.
.
.
*RING RING RING*
It’s recess time. I immediately turn around towards all of my friends.
“Guys! Let’s go visit Si-chan and her father later today!”
“Eh? We’ve already planned for that! We just couldn’t tell you because you were daydreaming the entire time, Mari-chan!” said Sumire.
“Eh? Ah! I apologize! I was thinking of Si-chan. . .”
“I understand your feelings, Mari-chan! Let’s go buy some fruits for her father as soon as school is over!” said Hibiki.
“Then, let us at least eat our lunch together!” said Ryuji.
“That’s right! EVERYBODY, MERGE!!” said Honda.
We all joined our desks together and ate lunch together. The atmosphere was very happy and cheerful, but. . . I couldn’t stop thinking about Si-chan the entire time. My mind was distracted. I could barely enjoy my food.
.
.
.
*RING RING RING*
The school bell rings, signaling the end of school for today. I immediately stood up and turned around.
“Guys! Let’s go! Immediately!”
“Mari-chan!”
*?*
And then everyone looks at me with a smile.
“You can go first. We’ll all come by right after we buy the fruits!” said Sakura.
“Huh? Shouldn’t we go together?’
“It’s alright, Mari-chan! You care a lot about her, don’t you? Go ahead of all of us.” said Nobisuke with a smile.
And then I look at everyone, and they all have the same smile on their faces.
“Thank you, everyone!”
I smiled at everybody and ran towards the door to the classroom. I run towards the school gates and I stop to take a breather.
*pant pant pant*
“Wait. . . I forgot *pant pant* to ask where *pant pant* the hospital is *pant pant*.”
*BEEP BEEP*
*!*
My phone rings and I take it out of my pocket. It’s a message from Honda-chan.
-Mari-chan, we forgot to tell you where her father is hospitalized. Here’s the location!-
I click on the link that Honda-chan sent me.
“Ah, it takes 60 minutes on foot from here! I can arrive faster if I run the entire way!”
I immediately sprinted to the left. I keep running and running as I follow the direction of the map from my smartphone.
*pant pant pant*
I’m already losing my breath. I’m already exhausted. But I have to keep running. It’s still far away, and there’s no taxi anywhere near me.
*pant pant*
After 5 minutes of running, I finally stopped and dropped to my knees on the ground.
*pant pant*
I can’t run anymore.
*pant pant*
But, Si-chan. . .
I have to go to her!
*pant pant*
Get up! GET UP MEEEE!!!!
I forced myself to stand up.
*pant pant*
I took a deep breath and exhaled all of it.
*Phew*
I started running again, but this time, I pace myself properly so I don’t get tired as easily.
Si-chan, I’m coming!
.
.
.
90 minutes later. . .
*pant pant pant pant*
I did it.
*pant pant pant*
I was off by 30 minutes.
*pant pant pant*
But I finally reached the hospital.
*pant pant pant*
After I took a quick break to regain my breath, I quickly walked towards the front register.
“Excuse me, miss, I wanna visit someone with the name Pendrago!”
*pant pant*
My breathing is still a little bit heavy.
“Ah, yes, he’s on the 4th floor, room 13!”
“Thank you!”
I immediately wanted to run, but then I remembered you’re not allowed to run inside a hospital, so I just walked faster towards the 4th floor.
*pant pant pant*
My breathing has almost regained its normal rhythm, but I am still exhausted as heck.
After a few minutes, I finally stood in front of the door to the room. I’ve checked the patient’s name on the side, and it does say Pendrago. I knock on the door.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
*knock knock*
. . . .
There was no response.
*knock knock*
. . . .
There was still no response.
I immediately became nervous and anxious. I don’t know what to expect, but I’m simply worried sick about Si-chan.
*knock knock*
I continue to knock on the doors.
*Ka-chlak*
*!*
Someone finally unlocks the door from the inside. I open the door and enter swiftly.
“Si-chan!”
*!!!*
Not even the wildest imagination I have would’ve correctly guessed what’s behind the door to Si-chan’s father’s hospital room. A giant boulder, slightly bigger than my head, is suddenly flying towards me. I couldn’t react at all, but when the giant boulder was 2cm away from hitting my face and possibly killing me, the giant boulder stopped itself in midair.
. . . . .
It took me quite a while to process everything that just happened. The giant boulder suddenly crumbles into dust and disintegrates from existence.
. . . . .
“EH? MARI-CHAN?!”
Sierra was on the far side of the room behind the door. She was very surprised to see me for some reason. She quickly runs to me and hugs me.
