The Third Night

Date: Sunday, September 20th.

The time was 4:40 P.M. All the members of SEES were in the dorm, scattered about the building. Mitsuru, Ken and Shinjiro were in their own rooms doing their own business. Junpei was on the couch with Fuuka, while he was reading a Phoenix Ranger Feather-man R comic book and Fuuka was on her laptop. Aigis was conversing with Koromaru next to the television. Akihiko was sitting on a stool that was in front of the kitchen counter, tinkering with his boxing gloves and Yukari was on her cellphone at the table. The two of them seemed to be the most concerned when it came to Minato's current condition. Akihiko had been in Minato's room earlier. He was still asleep and with a fever. Akihiko felt guilty, thinking it was because of him that Minato was still exhausted, since he had been the one to keep Minato longer than he should have the day before.

Akihiko let out an annoyed sigh. Yukari looked up at Akihiko when she heard him. He had his eyes shut as he rubbed his right temple. He also started muttering things to himself.

"What am I going to do…?"

"Something on your mind, senpai?" Yukari asked Akihiko, trying to snap him out of it. Akihiko came out of his trance with a slight start.

"No-nothing. I'm fine." Akihiko said back. But he actually had a lot on his mind. He was thinking about how he might've caused Minato to be like he is at the moment. But most of all, about the hug Minato gave him. Akihiko thought it was something stupid to get so hung over about, but it was something that came from the person who was special to him. And it was something really out of character for Minato, seeing as though he almost never made physical contact with anybody.

"Pretty boring being in the dorm this whole time, huh senpai?" Yukari said.

"It is. Never realized how dull it is to be inside for so long." Responded Akihiko. "I'm going back to see him." Akihiko told Takeba, heading for the stairs.

"You've been going there frequently today, senpai…"

"Well, we gotta make sure he doesn't get any worse, right?"

"…right."

Akihiko knocked on Minato's door, then entered after a moment. It was dark in the room due to the black storm clouds covering the day sky in a thick cloak. It was quiet as well in the room, with the only audible being the rain hitting the window and Minato's light snores. Akihiko walked over to Minato's sleeping figure and placed his hand on his forehead again. The fever was not a burning hot as it was previously, but still high above normal body temperature. Akihiko actually noticed something different about Minato at the moment. Akihiko felt his hand to be a little wet. Minato's forehead had traces of sweat on it.

"That can't be good…" Akihiko left the room and towards the male's bathroom to get a wet towel to help cool off Minato. He lightly dabbed Minato's head as to not disturb him. Akihiko started to become a little more worried.

Akihiko grunted lightly. "Damn it, I- I want to help you, but I don't know what I can do… Why am I useless when it matters?" Akihiko kept whispering to himself, gripping the towel in his hands tighter from his anger towards himself. Minato shuffled in his bed, making Akihiko think that he might have woken him up. He was still asleep, actually. He was tossing and turning repeatedly, however. It appeared that he was writhing in some pain. A sharp pain shot through Akihiko's chest. To see the younger boy to be in pain hurt him immensely. Whenever Minato would get injured at Tartarus, he'd always heal him back to full strength first, even if it was Yukari's job to do so.

Akihiko knelt down and just looked at Minato's face. Minato's face was grimacing a bit. It hurt Akihiko to see this. Akihiko placed his left hand onto Minato's right cheek. He leaned in gave Minato's forehead a soft kiss, for a few seconds.

"Ari-Minato… please... Get better soon. I can't stand to see you like this." Akihiko barely whispered, having pain in his voice.

"I love you… Minato. Please get better."

It may have been a coincidence, but after Akihiko's contact, Minato had stopped grimacing, and stopped writhing altogether. It made Akihiko feel better, but then he became startled to the possibility of Minato hearing him. It didn't seem like it, though. Minato was still fast asleep. Akihiko pulled the chair from Minato's desk closer to the bed, and he took a seat, deciding to watch over Minato for just a bit longer. There wasn't anything Akihiko wanted more than to be near Minato.

Hours had passed. The time was currently 1:32 A.M. Akihiko had left Minato alone for the past five hours. Someone was shuffling through the second floor hallway in the dark. The figure paused in front of Akihiko's door. There was dim light, most likely coming from a lamp, visible from beneath the door. The figure was Minato. He was awake and made his way back to his room slowly. He was still relatively weak. He sat down onto his bed and glanced over to his cellphone. He just stared at if for a moment, pondering if he should do what he was thinking. He decided in the end to take it and make a call.

