Chapter 8: Fractured
Satoshi
Satoshi let out a yawn as he listened to his health teacher talk. "Ok class. Today we are going to present your class projects," he said. "and as punishment for falling asleep in my class, Mr. Kishinuma will be starting us off. Mr. Kishinuma?" Only a few seconds passed until Yoshiki answered. "Uh sir, I didn't finish the project." he said. Why doesn't that surprise me? "Ok, I see," the teacher said. "That's probably the hundredth assignment you haven't turned in. Keep it up, and I'll be happy to flunk you out of this Academy." Yoshiki let out a bored sigh. "Whatever." he said, a slight note of pain in his voice.
Satoshi looked over at his friend, to see him holding his side. "What's with him?" he whispered to Naomi. She looked up at him and then looked at Yoshiki. "Hey Yoshiki!" she whispered. "Are you ok?" Satoshi watched as Yoshiki looked up at his friends, only giving them a thumbs up. He then proceeded to drop his head on his desk. Somethings not right here... He doesn't look tired. "If Kishinuma won't go..." the teacher said, as he looked on his computer. "Then we'll have, uh, Naomi Nakashima." Naomi nodded, getting up from her desk. As the class waited for the teacher to pull up Naomi's presentation, Ayumi seemed to be struggling at getting Yoshiki's attention. "You surprised that Naomi remembers everything already?" Satoshi asked, looking over to his right to face her.
She nodded. "Most of everything," she said. "She seems to be a lot happier, which is good. Can you get Yoshiki's attention for me?" He nodded. "Of course." he said. He looked over at his friend and said his name. After three attempts, he was about to give up. But Yoshiki finally looked up at him. "What?" he asked. "You ok, Pal?" Satoshi asked. "You seem-" Ayumi interrupted him. "Like you're in pain." she said. "I'm terrific." he said. "Now leave me alone." And with that, he put his head back down. "Somethings not right with him." Satoshi said, turning to look at Ayumi. "I know," she said. "I mean, he did get hit in the side with a sledgehammer in Heavenly Host yesterday. Satoshi sat all the way up. "What?!" he asked. "What do you mean by that?!"
"I mean he was hit in the side by a sledgehammer!" she said. Satoshi was beyond confused at this point. "We'll talk about it later." she said as Naomi's presentation came up on the projector. "Kishinuma-San!" the teacher yelled. "Wake up! Detention, tonight!" Satoshi looked at Yoshiki as he looked up at the teacher. "Sorry Sir," he said. "I have a pounding headache." Satoshi then looked at a teacher. "Then you should have said something!" he said, narrowing his eyes. "One more thing like that, and I'll have you in suspension!" Yoshiki just let out a sigh, as he tried to pay attention. The presentations kept going on. Until the end of class. When Ayumi gave her presentation, Satoshi noticed that Yoshiki was paying even more attention to her, compared to the other presentations.
I'll talk with him after class, he thought. About the whole thing in Heavenly Host. And Ayumi... Satoshi went back to paying attention. After Ayumi gave her presentation, Satoshi noticed that Yoshiki went back to not paying attention. Ok, something is definetly up. It has to be something to do with her! But what? He said he didn't like her like that! He looked at Ayumi, who had sat back down. Just a few more minutes. You better be ready to talk, Kishinuma! After about five more minutes, the bell rang and released the class. Yoshiki was one of the first out of class, with Satoshi right behind him. When he got out of class, Yoshiki was already halfway down the hall. "Yoshiki!" he called. "Yosh! Wait up!" Yoshiki turned around to look at him.
"What?" he asked. "What do you want?" Satoshi stepped up to his friend. "Ayumi told me about the whole thing with the sledgehammer." Yoshiki gave him slight of an angry look. "Stay out of it!" he said, grabbing his side. "It's none of your business!" Satoshi noted that his friend sounded in pain. "Are you sure you are alright?" he asked. "I said I'm fine!" he shouted at Satoshi. All of the conversations in the hall stopped. Satoshi looked up. He saw that everyone in the hall were staring at them. The teachers, the students, even Naomi and Ayumi, who had been talking at the other end of the hall were now looking at them.
