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Oh, the poor boy, Reki.
Reki was an unhappy ghost. He lived on the city streets, never stopping to rest, never stopping to look, never stopping for anything.
He just walked past people. The thousands of people on the streets of Tokyo. In fact, he didn't walk, more like he crawled. He once saw that he had no legs , more like smoke instead. It dragged on the floor, but it didn't hurt, it didn't tickle, anything. Okay, Tokyo, he was. He doesn't remember getting there, but a big poster told him he was there anyway. Tokyo was an unknown place for him.
Reki remembers once living in Okinawa, if that was correct. But that was a long time ago, and time was something he stopped counting, following.
How long had he been walking?
He wanted to stop walking. He wanted to stop to rest, to eat those sweet cookies his mother used to make. But he didn't even know who he was anymore, he didn't know where his mother was, he didn't know if he could eat anything. He hasn't even tried to grab anything yet, actually. All he did was walk, walk, walk.
Where was he going? He did not know. Perhaps, at a glance, he remembers having passed that street, that house, that market. It was probably going in circles, but it didn't matter. Why would it matter?
He sometimes looked. Looked at the birds flapping their wings, Looked at children crying, Looked at happy couples on the street.
But he also looked at the cars, the bicycles, the motorcycles. He didn't know, didn't know, didn't know why.
Once, once, he was walking, and he saw something. It was someone walking on top of something, a plank on the floor, apparently. How could it walk on the streets?
He turned the way. Oh, how unusual! Our dear forgotten ghost has changed its course. How weird, how weird.
Ah, the ghost looked now. The board had wheels. Four. Four was a funny number to him.
He remembers, on his endless walk, to pay attention to numbers. It didn't make sense, not really, not really. He didn't understand.
But he always looked at them. Especially number four. In stores, shop windows, anything, but never stopping in your tracks.
He followed the person walking the plank. Not that he minded, since no one could see him. No, not really. He once tried to shout for someone to see him. Listen to him. Help him. Not that it worked. How pitiful, pitiful.
The two ended up at a skatepark. Reki, the hapless ghost, didn't know how he recognized that name. There were few names he knew, and he guarded them with affection. Well, there really weren't many. He remembered his name, Reki, that was for sure. Or he was just fooling himself. He hoped not.
He didn't quite know the words. He heard them, heard people talking about them in the streets, everywhere, in fact. But there were few, few that he understood. Reki could spend all day talking meaningless words, that was for sure. Nobody could hear anyway.
Skatepark. It was a place you rode with that four-wheel thing, apparently. He was close to one now. It was cool, those weird ramps. He wandered in place, kind of going round and round and round. Twirling the whole place. It probably stayed there a long, long time, because that lonely person was gone.
Reki didn't even pay much attention to him, unfortunately.
At some point, he stopped. Stopped walking. Oh, how weird! He stopped his endless walk. At the skatepark. How ironic. He sat on one of the ramps, and just looked, looked, looked.
He looked too much, too much, that the sun came up again. But then, it went down, and it came, and it went away. About 3, 4 times. Four. What a funny number.
Reki got up, and started walking again. Walk where? He did not know. But he was determined now. He wanted to go somewhere, one where only his instincts knew where was. He just followed, walked, dragged, and didn't stop.
Days came, days passed, rain came, rain went away. Things go away so fast.
Not your determination, apparently. He kept walking, walking, walking. He walked in front of the cars, crossing them. He walked along the sidewalks, passing people. He passed the buildings, not even looking inside.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he didn't like cars.
Walk, walk, walk, walk. 4. Four. It was the only number he knew how to interpret at the moment.
4 days, 4 weeks, 4 months, probably less than 4 years.
In fact, it was all hypothesis. Probably less than 4 weeks. He didn't really know how long 4 weeks was, but he didn't even know what time was either, so that was fine.
Right. He saw the sun rise and fall more than four times.
He vaguely knew where he was, but the place looked familiar. He walks, and walks. Oh, a skatepark.
He seemed to know the skatepark. Perhaps he had been there before? It didn't matter. He sat down again.
He felt at home. Perhaps it was. He did not know.
The sun went down. Did the sun go down that fast? He didn't know, he didn't know.
He stayed there. Sometimes he would get up, rotate the entire skatepark, and come back again. 4. Four laps.
Afterwards, he saw someone at the scene. He couldn't see color, hadn't seen it in ages, probably. But this person was beautiful. He was tall, and he had a Yeti board.
Yeti was one of the words he remembered. He didn't know why, he never would. His word collection was weird.
The boy looked so, so sad. Reki felt bad for him. Was it another poor soul, perhaps a poor ghost?
He came to the conclusion that it was a ghost. He remembered being very, very afraid of them. And now it was one. How ironic, how ironic.
He tried to talk to the unhappy boy, but he didn't know the words. Well, the boy hadn't even noticed him, so it was probably just someone else.
But there was something that intrigued Reki. That boy was very familiar. As if I'd seen him before. Perhaps.
The boy tried to do tricks on that wheeled board. He didn't know the name, didn't know, but it was on the tip of his tongue. That was metaphorical, right, because he vaguely had one.
Reki saw the other boy do 1, 2, 3, 4 tricks. And gave up. Ahhhhh, just because Reki was curious.
The boy sat on one of the ramps, and Reki twirled around him. Reki liked to walk. Even if I had walked a lot.
It didn't matter anymore. The interesting boy was leaving, and Reki wasn't going to leave this one behind.
He follows the familiar stranger. What a funny term.
The two end up in a hospital. Hospital?
Reki didn't like hospitals, he remembers. He even hates them.
But in order not to lose sight of the boy, he would enter the place. He could have waited outside, but what for? It didn't matter.
