ホタルは精霊のようなものですよね？

8. 病院?

(highly descriptive chapter)
toru sat in the hospital waiting room anxiously as akeno was in a private room being seen by a doctor.
he was sat there for a while until a nurse came up to him.
"are you higari toru?"
he nodded, standing up "yes, is akeno okay?"
the nurse smiled reassuringly "she's fine, what she was experiencing was some symptoms of chd, fortunately it wasn't a heart attack so her medication helped a lot and the numbers have gone back down"
he sat back down with a great sigh of relief
"would you like to see her? her room is open"
he nodded grabbing his things, following the nurse to her room

he walked in to see akeno sleeping peacefully, he sat down besides the hospital bed placing his stuff on the floor beside him. the nurses bowed before leaving the room. as the door shut the room fell completely silent, only the sound of the vital sign monitor beeping was to be heard. he sat there for a while relived that she was okay. he reached out for her hand, that was soft to the touch and interlocked their hands together. he gently raised his occupied hand up pressing it against his forehead, sighing out deeply before putting it back down delicately, akeno's hand was the most fragile thing to him in that moment. his eyes began to feel heavy as he struggled to keep them open. the weight became too much to bare he gave in, and fell asleep.

akeno woke up the next morning to toru sleeping on her lap untroubled, she smiled gently as she stroked his hair in means to sooth him, however it woke him out of his sleep. he peaked out of one of his eyes humming at the disturbance of his sleep. "sorry" she whispered
he shook his head "its okay, that felt nice, why'd you stop" not saying anything more she continued to stoke his hair. the environment calm and soothing to the both of them. as they stayed there together in a comfortable silence. nothing necessarily needed to be said between them, as they had come to understand one another well over the short period of time they had known each other, so there were times where nothing had to be said at all.

soon after a nurse walked in with a tray of food
"here's something to eat, we'll have to do some more tests on you soon if that's okay with you"
akeno nodded, as toru sat up to help the nurse place the tray in front of akeno.
"thank you" the nurse nodded smiling and she bowed and left closing the door quietly.
toru got up grabbing his wallet "do you want anything from outside"
she shook her head as she took a spoonful of porridge "no, thank you though toru"
he nodded "okay, i'll be back in a little while"
he walked towards the door almost leaving
"donuts, i want donuts"
he stopped for a moment smiling to himself, before he left her room and the hospital, to go to the bakery. he bought the donuts along with some sweet bread for him to eat himself.

once he got back the hospital he was told to go to the waiting room as they were doing tests on akeno to make sure everything was okay.
once the tests were over he was allowed back into her room. he walked in, placing the small box of donuts beside her. "thank you" she said as she gave a tired smile.
"i'm guessing the tests were stressful, you look drained" he said taking a sweetbread tearing it in half passing akeno some.
she nodded taking it "they take blood tests for multiple things, so it often leaves you tired right after" she laughed lightly
he nodded taking a bite of the sweetbread looking to his side outside of the window "well, sleep for now i'll still be here when you wake up"
she nodded "i want a donut first"
he looked at her and she was staring right at the box, he grabbed it placing it on her lap delicately. "thank you"
he nodded finishing his food.
they sat there quietly as akeno ate, and soon after fell asleep. and not too long after she fell asleep, a nurse walked in, bowing.
"sorry for the intrusion, i've just come to check her vitals"
toru nodded as the lady walked in and wrote a few things down before leaving.
toru sat there quietly looking out of the window, and before he realised it, he had fell asleep too.

after a few hours he was woken up hearing akeno call out to him
"toru.. toru!!"
"yes, akeno"
"let's go the forest!"
"why"
"because i like it there! you showed it to me!!"
he finally opened his eyes looking at akeno "are you even allowed to leave the hospital, it's late now"
she nodded "it's fine, let's go..!" she said stepping out of the bed almost falling, however toru was there to catch her.
"hold onto me, i know you're lying but it's okay, let's go"
she looked at him shocked, but smiled as she clung onto his arm. "okay, thank you toru"
they somehow managed to leave the hospital without being seen. as soon as they were far enough, toru stopped and knelt down. akeno looked at him confused "what're you doing?"
"get on my back, you can't walk properly so i'll just carry you"
"oh.." she sighed out laughing a little as she climbed onto his back "okay"
he carried her up the hill and into the forest where it began to light up with fireflies, he found the usual empty stop and placed akeno down gently. her eyes lit up as the fireflies danced around them. she patted a space next to her for toru to sit down, which he did.
"they said i was okay, and should be fine, they just want me to stay for one more day and then they'll discharge me"
toru looked at akeno with widened eyes "really"
she nodded "yep, i'm okay toru, so you don't have to worry"
he let out a deep sigh tilting his head back closing his eyes "what a relief"
she smiled as she looked up at the sky "it is isn't it? say toru?"
he hummed, his eyes still closed
"let's do a lot of fun stuff after i get discharged, okay?"
he looked at akeno giving her the most sincere smile "okay"