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Chiaki Nanami stood in the doorway of the recovery room, watching the Imposter sit at the bedside of Ryota Mitarai. She wanted to go inside and pray for his recovery too. But she felt that she had no right to.
The pain in her leg acted up, she looked down and saw the scar from where the needle had gone into her leg. Then she touched the band aid covering her right eye. "This is nothing," Chiaki whispered silently to herself. "Not compared to poor Mitarai."
"Nanami, there you are." A voice rang out.
Chiaki backed away from the door before the Imposter saw her and saw Sonia walking up.
"If you wanted to come see Mitarai, one of us would've gladly come with you."
Chiaki smiled at her friend. After what happened, one of her classmates had always been by her side to make sure she was okay. Honestly it was a little embarrassing. She wasn't anyone important. Most people would be honored to get the royal treatment like she had been getting but she felt she didn't deserve it. Ryota shouldn't be in that bed, it should have been her.
"I came but didn't go inside. I didn't want to interrupt Ryota and um, Ryota." Ever since they found out their classmate wasn't the real Ryota, they weren't sure what to call him. Chiaki hadn't really talked with him since it all went down. He spent most of his time in this room with his dear friend.
She made sure the nurses on duty always delivered some of Teruteru's cooking to him so he would keep on his nutrition, but never did it herself, She thought he hated her. If Ryota hadn't risked his life to save her, the person he cared about wouldnt be in the position of possibly never waking up.
If it hadn't been for Izuru Kamakura he might not have and would have died right there. But he had decided to act and save him with a complicated surgery. Sometimes it was hard being around him. She had to catch herself from calling him Hinata all the time. She didn't truly understand why he wasn't anymore and why he had this surgery to become this Kamakura person anyway. But his choices were his own and she could only support him in his decisions. She had just wished she had told him instead of vanishing with no word. She had been concerned for a year.
Just then, the imposter came out of the room to stretch his legs and maybe use the bathroom. Sonia went over to see how he was doing. Chiaki took this chance to enter Ryota's room.
She saw all the wires hooked up to him to monitor his progress. The IVs in his arm to make sure he was staying nourished. Tears started to fall down her eyes. "Why?"
She walked closer to him and took his hand. "You risked your life to save me a stranger, and took my place and I never thanked you in person." She started crying a bit more, her words being in spurts more. "You could have gone and gotten help from security or something but you decided to go and face the beast head-on for me. Why?"
She felt weak and fell to her knees the pain in her legs intishfiing. "You shouldn't be here, lying clinging to life. It should be me. The other Mitarai wants you to wake up, I want you to wake up." The tears started to blur her vision.
"I haven't talked to Mitarai 2 since all of this went down. I don't have the right to. I'm the reason you are here now. If I hadn't left that hallway then you wouldn't be here and someone he loves wouldn't be lying here."
"You are wrong." A deep voice behind her proclaimed.
She turned around and saw the imposter standing there, with tears in his eyes now.
He kneeled down beside her. "I may have known Mitari longer, but I care about all of my classmates, especially you. Of course, I didn't want him to go through that death trap, but do you think I wanted you to go through that thing either."
He took her head and made her look him in the eyes. "Do you know why that bitch made you go through that maze in the first place?"
Chiaki shook her head.
"Because you touched the hearts of every one of us in Class 77b. Ryota's programming works with images. He originally created it with hopeful images. The more hopeful the image, the happier you would be. But she corrupted it. The more despairful the video showed the more despairful the brainwashing would be. For the Reserve course, she used the student council massacre, but for us, she tried to use something more personal: you."
Chiaki just gasped for breath as her crying was starting to affect her breathing.
"We could just stand there and watch those screens as Enoshima made you go through that hallway. The brainwashing not letting us move, forcing us to watch you get hurt again and again. Until Ryota opened that door. Seeing you able to escape snapped us out of our trance and let us leave to try and find you and him. You might not be in this bed if Ryota hadn't saved you; your body might have just been laying in that room for all eternity. I'm thankful that he risked his life to save you, Yes I love him but I love you too, we all do. Never forget that." He wrapped his arms around her in a big hug.
Just then a weak voice said, "I care about you too." They turned and saw Ryota's eyes open and looking in their direction. "I'm just glad I was able to save your life."
Chiaki smiled and gave him a hug on his bed, tears still falling down her eyes, not of sorrow, but of joy.