Takeshi raised an eyebrow as Roy said he would take her. Immediately telling her not to be slamming doors because of a barbarian “bully” confused by what he meant. Clearly slamming private room doors open in a hospital is not advisable, but he was sure she was just worried. He grunted softly to himself as he reached for a robe and pulled into onto him, after doing so he laid back for a moment as another wave of dizziness flowed over him. He heard some commotion outside the door of his room, groaning and some worried voices.
But when opened his eyes he looked over to see Fumika standing in the doorway. Her eyes filled with horror and disbelief. At what though? His lack of arm was hidden at his side opposite of the door. Her face was white as well, before he could ask if she was ok, she finally spoke
"Takeshi... Your arm..."He winced, not out of any physical pain, but to see Fumika this mentally distressed over the fact he lost his arm. He hesitated for a moment, looking away to his feet at the end of the bed. Then slowly swinging them over the edge. As he grunted.
Looking to Fumika again he had a soft smile on his lips.
“Fumika… thank you for visiting…” He said softly but politely. Using his right hand to gripp his elbow and nub as if that simple gesture would hide it completely from her. While it was a horrible incident for himself, he was already steeled to push on. But Fumika seemed so worried and he didn’t want that of her. She was so innocent and pure.
”Its not that bad…” he said trying to brush off the severity of it. Though it was clear he understood it as well.
He pushed himself out of bed and finished pulling the robe over his shoulders. Shakily at first, but he managed to regain his balance.
Whats going on out there? I heard some groaning...did Roy hit someone with the door? He added, trying to deflect the bigger issue.
Fumika stared blankly at him. Her mouth opened as if to say something, then shut again. She blinked once, very slowly and deliberately, as if only just then realizing she’d forgotten and resolving to do it properly if she was going to do it at all. She nodded slightly, but still didn’t speak. Her lower lip seemed to twitch slightly - the faintest sort of quivering motion that suggested that with some herculean effort, she was trying to speak - or perhaps trying to keep herself from speaking. Her hands reached up to fidget with the curtains of her hair, but she couldn’t quite seem to put them in the right place, and grasped once, then twice at thin air before she finally found the warmth she was looking for. It didn’t seem to bring her much comfort, regardless.
“Fumi. Oi, Fumi. Snap out of it.” The rough voice to the right of her seemed to do the trick, and she jumped slightly releasing her hair and looking down to find two worried amber eyes gazing back up at her. Harukaze Haruka waved a hand slightly in front of her friend’s face, then placed it on her shoulder.
“He says he’s fine, so relax a bit, alright?” She seemed to consider saying more, but the message was clear enough to the distraught blonde as it was. Fumika gave another slight nod, and her hands slumped down to her sides.
“...Sorry.” She murmured apologetically, although what she was apologizing for was unclear. She looked up to Takeshi, and although she seemed tense, she managed to address him without shaking.
“We heard about what happened,” she said quietly, trying hard to keep her eyes focused on his face, to keep them focused on the room in front of her rather than the room she’d seen a year prior.
“We… we came as fast as we could.”Takeshi nodded and said quickly,
No need to be sorry Fumika... He said raising his stump of an arm. As to scratch the back of his head...clearly forgetting about what happened… He looked at it for a split second.
“Its a lot to take in, I get it… He lowered his arm and added,
”As I said before, thanks for coming… it means alot to me that you came so quickly...but... He looked to Haruka, noting her prosthetic leg.
...If this is too hard for you to be here...or need some time to process it… thats ok.” he added at the end...the image of her pale face and horror look in her eyes becoming more and more clear as he made the connection with Haruka. He didn’t want her going through some unnecessary pain seeing him like this right now.
That seemed to get a reaction, at least, but he wasn’t sure if that was an improvement. She raised her head, her eyes momentarily widening with something approximating shock, before snapping back to that same blank, slight frown as always. It was almost uncanny how quickly her face always seemed to revert to that look - as if she’d forgotten how to wear any other expression save that. And yet, she clearly hadn’t forgotten, but-
Her lip twitched slightly, but once again, if she was trying to say something, she failed miserably. Or, perhaps she had just decided that it would be best not to speak. After another moment, the last strand of her hair that was stubbornly standing upright drooped lifelessly down across the bridge of her nose, and her head followed suit.
