Identical Memories (An OHSHC Fanfic) [Completed]

Chapter Thirty-Two [Part 1]

A/N: Super short, I know, but there's a reason for that. The next chapter is gonna be 32 pt 2, and from a third person POV because there's a scene I want to show, but I hate the idea of skipping from first to third in the same chapter.

Eri

I hate hospitals.

As I blinked open my eyes, blearily staring at the ceiling above me, that was the sole that that radiated through my mind. I hate them. The smell of antiseptic, the whitewashed walls, the slow, methodic beep of the vitals machine...

Letting my head fall to the side, I examined what I could see of the room without moving. My chest still felt heavy, but the pain from before was gone. Either I'd been out for some time, or they'd given me something to sooth the burning in my chest caused by the coughing. My head felt clearer. A transfusion, maybe? Ah, yes, the I.V. stand sitting to the side of the room was currently empty, but no doubt it'd held a blood bag not long ago.

I might have put more thought into this, but faint movement caught my attention. I bit my lip when I located the source-- Emi sat, curled up in a chair at the far end of the room. Her head had lolled to the side, her hands hanging limply at her sides, and her entire body looked more relaxed than I'd seen in some time. I could only feel grateful that she was fast asleep-- it would give me time to figure out what to say. How to apologize for her being the one to find me. She wouldn't accept it, I knew, but... I had to try nevertheless.

She murmured something in her sleep, focusing my attention on her, rather than my thoughts. Shifting about in her chair-- reacting to whatever was going on behind her closed lids-- Emi suddenly scrunched her face up in a fierce scowl.

"Don't..."

I frowned. Don't what?

"Don't... eat my cake... dumbass."

It took everything I had not to burst out laughing. Of course Emi was dreaming about cake.

My eyes managed to find the clock in the room. Six in the evening, Emi must have wore herself out to be soundly asleep so early. I might have fallen into rather dark thoughts on the matter-- as there were few things that could wear her out in a hospital-- but the door crept open. I tensed, turning my head the other way, then relaxed as I caught sight of a familiar face.

"Kyoya..." My cheeks flushed as I remembered how he'd called my name without honorifics at the dinner. "... k-kun..."

His lips twitched as he slipped inside, softly shutting the door behind him. His eyes flicked to Emi, then back to me. For a moment, silence settled between us as he studied me, silently, before adjusting his glasses and approaching the bed.

"Do I want to know how you knew?" I questioned quietly, amusement playing at my smile.

He rose a brow. "Do you?"

I thought on it, then shook my head in response. Seemingly content with that response, Kyoya seized my chart as he'd done the last time we were in the hospital. His flicked over the pages. His face was carefully blank as ever, but his hands betrayed him. They tightened around the chart, nearly pale in the strength of their grip.

"That bad?"

He replaced it at the foot of my bed, then stepped around. Rather than answer, he fiddled with the buttons on the side, adjusting it so the bed shifted upwards, giving me a wider view of the room. Once again, I found myself amused.