Chapter Four

By the time Kaito woke up, it was already nearly one o' clock. This didn't surprise him, considering he had had a difficult time sleeping last night, and he was exhausted from work. He sat up and stretched his arms above his head with a small groan, feeling his back give a satisfying pop. Through his bleary vision, he could see that his room was a lot cleaner than usual, and it took him a moment to remember that Meiko had helped him clean up yesterday. Honestly, he would've just left it like that if she hadn't been so adament about it.

With a sigh, he stood up and headed towards the kitchen for a light breakfast. He never ate more than a piece of toast or a small bowl of cereal, which would probably explain why he was so skinny. Kaito remembered someone at work commenting about how his weight was unhealthy, but he didn't really care. There were more important things to worry about for the time being, of course. While thinking about this, he placed a piece of bread in the toaster and leaned against the counter to wait. Had today been the way things were a year ago, he would've been preparing breakfast for both him and Miku, before seeing her off to school. It was that time of year again, wasn't it?

Now that he thought about it, Rin was starting high school this year. He couldn't help but feel a little concerned for the girl; after all, things were already bad enough as is, but school would just add more stress to Rin's life. Kaito wasn't particularly close to the girl, they only ever really talked whenever Miku had Rin stay for dinner at their house, but she had been in Miku's life long enough to be practically family anyways. Kaito knew that Miku treasured Rin like a sister, and likewise for the blonde girl, so it wouldn't surprise him if Miku worried about Rin going to school. That is, if she even knew that school had started yet.

The sound of the toast being done brought Kaito out of his thoughts. He placed the toast on a plate and spread a light layer of butter on it, before beginning to nibble absently on the bread. He figured once he was done, he would get dressed and head over to the hospital to visit Miku. He honestly didn't have anything else to do before his next shift at work, but even if he did he would go to see her anyway. Kaito just wanted to check on her and make sure she was okay, even if there was not much else he could do. Kaito finished up his breakfast and headed back to his bedroom, preparing to start another day.

The hospital was the same as always, with that same blank whiteness and perfect cleanliness that couldn't help but feel artificial. Kaito entered Miku's room to see the girl looking the same as ever: sitting in bed and staring out the window even though she couldn't see a thing.

"Hey, Miku," Kaito greeted, taking a seat in the chair beside her.

Miku turned her head toward him with a soft smile. "Hi, Kaito. How are you?"

"I should be asking you that," Kaito pointed out.

Miku hummed thoughtfully. "I guess so... but you could still answer my question."

Kaito gave a faint sigh and leaned back in his seat. "I suppose I'm as fine as I can be."

"You really should lighten up a bit, you know?" Miku pouted a bit childishly.

Kaito gave a low hum, but no other response. He didn't think he could "lighten up" even if he tried. Just then, the door to the room opened. Kaito turned around in his chair, expecting to see a doctor standing in the doorway, but instead he saw Rin there. She looked a little nervous and was peering around the corner of the door like a timid little kid.

"Oh, Rin. I didn't expect to see you here," Kaito said simply.

Rin jumped slightly at being acknowledge, before she quietly closed the door and tentatively walked over to join Kaito by Miku's bedside.

"Well, it's been over a month since my last visit, so I..." Rin trailed off, her voice barely above a mumble.

"Rinny! It's nice to see you again! What have you been up to lately?" Miku asked cheerfully.

Rin seemed to wince slightly at being called by her childish nickname, as if hurt by it, but she didn't say anything against it. "Well, the first day of school was yesterday..."

"Man, I never thought I'd miss going to school," Miku commented with a small laugh, but something seemed oddly melancholic about it.

"I wish you could go in my place, then. It's so boring I feel like I'm gonna die," Rin muttered.

"But you've only been there for two days..." Miku seemed a little confused by this.

Kaito figured it would be best to just let the two girls talk alone, so he got to his feet and headed over to the door.

"Well, I'll just leave you two to it," he stated.

"Okay then," Miku responded, though she still looked a bit puzzled.

Kaito then exited the room and began wandering through the hospital's halls aimlessly. He still had some time to kill, and he wasn't quite sure what to do right now. He knew there was a cafeteria on the third floor, so he decided to stop by there despite not being hungry. At least it was a place he'd never been before. When he arrived, he saw that the cafeteria was actually rather large, and the smell of the food that wafted through the air was actually kind of nice. Not what he had expected, but no matter.

