"Riko?" Maki said as she went into the room. Upon seeing Riko and her mother, she turned around. "Sorry. I'll let you have your time together."

Before she could take a step away, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It turned her around and Maki's eyes met with Mrs. Sakurauchi's. "We've had enough time." Leaning over so she was beside Maki's ear, Riko's mother whispered, "You need to talk to each other." She kissed Riko's forehead and said her goodbyes, leaving the two red-heads in an awkward silence.

"Hi," was all Riko could manage to say.

"Hi." Maki started to walk over to the chair she has been sitting at for a while, which was right beside Riko's bed. "Glad to see your awake now."

"I am too," Riko faintly smiled. "I had a lot of fun just talking with everyone again. It would be nice to talk to Eli-san, Nozomi-san, or Arisa-san again."

"I can make that happen," Maki said with a small laugh.

The small talk soon devolved into another tense silence. They knew that they had to talk about their situation. They just couldn't think of a way to bring it up.

"I…just wanted to check up on you. See how well you were recovering. We'll talk later since it's getting late." Maki stood up and started to take her leave.

"That's fine." All Riko could do was pull up her covers and try to relax, covering up her growing blush.

As Maki was about to leave, she got a text from Dia.

Dia:
Riko's mother told us that you two are alone
You better talk
You need to get this figured out now

'How the hell did she actually see us?' Maki thought to herself, looking outside the door thinking that Dia would actually be there. 'No, she's right. I won't be able to sleep if I can't get my feelings off of my chest.'

Turning back, she saw Riko 'sleeping' in her bed. She might have fell for it if not for the rapid heartbeats on the monitor. Riko would have a steady heartbeat if she was actually sleeping.

"Hey, stop pretending," Maki said as she lightly nudged Riko. Revealing herself from the covers, the younger girl had a dark blush. "Do you have a fever?" Maki said jokingly after feeling Riko's forehead. That action caused Riko's heartbeat to go faster (according to the monitor).

"I-I'm fine." Riko slowly sat up in the bed with some assistance from Maki. "I've just been thinking about a lot of things."

"Are one of those things how we are right now?" Maki asked, already knowing the answer.

"…Of course it is," Riko mumbled.

Maki sighed. "I was about to be a coward and keep putting this off. But, Dia convinced me that…" Maki took a seat and held Riko's free hand. "…We need to talk, Riko."

Riko hung her head. "I know."

Maki tried to give some sort of assurance that it would be okay by rubbing small circles on Riko's hand with her thumb. She was thinking that it would be futile, but it was the only thing that she could do. Their talk would be changing a lot of things between them.

"Do you want to start?" Maki asked. She felt Riko's entire body trembling from just holding her hand, and the girl's head shaking was more than enough for her to know that Riko wasn't in any state to talk. "Alright, that's fine. I'll just say what I need to say. Stop me whenever, okay?" When she saw the girl nod, Maki took a deep breath before she started to talk.

"When we were together at the start, it was euphoric. You are someone who is so lovely, charming, pretty, talented, smart…just everything. Being around you made me the happiest girl in the world. But, we struggled. Real hard.

"There's no doubt that I've wanted to go to your concert. After hearing the song from Dia, it made me all the more guilty. And that's what makes me hate how we ended things. Our relationship was so short, and we've only grew apart during that time, I feel. So, maybe that…that was the final straw.

"And it makes me hate myself. Everyone has been saying that we're both at fault. And to an extent, I can agree. But…I'm always going to think that it was entirely my fault. I could have pushed it back. I could have done anything; I'm the owner of the hospital, damn it! I don't know why I didn't do it…and I hate myself for it.

"But like I said, people say that you're also to blame. I can see it, but it's so small compared to my mess-up. You trusted me too much. Like, what is that compared to me missing your concert when I had all the power to do so?

"I love you, Riko. Everyone says that you love me, but I don't know how you could love someone so horrible. I'm done with being awful. I'm not looking to be your girlfriend right now. All I want is to be a friend. A friend that won't hurt you again. A friend who you can trust."

Maki's tears were flowing from her eyes, but looking at Riko, she was a quivering mess. "Hey, I'm the one who's supposed to be crying hard," Maki softly said.

