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Zenitsu remembers being told that he’d been admitted into the hospital from catching a really bad fever.
For the past few weeks, he had been stuck in his hospital room, with only the sounds of the TV and the radio as his only company. He didn’t expect Gramps to stay with him by his side, after all he doesn’t want to trouble his adoptive grandfather any further than he already had. Kaigaku hadn’t even visited him once, so that option was completely out of the window. So here he was, listening to both the variety show on TV and the latest pop song on the radio, all by himself.
When the nurse visited him for his daily medication, he asked them to help turn the radio off, since he was still bedridden and the radio wasn’t near his bed. He was planning to take a nap, since there’s nothing else much he could do while in bed. He lowered the volume of the TV and was about to drift off into sleep when he suddenly heard a voice.
It sounded close. Zenitsu prayed to whatever deity that was listening that it wasn’t some ghost who was out to possess his body or something. He strained his ears. Actually…
The voice was coming from outside his room. The blonde sat up, staring at the window next to his bed. He reached out to open one of the windows, and a spring breeze gently brushed against his face.
He could hear it more clearly now. It was a boy’s voice, and he was singing. He couldn’t exactly make out the words to the stranger’s song, but he could recognize a melody in his voice. The gentle strumming of a guitar accompanied him. His voice was coming from the small garden that was a few floors below his ward, the pink flower petals falling gracefully through the air until they hit the ground. He only saw a peek of burgundy hair, and… were those hanafuda earrings?
Zenitsu wondered who the boy was. There was something about the boy’s voice, a gentleness and warmth that enveloped his whole body that made him want to cry. It kept him up at night, staring at the ceiling while trying to remember the boy’s voice.
He wondered how such a kind and gentle voice can sound so melancholic at the same time.
Zenitsu hears him the next day.
It was around mid afternoon, just when he would usually take his daily naps. He opens the window to let the cool air in, as well as the boy’s voice. Just like last time, it was coming from the same garden, except now he could see the boy better. He sat on the bench that was closer to his hospital room.
He looked to be a boy around the same age as Zenitsu. His short burgundy hair swayed in the slight breeze, along with the hanafuda earrings that he strangely had. Were they in trend or something? He still couldn’t hear what the strange boy was singing, but the sound of his voice already soothed his tense feelings from the doctor’s visit a few hours ago.
It always happened at least once a week. They would ask him to take pills so colourful that he could mistake them as candy. If only they tasted the same, then maybe he wouldn’t feel sick whenever he took them. If he was unlucky, he’d be made to eat them in two consecutive days in a week.
Zenitsu leaned against the window, bathing in the warmth of the sunshine, as he was lulled to sleep by the warm voice below him.
After a few weeks of listening to the mysterious boy, Zenitsu had come to an embarrassing realization.
He had…
… fallen for the boy.
It definitely was a strange way to fall for someone. If he ever was able to meet the boy, how would he even confess? ‘This kinda sounds weird, but I’ve fallen in love with the sound of your voice that I could hear from my room’? His face reddened and he shook his head, that was way too creepy and embarrassing! He didn’t even know that he swung that way either!
But he could feel how honest his feelings for the boy were. The sounds he made with his voice was like a comforting blanket that helped Zenitsu rid of the loneliness that was threatening to break him apart. He always looked forward to listening to the other sing, and he actually felt like he was getting better as the days passed. He smiled to himself, remembering the day when the boy had finally turned his head slightly, enough for him to see the gentle smile on his face.
He really wanted to tell the boy at least how much he helped him in his recovery.
Maybe one day, he will.
Today, the doctors allowed Zenitsu to walk outside of his hospital room. He knew that this was his chance to finally confess his feelings to the boy.
As he was stretching his legs to prepare for the journey to the garden, a familiar blur of burgundy and green passed by his open door.
It was the boy from the garden!
Quickly, Zenitsu put his slippers on and tugged his cardigan closer to his body. He peeked at the corridor outside and his eyes really weren’t deceiving him. It truly was the boy with the hanafuda earrings, and he was still strumming away at his guitar.
His heart raced, when he saw the boy’s broad shoulders. He was a little taller than him, and… why was he still walking away from him?
“H-hey, you!” Zenitsu spoke, his voice rising slightly. He didn’t want to bother the other patients who were probably still resting in their own rooms. But the boy didn’t respond, and he kept walking. Was his voice that quiet, or was he ignoring him on purpose?! Gritting his teeth, he followed the other, being careful to not make it obvious that he was following him.
Maybe he did listen to him after all? He ended up following him to the rooftop of the hospital.
The rooftop huh? How romantic!
The sun was beginning to set, and it’s rays illuminated the figure in front of him in a warm glow. Just like his gentle voice had always made him feel safe and warm inside. Zenitsu smiled in relief when the boy appeared to be slowing down. As he approached him, he reached his hand out to touch the boy’s back…
‘I want to bathe in his warmth for the rest of my life. Please, whoever that is listening to me, allow me to stay by his side until the end.’ he thought.
…
… Only for him to reach out into thin air.
...Huh?
… Wasn’t there supposed to be a railing here?
Zenitsu recalled that during the recent typhoon, a part of the hospital’s roof had been damaged.
…
He crashed into the concrete below in the blink of an eye. It all happened so quickly that he couldn’t feel… anything. All he heard was the sound of his bones shattering and his skull cracking open as if he were an egg. His vision blurred, staring as the albumen - no, his blood - pooled below him. The world slowly became red, and Zenitsu vaguely registers someone screaming for help.
And then, he finally stopped feeling anything.
“UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT AT XX HOSPITAL”
A patient who was suffering from severe cognitive disorders was reported to have jumped off the roof of XX Hospital this evening. Although doctors rushed to undergo emergency procedures, the young man (18) eventually succumbed to his injuries several hours after the accident. XX Hospital is under fire for neglecting repairs of the hospital roof, which had been discovered to have damages in the roof’s railing that may have led to the accident. Police investigation is currently underway.