Kazu had woken up so early before the sun rose thinking that Jun woke up without even telling him. Instead of seeing such a cheeky yet handsome smile on his face and a slight tease playing in his eyes, he saw him still sleeping so peacefully just like the time after the accident. Kazu winced in pain, not from physically hurting, but mentally from the memory that still lingered in his eyes. He's told himself so many times to stop remembering that piece of memory since Jun was besides him even till now. But every time he saw Jun like this, it just kept coming to him. He hated himself for what happened that day, for not being so fast in running in time to save Jun from that horrible car crash. Once again Kazu winced in pain, hitting himself harshly on his arm until it turned dark purples and blue.
"Nino, that won't help Jun-kun..."
Kazu jumped up and immediately hid his blotched arm behind him. He had completely forgotten Ohno came to visit the day before and even offered to stay, not only because of Jun, for him after hearing gossips from nurses in the supermarket that he would soon become a patient. For one thing, he was glad Ohno was here, but at the same time, he just wanted to be alone with Jun.
Ohno held out his hand. "Give me your arm."
Kazu shook his head and backed away slightly when Ohno's hand tried reaching for his arm. But it was no use since the space behind him was so small that he didn't have space to move around. He felt warm hands gently touch his arm before pulling it out from his back. Kazu looked away, ashamed that he had done this to himself without thinking.
"How long have you been doing this?" Ohno asked him so gently that he felt tears threatening to come out lf his eyes.
"Today," he lied to him, hoping Ohno would believe him but he didn't.
"Nino, don't lie. It's obvious you've done this since you first came here."
Kazu shook his head furiously. "I've only started today!"
"Nino... You don't have to keep doing this, you know? Jun-kun is going to be alright."
At that moment, Nino threw his arms around Ohno's neck and placed his head on the broad shoulders. It's not that he needed Ohno, but he needed this kind of support, a support that would tell him everything was going to be alright. As the man’s arms went around his waist, Kazu cried even harder into the already soaked shirt while telling himself that this was all his fault.
The pain couldn't stop and it refused to no matter how hard he bit on his sleeves. It was already wet and he swears he can taste his own blood soaking into the light yellow sleeve. At the same time Jun pulled away from the sleeve, he can see blood dribble lightly on the white floor, making the whole entire floor light pink just from the small dribble of blood.
All around him, even the wall of now frozen pictures were stained pink. Despite how much pain he was in, he struggled to go closer to the wall, bringing his wobbly hands on Kazu's smile. He can tell he was a bit older in this one-somewhere near the end of junior high-since there really was no difference. As soon as his hand touched the thin lips, the pain grew even worse.
Kazu stopped crying and he pulled away when he heard a struggled groan from where Jun was laying. He turned around almost immediately and saw his friend's body jerking in different ways while his face showed no change. Jun was screaming though without expression, causing Kazu to become curiously worried. As soon as Jun's body, once again, jerked up and to the side, he pulled his arms from Ohno and put his arms protectively all over the body.
"Oh God!" Kazu muttered out loud as his friend's body continued to jerk under his grip. Behind him, he heard Ohno shuffling to his feet and soon, a nurse and doctor worriedly came running inside. They were the exactly the same people who had treated Jun when he woke up; except his friend was deep asleep, internally struggling from something he didn't know.
