Endless Obsession

Check Up and Take Care

It was the next day, and Yasushi got up early to take in the sights on his way to the hospital. He started by going to his friend, Amida Fukuzawa's house, to check how he was doing and said, "I'm doing well. Reika and I are going to Amidado later. Care to join us?" Yasushi says in a happy, then serious tone, "Sure! I'll make sure to stop on my way here after I go to the hospital. Atsuo got in a terrible accident..." "Oh- Well, I wish her great health." Yasushi thanks him and continues on his way to the hospital. He looks around the sky and trees, taking in the nature he can see.

He notices out of the corner of his eye a garden. He looks at his wasei-eigo and says, "I still have time." And strolls through the garden. Seeing the different maple trees and the koi peacefully swimming in the pond is beautiful. He enjoyed listening to the running water of the small waterfall. He sat down on a bench and listened to the sounds of nature.

After a while, he realizes how long it's been and gets up and looks for the closest bus stop. He runs across the street and is almost hit. Stunned, he doesn't say anything. The driver rolls down their window, about to yell at him when they recognize him. "Yasushi! Nice seeing you out! Need a ride?" Yasushi, still stunned, attempts to let out an "I... No. No, thank you."

She smiles and says, "Okay! Tell Atsuo I said hi!" She drives away before he can say anything. He then sits at the bus stop and says, "Wait, how did she know I was going to see Atsuo?" He starts to get scared, but the stress is released when the bus arrives. He sits in the back so he can be by himself. He then sits silently and waits for the bus to arrive at the hospital.

As he heard the screech of the wheels, he got up and left. As the front door automatically opened, he saw the people at the front desk whispering and panicking. Everyone seemed busy, so he decided to go into Atsuo's room himself. As he opened the door, a doctor yelled, "No! WAIT!" But Yasushi had already opened the door. There was blood on the bed, a hand on the floor, and Atsuo was nowhere to be found.

He was stunned. He said to himself, "What... What happened? Where's Atsuo?" The doctor couldn't let anything out but a simple "We're sorry. We don't know where she is." Yasushi dropped to his knees, tears rolling down his face. He thought to himself, "This... This can't be happening." And passed out.

He woke up in his apartment, Botaru licking his hand and whimpering. "Botaru? How'd I get here." He said sleepy as he looked around the living room. "I drove you here," said Tsuyoshi, "The hospital called me to pick you up when they saw that you passed out." Yasushi sat up and rubbed his head and said,"Oh... W-Where's Atsuo?" Tsuyoshi looked down and said, "They..." He then looked up at Yasushi's face and said,"They don't know where she is. B-But they think that she still might be alive."

He felt that he needed to lie to make Yasushi feel better. He knew that everyone thought she was dead. Yasushi sighed a break of relief but was still visibly scared as he held his knees. Tsuyoshi and Botaru sat next to him to comfort him. Tsuyoshi held Yasushi's hand as Yasushi leaned on him. Tsuyoshi then said, "Don't worry. They'll find her. I'm sure of it."

They then heard a knock at the door. Yasushi starts to get up, but then Tsuyoshi says, "You should sit down and rest. I'll get the door." Yasushi nods and warmly smiles at Tsuyoshi. Tsuyoshi smiles back and looks through the peephole to see... Katsumi. He doesn't know who she is, so he opens the door for her. She says, "Hey! I heard about what happened to Atsuo. My condolences. But I thought I'd come over and give you this lasagna I made for-"

She opens her eyes to see Tsuyoshi instead of Yasushi and says. "Oh. Is Yasushi home?" Tsuyoshi says, slightly concerned, "Uh... No. Would you like me to give that to him?" "No," she replies, "I'd rather do it myself. Let me know when he comes back. I live in A-102." She then just walks away, back to her apartment. Tsuyoshi waves to her and then closes the door. "Thank you. Even if it does break one of the Precepts. So please don't do that again." Yasushi says.

Tsuyoshi responds with, "Oh- I'm sorry. I forget sometimes. But I had to. She gives off a weird energy." "It's alright..." Yasushi replied, "I just wish I had noticed sooner." Tsuyoshi, confused, decides to brush it off and sits with Yasushi and Botaru. Yasushi then remembers his plans with Amida and Reika and starts to get stressed out. Tsuyoshi says with concern, "Woah, what's wrong." "I made plans with Amida and Reika to go to Amidado! I hope I didn't make them wait too long..." Yasushi says with worry in his voice.

"It is pretty late now..." says Tsuyoshi,"But it's alright, I'll message them, and you guys can tomorrow." "Alright... Thanks, Koibito." Yasushi says sweetly. Tsuyoshi smiles warmly and says, "No problem. You should get to bed now." He picks up Yasushi and carries him to his room. "Goodnight, Aisuru." Yasushi says goodnight back and then goes to bed. Tsuyoshi quietly closes the door and then goes to sit on the couch.

But before he can sit down, he gets a knock at the door. He opened the door to see a box with a note on it. He looks around to see... No one. He carefully backs into the apartment and closes the door. He sits on the couch with Botaru and reads the note. "Dear Tsuyoshi. I see you're trying to get between me and my love, so I have a gift for you to show what could happen if you get between us. And don't tell Yasushi-Kun." Scared, he slowly opens the box to find... A bloody severed ear and some hair.

He recognized that hair. It was Atsuo's. He knew that because Atsuo and Yasushi have the same hair color. He started to freak out and threw the box to the floor. Botaru started to growl at the severed ear on the floor. Tsuyoshi picks up Botaru in an attempt to get them to not bark so they don't wake up Yasushi.

Tsuyoshi quickly picked up the box and its contents and hid it in the back of the pantry. Trying not to think about it, he turned on the TV and watched his favorite show: Senshi's Fortress. But he still couldn't stop thinking about what he would do. Should he tell Yasushi or keep it a secret? It's against Yasushi's religion to lie but it would be hard to ignore it. Should he confront the mysterious sender?

Would that be too dangerous? Should Tsuyoshi just leave Yasushi alone for a while? No. Tsuyoshi will protect Yasushi by confronting the mysterious sender, putting a stop to them, and finding Atsuo. With his plan planted in his mind, he decided to go to bed. As Tsuyoshi lays down, he pets Botaru as they lay down next to him.