20 And they fight I guess

"M-mio!?" Anemachi gulped as she looked at the female before her. It was her old colleague, "H-how did you-"

'How the heck did you find my addresses??' Was what Anemachi wanted to ask but Mio didn't give her the chance.

"Sorry for the intrusion~" Mio said with a higher tone.

Not giving Anemachi any chances, she went into the house without Anemachi's consent. She was curious about Anemachi's living conditions.

Mio wanted to toy with her old friend a bit more.

"Hmm….It's a lot cleaner than I would have thought," looking at a nicely arranged wardrobe while Anemachi was protesting behind, Mio continued, "This is suspicious, as if someone else had come over to arrange it before."

This colleague of hers, although smart in work, had always had a messy personal life. Mio doubted that Anemachi changed that much within the three months she was gone.

She had heard terrifying habits coming from Anemachi before. This was unusual.

"What do you mean by that? I can clean up my house too! Also stop looking through my wardrobe!" Embarrassed about her wardrobe filled with old clothes being looked through by Mio, Anemachi, still blushing, rushed over, "AH, that is my-"

"Your taste is pure huh Anemachi, didn't expect that", casually going through one of the lower drawers that contain Anemachi's personal clothing, Mio commented, "White and blue panties-"

"STOPPPP!"

Forcefully pushing the shorter Mio away, Anemachi shut her wardrobe from the perverted friend. She was frustrated.

"M-I-O!" Anemach shouted out her name as her head was bursting with steam, "What the heck were you trying to do just now!?"

"I'm just conducting research regarding my friend's taste in u-underwear," trying to say it with a proper and serious face, Mio looking at Anemachi's angry yet cute face tried to not break into a laugh.

"I would have assumed that you would have a more mature taste. Hmm, something like black lace underwear or-"

"Who would buy that kind of underwear!?" Anemachi, unable to stop the teasing, resorted to the only way she can think of to stop the suffering: Physical violence, "Stop it!"

Trying to stop Mio before she finished her sentence, Anemachi tried to cover Mio's mouth with her hand, "Urgh, take this old hag!."

"Snjknkd- who are you calling an old hag!" Mio began resisting Anemachi's hand by pushing her away.

The two began pushing each other back and forth with Anemachi having a slight advantage over Mio due to her height. Mio noticed it and tried to gain an upper hand by using another tactic.

Mio, while holding back Anemachi's hand, spotted an opening between Anemachi's feet and decided to expose it. Her left foot entered the opening and pulled one of Anemachi's legs, resulting in Anemachi losing her balance and falling on the floor. Although Mio's plans unfortunately backfired when Anemachi pulled her down on the ground.

"Ouch!" Anemachi's back hitting against the ground, combined with Mio's weight has caused it to get worse. It created a loud voice in the process, "Ah, that hurt…"

Anemachi felt the pain as she looked up to see her opponent, who was sitting on her body now.

"You okay Anemachi?" Mio was worried about the loud sounds she heard just now, "Sorry about that, I went overboard. Are you hurt? Do you need to visit the hospital?"

"I-I think I'm alright," as the pain faded away, Anemachi said with doubt, "I don't think I broke any bone….Right?"

"Puff!" Mio continued as she burst into laughter..

"Silly, you don't break a bone that easily. And the pain of a broken bone is unbearable," Mio, relieved, now had a smile on her face, "Looks like I won the fight, A-ne-ma-chi-san."

Putting her mouth close to Anemachi, Mio whispered into her ears and left a tingling feeling on the back of Anemach's head.

"So what should I do with you, now that you are so defenseless?" Mio asked as her fingers were moving along Anemachi's chest and eventually stopping to her lips.

Anemachi's face was red as she was still not used to the intimacy with Mio. They might be good friends but they had never been this close before. Instinctively closing her eyes, Anemachi found herself to be too embarrassed to look into Mio's amber eyes.

"Tick,tock,tick tock," the clock was ticking. Anemachi waited for something although she didn't know what it was.

