Broken Fragments
Chapter 51: The City of White
"Ah, is this how I'll also end?" Yuuhi thought, more tears slowly rolled down her cheeks as she gradually fell.
"Yuuhi!" Hiroto yelled, catching Yuuhi in his arms.
"No, please," Hiroto began to cry.
The auburn-haired girl placed a hand on Hiroto's cheek, her vision quickly blurring.
"I love you too, Hiroto."
With a smile on her face, Yuuhi's hand fell as her eyelids gradually shut.
"Huh?"
Yuuhi slowly opened her eyes and found herself lying down, surrounded with nothing. When she got up to observe where she was, everywhere she looked, it was white. Even she matched the space she was in, wearing a white sundress. The place seemed endless with no horizons.
"I see," Yuuhi tilted her head down, crestfallen.
"At least I got to tell him that I love him."
Yuuhi began walking. She didn't know where to go next. There were no directions to head to in the white world she was in, so she had to rely on just walking straight.
The silence was deafening to Yuuhi. Though she had always been a cold girl that only had a few words to say, she was never fond of quietude. She didn't mind being alone and quiet every now and then. It gave her time to think. Nevertheless, Yuuhi was now spending eternity in the clear.
Yuuhi's steps slowed down and shortened. Without any sounds to listen to, Yuuhi was alone with her thoughts, and she was forced to confront them.
All her thoughts were the same.
All her thoughts were haunting.
All her thoughts were of Hiroto.
She paused in her steps, looking down on her feet.
"All I've ever done is hurt him," her mind said.
Clenching her fists, she kept walking with her chin up. Though her eyes were watery, she ignored it.
"He deserves to finally be happy," she told herself.
"Even if it means I won't be there."
While Hiroto and Subaru laughed with Kirika to lighten her mood, Chairman Muranishi took out his phone to answer the call. Before he could even greet the caller, who was Kumoi-san, her distressed voice precociously bid bad news.
"Yuuhi…"
Hiroto, Subaru, and Kirika turned to Chairman Muranishi after hearing Kumoi-san over the phone. Though the silence in the cemetery already made it easier to hear the caller, everyone still held their breaths.
"She's not doing well."
Hiroto's heart stopped beating. His and Subaru's eyes grew wide open. After the Chairman hung up, they all quickly headed to his car and made their way to the hospital. Hiroto was the first to get out of the car, followed by Subaru. While Hiroto ran down the hallway, Subaru rushingly checked them in at the front desk. Chairman Muranishi, with little Kirika in his arms, followed behind.
"Yuuhi!" Hiroto opened the door, his eyes meeting with everyone's fearful gazes.
Panting, Hiroto walked in and stood by Yuuhi's visitors. They all stood by the corner, out of the doctor's and nurses' way.
"What's happening to Yuuhi?" Hiroto asked.
"Her heart was beating fast but her breathing was getting slower," though Kumoi-san kept her cool, Hiroto could feel her uneasiness through her shaking hands.
Saitou-sensei, Yuuhi's doctor, and her nurses all worked fast. After the doctor's quick examinations, the nurses pulled up the rails on the side of Yuuhi's bed and hung the IV bag on the rod attached. They immediately rolled Yuuhi out along with the cardiac monitor.
"Where are you taking her?" Hiroto roared in dismay.
"We need to perform an emergency surgery. She has a damaged airway from the mucus that accumulated while being in a coma. It's hard for her to breathe, so we must operate on her urgently or we could lose her," explained Saitou-sensei, hastily following her nurses after.
Neko bawled in her brother-in-law's arms. Ichirou also started crying at the thought of losing his only daughter. Kumoi-san clenched her fists and gritted her teeth because of the anger she felt towards herself. Subaru, who arrived just in time to hear what the doctor said, was left in a shocked state. Chairman Muranishi followed right behind Subaru, also hearing the news. Kirika, who held her father's hand, kept her eyes on Yuuhi, not knowing what was going on.
"No," Hiroto muttered while he watched the team of nurses roll Yuuhi away.
The group was quiet, only Neko's sobs accompanying them. Yes, they have faith in Yuuhi. They all believed Yuuhi was a strong girl. However, Yuuhi looked so sickly, so faint. It was as if she was physically fading, and they didn't want to face the reality of having to prepare themselves for a terrible news.
The little girl could sense the restless atmosphere. She could feel the tenderness of the hearts of those surrounding her, but she couldn't understand. When Kirika looked up at her father with a frown, teardrops from her father fell on her face.
"Is Kira-nee-chan going away?" the wee girl asked, concerned.
Chairman Muranishi wiped his tears with his free arm, then squatted down to talk to his daughter. With an amiable smile, he reassured tiny Kirika.
"Yuuhi-nee-chan's going to be alright, okay?"
Kirika suddenly looked puzzled. Before she could say more, Hiroto took everyone's attention when he fled again. This time, though, nobody pursued because even if they were all in the same situation, Hiroto was in a more excruciating position.
