"Hm! Hm! Hm!"

Rita Ainsworth finished folding her clothes cheerfully, still replaying the events of last night. She neatly organised her stuff in her corner of Ryuunosuke's room, and stuck a few heartwarming words on his monitors, neatly written on sticky-notes.

"...love...you! There we go! Can't wait to see his face...," she hummed as she skipped out of the room. Today was going to be a good day for her. Everyone except her and Ryuunosuke had left the house for school or university, elliciting all sorts of lewd ideas from the English girl.

"Fufufu...where did I leave those cat ears...oh man...his face when I-!"

She felt her legs crumble like it was a falling Jenga tower, and she tumbled down the stairs with a cacophony of heavy thuds. All she could feel was pain in her legs and back as her eyes were closed.

"A...h...!," she heaved, feeling the air leak out of her body. She grit her teeth in pain, remaining motionless at the bottom of the stairs.

"Rita!," Ryuunosuke yelled, hair still wet from his morning shower. He sped down the steps and gently supported Rita's bruised neck. "Where does it hurt?!"

"Ga...back...le...gs...," she winced through clenched teeth. She suddenly felt a sharp pain on her left thigh, like a knife had just pierced it.

"AAAAH!," she cried, gripping Ryuunosuke's shoulder for dear life. He had managed to get Rita's body cradled under his arms, and he was now carrying her, being extremely careful not to move her around too much.

"Pain...but...you can carry me...? Surprised...," Rita thought, with agonizing pain still running through her legs.

She felt herself sink into the couch that Ryuunosuke had just laid her on. He supported her knees by placing a cushion under it, and rushed to the kitchen to get some ice. Luckily, the pain was beginning to ease a bit as she laid there, but her eyes widened as she realized something.

"I can't...feel my...toes...," she groaned. She looked down at her feet, where only her left foot's toes were moving but her right wasn't. "Oh...oh God..."

"Here," Ryuunosuke said as he placed an ice pack covered in a towel under her neck. "Your neck is bruised."

"Ryuu...toes...!," she exclaimed horrifically.

He looked down at her feet and felt the blood escape his face.


"Hiii, Kanda-kun~! Hope I'm not interrupting here~!"

Aoyama glared at her busty classmate who flared her chest out not-so-subtly towards Sorata. This was the third time that this kind of interaction has happened this lunch.

"Say...I'm kind of making my own game right now...," she began, cutely holding a finger up to her lips. "But I'm having a bit of trouble with the code..."

"Uh huh," Aoyama growled internally. "Suuure you are. Fucking thot. Stay away."

"...so wanna come over to my place? I'm kind of curious to see what you're working on too...~"

"Nup. Sorry. We've got Sakurasou stuff after school," Aoyama bluntly responded for him, shoving a piece of teriyaki in her mouth. She opened her eyes at Sorata, and was surprised to see him beaming up at the girl in admiration.

"Y-You're making a game too?! 2D? 3D? What are the mechanics? How did you manage to yadadada..."

Aoyama tuned out right then and there. She sighed, knowing full well that if anyone merely mentions a game Sorata's eyes just light up, regardless of gender.

"At least I know why he's talking to her, I guess...," Aoyama muttered. "Say, Mashiro-"

She turned her head and looked at the blonde staring intently at the girl who was chatting up a storm with Sorata.

"...Mashiro? Penny for your thoughts?"

"I want to draw her naked," Mashiro stated, making suggestive gestures with her hands. "Big boobs."

"Okaaay Mashiro," Aoyama groaned, evidently used to Mashiro's eccentric behaviour. She looked behind her and saw a group of harpies giggling and staring at Sorata like he was freshly cooked steak.

"Gah...this was my fault," Aoyama said, standing up and dragging Sorata away by the collar.

"W-Wait Aoyama! I was getting real deep into design principles-"

"Yeah, I bet you were 'deep' in it, weren't you."

"Aoyama-san! You can't keep him to yourself ya' know!," one of the thots yelled, her friends giggling in response.

Aoyama flipped them off, much to Sorata and Mashiro's surprise, and the trio left the courtyard and into the school hallways.

"Wow...," Sorata said with admiration. "You've...gotten bolder."

"Save it Kanda. Not in the mood for this right now. And pick up your phone before I hurt you."

Sorata felt his phone ringing in his pants pocket, which he must have ignored. He fished it out and held it up to his ear, still walking next to Aoyama and Mashiro.

"Hello? Ryuunosuke-"

"Sorata! Rita! She's hurt! Can't feel her toes!"

"What?! What happened?!," Sorata yelled back, causing Aoyama and Mashiro to look at him worriedly.

"Fell down stairs! This is bad! Real bad! W-What if she's paralysed or something?!"

"I'll be there!"

Sorata grabbed Mashiro's hand and started running back to Sakurasou.

"So-ra-ta! What's happening?!," Aoyama panted as she ran with him.

"Rita! She's paralysed!"

"What?!"

It didn't take long for the trio to sprint full force back to Sakurasou, where they ran into Rita getting taken into the ambulance truck on a stretcher. Sensei, Jin and Misaki were watching from a distance with worried looks on their faces.

"Sensei!," Sorata yelled as they ran up to the scene, huffing and panting. "R...Rita?"

Sensei crossed her arms and sighed. "Yup. She can't feel her right leg. Must've landed on something. Go back to school kids. Nothing you can do here."

"S-Sensei!," Aoyama argued. "We have to see her through!"

"What...you're gonna heal her with the power of friendship...?," she muttered irritably. "Whatever. Get in the car. You're still going back to school after you 'see her through', you hear?"

Ryuunosuke travelled to the hospital holding Rita's hand in the ambulance. He could tell Rita was contemplating her life in a wheelchair.

