Chapter Text
“Is ya head okay?”
Rin and the cyan haired boy were sitting together on the wooden swing at the hospital’s garden. The area was nice and shady, under a few large trees.
“Yeah.” Rin glanced over at the boy, and was met with a friendly smile.
“What ya in here for?”
“Car crash,” Rin watched as a butterfly flew around him, “you?”
“Same here.”
The butterfly landed on Rin’s nose, causing Rin to pause for a moment. Its big crimson wings were obstructing his vision. The boy beside him chuckled.
“I think it likes ya.”
And the butterfly flew away.
“Maybe not that much,” Rin concluded.
“What’s yer name?”
Rin looked at the boy. Was this considered making friends as well? Rin had just discovered he had two friends, and now he was picking up another? He wasn’t even the type to-
“Rin.”
“Nice to meet ya, Rin-kun. I’m Hiori Yo.”
Rin hummed.
~
Back in his hospital room, Rin decided to login to one of the online games he played.
Did he always have this many in-game friends?
[Invite from Seireo128]
Rin accepted the invite, joining Nagi’s team as they started a match.
Team chat:
Seireo128: ‘ur up early’
owlsarecool: ’so r u’
Seireo128: ‘u want anything for breakfast?’
Seireo128: ‘Reo’s asking’
owlsarecool: ‘im good’
Seireo128: ‘k’
LightningMcQueen95: ‘can u guys shut up n focus’
LightningMcQueen95: ‘we’re gonna lose’
owlsarecool: ‘the only reason we’ll lose is bc u cant aim’
owlsarecool: ‘stupid lukewarm’
LightningMcQueen95: ‘huh’
LightningMcQueen95: ‘the hell does that even mean’
yo_snowflake: ‘guys pls stop fighting’
yo_snowflake: ‘theyre coming our way, we shld split up’
yo_snowflake: ‘owl come with me to the right, sei guard the left with the rest’’
Seireo128: ‘mk’
LightningMcQueen95: ‘wtv’
The game somehow ended up in a victory. Rin made sure to get the ‘LightningMcQueen95’ guy kicked out of the team before they recruited someone else and entered a new match. That guy was half-assed anyways. If it weren’t for Nagi, he was pretty sure that guy would’ve died off before mid-game. The ‘yo_snowflake’ guy was pretty good though. Maybe Rin could friend him before going offline. He had a bunch of in-game friends now anyways.
They played another match before Nagi said he needed to go off. If Nagi was going off the game, that meant he and Reo would be here soon. Rin felt strangely reluctant and excited at the same time.
‘yo_snowflake’ started another match with Rin, and he realised they were already in-game friends. Maybe he was Nagi’s friend too, since he was already in the lobby before Rin was invited.
Rin was much higher level now than he remembered, so he still wasn’t used to such high rank games. His friend seemed to be carrying him through the games just fine though.
~
Rin didn’t know how many more games he played, but by the time he heard footsteps approaching his room’s door, his phone was long flat.
Hopefully, he won’t get penalised for being AFK mid-game.
“Good morning, Rin! Did you sleep well?” Reo greeted as he entered the room, Nagi following behind.
“Yeah,” Rin noticed Reo holding a bag with something in it, “what’s that?”
“It’s some herbal soup we got for you. It should help with your recovery.”
Oh.
Reo and Nagi sat down beside on the seats beside Rin’s bed. Rin watched as Reo poured the soup out from an insulted container to a bowl. The soup had a rather distinctive herbal smell, making Rin scrunch his nose up a bit.
Reo gently blew on a spoon of soup. “Try some.”
Reluctantly, Rin moved his mouth forward to meet the spoon.
It wasn’t as bad as he thought.
“How is it? Doesn’t taste too bad, right?”
Rin gave a nod, “mn, it’s okay. Thanks, nii-chan.”
“...”
Rin looked up to see the two older boys staring at him like he just said pigs could fly.
“What?”
“What did you call me?”
“Nii-chan?”
“...”
Was that not what he called Reo? From what he had read on his email, he has been referring to Reo as ‘nii-chan’.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Ah, no-... Ahem, nope, nothing’s wrong…”
“You remember us, Rin?” Nagi asked, shoving his phone into one of the pockets in his oversized hoodie.
“Well, no. But I read some stuff I wrote about you two.”
“You have a diary?” What seemed like surprise on Reo’s face immediately turned into curiosity.
“Not exactly a diary, but I guess.”
“Can we read it?”
“Huh?”
“Just a quick glanceover.” Reo seemed more excited than he probably should be.
“Why would you want to read my ‘diary’?”
“Gotta make sure you’re not badmouthing us,” Nagi chipped in.
“Yeah, come on, you trust your ‘nii-chan’, don’t you, Rin? Just a little peek…”
Rin was sure that Reo was trying to guilt-trip him now.
It was working.
So here Rin was, drinking soup while the two read through his ‘diary’. He had a hunch he would regret his decision once he got his memory back, but that was future Rin’s problem.
~
The rest of the morning was spent with Rin listening to the two boys share about his current life. Many things have changed from before, and from what he was told, it seems he changed too.
Maybe not all changes were bad.
Nagi and Reo left a while after lunchtime, saying that they would visit Rin again later. With nothing left to do, Rin decided to walk around. He had just started charging his phone with the powerbank Nagi left him right before leaving, so that would likely take a while.
The hospital was actually much bigger than Rin had expected. Rin’s guess that it was a private hospital could safely be confirmed now. He explored the hospital until his feet subconsciously led him back to the hospital garden he visited earlier.
Was that Hiori on the swing?
The cyan haired boy turned to Rin’s direction as he approached.
“Oh, hey Rin-kun.”
“Hey.”
Was it just Rin, or did Hiori sound less cheerful than before? He sat down beside Hiori.
“...you alright?”
Rin half regretted asking when Hiori looked surprised at him.
He was thinking too much. Ugh, that probably sounded so random and-
“Pretty much. Thanks.” Hiori gave him a small smile.
They sat together in silence for a while. Despite the garden being in an enclosed area, sitting here felt like a breath of fresh air.
“Did anyone come visit ya?”
“Mn. My older brothers.”
“That’s nice. How many siblings do ya have?”
Rin thought for a moment. “One by blood, two by choice.”
Hiori nodded, before his gaze shifted to look at the greenery around them.
“What about you?”
“My parents said they’ll come. But they got caught up.”
Was that why Hiori seemed a bit down?
“They’ll come soon.”
Rin swore that his mouth had a mind of its own.
“Ya think so?”
“Yeah. I’ll wait with you.”