A cool sensation on his forehead and small cooing sounds.
Kotarou opened his eyes to find Ms. Nurse leaning over him. She had a damp cloth in her hand and was rubbing it over the fevered skin of his face.
"You mustn't get excited, sweetie," she said in a soft tone, "you can't imagine what you've been through."
"Where's my cousin?" he croaked. Ms. Nurse's face fell. "Is he here?"
"Sweetie," Ms. Nurse glanced at everything but his face, "no one's seen your cousin since he stormed out of here a day ago."
Kotarou tried to raise his body, but it wasn't obeying him. He knew he wasn't paralyzed. He could feel the muscles working, straining, screaming to raise his body, but all he could do was strain them and then relax them in defeat. His body was being a bastard is what his cousin would say.
"What's wrong with me?!" Kotarou demanded of the nurse, "why won't my body work?!"
Ms. Nurse was speechless. She didn't know how much she should tell him, if she should tell him anything at all.
"The doctor will arrive in the morning. He'll be able to explain everything to you." She quickly spun on her heel and left the room. She didn't want to tell the young man that life as he knew it was about to make a turn for the worst.
Kotarou was well aware the nurse lady wasn't telling him something, saving it for the doctor in the morning. How unprofessional, yet the woman must have her reasons. Still, that thought didn't help with putting him to sleep.
Kotarou watched the analogue clock, on the wall, tick away the seconds. He wondered, yet again, where his cousin could possibly be. Where would he go? This had happened before, but usually it was for something that was worse than passing out. That's all what happened to him could be described as: passing out. Then why would his cousin disappear without letting anyone know? Kotarou had to find him. He glanced again at the clock. 3:09 it said. The nurse had just left, so maybe she wouldn't check on him for another fifteen minutes or so. Kotarou tried to push his elbow under his body. It slid along slowly, until the right side of his body was at a slight slant. Now, for his left elbow.
Time Lapse
Yuuto was having an asthma attack. He swore up and down on everything he loved. His lungs were about to collapse. If he hadn't been staring at Tatsuki from the side, he would have thought the kid was walking dead. His chest hardly moved. Only a slight film of sweat covered his face.
"I'm sorry…" wheeze, "that I…" wheeze, "have to..." wheeze, "breathe."
"Next time you decide to die," Tatsuki replied, "stay home."
Yuuto straightened instantly and glared at Tatsuki's receding back. Same to you, jerkwad.
They were in an unfamiliar part of town. The no good part of town as far as Yuuto was concerned. It wasn't a place kids go to hang out everyday. There have been grown men who had ventured here and never returned. Really.
To be more specific, it was an old industrial part of the city. But fifty years ago the last factory fired the rest of its workers and closed doors. The buildings were then seized and transformed into housing projects for low income workers. Some people still live in this part of town, but even families on welfare would rather starve for a half decent home than live on 'this side of town'.
"Tatsuki, what are we doing here?" Tatsuki didn't answer him and Yuuto really wasn't expecting him to. Instead, Tatsuki was glaring at the buildings on each side of them. The were high rise factory buildings. Glass panes were either missing, or boarded up. Doors were steel plate, but in some places, that wasn't even enough. Every other sort of person had been through here. If you got attacked or injured on this side of town, forget the police. The law didn't stretch this far.
"Uh…Tatsuki. What are we looking for?"
Yuuto soon got his answer. One moment Tatsuki was stalking down the street, the next, he was a squirrel down a dark alley. Yuuto had to put on an extra burst of speed just to keep up with him. Good thing, because no one in their right mind would be running down an alley that looked and smelled like that.
"Tatsuki!" Yuuto yelled, and then bowled straight into him.
Time Lapse