"That's all wrong, Maki-chan," Riko said in a soft whisper.

"What?"

"You're wrong, Maki-chan!" Riko stared into Maki's violet eyes. "I don't want to be friends, Maki-chan!"

"Y-You don't…want to?" Maki's heart started to break. 'I'm not even putting myself out there, and she doesn't want to be friends?'

"We can't be friends, Maki-chan!" Riko gripped Maki's coat tightly. "We can't…because I love you…too much…"

Maki confusedly looked at Riko. "Y-You still l-love me?" The doctor asked quietly. Riko nodded in response. She also lightly chuckled. "W-What's so funny?"

"Your words…they reminded me of some thoughts I had. I think I listened in to some of the talks everyone had."

"W-What? Is that possible?" Maki stuttered in disbelief. "Uh…tell me some things you remember, I guess. I'm not really believing you right now."

Riko lightly laughed. "Of course. I'll say whatever feels relevant." Maki nodded.

"My mother told me that I trust people too much. And I think I trusted you too much. Maybe that's why I wanted you there, at the concert. Those promises…maybe they were stupid."

Maki gripped Riko's hands tightly. "No! They were not stupid! I said that in the heat of the moment, and it was wrong to say. It made me realize that I have to be able to put things first. Sure, I have to be a doctor first when there's an emergency. But, I have times when I can be selfish and put other things first…Like you." She said the last part very quietly, but Riko heard it. It made Riko's heart flutter.

"Maki-chan, get closer," Riko asked. The older girl nodded and started to move her chair until it was touching the bed. Riko sighed, not feeling content with this position. "Can you get on the bed with me?"

Immediately, the older girl blushed furiously. They've kissed before, but they never went that far. Even if it was just for talking, Maki's heart was pounding faster than before. "A-Are you s-sure?! I-I could just s-stay here!"

The flustered expression was making Riko laugh. "It's okay, Maki-chan. It makes us closer, which…I'm okay with. And it helps us talk better." The girl in the bed shuffled over and patted the empty space. "Don't be shy; Dia-san said not to."

Now, Maki was blushing from Riko's retort. "So…you heard that, huh?"

"Yeah…Dia-san has always been good at observing emotions, despite how much of a dork she is," Riko said as the doctor was seated on the bed. They were holding hands as if nothing happened, and Riko leaned her head on Maki's shoulder. This felt natural, and Riko knew that it was a mistake to break up with Maki over such a small thing. "I remember your 'argument' that you had with her. She really played…well, everyone."

Maki sighed as she remembered that day. "Yeah…Dia is pretty brave. And she is good at talking to people. She's kind of like Eli, funnily enough. Former student council pres, good at talking to people and helping out with their problems. Anything else you remember?"

"I remember hearing 'nya' when someone said that you…didn't want to hurt me again. That would be Rin-san, correct?"

Maki tensed up a bit, but relaxed after Riko looked at her with reassuring eyes. "Yes, that was Rin. She was totally right. I hated that I hurt you."

"But," Riko said, interrupting Maki, "I hurt you as well. They were right, I put so much faith and trust into you. And when we broke up, it hurt you as much as it hurt me." Riko pecked Maki's cheek, surprising the older girl. "I'm sorry, Maki-chan."

She hesitated, but Maki went and kissed the top of Riko's head. "It's okay. I needed to apologize too. I'm sorry." She heard sniffles from her side, and wrapped and arm around the girl. "We're okay now, Riko."

"I-I know…it's just…I love you so much…and I want to date again…" Riko struggled to say through her sobs.

"Hey, don't cry." Maki turned the younger girl's head over to see the overflowing tears pouring out of Riko's eyes. "There's nothing I would love more than to be your girlfriend again. Stop crying."

Despite the innocent pleas, the younger girl kept crying. "I'm…just so happy! I regret our break-up. It was so stupid…"

"It wasn't stupid. I listened to your song, and I could tell that I regret ever driving away from you." Maki hugged Riko tighter, wanting to never let this embrace end. It was a month of regret and love, from both girls.

Maki was also feeling a bit passionate during the month. She missed Riko's sweet kisses, her warm feeling, her beautiful voice, everything.

