Every step pulled the stitches in Yoichi’s thigh despite the tight bandage wrapped around it. He couldn’t help but limp to prevent the incision from ripping open—even though the nurse said that wouldn’t happen as long as they didn’t do anything extreme.
Verónica also limped as she walked beside him toward the rehabilitation facilities, not holding his wrist.
Fifteen minutes later than the planned time, they stopped in front of the door of the room Manami had told them she would be in. He double-checked the plaque on the wall before turning the knob and pushing it.
Two long tubes extended from one side of the wide room to the other at waist level. One nurse stood beside the right tube and another beside the left, pushing a wheelchair with her hand.
Between the tubes, Manami propped herself up by holding onto them three-quarters of the way through. Her arms shook and her head aimed at the ground. Her shoulder-length hair covered her face.
Her left foot lifted off the cushioned floor ever so slightly. It moved an inch forward and lowered just as slowly over a minute. Groans escaped her mouth as the sole of her foot landed.
She took several deep breaths before lifting her right foot and repeating the process.
Five minutes later, she reached the end. The nurses held her arms to help her sit down in the wheelchair.
She moved her hair away from her face. The dripping sweat likely camouflaged tears as she sniffed and breathed sharply.
One of the nurses rushed to grab a bottle of water and gave it to her. The liquid inside wouldn’t stop shaking as she drank.
“Come on,” Yoichi said to Verónica.
He turned around to exit the room, but Manami’s voice stopped him.
“You’re a sadist, then.”
He looked at her to utter, “Huh?”
The nurses glanced at her with wide eyes. They then snapped their heads away and acted as if they had heard nothing.
She dried herself with a towel.
“You come to see me and leave as soon as I stop suffering.”
“We shouldn’t bother you at a time like this.”
“I agreed to it.”
No retaliation came to his mind. He didn’t need to argue back in the first place.
He began walking toward her, giving enough time for Verónica to react. Nonetheless, they stayed at a safe distance from Manami.
“I’m glad you’re recovering,” he said.
She smiled. “The doctors still don’t know how much I’ll be able to improve as the inflammation decreases, but it looks promising. Your nose looks better too.”
He caressed its bridge. “I removed the bandages yesterday. It only hurts when I press it too hard.”
“Great. How did the surgery go?”
“As smoothly as it could.”
He knew asking about it was a bad idea, but he wouldn’t get it out of his head otherwise.
“Have you talked with your friend?”
She sighed. “You wanna know just so you can feel guilty about it. No, we haven’t talked. It’s not the first time and won’t be the last, so don’t think anything about it.”
Even if she told him that, his brain wouldn’t stop.
He added, “She also said something about me taking your dreams away.”
“Seriously, stop,” she scolded. “I’ll get mad at you. Verónica will too.”
He and Verónica glanced at each other.
“To be honest, I don’t even know if I’d call them dreams,” said Manami. “Don’t worry about it either. Where are we going?”
“What do you mean?”
“You really came just to watch me suffer?”
“No, I….”
Her grin took a sigh out of him.
“We can go somewhere, but Verónica and I might be the people least suitable to choose a place.”
“That’s true.” She hummed. “I’ll think about it while I take a shower. You look for places in the meantime.”
She placed the bottle of water on her lap and tried to roll the wheels of her chair forward. Her arms shook and a groan escaped her mouth, but the chair remained still.
“I need some help,” she laughed nervously.
“Right away,” one of the nurses replied.
She approached Manami from behind and pushed her toward the door. Yoichi and Verónica moved aside.
“We’ll wait for you in the reception area,” Yoichi said.
“Okie,” replied Manami as she and the nurse turned around the corner and disappeared.
He looked down at Verónica but didn’t maintain eye contact for long.
They exited the room and turned in the opposite direction Manami did. He noticed Verónica staring down at her tablet, paying little to no attention to her surroundings while walking through the corridor.
He stopped in front of the elevator, but she didn’t. He grasped her shoulder before she got too far.
“Please be careful,” he said.
“Why did you stop?”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
He scowled. “Don’t ignore what I said. Someone could’ve gotten hurt. You could’ve gotten hurt.”
She stared at him in silence until replying, “I was being careful, I just didn’t expect you to stop here.”
It was true he didn’t give any signs of stopping.
They always took the stairs to avoid the risk of being in such a cramped space like an elevator, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to experience it. Although he wasn’t going to let his selfishness harm more people, maybe Verónica wanted to experience it too.
“Do you want to take the elevator?” he asked.
She bluntly answered, “I don’t care.”
He should’ve expected as much.
“Let’s take the stairs, then.”
Before he started walking again, she asked, “Do you want to take the elevator?”
He stared down at her. He then glanced at the gray, metal doors of the elevator.
“It’s not worth it.”
They headed to the stairs and walked down to the first floor. Verónica waited until they had sat down in the reception area to use her tablet again.
Yoichi subconsciously peeked at the screen. He saw a map before he snapped his head away, yet that was enough to piece together what she was doing.
“You’re looking for places?”
She answered while tapping the screen, “Yes.”
“Anything interesting?”
“A mall, an aquarium, shops, restaurants, a cat café, bars, two museums…. How can there be this many places in such a small radius?”
“There might be many, but they must be small. Any catches your—Wait, an aquarium? In the middle of the city?”
She tapped on its icon to open the business’ details. A grid of pictures loaded beneath the opening hours.