After hearing three rings, Minato heard someone answer with a nonchalant 'hello?' It was Akihiko he called. Akihiko must not have bothered to look at the caller I.D.

"Uh… hi, senpai." Minato uttered into the receiver.

"Minato?! What are you doing up?" Akihiko was alarmed to who had just called him. And at such a late hour, no less.

"I woke up about a half an hour ago. I saw you had some lights on from under your door when I was making my way back from the bathroom."

"Oh, are you okay at least?"

"Still kind of weak… but I didn't want to just sit here doing nothing."

"Well, I'm happy with talking to you, M-Arisato."

"Umm, I first wanted to ask if you were in my room earlier…?" Akihiko started to panic inside. 'Oh shit! Did Minato hear anything I said!? Shit, oh shit, this isn't good!' Akihiko screamed in his head. He didn't know what to do.

"Uh, yeah. I was…" Akihiko figured he should be honest to the fellow.

"Oh, I thought you might've been. I felt like someone was comforting me."

"R-really? Comforting… how?"

"Like… someone was giving me a warm, comforting touch. And a soothing voice, but I couldn't tell as to what they were saying. So, if it was you, what were you saying?"

"I was wishing for you to feel better soon… because you looked like you were in some pain." Akihiko felt a wave of relief knowing that Minato didn't know what he had said. Akihiko was technically telling the truth. He did say for Minato to get better soon.

"Oh… well thanks to you, and Mitsuru-senpai, my throat is fine now. Now I get to talk to you, since you were the one to do all the talking last time."

"Heh, y-yeah. I liked having the chance to h-hang out with you, even if you weren't able to respond completely. So… since you heard all about me, how about you take the lead this time?"

"Um, alright… not sure where to start."

"Well, the current subject is you, so it can be anything."

"Y-yeah, I guess so. I'm just not used to being the one to talk about myself. It's usually me listening and helping other people's problems." It was true. Akihiko always admired Minato being one to help others, no matter if the situation was insignificant or not. He knew how he's helped Yukari and Fuuka, even Mitsuru.

"I guess I could start by saying that I love art…" Minato went on.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. That big mess on my desk when you came with me in here the other day? That was a mess from my previous workings."

"From the look of it, you must go at it with a lot of determination."

"Actually, that mess was really there because I got frustrated and raged a bit…"

"Uh… is that why I thought I heard noises from your room about a week ago?

"Oh, god… you heard that?" Minato was starting to grow embarrassed.

"I think even the girls above heard you, Arisato." Akihiko chuckled a bit.

"Ugh, damn…" Minato put his left hand over his face, making his voice muffled.

"We were gonna ask, but figured it was something you wanted to handle yourself. I didn't think it had something to do with your art."

"Yeah, it's kind of a fault of mine… I get pissed at my stuff to easily."

"Could I see some of your drawings at some point? As long as it's alright with you."

"I guess so. I'd have to find some of the stuff I like, though. I usually keep drawings even if they're not great, except sometimes I tear them to pieces."

"I'm sure that you have some great stuff already. Everyone's got their own talent."

"Heh, thanks. That actually means a lot, Akihiko." Akihiko was surprised to hear his first name from Minato. He liked how it sounded from Minato's sweet voice.

"Oh, uh sorry, senpai. Shouldn't have called you that, wasn't right of me." Minato quickly snapped, sounding flustered.

"Hey, it's alright, Arisato. I don't mind. I actually like it if it came from you." Akihiko was being extremely rash, saying things like that. In fact, Minato was blushing wildly from that statement.

"I-I don't know about that, senpai…"

"Well, it's your decision, Arisato. You just don't have to worry about it bothering me since it doesn't."

"I-if you say so…."

"C'mon, tell me more about you. I'd be a lousy friend and teammate if I knew nothing about you."

"Oh, heh-heh, sure… Akihiko." Minato got red every time he would say Akihiko's name to him.

They continued for about an hour longer. They laughed together, learned more about the other, and felt a stronger bond between them grow during this night. Neither of the two decided to tell the other 'everything' just yet, believing that it might demolish their friendship. They found a point to stop when Minato started to get exhausted, even if he was awake for less than two hours. After Minato had hung up, Akihiko closed his cellphone and uttered something in a hush tone to himself.

"I wish… I could tell you… Minato."