Glass Coffin (an Inazuma Eleven f.f.)

Red Pill, Blue Pill

Before I knew it, three months had passed since that day I first snuck out to the rehabilitation room. With these extra practice sessions, it didn't take long for me to soon ditch the wheelchair, then finally, ecstatically, the crutches too. Gouenji-sensei diagnosed that I had successfully made a full recovery, but despite Hiraga and Yuuichi's congratulations, I did not feel satisfaction at my accomplishment whatsoever. When I confided in Gouenji-sensei about how I did not feel up to my pre-crash self despite the diagnose, he made a throughout examination but concluded that I was indeed in perfect condition. However, once I told him that I used to be a dancer, he suggested that the reason I probably felt much weaker than before was because I had not stretched or exercised for five months.

But that was only the least of my worries right now. Because I had been deemed well enough to be released, though in actuality they would still keep me around in the hospital to monitor my prosthetic progress, my top priority was to find a school that would accept me in the middle of the school year. Of course my first choice had been to go back to Yokato, my old school, but Gouenji-sensei and Hiraga pushed me to at least consider and apply for a few schools located regionally. I wouldn't have bothered because I had full confidence that Yokato would let me back in due to their scarcity in students, but Gouenji-sensei and Hiraga hinted that if I really were to return to Yokato, then they would also have to relocate to a hospital in Fukuoka in order to accommodate me, and so guiltily I found myself filling out repetitive application forms to random Tokyo schools.

Tengawara Junior High, Mikage Sennou, Raimon Junior High, Kasamino Junior High...

I sighed as I flopped down on the lap desk. This was absolutely pointless. It wasn't like I was going to accept any of these schools in the end anyway, for I already had my mind set on salvaging whatever of my old life I had left. Even if it meant disappointing Gouenji-sensei and Hiraga and making their family move for my choice, but it was their choice to work in the hospital, so they should be responsible of swallowing what they bit off. I on the other hand hadn't been given a choice.

A blonde boy jogged up to two players in juniper green on the television screen as shadows gathered in the air around him, cloaking the three players in an ominous shroud. "And Yoshida finally brings out his original hissatsu! How will Gassan Kunimitsu try to regain control of the game?"

Taiyou had lent me a couple Football Frontier tapes, and I had made it into the habit to play them frequently. The tournament's involvement with the loss of my family had a hypnotic effect that drew me to it. As I sulked in boredom and contemplated whether or not I should keep filling out the applications to give my doctor and nurse a false sense of hope, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," I quickly sat up and straightened the papers to make it look as if I had been seriously putting effort into composing them. I remembered to turn off the television right before the door opened.

Hiraga walked into the room with a tray of breakfast like she always did at this same time every morning, however there was an extra buoyancy in her salmon bob from the way she walked today, which I could not tell whether it was from the fact she thought I had been so diligently working on my applications, or because of another matter.

"Thank you," I smiled graciously as I accepted the tray and inhaled the delicious aroma. In reality there was only a small bowl of rice with various other small sides, but to me it tasted like heaven. It had already been awhile since my diet had been switched from hospital jellies to normal, light food, but I still retained the same amount of enthusiasm for it every time. Never again, I swore to myself, would I ever eat anything mildly resembling that of the accursed jello ever again if I could help it.

"Aren't you going to open the letter?" Hiraga's impatient voice broke my feeding frenzy, and I looked up at her blankly with a stuffed mouth. She pointed next to my bowl, where two envelopes laid in place of where usually would be a white water lily from my indefatigable guardian angel.