[Bonus chapter]Ch 53: Pinky Promise

  For three days, Minami laid in the hospital recovering.

  Naoto came to visit every day and would tell her about work and talk about the things they'd do together once she was discharged.

  She would lay there, with a cold compress on her forehead, listening to him go on and on about his coworkers, or try to hype her up on how they would visit an amusement park and go to fancy dinners.

  His eyes were full of excitement and he would caress her cheeks as he would tell her.

  Yet, she couldn't bring herself to genuinely get excited.

  She forced a smile and happy emotions trying not to bring him down with her.

  'With a cinderblock tied to my waist, I am drowning. I don't want to bring anyone else down with me.' She would think as she flashed a fake smile to him every now and again.

  Every time she would do so, his mood seemed to improve.

  Finally, after those three days, her fever broke and her pain was beginning to subside.