Silent Resilience

Ootori Fuyumi

Three days had passed.

Those three days were seeming replicas of the one previous to it. Within those days, Adriel spent his time at Tamaki's second estate, recovering and resting his feet.

The first day he finally got a proper tour around, meeting each staff individually. He could recall how excitedly Tamaki introduced them, stating their names and roles like they were part of a team. Admittedly, Adriel forgot most of their names literally moments after meeting, but he managed to remember Takumi's, having spent the most time with him. Adriel didn't even have it in him to feel ashamed.

At one point, Tamaki asked him if he wanted to have another prosthetic arm, having never gotten his old one replaced. The answer was no. Adriel couldn't explain why. He still wore the cheapest clothes offered, and refused any skincare product more expensive than supermarket value. He wasn't ready to move any further yet.

There was only one aspect of his stay at Tamaki's estate that Adriel didn't bother holding back on. His insatiable hunger was continuing strong even after three days of answering it. It was an effect of the extreme starvation he had endured the weeks before; staying in Tamaki's home, he ate almost triple the amount teenage boys were regularly supposed to eat. Adriel ate until he was satisfied at every meal, and snacked constantly between if he felt the need to. He ended most days feeling full, content, and quite bloated. But he was fine with that, and so were Tamaki and Kyoya, who were with him daily.

Eating so much food was starting to reap its rewards as well. At first, Tamaki considered hiring a dietician to give Adriel a meal plan. The tan boy looked like he could've been blown away by a particularly strong gust of wind with how fragile he became. Later, the blond realized that it wasn't necessary, because Adriel naturally gained weight on his own. His cheeks, hollow and dull, were beginning to gain their plump blush back. His arm no longer shook at the slightest gesture, and his skin was beginning to glow it's natural sun-kissed shade.

Within those three days, it was like he had gone through puberty four times.

His slightly baby-ish voice had dropped into a much smoother, deeper tone that sounded fit for a sixteen-year old boy. He had grown four centimetres in height. Teenage boys already grow at extraordinarily fast speeds, but that phrase was applied tenfold to Adriel. To make up for months of stunting his growth, it was like a full adult was being unleashed from his body now.

Tamaki and Kyoya joked about his growth spurt on the second day, saying that he was like a bamboo shoot with how quickly he grew. Shima, the old head of the staff, and all the servers noticed too, giggling and poking light fun at him when given the chance. The only one in the estate that didn't seem to recognize the growth was Adriel himself, but that wasn't an unknown concept.

Those three days, the rest of the host club continued to flood their phones. Now that the news was out, Kyoya had been spammed with thousands of texts coming from the twins, third years, Haruhi and even Aaron, asking if Adriel was alright. He hadn't bothered to answer any of them, simply because he didn't know the answer.

Adriel didn't want to see anyone yet. He wasn't ready to, and after being asked if he wanted to hang out as a big group, the tan male told them no, with no explanation. It wasn't hard to put together why. After all the news and buzz in the air, after everything that happened to him, the idea of seeing another face was just too overwhelming.

Adriel's emotions had not come back. He had the energy to do barely anything except watch Tamaki and Kyoya have their own fun, taking walks in the garden and watching movies. His mind told him to feel at least a bit ashamed of how much time he spent resting, but after telling the second years his thoughts, he was met with only disagreement. And Adriel knew better than to disagree with Tamaki's persistence.