CHAPTER 22

"Mi-chan! You came to see me!"

There wasn't even a second's delay for Saki to tug my arm forward and enclose me into a squeezing hug. There was no other option than to unappealingly gasp for air, which was ironic considering the girl was having such a hard time doing so herself an hour earlier.

        "Saki, stop getting worked up," Hiro hissed, securing his grip around Saki and yanking her back the same time Yuji did for me.

I was freed after nearly dislocating my shoulder from its socket, and I inched to a safer distance in the bleak room. Where the hell did she store all that inhuman strength of hers?

         "What do you mean?" Saki demanded, sitting upright on her bed with a frown. "How can I not get worked up when Mi-chan came all this way to see me? I'm so touched!"

        She sent me a wide smile for emphasis to which I involuntarily shivered. But despite her vigour, Saki's pale complexion proved her feeble state. Goosebumps appeared across my arms but they didn't disappear as easily as the tension in the room did due to Yuji's loud sigh.

         "I can't believe you, Saki," he said, frowning as he ruffled his messy helmet hair. "You worried the crap out of me."

"She worried the crap out of the both of us," Hiro said, hands behind his head. Unlike usual, he wasn't wearing a hat. His hair was styled to neatly hover above his eyebrows and he was even dressed in a fancy black suit, which oddly enough kind of suited him. "Seriously, people can die from an asthma attack and here this girl didn't even have her inhaler on her."

         "That's because I haven't had an emergency in months!" she defended. "Hiro just started freaking out over nothing! I only reacted to some kind of pollen that drifted into the hall so I would've been fine with some fresh air!"

         "You could barley breathe!" Hiro pressed. "You're always so fixated on other people—all the goddamn time. Why do you never look out for yourself?"

          "I don't need to." Hiro paused to stare at her in stunned silence, moreover when her energy diminished into the form of a weak smile. "Even if everyone hates me, and I end up hurt, it doesn't matter. The only thing I need to do is grin and be the happy-go-lucky idiot I am... That is the reason they've kept me around so long, anyway."

        Not only Hiro and Yuji were stuck gaping—I even had to keep my jaw from plummeting. This wasn't the Saki I was familiar with. The clingy, bubbly girl I'd been around for months. And the words pooling from her mouth were even more difficult to absorb.

         A raucous slam nearly jolted me from my skin. My neck jerked in the direction of the wall where Yuji's balled fist had made frightening contact with. My heart stopped in my chest at the rage in his eyes as he lowered himself to Saki's side.

        "Was it Ikumi?" His voice carried a louder decibel I would've never believed he possessed. "Did Ikumi say something to you again?"

        At his proximity, Saki heaved a strained chuckle. "Yuji, you're not acting like yourself. Iku-nee did nothing."

        "I don't buy that!" Yuji once again rammed his fist. "Don't you dare listen to a thing that girl tells you. So pompous and entitled all the time—"

        "Excuse me, is everything alright in here?"

        All eyes swivelled to the doorway where a sheepish nurse had poked her head inside, medicine in tow.

         "Sorry if I'm interrupting," she went on as she fully pushed open the door, "but, Yamamoto-san I have to check your current condition..."

          "Oh, of course!" Saki responded, flashing her a fuller smile. She rolled her shoulders as she laughed, "I'm perfectly fine though, ma'am! Full of energy! See?"

         The nurse politely smiled. "Now, now, you shouldn't overexert yourself just yet. You were in pretty serious condition a while ago."

         "And like I said, I'm healthy now!" Saki insisted. "There's no need for me to have to stay overnight!"

         "I hope for that as well, sweetie." Her big brown eyes fell upon Yuji, Hiro and I. "Um, it'll only take a little while."

         The mood had grown so uneasy. Yuji's countenance had gone from immense anger into an impassive state. Retreating his fist from the wall, he stuffed both hands into his pockets. He then turned on the balls of his feet and slipped past the nurse out the door. Hiro followed in suit, but my own feet couldn't do the same. Not yet, at least. I subconsciously met Saki's eyes.

