BAREFACED

Chapter 92

You sit in the hospital room beside your grandpa. You stare off into the distance thinking about Takemichi. You take a deep breath, staring down at your shoes. You relax your eyes and rub your head thinking about other things too. So much has happened and it's hard to wrap your head around it.

"I really need a vacation..." You sigh. The door opens and you look up to see your grandmother. She smiles as she walks in. She has a few flowers in her hand. She places it in the vase and removes the old ones out. 

"Have you eaten yet?" Your grandmother asks you. You slowly nod and look back towards your grandfather. Your grandmother takes a deep breath and places her hand on your shoulder. "You must be tired..."

"Huh? What makes you say that?" You ask, looking up at her.

"The circles under your eyes gotten darker." She softly says. You relax your eyes again and looking towards your grandpa.

"I guess it's because... I feel kinda lost... or- maybe I am tired."

"When was the last time you spent time with your friends?" She asks. You stare straight and then shrug. "I remember seeing Aimi not long ago. She stopped by the bakery looking for you-"

"Yeah... she lives in America..."

"Oh? So far... why does she live so far?" She asks. You look down at your hands and then squeezed them shut.

"To study abroad."

"Hmm... I'm surprised her father even agreed to that..."

"It was his idea." You slowly say.

"Really?"

"Mhm..." You hum. Your eyes widen when you notice your grandmother went quiet. You look up at her to see her looking back down at you. "I'll go see my friend... she wanted me to help her out with something." You softly say as you stand up. You grandmother smiles and nods. 

Once you walk out the room, you slowly make your way down the hall. You stop walking and take a deep breath. Your eyebrows furrow and your eyes relax. You turn and head down another hallway.

You stop at a vending machine, placing a few coins in and pressing the button for strawberry milk. While waiting for the milk to drop into the chute, you pull your phone out and begin to text Emma. After you sent her a message your eyes pause at the time. Two hours until midnight...

"I doubt she's even awake." You quietly say.

"Y-uki..." A voice says from beside you. Your eyes slowly drift towards the direction of the voice. Your eyes widen when you see who it was.

"Asuka?" You softly say. She looks a lot worse then before. She's gripping onto the railing on the wall. Her eyes look shallow and lifeless. Her skin pale and lips dry. She looks almost- dead. Like the life is being sucked out of her. You couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"Hi..." She softly says. She smiles. Her smile looking almost forced. 

"You look like you are having a hard time walking... are you supposed to be up and walking?"

"N-no... but I wanted to get a strawberry milk." She softly says, reaching towards the machine. She stumbles and falls forward. You catch her. She grips onto your shirt and you pull her up.

"ASUKA!" A nurse yells as she runs towards you.

"Wait- no..." Asuka tries to grab onto the machine but the nurse gets to her first. You watch as Asuka gets dragged back to her room. You turn towards the vending machine and grabbing the strawberry milk. You walk towards her room to hear the nurse sighing and fuming.