“I... Nn…” The words were difficult, but she got them out at last.
“...Right. I’m… sorry.”She gave a curt nod, turned, and shuffled quickly toward the door, seeming somehow smaller than when she had first entered it.
Takeshi reached out with his stub as she turned around, getting the impression he made things even worse after seeing her hole body basically droop down.
”W-wait… i didn’t mean…’ he started to say, the sudden movement causing his dizziness spell to kick in again. Falling against the end of the bed and knocking off the clipboard that was on Roy’s bed in the process. He reached out for the footboard of the bed, but misjudged the distance and couldn’t quite reach-
Suddenly, something - no, someone - broke his fall, interposing herself between him and the ground and catching him gently. Or perhaps it was a “something” after all? The copy of Fumika standing between him and the bed gently helped him back upright, supporting him at least until he could sit back down on the side of his bed. Looking up, he could see Fumika stopped halfway through the doorway, one hand upon the frame, clutching it tightly. Her knuckles were white against the black of the doorframe, and her gleaming emerald eyes were staring at him behind the frames of her glasses with a strange expression, somewhere between worry and… fear? Or perhaps apology?
Haruka nodded to her, and the copy disappeared.
“Whew. Nice save, Fumi,” She said, giving her friend a thumbs-up.
“Why don’t ya make sure that Yoshida kid’s alright? He took a pretty nasty hit to the gut back there.”“Oh… Okay.” She nodded slightly, more firmly than she had before.
”W-wait Fumika’ he said as he put a hand firmly on the bed, not sitting down. He had closed his eyes once more to stop the spinning of the room for a moment, but he wanted to make sure she just didn’t leave after Haruka told her to go check on Yoshida. He then looked directly at the blonde haired girl who stood in the doorway, with a genuine smile he said,
“Thank you Fumika,I really appreciate you being here.” “Eh?” Her eyes shot up in evident surprise, then slowly dropped down to the floor as the faintest shift came over her face. Perhaps she was embarrassed, or perhaps it was the slightest sort of smile. Her hands fidgeted a bit with the sleeves of her cardigan, and she wobbled her head slightly up and down, seeming taken aback, but glad that he’d seen fit to thank her. The life crept back into her hair, which crackled a bit with nervous energy as the strands fretted back and forth on their own. At last, she found the right words to answer. They were simple words - so simple that even she could be sure to get them right.
“Oh… You’re… welcome.”She glanced to Haruka. Haruka nodded once again, giving a reassuring smile. Fumika smiled faintly in return, then glanced back to the boy on the bed.
“Umm… Please be careful, Takeshi. You probably shouldn’t be walking around. I’ll… um… come back in a bit. Is… that alright?”Haruka grinned, evidently glad to see her friend’s mood so improved. It was a comparatively slight change, but for someone like her, even that much spoke wonders.
“Sure thing, Fumi. Don’t you worry. I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anythin’ dumb. I happen to be an expert on that subject, so he’s in good hands!”Takeshi nodded to Fumika,
“Please do… I'll rest here for a moment then.” He said, as he lowered himself on the edge of the bed. He really needed to go see his sister… perhaps he needed the help to make it down the hall if he couldn’t make it five feet without falling over.
He looked to Haruka, who shrugged as Fumika retreated once more out the door.
“She’s almost scarily good at that, isn’t she? The whole catchin’ you when ya slip thing, I mean.” She rapped her knuckles against the plastic kneeplate of her prosthetic.
“It got to the point where I couldn’t even bump into somethin’ without at least three of her grabbin’ onto me like I was gonna fall off a cliff or somethin’. And without hardly even lookin’, either. She’s somethin’ else, really.” The pride in her voice as she spoke was obvious, but she dismissed it with another shrug and a sigh.
