The Liar and The Patient

The Patient

4 p.m. is always a hour filled with excitements, as the girl patiently waited for the boy's arrival. He would always come visit her at that time right after school let out.

Takagi's gaze and mind was somewhere for outside the glass window, drifting and flying into the direction of her school. It had been months since she last went to school, and she must had missed out on so much. Sitting in the hospital room all day was a rather boring and lonely. Soon, though, she would be able to go back, right?

The sound of the door opening took her attention back, and sure enough, Nishikata walked in.

"Hello, Nishikata." Takagi greeted him with a smile.

"Takagi-san." He greeted her back as he lifted up another bag. "I bought you some manga."

"Thank you." She adjusted herself to sit on the edge of the bed, not forgetting to leave a space for him.

Nishikata knew exactly what to do. He went and sat down beside her.

"Anything interesting happened in school today?" She asked.

"Nothing really..." He said. "Today is the last day of the semester..."

"Oh, so next semester you will be..."

"A third grader." He nodded. "You will be one too."

"There's no way." She smiled wryly. "I haven't even do the last two exams. They won't let me advance, surely."

"Eh? So..."

"You are my senpai now." Takagi's smile turned into a devilish grin. "So I'll have to call you Nishikata-senpai~"

"Eh?!" Blushes immediately took over his cheeks. "Y... You don't have to..."

"What's wrong, Nishikata-senpai?" She kept on attacking relentlessly. "I guess you can call me without 'san' now."

"I... I can't do that..." He turned his head away.

"School time without Nishikata would probably be very boring~" She said as she gave him a glance. "Can't believe that's how we would be splitting classroom."

"Don't jump into conclusion that early!" He said. "When next semester start, you can try to jump a grade or something. You are smart so it shouldn't be a probably."

Takagi simply smiled in reply.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye, as a black curtain covered the sky into nightfall. Nishikata just left, leaving Takagi alone in the room spacing out at the manga he bought her. It was a new one she hadn't seen before.

"I missed out on so much... Since when did he start reading to this manga?" She whispered to herself.

Takagi was usually there when Nishikata took a liking to anything. She would always be the first one to hear about it on their way to school.

"Does he... have someone else to talk to?"

Months of daytime she should be spending with him were stripped away by an unforeseeable illness. It was such an awful feeling.

"When I got out of here, I'm going to tease him extra hard!"

'Does he have someone to replace me? Who is the one he would be talking '100% Unrequited Love' with? I bet he talk to them about this manga as well...' She went into messy thoughts. Silly worries of a girl in her youth. 'Are they... a girl or a boy? I don't want that... Whether they are a girl or not... I don't want that...'

Ding!

Takagi picked up her phone and saw that her beloved Nishikata had sent a message.

N: It's gonna be cold tonight, so wear some more.

"Stupid... I live in a hospital with air conditioner..." She smiled to herself.

'I'm so selfish...' After replying, she dropped the phone to the side and began blanking out at the ceiling. 'If he has someone else, so be it. As long as he visits me often, I'll be happy.'