Words: 1078
Happy AoGA House Cup!
Misaki loosens her grip as she exhales shakily, bringing her hand up to brush Koko's sweaty bangs out of his eyes. "Great job, Koko." She murmured softly, pressing her lips on top of his head. "Now rest. You need it." The boy, with a slightly pink face (either from exhaustion or embarrassment, she has no idea) starts to weakly protest, but Misaki shushes and tucks him in.
As soon as his heart beat rates back to normal, Misaki silently leaves the room. She knocks on the ward adjoined Koko's, peers her head in, and sees Sumire's chest gently moving. Her recent words to Koko hit her again. If Sumire could remember something, anything, maybe it'd do the both of them some good.
She sighs sadly. 'They're too young to experience these things.' She closes the door carefully, so as not to wake the now sleeping occupant. 'But that's the way of life when you're an Alice. Far too dangerous...' she leans her back on the wall ironically separating the two, '...and far, far too painful.'
She tucks a loose stand of hair behind her ear in frustration. Misaki, aggravated with their fate, slumps against the wall.
To her, it seems love is misplaced inside the gates of the academy. Tsubasa taught her that when he disappeared.
"Good luck Koko and Sumire," she mutters as she picks herself up and walks away.
Sumire opens her eyes to darkness, and the only light coming through the room is from the small slit between the window curtains. She feels her nose twitch, and suddenly, she can smell lots of different food, from pasties to chocolates to cookie dough.
'Your Alice allows you heightened senses, like those of cats and dogs,' they told her.
Well, she is feeling kind of hungry right now...
She climbs out of bed, the alluring scents drawing her out of the room in haste.
Sumire quickly glances at a clock - 12:46. She nods to herself, there's barely any chance of seeing her old classmates (or at least the people who say they are). Walking down the hallway, she thinks about the boy. No-one has told her his name, and he's the only one in the photos she has yet to see.
She tells herself he doesn't matter; if he did he would have cared enough to visit.
She's trying to convince herself, he's just nothing but a distant friend. Fragments of memories played inside her head.
"Permy will always be Permy!" she inhaled then shouted as she dashed to chase him. "Mind-reader!"
She knows him, her partner, Kokoro. The boy who has always been there for her, who has encouraged her to wear her Alice with pride.
Where is he? Koko would have visited her, surely?
"We don't know what's happening to him," a voice trails on the hallway. They were obviously trying to keep it hushed, but the hospital is most peaceful at night. Sumire follows the direction of the voice, her naked feet not making any sound. The voice goes on, "We tried everything; we tested his blood, assessed his reactions, observed his movements, but it's his Alice swallowing him whole."
"There has to be something" Misaki's voice replies, "Koko can't die yet, Sumire needs him".
"There's nothing, he's lost the will to fight it" Sumire hears the first voice answer. "And Shoda-san shows no evidence of her condition lessening".
Sumire feels tears run down her face as she rushes towards the direction of the voices, "Where is he!?"
As she turns the corner, she sees through her tears Misaki and another nurse, wide-eyed and frozen.
Sumire suddenly feels a headache coming, and she has to lean on the wall for support. The two nurses quickly come to her aid, and she braces herself for the chiding she knows she will get.
'You aren't supposed to force your memories,' they'll say. So before they get the chance, Sumire quickly whispers, "Where is Koko?"
Misaki tenses, her hand on the younger girl's back, looking at the other nurse as she talks softly. "He's here, but he's okay." Sumire grits her teeth and snaps.
"Okay?! Then what are you talking about him losing the will to fight?!"
"Look Shoda-san, your accident affected him greatly, but he'll be okay, I promise" The nurse smiles warmly, "Now, we should probably get you back to bed . . . ."
"What? No! Where is he? Please Misaki-sempai, tell me!"
Misaki is silent for a while. Making Sumire and Koko meet right now could have drastic effects on their recovery, and it could go both ways: they could both recover more quickly, or get much worse. She decides not to take the risk, and let fate do its thing without her meddling.
"No, Sumire, I'm afraid I can't tell you that," she whispers in the girl's ear, in an attempt to comfort her. "Come on, let's get you back to bed; Koko wouldn't want you to worry yourself sick over him."
"He needs me, I'm sure of it" she cries, "I don't quite know why yet, but he needs me!"
Misaki just shakes her head, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry".
The nurse takes Sumire's hand, "Everything will be fine."
She walks with the nurse to her room, icy crystals falling silently from her eyes.
Misaki's eyes are drawn to the door of Koko's room when they pass by, but she quickly looks away. If Koko and Sumire have to meet, Misaki thinks, midnight probably isn't the best time for it.
Sumire is surprisingly quick and willing to climb into her bed, albeit crying the entire time. Misaki tucks her in, and she feels a sense of déjà vu.
Sumire is still uneasy, because something is just not right with Koko, but for the moment, she looks up at her sempai's face, tears slowly tracking her cheeks and voice soft and pleading. "Please," she begs, "please, do everything you can to make him better."
Misaki's chest tightens, and she pecks the top of her head (deja vu again, she notices) while enveloping her in a one-arm hug. "Oh, Sumire," she murmurs back, "we will. Of course we will."
Misaki waits until Sumire's eyes close before leaving the room, sighing as she closes the door.
"I wonder what made Shouda-san remember Kokoro Yome?" the other nurse asks.
"I don't know, but I guess we have to change those records now," Misaki replies. "Sumire Shouda is now showing evidence of her condition lessening."