"You're causing a scene!" Satoshi told his friend. "Will you just leave me alone?" Yoshiki asked. "So yes, I was hit by a sledgehammer! Yes, I am alright! Now leave me alone!" With that, Yoshiki walked off, shoving his hands into his jacket pocket. "What's with him?" Naomi asked. Satoshi turned to look at Ayumi and Naomi standing next to him. "I think he's pissed." Satoshi said. "Something to do with what happened when we went back." Ayumi cleared her throat. "I'm worried about him." Naomi laughed. "Why wouldn't you be worried about him?" she asked. "He got himself into a heap of trouble in Heavenly Host. He almost got himself killed to save us." Satoshi nodded, looking at the two. "You would have done the same for him." Ayumi laughed. "You're right." she said. "I would have."
Yoshiki
"Are you ok?" Ayumi asked him. "I'm fine," Yoshiki said. "Positive." He put his hand on his side once again. Jeez, it feels like my ribs are on fire! What the fuck is wrong with me?! The group was eating lunch now. Well, everyone except for him. Yoshiki couldn't hold an appetite. "Dude!" Satoshi said. He looked up at his friend. "Aren't you going to eat?" he asked. Yoshiki shook his head. "I'm not hungry." he said, getting up. Jesus! It feels like my skin is splitting apart! "Where are you going?" Ayumi asked him. "Away," he said. "I have to use the restroom." He was lying, of course, but he didn't want his friends to be worried. He walked as calmly as he could out of the cafeteria, and then ran the rest of the way to the restroom.
Once he was in the restroom, he stood around. I can't do it anymore. I came in here or a reason. I love Ayumi. That's it. But she doesn't feel the same! Damn it! Doesn't mean that I can't try to impress her... He started to groan in pain, for the millionth time that day. He looked into the mirror, and noticed that he looked fairly pale. "The hell?" he asked. "What is wrong with me?" He then noticed there was a red tint on his white dress shirt. He felt his shirt in that spot, and noticed it was wet. He brought his hand back and noticed that his fingertips were red. His heart nearly stopped, as he pulled back his jacket. A nice portion of the side of his shirt was soaked in blood. He didn't know what to do right now. "I'm going home." he decided.
He walked out of the restroom and saw that Satoshi was blocking the path to the exit. "Where ya goin' pal?" he asked, walking over to him. "Home." Yoshiki said as simply as he could. "Why?" Satoshi asked, as Yoshiki continued walking. "Because my ribs are killing me." he replied. "I thought you said that you were ok?" he asked. "Well, I lied." he said. "Now leave me alone. Good day sir!" Yoshiki finally made it to the exit, and started the walk home. He was probably about half-way to his apartment when he felt his phone buzz. He sighed and stopped walking to check his phone. When he pulled his phone out of his pocket, he was surprised to see that Ayumi had texted him. Shinozaki texted me? That's not normal for her... She hasn't texted me in weeks, let alone months! He sighed once again and opened his message box.
Shinozaki Ayumi - Why didn't you come back from lunch?
Me - I didn't feel so good, so I went to the nurse's office. I'm going to tell you like I told Mochida, just leave me be! Stop worrying!
Why would you do that? He silently scolded himself. If you want to get her to like you, you have to be nicer! He sighed, as he put his phone away. He continued walking down the sidewalk and finally arrived at his apartment. He opened the door to his apartment after unlocking it and walked in. As soon as he walked in, he collapsed on the floor. "Yeah," he said, crawling for the bathroom. "That's good for the ribs." He crawled his way into his bathroom and stood up. He turned on the light, while removing his jacket. He looked at his stained shirt and saw that it was worse than it really seemed. He groaned in pain as he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off. "Shit." he hissed, as he looked on the blood on his lower was still some blood running down from the gashes on his abdomen and he was wondering how the hell he was still alive. "Shit," he said, sighing again. "I gotta get myself to a doctor."
