**KUROKO'S POV**

It's been five days since my mom and I fought, and I haven't seen her since. In the past, she would leave me alone in the house for weeks at most, so this isn't unusual. But not being able to see her own daughter at her own damn job is ridiculous, especially for the note we've left off on.

Every so often a nurse or a doctor would come into my room and would say:

"Oh! You're Dr. Izumi's child?"

"The last time I saw you you were a small child."

"Do you remember me? I was at your mother's birthday party."

But whenever I asked about where my mom was, I got the same answer.

"She's not available right now."

Of all times for her to be unavailable, it had to be now.

Every day that I've been in this damn hospital I've just been laying in this bed, waiting for the next meal. Because I was stabbed in the stomach, the doctors here have me on a "soft diet" only, consisting of foods that only babies and elderly people eat. Miso soup, plain rice porridge, natto, anything and everything that's plain, mushy, and boring.

Excluding eating the food here, there's nothing really for me to do. I'm always drowsy from the pain medicine, but I'm unable to sleep during the day. I've read every magazine that was in the waiting room front and back twice, and there's nothing interesting on TV. Sometimes I would just flip through the TV channels for entertainment.

As I laid on the hospital bed early in the morning, I stared at the ceiling and watched the ceiling fan's blade rotate clockwise as the noisy oxygen ventilator machine kept me company.

Damn. I hate being stuck here.

…

I wonder what Josuke is doing right now.

He's probably sleeping. He was never really a morning person after all.

I wonder if he's ok. I hope he's not too mad at my mom,

I heard a quiet knock on the door. "Come in."A familiar face finally came into my room; a gray-haired boy in a dark green Budogaoka high school uniform. A smile spread across my face. "Koichi!"

"Hi Kuro," he was holding a yellow folder as he walked in. He then placed the folder in my hands. "Here are the notes and the homework for this week. Sorry, but my handwriting isn't that good."

"Oh," I thought Koichi came to actually visit me for fun, but instead he only came to give me homework. It's better than not visiting me at all though. "Thanks, I guess."

Koichi looked at the window to see the box of chocolates Rohan gave me on the windowsill. "You haven't eaten the chocolate Rohan gave you."

"Oh, I would if I could. I'm on a soft foods diet right now and I'm sick of it. Actually, can you do me a favor?"

"Hmm?"

I reached into my bag that was next to my bed and pulled out my wallet. I then gave him two ¥1,000 yen bills. "Please buy me some food from outside the hospital!"

Koichi gave me a stern look. "Kuro, you just said you can only eat soft foods!"

"I'll be fine! I've been looking at the hospital's phone book for the past few days. Apparently, there's a curry place five minutes away by foot. I could get the vegetable curry set that doesn't have any spice in it. I'm so tired of hospital food! Please?!"

Koichi sighed and took the money from me. "Fine."

"Thank you so much! You can keep the change."

Koichi stuffed the bills into his school bag. "So…have you talked to your mom yet?"

I clenched the blankets with my fists. "No, not yet. Whenever I ask the nurses about her, they keep saying that she's busy. But even if she wasn't, when she decides something, it's usually set in stone. How's Josuke?"

"He's…not taking it well." Koichi's eyes became distant. " He didn't come back to school the first few days after he was discharged, and when he did come back, he said that he tried to visit you, but the receptionist said that he's been blacklisted."

"Blacklisted?!" I had no clue you could get banned from visiting someone. I thought he could just come and see me when my mom wasn't around.

"Yeah. He's been pretty quiet ever since. It's as if he's given up"

It's all my fault. If I could actually use my stand for fighting, we wouldn't be in this mess. Damnit. Then, an idea struck. "Koichi, can you hand me the phone on the wall?"

"Sure."

He then nodded and followed my orders. I grabbed the phone and pressed in the landline number of the Higashikata residence. I placed the phone against my ear.

"The number you have dialed has been blocked."

"WHAT THE HELL?" I threw the phone on the tiled floor, almost breaking it. "Why the hell did she block his phone number on the hospital's phone?! What if Ms. Higashikata had an emergency?! Is that woman that desperate to stop the two of us from meeting?!" Then another idea struck. I grabbed my bag, pulled out my wallet, and gave Koichi my blue credit card. "Buy me the cheapest cell phone on the market."

"Kuroko,"

"No, buy me the most expensive phone, just out of pure spite."

"Kuroko,"

"Get a phone for yourself too. Hell, get Yukako a phone!"

"Kuro!"

"What?!"

Koichi sighed. "I get it, you love Josuke, a lot. But you should really talk to your mom about this."

I rolled my eyes. "Like I said, she's been avoiding me. And even if we do talk, what the hell would I say? A stand user attacked us and Josuke couldn't fight so I tried my best? My mom is the most logical person I know and, wait what did you just say?"

"You should really talk to your mom about this?"