         "Be sure to come back and save me soon, Mi-chan!" she eagerly called out once she caught me looking. "I'll miss you! Love you!"

         Even though my insides had knotted from worry moments prior, I couldn't stop myself from sweatdropping. Her energy was just too much for me to deal with...

          After excusing myself with a forced nod, I shut the door behind me. It didn't even take a second for me to hear another shout echo down the corridor.

         "Why didn't you stop her?"

     My foot pivoted left to find Hiro and Yuji off towards the end of the hall near the waiting room.

         "I let her out of my sight once." Hiro clicked his tongue, distress scrunching his features. "What does it matter anyway? She probably hears the usual BS from her daily."

         "Then she probably had another panic attack where her asthma flared?" Yuji slumped against the wall, grasping at strands of his hair. "Saki is the sweetest person I know! There's so many good things about her so why does her family—"

        "Yuji."

        Hiro's fierce hiss silenced Yuji at once and he nudged his head towards me. I awkwardly darted my gaze in an attempt to mind my own business. But I guess even they caught onto the fact that I was eavesdropping.

        Yuji suppressed a breath as he removed himself from the wall. "Sorry," he told me. "I don't usually have a quick temper... I guess Hiro's rubbing off on me."

        Hiro's brow twitched. "What is that supposed to mean?"

         "You don't know how to keep calm," Yuji responded.

          "I do know how! You're the idiot who provokes me all the time!"

          He broke out into a smile. "Hi-chan, we're in a hospital right now. Calm down a little bit."

"You freakin' hypocrite—"

"Anyway. Hiro's anger issues aside," I interjected.

"I. Do. Not. Have. Freakin'. Anger. Issues!"

"It's okay, we all have a problem or two," I assured him, dropping my hand onto his shoulder. "But the only way to make any progress from them is to accept it."

Hiro who snapped his neck so fast in my direction, intent on biting my head off, suddenly stiffened when we locked eyes. His countenance had froze, a mix between both embarrassment and surprise. My eyelids fluttered opened and closed in confusion, and to add onto that, he jerked away from me, arms folded over his chest.

        "You wear glasses?"

I reached for my spectacles. Blinking, I adjusted them further up my nose. "Oh, yeah. My vision's not too bad to begin with but I kinda figured I'd wear them for today."

        Yuji performed a double-take, blinking wildly. "Oh, you are wearing glasses. And here I was trying to place what looked different about you."

         I rose an eyebrow in disbelief. "How could you not notice when I was with you all evening?"

         Chuckling under his breath, Yuji's mouth quirked upwards into a warm smile. "Well," he said, "even if you change your appearance a little bit you are still you. But now that I'm getting a good look, I think this whole nerdy thing makes you a whole lot cuter."

         The unexpected compliment took me off guard. "I... u-uh..." My mouth was flapping for the right words, only to be met with more embarrassment. "Sh-shut up! I didn't ask for your opinion!"

         His boisterous laughter filled the hall, allowing for heat to rush to my cheeks. This guy seriously had a sick hobby of teasing others.

         "Don't you agree, Hiro?" Yuji asked him.

         His shoulders squared. "About what?"

         "How Miyuki's a total cutie," he pressed. "You should see how soft she gets when she's put in front of animals. All warm and innocent and smiley—you seriously wouldn't believe she's the same person!"

         "H-hey!" I cried.

"Yuji, leave her alone," Hiro said in my stead. "I bet way within her black hole of a heart she's warm and innocent all the time."

I rounded his way with a scowl. "Is that supposed to be your way of defending me?"

"Hi-chan has a lot to learn," Yuji tsked in disapproval. "Only immature boys tease the girls they like."

"What?" he shouted, face colouring as red as an apple. His head swerved in my direction and my eyebrows shot high upon my forehead. "Why are you going and getting the wrong idea? It's not like— Like? Was I going to say 'like?' Th-that's not... That's not it!"

Yuji looked between the two of us, puzzled. He tilted his head to the side. "Wait, so you don't like her as a friend?"