"Kirari, please," Hiroto's tears flew with the wind as he ran through the halls of the hospital to find escape on the its rooftop.
"Don't take Yuuhi from me."
"I wonder where I'm heading," Yuuhi asked herself.
She had been walking in what she considered a straight line, no turns, no stops. White blinded her ocean blue eyes; everywhere she laid her eyes on was alabaster.
The fiery-haired girl, however, learned something new while she trekked on the smooth, ivory space.
Yuuhi learned to ignore what her mind shouted to the void. She learned to ignore the memories that her head would try to replay. She learned to fight off the persistent face that would reappear.
Eventually, she would learn to forget about Hiroto.
Self-satisfaction filled Yuuhi's heart. It didn't ache. She felt at peace.
The serenity of the emptiness was disturbed when unexpectedly, the memories that Yuuhi learned to evade manifested in front of her. She tried to turn around and run away from what was being shown to her, but her body wouldn't listen.
The first recollection Yuuhi watched was when she went to the summer festival with Hiroto. After an exhausting day as an idol, Hiroto took Yuuhi to a festival nearby. There, Yuuhi and her manager met with Seiji and Fubuki. She and the purple-haired idol rented out yukatas, receiving compliments from their respective partners. However, later on, Hiroto mentioned Kirari's name, upsetting Yuuhi. She ran away from him, only to get chased. They argued, and she ended up leaving Hiroto.
As Yuuhi witnessed the event from a third-person point-of-view, she noticed how content she looked. She blossomed when her cheeks turned red when Hiroto complimented her. Yuuhi didn't want to accept how she felt about Hiroto during this time, but now, she faced the truth.
"This was the day I fell for him," a tear started forming in Yuuhi's waterline as she whispered to herself.
In the next memory, Yuuhi gave Hiroto a snippet of her past. It was the day she came back to her home in Shiroi City to visit her comatosed adoptive mother. Hiroto was looking at a picture of her when she graduated high school, her hair dyed and cut short. She told him about how she had always felt like a burden to her adoptive parents. Before Yuuhi could degrade herself even more, Hiroto interrupted her and pulled her in his arms. She felt relieved, as if a load had been taken off her shoulder.
"That was the day I felt reassured...that everything would eventually be okay...and I was reminded...that I was accepted and loved," Yuuhi's tears began to stream.
Shorter flashbacks, all in another point of view, flowed before Yuuhi's watery eyes. She witnessed the days when Hiroto was jealous of her simulated relationship with Cloudy; how Hiroto was beyond infuriated when Cloudy took advantage of her. Yuuhi got to hear the thoughts that Hiroto had, which was all her. She finally grasped the fact that Hiroto had already loved her even when they both still wouldn't acknowledge how they felt for each other.
"No! I don't deserve him!" Yuuhi broke down, her knees weak.
She covered her face with trembling hands. Yuuhi's heart, once numb, now felt surges of sadness. The pain she tried to confine while strolling in the white world flowed like a river breaking a dam.
"I don't deserve, Hiroto!" wailed Yuuhi.
"Hiroto deserves happi-"
"Kirari...please don't take Yuuhi from me," Hiroto's voice echoed, stopping Yuuhi's sobs.
Yuuhi was startled. She couldn't remember what fragment of her memory this was from. Hoping to get a clue, Yuuhi lifted her chin up to see the flashback.
"It's not a flashback, Yuuhi-chan," a voice resounded from behind Yuuhi.
"He's been praying for weeks now. He's been waiting for you to come back," the voice materialized into a figure that was able to place its hand on Yuuhi's shoulder to comfort her.
Yuuhi turned her head. Next to Yuuhi was her sister, Kirari.
"Ki...rari-san?"
The brown-haired twin helped the auburn-haired stand up on her feet. Kirari tightly held onto Yuuhi's hands, their eyes at each other's. While Kirari had a soft and friendly smile on her face, Yuuhi looked awed.
"I finally got to meet you, Yuuhi-chan," Kirari greeted.
All Yuuhi could do was nod. She was speechless and couldn't find any words to say to her twin sister. It was silent between them at first, but Yuuhi tried her best to communicate with the late idol.
"Kirari-san," Yuuhi called.
"No need to be formal with me, you know. We're twins," giggled the brown-haired.
"Well, Kirari-nee, I don't really know what to say."
"It's okay. Just getting to hold you is enough for me. Besides, it's time for me to go soon anyways," an awkward smile formed on Kirari's face.
Kirari glanced down to check on the speed of her disappearance. Yuuhi also noticed that Kirari's torso was fading, the transparency and disintegration moving upwards.
"Yuuhi-chan, I'm sorry for all the troubles I've caused you. If only I had known about you earlier, I would've done everything in my power to make sure you would never feel unloved again," tears welled up in Kirari's eyes before they all rolled down her cheeks.