"No, before that."

"I get it?"

"After that."

"You love Josuke?"

I could feel my face turning beet red.

I…love…Josuke? Josuke Higashikata?

"I mean…I…well," I struggled to find the words myself, but they weren't there. "I've known Josuke since we were in elementary school. We've been through a lot. I'm not too sure…I…I…"

Koichi smiled. "Well, that's for you two to talk about." Wait, what does he mean by that? "I'll come back tomorrow with your food, ok? I told Yukako that I would meet up with her later today."

"OK. Thanks."

Koichi left, leaving me alone once again.

The rest of the morning was filled with me reading through Koichi's messy handwriting for English and math class. I didn't realize how important going to school was, because none of his notes made any sense.

At least it was something to do.

Around 12 o'clock, the nurse in pink scrubs and brown long hair that's been taking care of me for the past few days came in with my lunch. "Here's your lunch Kuroko." She placed it on my bedside table. It was the usual plain rice porridge but it was surprisingly paired with a small cup of pudding with brown caramel sauce on top.

"Pudding? Isn't that from the cafe downstairs?" I asked

The nurse smiled. "Well, the staff in this wing noticed that you've been looking pretty down lately. So we wanted to get you something nice."

I've been so depressed, I didn't even know the names of the people that have been taking care of me. "Thank you, um,"

"Call me Hana."

"Thank you, Ms. Hana."

"By the way, your soft foods diet ends today. Your mom said you should be able to eat what's served to patients normally."

"My mom? Oh." I crossed my arms and slumped back into my bed.

The nurse looked at me and sighed. "I know it's been hard on you Kuroko, and I don't fully understand the relationship between you and your mom. I've only been a nurse here for two months after all. But, whenever we're in the lunchroom, you're the only thing Dr. Izumi talks about."

My mom talks about me at work? But why? "Really?"

"Yup. She always gloats about how well you're doing in school. She's shown us pictures of you multiple times. That's probably why half the staff around here knows who you are." The nurse then rubbed my head. "Dr. Izumi has been looking pretty down since the two of you fought. I'm not too sure what happened, but, don't be too mad at her, ok? It's obvious that she loves you."

My mom has been the only family member I knew and loved. I don't remember my dad and the rest of my distant relatives are spread out across Japan. She acted as my best friend before Josuke came along. "I know. It's just that she doesn't understand what exactly happened, and I can't tell her. Josuke would never hurt me, and she should know that. I just…I just want to see my friend. No. I need to see my friend."

The nurse crouched down by my bed and rubbed my back. "You'll be able to see him once you get out of the hospital, but for now, just relax."

When I get out of the hospital…right. How long will that take in the condition I'm in? A month? Six months?!

Ms. Hana then got up. "Well, I'm sure everything between the two of you will be ok. So, keep your chin up, OK?"

Ms. Hana is right. Whenever my mom and I fought, we at some point made up. She's not very strict and is very passive. I guess that's because I'm usually obedient. Surely I can convince her that Josuke didn't hurt me, but that doesn't matter right now.

I need to see him.

He needs to know that it's not his fault.

Ms. Hana then left the room, leaving me alone with my lunch and my pudding. I shoved the porridge into my mouth, knowing that I won't get better on an empty stomach. The best part of today will probably be the creamy pudding that Ms. Hana gave me for dessert.

An hour after eating my meal, Ms. Hana came back into my room with a clipboard and placed a cup of vitamins and antibiotics pills onto my bedside table along with a paper cup filled with water. "By the way, your first physical therapy session starts today. You're finally moving in the right direction. Do your legs feel any different? Can you move them?"

I attempted to lift my right leg and with some pain, I was barely successful. However, when I tried to lift my left leg, nothing happened. "I feel the same. Nothing has really changed with my legs either."

"Well, that's the point of physical therapy. Hopefully, you'll recover fully despite your injuries, so don't worry too much." Ms. Hana then scanned her clipboard. "Your physical therapist is Dr. Hikaru Watanabe. It's in 15 minutes. Before we go, let's do the usual assessment." She then took a pen out of her shirt pocket. "Are you in any pain"

"Not right now."

"Is it hard to breathe?"

"A little. The oxygen ventilator is helping a lot."

"Appetite?"

"About five out of ten."

"Mood?"

"You already know it's low."

Ms. Hana rolled her eyes. "Just give me the number."

"Fine. Four. Though I doubt it really matters."

"Four?" She smiled. "Yesterday it was three. What changed?"

"…the pudding." I mumbled.

"Aww!" The nurse rubbed my hair, messing the top up. "You're so cute! Well, I'm glad that made you feel better." She then continued writing down even more notes. "Is there anything you need?"

"No, nothing." I said as I took my medication in one gulp.

"Alright. Can you scoot to the edge of the bed for me?" I sat up and followed her directions. She grabbed me by my waist, causing me to flinch in pain. "Sorry!"

