It was another day in Sutirushiti, Shizuka gets up early in the morning, takes a bath, has breakfast and gets ready for her day. While getting ready, she sees the sky, in addition to the steam and some smog left by the ships, flying motorcycles and airships, you could see how cloudy it was. "Another day of rain like they said on the radio, I'll have to bring an umbrella, dad is at work today and he can't take me there."
Today in the morning the girl had her piano lesson, at her request, her mother asked the instructor that the classes be in the morning until she returned to school. As always, she did very remarkably, once she finished that, she was helping her mother with cleaning and watering the indoor plants in the house, she had lunch and prepared some bags of cookies that he was going to take to his daily commitment, she says goodbye to Pichan, her mechanical canary while leaving it in its cage, he says goodbye to her mother and father who was going to be working in his office all day and leaves the house with a basket, a bag and an umbrella.
The girl with the pigtails gets on the bus ship heading to her destination, both Suneo and Gian see how she once again embarks on her routine. "Is she going there again? What's the point?" Gian asks. "It's not like he's going to welcome her with open arms. He's getting too much attention and he's not even back into the routine yet."
"I know, but anyway, he will come back one day, and when that happens, we will have a talk, after all, he has resisted and we still want to know what he wanted to tell us" Suneo says with a mischievous but irritated smile.
As for Shizuka, she had arrived at her destination: Situs Hospital. When she reached the entrance, the clouds began to release drops that became more and more constant. With hope, thoughts and a basket, she went directly to her final destination. Seiya and Melia were arriving in front of her and were going to the same place: Room B903. "Hello Seiya, hello Melia. How was your morning?"
"Hello Shizuka, everything is as usual, nothing, you are as punctual as always." The two friends greet each other smiling as they usually do every time. "Dekisugi will come a little later."
"I know" Shizuka takes out a couple of bags of cookies and hands them to both of them. "I made cookies and brought you some, I hope you like it."
"Thank you very much Shizuka" Seiya opens the bag and eats a cookie just like Melia "Nobita is right, your cookies are very good."
"But don't eat in the hallways or the nurses will scold you." Shizuka can't help but let out a low giggle. That reminded her of a friend who always liked to eat those cookies and she thought it was nice to see him react happily.
Knocking on the door of the room, someone inside said "Come in!" Shizuka opens the door: that was Nobita's hospital room. Doraemon was there checking that the machines were working well, there was also the boy's mother who got up from the chair that was next to the bed where the silly boy was sleeping peacefully and approached the three kids. "Good afternoon Shizuka, thank you for coming like every day. Good afternoon to you too Seiya and Melia"
"Good afternoon" The twins respond at the same time.
"Hello guys" Doraemon says with a smile "Thank you for visiting him"
"Still no sign of him waking up?" Asks Shizuka who notices her friend who was asleep in bed due to the coma induced by the operation. Mrs. Nobi just shakes her head as she caresses her son's head.
It has been 3 weeks since Nobita had gone through the entire heart transplant process, although the danger of rejection of the prosthesis decreased as the days went by, no one knew when he was going to wake up from the coma. There were no signs of a reaction in all the time that had passed, but that didn't take away anyone's hope that the boy would wake up one day. "There is no change, but I know he will wake up one day, the doctor said he was impressed with his stamina, no wonder, he was always tripping or blowing things up in his father's workshop in his attempts to invent something. Today I'll go to the doctor's office with his father to discuss his condition."
Tamako can't help but put her hands on the shoulders of the girl with the pigtails, looking at her with a smile "We really appreciate that you come every day to see him, maybe it doesn't show in his state, but I know that Nobita must be very happy because you visit him every day, it means a lot to him and to us, he really appreciates you a lot. I'm sorry that you have to change your routine just to be able to come at visiting time."
"It's okay, it's the least I can do for him now, although I wish I could do more" Shizuka says with a smile.
"That's true, it's really good that you came and who knows. Maybe he'll react faster" Doraemon says that and Seiya nods, since once Nobita also mentioned to him that he felt love for her, but he wanted to tell her himself when he gathered the worth. In a world of steam, the boy was looking for a way to express his emotions other than through expressions and moments. Nobita wasn't only going to consider confronting those who bothered him, but also to be frank with his feelings towards Shizuka, but he was not going to tell that plan to anyone, since he wanted it to be a surprise. But as you already realized, things turned out differently. "You can go mom, our friends and I are here with him, also take the opportunity to rest a little"
Tamako nods and leaves the room but not before giving her son a kiss on the forehead. Seiya and Melia come over to see him while Shizuka puts the basket and his things on a nearby table and sits where Mrs. Nobi was before. "Hi Nobita. I hope that at least being in the world of dreams, you are comfortable and calm" Shizuka says but can't help but shed a couple of tears "Although I would like you to wake up already, nothing is the same without you"
Doraemon can only exhale in sadness while he sees how the girl couldn't help but cry, she was trying to be strong, but these types of situations were hurting her. Seiya puts his hand on Shizuka's shoulder "Nobita, like all of you, we have gained a lot of trust especially these last few weeks, so, when he wakes up, Melia and I plan to tell you everything"
"Tell us everything? What is everything? Is there something else about the mechanical heart that you can't mention in detail?" Doraemon asks confused.