Kaito sat down at one of the nearby tables with a sigh and leaned his chin against his palm. There wasn't much to look at in this cafeteria, and there weren't even that many people there at the moment. He figured patients probably didn't even eat here all that often anyway. After all, if they could walk to the cafeteria just fine, why would they need to be in the hospital in the first place? People like Miku just had their food brought to them. Had the circumstances been any different, Kaito supposed that wouldn't be such a bad way to live.

"Kaito!"

Suddenly, Kaito was tackled by someone who had just shouted his name, causing him to nearly fall out of his seat. Kaito let out an exclamation of surprise as he looked down to see a girl with long, wavy blonde hair.

"H-Huh?" he stammered as he stared at her confusedly.

"Aw, come on, don't tell me you've forgotten about me!" the girl pouted as she looked up at him and puffed out her cheeks childishly.

"Wait a second... SeeU?" Kaito said slowly.

SeeU's face lit up and she sat back, finally releasing him from her vice-like grip. "So you do remember me! It's been so long that I wasn't sure!"

"It's kind of hard to forget someone like you," Kaito muttered.

SeeU had often hung out with Kaito and Meiko during their high school days. She was one of the most energetic people in the whole school, and it seemed that she hadn't changed much in that regard. Despite her hyper personality sometimes being too much to handle, the trio had actually been rather good friends. Though, after SeeU moved to a different city for a special college, they had gradually lost touch.

"What are you doing here?" Kaito questioned.

"I work here, duh," SeeU answered as if it were obvious, before gesturing to her outfit. "Can't you tell by my clothes?"

Kaito looked and, sure enough, saw that SeeU was wearing a doctor's uniform. This was surprising, considering SeeU wasn't exactly the type of person you'd expect to see working in a hospital.

"How did someone like you become a doctor?" Kaito questioned.

"Hard work and determination, like anyone else," SeeU replied matter-of-factly, ingoring the slightly offensive part of his comment.

"I see..." Kaito trailed off.

"So, what are you doing here?" SeeU asked curiously.

"Ah... Well, you know, Miku's been in this hospital for a little over a year now..." Kaito answered while looking around the cafeteria absently.

SeeU gasped. "No way! Has she really?!"

"You mean you work here and you didn't know?" Kaito raised an eyebrow questioningly at her.

"I work in the pediatrics department," SeeU stated simply.

"Ah, that makes sense," Kaito commented. That actually made a lot more sense than anything he could've come up with.

"Why has she been here so long? Was there an accident?" SeeU questioned, leaning forward in a mixture of interest and concern.

"She has a terminal illness," Kaito replied bluntly.

"That's awful... And she's such a nice girl too," SeeU frowned, thinking back to the few times she had met Miku.

"Yeah, it really sucks," Kaito sighed.

They were both silent for a moment, but it wasn't long before SeeU perked up and resumed her usual cheery demeanor.

"Hey, I have an idea! Why don't we go do something this weekend to help cheer you up?" SeeU suggested excitedly.

"Huh?" Kaito sent her a confused look.

"It's been so long since I've seen you, it'd be nice to just hang out like old times, y'know? Oh! And we should bring Meiko too! I've been dying to see her!" SeeU continued enthusiastically.

"I don't know..." Kaito trailed off in a disinterested tone.

"Come on, it'll be fun! Plus, you look super depressed. That's not healthy for you," SeeU persisted.

"But-"

"Oh, shoot! I have to get back to work now!" SeeU suddenly exclaimed, cutting Kaito off. She stood up and started walking quickly toward the exit of the cafeteria, calling back to Kaito over her shoulder. "Meet me in front of the hospital around two on Saturday, that's when my shift ends. See ya later!"

Kaito sat in a sort of dumbfounded silence as he watched SeeU rush out of the cafeteria and disappear behind the door. He had forgotten just how pushy the girl could be. Kaito sighed and shook his head before laying it on the table in defeat. Looks like he has plans for the weekend now.

A/N: Well, now we have a new character! I was actually having a hard time writing this one since I don't really have an idea of where this story is going, so I thought adding in SeeU would help, and it did! It was really fun writing her character, especially since everyone else is so depressing (but that's what I get for making a sad story wwww). Anyway, if any of you have any ideas for things I could have happen later in the story I'd love to hear them! It'd be really fun to see what I could do with some help from you guys :3

Have a good day/night/whatever~