"It's ok. Try to pick me up from under my arms."

"OK."

She then delicately wrapped her arms around my chest, lifted me, and placed me in a blue wheelchair. She connected the ends of the tube that supplied oxygen to my nose to a mobile oxygen tank that was connected to the back of the wheelchair. "Ready?"

"Yes."

Ms. Hana then wheeled me into the hallway and started taking me to the physical therapy room. I feel like an elderly lady in the condition I'm in. Once in a while, a doctor would walk past and say hi to me and I would just shyly return the greeting. How else do I talk to someone that knows me but I've never even seen their face? In the meantime, Ms Hana whistled a soft tune, a very familiar tune. It sounded just like a tune Josuke would whistle once in a while.

"Is that…Prince?" I asked.

"Why yes!" Ms. Hana chimed. "The song's "Soft and Wet". How did you know?"

"Well, one of my friends really likes his music."

"Is this the same friend that you want to see once you get out of the hospital?"

"Yeah."

"The friend that your mom won't allow to visit you?"

"Yeah."

"You talk about him a lot."

"Yeah."

"You like him, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"…You should date him."

"Yeah…wait what?"

Ms. Hana smirked. "I said that you should date him!"

The two of us…dating?

I could feel my cheeks heat up. This is the second time this topic has been brought up today. "I mean…we're friends. I've known him since elementary school. It would be weird if we started dating, would it not?"

Ms. Hana stopped wheeling me down the hallway. "Kuroko, you do realize that you can date your friends, right?"

Wait…what?

"That's a thing!?" I questioned.

"Yup. I'm best friends with my husband." She smiled. "I liked him for years. Then, I finally had the courage to ask him to be my boyfriend."

"What did he say?!" This story is the only entertaining thing that happened all day.

"He said no." She sighed. "But that's life, isn't it? At the moment I was devastated, but we continued to be friends. It was until a year later, he asked to be his girlfriend. I was ecstatic! We went on dates for a whole year until he proposed to me. And the rest is history."

The way she told her story sound just like rom com I would watch late at night.

It's…sweet. Sweet and cute. And they lived happily ever after.

Could that be Josuke and I?

SHOULD that be Josuke and I?

Kuroko Higashikata…it has a nice ring to it.

It rolls off the tongue smoothly.

Wait, I'm moving ahead of myself!

First we would have to date!

And then we would have to kiss.

And then…

My face started to turn red as I covered it with my hands in embarrassment. "You're thinking about Josuke, aren't you?" Ms. Hana teased.

"No, I'm not!"

"Ah, to be young, how much I miss it."

Ms. Hana continued pushing my wheelchair down the hallway and took the elevator. The way up felt longer than it should be with my racing teenage love thoughts racing in my head.

What if he doesn't like me back?

What if we fight and end up breaking up?

What if we end up hating each other?

What if…?

Then, it hit me, a question that is. The most important question I have ever since I've been in this dumb hospital. And I need to know. "What's the difference between being friends and dating?"

Ms. Hana started to blush. "You'll find out when the time comes, Kuroko. But for now, start from square one. Once you're discharged from the hospital and everything is ok with your mom, why don't you ask him out on a date?"

I don't fully understand what she means by "when you're older". I'm already sixteen, but I suppose she means when we actually start dating.

Once we got there, Ms. Hana then stopped at room 8D-12 and knocked on the door.

"Come in," I hear a familiar female voice come from the room.

The nurse opened the door, wheeled me in, and closed the door behind her. The white walls were now bright yellow and were covered with various colorful posters of encouragement phrases in Japanese. In the middle of the room were two wooden banisters for basic walking therapy. The edge of the room was lined with treadmills and black exercise bikes. A rack of small hand weights sat in the corner. I don't think I can even use any of the equipment here.

But in the opposite corner of the room was a black desk and standing in front of it was a familiar red-haired Doctor. "Mom?"

She turned around and smiled at me. "Hi sweety! Your physical therapist should be in here shortly."

This is the first time I've seen her in almost a week. We could talk about anything, but there's one thing on my mind. "Mom, about Jo-"

She immediately frowned. "We will talk about him tonight, OK?"

"But!"

"TO-NIGHT!" She snapped back. "You're about to go into physical therapy. Dr. Watanabe should be here anytime soon."

Immediately, as soon as she said that, the same door that I entered opened.

It opened to show a tall man.

A tall man wearing a white button-up shirt, a red tie, brown slacks, and a lab coat just like my mom's.

A tall man with familiar short black hair and a beauty mark on the left side of his chin.

He walked into the room, stood next to my mom and smiled brightly. He held his hand out to shake mine.

"Hi. My name is Dr. Hikaru Watanabe, and I will be your physical therapist while you're impatient at the hospital."

It's him.

He's the killer.