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The moment he woke up, Sakura knew it would be a terrible day. He felt cold and hot at the same time, his stomach ached terribly, and his hair and clothes were stuck to him from sweat. As he sits up from his futon, his stomach cramps horribly and he doubles over, smoldering pain hitting his senses, vision going white.
He waits a few minutes for the pain to fade away before he pushes himself up to his feet. He sways heavily, but makes it to the bathroom to get ready for school. He manages to brush his teeth easily and hops in the shower to hopefully clear out some of the sweat that clung to his body. However, as he exits the shower, instead of feeling refreshed he feels more exhausted. His body shakes with chills and not even 2 minutes later his skin starts to feel clammy again.
His body begs him for rest, to stay home and sleep, but he pushes the thought away as he knew his friends would go ballistic in response to his absence. As he bends down to put his shoes on, he hisses in pain as his stomach twinges in pain once more. His body teeters to the side until he hits the wall, the view in front of him blurring together. He wishes now more than ever that he could afford pain meds.
As he reaches Cafe Pothos, the waft of savory eggs and coffee hits his nose. Normally, Sakura’s mouth starts to salivate at the thought of Kotoha’s omurice, but today he almost throws up from the nausea wells up from the scent. He breathes in and out heavily from his mouth for a minute before walking in to avoid vomiting on the spot.
“Good morning, Sakura! Oh my god. You look horrible. Are you sick again?” She asks, voice thick with worry.
Sakura can barely muster the strength to answer, but pushes himself to answer intelligibly to avoid making her worry. “I’m okay. I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Kotoha gives a suspicious hum at his answer, but proceeds to give him his daily share of omurice. Golden, pillowy egg covers savory and sweet fried rice underneath, steam puffing out, sending Sakura wafts of home cooking straight to his nose.
“Well, if you got no sleep the least you can do to feel better is having a fresh meal first thing in the morning! Go on, eat up!” Kotoha implores, before turning around to wash some dishes.
However, Sakura could not bring himself to eat today. His stomach pain was returning with a vengeance and filling his stomach with food only worsened his nausea, which was calm until then. He could muster a measly few bites before he started to push the food around in his plate. He felt extremely bad for not finishing the food Kotoha made for him, but if he ate one more bite, he felt like he would throw up.
“Done already? That’s not like you.” He usually finishes his food within 2 minutes before demanding seconds and coffee to wash it all down. “Are you sure you’re okay, Sakura?” Kotoha asks.
“I’m fine. I just don’t have much of an appetite today. Thanks for the food.” Sakura says before handing her the plate and standing up to take his leave.
“Please, Sakura. We love you and you can rely on us.” Kotoha tries, hoping he would cave in and confess to how horrible he was actually feeling.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry, I will rest after school today and if I don’t get better, I will get checked out,” Sakura reassures. Before Kotoha could say anything more, he exits the cafe and makes the long, grueling, and seemingly impossible walk to school.
As he makes his way through the streets of Makochi, people give him concerned stares, whispering to themselves about how Sakura looks unwell.
One of the residents, a middle aged man, puts a gentle hand on Sakura’s back, face tinged with earnest concern for the boy’s wellbeing. Sakura, still not used to compassionate contact from adults, startles at the contact, barely avoiding spewing his stomach’s miniscule contents on the sidewalk.
“Feeling okay, boy? You look rather pale and like you’ll faceplant at any second. Here, why don’t you lay down in my store for a bit before you feel better?” He offers with a worry-laced smile.
Still not used to the townspeople treating him so caringly, Sakura blushes at the kindness and consideration for his well-being, but declines the offer as politely as he could with his stomach starting to gnaw at his insides again. He continues to walk before a stab of pain hits the right side of his abdomen, making him double over and break out in sweat. Luckily, he was in an alleyway and there was no one around, so he was able to sit against the wall before he felt well enough to continue. As he continued, he still caught worried glances, but to his relief, no one else approached him. He wasn’t sure if he could encounter any more confrontation.
As he reaches his school classroom, he mentally prepares to socialize with his friends. He hears the eager voices of Nirei, Suo, and Tsugeura as well as the concentrated hum of Kiryu while playing his phone games. Dreading the rest of the day to come, he inhales as deep as he could without jostling his aching stomach, runs fingers through his hair to straighten it out a little, and rubs his eyes to rid some of the exhaustion pulling at his body. He opens the door to the classroom, steps in, and walks up to his group. Nirei, Suo, and Tsugeura stop talking to look at him. Kiryu pauses his game and looks up. Their eyes light up with joy upon seeing him and they each jump from their seats to greet their fellow friend and grade captain.