"Let's say yes, the idea was just to tell Nobita when he woke up, but you all became so close that it seems like a better option for you to be present too." Melia says with a serious look "After all, you guys entrusted us the Nobita's life."
Doraemon smiles "I'm glad to know that you're not going to keep that information from us."
After chatting for a while, Seiya and Melia leave to wait for Dekisugi at the hospital entrance. Shizuka gives Doraemon a bag of cookies, that makes him excited "Thank you Shizuka" the mechanical cat responds.
"Why don't you go down to the cafeteria for some tea? You need to rest too, you haven't left this room for three weeks. I'll take care of Nobita while you rest."
"I can't, I promised I would be closer to him than before, after all, I feel part of the guilt because I couldn't defend him from the baron, if I had been with him, Nobita wouldn't have had to go through this. I'm worried about how he's going to stay as soon as he wakes up, although he was scared of many things before, this will increase his fears and with how well he was trying before the presentation, he will isolate himself in fear again." Doraemon just looks at his friend with a worried face Of course, he has a new heart that was more a part of him every day. But what about his emotions?
"I know what you feel, but for that same reason I want you to rest, surely Nobita would want to see you well to be greeted by his best friend with a smile." What Shizuka says makes the blue cat sigh, so he ends up accepting and leaves the room straight to the cafeteria saying that it wasn't going to take long.
Now they were alone.
"Our classmates are talking about how you prevented things from getting worse that day, Dekisugi took it upon himself to tell them in detail what Seiya said. I hope to see you in routine again, the days in this city are cloudy since you are like this." The girl only sees the window that was on the front wall, only the large metal buildings, flying ships and a dark sky due to the rain clouds that began to wet everything outside were visible. "And I think my days are too"
Some of Dr. Keta's colleagues visit the boy for a moment, saying that they were surprised that of all those who went through the same thing as him, who were adults, he who was a child had overcome and accepted the mechanical heart.
When the adults have left, Shizuka gets up for a moment to change the water of the flowers that some classmates sent him, those who were less reluctant towards him, but hoped to visit him when he woke up. While she was doing that she began to think about everything that has happened, in case she felt that something was changing in her way of thinking about Nobita, previously looking at him as another friend to trust and laugh, with whom she sometimes got angry but then they made it up, since above all they both felt bad if they fought. When she finishes, Shizuka sits back down in her seat. She hasn't slept very well since the incident happened, so she couldn't help but lie down for a moment on the edge of Nobita's bed. She was looking at the boy's left hand close to her.
Everything that she has experienced in these last almost two months began to make her begin to notice her already mixed feelings for him. And that didn't exactly happen overnight or just because he saved her, it was even the driving force behind those sensations. She can't help but fall asleep for a while.
A long time ago, when she was friends with Gian and Suneo, she only saw with a little sadness how the pair spent their time harassing him because of who he was, being more attached to Dekisugi with whom she spent more time. However, little by little she began to get closer to him, noticing what a good person he was. Although that raised alerts in Gian and Suneo who recommended that she be stoic with him since he wasn't as capable as the others, emphasizing how useless, stupid and clumsy he was. Which changed the way she saw the pair, because even though Nobita could go against them, he didn't and when he did, he never won. Drawing her more attention for him.
Until the day came when she changed the way she saw the three boys.
-Sutirushiti Public School, a year ago-
It was a cloudy day after school, everyone had gone home on their motorbikes or ships. Shizuka looked at the cloudy sky with a little nervousness. "Oh no. In the weather forecast on the radio they said it was going to be a calm day." Gian and Suneo arrive at the entrance of the school where she was. "Did you guys not bring an umbrella either?"
"No, and how bad indeed." Suneo says, sighing annoyed, "And just as I'm wearing new clothes, we had to run home."
"Today we are going to finish doing our monthly project, that industrial ice cream machine isn't going to finish itself, and try it alone!" Gian licks his lips to try out the machine.
"Don't you want to come? We are doing our project at my house, we will have many imported ice cream flavors when we try it out" Suneo says smiling
"Okay, thanks for the invitation, I'll go home to leave my things and go there." Suneo and Gian get excited. "Why don't we invite Nobita too? I'm sure he'll be very excited."
