Sometimes Death Isn't Even the Worst Thing That Can Possibly Happen - Free!

Chapter 4: MCS, here we come???

"Okay, Haruka," I say, leaning closer while I snap in my fingers to get Haruka's attention. "I'm going to take your hand in mine and I want you to squeeze it. Okay?"

There's no response, because even though I've been giving Haruka tasks like "say your name" he cannot talk, I think. But I still take his hand in mine, because the squeezing task has worked better every time, and when I feel his skin against mine, I repeat, "Squeeze my hand, Haruka."

It takes a moment, but I can eventually feel his grip tightening and he's really trying his best to squeeze mine. I can see it in his drifting eyes, the mildly present determenation to show me that he can understand me and he can do what I ask him.

"Good job," I reply, feeling myself smile.

Haruka's grip loosens again and his mouth falls open when his gaze moves in my direction. I hope he can see how proud I am, I hope seeing my smile is enough for him to continue trying.

It's been a couple of days since he started showing the first signs that he might be moving from his vegetative state into a minimally conscious state. And after today's appointment with Aimoto, we'll know more, but I'm positive that Haruka has regained some consciousness in the past days.

He's followed up some tasks I gave him, other than that he's looked straight at me or followed me around the room with his eyes a few times. He's moved his entire head one time towards the bucket of water when I was cleaning him in the morning, and I saw his fingers reaching in its direction as well, which caused me to burst out in laughing.

When I saw him reaching for the bucket with water, I remember saying, "Yeah, of course you want to get to the water. That's just you, am I right?" This lead to another one of the new things he does, which I think is adorable since he didn't even do that before all of this; when I say something funny he sometimes laughs, like full on chuckling.

He's also shown some, possible, form of communication; sometimes when I ask him a question he moans and moves his mouth, as if he is trying to answer even though he can't talk.

He's also got into a new habit that is a little sadder, sometimes when I put on his clothing or feed him or do anything to help him at all, he starts crying. Not always, but when he does, he tends to cry for quite a while.

And in an hour, I am going to find out whether it's actually true that Haruka's moving into a MCS.

"That was today's last task at home," I say, getting up from the chair. "Because I need to get you ready for your appointment today."

Haruka moans lightly as I ask him whether he's ready to find out if we can actually start heading on his way to recovery. I take it as agreement, and I'm ready for it too.

I wash off him face and hands another time, and I comb his hair, before lifting him into his wheelchair and buckling him up for our trip today.

. . .

"Haruka Nanase, and Makoto Tachibana, you can come with me." Aimoto's voice echoes through the waiting room and I feel myself releasing a sigh of relief.

We've been waiting for over thirthy minutes and there's been a small kid staring at Haruka for the entire time. I don't know if Haruka's conscious-ish but if he is, it might be really offensive when a nine-year-old is glaring at you in fear and discust.

I get up from my seat and roll Haruka towards the hallway, following Aimoto to his office. It's not far before we reach one the many doctor's offices I've spend hours in, waiting for results to come and for another heartbeaking to be fired at me. But not today, or so I hope, because Haruka seems to be doing better than I've seen him doing in the past four years.