We Treasure Our Company

From the moment I heard she was at the hospital, I rushed over to the head office in the orphanage and begged to go see her immediately. They assured me that she was okay, and per my punishment, I couldn't see her until Sunday the tenth.

First I met Doctor Itō near the front desk.

"Is we [She] okay?"

"Yes…? She's okay. She was brought in on Tuesday and has stayed here ever since. Due to her genetic inferiority, her cold had transformed into something a bit more serious that couldn't be ignored. You can check in at the front desk as a guest and the lady there will usher you to her room."

I did just that and was told what room she was admitted in. Before I opened the wooden sliding door, I believed I'd heard music coming from inside. The volume was considerably low, but I could discern which song was being played. I assumed a caregiver delivered her smartphone and she played RONselia to calm her nerves. In case she was asleep, I gently opened the door and first peeked an eye.

She was sitting up in her hospital bed with her eyes closed, the machinery behind her was far too familiar. Her mouth was wide open and moving, her face not as pallid as I'd feared. The music I'd heard didn't originate from a phone's speaker, but from her own vocals. The resonance was because she used an empty glass vase as a replacement microphone. Closing the door, I silently lip-synced as she reached the end of the song. She seemed okay, but of course, seeing wasn't everything.

I gave her an applause worthy of her performance and her body flinched, her startled eyes opened and her arms flung in the air, nearly dropping the vase on the floor, then she retreated underneath to her blanket haven. I walked over to her window and leaned on its sill while waiting for her to resurface. She did, poking only her head like a gopher. Her natural sanguine—once locked away—was unbounded by the hospital's walls, though it was easily scared.

She said, "You got your smartphone back, correct? Why didn't you send me a message?!"

"Payback for airin' us [Me] for a week."

"That's not my—er, our [My] fault. The caregivers only brought school-related items once I was admitted, and the flip phone wasn't amongst the pile. I'm undeserving of your cruel punishment."

"I know," I said. "It wasn't payback, I just wanted to see you jump. I must say, your ability to sing is something I don't remember you doin' when we were kids."

"I only picked it up recently, as a way to treat my depressive state."

"Well, your voice is perfect for it. Here, I bought you a gift."

"Really?" she exclaimed as I reached into my backpack. "You didn't have to do something so kind—Oh."

I pulled out a fresh green pear wrapped in napkins. Her smile faded, transferring onto my face as I saw her pout.

Grumbling, she said, "Why couldn't you have brought an apple?"

"If you keep only eatin' apples, you'll forget other fruits exists."

I tossed the pear in the air as if it were a coin and caught it one-handed without looking. A few strands of my disheveled hair hovered over my eyes, so I softly blew them aside and reconnected with Ringomori's eyes. The rest of her body rose from the blanket.

I gave her the pear and took another out for myself.

"Thank you very much," she said. "Please, take a chair from the corner over there and sit next to me."

I did as she said. She gleefully began eating the pear. I bought it at a nearby market that had plenty of apples on sale, but I decided to switch up her pallet. Like my original take on apples, I hadn't an opinion on pears, but seeing as she hadn't any complaints about them already granted them a high position in my newly developing fruit tier list.

I asked about her cold and how she was feeling.

"I'm as healthy as ripe, truthfully. The illnesses my parents had were different varieties, but still genetic. They came and went within the years of their lives, until it eventually never left again. Out of the three of us, I was the healthiest, so there's little belief that it's going to develop into something fatal."

I was worried about her, but her lightheartedness as she chomped down on the pear put me at ease—granted only marginally.

"I'm registered to stay here for three weeks to ensure that I recuperate from the cold without affliction. Did you have permission to visit me?"

"Yes, but only for today. We're still grounded so I can't visit you more, especially since there's a lack of urgency with your situation, which is a reason I'm fine with."

"That's a bummer, but I've known you since second grade; you're not going to obey those rules, are you?"

"I'll cut some of my time studyin' with Akio short. Luckily the hospital is close to the orphanage anyway."

"Don't neglect your studies for me. I'm not emaciated and these finals are important when you're a third-year student. University is around the corner."

"I know, but it's okay. My memory has never failed me when it comes to tests."

To be with Ringomori, I'd sacrifice a lot more if necessary.

For the remainder of my visiting hours, the two of us spent our time playing D4Dream after a long hiatus.

I said, "Oh my days, I can't seem to full combo any songs now. I either miss one of the swipe notes or accidentally double tap the screen and mistime the next note."