“MARI-CHAN!! I AM SO SORRY!! I DIDN’T MEAN TO ATTACK YOU LIKE THAT!!! I AM SO SORRY, MARI-CHAN!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!”
. . . .
“S-SI-CHAN?! W-What just? H-Huh? What?”
I was very confused by everything. And then I turn my head to the right and see Si-chan’s father on the hospital bed, wearing a green hospital gown.
*Beep beep beep*
There was a heartbeat monitor next to his bed, and it was beeping ever so slightly, signaling his slow heartbeat.
“Si-chan, what happened to your father?”
“. . . .”
Si-chan walks towards the side of the bed near her father. She doesn’t turn away and talks to me.
“My father was beaten up senselessly by a group of thugs in an alleyway. He is now barely hanging on to his dear life.”
*!!!*
I was shocked by what Si-chan just said. I barely know about her, let alone her father, and now he is dying all of a sudden. From my perspective, this all happens way too fast for me to keep up. I couldn’t say anything; I am at a loss for words.
I tried to force myself to say anything, or at least say some concern about his father, yet the words that came out of my mouth were entirely different.
“When did this happen?”
“Last night, around 21:00, the doctor informed that his left eye was beaten beyond repair, and his jaw was broken and dented so much that he can no longer eat food even if he survives. But he said that it can be surgically repaired, but the price for the operation was so expensive that I don’t think I can afford it.”
“. . . . .”
A surgery operation that is so expensive that even with Si-chan’s insane wealth, she cannot afford it?
“S-Si-chan! How much is the price? I-I can help you! I have some inheritance money from my parents! It’s a lot, it might help you reach the price! Combined with your money, that should be possible!”
“. . . .”
Si-chan doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, until she turns towards me and answers.
“We don’t have anything anymore! We lost our wealth, all of it! I don’t really understand the exact process, but all of our wealth was sold to pay for some compensation for something that happened in my father’s company. These clothes that I am wearing are the only things I have left.”
Her wealth. . . is gone? That extremely luxurious mansion of hers. . . is gone? Just like that?
“W-What about your butlers and maids?”
“I fired all of them, obviously. I can no longer pay them, so they all went their separate ways. None of them were worried about my father, nor did none of them choose to stay and care about his well-being. This tells me that they are only nice to me because it’s their job.”
“. . . .”
“The way they all quickly disappear from my sight after I fired them, really makes me suspect that they’re somehow involved in my father’s beating.”
“. . . .”
“Have you contacted the police about all of this?”
“I have, but they cannot help with anything, and I have no idea why. Maybe because someone pays them to shut up or something.”
“. . . .”
- . . I don’t know what to say anymore. Every question I asked always ended up making this whole situation worse and grimmer. I. . . I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what I can do to help Si-chan.
“Were your father alone last night?”
“No, he was with his driver in his car when they were stopped in the middle of a lonely, dark road.”
*!*
“Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard anything from his driver. I see. . . He’s also involved in all this.”
Si-chan raises his right arm to the side, and it is suddenly covered by a thick and hard concrete that appears out of nowhere. She clenches her fist.
“Mari-chan, I will crush everyone who’s involved with what happened to my father with this!”
*!*
“Si-chan, you’re a Believer?”
“Yeah! Since I was little, I hid it from everyone because I didn’t wanna make a scene and attract unnecessary attention. You’re the first person I ever showed my Faith power, Mari-chan!”
“. . . Wait, so that boulder from earlier?”
“I-I-I AM SORRY ONCE AGAIN, MARI-CHAN!! THAT WASN’T MEANT FOR YOU!!! I WAS BEING VERY ANXIOUS ABOUT ANY VISITOR THAT WOULD COME BECAUSE THE DOCTORS AND NURSES SAID THEY’LL BE BACK AFTER DINNER TIME, SO I THOUGHT ONE OF THE THUGS FROM LAST NIGHT CAME BACK TO FINISH THE JOB!! I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THROWING A BOULDER RIGHT TOWARDS YOUR FACE!!”
*pant pant pant*
Si-chan is breathing heavily after she’s trying to explain herself hastily.
“Um, it’s all good, Si-chan! It’s as you’ve said, a mistake! You didn’t know I was coming! Now that I mention it, I never informed you beforehand, so I was kinda at fault to a certain degree.”
“. . . *sigh* Mari-chan, there’s no way what just happened is your fault in any sort of way! Don’t be so quick about thinking everything is your fault, alright? That is not healthy in the long run!”
“I-I understand, Si-chan!”