“Sakura-san!”
“Sakura-chan!”
“Sakuraaaa!”
“Sakura-kun.”
Bombarded with his friends’ presence, Sakura already feels overwhelmed. A wave of nausea hits him at that second and he has to use every ounce of strength he has to not keel over. He manages to stutter out a reply. “Hey…”
Nirei, observant as ever, is the first to notice his ragged complexion. His face turns from excited to worried in milliseconds.
“Sakura-san, you look very pale and you’re sweating. Are you sick? Do you have a fever?! DO WE NEED TO CALL THE DOCTOR??!?”
The rest of the class perks up at Nirei’s panicking and suddenly Sakura feels over 15 pairs of eyes on him.
“He’s right, you don’t look good,” Anzai says.
“Maybe you should go back home and rest today, Sakura,” Kurita suggests.
“I have some medicine in my backpack. Do you want some?” Kiryu offers.
“SAKURA!! DON’T OVERDO YOURSELF!! REST DAYS ARE ALWAYS NEEDED!!” Tsugeura exclaims.
The increasing volume of his classmates’ voices not only increases his annoyance, but also the sea of nausea settling in his stomach. It all overstimulates him and he finds himself almost letting out every emotion, every ounce of pain, every bit of food in his gut in exasperation. Somehow, he manages to reel it all in, but accidentally makes his response too harsh.
He squeezes his eyes shut, grips his fists like he was holding onto a thin tightrope. His heavy breaths that failed to calm his senses increase in pace before he implodes. Sigh. “I’M FINE. BACK OFF!”
His sharp, loud denial stops all panic and clamor and Sakura immediately regrets his outburst, looking down at his shoes and hunching his shoulders. “Sorry.”
Nirei and the others catch onto his overstimulation, realize their mistake in crowding him, and decide to back off.
“Don’t worry, Sakura-kun. We’re sorry we overwhelmed you. Make sure to get some good sleep tonight, okay?” Suo says with a soft voice, eyes still worried, but fond.
“Yeah! I have protein powder! I can make you a protein shake if you feel hungry and need something to fill your stomach!” Tsugeura offers with enthusiasm.
Other people offer their apologies before returning to their seats, finally understanding that their grade captain needed a quiet, low stress environment. Sakura can’t help but feel incredibly lucky to have such amazing and considerate friends in his life. He makes his way to his seat, a small smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.
Maybe today won’t be so bad, he thought.
However, with the combination of exertion from getting out of bed and to school and focusing his little energy on his classes, the day felt more and more impossible by the second. When he started having enough and feeling completely sapped of energy, it had only struck 10 am and his second class of the day had barely started.
As he concentrated on the teacher’s dialogue and what was being written on the blackboard, his condition started to deteriorate, even more from when he woke up that morning. While Sakura had made it to school, albeit with multiple obstacles, the stomach pain was vehemently returning, causing him more and more discomfort. Previously, the pain flares went down after 3-5 minutes, but it had been 15 minutes with no relief. He also started to feel more and more feverish, body cold and hot at the same time and skin breaking out in sweat. In a measly attempt to relieve his turmoil, he focused on breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. When that didn’t work, he started to shift mindlessly in his seat to find any position that was comfortable. His vision started to blur in and out and his hands, which were gripping the corners of his desk, were slipping from the accumulating sweat.
His classmates were mostly concentrating on the content of the class lecture, not wanting to intrude more on Sakura’s personal space, but he could still feel Nirei and Suo, still troubled by how Sakura looked, gazing straight at him. Before they could say anything though, Sakura seemed to finally get a hold of himself as the pain in his stomach subsided after 20 agonizing minutes of essentially stabs in his stomach.
He somehow managed to function through the last period of classes of the day with his body still feeling flushed, sweaty, and cold and stomach sending pricks of pain through his whole torso.
It’s finally over. I can go sleep it all off now. Sakura thought, relief washing over him.
Before he could rush out, Umemiya’s voice boomed through the announcements. “Good afternoon, students! I hope you had a great day of classes today! It is the Tamon team’s class 1-1 and 2-1’s turn to patrol today! Hiragi will also be patrolling the grounds, so good luck and don’t hesitate to contact him for more help!”
