ᴡᴇᴀᴋᴇɴᴇᴅ ᴠᴇɴɢᴇᴀɴᴄᴇ | ᴅᴀᴢᴀɪ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ✔️

XXXVIII: Fabricated Memory

Beep.... beep.... beep...

That sound was the first to ring in your mind. You still had your eyes closed; you couldn't move a muscle anyway. The brightness on your eyelids stang.

Then you noticed the presence of people around you. Not that they were talking, they were just there.

Beep... beep... beep... beep

The sound became regular. However, you couldn't move a single muscle. You wanted to get up, you wanted to open your eyes, but you couldn't.

Your body longed for some movement, is what you didn't know. Sleeping for a month, it was finally the day you chose to live.

"Is that her heartbeat? Did she make it?" A familiar voice spoke, his voice all sad and exhausted.

Beep..beep..beep..beep

The sounds were faster. That's my heartbeat... you thought. And that voice...

"Unbelievable..." another voice, an older one, spoke.

。。。

All those who were around you stood still, all quiet, as they were waiting for any sign. Dazai's mind went back to all the days where some of your brain cells were dying.

Is she going to remember me? He wondered as he looked at your steady expression.

Your eyelids were slightly twitching, making Dazai's heart drop to his stomach. One nurse that stood watching immediately understood the reason behind the twitching of your eyelids. She hurried and closed the window. The doctor understood right away and closed all sources of lights, making the monitors with the wires that were connected to you the only dimmed light in the room.

Dazai made his way to be next to you. He then rested his hand on yours.

The touch of his delicate fingers, the touch of the bandage wrapped around his palm. You knew that touch.

Then slow and steady, with only a foggy vision, you opened your eyes.

You looked at their faces, still all foggy. You blinked multiple times. It was all hazy, and you were only able to make out shapes and vague facials.

You looked at their figures, they were all wearing whites. You gradually felt your limbs as well. You were aware you were on a bed; a hospital one.

You made the attempt to raise your hand to rub your eyes. But it felt impossible.

You wanted to speak, ask about where you were, why you felt so drugged like we were not in your own body, but you couldn't. Your limbs didn't move when you want them to do so.

Blinking, you look at the hand that was on yours. Your vision gradually got better. That was when you noticed the bandaged hand resting on yours.

Your finger made the slightest flick under that hand. It gripped yours, and with only moving your eyes, you looked up.

Dazai's POV:

There she was, looking at me. I thought my smile couldn't grow bigger, but it did when her eyes flickered, finally noticing me.

She hummed, like a child that had yet to learn to talk.

She doesn't know how to speak.

She forgot how to speak.

"We need to give her an MRI test now. We need to know what brain cells were damaged," the doctor ordered, like he heard my thoughts.

The nurses all picked her up, placed her on a different bed and covered her eyes since her vision was still weak, and took her out of the room.

One nurse opened the curtain as I sat down on a chair to take it all in.

There were too many feelings at once.

I was overwhelmed by the few passing minutes that I just witnessed. She remembers me, right? I wondered, remembering the way her eyes looked at me. If she lost the ability to speak, let alone move...

"Is there someone you want to call and tell the news to?" The nurse asked. I looked up at her, realizing that I did.

。。。

Leaning back on the wall, I gazed down at the tips of my shoes, waiting for the MRI to end and results to come in.

Kunikida walked back and forth. Looking at the watch on the wall every minute or so. Ranpo came as well, sitting with Chuuya. Both were talking the minutes away, waiting to see Yn so eagerly.

After all, I could see why since both of their memories were manipulated by her.

The girl working with Yn from the puppies' cafe was there as well. Mika... was it?

"Mika," I called out to her. She seemed lost in her thoughts, but she gazed up at me when I called her. I tapped on the wall next to me so she could come. She did.

For Yn's safety reasons, we couldn't tell Mika why Yn really fell into a coma. We made up another story to tell her. She came to visit Yn a few times, but I rarely saw her when she did, I would only see the flowers and the long messages that she left.

"Yn sure has loads of messages to read when she's all better," I joked, wishing I could make her feel better. She chuckled, though she went quiet after. "Don't worry, I know she will make it," I assured her, saying what we both hoped was true.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, tracing her fingernails. "Why are you apologizing?" I wondered, crossing my arms. Her lips curled up into a simple smile as a small laugh escaped her lips.

"When I first knew Yn was dating you, I told her that you might be one of those playboys that could break her heart," she answered. I raised my eyebrows.

"But I was wrong, Yn, she chose the right person, you are exactly what she needed all these years," she continued, looking up at me. "Maybe you didn't know this... but, Yn is an orphan," she confessed. I realized how she knew only half the truth.

"To be loved by someone. Even as a friend, I was there for her, but I knew she needed someone, someone more than just a co-worker," she said, shoulders slightly lowered.

I was still looking at her, but she gazed downwards at our shoes. As much as she didn't want me to see, I noticed the tears on her cheeks before she wiped them.

"Guess you cannot tell how bad something is until you say it out loud," she joked, though her voice conveyed otherwise.

"Mika-san, you are a good friend to Yn," I said through my smile. "I know now that Yn was in safe hands when I haven't met her yet," I knew she needed to hear this.

As much as I needed to hear what she said about me.

The door squeaked, echoing in the quiet place. Both Chuuya and Ranpo stopped talking, Kunikida stopped in his tracks, and we all looked toward the sound source to see the doctor.

It was the moment.

The moment I knew how our fate would go.

"What were the results, doctor?" Kunikida desperately asked. "Did she lose the ability to speak?" Chuuya asked the question roaming inside our minds.

"No... she didn't," the doctor finally said. The sigh of relief filled the room, but I noticed his tired expression. There was something else.

"Doctor," I called, my expression saying it. "Yes, Dazai," he said and exhaled. "As we mentioned before, there are some brain cells that were damaged, we just couldn't figure out what they were responsible for. Therefore..." he said.

"We would only know when she wakes up," Ranpo completed the doctor's sentence. "Will she be able to move again?" Mika asked.

Nodding, the doctor replied, "yes. In the course of two weeks, she will be given all sorts of medications that she needs to get her muscles moving again. As for speaking, it depends on how long she was in the coma, and how fast she can get her muscles and brain to be connected again," he explained.

"So, she made it," I stated when silence controlled the room. "...she did," the doctor replied, a relaxed expression on his face.