When Cicada Season Is Over: 07/16/2021, 15:32 By the time she attended Yuuri's funeral, she had run out of tears. But one week after that-- Tears would spill out every time she remembered what happened.  ♪ BGM: Abyss ♫  *sob*... *sob*...No matter how much she cried, she could not recover from the sadness of losing a dear friend. Yuuri had an ever-gentle smile on her face. Yuuri had told her she was cute, even when nobody else would treat her like a girl. Yuuri had praised her cooking whenever they played house. --Yuuri was the gentlest, cutest girl that Mashiro wanted to be... And Mashiro could still not believe that she was gone. But even as sadness filled Mashiro's heart, just one other thing remained-- Her worry for Natsuhiko. (... I wonder if Natsuhiko's okay...)Natsuhiko didn't attend Yuuri's funeral. He was apparently still in the hospital. He hadn't come to school at all. (I gotta go pay him a visit...!)Mashiro wiped her tears as the bus arrived. --As she got off the bus in front of the hospital, Mashiro went through reception and headed to Natsuhiko's room.  Beside him was Dr. Tenkawa. Professor... Ah, Mashiro... You came to visit, didn't you? Thank you for taking the time. N-no problem... Um, is Natsuhiko... asleep...? ... Natsuhiko, you see...The professor glanced at Natsuhiko. Mashiro peeked at Natsuhiko's face-- and gasped.  He wasn't sleeping. He was lying down with his eyes wide open. But there was no light in those eyes. He just stared blankly at the air. ... Natsuhiko?No answer. Natsuhiko.No answer. H-hey! What's wrong, Natsuhiko!? Can't you hear me!? Hey!As Mashiro shouted in confusion, Dr. Tenkawa answered in her son's stead. ...He can't hear you. Huh? He's been like that ever since he learned about Yuuri's death... It's not just you, Mashiro. He won't respond to anyone... not me, nor the doctors. He couldn't come to terms with the truth... and he shut his mind away... ...No...Mashiro looked at Natsuhiko in blank amazement. His gaze pointed off somewhere far into the distance... --Mashiro left the hospital in disbelief.  But the strongest feeling of them all-- was regret. (... Yuuri went to LABO in my stead and died because of it... That's why Natsuhiko's like that...)Mashiro's heart was torn apart by the regret of what she could never undo. She couldn't think of a way to dispel that regret-- (At least until Natsuhiko returns to normal, I'll...!)She resolved to put everything she had into watching over Natsuhiko. She didn't care if she was merely serving as a replacement for Yuuri or about anything else. Mashiro swore to herself that she would watch over him.
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| ← # ? Feb 14, 2017 21:07 |
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