In that moment, the rock of dread that hit the bottom of Sakura’s stomach felt worse than any of the pain flares he experienced. He completely forgot about patrol and now he had to prevent his friends from worrying about him while also being alert for patrol, responding to his friends’ chatting, walking around constantly, while encountering his stabbing stomach pains, nausea, and the potential of throwing up. He felt like crying at how unfair the world felt at that moment.
To regain his composure, he excuses himself to the bathroom where he sags to the floor, kneeling down and resting his sweaty face on the cool toilet seat. He lays there for 5 minutes, switching the side of the seat his face was on to maintain the cold, relaxing sensation. He slowly pushes himself up, breathing heavily from exertion, washes his face and runs cold water through his hair, attempting to refresh himself for the next 4 hours of patrol.
He makes his way back to his friends who were already near the entrance of the school, ready for patrolling. They look back at him with wide smiles. Kiryu beckons him over to join them. “Glad you’re joining us, Sakura. However, if at any point you feel bad, please be honest with us.”
Sakura, feeling so cared for, walks over to them, somewhat ready to conquer patrol so he could faceplant onto his futon right after. “Right. Let’s go, everyone. We’ve got duties to take care of.”
Patrol was going extremely well for the first hour and a half. Suo, Sakura, and Kiryu were able to beat some low-level thugs trying to rob the meat shop while Nirei and Tsugeura were able to help some of the local bakeries do inventory. They even covered up some more graffiti on the walls.
“Wow, Sakura! You really improved at painting since your first day of school! I’m so proud of you,” Nirei exclaimed with pride.
“Sh-shut up! It’s not like I was tryin’ to get better anyway…,” Sakura retorted, blushing furiously.
With the walls freshly painted and drying, the group set on their way to complete the rest of their patrol. As they walked through the town, the residents greeted them with joy, love and care bouncing from their hearts. A few of them gave the Furin students treats including fresh curry bread and sweet, bouncy dango. The blue-violet evening sky with the cool breeze brushing against their faces made them feel serene and at peace. Even with a tough day, in that second, life felt peaceful. Sakura was content.
Sakura’s moment of reprieve was then interrupted with a white, hot jab of pain in his stomach. It caught him by such surprise that he choked out a cry and collapsed to the ground, curling in on himself and arms wrapped around his stomach. This was the worst pain flare yet. His breathing, which came easy just moments before, turned ragged and shallow as a breath too deep caused another lightning bolt of pain to run through him. His extremities were buzzing with static and felt like pins and needles. His whole body was cold and hot at the same time and his ears were ringing terribly.
“Sa…ra-san!? Wh…s wrong?!”
He felt hands on him, lowering him to the ground. He felt a cool hand on his forehead, giving a small second of relief before it recoiled and the pain continued consuming him.
“Oh…god. He’s burning up. We need…get him…hospital!!”
“I’m calling…ambulance.”
“Sakura, is it…stomach?”
When did it all go wrong? I was fine. What’s wrong with me? Sakura thought. He was too overwhelmed to talk, protest, or push the hands off him. His whole body felt like pure jello and he became increasingly dizzy and nauseous as he hyperventilated from the pain that dragged him into the depths of hell.
Just when he thought that it couldn’t get any worse, his nausea finally peaked and he gagged. The hands that were holding him up now suddenly pushed him forward to a position where he was sitting up. No longer able to compose himself, Sakura threw up right on the pavement. His measly bites from breakfast and lunch came out and the splattering sounds only worked him up further. He groaned and sobbed in despair. In his misery, he was barely aware of a hand rubbing his back and a voice muttering comforting words to him.
“Shh, it’s…kay Sak…stay with us.”
“Just get…out. We’ve…ot you.”
“When is…bulance getting…here?! He’s worse…ning by the…nute!”
Sakura finally finished expelling everything he had, but with the dry heaving taking over his almost limp body, he thought would end up vomiting his organs out.
“Breathe, Sakura,” a voice called to him.
When he thought he was finished, pain exploded in his stomach. It was pain like he’d never experienced before. This was not pain anymore. This was agony. Anguish. He grabbed his stomach and let out a blood-curdling scream. It was all too much. It all hurt too much. His head was spinning. His throat hurt from the vomit. His stomach hurt. The ear ringing felt like it was piercing his eardrums. His vision was not only blurry, but had a red tinge to it. He could feel himself losing consciousness. The voices around him melted into shouts of panic. In his tortuous haze, he heard sirens increasing in volume.
“NO SAK…AY…WAKE!!”
“YOU’RE GO…BE…KAY!!”