Naomi
How does Shinozaki plan on getting the Book of Shadows? Naomi let out a sigh, as she walked home with her friends. "I don't know, Seiko." she said. "What did she ask you?" Satoshi asked. "She asked me how you plan on finding the Book of Shadows." she said, looking at Ayumi. "I'll handle it." Ayumi looked at Naomi. "You are sure it's Seiko talking to you this time?" she asked. "You are sure that it's not Sachiko?" Naomi nodded. "I'm sure. She cleared it up with me." she said. "As soon as we parted ways last night, she told me that she finally had made a powerful enough connection to contact me." Satoshi looked at her friends. "I believe you." he said. "But I'll be keeping my eyes on you." Ayumi nodded to her friend. "As will I." she said.
A few seconds of silence passed, before Ayumi broke the silence with a slightly angry comment. "Why would he do that?!" she almost yelled. Naomi looked over at her friend, who was looking at her phone, with a slightly angry look. "What is it?" Satoshi asked. "It's Kishinuma, being the mean ass he is!" she yelled. "What did he do?" Naomi asked. "Oh, and you'll just have to accept Kishinuma's personality. He's just like that." Ayumi didn't look much happier. "I don't care!" she siad. "He should be nicer to us! All of us! Most specifically me!" Satoshi sighed. "Why do I feel like I'm being ignored?" he asked. "What did he do?" Naomi asked. "I asked him why he never returned from lunch and I get was an annoyed response telling him to stop worrying about him!"
"And I know why." Satoshi said. "Why would he say that?" Naomi asked, ignoring her friend's comment. "I don't know why he would do that!" she screamed. "I guess I don't exist..." Satoshi said. "I demand to know why he's been acting so salty today!" she said, angrily. "I deserve to know! If he wants my help, he owes me this!" Satoshi sighed. "I know I'm not talking to myself here." he said. The two continued to ignore him. "Well, what did he respond with?" Naomi asked. "He said 'I didn't feel so good, so I went to the nurse's office. I'm going to tell you what I told Mochida, just leave me be! I'm fine!" she said. "I'll admit it. That is harsh." Naomi replied. "You know what?" Ayumi asked. "I'm going to go up to his apartment and question him! Right now!"
"You know what?" Satoshi asked. "I'm gonna let you two ladies do this! I'm just gonna go home!" The two females just ignored him, for the third time. Ayumi stormed off in the direction of Yoshiki's apartment and Naomi had to jog just to keep up with her friend. "Whoa! Slow down, Ayumi!" Naomi replied, matching her friend's speed. "I don't care!" she yelled. "I'm going to give that jerk a piece of my mind!" Ayumi upped her speed, leaving Naomi in the dust. "Wait!" Naomi called. "I can't keep up!" She stood there, catching her breath. She finally stood up straight and started running after her friend again. She finally caught up with her and grabbed the back of her dress shirt. "Will you stop running so fast?" she asked, panting. "I can't run as fast as you can!" Ayumi recovered from this shock of being stopped and looked at Naomi, annoyed.
"Will you stop!" she said. "I just want to get to Kishinuma's apartment!" Naomi sighed. "And I'm telling you to slow down!" she said. "Just try to keep up." she said, starting to run again. "Damn it." she replied, beginning to run after her friend again. "You should really slow down!" Naomi said. "You could fall and bust your head!" Ayumi let out a laugh. "Your just jealous because I'm so fast and you're so slow!" Naomi laughed with her friend, even though she was still a little angry. "Yep, that's me!" she called to her friend. Naomi felt a buzz in her shirt's front pocket as she was running. She sighed, continuing to run as she took her phone from the pocket. It showed her that she had one new text.
Mochida Satoshi - Quick question. Do I exist? Or am I just imaginary?
