TRY AGAIN | Ken Sato | Ultraman Rising

3. At your lowest

"Representing Japan, please welcome Hana Masahiro to the rink!"

The crowd boomed with cheers as she skated on the ice, smiling over at the audience before taking her position in the center.

Her eyes drifted to her dress now hung up in the corner of the change room, now wearing a team Japan jacket with her phone in hand.

"You won gold! Why the glum look?" Misa questioned, placing the dress in one of her many duffle bags. "Is this about 'he who should not be named'? Or someone else?"

Hana shook her head, turning her phone off and throwing it in her own bag. "I've just been pretty tired lately, I don't know, it's probably just stress from skating" she tucked her hair behind her ears and sighed.

"How many reporters are out there right now?"

"A lot" Misa said, trying to give Hana an encouraging smile, "We'll breeze past them though, come on"

The older woman grabbed the skater's hand and the two walked out the change room. "They're going to eat me alive," Hana said with a dejected look. "Oh please, you just won, they're going to ask about your victory" Misa chuckled.

...

"Who the hell asks about someone's ex in a totally unrelated setting?" Hana grumbled, pushing herself past the door to her house. Most of the interviewers asked the same things about the performance –usual interviewer things– but there's always that ONE reporter always asking about someone's love life.

After giving an A+ response to the interviewer (staring at him until Misa dragged her off), Hana was now standing in front of her residence.

"Home sweet home" she muttered without much enthusiasm, sticking her duffle bag in the nearest closet.

It was already night out, the dim moonlight shining through the curtains of her living room with the sound of tv chatter playing in the background.

The episode was just getting to the good part when the doorbell randomly began ringing. "Oh my god stop ringing I'm on my way!" she yelled, pushing the blanket off her body before dragging herself towards the door.

When she pulled back the doorknob Kenji immediately greeted her with a grin, "Hey-" She immediately closed the door on him. If it weren't for his fast reflexes and his hand gripping open the door he wouldn't have gotten in.

"What are you doing here- what happened to your face?" she immediately took in his beat up state, the bruises and cuts decorating his pretty face looked bad.

"This catcher was picking a fight with me and I got beat up" he said, his voice slurred. "Hurts like a bitch" he muttered, his shoulders going slack as his whole body fell on Hana.

"Hey, hey, what's going on, don't die on me" she said in a rush. The smell of sweet cologne and alcohol invaded her nose and it immediately clicked in her mind, "Don't tell me you're drunk."

He did a little 'mhm' and Hana sighed. "Couldn't you have gone back to your place at least?" she said, trying her best to hobble her way over to her couch, Kenji leaning her back and he sure wasn't making it easy for her.

"Your place was closer" he said in a sloppy manner, his head tilting from side to side. He sure was drunk.

"Fine, let's patch you up, I'll get you a glass of water so stay put Kenji."

He gave her a big nod, taking a pillow in his hand and hugging it close to his chest as he took a glance at the tv. "Card captor Sakura? Really?" "I don't think you're in the position to judge me."

Hana gave him a glass of water and dropped down a medical kit, sitting right down onto her carpet. "Come sit," she said, patting the seat in front of her without a glance at him. Kenji complied, sitting cross legged in front of her, watching as she pulled out the ointments and bandages she needed.

The water was beginning to settle in and Kenji was beginning to get sober, noting how painful it felt when the alcohol swabs made contact with his open wounds.

'Stop being dramatic' she'd say, pulling him by the chin back to face her as she'd start up back again on his next wound. Normally he'd return her bickering but he wasn't in the mood at all so he let her say whatever she wanted. He just listened.

"All done," she said, "Now don't get into some other fight, just don't let them get to you.. Don't be stupid."

Somehow that one line made him feel like she cared and he hated the thought of her actually thinking about his well being.

"Don't act like you care" he suddenly spoke, the words spilling out of his mouth before he could even think, it was probably the alcohol.

"Should I 'not act like I care' when you were the one who showed up at my door?" she retorted, her voice back to being snappy rather than calm.

"You could kick me out right now" he shot, "Maybe I should" she spat.

"But you dont." He stared at her with a look of hurt, as if he was the broken one and suddenly, she was angry.

"This isn't fair Kenji. You don't get to act like you're the one who's hurt" she glared, but in her eyes wasn't hatred. It was pain.

His mouth opened as if hesitating to answer when suddenly his watch began beeping red.

"Kenji, please return back home, the baby has woken up," Mina began, "Hana please come along as well."

The two didn't share another glance and rather stood up.

"I'll drive" Hana spoke, her voice firm and more of a 'I'm telling you I'm driving, you have no say'.

So he said nothing.

.

.

.

.

"Are you two alright?" Mina asked, noticing the physical distance between the two, a literal 3 meter gap in between them.

"I don't know, are we alright Hana?" Kenji questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Don't even start Kenji," she warned.

He rolled his eyes, directing his attention back to the baby looking at the two with a sweet smile. "Give me some good news Mina, tell me you found Kaiju island"

"No Ken,"

He sighed.

"But the baby has a surprise for you two" she said in an upbeat tone, the tube lighting up with fun colors as the music from one of those baby dance videos began playing.

The baby began clapping her hands with excitement, her eyes filled with joy as she began jumping up and down, dancing along with the music.

A small smile began spreading across Hana's face when out of the blue a terribly horrid smell began invading her nose.

"Dear god what is that smell?" Kenji gagged, going to cover his nose.

Mina floated back down, "You cannot feed a 20-foot baby a half ton of fish and expect anything but a giant pile of-"

"I'm going to hurl" Hana grunted, watching as the baby jumped into her own shit.

"Which brings me to something we need to discuss" Mina cut in, zooming in on the two and bringing them closer, "Until I'm able to find Kaiju island you two are going to need to raise her. Hana you are now going to stay here for the next few weeks, I've already made plans in bringing your things over."

"Woah, woah, what." The two interjected at the same time.

"You two are now temporary parents for the baby, you two brought her back and unless you work together to take care of her, she will die."

Hana looked back over at the baby innocently looking at her with wide eyes and a cute smile. She grumbled something incoherent into her hands before looking back over at the two.

"Just don't give me a room next to him."