"Nah, he's busy with something, besides. Why invite the useless guy? Surely if he goes, our machine is going to explode" Gian says while he and Suneo laugh.
"I think they shouldn't be so hard on him, I know he goes at a slower pace than us when it comes to inventing or repairing things but, I'm sure that if he surpasses himself he could do anything, you should give him the opportunity to..." Suneo interrupts the girl's argument.
"I'm sorry, I don't think there will be enough ice cream to fit anyone else in, so, no way. Let me know by phone when you're coming so I can save the ice cream for you."
Suneo and Gian run away out of fear that it could rain at any moment, leaving Shizuka to sigh sadly "Why don't they give Nobita a chance? I think it already feels a little unfair to the level they're reaching. But if I managed to convince them, I'm sure they'll finally be good to him." That's what she thought.
Dekisugi who arrives at the entrance had two umbrellas, one for himself and an extra one just in case. Shizuka is excited to see him "Dekisugi, I see you brought your umbrella."
"Although the radio weather report said it was going to be good weather, I studied a little about it with the measuring machine I made a month ago, that's why I brought it, I have an extra one in case you want it Shizuka" Dekisugi says smiling
"It's impressive how you are aware of everything and how you made an invention like that, but I shouldn't be surprised, your inventions are always on the protruding wall in the living room. And thank you, I would like to have one just in case" The girl with the pigtails was going to take the extra umbrella until she notices something. "Have you seen Nobita by any chance? Everyone has already left but he hasn't come out."
"Well, what a coincidence. I was going to ask you exactly the same thing about Nobi." They both look everywhere but he wasn't there.
"I'm a little worried. It's better to go back inside, maybe he tripped there or got stuck on something." Both guys decide to go back into the school to go directly to the classroom, when Shizuka approaches she hears someone crying, which which makes her open the door quickly "Nobita?"
The silly boy was looking everywhere in the room while crying, the girl notices that he wasn't wearing his cap, so she approaches to find out why he was doing that "Nobita, what's wrong with you? It's time to go home." The smart boy also comes to see him.
"Shizuka, Dekisugi..." Nobita bursts into tears "I can't find my caaaaaaap! Surely it was Suneo and Gian who lost it!" The cascades of tears didn't wait "They were near my cap when I was putting my things in my bag, now I can't find it!" He only has to kneel and cry with his face against the floor.
"Is your cap gone?" Shizuka says surprised "We will help you look for it, don't worry" She couldn't help but kneel down and comfort him.
"That's right, Nobi, let's go calmly and look for it. If Honekawa and Goda were really responsible for it, then the cap must be somewhere in the school. We'll look for it between the three of us."
Nobita's face filled with excitement as she teared up "Thank you guys." Shizuka picks him up and wipes the boy's tears with a handkerchief, which she gives him to finish cleaning. So between the three of them they spent a good time looking for the cap, checking between the classrooms, in the hallways, looking at the teachers' room, the lockers, even the roof, there were no traces of the cap and soon it started to rain, Nobita had gotten wet looking on the roof, just at that moment Doraemon also arrived flying with the hopter looking that he was on the roof while Shizuka with an umbrella takes him inside "Nobita!"
"Come on Nobita, you're going to catch a cold if you stay out there." Shizuka watches as the blue cat lands and enters the school through the roof.
"Nobita! What happened? You should have already returned home, mom is upset and worried that you haven't returned until now. And your cap?" Doraemon asks worriedly, approaching the boy.
"Doraemon, I can't find my cap, Suneo and Gian hid it from me! Shizuka and Dekisugi are helping me look for it but it doesn't appear anywhere!" Nobita sits down to cry again, now his crying was full of frustration, leaving that essence of comic tragedy aside, which makes them both sad.
"Oh, that's horrible." Doraemon says a little annoyed.
Dekisugi arrives going up the stairs, the three of them were looking at him with excitement but the smart boy just shakes his head "I'm sorry Nobi, it wasn't in the basement either"
"That pair, they're...! They're heartless!" Nobita covers his eyes with his arms in anger and frustration as he continues to cry, Dekisugi puts his hand on the boy's shoulder to calm him down.
"We're so sorry about your cap, Nobi, we're here for you. Don't worry, we'll help you get a new cap" Nobita just winces and shakes his head.
"I know you want to help me and I appreciate it, Dekisugi, I know you are a very good person. But I don't want a new cap, I want my cap. I don't want another one!" Nobita cries again in frustration.
Shizuka starts sadly as she remembers something "Doraemon, wasn't that the cap his grandmother gave his?" Doraemon nods with a long face which surprises the pair of guys.
"Now I understand why Nobi is more frustrated than usual" Dekisugi says.