Hiro's limbs slumped in immediate relief and he produced a heavy breath. "Say it like that first, idiot. Don't give me a heart attack."

Humoured, Yuji smirked. "You got pretty panicked there. And why exactly would you have a heart attack?"

The colour tinging the tips of his ears hadn't faded. "Forget it."

Yuji hummed and narrowed his eyes. "You're a little red, too," he noted. "Do you need to see a doctor perhaps? A love doctor—"

"Stop teasing the dude," I cut in, giving him a look. "Listen, this conversation is going in a pointless direction. The only 'like' I ever need are from or to my fictional husbands in my animes, not 3D boys."

           Yuji sucked in a breath, covering his mouth with his hand. "Yikes, hear that Hiro? You're way out of Miyuki's two dimensional league."

           "And?" Hiro snapped. "She may just be out of my three dimensional league."

"But she isn't," Yuji said.

There was a long enough pause from Hiro. "As a friend," he reminded him.

Yuji smirked widely, inclining a new wave of chagrin to wash over him.

Though I knew not to take this entire conversation to heart, that still didn't stop the wrenching feeling at the pit of my stomach. It seemed no matter how many times I'd tell them off about friendships they didn't get it. My lips pursed. "There's seriously no point in having friends. They don't stick around anyway."

          I shut my eyes, in an attempt to close off the world around me. My insides rocked with queasy twists and turns but I ignored it the best I could.

"Huh? Did you say something Miyuki?"

I peeled apart my eyelids to find Yuji's face before mine, Hiro watching from a good distance away. The bland walls, the rushing of nurses upon squeaky clean linoleum; the scent of some kind of disinfectant. All were factors seeming to enclose around me, making it somewhat difficult to breathe.

          I spun on the heels of my feet. "Hospitals make me a little uncomfortable," I said. "I think I'm gonna get some fresh air."

          I was already making my way down the hall, leaving Hiro and Yuji bemused.

"Wait!" Hiro said.

"You sure?" Yuji piped in. "I could always—"

"Just keep an eye on Saki!"

With that said, I was gone by an earshot, shuffling past the other visitors and assortments of wreaths and mistletoes hanging from above, out into the wintry air outside.

Even with the sun about set and stars nestled in the sky, my breaths came out as puffs of white frost. I collapsed onto the nearest bench on the outskirts of the hospital, wincing slightly due to the coldness seeping through. But my heart was too heavy for me to really pay it any mind.

Knocking my head back, my gaze flickered to the sky. Man I really wanted to go home. But I couldn't. Not yet, at least, considering Yuji was my ride home.

        "Even if everyone hates me, and I end up hurt, it doesn't matter. The only thing I need to do is grin and be the happy-go-lucky idiot I am... That is the reason they've kept me around so long, anyway."

I wonder what Saki meant by that. Well, it would make sense for there to be more than her bubbly exterior. Hell, I was a mass means of layer upon layer also. Even still...

Absorbing the peace, I slipped off my backpack. I pulled out a manga titled 'Between Two' and eyed the cover. Another shoujo manga love triangle with an interesting twist. I'd also grabbed some boys love mangas also, because why the hell not. Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Junjou Romantica, Hitorijime My Hero and countless other boyxboy animes were my guilty pleasures.

What a way to spend this holiday, huh? On the outskirts of a hospital, with the idiots of my club who'd almost always were mixed up in troublesome business. Business they always found the need to include me in. Honestly, I couldn't comprehend why they cared so much about me. I tried since day one to put that line between us too, and they all just rudely crossed it.

And now I was out here again in reality when I could've been my hermit self—a girl on a similar wavelength as Nakahara Sunako from the Wallflower. Or Serinuma Kae from Kiss Him, Not Me. I even loved dating sims as much as Katsuragi Keima! So since when did I allow myself to be swallowed whole by reality like this?

"It's probably nothing serious, Masao!"

"I could care less if it isn't! That girl, whether it be by joining an insignificant club or doing horribly in her academics, she's always tarnishing the Yamamoto name! We couldn't even go to a simple gala without any issue!"