Naomi just started to laugh as she put her phone back into her pocket, ignoring the text. For now. She caught up to her friend as they arrived at Kishinuma's apartment. Instead of waiting for her friend, Ayumi just ran up the steps and into the building. "Don't wait for me!" she called out sarcastically, as she followed Ayumi. She found Ayumi running up the steps to the second floor, toward's Yoshiki's apartment. She slowly followed Ayumi. She reached the top of the stairs, seeing Ayumi stop at Yoshiki's apartment door. She didn't take her time. Before Naomi could even speak, Ayumi was pounding on the door. "Kishinuma!" she said in a very angry tone. "Open up! I know you're in there!" Aren't you going to stop her? She could get herself in trouble. "Why should I?" she asked. "Yoshiki got himself into this." Ayumi completely disrespected the fact that Naomi could her Seiko and said, "Shut up, Nakashima-San!"
How about now? "Oh, hell yes." Naomi said, as she made a fist. She slugged Ayumi in the arm. Hard. "Ow!" Ayumi said angrily, looking at Naomi. "What the hell was that for?" Naomi drew her fist back, satisfied. "Damn, that felt good." she said. "That was for disrespecting my special ability!" She narrowed her eyes. "What special ability?!" Naomi was completely annoyed that Ayumi had forgotten about her special ability. "Oh, I don't know!" Naomi said. "Maybe the ability of me being able to hear Seiko!" Ayumi slightly dropped her angry face. "Oh, that." she said. "Well, I'm a little pissed off right now, Naomi. Incase you forgot." Naomi sighed. "No, I didn't." she said. "Yoshiki. Kishinuma. Open. The. Damn. Door!" Ayumi nearly yelled, as she pounded on the door. Then, they were interrupted. "Well. Why am I not surprised that you two are arguing outside my door?"
Yoshiki, Nearly Two Hours Earlier
"Well Kishinuma, we have finally gotten to look at your x-rays and we have good news and more good news." Yoshiki sighed. "Good news?" he asked. "The good news is that you have fractured your ribs." Yoshiki blinked in disbelief. "I fractured my ribs." he said. "How can there possibly be more good news?" The doctor laughed. "The other good news is that you didn't break your ribs. Otherwise you'd be in surgery right now to reset the bones." he said. "Very painful process, my friend." Yoshiki rolled his eyes. Some sense of humor, he thought. "What can you do for it?" The doctor looked at the x-rays and then at his clipboard. "Well, the only thing to do is to take it easy for a couple days. Stay out of school." he said. "Oh and I recommend that you use an ace bandage and take a painkiller once per day." Yoshiki sighed. "Is that all you can do?" he asked. The doctor nodded. "There is nothing else to do. All you can do is rest up for a few days." He nodded. "Thanks, doc." he said. "We'll get you checked out of here with two ace bandages and a prescription for painkillers."
Yoshiki, Three Minutes Earlier
In the following time, Yoshiki had gotten lunch and had gone to his local pharmacy to get two ace bandages and picked up his prescription painkillers earlier than expected. He was walking home when he ran into the person whom he had least expected to see again that day. He turned a corner and ran right into Satoshi. He dropped his bag and the two ace bandages fell out, along with the bottle of painkillers. "An ace bandage?" Satoshi asked, looking at him with curiousity. "And painkillers? Dude, what's wrong with you? Just tell me!" He narrowed his eyes at his friend. "I already told you." he hissed with slight anger. "It's none of your concern!" Satoshi raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry." he said, as Yoshiki quickly put everything back in the bag. "Look, I'm glad I ran into you."
"Why?" Yoshiki asked, as he walked towards his apartment. "Last time I checked, Ayumi was headed towards your apartment in a fury." he said, as he walked with Yoshiki. "Well, that's just great." he said. "Just more stress I really don't need." As they were nearing his apartment building, he fumbled with his jacket pocket, looking for his keys. He walked up the stairs to the building, as he took out his keys. While they walked in, Satoshi began to say something, but was quickly interrupted by the sound of arguing coming from the next level. They slowly and quietly walked up the stairs, as they listened to their two female friends argue. "Shut up, Nakashima-San!" Yoshiki heard Ayumi say. He could barely hear Naomi say, "Oh hell yes." He heard Ayumi say, "Ow! What the hell was that for?"