“And it’s on a rooftop? How does that work?” Yoichi wondered.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“I kind of want to know how they manage it.” He took his phone from his pocket. “I’ll look it up.”
“Why don’t we go?”
“You want to? I’m down if you are.”
She nodded.
“Alright then. Let’s hope it’s wheelchair-friendly.”
She looked back at her tablet, so he looked back at his phone.
For better or worse, notifications from his bank, email, social media, video, and streaming accounts always awaited him, not to mention the private chats with friends, family, and content managers.
That didn’t matter. He didn’t stare at his phone to get up-to-date, he stared at it to avoid the awkwardness.
Verónica had a different perspective on life based on her experiences. As valid as they were, he disagreed with them just as she did with his. Forcing her to understand him would’ve worsened it. The best thing to do was to accept it and keep helping her regardless.
However, he could’ve done something better.
“Verónica, I’m sorry for getting angry at you.”
She looked up at him. “Why?”
“I shouldn’t compare my life with yours or anyone’s; I can’t. It’s unrealistic to expect everyone to have the same or even a similar perspective to mine. I shouldn’t expect anything and stop assuming.”
Her eyes lowered. She then looked back at him.
“Should I apologize too?”
At first, he understood the question as retaliation because of the dry delivery, but he wouldn’t assume anymore.
“Is it a genuine question?”
She nodded.
“Well, it’d be weird if I said yes. Do it if you think you should.”
She looked at the floor again and then back at her tablet. However, neither her eyes nor her hands moved. She would only touch the screen whenever its brightness dimmed, signaling that the tablet was starting to lock up to save battery.
That continued until Manami arrived.
“Ready to go clothes shopping?” she grinned. “Come on.”
Without hesitation, she rolled the wheels of her chair toward the entrance and exited the building. Yoichi and Verónica had no choice but to follow her.
“But Verónica found a place we’d like to check,” Yoichi said as they walked down the ramp onto the sidewalk.
“Oh, you actually did? Nice. We’ll go after shopping.”
He could never anticipate her next action, though he liked the plan.
“Let me push you,” he said and grabbed the handles on the wheelchair’s back.
She removed her hands from the wheels and replied, “Please.”
Verónica held lower onto the handle.
The three of them navigated the crowded pavement under Manami’s instructions and arrived at the clothes shop within five minutes.
A sea of clothes received them after stepping through the window shop front. He had never seen that many in one place. Worn by mannequins, hanging from floor stands, and even high up on the walls. Judging by Verónica’s head moving in all directions, she probably hadn’t either.
“So, what catches your attention?” Manami smiled.
“Aren’t we here for you to buy clothes?” Yoichi asked.
“I refreshed my wardrobe a month ago. You’re the ones in need of a change.”
Verónica replied, “Do we look that ugly?”
“Not ugly, but dull. You always wear gray and black, and Yoichi’s never match at all. You probably have nice combinations but don’t know how to work them, so I’ll teach you what I can today.”
“Is that necessary?” Verónica questioned.
Manami squinted her eyes and pinched her chin.
“It’s not, but knowing what fits you and making it look good will give others strong first impressions. It’ll also boost your confidence, which I’m sure you’ll be able to boast sooner rather than later. It’ll definitely be reflected in Yoichi’s viewer count. You already look good on camera, so it won’t take much effort.”
His eyebrows raised. “You watch my streams?”
“What are you talking about? You tell everyone in class about it.” She lowered her voice. “I only watched you once or twice before I broke my neck, but I’ve been watching you almost every day since. Not the whole day, you stream too long.”
He laughed nervously. “Alright, let’s get shopping.”
Verónica said, “I didn’t bring money.”
“He’ll buy them for you,” Manami grinned.
“Me? I mean, sure.”
Manami laughed. “Joking. I was gonna buy them for her, though I won’t stop you if you wanna split the expense. You surely have more money than me.”
He would’ve covered the entire cost, but knowing she was as stubborn as him, he decided to avoid a pointless exchange.
“Let’s do that,” he said.
He peeked down at Verónica, who lowered her eyes when they met his.
“Actually, I do need new socks,” he added. “Let’s begin with that.”
And so, the shopping frenzy began.
Expecting picking socks to be simple, Manami drowned them with facts and tips on how to choose the best pair based on the rest of the outfit, especially on the pants’ length.
They eventually beat the tutorial stage and went on to the true boss: picking matching tops and bottoms, including shoes.
In summary, it was a massacre. Manami shot down all their initial ideas, though she worked around them to make them look good without changing the entire concept.
Once they couldn’t carry more clothes, they headed to the fitting rooms, where another challenge awaited. They could’ve used separate rooms, but even though the effects of their mutated diseases weakened through walls, they decided to only use the last room and take turns, starting with Verónica.
The majority of the clothes she chose were long and baggy. Manami let her get away with it, partly because they would look nice on her, but she made her choose a few outfits that were tighter and shorter. All of them worked on her when she tried them on. She disliked most of them because they were too colorful for her taste, yet Manami and Yoichi bought a few for her.
Yoichi grabbed half the amount of clothes Verónica grabbed. His wardrobe already had variety, and he promised Manami to send pictures of what he owned so she could help him form outfits.
The new ones he tried on were a mix of formal and hipster based on her recommendations. Surprisingly, they looked nice on him. He didn’t feel comfortable wearing them, but she assured him it was for the best. In her own words, “Fake it till you make it.”
They spent much more time browsing around than expected. They could’ve kept going, but they didn’t want to miss out on the aquarium.