My attention shifted to the middle-aged couple dressed in extravagant clothing speed-walking towards the hospital entrance. As the lights were dim, I couldn't really see much of their faces, but I had a good hunch by the mention of 'Yamamoto.' Were those Saki's parents?

          Well, why did that matter anyway? I could care less about that girl's—or anyone else's—circumstances. I could barely keep up with my own as it was.

         "You need to visit her eventually," my brother had said, letting go of my nose and dropping his arms by his sides. "C'mon, it's been how long."

I already told myself I wouldn't concern myself with anyone anymore. If all that ever did was make me feel like this then relationships—friendships—were better not establishing in the first place.

        I understood it was childish. Out in the world people had more unfortunate issues affecting their lives while here... All because of the loss of a few useless friendships...

         "Hoshino, you're here!"

Startled, I whipped my head forward. Waiting to greet me was the face of an out of breath Wannabe, hunched over to regain as much oxygen as possible. His hair was a dishevelled mess, blond strands tumbled out and pasted to his forehead due to sweat, and he was donned in suit just as expensive as Hiro's.

"How's Saki?" he spluttered, proving his exhaustion. "Please tell me Saki's fine!"

His hyperactive concern caught me off guard. It took me awhile to reassure him. "Yeah, she is," I said. "Full of energy. Don't worry."

As if a weight had been taken off his shoulders, Wannabe exhaled loudly. He retreated from me, tilting his head back and breathing loudly in relief. I watched, still, silent. It shouldn't have come as such a surprise that this guy was so worried about Saki—he did know her longer than I have. Still, considering he even ran here...

"Kazuya-sama, do not run off unexpectedly like that." Exhausted gasps originated from a suited middle-aged man, the hat on his head indicating he was a chauffeur. He extended out a coat for Wannabe to receive. "You even forgot your coat in the car."

Considering this rich replica of Tamaki had his driver bring his sorry butt here...

I narrowed my eyes into slits as Wannabe apologetically smiled and accepted his coat. If he had a driver bring him here why the heck was he so out of breath? Damn guy was maybe as inept at athletics as his younger brother Tatsuya. And if so, it had to be one of the natural wonders of the world how such a guy could manage to remain so fit while here the couch potato aka moi was struggling...

"Is she inside right now?" Wannabe snapped me out of my thoughts after he'd sent his driver away.

"Why wouldn't she be?" I responded as I fell back into the seat. "She's getting a check-up right now though, so I highly suggest you don't try to rush into her room."

"Is that why you're out here?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I don't really like hospitals."

Wannabe digested my words and glanced down at the empty space beside me. "Do you mind if I sit?"

"Indeed I do." For emphasis I moved my legs further out so that I was covering more space to myself.

He frowned. He gestured for me to move but I defied his wishes. I didn't need his company.

In defeat, Wannabe sat down on the cold metal railing instead. "Is there any reason you don't like hospitals?"

"Is there any reason you're sitting even though I told you this bench was taken?" I retorted.

         Wannabe made a face. "I see the Christmas spirit has gotten to you."

         "I know." I feigned a smile. "I'm just a warm bundle of jolly good spirit."

         He snorted through his nose, raising his head and staring into the cloudy sky.

          "Yuji and Hiro are inside," I spoke up. "You'd be better off joining them."

"Hoshino."

I didn't expect the call of my name. I craned my neck. "Yeah?"

         Tamaki-wannabe startled me by flashing me a wide smile. He held out his hands, awed. "It's snowing."

All at once I caught sight of white at the corner of my vision.

          Small, miniscule flakes of snow gently plummeted to the ground, coating the ground and lush shrubbery to a dotted white. My breath was pale against the air, the wind continuing to nip at my face. I extended out my palm, watching as tiny flakes landed upon it, instantly melting away due to my body heat.

         "It's just snow," I said, turning my head back up to him.

         My words weren't enough to wipe his grin away. Though, it wasn't such a surprise Wannabe was so awestruck. Snowfall was rare here, much less on Christmas Eve of all days.

