I heard voices and opened my eyes groggily to investigate. 'How long have I been out...?' My memory slowly came back to me, 'That damned doctor drugged me! Oh wait, Itto-' I looked down, my hand was still in Arataki's. My gaze trailed up to see if he was still asleep and... He wasn't.
He just stared at me, waiting for my reaction. Eyes widening, I sat upright with neck-breaking speed. "I-Itto!" My voice had mostly returned to normal so at least he could understand me.
Remembering the position I was just in, I quickly averted my gaze from his and yanked my hand away. "I-I um." I stammered, unable to think of an explanation. "I'm so sorry!" I blurted instead and covered my face with my hands.
Before I could fully go into panic mode, I heard him speak in a soothing tone, "Relax, would ya?" I felt him gently grab my wrists with either of his and slowly pulled them apart, allowing him to see my flustered face. "Hey, Shortie." He greeted with this nonchalance that almost convinced me that he wasn't injured at all.
The embarrassment was quickly replaced with relief when it finally occured to me that after all the waiting, he was awake. My bottom lip quivered and warm tears threatened to fall.
The next thing either of us knew, I tackled him in a desperate hug. I wrapped my arms around his bare shoulders, nearly suffocating him. "Whoa! Take it easy, Shortie! I'm still recov-" He froze when he saw my form shaking. He blinked a few times, only then registered that I was crying and quickly returned the hug.
"Hey hey, why're you crying? I'm okay, see?" He tried to comfort me but I only held him tighter and failed to hold back the tears. I sniffled and there was a moment where neither of us said a thing. He awkwardly placed his other hand atop my head and gave it a little pat.
"You idiot..." I choked out. "Hah?" He was about to retaliate with a snarky remark when I suddenly raised my voice, "You idiot!" I pulled back to pout at him angrily though my eyes were probably puffy from crying. "You scared me half to death! I thought you were going to die! Do you have any idea how worried I was?"
Arataki scanned my face, shock and bewildered at my outburst. He didn't answer. He couldn't. He let out a gentle sigh and the slightest smile teased at the corners of his mouth as he gazed into my eyes. "I'm okay now aren't I?" He patted my head, ruffling my already disheveled hair in the process.
"Hey!" I swatted his hand and he laughed. "Aw... you do care about me~" "Of course I do..." "Awww!" I blushed even harder from humiliation when the whole hospital said that. They were probably observing us from the beginning. I tried to hide my face and Itto only laughed.
"Get a room!" "Whoo!" "When's the wedding?" "Haha!"
I wanted to die but that would mean all the restless hours I've waited for Itto to wake up would've been for nothing. I tried my best to ignore their supportive cheers and kept my head lowered.
I heard him laugh. The same laugh that I missed hearing from him. I lifted my head and stared at Itto who had his eyes closed while he let out a good, hearty laugh.
It was surreal. He was sitting in front of me, talking and laughing. I was so happy, I was unknowingly smiling at him. He stopped laughing as he got the feeling that someone was staring at him. Sure enough, he saw the girl in front of him smiling at him. He returned it with one of his own signature grins. "What're you smiling at?" "You, you moron. I'm happy you're not dead." "Psh. Getting stabbed ain't nearly enough to kill me." He repeated and I rolled my eyes. Of course he was trying to be cool even after he nearly died. That's Arataki Itto for you.
"Soooo... a little birdie told me that you were SO worried that you never left my side...?" He was smirking at me and I was back to being a blushing mess, "What?! How'd you-?!" "I wasn't sure before but I am now!" Realizing I was caught, I was stunned speechless.
"I think it's cute! You pretend to not care but here you are doing exactly that!" He had this confident smirk as he folded his arms triumphantly while I was malfunctioning. "....C-Cute?" His eyes shot wide open, realizing his mistake. "N-Now hold on a minute-!" "Breakfast time!"
Doc came to his rescue, entering the field hospital and carrying a tray with food to hand out. "A-Ah, great! Food! I'm just starving, practically wasting away! Hahaha..." He eagerly turned his attention to the male handing out the rations.
"Cute..." I quietly repeated under my breath. I shook my head, only now noticing the doctor passing the food parcel to Itto. "Prepare to be disappointed." I whispered to Arataki and he looked at me in puzzlement.
He opened the packaging to see the bland army rations and his heart dropped. "Why's it look so sad..? Not even Ushi would eat this!" I laughed loudly until I had a coughing fit. Fortunately, water was on standby.
He slowly smirked at me, "Look who's the idiot now." I raised my brick-like portion of army rations in a threatening manner, "Shut up or I'll throw you with it."
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Irrelevant buuuut... I've been playing Danganronpa 2, Resident Evil 7, and Monster Hunter World... Notice how they're all made by japanese developers?
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