“Sorry about her. I know you probably don’t want to be fussed over, but she really is just trying to help.” He nodded as she spoke, even before this, in the exercise how she saved him a few times in just a short period of time.
” She certainly is…. looking at her directly,
“I’m just not used to being fussed over really, but it's nothing you should apologize for. Actually, I appreciate it immensely… I never had anyone come check up on me when i’ve been injured before. Other than my little sister that is... He looked back to the door,
”She just looked so distraught, like she took it so personally. I didn’t want her feeling that way because of me. But I guess i need to be more clear when speaking with her eh? he added while scratching the back of his head with his right hand.
“She takes everything personally. Really, it’s not your fault. Fumi’s just like that. She means well, but… Let’s just say she bites off more than she can chew.” She scratched the back of her head with a slight grimace.
“How should I put this…? If you complained that there wasn’t air in outer space, she’d probably say something dumb like, ‘Sorry! I’m not strong enough to fix that.’” She exhaled quietly.
“Everyone’s got things they can’t do. Fumi just needs to…” She trailed off, then shook her head and shot him another cheeky grin, her momentarily serious mood dissipating completely. Unlike her friend, Haruka herself was something of an open book. It was obvious that she was trying to change the subject and lighten the mood, but even if it was obvious, it wasn’t painfully so. Somehow, her irreverent and casual tone was like a breath of fresh air compared to the heavy atmosphere that had come before it.
“Well, whatever. I don’t think we ended up talkin’ last time I saw you. It’s a pretty lousy time for introductions, but I’d be a pretty big jerk if I didn’t even give ya’ my name. I’m Harukaze Haruka. Whatever you wanna call me is fine. Any friend of Fumi’s is a friend of mine.Takeshi listened intently, nodding as she spoke. Honestly it was good to hear this from someone who really understood her. He being horrible at expressing his own feelings, let alone understanding an odd interesting girl like fumika. He didn’t get a chance to really add anything to the first more serious part, as she segwayed into a more light hearted introduction. He smiled, appreciating someone who was being...real with him.
It’s a pleasure to meet you Haruka, My name is Yashiro Takeshi. Please just call me Takeshi. The dark-haired girl gave a slight grin, tapping a fist against her open palm and giving the universal sign of a delayed realization.
“Ah, yeah, that makes sense. I was wondering why Fumi was already acting so familiar around ya’. Good. I was almost worried for a sec that she was just bein’ rude. Guess I should have more faith in her.” She gave a slight chuckle and raised two fingers to her forehead, flicking them in a haphazard salute.
“Well, whatever. Nice to meetcha, Takeshi.”
When Mina said to Visit everyone clearly weirded out that he asked, he shrugged his shoulders, not thinking that it was, and EVERYone in the same room could get a little crowded. Thankfully Kenichi caught on to what he originally meant...though its true he was horrible at conveying it himself the first time. He simply pointed to Kenichi with wide eyes as if to say, ‘that's what I meant’.
Though no one really spoke up they just decided to just head up. Which he was fine with for now. Personally he wanted to See the girls first...cause well...the guys are fine. Their GUYS they’re supposed to be tough. Also he knew Kaida more than the dudes...But he was smart enough to NOT say that out loud. While he knew the girls were strong and could defend themselves and what not, he was always taught by his father to protect his sisters, as that was his role as the oldest brother. Which often bled out to any girl…
As they walked he was glad Haruka had come, and had used him as support while walking...it wasn’t much at all, but even this little gesture that he was able to help meant alot to him that he was able to do something for her,
After Mina ran off to confront Donny a lot of stuff happened, from kenichi yelping when a girl passed him, to roy slamming a door open with that said girl and knocking kenichi down for good. To Roy even glaring at HIM! What the hell did he do? But more importantly...who was that girl and why was she with Roy?
Haruka decided to follow Fumika into the room, was going to go follow them but he decided to just go over to Kenichi, who Asuka was now tending to. He crouched down so he was at eye level with Kenichi and Auska
You ok there? Maybe we should check you in while we are here. Though… you got to admit… that was pretty funny, who honestly gets doors slammed into their sides now a days?
3x Laugh
