Dreamy Days In School In West Tokyo ✔

Chapter 4: Apologies

My eyes open and I meet the eyes of a worried looking Haruki. Beside him are Ryuzo and Takeshi, who are looking at me as well, with worried expressions.

"Haru? Ryu? Take?" I ask as I rub my eyes and sit up. Where am I? I look around the room and see that I'm in my room, in my bed. They all sigh when they see that I'm awake.

"Rocky, thank goodness you're awake," Haruki says as he hugs me. Um Haruki.

"You had us worried there," Ryuzo states as he joins in, "You were out for so long that we started to get worried." Wait, how long was I out for?

"How long was I out for?" I ask in panic.

"You were out for a day," Haruki says. I was out for a whole day?! Holy fudge! This isn't good. Haruki and I were supposed to finish our survey. I feel horrible for leaving Haruki all alone to complete the survey. "We got so worried that we were considering taking you to the hospital." Oh, yeah, Ichigo kept slamming me against the wall and I guess I must have blacked out or something. Ugh, that stupid, obnoxious, jerk.

"Well, I'm sorry for worrying you guys like this," I apologize as I lower my head.

"It's no problem, that's what friends are for, right?" Ryuzo asks with a smile on his face.

"Ryu, Haru, I'm sorry that I said all those things to you," I apologize again.

"Don't worry about it," Ryuzo responds, "And besides, I deserved it. You were right to yell at me like that. I didn't listen to you, but I still did it anyways. I'm sorry too Rocky." I nod and smile in response. Then I turn my attention to Haruki.

"Haru, I'm sorry that I left you to do the survey," I apologize to Haruki. Haruki smiles at me and puts his hand on my head.

"You have nothing to worry about Rocky," Haruki reassures me, "I explained to Mr. Chakura what happened. He sent Ichigo and Rihito down to the principal's office and he decided to give us time until you wake up and are feeling better. So, if you're feeling better today then we can start visiting classes and collect the data that we need." Haruki is so nice. I feel so bad for saying all those things to them. Despite saying all those things, they still came to rescue me and stayed by my side until I woke up. Without thinking, I begin to cry.

"Whoa, hey, don't cry," Ryuzo says flustered, "I don't know how to comfort people when they cry." I laugh as I wipe my tears away.

"Don't cry Rocky," Haruki says, "You've done nothing wrong."

"But, you guys are being so nice to me," I say through sniffles, "And after all those awful things that I said to you guys." Haruki and Ryuzo chuckle.

"Rocky, stop blaming yourself," Ryuzo says.

"We're your friends Rocky," Haruki states with a comforting smile. I stare at them. I can feel the guilt washing over me. I've never had friends like them before. "Why did you try and fight them on your own though?"

"Yeah, when we saw Ichigo and Rihito follow you, after you left, we knew something bad would happen, so we went and checked on you," Ryuzo explains, "You shouldn't deal with things all by yourself."

"I'm used to dealing with things all by myself," I say in low voice. Ever since my parents abandoned me I've been all alone, with no one to count on, but myself.

"What?" Haruki and Ryuzo ask at the same time. I shake my head in response.

"Nevermind, it's nothing," I reply. I almost slipped up. I can't let that happen again. "Anyways, thanks you guys. I appreciate you taking care of me." They smile at me in response. "Oh my god, does Takeshi stay up all night or something?" Ryuzo and Haruki look over at Takeshi and laugh.