An Angel's Whisper

Part 7: She knows

Silent.
Everything was silent.
Apart from one thing.
It was screaming, shouting, banging, shrieking.
It was painful.

They were thoughts.
Thoughts of death.
Thoughts of loss.
Thoughts of the world ending.
Thoughts of nothingness.

Neru wanted it to stop.
This was her fault - she shouldn't have been such a bad, careless friend and followed Haku inside. She knew something was up from the get go. But she let it slide and continued.

Neru picked up a pillow, and screamed into it. She started bawling, shouting as loudly as she could.
It stung.
It hurt.
She silenced herself, placing the pillow to her side. She heard a faint scratching at her door.

"Go away."

The scratching continued.

"I said, go away," she muttered, opening her door. Shizuko strolled in, jumping into Neru's bed.

"Shizuko. Get out."
Shizuko laid down.

"Shizu. Please leave."
Shizuko purred.

Sighing, Neru walked over and sat with her cat, and gently stroked her head. Shizuko rubbed against Neru's wrist. She smiled.

"Thanks, Shizu."

The black tabby jumped out, signalling for Neru to follow. So, she did.

They stopped in the living room. Shizuko jumped onto the sofa that Haku had been sleeping on, the previous day. She tilted her head, padding the pillows.

"Shizuko, I- I don't know what you want."

Shizuko meowed, looking at the pillow that she was padding more aggressively, and then back up and Neru, tilting her head again.

"I don't- I don't get it, Shizu."

With an unsatisfied 'Rrreow,' the cat jumped back down, and walked towards the kitchen. She rubbed against a cupboard.

"I- I don't go in that one. Don't you remember? It had a massive spider in there once and I haven't touched it since."

Shizuko was clearly unimpressed.

"Jeez, I'm sorry. Don't give me that look."

"Mmmeow..," Shizuko caterwauled, rubbing against the handle.

"Fine."

Neru opened the door.

"UH-"

There were multiple bottles of sake stacked upon each other. One rolled out, to which Shizuko hit with her paws. She looked back up at her owner, again, with her head tilted.

After a while of thought, Neru caught on.

"Oh. Oh, I get it. You heard me and Nero, hm?"

Shizuko made a positive response.

"Aww. Do you want to know where she is?"

Shizuko sat down, her eyes locked with Neru's.

"Oh, Shizu. Okay. She's just... a bit ill. She'll be okay, I'm sure."

A short while of staring later, Neru got her phone out of her pocket and said,

"You know? I might see if Luka-san is awake. I'll see if we can go visit Haku."

Shizuko smiled.

"Hello? H-hello?"
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
"Sorry! I didn't know!"
"No, no, it's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Thank you. So much."
"See you later. Bye."

"Well, I woke her up, but she said she's gonna come and pick me up. I better get changed."

Neru put the bottle back into the cupboard and closed it. Heading up the stairs, she heard at least three of them fall out again.

"For god's sake-!"

Neru put on a simple shirt and jeans. She tucked in the shirt, so she would look 'aesthetic'.
She put her hair up, putting her ponytail on the back of her head rather than the side. She put on some makeup and got ready for Luka by the door.
Suddenly, she had a thought.

"Shizu, is it too much if I got flowers?"

Shizuko almost shook her head.

"Alright. I'll stop by the store first."

Shizuko rubbed against Neru's leg. Neru picked her up and gave her a hug.

"I love you, Shizu-chan. Thanks."

The doorbell rang. Neru put the cat down and said goodbye.

"Hi, Luka. Sorry I woke you."
"It's fine! Don't worry about it."
"Is it okay if we could go and get flowers first?"
Luka smiled.
"Aww, Neru, that's so sweet. Of course we can."
Neru blushed.
"Th-thanks."

The car journey was mostly silent, apart from Luka humming along to some of the songs on the radio.

"Uh, Luka?"
"What's up?"
"Can I trust you? Like, can I tell you something that I've not told anyone? Not even my cat?"
"Of course you can!"
"Thanks. Um, so like, basically..."
Neru went silent for a few seconds, thinking about how to word her following sentence.
"Like, are you okay with like, LGBT?"
"Hm? Me? Of course I am! Honestly, I'm a lesbian," Luka said with a laugh.
"Oh! Okay, well uh, I- I'm bisexual."
"Okay, well, thanks for telling me. I promise I won't out you to anyone else."
"Thank you."
Neru looked at Luka, who was focusing on the road, but she was smiling. Her positivity was amazing and Neru respected that.
"Luka?"
"Yes?"
"I- I like someone. Like, like-like."
"Oh? Do you want to tell me? Or do I have to guess?"
"Um... Guess."
"Hmm."
Luka thought for a while.
"Haku?" She asked.
"maybe.." Neru mumbled.
"Awww! You are too cute!"
Neru looked to the side. They were pulling in to a corner store.
"Go on, lovebird. Go get some flowers. Here's some money. Don't be long."
"I- I won't."

About 10 minutes later, Neru came back with a bunch of flowers. She handed the change over.
"You picked her colours and everything! You're so cute!"
Neru looked at the plants. She had picked out a bunch that were white and purple.
"I'm not cute." She whispered.
"If you say so..."

"Neru?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I tell you something that Rin told me?"
"Uh, sure?"
"She likes your brother."
"For real?!"
"Heh. Yes. But don't tell him, or tell her that I told you."
"Yeah, I- I won't."

They pulled into the car park of the hospital. Luka declared,
"We're here!"
"I- I can see."
They got out of the car and entered the reception. The two were told where to head and walked to the ward. Neru was getting nervous, holding the flowers in both hands.
"Do you think she would like them?"
"Of course she would."