The girl is a little bothered by the fact that a couple of hours ago, Suneo and Gian were so calm while they had played a terrible prank on Nobita. She knew that if he valued something highly, it was the last gift that his grandma left him, that somewhat changed the way she saw the pair in a negative way, while she saw Nobita more closely, since valuing the memories of those he loved was something she considered positive. "Let's look again, I'm sure this time we'll find it."
Dekisugi nods "Yes Nobi, it's always good to make sure of something more than once, let's look again."
"And since I'm here I'll help you too, I'm sure mom will understand if it's a valuable object for you, let's go look for your cap."
The smile of Doraemon and the rest makes the clumsy boy smile again. So they got to search again and now that they had extra hands, the search was even easier until...
"I FOUND IT" Doraemon shouts from the men's bathroom, both Shizuka, Nobita and Dekisugi approach the entrance of the bathroom, as Shizuka couldn't enter for obvious reasons, they waited for Doraemon to come out and he did. The blue cat came out with the cap soaked. "Nobita, you're lucky no one had used that toilet today."
"IT WAS INSIDE A TOILET?!" Nobita shouts, taking the cap, although he was happy to have found it, he was upset because it proved that the pair were responsible. "Why did they do this to it? I don't care if they mess with me! Well, something. But messing with my cap is too much!"
Seeing the boy cry with frustration made Shizuka feel sad for the boy, she knew that this was hurting him because it was an important object for him because of the sentimental value it had "Don't worry, Nobita, the important thing is that we were able to find it, but you're right, they messed with something that is very important to you, there is no justification."
"Shizuka" Nobita calms down when he sees the support they were giving him, especially the friend he loved.
"With a little cleaning and drying, your cap will be like new again, the important thing is that you have it back with you" Doraemon smiles at him
"Doraemon" Nobita was tearing up with joy again.
"Honekawa and Goda went too far this time, although surely if we tell them something, they will say that we have no proof that they did it, it's a tragedy" Dekisugi exhales tiredly. "But don't worry, like I said, we are here for you Nobi, that part of your memories hasn't been lost and although everything ended the way it did, those memories could be recovered"
"Dekisugi, everyone, thank you seriously, thank you for helping me look for it, this cap really means a lot to me, that you helped me means a lot, really, I appreciate it" Nobita smiles gratefully, the boy's smile made Shizuka startle, who finds it tender that more than the object, he was seeking to maintain the affection of the person who gave him that garment. Which makes her make a decision.
"Dekisugi, can you accompany Nobita and Doraemon to his house? It seems that he is still a little frustrated and Doraemon will need a little support. I have to do something first."
The smart boy accepts and that's how the afternoon ends. Suneo and Gian were testing the finished ice cream machine when the bell at their house suddenly rings. When they approach with Gian and open the door, they see that Shizuka was there. Since it stopped raining, she no longer needed the umbrella. "Shizuka! I was waiting for you to call, but don't worry, our invention turned out to be a success, we saved you ice cream"
"I already found out what you guys did! How could you mess with something that means a lot to Nobita?! It's the last thing she gave him!" The girl with the pigtails was upset, of course as expected, they both gave themselves away by getting nervous.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, seriously," Suneo says.
"Yeah, we had nothing to do with his cap. Don't exaggerate" Gian gives himself away and Suneo just exhales irritably.
"So Nobita was right. Are you going to apologize for what you did to him?" Shizuka says annoyed.
"Oh come on, surely he already found it! Isn't that enough? Plus, it was just a joke" Suneo says, nervous about seeing her friend upset.
Shizuka just sighs tiredly "I thought you were at some point realizing that it was better to all be friends than to be doing all this to Nobita, maybe it's also my fault for thinking about that and staying out of it." She turns around and looks at both of them disappointed "I can no longer treat you as close friends, not until I see that you sincerely want to apologize to him for everything, goodbye"
Even though the pair were telling her to wait and reconsider, she just stared ahead, disappointed that that slim chance of them all being friends was gone. After all, the same group doesn't always have a good friendship, at least not in the same cases, not in that steam world. From that day on, Shizuka began to treat the pair with more distance, and she grew tired of the situation that seemed like it was going to end in nothing.
"Shi...zuka?" A faint familiar voice was heard
The girl wakes up little by little, she had dreamed about that day. "Did I hear...? It must have been my imagination." She thought until, when she looked ahead, her face lit up when she saw how Nobita was looking at her weakly. The girl's tears began to flow without her being able to stop it. The boy shows a slight smile with the little strength he had "I'm sorry... for... making you... cry again..."
She can't help but cry with joy, finally her friend that she missed so much, had woken up after 3 weeks.
"NOBITA! You woke up, you finally woke up!"