The Everlasting Bond

Chapter 19: No Matter What...

Sitting in front of the hospital bed where the redhead lies, Iori watched over patiently. On the nightstand beside the bed, the star on the hair clip that Riku had worn broke, splitted in half. After Iori had called the ambulance, he'd noticed the broken hair clip at the side of Riku's head under the water.

Just a second ago, he'd finished messaging Mitsuki about being in Itsukushima and promising to explain everything to him later. Eight hours had gone past when Iori and Riku returned back to Earth, and it'd been eight hours since Iori had to call in the ambulance for Riku's asthma attack, or so what the paramedic told him was the reason for Riku's attack.

Throughout the eight hours of waiting in the hospital, Iori initially wanted to stay up and watch over Riku; however, he'd fallen asleep almost a minute later after sitting down. From going to Itsukushima and then the Galaxy, the toll on him mentally and physically was far greater than he'd anticipated.

It was now past noon and he was starting to get used to the silence, albeit the nurses walking pass every now and again until he heard rushed footsteps as if someone was running but trying not to run at the same time.

"Iori-san!" The door of the room wrenched open with a heavily panting Tenn appearing, he walked into the room when he noticed his brother lying in the bed.

When the doctor had asked if he knew anyone from Riku's family who they could call to inform them about everything, Iori thought of Tenn. Besides, he only knew Tenn's number.

As Tenn placed a trembling hand on top of Riku's hand that was on top of the blanket, Iori felt a slight guilt build. "I'm sorry." He apologised. "When me and Nanase-san came back, he had an attack straight after and I wasn't able to do anything to help Nanase-san with his attack."

Tenn shook his head. Tears falling down onto his hand that was on Riku's. "Thank you. Thank you for bringing my brother back."

Iori gave Tenn time to collect himself, understanding the situation to be a relief for Tenn yet scary. It took around a couple of minutes before Iori saw Tenn wiping his tears away and sat down on the chair next to him.

"How long did the doctors say about Riku having to stay in hospital for?" Tenn then asked, his face looking perfectly normal as he faced Iori.

"They said around five days to make sure he's perfectly fine and stable, we would need to get him an inhaler for if he has an attack again."

"That's fine, I've got the money to get everything he needs." Luckily, he brought his credit card and money after he got the call. "Where are you planning to stay? I'm assuming you'll be wanting to stay by Riku's side for the five days, but you can't stay in the hospital overnight."

"I haven't thought about that yet..." He could get a hotel to stay at for five days, but surprisingly being an idiot even though he's a straight A student, he had only enough for the return back to Tokyo and nothing else. In his defence, he thought he and Riku would be back in his room since that was when Riku left and didn't know he would end up back in Itsukushima.

With a tiny smirk showing, Tenn sighed. "I thought as much. I've booked a stay at a nearby hotel, we can share a room if you like?"

"Yes, thank you. I hope it's no trouble."

"No trouble at all." Tenn replied before moving onto his next topic, "Now that Riku is back, do we know what the future calamity is?"

Iori shook his head, "No, we don't know yet. I told Nanase-san that we'll find a way to prevent it together."

"But you don't even know what it is."

"I'll keep a close eye on anything on the news or any changes to anything, if the future calamity happens all of a sudden though..."