Western Akebono Hospital.
Ryuga lay on a hospital bed with his eyes closed. He looked so peaceful, as if he was simply sleeping, as if this was the best rest of his life. If one didn't notice his bandaged body, they might not even think he was wounded.
Sitting just a few meters away on a foldable chair, peeling an apple, was another young man. He had auburn hair, sharp emerald-green eyes, and a chiseled face that made him look like a model. The young man was Fujimoto Daichi.
He had called Ryuga a few hours earlier to ask if he was free to play matches, but instead of Ryuga answering, the hospital staff did.
Once contacted, Daichi hadn't informed anyone else and immediately rushed to the hospital. After paying the fees, he settled down inside the room and waited for Ryuga to wake up.
About three hours had passed since he arrived. According to the doctors, Ryuga should have woken up by now. But he was still sound asleep… as peaceful as ever.
Daichi's fingers stopped moving. He stared at the peeled apple in his hand, his expression complicated. His thoughts felt hazy.
'What should I do? Should I inform his family or not? Logically, they should know about him. But if I tell them, they'll worry like crazy. And once this madlad wakes up, he'll scream his lungs out at me.'
But another thought lingered in the back of his mind. 'Why haven't they called? It's already 1 o'clock in the afternoon. He was gone the entire night, and now the morning too. Are they used to his shenanigans, or is it something else?'
Daichi didn't want to consider anything remotely bad. Ryuga was already wounded, and if something had happened to his siblings as well, the guy would lose his sanity.
'But it's really strange… are they really okay?'
The thought repeated again and again. He wanted to go to Ryuga's place and check things himself, but he didn't want to leave him alone either. Someone had to stay and look after him.
The doctors had said Ryuga would wake up soon, but they hadn't specified anything else. They glossed over his injuries, and whenever Daichi tried pressing them for details, they avoided the topic or questioned who he even was.
'This is such bullshit. I'm the one paying for his treatment… Why would a random guy pay someone else's bills? There's gotta be something deeper going on… Are his wounds that serious? Or maybe his balls are on fire or something… yeah, maybe it's something embarrassing.'
He chuckled to himself, set the peeled apple on the silver plate beside Ryuga's bed, covered it, then stepped outside for a walk.
He wandered through the hospital hallways absentmindedly. Hands in his pockets, eyes forward, but his mind was spinning.
'This worry will keep eating me. I should call someone for help.'
He stepped out of the hospital and stood near the entrance. Taking out his phone, he stared at it for several seconds before taking a deep breath and dialing Souta.
After four rings, the call connected. A hushed voice answered, "Hello… Daichi… What happened? Something's up?"
"Uhm… can you check up on Ryuga's place for a second? Something happened, ok? I'll tell you the details later, but first you go and visit his house. ASAP. It's really, really urgent."
The call stayed silent for several seconds before a reply finally came. "Ok, cool. But don't leave me hanging, alright? Just message me what happened, I don't like waiting for stuff. I'm in my class right now, it'll take me around an hour to reach there. I'll read the message while traveling, so message me."
Daichi sighed at his impatience and smirked slightly. "Alright, I'll message you. But try to be as fast as possible… ok, bye. Go on."
"Cool."
With that, he hung up and spun his phone between his fingers like a fidget spinner. "Well, now I can wait and watch."
He stretched his arms lazily and cracked his neck. "Let's go inside…"
He still had to message Souta about what had happened. Knowing him, Souta would make a big fuss if he didn't get the message. Instead of being nagged for an hour straight, it was better to get it over with it quickly. And to do that, Daichi wanted to be as comfortable as possible.
He returned to the patient room, sat back in his chair, and began typing.
—So, shortly… Ryuga is heavily wounded. He was stabbed last night and thrown into the Peony River. I'm inside Western Akebono Hospital beside him. I had called him to play a few matches in the 'battleground', but instead of him, a frantic hospital staff accepted the call and briefed me on everything.
—I told you to visit his house because he has been gone for so many hours yet none of his siblings have even messaged him, let alone called him. And I have a sneaking suspicion that something might have happened to them too. I know I might sound mad, but trust me, there is a very good chance something did happen.
—So, make sure you search the house properly. Look for their backpacks, shoes, or other related stuff, just to make sure they aren't at school or college. If those things aren't there and they are gone too… then call the police and start a search operation.
—And yeah, I didn't tell anyone about this. So don't go out and vomit everything either. I didn't tell the girls because then everything will be made public within hours. And about Ryouma… well, I think he will blame himself for what happened.
—Why, you may ask? Well, because it doesn't take a genius to connect the dots and reach the conclusion that this attack was most likely committed by the 'cultist' we jumped, when we went to save Hina.
—Yes, it was our own conscious choice. But there is a 1000% chance he is still gonna blame himself. Well, because he thinks Hina is his wife or some shit. ಥ‿ಥ Basically, he thinks he is responsible for her. And that she was his responsibility and that because he was incompetent, that's why he needed others' help and this is the result. Blah. Blah. Blah. You get the point, right?