to write your obituary, there's no way I'd ever be able to recover from that. So please… just open your eyes. Then we can… I mean… We… we were just starting to get back to how it was before… you don't want to just let all of that go to waste, right?"
She smiled, unable to fight back her crying any longer. She clenched his hand tightly, her knuckles turning white. Her tears left small dark spots on the pale green bedsheets, spatters that faded to nothing within moments only to be replaced by so many more.
"If you're just doing this to punish me, it's enough. I understand. I'm sorry, for everything, so please… we can go back to how things used to be, when it was you and me, laughing and talking about what we would do after class, or how we'd want to spend our weekends… I'll tell you so many stories of the latest juicy gossip, and you'll just roll your eyes at me, and then you'll tell me about how you're training your pokemon, and who you're looking forward to fighting next… don't you remember? That light in your eyes when you talked about being the strongest… when you told me about all the places you wanted to travel…"
She coughed, a little more, wiping her eyes.
"My point is… we've got so much ahead of us, we can't let it end here. You still… I still… I still have so much I want to talk to you about… I know that you must hate me, but I don't even mind being hated… as long as it means I can finally tell you… That night… I waited four hours… hoping, wishing that each person I saw walking by in the dark would be you, and you would apologize for showing up so late, and I shrug it off because it wouldn't matter anyway, because you were you, and you were finally here, and I could finally tell you…"
She swallowed.
"But then when I ruined it… well then it was all gone. And if things weren't going to go how I wanted, then I might as well be hated, so at least I could still be around you, even as nothing more than a pest. Even that was better than just being forgotten. Even now, if that's what you want… then you can hate me, curse me, I don't even care anymore. I just… I just want to hear your voice again. I want to talk with you about our dreams some more, I want to see that light in your eyes, even just one more time… and hear about everything you've done each day, even if you were getting all shy and mad about it, because at least then you'll be looking at me, right? And you can't blame me for that… Just wake up, dummy. Just wake up so I can tell you how sorry I am… and tell you how much I want us to be us again. How much I wished I'd skipped writing my story that day, and rather than wait at that fountain in the snow, I ran straight to your room and told you how I felt… how much I wanted to hear from you, how much you inspired me to a dream I could treasure all on my own, for the first time ever… and all about how it was those dreams of yours that made me fall in love with you."
"Hey… did you hear what I said?" She asked, smiling. "I told you that I'd give you an answer when you first told me, remember? I know I made you wait a long time to hear it… but I'm ready to tell you now. That's my answer. I love you too. So come on. Wake up. Say something, please. Tell me that you hate me. Tell me that I'm a horrible bitch and you'd never go out with me in a million years. Just… just say something, please…"
She hung her head, trembling.
"Please just wake up soon..."
Will Akira wake up from his coma? We can only hope.