Living A Dead Dream (Baji x OC)

36

"Thank you so much for helping Taka!" Hakkai said, rather loudly, with a low bow.

Danny sweatdropped at the stiff boy.  Then again, this is Hakkai we're talking about. Even if he thought that Danny was another guy before, he knows the truth now, and that didn't change his awkwardness toward the opposite sex. She gave him a small smile. "You don't need to be so nervous around me, you know," she said with a light chuckle. "And it was no problem, I've been wanting to go against the brothers for a while now."

"H-huh?" He straightened himself back up, still stiff as he gave her a quizzical look. "Really?"

She lightly chuckled as she swung her legs over the side of the hospital bed and leaned back a bit on her good arm. Her left arm was in a sling, seeing as Rindou ended up spraining it during their little scuffle, and it would have to be like that for at least a week before she could properly use it again. "Yeah, I had a couple of run-ins with both of them that somehow ended up with me getting away unscathed. They're definitely strong."

Hakkai was taken aback by the girl's behavior. He knew how strong she was, even more so now, but, still, she was speaking as if she had just been playing a game with the Haitani brothers. As if they weren't some of the most feared delinquents in Tokyo. He could feel his face heat up at the sight of the smiling girl. "W-well..." he sheepishly turned away from Danny as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I hope you get better soon..."

"See ya later," she said with a wave as he left, gaining a small one from him in return. As soon as the door shut, she let out a deep sigh. "Hopefully there won't be any fights soon..." she muttered to herself before taking out her phone. There were five texts, all from Sayu.

Hey

R u ok?

Daju

Danaju Hanagaki.

Fine I'm coming over

She let out a quiet sigh at the last text, seeing that it was from five minutes ago with the previous ones being from not too long before that.

Sowwy, Hakkai was visiting and I didn't hear it go off

Still coming

She smiled a bit as she put her phone away before her face fell into a frown. She didn't know if they had really changed anything yet. Even after saving Draken, even after expelling Kisaki, even after saving Baji and Kazutora, even after making sure Taiju didn't die... nothing had changed. Hinata would still die. Sayu would still die. All of her friends would still die. All this time, she kept up a hopeful facade. She tried to stay positive and focus on what was in front of her. But the truth is? She's a realist at heart, and each failure made it seem like they weren't getting anywhere, like all they had done was make one horrible future even worse than the last. It felt like no matter what they changed in the past, that it would just get worse... and it was starting to get to her. The nagging feeling of uselessness was starting to become harder and harder to ignore.

Her fists were clenched to the point that they had turned white as she stared down at them, and her vision began to blur as she tried desperately to take deep calming breaths, to think about anything else. 

One warm drop landed on her hand. Then another, and another. 

She didn't want to cry, she really didn't. She hated it. It made her feel weak, like she was betraying everyone's expectations. Danny was Toman's Beast, right? She was the Third Division Captain, right? Someone like that should be unshakable, right? What would everyone think if they found her crumbling like this? If they found one of Toman's proclaimed "strongest" crying like a small child over something as trivial as failure? Surely, they would all turn their backs on her. She hadn't a doubt in her mind that they would see her as "just a weak girl" and cast her aside without hesitation. Without sparing her a single thought. It happened once before with those who she grew up with, so what was stopping the people she had only known for a few months from doing the same?