"This definitely makes up for that gala I was trapped in," Wannabe said, rising to his feet.

"Do all rich people have galas during Christmas holiday?"

Wannabe glanced my way, perplexed.

I elaborated, "Saki, Hiro and Yuji had some gala too. And here I went to an anime convention. We're in different worlds, us."

       Wannabe hummed and rose from the bench. After I also hoisted myself up to my feet, he swung an arm around my shoulder, nearly knocking me off balance.

        "Hoshino," he tsked. "I don't understand why you're always putting yourself down like that. Me, you... Hinata, Saki, Hiro and Yuji... We're the same kind of people."

        I shuddered. "Don't say such scary things."

        Wannabe poked his head in front of my face, unhanding me and wagging his finger. He strode forward, up to the hospital steps. "And more importantly, we're all comrades. Attached at the hip. Birds of a feather. Peas in the same pod. As good together as milk and cookies..."

When Wannabe's words began to trail off, I soon noticed it was because his gaze had landed upon the spot right above him. Hanging by the hospital doors was a creatively placed mistletoe. He lowered his head and sent me a wink.

         "But I mean, unless you want to change that right here—"

"I think I like you a lot better when you're not talking."

          Though Wannabe's ego deflated, his joke had succeeded in leaving me amused. Highly.

           I couldn't halt the chuckle from leaving my mouth. "Wave your nonexistent charm on someone who cares, Wannabe. We aren't even friends."

"Acquaintances." He inhaled shakily, a hand clenching the fabric above his chest. "Such a painful word."

Humoured, I feigned an act just the same. "Such an idiotic human being."

As I hopped up the steps after him, Wannabe narrowed his eyes in offence.

"Idiotic? How rude."

"Goodness me, I thought you already knew."

"I see you're having your fun teasing me," Wannabe said in disapproval. "Well, I will not falter. As someone who is more mature—"

"And really moronic," I offered.

Wannabe nodded. "And really moronic—" His mouth fell once he realized what he'd repeated, and his big round eyes grew in disbelief. "My fangirls wouldn't have suggested such a thing!"

"Fangirls..." My lips caved inwards as I rolled my eyes. "You're so obnoxious."

"And you think you're any better?" he remarked.

I put a finger to my chin and tilted my head. "Am I not?"

"You are... not," Wannabe gritted out. He jutted his chin. "Acting so high and mighty all the time, as if your likes and dislikes should be the way of the world."

         I agreed, "As they should—"

         "—Not be," he cut me off. "And how you always try to deny our budding friendship!"

        "Acquaintanceship."

        For a moment his lips pursed in displeasure. He went on anyway. "And you even compare me to a fictional character as if I don't even count as a regular human being! I'll have you know I have a proper name!"

          "And it's Tamaki-wannabe," I said, meeting his exasperation with ease. "You should really take that as a compliment. Not everyone can pull off a Tamaki as flawless as you can. It's like you don't even try."

          True to my words, Wannabe had already stopped listening. Crouched into a mini ball at the far corner of the entrance, the said replica was sulking to himself. Just imagining him running his finger around whilst growing mushrooms in that said corner would make that Ouran moment even better.

        "You stay out here in your corner of woe," I sighed, stuffing my hands into my pockets. "I'm gonna go get Yuji so he could take me home."

        "Wait, Hoshino!" he called out before I could go inside. I halted, pivoting on my foot in confusion. He'd already risen from his corner, a swell in his periwinkle eyes. "If you need a ride—"

          "Quite alright, Wannabe," I said, and smiled. "You should stay to see Saki."

          With a wave over my shoulder, I entered the building. Yuji was still in the waiting area with Hiro, so talking him into taking me home proved to be very easy. Especially considering since Saki's parents were here now.

           "Wait, is that Kazuya?" Yuji had asked when we left the hospital and arrived at his bike. He glanced over his shoulder at the human being still sprouting imaginary mushrooms in his respective corner.

           I snorted, grabbing a helmet off his bike. "A Tamaki-wannabe through and through, that guy."