"Damn that felt good." Naomi said. "That was for direspecting my special ability!" It took a second or two for Ayumi to answer. "What special ability?!" Ayumi asked. "Oh, I don't know," Naomi said. "maybe the ability of me being able to hear Seiko!" "Oh, that." Ayumi said. "Well, I'm a little pissed off right Naomi. Incase you forgot." Naomi cleared her throat. "No, I didn't." she said. "Yoshiki. Kishinuma." Ayumi nearly screamed. "Open. The. Damn. Door!" Yoshiki shook his head in frusteration. "I'm ending this." he whispered to Satoshi. He walked all the way up the stairs and stood there as they failed to notice him. "Well," he said. Ayumi and Naomi turned to face him, a look of shock on both of their faces. "Why am I not surprised that you two are arguing outside my door?"
Ayumi was the quickest to recover from the shock. "Where. Have. You. Been?!" she yelled, running over to him. Yoshiki failed to block the incoming attack. She slugged him. Right in the ribs. He lost his breath, as he dropped his keyes and his bag. He backed down onto the stair behind him. Unfortunetly, he stepped on the bottle of painkillers. He felt himself lose his balance and start to fall backwards. At the last second, Satoshi grabbed his hand to pull him up. But it was no use. Yoshiki was already going down and Satoshi was going down with him. Yoshiki felt himself slide down the stairs as Satoshi sled down with him. He hit his head on the floor and let out a groan of pain. "Uh, thanks for breaking my fall." Satoshi said. "Shut up, and get the hell off me." Yoshiki said. Satoshi rolled off of his friend so Yoshiki could get up.
He got up, letting out a very pained groan. I could of sworn my ribs caved in! He got up. "Aren't you a little bit sorry, right now?" Naomi asked. "Hell no!" Ayumi said. "He deserved that!" Yoshiki was literally burning with anger right now. "Hey!" he called up the stairs. Ayumi looked down at him. "I literally almost busted my ribs to save you people!" he said. "I thought that would earn me some respect!" Ayumi looked curious. "I knew it!" she said. "I knew something was wrong with you! What's wrong with your ribs? Show me!" Yoshiki started laughing, as he walked up the stairs and past Ayumi. "You think now that you pretend to care," he said. "That I'm going to drop my anger? Get over yourself!" Ayumi didn't speak, as he turned around to pick up his things. He grabbed his ace bandage, keyes and the bottle of painkillers, which were laying on the second stair down.
"Speechless?" he asked. "You think I'm faking this?" Ayumi asked. "No," he said. "I know you are. Did you see how angry you were? You pushed me down the god damn stairs!" Ayumi didn't speak for a few more seconds, as he unlocked his door. "Because you ignored everyone!" she said. "And you fell down the stairs. I didn't push you." He scoffed. "You punched me in the most critical spot I have right now. In fact, that's where the x-ray showed the fracture!" He opened his door to his apartment and stepped in. "Fracture?" Naomi asked. "What the hell?" Satoshi said. He sighed and turned around. He took off his jacket and tossed it behind him. He lifted up his shirt and showed off his bandaged lower torso, which was slightly covered in dried blood.
He lowered his shirt and walked into the apartment. He turned around and closed the door, but at the last second, Satoshi hit the door with his hand stopping it from closing. "I'm sorry." Ayumi finally said. "Really. I am." He looked at Ayumi. He cleared his throat. "Are you looking for forgiveness?" he asked. "We all are." Naomi said. He sneered. "I'm sorry." he said. "We're all out of forgiveness. Come back tomorrow. We may just have it." After saying this, he slammed the door shut and locked it.
A/N: Merry Christmas to all of the readers! On this day, you get a treat. For the ones that were actually patient enough to wait two-three weeks for each chapter, thank you. And for that, you get two chapters today! No kidding. The next chapter will be posted in exactly an hour. Also, for any Halo gamers, there were a few references to Halo in this chapter. Mainly, how I spelled keys (KEYES) as in Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. Or Jacob Keyes' daughter, Miranda Keyes. This doesn't mean that Halo will be involved in the story, otherwise this would be a crossover story. So, thanks for reading. The next chapter will be here before you know it!