「近すぎていいか？」
Is it okay if I come closer?

***

I had a good sleep last night though it was just a 5-hour nap. So I took a bath then changed into a purple shirt, jeans, and black sneakers. I grabbed my gray jacket then headed out for a smoke.

I sat on the porch, outside the living room. I lit my cigarette and kept the box back into my pocket.

"Need a tap?" Natsume said as he slid an ashtray in front of me.

"Oh, darn it." I said as I removed the cigarette from my mouth and released a small cloud of smoke.

I sighed before continuing,
"Please don't tell Masaomi." I then tapped the falling ashes onto the tray.

"Why not?" He asked.

"He thought that I stopped a year ago, but I never did." I replied.

"Now, now, it's not very nice of such a beauty to smoke or lie."

"H-Hikaru?"

"So there's three of us now." Natsume said as he leaned onto the porch.

"Your hair reminds me of Natsume's childhood." Hikaru said.

"Uh, what do you mean?" I asked as I put back the cigarette into my mouth then released a cloud of smoke once again.

"Well, Natsume here dyed his hair in high school. It was supposed to be like Subaru's though."

"Hika-nii, don't you have something else to do?"

"Yes, well I best be off now. I have to brush my teeth then make breakfast. Kyo-nii will kill me if he smells smoke in the kitchen. See ya~" he bid as he left his cigarette on the ashtray then entered the living room.

I looked at Hikaru's cigarette and he smoked more than half of it. Woah.

"I guess, I have to go too. I need my daily dose of coffee." Natsume said as he left his 1/4 smoked stick of cigarette on the tray.

"Me too." I said as I left my 1/5 smoked stick on the tray, following him inside.

"Oh, but the coffee shop that I always go to is closed on weekends." He said, followed by a sigh.

"Then let's go to my coffee shop." I said with a smirk.

***

"Remind me again why I let you use my car?" Natsume asked with a face-palm

"Because you were desperate for coffee." I said as I made a swift turn to the left.

"Well, it seems like you're rubbing it in my face that you're a better driver than I am." He said then smiled half-heartedly at me.

"We're here." I said as I parked his car upfront the cafe then got out, locked the car, and handed back Natsume's keys.

" "Cybelain Cafe", huh." Natsume said in awe.

"Actually, you pronounced it wrong. It's "Shiberain kafee", not "shiberein kafee"." I corrected. (A/N: that's proper Japanese pronounciation for you)

"Yeah, yeah. So are we getting inside or not?"

"Sure, let's get inside." I said as I opened the door.

"Oi, Kazumi! I see business is booming!" I yelled.

"Haru-nee! Wait a moment! I'll get a table cleaned up for you!" She yelled with her most cheerful smile.

"Sure, thanks!" I replied with my usual smile.

" "Haru-nee"? Younger sister, I see." Natsume said as he closed the door behind us.

"Mhm."

***

"Whaaatttt? You live with Makkun's brothers?"

"Hello~ I'm here with one right now." I said as I pointed at Natsume who sat on the opposite side of the table.

We got a nice spot near the door. The lighting on this area was the best.

"So, what'll you two be having?" Kazumi asked.

"What's a panini? Did I pronounce it right, grammar freak?" Natsume asked.

"Oi. It was one time. And yes, yes you did." I replied.

"I'll have the Ham Breakfast and a Green Tea Frappe." I said.

"Uhh, I'll have the Belgian Waffles and what's a frappe?"

"It's like iced coffee somehow, but sort of like a milkshake, but coffee flavored or so." Kazumi explained as she jotted down our orders.

"I don't understand." He said.

"Get him a reg modem." I said.

"A what now?" Natsume asked.

"Iced brewed coffee with milk, sugar, and vanilla powder." I replied

"Your order will be served in ten minutes. Please patiently wait for it." Kazumi said then left.

We silently waited for our food to come out.

"You know, you're really something." Natsume said.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" I asked with a laugh.

"Well, it's funny. I had a proper education, but I don't know all these things about pronunciation and foreign stuff."

"It's nothing. I just majored in a few languages for a year, but it was only Japanese, English, Italian, French, and some Spanish."

"Yeah, mastering five languages is nothing." He sais sarcastically.

We then laughed together.

"What else makes me interesting?"

"I don't know. I have yet to find out." He said with a smile.

Soon our orders came and we chatted for a bit.

***

"No way! There's already a new installment?!?" I exclaimed.

"Mhm. It's an extended patch of Chapter 24. The-"

"Second route, right?" I cut him off.

"Yeah." He said with an amazed smile.

"How come Masaomi never told me that his brother works at the company where my favorite games are made?"

"I wish I knew." He said then we both laughed.

I like talking to Natsume. He's like the classmate that I always wanted to have. The lunch buddy that I dreamed to chat with.

My phone suddenly rang.

"Mh- Hello? This is Shiomi."

"Doctor, we have a case 253."

"253?... Hey! You know I'm not good with kids!"

"But Doctor Asahina is away-"

"Oh damn that Masaomi. Leaving me his work."

"Meet me at room 880. Don't worry, doctor. He left something for you. He was hoping it'd help."

"Well, I'm hoping too. See ya in 10." I said then hung up.

"Hey, listen. I have to go to work now. Breakfast is on my sister. Take your time and relax here. Bye!" I bid then ran out and hailed a cab heading to the hospital.

As I arrived in front of the building, I paid the driver then rushed inside the hospital. I hurriedly went towards my locker and grabbed my equipment (lab coat, mask, stethoscope, first aid kit, and so on). I then roamed around the halls to look for the room.

