Work Text:
"Satoru, I don't know if you can hear me." A young voice bounced off the walls of a hospital room. "But I hope you can." Kenya folded his hands together, crossing his legs and leaned back in his folding chair. "They told the whole class today, about you. The guys and I, we heard earlier. Your mom told us. We really miss you, you know?"
A constant beeping sounded, echoing through Kenya’s head. He thought it sounded a bit like a siren. It really distracted him as he was trying to tell Satoru everything that’d happened since they found him, trapped in a car in the middle of a freezing lake.
“Kayo, too,” Kenya continues. “Mom let me speak on the phone with her. She told me your mom had told her the same evening she’d told us. Kayo was crying.” Kenya took a hold of Satoru’s hand. It was so terribly cold. He had a deep frown on his face when he told Satoru that wasn’t nice of him. “You should never make a girl cry, you know that?” He stared at Satoru’s face. At the tubes and treats that went into his mouth and were stickered to his chest. At his closed eyes and expressionless mouth. It was like he didn’t even care about how he was hurting them. “You’re quite selfish, staying asleep like this. Your mom says you can’t help it, your brain doesn’t allow you to wake up. But if you can hear me, and again, I hope you can; you better listen to me.
If you can do anything to fight this sleep, please do.
Because your mother needs her son.
Kayo needs her hero.
And I need my best friend.”
~
After a long day at law school, Kenya hadn’t failed to drag him by-caffeine-controlled body to the Satoru’s home. He went up the steps to the front porch and knocked the door.
It took a few minutes, as per usual, but Miss Fujinuma never failed to let Kenya in.
“Good evening, Miss Fujinuma,” Kenya greeted her with a small bow.
“I told you, many times, young lad,” she began. “There’s no Miss Fujinuma living here; it’s just Sachiko for you, okay?”
Kenya smiled and nodded, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from calling her Miss Fujinuma; she was Satoru’s mom, and while she was a casual mom, Kenya was raised to always call his friends’ parents by their last name. “I’m sorry, happens every time.”
“Well, apology accepted, just don’t forget it this time. Alright, come in.” Miss Fujinuma stepped aside, patting Kenya on the shoulder as he passed her by. “You need to stop growing!” She was always smiling when Kenya dropped by, but the complexion of her wrinkles made it clear those were the only times she smiled.
Not that Kenya could blame her; he’d helped her out with Satoru’s care during his school breaks from time to time, so she could take it slower, now he understood how tough it was taking care of someone who was completely dependent on his caretakers and life-support.
Kenya responded with a kind smile. “You sound like my mom.”
“Well, your mom is right.” Miss Fujinuma chuckled. “At this rate you’re going to be too tall to fit through my door by the time you’re twenty!” She squeezed Kenya’s shoulder before letting go so she could close the door behind them.
Kenya dropped his bag onto the floor and took off his coat and shoes. He remembered the first weeks Satoru had come home, just a year or so after the accident; it was really strange to visit him at home instead of the hospital, yet still seeing all the medical equipment surrounding him.
After almost seven years of coming here for visits, he’s used to it, though. Coming to the Fujinuma’s household, was like coming home, as he tried to visit at least once or twice every week, after his classes ended. Sometimes he even stayed at Miss Fujinuma’s home for dinner, she didn’t mind, since she always made too much food anyway, leaving her with leftovers on a daily basis.
“How’s Satoru?” Kenya asked as he was putting down his shoes down a bit more neatly.
“Same old, same old.” She waved her hand, like it didn’t hurt her anymore after eight years had passed. Kenya knew this wasn’t the case; he noticed the dark circles under her eyes, and the way she’d stopped wearing makeup or combing her hair. All of this home caring had exhausted her to the bone, but Kenya was certain that if she hadn’t needed to take care of Satoru twenty-four-seven, she would probably be doing even worse than she was now.
Kenya smiled sadly and nodded once; he hadn’t expected there to be any change, but he always allowed himself to have hope. Hope kept him going. Hope kept everyone around Satoru going.
