Walk Home

This was a day that he'd rather forget. Not only was the shock at finding a friend in grave danger more than enough shock to him for a lifetime. Everything he'd been through at the hospital was tiring to say the least.

On the bright side, everything was taken care of. At least everything that they had any control over was. The group was waiting in the lobby, hoping for good news to come from the doctor. Arata was sitting in his chair, leaning back from his tiredness. Erina was beside him, munching on her cookie.

It had been about an hour and the time only made their worries grow. There was a rush of emotion within them when the doctor walked out to greet them.

"Well doctor, will everything be okay?" Erina asked the question they all had in mind.

"The surgery was a success, You're friend will make a full recovery." He answered, they all breathed a sigh of relief. This incident could mostly be put behind them. "He'll need to stay for at least two days to recover. You're free to drop by during visiting hours." He pointed over to the sign that read the times.

"Thank you so much." Akaki told the doctor. "I know I speak for everyone when I say that we really appreciate it."

"Oh I'm just doing my job. Anyway though, you all should be going home. Not only do you have school tomorrow, but we're going to close to non patients pretty soon." He wasn't wrong, and while some of them, Erina, wanted to stay. They all knew that going home and getting some rest was the best option.

"Yeah, you're right." Arata responded. "I think it's a good idea to home now guys." He absolutely wanted to go home at this moment. Not only was he tired, but schoolwork was going to keep him up much later than he'd like.

The group said their goodbyes to each other, and began to make their leave of the hospital. Arata and Erina were about to leave themselves, when a certain nurse stopped them.

"Wait." She ran up to them, breathing heavily from her rush to get them. "Kashimura, could I please have a moment to talk?" She asked him.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Um, actually it's a bit private." She said, pointing attention to Erina. The girl took the hint and left the two to their conversation.

"So what's wrong, is this important?" he asked. Feeling concerned about this after what he'd been through.

"Well I wouldn't say it's serious." She calmed him. "I was just wondering. You really care about her, I mean Hayama, right?"

"Oh it's not like that." He deflected. Turning away from her personal question. "It's complicated, we're not even friends actually."

"Not even friends? Oh, it's just that with how you acted here, and back at school. I would've thought that…"

"And she'll never be my girlfriend either." He cut in. "Sorry, it's just that I've heard that a lot lately."

"Really? If that's the case, then is there anyone you have feelings for?"

"Me? No, I don't really think about that type of stuff." For him, fiction was enough to satisfy any desire he might've had. "Why? That was a strange question to ask."

"Well, I suppose you are quite a strange person yourself. It looks like you care about her a lot."

"It's complicated. If we're speaking factually, we're not even friends."

"Is that so? Well I don't know if she feels that way." She pointed over, Erina was still there leaning on the wall outside. "You shouldn't keep her waiting. So I think it's time go." They bid farewell to each other. Him being more confused than when he walked in for the first time.

"So what did you guys talk about?" Erina spoke the moment he got to her.

"Well it's private, so don't expect me to tell you."

"Fine." she crossed her arms and pouted. "Well whatever, I guess it's time to go home now." She walked in the direction of her house. He followed. Noticing this, she stopped and asked, "Um, isn't your house the other way?"

"Well, yeah. What you think I was just going to let you go home all by yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, not only did you just donate blood. You also had it taken back at school this morning. It'd be irresponsible of me if I let you go on your own."

"If that's what you think." She faced away from him, so he wouldn't see her smile. "Then you're free to do whatever you want." The two resumed their walk. At this point, it was already night. The street lamps and lights from some buildings were the only things illuminating the outdoors.

"So, you want to go back to hospital with me tomorrow?" He asked her, already thinking of the future. "I'm in the same class as Yogi after all. So it's a bit expected for me to come and drop by is homework."

"I'd love to." She said, the bounce in her step showing she was back to her normal self. "Oh and since he'll miss class we'll have to tutor him. Oh it'll just be what I need to show how smart I am!"

"Well you'll have to do it without me." He broke her from her excitement. "After all, I can't stay there long. I still have gardening to take care of."

"Aww. That means I'll probably be on my own with the others too."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone else will be visiting him. Even without all this harem nonsense, you guys are friends." At this point, he had gotten used to everyone trying to get Yogi's attention. Though it did make him wonder what they did when not thinking of him. It's not like your life could just revolve around just one person.

Unfortunately for him, his school life lately has just been based around that guy. Just not in the way he would've liked. If there was any way he would want in the first place.

They didn't have to walk far. That was good for him, since he'd have to double back to get back home for himself. Once they reached her house, he took time to note where it was, just in case, along with its appearance.

It was one of those shared units, each place being tiny and didn't even have a bedroom for tenants. It was definitely cheap, something he'd expect for someone still in high school. He still never knew why she lived on her own like this though.

"Well, this is where I live. It's up on the second floor, so I guess this is goodbye." She said.

"Second floor… Sheesh, well that just means I gotta go up with you. It'd be a shame if I walked all this way here just for you to pass out on the stairs."

"What? But I'm not feeling sick or anything."

"Doesn't matter, just making sure." He wasn't to let her argue out of this, he stayed behind her as they ascended the stairs. They got to her door, her name listed right beside it.

"I guess now that we're here. This is finally goodbye." She said, looking for her keys.

"Yeah, well have a good night then." He said, turning around to go home himself.

"Yeah, you…" She was about to say the same, when her words went faint. He could tell what it was, he quickly twisted himself back to her. Catching her before she collapsed on the floor.

"Erina! Oh no, are you okay? Do we need to get you back to the hospital?!" He was spitting out questions, panicking about what he needed to do next. This fear was alleviated when he felt her moving her head back up.

"Gotcha." She smiled at him, this was a joke. Feeling a bit upset, he let go and dropped her to the ground.

"That's not very funny. I thought I'd have to drag you back to the hospital you know."

"Maybe…" She chuckled. "But you sounded so worried. You must really care about me then."

"What? I-I, uh, was worried because I thought I would've had to carry you back." He said. Turning away and started to walk down the stairs. "It would've been tiresome to do that. Anyway. I'm going home now." He began his journey home, hopefully without fainting from his exhaustion.

"Yep. Bye-bye now." She waved at him, then entered her house. Erina went straight to her bed without a second thought, this had been a long stressful day. She laid beside her picture of Yogi that she kept by her pillow.

She looked at it, her normal routine before falling asleep. This time, she felt happy, yet also a little guilty for some reason. She brushed those feelings aside, glad that this day was finally over.

"Good night Yogi." She said, her eyes closing as she drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, Arata was able to find his way home. He immediately plopped himself right into his bed, passing out like a stone.