The following day when Kunigami arrived at the hospital, he ran into Akemi. She was a nurse and he knew her well enough through work.

"Kunigami, you're back," she said, sounding surprised to see him again so soon.

"Yeah, the guy that came in yesterday, he's an old friend of mine."

"Hyoma Chigiri?"

"Yeah. When do you think he'll be able to go home?" Kunigami was planning on offering Chigiri a place to stay as he obviously couldn't go back to his own burnt-out apartment. "How bad was the smoke inhalation?"

She frowned.

"You said he's a friend of yours?"

"Yeah."

She leaned in close and spoke quietly, sharing details she probably technically shouldn't because they were essentially colleagues.

"I don't think he'll be going home for a while. He's addicted to some pretty strong painkillers. That's why he was unconscious when he came in."

"Right," Kunigami said, staying calm on the outside but reeling on the inside. "So you're thinking rehab?"

"He needs it, but it has to be voluntary."

Kunigami nodded. This is what Chigiri was afraid of me finding out. Of course Kunigami didn't approve of it, but addiction usually stemmed from a deeper problem, and Kunigami had to be willing to listen if he wanted to help his friend. What's happened to him since Blue Lock?

He thanked Akemi, and headed for Chigiri's room.

Chigiri wasn't the same person as he'd been yesterday. Today he looked frantic and wild-eyed. He's strung out. Chigiri's eyes landed on him, and instantly it was anger filling them.

"Get out of here, Kunigami! I don't ever wanna see you again!"

Kunigami had studied enough human physiology, and dealt with enough drug addicts, to know that Chigiri wasn't in his right mind at the moment, and to not be offended by anything he might say.

"Sorry," he refused. "I need to talk to you first."

"I said I don't want to see you!" Chigiri emphasised his point by grabbing the closest thing, a plastic mug, and throwing it at him. Kunigami dodged it easily.

"If that's to avoid me finding out about your addiction, too late. So can we talk?"

Chigiri hid his face in his hands.

"I said go away…"

"And I said I can't do that," Kunigami told him, approaching Chigiri's side.

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"Yes, I do. You should have left me in there to burn to death!"

That was an awful thing to say, though Kunigami didn't believe it. Chigiri had called for hemp before he'd passed out.

"Chigiri, what happened to you to set you down this path?"

Viciously, Chigiri yanked the hem of his hospital gown up, revealing a scarred knee. It looked like it had healed bad.

"You did your ACL again?"

"Yes," Chigiri said bitterly. "It let me down, ruined my future. So I paid it back. I skipped out on therapy and it's been a mess ever since."

Kunigami reached out, wanting to touch, to soothe, but he stopped before he made contact.

"It's painful," he surmised. "This is why you're addicted to the meds now."

"Yes, it's painful, but it hurts more in here," Chigiri said, clenching a fist to his chest, tears spilling down his cheeks. He's breaking my heart.

"I want to help you, Chigiri. Get you back on the right path."

"What path is that? It's too late for me, Kunigami. I have no future. Walk away."

"No. You're stuck with me now, whether you like it or not. I came back today because I want to offer you a place to stay, if you don't have anywhere else to go."

"Why would you do that?"

There was a simple answer to that question which Chigiri was absolutely not ready to hear.

"Because you're my friend and you need help," Kunigami said instead. "Don't you remember how good we got along at Blue Lock?"

Chigiri gave him a bitter look.

"How could I forget?"

"Good. That settles it. Have the doctors talked to you about rehab? Because if you're serious about it, which I really hope you are, an outpatient program might be better for you than being in a facility considering your history." Being locked up would inevitably remind him of Blue Lock, and Chigiri couldn't move on if soccer was always on his mind.

"What are you saying? You're gonna nurse me through withdrawals and everything?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. You know I can't help being a hero. Let me be a hero for you, Chigiri."

Chigiri stared at him for a long time before he dropped his eyes and mumbled his answer.

"Fine."

"Good. This is the right thing to do, Chigiri."