"No! No! It's not your fault! If only I had been as strong as you," Yuuhi cried with her twin sister while she tightly grasped Kirari's hands.
"You are strong, Yuuhi-chan! So strong," Kirari embraced Yuuhi.
Kirari's presence was now quickly fading, and Yuuhi sensed it.
"You have to go back, Yuuhi-chan. They're all waiting for you, okay? Take care of them for me."
Before Yuuhi could reply to Kirari's request, she had fully disappeared. Yuuhi's heart beat fast. However, it felt as if everything was finally in place.
"The procedure went well," Saitou-sensei came out of the operation room to inform Yuuhi's family.
Smiles instantaneously lit up the area, sighs of relief being let out, too. Hiroto was hugged by Kumoi-san and was patted by Chairman Muranishi. Neko and Ichirou were eased to hear the doctor's update. Seiji and Fubuki, who arrived after they heard the news of Yuuhi's emergency surgery, embraced each other in solace.
"However, we still don't know when she'll wake up from her coma," the doctor painfully added.
"It's up to her and her will to wake up and open her eyes."
Right after Yuuhi's doctor finished her statement, the curtain of the room's window to let visitors see the patient was spread open. Hiroto placed his hands on the glass window, pained to see Yuuhi in such state.
"When can we go in the room?" Hiroto asked with watery eyes.
"You're allowed to enter her room after 24 hours. However, you must be careful for her wounds from the operation would still be fresh," Saitou-sensei replied before excusing herself to tend to her other patients.
Hiroto remained in the hospital, watching over Yuuhi from the other side of the glass window. Everyone else went home to rest up. Hiroto's eyes were puffy from the tears he had been shedding for so long. Right now, with how Yuuhi was, the only thing Hiroto was looking forward to was for the 24 hours of waiting to run out. He wanted to hold Yuuhi's hand with hopes that his touch would wake her up.
Moments later, one of Saitou-sensei's nurses approached Hiroto and asked if he wanted to enter Yuuhi's room. Without hesitating, Hiroto shot up from the bench he sat on and prepared to walk into Yuuhi's room.
When the door was unlocked, Hiroto made way for the nurse to check up on Yuuhi. While he waited for the nurse to finish, he contacted everyone else. As soon as the nurse left, Hiroto grabbed a chair and sat next to Yuuhi. With one of her hands in Hiroto's grasp, the dark-haired boy fell asleep by her side.
Chairman Muranishi and his family arrived with flowers and a gift basket. Kumoi-san fixed the flowers in a vase while Kirika sat on the edge of the couch across the room from Yuuhi's bed, watching her feet dangle. Chairman Muranishi woke Hiroto up by mildly patting his shoulder.
"You can go home and get some rest, Hiroto-kun," the Chairman offered.
Hiroto let out a sigh after checking for any signs of movement made by Yuuhi. The only changes he noticed were her pale, sickly complexion, which used to be a fair, peach-ish color; her hair in messy strands pressed against the pillow; and Yuuhi's weight, which she lost a lot of. Hiroto was suffering to see Yuuhi that way.
Before letting Hiroto go, the adults gathered in one corner to update each other on how they were doing. They all wanted to make sure that not only were they physically well, but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. While they held a conversation, Kirika, who was left alone, looked at Yuuhi with a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"Well, I'll be back tonight, Chairman Muranishi, Kumoi-san," Hiroto excused himself before leaving for a rest at his home.
"I'll see you later, Kirika-chan," Hiroto took a knee and patted the little girl's head.
Right after Hiroto got up and turned his back from Kirika, the little girl grabbed the hem of his shirt with her tiny hand, stopping him from leaving.
"Aren't you going to say bye to Kira-nee-chan?" Kirika asked, her eyes still on Yuuhi.
"She's disappearing, you know."
Hiroto was taken by surprise. He quickly turned to Yuuhi, knowing that Kirika was mistakenly calling the auburn-haired girl by Kirari's name.
"Kirika! That's enough!" Kumoi-san scolded her daughter because of her unintended insensitivity.
"But, Mama-"
"Kirika! That's Yuuhi-nee-chan!"
Hiroto prevented Kumoi-san from making her daughter cry and agreed to the girl's request. Hiroto understood Kirika's confusion on Yuuhi and Kirari. After all, Hiroto mistook Yuuhi for Kirari before.
The dark-haired boy walked towards Yuuhi and held one of her hands.
"I'll be back," Hiroto softly said to Yuuhi, leaning down to give her a peck on the forehead.
With eyes still closed as he lifted the upper half of his body away from Yuuhi, Hiroto didn't notice the simultaneous change from the kiss he left. Hoping for no other delays, Hiroto let go of Yuuhi's hand and turned away from her.
Without a warning, the hem of Hiroto's shirt was once again pulled.
Hiroto's eyes widened, overwhelmed and shocked.