Origami Girl

Chapter 33: When the Cicadas Weep II

Origami Girl

Chapter 33: When the Cicadas Weep II

"In the cicada's cry

No sign can foretell

How soon he must die"

-Matsuo Bashou

My eyes immediately widened in shock. I accidentally let go of the keys in my now unclenched palm, the cold steel crashing onto the concrete pavement. The young man looked up at me, biting his lip as his palm pressed against his abdomen.

What have I done?

"W-What is wrong with you?" he hissed, his face grimaced.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry," I blurted out as I rushed over to him, picking up my keys I had dropped. "Are you all right?"

"It hurts like hell," he raised his voice. "Were you trying to kill me?"

"No, no!" I said, my heart thumping in fear and panic. "I-I thought you were trying to rob me!"

"Do I look like a robber to you?" he shot back, his deep brown eyes glaring at me.

"L-look, I'm really, really sorry," I mumbled. "I didn't mean to!"

Shuuya-kun lifted up his shirt to check on his abdomen, before letting his shirt down again. I didn't really get to see it, since it was covered beneath him as he bent over.

The young man finally managed to stand up straight, and without a word, he turned around and started walking back in the other direction. Feeling guilty, I quickly rushed up to him, and placed my hand on his shoulder. He was walking pretty fast, so it was pretty tough for me to keep up with him. What more, I was still shaking and jittery, still reeling in from whatever shock that still remained.

I felt something damp and sticky in my hand that was holding the keys, so in passing I took a look at it. Only then did I realise that the keys were stained with a dark maroon smear, the dark red smudging the flesh of my palm along with it.

"D-Do you need to go to the clinic?" I asked him, worried that he might need medical attention. "Is it bleeding?"

"Well, it is," he said, his tone rather annoyed.

"You know, there's a clinic nearby, we could take you there," I offered. "It should still be open by now, it's a twenty-four hour clinic."

"Look, I didn't really get to see the extent of how bad you hit me, but let's just get it cleaned up and treated first at your house," he said. "You do have a first aid kit at home don't you?"

"Yeah, we do," I told him. "It's in the bathroom."

"Fine," he said curtly. "It'll do."

The two of us walked back down the road, and we reached the house not too long after. We didn't talk much on the remaining length of road back, and I lifted my hand from his broad shoulder. I felt really bad over what I had done, but what had happened had happened, and now the most important thing was to assess how much damage I did. Groceries could wait another day.

My mother was somewhat surprised to see the two of us back so quick, but I told her that my cousin had hurt himself, and that we were going to assess the situation. Worry started to paint my mother's face, but she seemed relieved when my cousin himself smiled at her and told her not to fret too much about it.

"I'm training to be a nurse after all," he reassured her. "I know what I'm doing. . .I hope."

"Well, how did you get hurt in the first place?" my mother asked.