"Rita...we're not gonna have to install a lift," Ryuunosuke declared confidently, to which Rita lit up.

"How could you...never mind. Heheh...I really ruined our day huh...? Sorry."

"We'll have plenty more after this. Promise. We'll...I dunno. Anything you want."

Ryuunosuke bit his tongue, as Rita almost jolted up out of the stretcher.

"A-Anything?!," Rita exclaimed happily.

He nodded hesitantly, as if he was scared that he was gonna have to do some weird sexual thing.

"Then...then I wanna fly a kite!"

"A...kite?"

"Yeah! A big one! I always saw them doing it on TV but England's weather is just rubbish...!"

Ryuunosuke smiled brightly at the ball of Golden Retriever energy laying in front of him. "What colour do you want it to be?"

"Hmmm...orange! Because orange is the complementary colour of blue! With accent colours of red!"

"Can you feel your toes Rita?," a medic who was sitting in the back with them asked.

Rita's face darkened. "No ma'am. Not yet. Not yet..."

"What could be the problem ma'am?," Ryuunosuke asked towards the medic who was looking at complicated graphs and numbers on equipment.

"Sometimes you could land on your nerves in a wrong way; sometimes it could be a disease. We can't know for sure until we ask a lot of questions and conduct a lot of tests."

The couple's face darkened at the mention of disease.

"Don't worry you two. You'll get to fly that kite. I promise."


Ryuunosuke paced back and forth in the waiting room, chewing on his fingernail as everyone else sat in tense silence. He hoped that maybe Rita had just landed on her toes funny and couldn't feel them temporarily or something.

"Oi. Sit down. You're making everyone uncomfortable," Sensei deadpanned, arms crossed.

Ryuunsosuke let the words pass by him, still drowning in worried thoughts.

"Ryuunosuke! Sit down!," she said a bit louder which got his attention. He hesitantly sat down, his knee bobbing up and down uncontrollably.

"Sensei...w-what if she's paralysed?! What if she can't ever walk or run again?! I...I can't live with that! She needs to run!"

"What are you gonna do about it...," Sensei simply replied back. "It's not like it was your fault."

Sensei internally scolded herself for sounding so dismissive of the whole situation, even though she was extremely concerned for Rita. Aside from the jealous thoughts she had of the foreign student, they definitely did have their moments together, when sensei was intoxicated enough to listen to Rita's inner most feelings. She saw a can of coffee waving in her periphal vision.

"Sensei," Sorata inquired as he handed her the coffee, which she graciously accepted and chugged down. "Y-You look really scary right now. Like you're about to kill someone or something..."

She coughed a bit on the last drop of coffee and wiped her mouth, staring daggers into Sorata's soul. "I'm about to kill you if you don't sit your butt down."

He quickly scurried to the end of the row of seats and sat down, not wanting to get on the irritated teacher's nerves. He opened his mouth to say something to Mashiro, but it seemed as if she was trying to keep her mind off things, as everyone else. She was endlessly scrolling through Pinterest, barely giving the fanart a second glance while Ryuunosuke was playing a video game and Aoyama was reading a script. They all had a hint of doubt in their faces, that something terrible had happened to Rita.

Aoyama sighed and spoke up.

"So. You two dating or something?"

"I-I guess so. What of it?," he replied cautiously.

"Nothin'."

"Oookay then."

"Just like...umm...use protection."

"Aoyama!," Sensei snarled.

"Oh, well fuck me for trying to start a conversation!," she yelled back.

"Can't you see we're worried for Rita right now?!"

"There's. No. Point! In worrying!"

"Is there a point to your goddamn 'conversation'?!"

"Yeah there is! You're a pain in the neck!"

Sorata leaned back, watching as the three let out their internalised worry in the form of irrational anger.

"All good! Sorry about the wait!"

"RITA!," everyone exclaimed in shock. They stood up and clambered around her, inspecting her leg for injuries. She hopped around in place with her typical bubbling energy, as if nothing happened. Apart from a compression bandage on her ankle, she looked completely fine.

"What happened? Are you okay?!"

"Yep! Just got a tad bit too excited and fell down the stairs and all...heh heh...Ryuu! No! Suke!~ Come here darling!," she sang, skipping over and wrapping her arms around her boyfriend. "Aww...I missed you..."

He grabbed her by the shoulders and stared her right in the eyes. "Rita. Promise to me right here, that you will stop skipping around everywhere! You always trip over!"

Rita blinked in surprise. It was quite rare for her to see this concerned side of Ryuunosuke. "Hm...no can do love...I will be more careful around stairs though. Heh heh..."

She gave Ryuunosuke a quick peck on the lips before turning to everyone.

"You guys really didn't have to come out here. It's nothing. Go back to school."

"Glad to see it's nothing serious. No fractures? No broken bones? No dreaded paperwork I have to fill out?," Sensei asked suspiciously.

"Nope!"

"Al...right then. Get plenty of rest at home then. We'll see you at four. No fooling around while we're gone, you hear?"

Rita gave a smug grin. "Well...I wasn't planning on it buuuut...now that you mention it..."

Sensei muttered something about them being 'lazy freeloaders' as the group walked out of the hospital and continued the rest of their day. Rita, now invigorated even more so by the idea of her getting Ryuunosuke to do anything she wants, so long as she justifies it with 'I'm injured.' She imagined laying outside in the sun, painting a very naked and very flustered Ryuunosuke, where hopefully by then she would get the feeling back in her toes again.

AN: Sorry for the lacklustre quality in this chapter, been reaaaal busy with uni stuff. I have absolutely no intention of abandoning this fic anytime soon, don't you worry. Have a good night/day!