Minutes passed by as nothing happened. Realizing something wasn't right, Anemachi opened her pink iris, and she could see Mio's clean face with tears trailing down.

"M-mio…" calling out her name in an instinct, Anemachi didn't know how to respond. Her hand reached out to Mio's face, wanting to wipe Mio's tears away

Mio, however, grabbed the hand and held it tightly.

"Why did you run away?" Mio asked with a crying voice.

Anemachi responded with silence, unable to look into Mio's eyes. She felt guilty for some reason.

"I almost thought, I will never see you again…" not caring about Anemachi's reaction, Mio continued, "I managed to find your mother's contact after you left your job silently. She told me everything."

"Wha-" Anemachi was surprised. She tried to talk but was stopped by Mio's finger on her lips.

"My heart was broken that night knowing my friend was suffering from such fate," trying to control her emotions, Mio continued, "That's why, I know I need to be here with you."

Mio sniffed and eventually took a deep breath into her lungs.

"How long have you not taken your medicine?" Mio now with a serious face stared into Anemachi's eyes.

"...2 weeks ago."

"Liar. The doctor told me that you had not seen him for two months," pointing out the lie Anemachi gave, Mio continued, "You wanted to hide your track from everyone, didn't you? That's why you left your old home, quitting your job silently after the result."

Anemachi was caught red handed. She knew what she said now no longer mattered. Staying silent, she allowed Mio to continue.

"You know, what you're doing really hurts people who care about you right?"

"...It's better this way, letting me be alone."

"The f*ck it is better!?" Mio swore in anger as the volume of her voice increased, "I'm your friend, and this is how you treated me!? Hiding me off from everything, needing me to dig through everything just to know what happened?"

Grabbing the collar of Anemachi, Mio forced Anemachi to face her eyes.

"Look at me, is it really okay!?"

Looking into her amber eyes, Anemachi was reminded of the first day when they met. It's in the office after she's been working there for a week and she was working overtime at her desk.

The night was silent with the only sound made coming from the typing of her keyboard. Everyone else had left early but she was required to stay due to her boss.

She heard footsteps coming behind her.

"Are you alright?" it's a gentle voice. What came after was a cup of coffee that was put on her table, "I saw you working hard, maybe this could help you?"

She remembered her amber eyes that day. They were gentle, warm, kind, and most importantly, had an aura of positiveness. It was as if her eyes were telling Anemachi everything will be fine eventually.

But now the eyes before only had sadness, anger, frustration and...regret.

Mio regretted it. She regretted why she didn't notice Anemachi's condition earlier. She could have taken action much sooner, spending more time with Anemachi before hand.

"Sorry, Mio…" Anemachi said. She felt emotion flooding up from her heart, "Sorry, I-I…"

'I should have let you know sooner,' those words were stuck in Anemachi's throat and didn't come out.

"Ha, ha…" taking in breaths, Mio took some time again to collect her thoughts, "Nevermind, all we can do now is to repair what we still can."

Mio proceeded to grab something from her back. It was a plastic bag printed with a logo from a medical institute, filled with tablets and containers of pills.

"Here, I took it from the doctor. He increased the dosage since you had stopped taking them for months," Mio said, trying to hold back the bitterness from seeing her friend taking so much medicine.

8 pills in the morning, 9 in the evening, 5 before sleep. This was what Mio saw from the prescription that the doctor gave.

Noticing the hesitation in Anemachi's eyes, Mio added on.

"If you don't follow it, I will let Suisei know about it immediately."

"...I will take it, don't worry," sighing at her friend's determination, Anemachi gave in, "Now, can you let me-"

Interrupted again, Anemachi felt her back being pulled into Mio's chest as Mio hugged her tightly.

."...Let me stay like this for a while, please," the voice continued, "Just, for a while."

Embracing the person before her, Mio closed her eyes.

Mio was tired.

That's why she wanted to rest for now.

With the person before her.

Mio still had trouble accepting the news. However, she must pick herself up before Anemachi ruined herself.

But just for now…

"I miss you, Anemachi."