That Eternal August I Spent With You ↬ Act Ⅱ ║ Mina Ashido X Reader ║

August 19th / Part 2

Her sullied mood made a complete 180. She looked up to me with the biggest smile I've ever seen. It was super cute.

"I knew you'd come around, [F/N]!" she said. "Okay, so I've been spending most of my free time surveying the nurses and some of their patterns to make sure we have a clean escape!"

I pulled over the chair I was going to sit in earlier and plopped down. "That's what you've been doing instead of resting?" I asked.

"Ah--" she stopped. "Anyways..."

I sighed and waved my hand in a circle. "Go on with the plan,"

"Right, hehe," she giggled. "So, one of the things I noticed is... once it hits 9:05 P.M., the nurse at the front desk starts to make rounds to each room and make sure there aren't any visitors left here,"

"I see, I see," I nodded my head with my hand placed on my chin, starting to get into it. "That's why you asked me to come here at 9 P.M. sharp, right?"

She nodded joyfully. "Yep! My room is 823 on the eighth floor. The last room on this floor is 825. So, once she checks that room and proceeds to the next floor, we'll have our chance to escape!"

"That's a surprisingly good plan, Mina!" I said. "But, what'll we do when she checks this room?"

"Shove you in the closet, obviously!" she said with ease.

"Ah, I see..." I muttered. "I guess she doesn't thoroughly check the rooms, then?"

Mina shook her head. "Nope! She just pokes her head in to make sure everything's alright,"

"Huh... This might actually work then," I said. "You really thought this through,"

She blushed and chuckled, scratching the back of her head. "You flatter me too much..."

"So, what time is it now?" I asked, turning to the clock.

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9:24 P.M. / Friday, August 19th
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"Oh, shit," I said bluntly.

Then, a sudden ding of the elevator came from the hallway. Mina and I instantly looked at each other like the world was about to end. I quickly stood up and placed the chair back where it was, quietly of course. Then, I scanned the room and found the closet she had mentioned. I instantly ran for it and closed myself in.

After waiting a minute or so, I heard a knock on the door. Then, I could hear it open. The thing I couldn't quite hear, though, was what Mina and the nurse were saying. The main air conditioner for this floor was literally inside the closet, so that was all I could hear. But, as time went on, I thought that the talking was going on for a bit too long. I could tell that the nurse's voice was getting closer for some reason, and I could hear Mina's tone becoming slightly more desperate. I had a really bad feeling, but it didn't set in until I saw the knob of the door shake a little bit. Instantly, my anxiety jumped up to 1,000,000. I quickly shot my head around looking for an escape, but didn't see anything obvious I could do to escape this. Then, the knob started to move even more. I looked around as fast as I could once more and noticed a small gap between the wall and the air conditioner. I slid my way through it as quietly and swiftly as I could. Turns out, there was a small space behind the air conditioner, perfect enough for me to hide behind.

The door opened only seconds later.

"--not that big of a deal," the nurse's voice became clearer. "I'll just grab these and wash them overnight. I'm doing a big load for the patients,"

"A-ah..." Mina stuttered. "I guess that's fine then... Sorry for causing a scene,"

"Oh, don't worry--"

The door was shut, cutting off the nurse. I then let out the biggest breath I ever had in my life.

A few more seconds passed and I heard the door to the room open and close. Not too long after, a faint knock on the door could be heard. I shimmied out of the closest and got outside.

"I tried to stop her from going in the closet...!" Mina exclaimed quietly. "But, she was just so persistent..."

"It's all good," I said, my anxiety still skyrocketing after that life or death experience. "I'm lucky that air conditioning unit was there. I would've been dead if it wasn't,"

"So that's what you hid behind," said Mina. "Nice thinking!"

We both waited until we heard the elevator outside ding. Once it did, we checked to make sure the coast was clear and tiptoed outside, getting on the other elevator. The rest of the operation was a smooth success. At that hour, most nurses had gone home, so there wasn't anyone walking through the halls.

Eventually, we made it outside. Mina told me to follow close behind as she took the lead. I might've followed a bit too  close behind since I was worried about her suddenly collapsing or something. But, even though I was concerned about her well-being, it was calming to be able to walk and talk with her like normal again. It had only been a few days since she was admitted to the hospital, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it.

As we walked, we arrived at the base of a hill that seemed oddly familiar. "This is..." I muttered.

"You recognized it?" asked Mina. "I would've thought you forgot about it by now,"

I rolled my eyes jokingly. "I'm not that forgetful,"

Mina chuckled. "Hehe, I guess so. C'mon, let's get climbing!"

I nodded subconsciously, taking a single step before stopping myself. "Wait,"

Mina stopped too and turned to me, confused. "What's up?" she asked.

"I can't let you climb this hill, Mina," I said. "Do you see how steep this is? What if you fall?"

"It's okay!" she exclaimed. "I can make it up just fine! See?" As she said this, she placed one foot forward onto the hill. Time slowed down for a short moment. I could see her footing slowly lose its grip on the dirt as she began to slip. Then, she fell backwards. But, before she could land on the pavement behind us, I moved behind her and caught her. 

"See what I mean?!" I exclaimed. "You don't have the strength to climb that,"

Then, she slowly looked up at me and we stared at each other for a moment. We both looked away almost instantly, extremely flustered. I opened my mouth trying to find the right words to say, but nothing came out. Eventually, after a few more seconds of silence, I managed to say a few words.

"I'll carry you," I said, lifting her into the bridal carrying position. I was embarrassed out of my mind at that point, but I didn't want to make the wrong move here. I could tell Mina was also embarrassed as well because she didn't say anything to oppose. The rest of the trek up the hill was painfully quiet. Neither of us said anything or made a sound. Usually the silences between us are nice and relaxing, but you could cut the tension with a knife.

As we reached the top of the hill, I finally broke the silence. "We're here," I said, stating the obvious. Then, I recognized where she had brought me. It was the same hill she brought me to twice already. The hill with the best view of the city. Mina's safe space, basically.

"So, this is where you wanted to go..." I said, watching the lights in the distance sparkle.

Mina finally spoke up, nodding. "Yea, I wanted to see it. One last time,"

-End of August 19th / Part 2-