Melissa entered the room to find Yamaken still sitting on a stool beside Kaori's bed. He have been sitting there ever since he heard the news about Kaori from Yukine and Saki.
Letting out a small sigh, she approached him, "Yamaken?"
He just glanced sideways as Melissa stood next to him with her hands on his shoulders.
After a moment of silence without Yamaken responding to Melissa's call, Melissa spoke up again, "Why don't you give it a rest?"
As Yamaken still didn't say anything back, she said again, "You still haven't had dinner, Yamaken. You need rest, too. Kaori will be fine so please don't make yourself fall sick."
"How do you know that she'll be fine?"
Melissa peeked to see Yamaken's gloomy expression before answering, "The doctor said that it wasn't serious.."
"Hm."
Melissa hesitated on the question she asked next, "Are you afraid that she might really loose her memories?"
"... I don't know," Yamaken murmured shakily as he grasped his forehead with his right hand.
Melissa got worried over his actions, "Are you okay?"
"Melissa," Yamaken looked up at Melissa this time, "I want to stay by her side until she wakes up."
The girl understood the meaning behind his words and decided to leave the room.
"Let us know if she wakes up, okay?" She requested him in which he gave a small smile and nodded silently.
****************************
Yamaken was staring at the lifeless looking figure of Kaori that was lying on the infirmary bed. He have been sitting here for days, waiting for her to wake up but this small wish of his doesn't seem to come true.
"The doctor said that she'd regain consciousness soon, though," He muttered with a pout on his lips.
But then again, what if it turns out that the apprehensions of the doctor comes true when she wakes up? These sorts of thoughts were clouding his mind as he remembered the moment he found out about this severe news.
[Flashback]
Yamaken, Maki, Touma, Gin and Aoi were discussing something important with Kazuma when Yukine barged into the room with tears visible in his eyes. With him was Saki who had endless stream of tears flowing down her cheeks.
"What happened?" Kazuma asked in surprise.
Yukine sobbed as he barely spit the words out, "Kaori.. The doctor said that she might loose her memories when she wakes up."
All the lives froze in their spot while Aoi yelled out, "What? What do you mean she might loose her memories? What happened?"
Meanwhile, Kazuma went over to Saki and gave some pats on her back to calm her down as he agreed, "Yes, Yukine, tell us what exactly happened."
Yukine glanced at the frozen Yamaken who's expression was of pure disbelief and horror at what might happen as the information processed in his brain.
"Sensei, we had taken all of the injured to the infirmary as told," Yukine explained as he wiped away his tears, "After checking Kaori, the doctor told us that there were heavy fractures on her bones and light fracture on her backbone but they would heal back in several weeks or so. Then he told us that due to too much stress, exhaustion and also for draining herself out in the field, she lost consciousness and went into a short coma type something. And as an impact, she might go through short time memory loss."
The room went silent as Yukine finished his explanation. Only Saki's quiet sobs could be heard.
Kazuma sighed, "Kaori was always a frail girl.. So she's always going through physical problems."
Everyone looked at him sharply as he said this - that was a new information. Nobody knew about Kaori much, to be honest. She's like an anonymous guide. Someone who's powerful, great and pure; someone who's giving her best to protect those she loves just so that she doesn't fail for a second time. Then why didn't anyone try to know her better? Because even if they wanted to, they knew that Kaori is not someone who can be easily understood. Her story doesn't start here, her story starts from long time ago. It's too long of a story to be known by someone from all angles.
Kazuma nodded at their surprised expressions, "Yes, Kaori is a frail person. Even if she looks strong and powerful, she has always been a frail girl. But she never let anyone know what she's going through. She's really amazing, isn't she?"
"Didn't the doctor be able to guess the possibilities of her loosing her memories?" Maki questioned Yukine quietly.
Yukine sighed, "I think this'll make us a bit relieved. He said that it's 99% possible that she won't go through any side effects like loosing memories while there is 1% of possibility that she might."
Gin hummed, "Somehow, I think she'll be fine."
All the others in the room agreed with him with a, "Let's hope so." Except for one. It was Yamaken. He had furrowed his brows in worry as he thought - "𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 1%, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.."
[End of flashback]
Yamaken let out a shaky sigh, "We destroyed the entrance, we made it out alive. Then why is everything like this now?" He took Kaori's left hand in his right and caressed it gently, "Kaori, come back to us safely. You can't end everything like this, please."
****************************
Melissa walked into the waiting room to find Touma, Wood, Willia, Dylanthy, Yukine, Robin, Tom, Gin, Saki, William, Kikuchi, Yoru, Maki, Nishimiya, Satoru, Saan, Damien and many others - some of them were sitting at the tables or chairs while some were just scattering amidst the room; even Kazuma was there.
As Willia saw Melissa coming back from the room alone, she asked, "Isn't he going to come out?"
