Ordinary

Epilogue 1

Even before his eyes began to roll open, a numbing ache split across his entire body, pulsing constantly through the legs, the arms, and especially the chest. It rung endlessly, as though a moaning toothache was scooped out of the mouth and spread across the heavy form like butter across bread. Whoever had rubbed it in made sure to spare none.

Kaze could almost see white from the shock of agony that was gradually eating away at his newly coming to consciousness. The lights around felt just so. Damn. Bright. Some sound of heavy respiration originated from near his mouth, accompanied by a nearly inaudible feeble beep  that faded in and out of his focus.

As Kaze's vision adjusted, he saw himself in a bed even through the blur, with a few lines and tubes neatly arranged across his lying body. Getting a broader view through squinting, he nearly began to panic with all of the shades of white around, but the second he went to flinch out of the snow-pale bed, pain spiked everywhere, forcing him to remain still. There was also some additional weight on one arm that further anchored him in place.

He panned over to that arm of his, and the pain mildly subsided in distraction. Kaze was met with the visage of a beautiful girl slumped next to it from within a chair. Her eyes were closed, the lashes as long as Kaze's own, but far more delicate and catching in color. They also appeared quite dry. Eyebrows soft and curved like tiny feathers of a phoenix, barely rosy cheeks only visible to those that already knew of their existence, and a straight, cute little nose plopped between them. Her rose-red ruffled ponytail spread on the lower side of the bedding, forming a contemporary painting. Both of her slim pale hands rested right on top of his own, unintentionally pinning him despite their considerate and affectionate placement.

"Runa?"  he tried to speak aloud, but the words didn't come out.

It had to have something to do with the tube stuffed down his throat that provided him with oxygen. He really wanted to pull it out, every instinct in his self told him to, but the torment that he suffered stopped him from doing so. Though with each passing moment, its sway over him weakened. Kaze decided it'd be best to continue looking around for the time being.

A little more to the left was a large curtained window with a few openings. It became apparent by the barely visible gray-blue sky that the day was very young, too young to even be called morning. The clouds still flew past, like any old day, uncaringly. For a moment as he let his eyelids slide back down, Kaze imagined that birds still chirped beyond the window, winds still stirred in winding whistles, overpowered by the talks of people, by cars driving back and forth seemingly aimlessly.

Kaze thought in the darkness of his expired imagination, unsure if he was glad to have regained consciousness.

Unexpectedly, he felt the pressure on his arm relieve. The injured one reopened his eyes to meet hers. Astoundingly blue, astounded, too. Everything Kaze saw felt like it meshed together, some actions he remembered out of order. The fire-haired girl's eyes watered. She pressed a button beside him – no, Mai sprung up from the chair first – yes, she had gotten up, then found a remote on the small table to the left, and pushed something. Some whispers of hers that escalated in tone grew more and more audible to Kaze. Had she started muttering only after pushing the button, or had it begun the second she'd noticed him?

Regardless, the content of her speech repeated. Though he couldn't fully comprehend it for some reason, he made out "You're awake? Kaze, you're awake! Are you ok? Are you in pain?"

He couldn't reply.

Some nurses rushed into the room minutes later. They escorted the concerned girl out despite her wishes and started checking to make sure that Kaze was actually aware of his surroundings, asking him to blink, to move his fingers. He did so in spite of the agony. Luckily, the interrogation stopped shortly after. They must have noticed his wincing.