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Shion closed the book as she finished reading and looked at the face of the sleeping young man. She was smiling gently, but the smile seemed sad.
She was glad to find him, she was very happy, her heart almost broke her chest with happiness when she saw him alive, after so long when she thought she would never see him again, but... Satoshi has been in a coma for the another year.
Irie did his best to restore him to health, but there were no significant successes. There was no sign that he was going to wake up any time soon. He won't come back to her and his sister, he won't pat their head, won't say "muuu", won't even smile.
The girl swallowed bitterly and leaned over to stroke his cheek. With her fingertips, she felt the stubble on his jaw, and her lips trembled a little. He became an adult without even knowing it, drowsy, asleep, unaware of how much has changed: that Oyashiro-sama's curse has passed, how his little sister has grown up, that the Houjou family ceased to be persecuted for their position during the Dam War, that everyone misses him, that Satoko misses him, that she-Shion misses him, and they are waiting together for his return...
"Shion-san?" When she heard a familiar voice, two hands fell on her shoulders. She turned her head a bit dull as she stared at her little sister.
"Satoko," she muttered in greeting, forcing a smile on her face.
Houjou looked at her with concern.
"Are you all right?" she asked seriously, sitting down beside her and tilting her head questioningly. "You don't look so well..."
Shion opened her mouth, intending to answer, but she failed, her lips trembled and her eyes filled with tears as she again looked at the face of sleeping Satoshi, hooked up to this apparatus. Then her heart ached, preventing her from breathing for a moment, and the green-haired girl fell to her knees, her head bowed, shedding tears.
Satoko quickly caught up with her, wanting to help somehow. "Shion-san... Nee-nee." She kneeled down beside her and put a hand to her cheek, lifting her teary face a little.
The girl just looked at her sadly and curled up in a sob. The younger one, with concern in her eyes, hugged Shii reassuringly.
"Oh, Satoko, w-why does it have to look like this, why-why can't he wake up... Why is it taking so long... I want him to wake up..." Shion sobbed softly against the blonde's shoulder.
Satoko was silent, not knowing how to console her broken nee-nee, stubbornly asking for some, if only minimal, miracle from the source of her sorrow.
Sonozaki calmed down after a long while, still sniffing after crying. Snuggling into the younger girl, she tried to silence the sadness inside herself.
"Sorry, I shouldn't greet you like that," she said finally, releasing the blonde and getting up from the floor, supported by her.
Satoko smiled sadly. "To be honest, I came to say goodbye..." she replied morosely, looking down.
"Well, of course... " she muttered, resting her hands on her beloved's bed. The holidays were ending, and Satoko was about to leave with Rika-chama to St. Lucia. She did not understand why her choice fell on this school, Shion personally hated it with all her heart. She was still against Houjou going there, but what could she do if Satoko insisted? Well, Rika-chama will be with her, so maybe it won't be that bad...
"Just don't play around too much," she said, winking.
The blonde smiled at her attempted joke.
"Don't worry about that," she replied confidently, picking up Shii's book off the floor. She glanced to the side for a moment and took a deep breath. "He'll be back before you know it," she said quietly, handing Shion the item.
"H-how do you know that?" she asked, hanging her head, pressing the book to her chest, breathing more rapidly.
The younger girl took a deeper breath again before answering. "I... I am certain of that," she whispered, clenching her jaw and tilting her head.
Shii narrowed her eyes, looking at Satoko carefully, wondering what her "I am certain of that" might affect the health of her comatose brother. She knew that she wanted to comfort her and support her somehow, especially since she would not be with her for a long time, but maybe...
She held her breath as she felt the soft brush of the skin on her wrist. She glanced cautiously over her shoulder to see if that might be what she thought. Satoshi's hand was close to hers, even though she thought... No, she could have sworn that it had been a few centimeters away earlier. His fingertips brushed her wrist several times, either with muscle contraction or trying to move, any option Shion preferred. She looked quickly at the boy's face. It felt a little more... tense? His eyebrows were a little pursed, and his lips seemed to curve into a very soft, barely discernible smile. She blinked quickly, but his face looked the same as before, and his hand didn't seem to move. However, hope sparkled in the girl's heart again.
She turned her gaze back to Satoko, who hadn't changed her position, still standing with her head bowed.
"Time to go back," she said with a smile, surprising Houjou with her sudden change of mood, and headed for the exit, letting siblings say goodbye.
"Bye, Nii-nii..." Satoko whispered goodbye, then turned to Shii. Sonozaki grabbed her hand and they went to the exit together.
In the doorway, Shion turned to Satoshi and whispered two such important words that she had repeated to him for a long time, but he never get a chance to heard them. "I love you..."
After they got out, Sonozaki once again hugged Satoko tightly to her chest, saying goodbye with tears in her eyes.
One week later, Shion finished wiping the last table and breathed a sigh of relief as she completed her shift. It wasn't even bad lately, since Kei-chan and the rest of the group taught a lesson to a more hyperactive clientele on the Dessert Fiesta, unpleasant taunts were far less common. Therefore, she could breathe a sigh of relief even on some bigger events.
She went to change Angel Mort's work clothes to her usual everyday clothes, but on her way to the door one of the waitresses called her.
"Sonozaki-san! Phone for you," she said, handing her the phone and returning to work.
"Hello?" Shion said, taking the receiver.
After what she heard a moment later, she couldn't move for the next five minutes, repeating the exact sentence the caller had said in her head. Her breathing was rapid, her heart was beating madly, and her eyes were flickering, temporarily taking away the ability to see. She dialed the number almost blindly, eagerly awaiting the answer. She didn't wait for a voice to speak from the receiver, she just heard the sound of picking it up.
"Kasai, clinic, now," she gasped hoarsely in one breath, and with the end of the last word, ran out of the cafe.
She burst into the car, out of breath, giving the man a look that meant they were not bound by the rules today.
Kasai being Kasai, did not ask questions that he knew the answer to. Instead, he simply nodded and set off, tires screeching, in the direction indicated by the phone. Wondering if in this case, in a situation of harvesting live along the way, the Sonozaki family would stand up for him.
Eventually, after the miracle of accident-free driving, with only one risk of a head-on collision with the white van, Shion ran out of the still braking car.
She collided with Tomitake at the clinic door. Jirou let her go ahead without a word, smiling slightly. The girl just nodded her head in a gesture of thanks and rushed off the way she knew, to the room she knew.
Sonozaki, bursting through the door, fell to the floor, panting, trying to catch her breath. She looked up half-conscious with exhaustion. The blond man was sitting on the bed, talking to Irie. He was now looking at her as well, with a mixture of surprise and joy. The green-haired girl gathered the remnants of her remaining strength and reached Houjou with a spurt. She threw her arms around him.
"Satoshi-kun..." She whispered happily, not even feeling the pain in her lungs and muscles.
Now only this moment mattered, what mattered was that Satoshi was awake, and that he was with them. That he was with her.
"Shion," Satoshi said softly and gently stroked her head.
The girl felt tears on her cheeks, but this time these were tears of happiness.