“Is it okay if I go and talk to him for a bit?” Kenya nodded towards the room, to which the door was always on a small crack, so Miss Fujinuma could hear that the breathing machine and heart monitor were still going at all times, everywhere in the house.
Miss Fujinuma smiled and nodded. “Of course, make yourself at home.”
Kenya thanked her and started heading toward the room. Just as usual, Miss Fujinuma asked him if he wanted something to eat or drink, right as he was about to go inside of Satoru’s bedroom.
“What do you have for dinner?” Kenya asked, he felt like Miss Fujinuma could use the company tonight. He inhaled, the air smelled look cooked rice and something spicy. “It smells good.”
“Thanks,” Miss Fujinuma replied. “I’m making curry. You can stay a bit longer and have some, if you want.” She didn’t admit it, but Kenya suspected she’s made an entire pot again; way too much.
He smiled and nodded once. “I would like that, thank you.” With those words, he turned around and headed into the room. He closed the door behind him, but not entirely; he left a small gap as usual.
Since it was already evening, the curtains were closed. But the room was still dimly lit by a small night lamp standing beside Satoru’s bed.
Kenya sat himself down in the chair beside Satoru’s bed. It was much more comfortable than the chairs at the hospital, because Miss Fujinuma spent a lot of time in here. On the bedside table laid a stack of books, beside a breathing machine and heart monitor. The rhythmic beeps had become familiar to Kenya overtime, so they didn’t bother him anymore as he began to speak.
“Hey Satoru.” He kept his voice low, so he wouldn’t annoy Miss Fujinuma with his talking. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I hope you do, because I’ve got a lot to tell you-“ That’s how he always starts his visits, even when he doesn’t have much to say. It encourages himself to talk, despite not being much of a talker himself; he’s read somewhere it stimulates brain activity to speak to a comatose person, so whenever he visits Satoru he wanted to tell him as much as he could.
And even if Satoru didn’t hear a thing, at least it made Kenya feel like Satoru was still actually around.
~
“Hey Satoru,” a familiar voice sounded through the speakers of an old flip phone. “I don’t know if you’ll actually get this message, but wanted to say happy birthday. I can’t believe this is the first birthday I’m able to call you and know you’ll actually, probably, hear my message at some point. That’s insane, right?” There was a short pause, some muttering in the background. Then Kenya’s voice returned. “It’s kind of annoying I have to be away for a business trip right now, but still- Happy twenty-seventh birthday, Satoru! I have to go now, but call me when you wake up, okay?”
Satoru smiled down at his phone, listening to the message his friend has left him in the middle of the night. If he’d been awake when Kenya had called, he would’ve chatted with him the entire night, probably. He didn’t know when Kenya had become so talkative around him, but he didn’t mind it.
It made him feel at ease for some reason, to hear Kenya talking to him without really needing to say things back; it worked well, with Satoru’s less talkative nature.
After the message had ended, he called back Kenya’s number. The phone rang a few times, but in the end, no one picked up. This wasn’t strange; Kenya was flown over to a different part of the world for some lawyer business – Satoru still didn’t really understand what these business trips were about. Most times he went on these trips, he wasn’t able to call much.
“This is Kobayashi Kenya, I’m not currently able to pick up my phone, but leave a message after the tone,” his voice chirped through the speakers again. A beep sounded.
“Hey Kenya, I just wanted to say thank you-“ Satoru glanced across the room, at the pictures that’d been taking at previous birthdays. Many of them, Satoru didn’t remember a thing of, as he was sound asleep. Those fifteen years rushed by for him, but to his friends, they took a literal lifetime.
Despite all of the time he was given to give up on Satoru, Kenya’s stuck with him. Every one of Satoru’s previous fifteen birthdays, he’d been there beside him. And Satoru bets those weren’t the only moments he sat next to his bed, talking to him.
Satoru realized he’d been silent for a couple of seconds, but didn’t delete the message. Instead he smiled down at his phone, and told Kenya, “Thank you for everything.”
The End.