"It's been a month since we last played," she said, taking another bite of her pear. "Your skills were bound to atrophy. Mayhaps you should start off on the hard levels, since going straight to expert hasn't proven efficient."

"I got this, check it."

I hadn't completed a combo by the time it was time for me to leave. I threw away the pear core in the trashcan of her room and put the chair back in the corner. As I went to pick up my backpack, she called out to me.

"Thank you very much for visiting me, Chamaru. Your company is truly a treasure."

"You said that wrong," I said, leaving her room.

As aforementioned, I cut down the days I'd study at the pie shop, visiting Ringomori once again on Tuesday. I failed at another combo and took a slice of an apple that I'd brought and she cut.

"Are you goin' to be okay spendin' the winter here?"

"My body has handled these types of situations almost every winter or allergy season. I thought I'd avoided it this time when Itō-sensei said my body was doing better several months ago, but even so, there shouldn't be much worry."

She sniffled every now and then and had tissues at the ready. I surveyed the room and saw bottles of hand sanitizer and boxes of gloves in the cabinets on the far wall, and a nurse came in to check her temperature. That made me realize the extent of the situation.

"You'll be here during Christmas, won't you?"

"That is unfortunately true. I'm sorry that we won't be able to celebrate because of my situation."

I sat up in my chair and leaned over her bed.
"Our punishment wouldn't allow us to do anything special anyways, so don't blame yourself for it. No need to worry, I'll find a way to give you your present: My perfected apple cake."

She didn't bother to conceal her skeptical laughter as a response to my ambiguous declaration. She was lucky I liked her, or else I would consider baking a pie with the sole purpose of throwing it at her. Though I'd be lying if I said I hadn't already thought of that option.

She said, "I wish our time here could count for our peer outings this month."

"Me too."

The next two times I visited her were on the following Thursday and Friday, halfway through the month; Hara joined me for both days. He brought a few pies with him and we ate them while studying together. I'd thought my two friends wouldn't interact much, but they found a commonality: Etsuko, they both viewed her like a sister. We bonded for that singular hour or so that we were together.

I returned to the orphanage later and later with each visit. I was pretty certain the caregivers knew to an extent what I was doing, but they never did anything about it.

On Sunday, a day I was unable to visit, the two of us talked on video call while we did our homework or simply laid around our beds doing absolutely nothing.

It wasn't until I heard "Yasumi-chan~!" through her phone that I assumed she'd have to go. She apologized for cutting our time short, but I found it to be for the better. I was content knowing she still had company as I returned to the world of my lonesome orphanage.

There was still a lot of today left, so in order to not be swallowed up by forlorn thoughts, I decided to jump on someone's outing. I found one about a youth soccer tournament at a recreational park, the orphan I was joining was a spectator and didn't want to be alone. He was quite erudite in the sport, more so than what I remembered watching as a kid. We were lucky to find an abandoned ball and kicked it around between games.

I returned to the hospital on Wednesday the twentieth and Friday the twenty-second; the latter was the last day of school. Hara and I approached the front desk and I saw two girls with the same school uniform as her leaving the building. We approached her room and could hear Etsuko from the hallway.

The three of us sat around Ringomori's bed and talked, bantered, and laughed over life stories and funny games. Etsuko eventually left when her dad came to pick her up, though her mom continued to work. Hara also left around the same time to help with the pie shop. Once it was just the two of us and things calmed down for a bit, I started to cut an apple into bunnies—per her request. When presenting her the plate, she thanked me with a choked voice.

She was staring with puffy eyes and trickling tears. I panicked, but before I could ask what was wrong, she said, "Don't worry. I'm crying for a gwood reason."

"Well as long as it's for a gwood reason."

She put me at ease with her reassuring smile, saying, "I hadn't realized how many people truly...cared for me. My father, when he was ill, had visitors like my mother and I along with you and your family, but I never saw his friends or coworkers ever visit him. As for my mother, I was her only visitor, and I was terrified of hospitals at that point to visit her often."

I stood up and fetched her a tepid glass of water for her drying throat.
I asked, "It was lonely for you, wasn't it? All those times you were admitted here."

She nodded.
"The only visitors I had were the caregivers. Then Shizuko-sensei and Etsuko would visit, but not often due to work and school, so I never had a constant flow of people coming to see me. But...But now I have them along with Hara-kun, who even brought his mother over on Sunday. The way she pampered both Etsuko and I as if we were her daughters reminded me of your mother."

"She's a great baker too, the type of mom everyone wants in life."

