Love Is Blind

Chapter 3 - The Crush

Silence ensued. Even after a new start, awkwardness continued to linger between Arata and Misato. They've both been silent for a while, contemplating whether or not to speak. Misato looked around the room, looking for something to break the silence and hold a conversation. Eventually, Misato got an idea. Looking at her phone, she realized it was 11:30. 'Lunch should be soon...' And with that thought, she began digging through her bag, soon pulling out a large bento box. Staring at it for a second, Misato questioned when a bento box this large was ever in her possession.

Either way, Misato silently thanked her mother for packing a large lunch for her.

"Akiyama-san? Would you like to eat?" Misato questioned, her voice a bit quiet as she did. Upon hearing Misato's voice, Arata hesitantly sat up as he was cautious of the possible table at his waist. Arata's hands slowly grasped at the air in front of him, notifying him that there was no usual table in front of him. He was confused. "Where's the table?" Arata questioned, asking about the usual platform placed on the rails of his bed when eating. ". . . Eh?" Misato questioned, a confused look sweeping over her features before she realized what caused his confusion.

"Oh, well. . . it's not exactly lunch yet on the hospital schedule, but I wanted to share my lunch with you." Misato said shyly, a bit embarrassed for misleading Arata a bit. "Oh. But why? Your lunch is your lunch. I couldn't possibly take some." Misato felt a small drop of sweat roll down her temple before saying "w-well, my mother packed a lot of food for me. And I don't usually eat that much, so. . ." She trailed off, not knowing what else to say in excuse.

"Oh." Arata muttered, his fingertips soon reaching his bedside table, sweeping around for anything to notify the hospital for change in food provided. "Ah, wait! I can do it-!" Misato squeaked out, soon noticing his struggle for finding the correct button. Arata continued to blindly search, ignoring Misato. Soon, Misato's hand reached out for Arata, urging him to allow Misato to search instead.

Misato eventually stopped Arata from doing anything out of his capability, and she did it through grasping his hand. At Misato's warm grasping his own, Arata stopped, but not without feeling worthless. Arata only squeezed Misato's hand at this thought. His grip only growing stronger. 'Worthless. . .' Arata grit his teeth at this.

"A-Akiyama-san?" Misato's voice snapped Arata away from his thoughts, allowing him to plaster a goofy smile onto his lips. "Did you find the button?" Arata questioned, letting excitement seep into his voice as he said this. An answer came almost immediately. "Yes, and they said they'll still give you food, but just not as much as usual." Misato replied, each word coming out smoothly as she had become more comfortable with Arata. To Misato's reply, Arata nodded, soon asking, "so, what do you have in your lunch?"

"Well. . ." Arata heard a scrape of metal, before hearing a confused and slightly worried voice come to his ears.

"There's. . . a lot of eggs."

Misato couldn't believe her eyes. Her lunch was completely filled with egg dishes. Omelettes, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, what could've been every single egg dish possible, was in Misato's lunch. She was confused. 'What did Mom do?!' Misato questioned, making a mental note to ask her mom later.

"...eggs?" Misato heard Arata's voice that now bore an unrecognizable tone. "...Sorry Akiyama-san, it's not exactly what you wanted." Misato sighed, crestfallen as Arata went through all that trouble for such a overkilled lunch of eggs. "Eh? No, that's not the case!" Misato heard Arata, slightly confused about what he thought at the moment. "Uh, well. . ." Arata's voice turned bashful, "I actually quite enjoy eating eggs, they're my favorite food. So uh, I just felt excited." Arata muttered, a smile creeping onto his lips as he awkwardly scratched his cheek.

Misato couldn't help but smile at Arata, though he won't see it. "Then, you have my consent to eat my entire lunch." Misato responded, joy seeping into her voice as she spoke. Arata laughed a bit, the sound reaching Misato's heart as he did. "Well. . . eat up!" Misato exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about Arata's lack of sight as she presented the bento box to him. Again, Arata's fingers sweeped the air for the box, having difficulties in finding it.

When Arata did find the box, he had difficulties with the utensils. Misato squeaked out an apology for her ignorance, and took the chopsticks from his hands before proceeding to pick up a piece of omelette. Misato shakily held the omelette up to Arata's lips, intending to feed Arata.

The comforting smell wafted into his nose, urging him to ignore his pride for the time being.

Arata instinctly opened his mouth, reminded of his mother.

His mother. The one who left too early.

His mouth soon felt the soft texture of the omelette, reminding him of the rainy afternoons when his mother would make him his favorite foods and feed it to him. At this, Arata felt tears pricked his eyes. His eyes soon became glassy as he swallowed the omelette. The texture reminded him of his mother, how his mother used to embrace him. Gentle and soft as if he was so fragile, one touch could break him.

And at this moment, he was a fragile child needing of a mother's touch.

Misato saw the tears form in Arata's eyes, soon covering his cheeks and dropping onto the duvet. Misato panicked, putting down her chopsticks before trying to comfort Arata. "A-Akiyama -san?" Misato questioned, worried as she had never had experience in comforting others. Usually, she was the one being comforted.

Misato tried to remember how she was comforted when she cried. But, why couldn't she remember anything? Out of the many times she cried, she couldn't remember anything from it. Misato racked her brain for ideas to replace her lack of remembrance. Frustrated, she did what her instincts told her to do; hug him. And Misato did just that, pulling Arata's shaking form to her own. She stroked Arata's hair awkwardly, but it still seemed to bring peace to Arata's features. So, she continued her comforting actions.

Soon, Arata heard Misato utter those familiar words he remembered so well.

"It's okay, I promise. The world can wait."

Next Release: Oct. 26, 2016