34Hiyori could honestly say she'd never been hit by a bus before, but all things considered, she supposed she could be feeling a lot worse. She'd gotten off with surprisingly light damage; only a few bruised bones and a minor concussion. She would have to stay overnight in the hospital, but seeing as her family owned the place, that was hardly a problem. Yama and Ami had rushed into the room when her father finished examining her, and Hiyori's parents stepped out to give the girls some privacy.
"Never do that agaaaiiin," Yama wailed. "You were out cold! I thought you were gonna die!"
Ami, who was still pale and trembling slightly, added, "You're really very lucky it wasn't worse. S-Seriously, why would you even..." She trailed off, nervously adjusting her glasses.
Hiyori frowned, thinking. Her memory had been knocked a little wonky by the accident, and when she first woke up for a moment she'd had absolutely no idea where she was or what had happened. The details of her sudden rush into traffic were still fuzzy and she squinted at the ceiling, trying hard to remember exactly why she had taken off like that.
"Wasn't there someone else?" she asked finally. "I was chasing after someone, wasn't I?"
"Hmmm... Oh!" Yama clapped her hands together. "Actually, yeah! We were talking to that blond kid and suddenly someone nearby yelled out and ran into the road. Guess we forgot with everything else going on."
"Ha ha. Sorry about that." Hiyori fell silent for a moment more. "Uh..did you see what happened to them after? I mean, what if they got hurt too?"
Ami shook her head. "The paramedics wanted to check on him when they heard there was someone else but he'd completely vanished.
"Come to think of it, that blond kid took off right then too. I wonder if they knew each other?"
"Maybe," Hiyori said. "I thought I heard the boy shout a name."
She sighed. "Well, in any case, it's not as though I'll ever see them again. If they didn't need the paramedics then they probably weren't hurt too badly, if at all, so I'm happy."
"You're such a nice person." Yama sniffled dramatically and flashed her a teasing smile. Hiyori grinned and through a pillow at her.
With visiting hours waning, Yama and Ami took their leave, promising to visit Hiyori first thing the next day. Hiyori's father soon followed, saying he was going home to be with her mother and to call the nurses if she needed anything. She bid her father goodnight and, as soon as he was out the door, pulled out her cell phone. It was left by her parents in case there was an emergency, but Hiyori had other uses in mind. She had two hours of Touno-sama's latest match to watch, and if she had to be in the hospital, there was no way she was going to let herself be bored. With that, she opened the download and settled in for the night.
"I hate you."
"No you don't, this is genius."
"We're going to get caught!"
"We will if you don't shut the fuck up, Yukine. Aren't you supposed to be good at stealing? You should know the rules of sneaking around."
Yukine scowled as he watched Yato jiggle the lock on a side janitorial door of Iki General Hospital. He was good at stealing, but this wasn't petty theft. This was breaking into a hospital past visiting hours to check on a girl he'd only just met and knew nothing about. When he said he wanted to visit Hiyori, he didn't mean like this. But Yato insisted on staying in the shadows, saying that waltzing into a crowded public place and asking to visit a girl who would likely be surrounded by family and friends would lead to too many questions for the two of them. Someone was bound to ask who they were, or recognize Yukine from police fliers and missing persons reports. The blond secretly agreed with Yato, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
Yato whooped quietly as the door swung open and they stepped into a dark hall. It was dark and quiet, and looked only used for maintenance purposes. They'd gotten lucky, Yukine supposed, that they hadn't immediately stepped into an area populated by doctors and nurses. There was a stairwell at the end and the two made a beeline for it, crouching under the stairs.
"So where is this girl, d'you think?" Yato whispered.
Yukine shrugged. "Isn't there like a wing for accidents and stuff?"
"What did you say her name was?"
"Uh...Iki Hiyori, I think."
Yato blinked. "Iki, like Iki General Hospital Iki?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
"I haven't been in this hospital much," Yato frowned in concentration, "but I think the accident ward was somewhere on the second floor? This place isn't the biggest hospital around, being private and all, so we should be able to find it eventually."
Yukine nodded and the two hurried silently up the stairs. It was nearly midnight, so thankfully activity in the hospital was minimal and it was easy to duck out of sight of any nurses roaming the hall. They slapped hands when they did find the accident ward on the second floor, and did so again when they saw the nameplate of "Iki, Hiyori" outside a private single-person room. The door wasn't locked and Yato opened it quietly. Yukine's heart pounded; he was well aware of just how weird and awkward and creepy this was. Sneaking into a hospital room in the middle of the night, just for a girl he'd only had one brief conversation with. That was insane.
Just one look, he thought. She's probably asleep. One look, make sure she's alright, leave and never come back. It'll be easy.
Hiyori's bed was in the far corner of the room, next to the window. She looked to be sleeping peacefully, a cellphone resting limply in her hand, and hadn't been woken up by Yato and Yukine. She didn't look hurt. If it were really bad she'd be like hooked up to an IV and covered in bandages, right? Yukine let out a quiet sigh of relief. Everything was going well.
Yato bowed to Hiyori's sleeping form and murmured a thanks for saving his life. Then he straightened and asked, "Are we good?"
"Let's go," Yukine breathed.
They turned to leave, but they barely took three steps before Yato tripped over a stray cord, knocked a tray off a table, and crashed loudly into the floor with a surprised yelp.
Yukine's blood froze in his veins.
Hiyori shot up in bed and her head swiveled to the two strangers in her room. Her eyes widened and she did the only sensible thing she could think of: open her mouth and scream.
A/N:
Hiyori no.
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