*Knock knock*
*!*
Right after Si-chan told me about the possibility that someone might come to kill his father, someone knocked on the door to this room. Si-chan waves her wrist up and down, signaling me to come to her side, silently and quietly. I did what she asked and tiptoed my way to her, and then she walked in front of me, with a pose ready to protect me from any potential danger. She clenches her right arm, which has already been covered in concrete. She pulls back her arm in a motion to punch. She planned to launch the fist-shaped concrete in her arms towards whoever was going to enter the door.
*SLAM*
Someone slammed the door open, and Si-chan was already in motion of swinging her fist.
“Excuse me, is this where Sierra Pendrago’s father’s room is?”
*!!!*
Turns out it was Honda, and she came with the rest of our friends. I quickly pulled Si-chan’s arm as hard as I could. Si-chan also quickly discards all the concrete from her arms, and they disappear entirely. Me and Si-chan quickly rearrange our positions, and now we’re standing side by side near her father’s bed.
“A-AH! Everyone! Welcome! Thank you for coming! Mari-chan has already been inside for a while!”
“H-Hey, everyone!”
“YOOO--!!! Whops! I forgot we should not be shouting loudly in a hospital.” said Hibiki.
Honda hands over the fruit that they all bought for her father. Nobisuke also handed a flower that they bought as well. Si-chan was flattered by all of our kind gestures, and she welcomed them. And then everyone enters the room and takes a seat properly near Si-chan’s father.
Si-chan told them everything about what happened to his father, including some details that she hadn’t told me about her father having many business rivals. It was very clear that these business rivals are the most likely candidates for the perpetrator behind everything. But she left out the part about wanting to exact revenge on all of them, as well as the part about her being a Believer.
We all talked for 30 whole minutes, and then we changed the topic to lighten the mood. We all laughed, but we kept our voices at a considerate volume. We don’t wanna bother her father after all. We all finally see Si-chan’s smile after the unfortunate events that befell her father. And then, without realizing it, we’ve been talking to each other for hours, and the clock turns 18:00.
“Whoa! Look at the time!”
“Oh, it’s 18:00!”
“Si-chan, I apologize, but we’re going home now!”
“Yeah, it’s okay, guys! I understand! I don’t wanna keep you all here all day anyway.”
“Oh, wait, it’s near dinner time! Wanna have dinner with us in the meantime?”
“Sorry! I’d rather not leave my father alone at all! I’m worried sick that something might happen to him.”
“Ah, yeah! Of course! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that!”
“It’s okay, Nobi-kun! I understand what you’re saying! Thank you for inviting me!”
“Well then, excuse us, Sierra-chan!!”
“Yeah! We’ll come visit tomorrow after school!”
“Or rather, we’ll come by every day after school from now on!!”
“Thank you, guys! I really appreciate all of you!”
And then everyone leaves the room and the hospital to go home. I was the only one who stayed.
“Shouldn’t you also leave, Mari-chan?”
“Even if I go home, there is no one waiting for me there! I’d rather stay here with you, Si-chan!”
“. . . .*Sigh* alright, alright, but at least you should go home and take a bath! Come back afterwards with some food for me as well, will you?”
I see through her intention very quickly. Not only does she care about my hygiene, but she also has no money to buy food anyway. I immediately nod and leave the room. I rushed quickly to my home, which is about 35 minutes away on foot. I run as fast as I can to come back as quickly as possible.
.
.
.
An hour later. . .
*pant pant pant*
“Phew! I finally came back!”
*pant pant*
“I can’t believe that not a single taxi was passing by the whole time. What’s with them today?”
*pant pant*
“I’m running all the way, and now I’m all sweaty again. What’s the point of my taking a bath again? Urgh. . .”
*BOOOOOOOMMMM*
*!!!*
Suddenly, I heard the sound of an explosion. I looked upwards, and one of the windows on the 4th floor was burning and smoking.
“. . .”
“That room. . . Si-chan!”
My face quickly turned to dread. My anxiety reaches its maximum level. I quickly run inside the hospital.
*!!*
There were so many people running away and exiting the building in panic because of that explosion. I couldn’t get through the front door, so I tried to enter using the emergency exit on the back of the building.
*!!*
But when I ran towards the back of the building, I saw a trail of smoke coming out of the burning window, and the smoke trail headed towards the forest, far in the distance, in the background.
“Si-chan? SI-CHAAANNNNN!!!”
I tried to scream, calling her out. I didn’t know that it was her, but I just have a gut feeling that it’s her.
*!*
But then I saw another figure coming out of the burning room as well. The figure was also covered by smoke, leaving a trail, and it’s headed towards the same forest as well. I immediately run as hard as I can, following the trail of the smoke in the sky before it disappears.
“(Wait for me, Si-chan!! I’m coming!!)”