Melissa just shook her head in reply, pulling a chair out and plopping down on it, "He just straight up said that he wants to stay by her side until she wakes up."
Willia let out a sigh at this, "He's going to get himself sick like this."
Wood muttered audibly in reply of her statement, "If it's someone you love, you can't help but stay there beside them, waiting for them."
Willia looked up at Wood with a questioning look in her eyes when Damien cut in with a question, "It's already been two days. When will Kaori wake up?"
The room fell into silence at this. No one could answer, because no one knew.
****************************
Kaori opened her eyes slowly to see everything blurry. She closed her eyes again to make her eyes adjust to the light. Then she opened them again, now to see a much clearer sorrounding than before.
The first thing she saw was a white ceiling. Then she tried to move her head to make out where she was.
"𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸."
As she tried to sit up, she felt a weight on top of her left hand. She turned her head to see someone deep in sleep on a stool beside her bed, his head on the vacant side of the bed.
Without even realizing, she started to stare at the handsome face of the boy who was sleeping beside her.
His right hand's weight was the one that she felt on her left hand - he was holding her hand tightly in his sleep. The touch of his long, slender fingers on the back of her hand made her blush slightly.
He had long eyelashes, there was a freckle under his right eye. His lips were pink and pretty but it was slightly parted as he slept. His nose was perfect and long, with a sharp tip. His skin looked so soft that she wanted to squish his cheeks that looked puffy in his sleep. His jaw was so evident and his high cheek bones made him look way more handsome. His dark fringes were all over his forehead. This boy was indeed the definition of perfection.
While Kaori was busy studying this certain boy's features, she didn't notice that she had awaken the boy.
As she had tried to move the fringes away from his forehead, he grasped her wrist tightly as his blue eyes met her clear dark brown ones.
He began in a husky tone, "What do you think you're doin-" He stopped the moment he realized the situation. With wide eyes, he yelled at the surprised looking Kaori in joy, "Kaori! You're awake!" He hugged her tightly, "Thank God, we were so worried about you!"
Kaori was so shocked that she didn't even get to return his hug as he pulled away to look at her properly.
"Are you okay?" He asked in hurry, "How do you feel?" He didn't even wait for her reply as he called out, "Guys? Kaori is awake! I repeat, Kaori is awake! Come over here!"
As if everyone was waiting outside for this joyous announcement from the boy that they started to swarm into the room with glad and relieved faces.
Kaori smiled happily at the familiar faces.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵'𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘦."
Willia hugged her the moment she got the chance, "Kaori!" She cried as she threw herself in the girl's arms.
Kaori hugged her back with a smile plastered on her lips. "Hey," She said softly, "I'm back, so stop crying your eyeballs out."
Everyone started crying at the sentence, "We missed you! We were so worried for you, Kaori!"
"Yo, Izumi!" Touma threw his arm around Kaori's shoulders, "You made us worry real bad there."
Kaori giggled, "Since when did you start calling me that?"
"Izumi is your name, right?" Touma shrugged as he said, "Then what's the problem with me calling you by that?"
"It's just that," Kaori smiled sweetly, "You are the only one who calls me by that. So how was everything when I wasn't around?"She asked the others.
"Totally not good," Maki and Saki replied in unison.
Maki continued, "The students didn't want to participate in the leasons while the teachers were so worried that they couldn't focus on their work, either."
Saki huffed at her friend, "Kaori, don't put us in this kind of situation ever again, alright?"
Kaori grinned sheepishly as she promised, "Alright."
Kazuma was watching his dear student with loving eyes. He was worried, yes, but relief has already washed him over. The phase of worry was over, Kaori survived without loosing her memories.
"𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺."
Kaori's eyes fell on Yukine who was quietly watching her from afar as if he was afraid that she might disappear if he came too close.
"Yukine-kun?" She called, making the boy come back to reality.
"Yes?"
"Your master is back, safe and sound," She smiled at him, making tears start to fall from his eyes.
But Saki piped up, trying to wrap the moment up with warmth, "Okay! Group hug, guys! It's been a long time with this tiredness. We can finally breath in relief."
Everyone walked forwards to be a part of the group hug. As they hugged, they felt each other's warmth that felt as if it was trying to tell you - There's no need to worry. We're a family so we're in this together.
****************************
Most of the people went back to their daily work after they parted the hug. It's been three days since they properly carried out the clan's works and lessons so they had to cover it up.
Willia and Wood stayed back with her in the infirmary to keep her company while Touma had taken Robin and Tom with him, Dylanthy went with Saki and Yamaken wanted to finish their conversation with Kazuma that had taken place earlier. Maki, Gin, Aoi and William joined them. Yukine also left half heartedly since had to attend his shinki lessons.
Willia was peeling apples for Kaori while Wood was quietly sitting beside the window as he looked outside through it.
It was then, when Kaori stated the question that both of them didn't expect to hear.
"That boy who was there with me when I was unconscious, who was he?"
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