"Room 880... aha!" I exclaimed then entered the room.

"Wha-Wataru??" I questioned.

"Oh, hey, Ha-tan. Hehe.." He said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Wataru, tell me what happened." I sat as I sat on his (hospital) bed.

"Well, I was at school, playing tag with my friends. Suddenly, a car came out of nowhere and so I ran away from it, but tripped on some rocks when I did. Hehe..."

"Wataru! Be careful next time! You should be thankful that this isn't too serious. It's just a bruise on the head and a few scratches on your arms and legs. Nothing a little antibiotic cream and bandages can't handle." I said as I placed my kit on the desk near his bed and grabbed the cotton swabs and antibiotic cream.

"Thank you, Ha-tan! I'm sorry! Usually during times like these, Makkun takes care of me and gives me a lollipop!" He said.

"Uh, I think I have one... ah, here. It's strawberry. Is that okay?" I asked as I handed it to him.

"More than okay! I love strawberry!" He said as he accepted the lollipop and quickly removed the wrapper then enjoyed the sweet flavor.

While he was relaxing, I cleaned his bruises and cuts, applied the cream, and wrapped his head with a bandage and his cuts with band-aids.

"Okay, all done. Let me just call one of your brothers or sister to pick you up." I said as I pulled out my phone and checked my contacts.

Masaomi ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Ukyō-san ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Kaname-san ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Hikaru ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Tsubaki ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Azusa ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Natsume ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Louis ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Subaru ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Iori ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Yuusuke ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Ema ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ
Fuuto ０９０ＸＸＸ ＸＸＸＸ

I guess my only luck is Tsubaki or Azusa. My phone suddenly rang.

"Hello? This is Shiomi."

"Hey, Haruna. Mind doing a little errand for me? I'll do anything in return."

"Sure. Pick up your little brother then. Say hello to Hikaru." I gestured for Wataru to speak as I handed him the phone.

"Uh.. Hi Hikarun! Hehehe—"

Hikaru then started yelling at Wataru.

"I said I was sorry!! Waaaaahaaaaa!!" He cried.

"Hm? Okay. Then we should have lunch with Ha-tan! Family lunch it is!"

DA WAT?

"Hey, Wataru! What's this about a family lunch?" I yelled.

"Hikarun said that he'll come pick me up then the three of us will go out for lunch together."

"Ok.. are you going to be fine if I leave you here? I have other patients to check on." I said as I stood up.

"Sure, go ahead! Good luck!~" he bid as I went out with a smile.

This is going to be a long day. After checking out about five patients, my lunch break finally came.

"Doc Shiomi?" Someone called out.

"Yes, Doctor Hanamichi?" I replied.

"You can have the day off. Doctor Nanase called and said that he'd be taking back his shifts by tonight."

"Oh, thanks." I said as I went over to the sign cards and inserted mine on sign out.

I then walked back to room 880 to sign out Wataru at the front desk.

"What's your relation to the patient?" The nurse asked as she interviewed me.

"Nurse, he's Doctor Masaomi's younger brother." I said.

"Really? That's why he looked so familiar. Ok, he's signed out. You're free to go." The nurse said.

"Thank you." I replied as Wataru held my hand tightly.

"Let's go to the cafeteria, okay?" I asked as he nodded in response.

***

"Wah~Hikarun is here!!" Wataru exclaimed as we were getting in line.

"Yo. I see he's already grown fond of you." Hikaru said as he gestured to Wataru holding tightly onto my hand.

"Maybe.." I laughed.

"So, shall we go?" He asked as he opened the door for me.

"Okay." I replied as I went out with Wataru still holding onto me and Hikaru following behind us.

***

"Wow! The food here is great!" I exclaimed.

"Hh. I see you've taken a liking to authentic Japanese cuisine." Hikaru said as he supported his arms on the table and placed his hands under his chin.

"I always have. It's just rare to find really exquisite specimen of it."

"Haruna, you're not at work. Cut out the doctor talk."

"Oh, sorry. Hehe, habit." I said then continued to devour my scrumptious katsudon.

We simply had some small talk as we ate lunch.

About thirty minutes later, we finished eating. As soon as Hikaru paid the bill, Wataru pulled me outside to go ride the ferris wheel nearby. I was so worried of tripping since I forgot to change my heels into my casual flats that I left at the office.

"Hey, Wataru! Wah-"

I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the impact of the solid hard floor, but to my surprise, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I opened my eyes and looked back to see Hikaru who saved my fall.

Ba-dump.

I felt something weird in my chest as I realized that Hikaru was holding me so warm and delicately. He then helped me up which made me look at him face to face resulting for me to blush.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Y-Yes. Thank you." I replied as he smiled at me then let go of my hands and knelt down in front of Wataru.

"Now, now, Wataru. What you did was very dangerous. I'll forgive you this once, but be careful next time, okay?" He said as he patted Wataru's head.

"Okay. I'm sorry, Hikarun." He said then ran over to hug me.

"UWAAA~ I'M SO SORRY, HA-TAN!!" He cried as he held onto me tightly.

I patted his head.

"It's alright." I said with a smile.

That thump that I felt. I felt it when me and Natsume touched hands earlier.

Hikaru dropped me and Wataru off at the Residence while he continued to go back to work. The errand that he wanted me to do was to cook dinner for the family. Before I carried on to do his errand, I wrote on my journal.

"Journal #103
12/28/2010

Is it normal to feel a thump in sudden circumstances?"

Published: February 16, 2017; 10:49 pm