The Golden Pear [YA - Featured]

♫~Notes 95~♫

 Freya sent the message, unable to stop another tear sliding down her cheek. Rigaku laid on the bed, sleeping, but his face couldn't relax, locked in a frown.

A breeze entered the doctor's office and played with curtains as if two ghosts crawled inside them. The curtains around Rigaku's bed were slid to one side as nobody else was inside.

Freya had witnessed a few injuries during sports events, minor bruises and cuts, or sprained ankles, but nobody had jumped from the third floor. This gained him a permanent spot in the history of this school, but one nobody could be proud of.

His left shoulder had it the worst. Only by a miracle, he didn't dislocate it, but Rigaku needed to go to the hospital for x-ray.

Freya squeezed her fingers. Aiyoku didn't join her yet, gathering outside information and an address of the hospital, which accepted his younger brother.

'Please, wake up!' She shut down her eyes, pushing more tears until she sobbed.

"Onegai, don't cry."

A mere whisper startled her. Her wide eyes locked with a gentle smile.

Rigaku grew older in the past minutes. All colors moved out of his face. Circles spread under his eyes as if he didn't sleep for days.

"Sumimasen, I made you all worried."

She shook her head, hugging her friend around the neck. 'You are awake!'

He twitched under her embrace as she touched his left shoulder. Her smile froze as she pulled away, but he waved it off.

"I deserve it for my stupidity. I shouldn't have jumped out of a window. I don't know what got into me."

Grabbing her pen and notebook, she wrote, "That was Bro Bear in you."

It conjured up a smile on his cheeks.

The door opened, and Aiyoku's eyes scanned the room from the table by the window and shelves with medicine to the bed area.

"You are awake!" He gasped, grabbing the hand Rigaku lifted. "No pushing around! You relax, or I'll tell Ka—!" He bit his tongue as his brother's fingers dug into his flesh.

Dreading silence suffocated them, seeping into every pore of their skin. The clocks on the wall thundered in their ears.

"Is he...?" Rigaku whispered under his ragged breath.

"No, he's okay!" Aiyoku barked, grasping Rigaku's hand tighter. "I asked around, and he was breathing but not conscious. He was lucky. Two girls wanted to take a swim and found him floating in the pool."

"It's my fault." Rigaku bit his lip, his hands shaking.

"What do you mean?"

"I should have stopped Ka."

Freya put her hand on his healthy shoulder.

"Nobody could know—"

"I could!" Rigaku barked, entering a fit of coughs for a few seconds. "I felt it! Something bad was about to happen. Yet I"—his clenched jaws pushed outside tears—"did nothing!" Yanking his hand, he punched his head. "What's the use of my brain if I can't do anything?"

Freya caught his arm, but he refused to stop his self-harming attempts. With a growl, the girl slammed her forehead into his. Stars danced in front of their eyes.

A quick mental note wrote itself in the brothers' brains to never make Freya angry. She bit hard and deep.

Rigaku's struggle ceased, and she caressed his reddening forehead.

"Arigatou," he whispered. "I really need to stop freaking out."

"That's because you care for Ka deeply." Aiyoku tried to soothe him. "We both do. I guess it has something to do with him being the youngest. The baby of the family."

Their friend grinned.

"More of a reason to stay cool."

"Did you just say 'cool'?" A huge grin plastered across the middle brother's face. "Okay, fess up, who are you, and what you did with my Poker-Face Bro?"

The hilariousness of the question hit Rigaku's stomach the hard way he couldn't stop laughing for minutes.

"What's the meaning of this?" the doctor returned. "The patience has to relax and rest." His brown eyebrows knitted as his eyes scanned them like troublemakers caught with red hands.

"I'm alright. It helped me. Really."

"You better be," he scolded him a bit as he shook his head. "You have jumped from the third floor." Taking papers from the folder adjusted to the bed, he continued, "Your shoulder didn't dislocate, but I urge you to examine it for any hidden damage. I'll bandage it. Except for that, you have cuts and bruises and sore muscles."

He looked from behind the paper. "I recommend skipping any physical activities, preferably school too, and take plenty of rest." His rather handsome features darkened. "And if I hear you skipped any of this, I have a sexy shot at my disposal with your name."

Rigaku nodded, gulping as the color left his face. Some arguments were a death threat.

"Alright, now I'm asking you to leave." His eyes went from Aiyoku to Freya.

"No, please!" Rigaku argued. "I need to know about my brother. I promise I'll behave!"

Freya checked Rigaku's face as the doctor's eyes widened. And no wonder, his resolve was met with pleading puppy eyes.

Sighing, he tilted his head. "Alright, you have twenty minutes before I return. Not a minute extra, alright?"

"Domo arigatou gozaimasu!"

"Just don't make me regret this." with a wave of his hand, he left the office.

"Ai, please, tell me all you know. What happened? Why was Ka near the pool? How he got inside?"

Aiyoku pushed closer a chair and began, "So, as I said, two girls went to take a dip in the pool. They chatted, so they didn't pay much attention. One remembers she has heard some splashes, but anybody else could just jump into the water."

Rigaku pushed up his glasses. As he put away a hair from his forehead, he winced. Freya did a good job.

"They arrived and noticed something was floating in the water near the pool long side. They immediately fished out Ka, and while one called an ambulance, another gave him first aid."

"Once I can move, I wish to thank them."

Onegai - Please (informal)