Sakura couldn’t hold on any longer. His eyes slip shut and he goes completely limp. I should’ve just stayed home and slept it off.
He wakes up, unaware of his surroundings, in a daze. His vision is blurry, stomach still on fire, ears still ringing, but he’s moving and lying on a soft bed. There’s a tube in his arm, a mask on his face, and things attached to his chest. He hears fast beeping. There’s a flutter of activity around him and in his hazy vision, he sees people in green scrubs.
I’m in an ambulance. He thinks.
“16 year ol…igh fever, elev…heart…, severe stoma…ain, vomited…scene.”
“Possi…rupt…endix and risk…eptic shock.”
Sakura blearily looks up to see an EMT with full green scrubs, a mask, hair covered by a cap looking down at him. The EMT puts a hand on Sakura’s upper arm, squeezing it and attempting to reassure him. However, Sakura’s hearing was still going out.
“Kid yo…na be ok…stay wi…us.”
“Blood…ssure low. He’s ta…chardic.”
“His fev…rously high!”
“Prep…rating room stat!”
“We ne…act quick…to save…life!”
“Sta…wake for…kid.”
His consciousness goes out like a firelight in the wind.
Sakura regains his senses slowly. The beeping sounds are slower and quieter than in the ambulance. His eyes feel heavy and his mind feels clouded in fog and he can’t seem to form a coherent thought. There’s something in his arm still and a tube pushes air into his nose. The pain in his stomach is much more minute than before. He no longer feels sweaty and feverish. However, he still doesn’t know where he is, what happened to him, and how much time had passed.
Whoever was with him somehow seemed to sense his worry. In the cloudy haze, he feels a cool, soft hand carding through his hair, giving his head a small massage. Another hand grips his, their thumb pressing into his palm and tracing circles, grounding him. The feeling of being nurtured washed over him and he let out an involuntary contempt hum. The hands in his hair and palm stopped abruptly, moving to his shoulder and making the same comforting circle pattern.
“Sakura?” A quiet, hopeful voice, who he deduced was Umemiya, asked.
At that moment, Sakura was determined to wake up to relieve Umemiya’s worries and confirm that he was okay and indeed much better. He forced his eyes open and after a few agonizingly tough seconds, he managed to open his eyes halfway. His vision cleared to see Umemiya’s and Suo’s kind and relieved eyes looking back at him. He used that as extra motivation to fully open his eyes.
There was an IV in his arm pumping a light yellow liquid into him and there was a nasal cannula in his nose supplying him with extra oxygen. He was dressed in a gown and lying on a bed with a comfortable pillow. There were stitches pulling at his stomach. He finally put two and two together; he was in the hospital.
Suo reached outside the hospital door to contact a nurse about Sakura waking up.
“You’re finally awake. We were so worried about you,” they both said simultaneously.
“G-guys-,” Sakura’s hoarse voice was cut off by coughs, sore from lack of use. He tried to smother his coughs, but was still too weak to completely raise his arms.
Umemiya stood up and held a glass of water to his mouth.
“Thanks,” Sakura said, voice a little stronger now. “What happened?”
“You had a ruptured appendix from appendicitis. You collapsed from pain and fever on the street during patrol and you had to be taken into surgery to get your appendix removed. You’ve been out for about 6 hours since. You’ll need to stay in the hospital for a few days so the doctors can maintain your vitals since a ruptured appendix is more serious,” Umemiya explained.
Sakura was stunned. He did not realize how close to death he truly was in those few hours. He thought what he experienced was a normal stomach ache and did not even consider that appendicitis was something he would experience since it was so rare.
Sakura’s spiraling was interrupted by Nirei bursting into the room, panting from sprinting all the way there from the lobby.
“SAKURA-SAN. I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE AWAKE. WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US YOU WERE FEELING SO BAD?! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU HALF-DEAD LIKE THAT AGAIN!!”
He crushed Sakura in a hug, refusing to let go for a full minute. He finally let go when Sakura protested with a squeak of pain. He looked at him with teary puppy-dog eyes.
“I was worried sick. I knew you were unwell, yet I did not push you for more answers. I’m such a terrible friend. What will I ever do with myself? I-”
“Nirei. It’s not your fault. I didn’t know it was so serious and I just wanted to get through the day without troubling you guys over a stomach ache,” Sakura admitted.
“Sakura-kun. You know your health and wellbeing matters to us and you’re never a burden to any of us. We care about you and you’re our family. Please try to be more honest about how you feel. We would never think you’re weak for feeling sick,” Suo said while Umemiya massaged his scalp, helping him relax.
