Underneath the Red Trees

CHAPTER 50: I LOVED HIM MORE

Kaguya dreamt of that scent. The scent of old oak. Of him... the way he smelled... the way he felt... the way he tasted... it felt like she was Ourei again, in her youth... with him.

She groaned when she awoke. Her side hurt. She felt woozy.

The room she was in was bigger than her entire flat. That could only mean she was at Hayate's.

Her side was wrapped with gauze. The sunlight peaked through the gap in the closed drapes.

Kaguya stood. She was unsteady on her feet. Pain shot through her abdomen.

"You're awake!" she glanced at the doorway. Satoru stood there. His face flooded with relief. He caught her when she stumbled. "You shouldn't get up." He forced her back onto the bed.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Her head was pounding. "What happened?"

"You got shot."

"Yeah, no shit."

"You've been asleep for three days."

Her eyes shot open. "Three days? My boss is going to kill me!" She tried to get up, but Satoru sat her back down.

"I called your work. You're taking the week off."

She nodded. She glanced down. It was only when she laid eyes on it that she realised Satoru was holding her hand. Old habits die hard. She pulled her hand from his grip.

"Oh! Sorry," he said, sheepish. An awkward silence fell over them. Satoru stared at the door. Kaguya kept her eyes pinned to the sheets.

"Who else knows?" Satoru turned his head back to her. "That I got shot, I mean."

"Just Hayate and I," he said. "Oh, and Makoto. His car pretty much saved you."

"What did you tell him?"

"Nothing," he said, "I don't know what happened myself."

Kaguya's brows furrowed. When she saw Satoru she had thought he had been the one to save her. Now it seemed she was wrong. So, who was her mysterious saviour?

"Sis!" Kaguya raised her head. Hayate rushed inside. In his worry he had fallen into the old pattern. Ryogetsu had often called Ourei 'sis'. He had viewed her as such, as his sister. "Are you okay?"

She smiled weakly. "I'm stronger than I look."

He gave her that look Ryogetsu used to give Ourei, the one that said he knew she was lying. Sighing, he asked, "Are you sure?"

"Come on," she insisted, "I'll be fine when I eat."

"What do you want? I can order in?"

"Pizza," she chimed.

The cheesy goodness of pizza set Kaguya back to her old self. She felt energised after she ate. Her side still hurt, but she managed to find a way to sit comfortably without putting too much pressure on the open wound.

She was sat on the sofa in the living room.

Just as Hayate finished his pizza his phone rang. "Who is it?" Kaguya asked.

Hayate smirked. "My boyfriend."

Her face lit up. "You made up with Touma?"

"Yes," he said, "I'll tell you about it later." He pressed the phone to his ear and went into the next room.

She watched the spot where he had been for a few minutes, then she got up from the sofa. "I'm going home."

"Kaguya, wait," Satoru tried.