The tears were starting to let up, and there was just a few on Riko's face. Maki wiped away Riko's tears with her lips, planting kisses on any spot that had a tear. It had the saltiness, but a faint sweetness that was Riko.

"Maki-chan…" Riko said, giggling at the ticklish way she was getting kissed.

Riko's tears led Maki to Riko's soft and beautiful lips. She took a quick peck at them, which got a surprised smile from her girlfriend. "Was that okay to do?" Maki asked.

"We're dating again, right?" Riko teased. What Maki didn't expect was Riko to give her a passionate French kiss. Their tongues played with each other, and both savoured each other's taste.

All they could think was that this was right. They were meant to be together.

Riko felt a hand grope her chest, which made her pull away. A strand of saliva was between them, and they were panting heavily. "Maki-chan…I still need to recover…"

Maki was wondering what Riko meant. When she saw where her hand was grabbing, she instantly blushed and turned away. "S-Sorry…"

Riko giggled at Maki's shyness. "It's okay," she said as she wrapped her free arm around Maki's and rested her head on Maki's shoulder. "I can't be happier right now."

Maki rested her head on Riko's, the scent of her girlfriend making her feel relaxed. "Me either."

There was a comforting silence that shrouded the two of them, the only noise was the wind stirring outside of the open window.

"I hate to bring this up," Maki said, breaking the silence, "But…we need to talk about how what went wrong. I don't want to lose you again," Maki said, the sincerity pouring out from her voice.

"Me neither," Riko replied, "Dia-san and Chika-chan said something like that, from what I remembered."

"Yeah, they did." Maki said as she snuggled her head closer to Riko's. "You need to know that I can't be trusted. At least, to the extent that you did." Riko nodded. "I'll do my hardest to be there for you. I'll remember that if anything that could be pushed back would interfere with something between us, I'll actually push it back." Maki saw the smile form on her girlfriend's lips. "But, I can't make promises."

"Huh? No promises?" Riko sounded heartbroken.

"I know that it's important to you. I said it wrong; let me fix that." Maki gripped Riko's hand tighter. "I'll only make promises that I know I can keep. If I break another promise, I don't know how I could live with myself."

"Oh." Riko was still saddened from hearing this, but Maki made a fair point. Riko didn't want to invest too much into Maki, and not use her as a reliance.

"I'm happy that I kept one promise, though."

"What was it?"

Maki smiled. "I promised your mom that you would be okay after the accident."

Riko lightly laughed. She went and kissed Maki's cheek. "Thanks for sticking with that one."

"It sounds like you're making fun of me. I already said I'm sorry for missing the concert and recital."

Riko sighed at Maki's 'joke.' "You know, I'm trying to make the atmosphere lighter after that heavy talk."

"I know, I know," Maki said.

"Can you promise me one thing right now?" Riko asked.

"Uh…maybe?" Maki said hesitantly. After that whole talk with not being able to keep so many promises, this would be pretty big.

Riko smiled. "Stay with me for the night."

Maki smiled back. "That's a promise I can keep."

And the two girls fell asleep to the gentle breeze and their girlfriend's steady breathing.

"Riko-chan? Are you awake?" Chika poked her head into the doorway. She wanted to be with her friend since Riko woke up, so she went to the hospital early. She also came with Dia, Mari, and Kanan. They even met up with Eli and Nozomi, who heard the news about Riko's awakening from Dia.

"She's probably sleeping. We can just wait here until she's awake," Eli bargained with the girl.

"Aww, we have to wait for her to wake up again?!" Chika groaned. Everyone laughed at Chika's impatience.

The six girls went in and found some seats. They set it up further from Riko's bed, so they couldn't see what was behind the curtain. Dia decided to poke her head, and smiled at the heartwarming sight.

Riko and Maki lying in the bed together. Hands intertwined, heads leaning on each other.

"What's up, Dia?" Eli asked. The black-haired girl pointed to the bed, and Eli felt her smile creep up to her face. "I see."

Maki started to stir from her sleep. Opening her eyes, she saw the warm smiles of Dia and Eli looking at her. Soon, the four others went behind the curtain and also smiled at the couple in bed.

"So, everything went well?" Dia asked, already knowing the answer.

Maki looked to her side to see her sleeping beauty. "Very."