Next Heartbeat

After The Rain

After the Rain

The next morning

It was early enough that Sentaro found himself in a better mood than last night. He was dressed in his casual clothing and took out a spare of key to Toshiki's home, which Toshiki had given him after Sentaro returned to Japan. They had both attended Baylor University in the U.S. years ago, but had finished their coursework during different years in their lives. As Sentaro felt nostalgic about remembering the past, he inserted the key and opened the door. Nicely and steadily, he stepped in and closed the door.

"Kasumi, I'm here to visit y—"

He cut himself off from saying anything else because something odd was in sight. Toshiki was lying on the couch, sleeping peacefully with a blanket covering his body. Since when did Toshiki ever sleep on the couch? He should have been sleeping on his own bed.

Toshiki's eyes opened. He saw the ceiling and turned his head slightly. That was when he saw Sentaro, who a puzzled facial expression on his face. "Sentaro," Toshiki said and got up from the couch, "you're here early."

Sentaro frowned. "It's the time I would be here whenever I visit you in the morning. It's rare to see you sleep on the couch."

"I got home late."

"Wait, wha...? You came home late? Did something happen?"

"It's nothing personal. I had to wait until the rain was over before I could walk home."

Now this was upsetting to hear.

Sentaro asked, "What?! Unacceptable! Absolutely unacceptable, you hear me, Kasumi?!"

"I don't see what the problem is."

"You were waiting until the rain passed by and how long did it take for you to get home?"

"Approximately an hour."

Sentaro couldn't believe his ears. What on earth was going on to keep Toshiki Kasumi—THE most beautiful and refined surgeon in Japan—away for that long?

Toshiki walked over to the fridge and opened it. "Want any milk? It'll help cool you down."

"No thanks. I don't need any."

Right after Sentaro said those words, Nino stepped into the living room wearing a fresh new set of clothes. Her hair was let down, but she wasn't surprised to see the former there since all the quintuplets had known about Sentaro's frequent visits to Toshiki's home for years.

"Ack!" Sentaro yelled in shock to see a woman—much less, he hadn't expected any of the quints to be around this early, if at all. No way had he thought Nino would be there. "How did you get in, Nino?"

"I wa—" She stopped herself from telling the surgeon with the mushroom hair that she was in Toshiki's apartment for the night, and sneered at his regular visitor. "I see. So, you haven't figured it out, Sentaro~."

Sentaro had an immediate idea pop into his head. "...I..." He was discontent with how accurate his suspicions had typically been in a flash. They tended to creep up on him and he knew he was hardly ever wrong about them. He glanced at Toshiki and was certain the latter was stifling a silent laugh. There was even a faint smile on his face, damn it!

The next thing Sentaro knew, he said, "I'm getting out of here. You two can have your little chitchat by yourselves." He stood up and sauntered towards the door.

Toshiki said, "I thought you were going to eat breakfast with us."

Sentaro sighed. "I thought I was going to eat with just you, Kasumi."

Nino said. "Don't be a sourpuss, Sentaro. I'll get breakfast ready, so you wait here."

With that said, Sentaro was left grumbling to himself, but he walked back and went to take a seat at the dining table. Maybe he should relax around Nino. Since the quints were identical, he was frustrated how Nino and the others resembled Ichika and even had the same voice as her, despite their different hairstyles and tastes in things.

Although he felt a tinge of frustration, he felt the need to be a bit more lenient towards the sisters. So... he at least said, "Sorry, about last night. I was, er, rude to you with my comments."

Nino had already folded the omelets as Toshiki placed the silverware and bowls on the table. He made sure to get the rice ready for the bowls and scooped the fresh rice onto them. Of course, Nino pretended not to hear Sentaro's apology and continued cooking. Sentaro knew she had heard him, but assumed he was forgiven since she ended up staying over and didn't mind his presence. Toshiki couldn't help but smile at knowing things were even for them and continued to help with the breakfast preparations.

At that time in Seimei University's Hospital, Dean Matsunaga was checking in on the EICU team. He and the others were gathered around in the EICU office, and he was grinning.

Tetsuya was puzzled. "What's going on?"

Munechika grimaced. "This ain't good. There are going to be some news for us for a silly reason."

Yuuko glanced at the guys but quickly smiled. "It must be something good!"

Kaede wasn't around due to him staying over at Sentaro's place with Miku, so Dean Matsunaga went on ahead and said, "I'm sure you folks might not know, but... Our wonderful Angel has gone and found his chance at the most important thing humans can have!"

"And what's that?" Tetsuya asked.

"Don't tell me you don't know, my dear Dr. Hosho," Dean Matsunaga said. "The signals he was giving a certain Nakano quintuplet yesterday at dinner were really fiery!"

Yuuki blinked. Obvious, she was confused. "Signals?"

"As if the Emperor of Hell would care about flirting with her," Munechika said.

Dean Matsunaga laughed briefly and wagged his finger. "Think again. Our dear Kasumi graciously helped and gazed at Nino while she was serving us food, didn't he?"

Tetsuya was a bit perplexed. "Kasumi did?"

"Um," Yuuko said, "I suppose he did pay attention to Nino quite a bit compared to other women."

Dean Matsunaga nodded. "You're getting warmer, Yuuko. Kasumi's affections tend to be silent, but his heart's a hundred percent filled to the brim with love."

Though this was amazing to hear from the dean's mouth, Munechika wasn't so astonished like Yuuko and Tetsuya were. He glanced at the two and stared at the dean with an indifferent expression on his face.

"Spit it out already. I'm sure this ain't just your average news."

Dean Matsunaga waited a bit and then, he burst into a wholehearted grin. "Our Kasumi and Nino are now engaged."