The two enter a room, Reki the ghost, faithfully following the boy.
Oh. In the room, there was a bed, and someone was lying on it. Reki looked at him curiously. He couldn't see colors, because everything was black and white, but the sleeper's hair tone wasn't clear, unlike the boy at the skatepark.
The hair was scattered everywhere, a real mess. How funny.
"Reki" Says the boy awake, and the ghost is startled. The stranger spoke his name. But he wasn't looking at him, he was looking at the sleeping boy.
The boy says a number of things, not that Reki could understand, as words didn't make sense.
The boy was even sadder, perhaps even more so than the unhappy ghost. It was intriguing that someone could be so, so sad. Reki felt bad for the pretty boy.
The boy takes the sleeper's hand and kisses it. How romantic! Well, that was for Reki. He saw several "couples" doing it on the street, he thought that was the word.
The pretty boy gets up, on the verge of tears, and leaves.
Reki doesn't follow. Reki stays with the other one asleep, and looks at him curiously. He was curious, very curious. He always had, anyway.
He tries to take the sleeper's hand as well. But it can't. Dumb ghost, probably. He "releases" his hand, but when he does, his spirit begins to shake. His vision, which no longer had any color, grew darker and darker, until he couldn't think.
Reki wakes up. Oh well, what happened? He opens his eyes, and surprisingly, he can see color now. He sits up, and looks around. He was clearly in a hospital bed.
He sees his left arm hooked up to IVs, and sees he's alone in the room.
He doesn't want to stay there anymore, he wants explanations. He yawns, and tries to get up. Before he can do that, a doctor enters the room.
"Oh, you woke up! Can you tell me your name?" He looks surprised, and asks calmly.
"Hmm, my name is… Reki Kyan, doctor" He replies. His voice is rough.
"Excellent" The doctor applauds, and jots something down in his file.
"May I ask how I got here? I don't remember getting hurt" Reki asks. Well, if he was in a hospital, there has to be a reason.
"Right, Kyan. You and your family were in a car accident, almost 4 weeks ago. Can you remember that?" The doctor asks.
Ah, now he remembers. They were going to visit family, and the twins were playing with something they shouldn't. Masae warns them, but ends up losing the direction of the car…
Reki chokes. And your family????
"Where are the girls??" Reki asks, falling into despair.
"Keep calm, Kyan. Your sisters and your mother are fully recovered. Kyan-san managed to save you from more trouble, but you ended up hitting your head badly and falling into a coma" He explains.
A coma, is it? If they had the accident 4 weeks ago…
"I've been in the hospital for more than 4 weeks then?" he asks, already knowing the answer.
"That's the gist, Kyan. But you've already recovered from any other injuries, we just need to do a general checkup and we'll probably release you" The doctor replies. "Do you need me to call someone to accompany you?"
"There's someone I wanted here" Reki replies. "But it's not in my emergency contacts. Do you have anything I can call?"
"I can't give you an electronic device before the check-up, but if you know the number, our team can call" The doctor says.
"Yes, I know. Thanks, doctor" Reki replies.
"You can call me Nako" Answers the doctor.
Reki smiles in response, and passes the number of a bluish one to the doctor. He leaves the room, and it's not even ten minutes, and someone bursts through the door.
"Reki!!" Langa says, not waiting for an answer, practically grabbing the redhead. "I was so, so worried about you" He says, and hugs Reki tighter.
"Hey hey, calm down there. I still have these things on my arm" exclaims Reki, and Langa lets go of him.
"Sorry," Langa says, embarrassed. But then he looks at Reki. "How are you? Like, do you feel dizzy or something? You hit your head pretty bad, Reki. I'd already considered the worst," he says sadly.
"I'm fine now Langa" Reki yawns. "The doctor said it's just me doing the general check-up, and if there's nothing wrong I'll be discharged".
"That's good" Langa smiles. "Can I hug you more?" He asks.
"Of course you can man" Reki says embarrassed, and opens his arms for Langa to fit into him. Langa takes care of the left part, and nestles his face in the crook of Reki's neck.
The doctor arrives a few minutes later, with Reki and Langa talking. He asks Reki to try to get up, and he tries, but almost falls. Langa catches him before it happens.
"Whoa, I'm rusty" Reki says sullenly.
"4 weeks lying in a hospital bed does that to you" says Langa calmly.
After a few more minutes of trying to walk without falling every 2 steps, he is finally able to walk straight, and without Langa's help. Hasegawa applauds happily.
The doctor takes Reki to do some tests, and after more than an hour, the results come out.
"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with you, Kyan." Says a nurse, who was with the exams. "We may be releasing you right now."
"Wonderful!" Says Reki. He never liked hospitals. He looks at Langa. "Did you by some miraculous chance bring my skateboard?" Question.
Langa grimaces. "Reki, I'm not letting you get on a skateboard for at least a week."
"What!!" Reki hisses. "Didn't you just hear that the nurse said there's nothing wrong with me?"
"No excuses, we're walking home, yes. No skateboarding" Declares Langa, and really, there's not much he can do.
Reki changes out of his hospital gown (They had washed his old clothes, so he changes into it) And then Reki is ready to leave the hospital.
"Do you want something to eat? You haven't eaten properly for, like, 4 weeks," says Langa.
"Could be man, I'm hungry" Reki replies, already having an idea of where they were going, probably that ramen restaurant he loved.
They walk, and Langa breaks the silence. "Reki, I have a question."
"Say it man" Reki replies.
"They always say that people, when they go into a coma, can hear everything going on around them. Is that true?"
Oh, that. Reki had even forgotten about his weird ghost life in the last few minutes. He looks at Langa seriously.
"Langa, I have to tell you how these last few weeks have been the worst of my life."