"For who, I wonder? And when it gets too hard, don't say I didn't warn you."

xxx

Chigiri got out of the hospital two days later, and Kunigami had been present at the consult with the doctors to work out a treatment plan. Chigiri was too weak physically to consider going cold turkey, so he'd been prescribed methadone to get him through the first few weeks. It wasn't a drug that could be handed out, which meant Chigiri would have to attend clinic every day. Kunigami had realised pretty quickly that he couldn't work and support Chigiri, and considering he was going to be on light duties until his burns healed anyway, he took all the time off he had owing. It was a good thing he had no life outside work and had saved it all up.

Bringing Chigiri home wasn't the fresh start for them it might have been. A few days ago he'd been excited by the prospect of reconnecting with his old friend, but now it was tougher. He was up for the challenges that helping Chigiri would present, but seeing him like this was hard. Once, Chigiri had been the brightest of stars, now he was broken, and Kunigami couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Life had been tough on him.

Originally he had planned to let Chigiri sleep on a futon until they worked out a longer term plan, but as he was now Kunigami helped him inside and let him take the bed. He wanted to make Chigiri as comfortable as possible while they went through the trials of the next few weeks.

"Your place is nice," Chigiri said, as Kunigami showed him to the bedroom.

"It works for me," he agreed.

"It's clean, light, no cracks in the walls. I can't remember the last time I was in a place like this."

"Chigiri…"

Chigiri looked up at him with tired eyes.

"Don't let me get too comfortable. Okay?" He forced a smile and it took everything in Kunigami not to pull him into a tight hug and never let go.

"My place is yours," he offered instead. "For as long as you need, so get as comfortable as you like."

"You might regret saying that."

"I don't think so. I bought a few things for you, clothes and toiletries. I figured you lost all your stuff in the fire and my clothes would be too big for you. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, I'm just gonna sleep for now if that's okay."

"Sure. Just call out if you need anything."

"Okay. Thanks."

Kunigami left Chigiri to it, allowing him some privacy. He didn't want Chigiri to feel uncomfortable here, no matter what he said. For now, he wanted Chigiri to think of this as his home.

To occupy himself and stop from worrying too much, Kunigami decided to do some cooking. He ate well so he could stay fit for work, but he wanted to make sure Chigiri ate well too, he was underweight and Kunigami wanted to fix that. Not knowing what the next few weeks would bring, it felt smart to have some meals ready in the freezer in case he wouldn't have time to cook.

He was in the middle of prepping some vegetables when he heard Chigiri coughing, and went to check on him.

He stepped into the room, immediately smelling vomit. Chigiri had thrown up in the bed.

"I'm sorry," Chigiri choked out. "It was happening before I knew it."

"It's alright," Kunigami told him. "Let's get this cleaned up."

He got a wet cloth for Chigiri to clean his face, and fresh set of clothes for him. Then he stripped the bed and remade it with fresh sheets while Chigiri used the bathroom to clean up and get changed. The sheets were washable, but pillow was a write off.

"I'm sorry," Chigiri apologised again when he returned.

"Don't worry about it. We knew this might happen. I'll bring you a bucket for next time, but if you don't grab it in time that's okay too."

Chigiri looked pale and clammy. Kunigami pressed a palm to the other man's forehead.

"You feeling okay?"

"Okay enough."

"It should only be like this for a week or two. Make sure you keep drinking plenty. And tell me if it gets worse, okay?"

Chigiri nodded, eyes downcast.

"Hey," Kunigami said, touching Chigiri's chin and tilting his face up. No matter what, he wanted Chigiri to know he didn't need to be embarrassed or ashamed of any of this. He wanted Chigiri to know it was okay to meet him on equal terms. "I said I'd be here for you and I meant it. I want to endure this with you. I want you to know I'm in this with you willingly. You're not a burden to me, and I don't think any less of you than I did before. Fight, Chigiri. And I'll fight with you. You can trust in that."

He just meant to help, but Chigiri stepped back and turned away.

"Don't say things like that."

"Why not? It's true."

"It's too much. You're expecting too much."

Maybe Chigiri was right. Maybe he was pushing too much of his own expectations here.

"Sorry. I guess I just don't want you to feel any worse than you have to. All I was trying to say is don't worry about me. I can handle all this. Focus on you."

Chigiri turned a sad look on him.

"That's the problem. I always do."