Under the Rain [Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS]

S2-49✩ Gathering of the Unrecorded Heroes

-One week after the war with the Ignis-

The glass entrance door of the Den City Hospital opened wide for Kusanagi and Takeru, who came there that morning to visit a certain patient. In their hands, they brought a box of cream puffs and a small bucket of daisies as a gift.

While that was Takeru's first time visiting the hospital, it was the second time for Kusanagi. The first time he went there was after he witnessed the whole incident happening in Mirror LINK VRAINS on that night while he was unable to do anything. When he arrived, he got slapped across the face by the mother of that patient and he, fully aware that he deserved it for failing as a guardian for her child, promptly apologized to her by doing dogeza (an act of kneeling and bowing deeply while having one's forehead touch the floor to express a sincerest apology), but only after the patient had stabilized did she forgive him and allow him to visit again. Today was the day he was allowed to visit.

Now, he stood with Takeru in front of the door of that patient's room. They could hear a faint exchange of words and giggles from the other side of that cold door, although they could only wonder who else was inside since Kusanagi was still preparing his heart and face to ask for forgiveness. Takeru could feel his nervousness to the point it worried him, but felt he had no right to say anything to comfort him so he just awkwardly looked away until he noticed someone hastily approaching them from the end of the corridor. He focused his eyesight on their silhouette, and immediately gasped upon recognizing their face that he only had seen twice but was memorable enough for him. That person was unmistakably Ryoken. "Kusanagi-san, it's Revolver! He's here!"

"Eh?" Kusanagi followed after Takeru's pointer and as Ryoken got closer, they could see his unkempt silver hair and the prominent eyebags below his light blue eyes. Ryoken ignored their stares as he walked straight past them and opened the door, revealing a wide room with warm lighting and a single occupied hospital bed behind it. As soon as he stepped into that room, he was stared at by three pairs of widening eyes that belonged to Aoi, Emma, and Zaizen but he also ignored them and directed his full attention at the patient occupying the bed. That patient was his sister Mirai, in a hospital gown, IV drips, and bandages around her right ankle. She returned his gaze with her enchanting ruby-red eyes, that looked at him dumbfoundedly. "N-Nii-san? You came!"

For a moment, Ryoken only stood still with mouth slightly open and stared as she nervously chuckled while scratching her cheek. "Ahh... since you're here, I suppose you've already heard of what happened, huh? Don't worry, I feel better already, really! A-Anyway! Umm, after the day we fought, I thought about it day and night and, umm... I think I should apo--"

Without warning, Ryoken wrapped her in an embrace, catching her by surprise. She could feel his warmth immediately spreading all over her upper body, giving her a sense of safety and comfort that felt akin to the hugs that her mom gave her, but still felt a bit different. "I'm so glad..." she heard his soft whimper as he gently tightened his wrap on her, as if not wanting her to leave, while burying his face in her shoulder, "...I'm so, so glad... I'm... s-sorry. Really, I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Mirai...!"

"Why are you apologizing...?" She stuttered, with the corners of her lips slowly tugging upwards, but they quickly straightened down again as she choked back her tears and trembled when she whispered back to him, "Nii-san, are you crying? Stop it, please... otherwise... I-I will cry, too... Hngh..."

As Mirai finally gave up on holding back her tears, she raised her hands to hug her brother back, clinging tightly to him like a vulnerable little girl she was and letting herself find solace in his arms, that she unknowingly had missed so much.

✩

While Mirai and Ryoken were having their moment, Zaizen had silently urged Aoi and Emma to leave the room. In front of the door, they bumped into Kusanagi, Takeru, and unsurprisingly Spectre who arrived a bit late but was still in time to catch a glimpse of what just happened. Zaizen eventually dragged them along to the hospital's cafeteria and made them all sit in two small tables conjoined into one and bought iced tea for them while he stood up. After clearing his throat, he looked at them one by one and began, "Hello, everyone. I'm sure all of you here have already known each other, but only in LINK VRAINS, so I think we should start with reintroducing ourselves and our roles. Starting from me, I am Zaizen Akira, the head of the cyber security department of SOL Technologies."