Before Sakura could say anything in return, the doctor entered the room, ready to give Sakura his prognosis.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Dr. Yoshida. I see the patient is awake and well,” the doctor says with a tired smile on his face. He moves to Sakura’s hospital bed and takes his temperature and checks his vitals. “Sakura-kun, it’s great to see you awake. Do you feel nauseous? Are you in any pain?”
“No, sir,” Sakura says sheepishly. He was nervous about hospitals and was still surprised by what he was told by Umemiya.
“Good. You gave us all quite a scare. You had a fever of 104°F and your appendix ruptured on the site where the ambulance retrieved you from. We were able to successfully remove your inflamed appendix, but since it ruptured, we had to perform an open procedure to clean the rest of your abdomen to prevent sepsis. To further prevent infection, we are administering IV antibiotics and installed a drainage device attached to your stomach. Your oxygen levels were still looking low after surgery, so we placed a nasal cannula. You will need to stay in the hospital for another 4 days to make sure you don’t develop an infection. You were very lucky, young man. If your friends were not there to call the ambulance, it would have been too late and you would have died from septic shock.”
Sakura was shell-shocked. In that moment, he truly felt grateful for his friends as well as the timing of the incident that prevented it from being more serious. He also felt a little queasy hearing that there was a tube in his stomach collecting extra fluid that leaked inside him. He looked down under his gown to see a tube connected to a bulb-shaped container, which already was a quarter full with reddish fluid. He looks back up at the doctor, trying his best to ignore the fact that a tube was sucking gunk out of his body.
“Either way, I am glad you are recovering well. I will take my leave now, but if anything changes or you start to feel sick, call for me immediately,” Dr. Yoshida said before closing the door with a soft click.
Sakura felt an overwhelming shame wash over him. He felt terrible for worrying all of his friends, despite aiming to do the exact opposite. He fixed his eyes on his blanket and uttered, “I-I’m sorry. You all were worried sick for me because I was too scared to ask for help.”
Umemiya, Suo, and Nirei were surprised at first, eyes wide. However, their faces turned to ones of compassion and love for their brother. Umemiya just continued giving Sakura head scratches, calming his senses.
“You’re okay now. Just remember to be more honest next time, alright?” Suo said with a fond smile.
Sakura was about to reply before he heard a furious knocking on his hospital door along with loud voices of Tsugeura, Anzai, Takanashi, Kurita, and more. Before Suo or Nirei could stop the dam of the hospital door from breaking under the force of what seemed to be a sea of Bofurin boys, they all ran in, faces mixed from relief to worry to horror.
“I’m so glad you’re awake!”
“You made me worried sick!”
“I’m so glad you’re not dead!”
“Hey, don’t say that!”
“SILENCE!”
All of class 1-1 snapped their heads around to see Hiragi, face scrunched up in irritation, and Kaji, face blank and lollipop in mouth.
“ALL OF YOU. OUT. GIVE SAKURA SPACE AND COME BACK WHEN YOU’RE READY TO NOT CAUSE A DAMN RACKET.” Hiragi bellowed. They all scurried out of the room, but not before wishing Sakura well. Hiiragi scoffed at the last one running out the door and swallowed a Gas-kun pill before turning back to Sakura.
“Hey, Sakura. How are you?” Hiragi asks, a complete 180 from his prior outburst.
“You’re an idiot for not saying anything,” Kaji retorted, eyes still neutral, lollipop still in his mouth. “Do you understand that you could have died?? You worried us like crazy and you-”
“Kaji. That’s enough,” Hiragi said. Kaji’s mouth snapped shut on his lollipop, which he was still nursing. “What he means is that he’s extremely happy that you’re okay and that you should rely on him more.”
Sakura was once again overstimulated with the amount of sheer love and care he received from his found family. In the past when he was sick, he was told that it was his fault that he got sick, that he was a burden and would get everyone else sick, and that it was up to him to care for himself. He had no one, and thought he didn’t need anyone for the longest time. But, he learned that having someone care about him felt amazing. He felt at peace for the first time in his life.
“CAN WE COME IN NOW? I WANNA SEE SAKURA!!!” bellowed the rest of class 1-1 that initially got kicked out.
“FINE. One by one. You don’t want to hinder Sakura’s recovery,” Hiiragi lectured.
At the commotion, Sakura’s mouth twitches into a smile. He huffs out a laugh.
I never want to leave this place, ever.