"It wasn't only them who visited me. A few classmates, who I spoke to for group projects and such, visited me with confectionery snacks. I never expected them to take the time out of their day to do something so considerate for me."

She then brought her right hand from underneath the thin blanket and presented it to me. Her palm was upwards and she requested my hand in return. I bestowed it to her and she wrapped her warm fingers around me.

"Most of all, I have you visiting me. The apple of my eye that I never want to rot away again. Being here with me is the cherry on top."

"I'm sure you could've used an apple pun there," I said.

She giggled. I felt the comfort in her fingertips and saw the delight in her eyes.

I said, "I'm slightly jealous I never had this many visitors when I was in the hospital."

"You have no right to be jealous, seeing as you scared away the only person who ever did visit. Next time, remember me better and I'll visit more."

"I'd rather there not be a next time but noted."
I gently squeezed her hand.
"I promise I'll never stop visitin' you."

Our hands parted and she grabbed an apple slice and took a bite. It reminded me of the first time we ate rabbit apple slices together in this life, and I remembered something else about that day.

I asked, "Remember what we talked about on Maruyama Mountain?"

"Hmm. May you clarify which topic?"

"We were sittin' on the ledge at the top and you gave me an apple sayin' they're sometimes seen as a symbol of knowledge and wisdom. I didn't think it at the time, but you're right. They brought my memories back better than anything else."

Her eyes wandered the ceiling, likely recalling that day too.
"I do remember saying that. I then said the symbol of apples varied, and I didn't know which one to believe was true for me."

"I said there must be a way to deduce it, and now I know how."
She stared at me with fascinated eyes.
"It's everything and one thing at the same time; paradoxical in logic but in harmony with people. The symbol of apples depends on one's life, so I see it as knowledge and wisdom because of my circumstances, but you'd see it as something different. Who knows, maybe something we can both see it as."

She pondered, trailing her gaze across the walls to the foot of her bed.
"I've loved the fruit all my life yet I don't know what it means to me. I hope I can ascertain my truth soon."

Christmas day was on Monday of her third week in the hospital. I managed to score above my usual averages in this semester's final exams and used those results as leverage to negotiate a temporary halt on my punishment. As promised, I visited Ringomori and presented her gift. She tasted my latest iteration of her pan roasted apple cake.

It was evident she was scared to display her honest reaction, knowing her words had an effect on my feelings. I was also scared because I was so poor at handling feedback. Nevertheless, she gave her opinion and, since I gave myself low expectations to begin with, I was satisfied with her answer.

My version wasn't far from her quality, but it was lacking in terms of timing; either I was too early or too late. She gave me tips for how to improve it, but it was safe to say I was still lost.

After thanking me for the meal, she said, "I feel like I let you down. My gift to you was going to be the apple cake with my own version of the key lime pie. You've fallen in love with it in this new life and I realized I've never baked it for you."

"If that were the case, I'd have to think of another gift because your apple cake would've put mine to shame."

"Well, I wouldn't mind hanging up another drawing of yours in my room. Let me give you the setting, here. Here we are, two depressed orphans celebrating Christmas in a hospital room."

"I'd rather it be in a happier setting than this. Though, we wouldn't be who we are if we celebrated things normally."

"Thank you for taking time out of your winter break to visit me."

I clarified, "I had nothing better to do and you deserved some kind of reward for acin' your exams even while in the hospital. Plus, I really treasured your company."

She said, "You said that wrong."

I binned the paper plates and plastic forks and bought a couple cans of tea from the vending machine in the hospital hallway. On the way back to her room, I overheard some nurses gossip about the news—it was the notorious bank robbers.

I turned the TV on in Ringomori's room and it was reported that one of the members was caught in Ishikari, a city north of Sapporo.

She speculated, "Now that they've caught one of them, they might broker a deal with him to catch the others during the next robbery."

"You'd think the police of the new era would be better equipped to stop criminals, but I guess it's still a new system. Hopefully the robbers are caught before the actual robbery starts. The police won't catch them in a car chase without a miracle."

The news went to commercial break and displayed an advertisement of upcoming New Year's Day shrine visits. It segued us into the next topic of discussion: Figuring out what to do after she was discharged from the hospital.

She turned to me and said, "I'll be out on New Year's Eve, which is perfect because I want us to spend as much time together as possible next year; from the very beginning to the very end."

I gave her an approving smile.
"We can meet at CLARIS before midnight and walk to a shrine together. As for the first sunrise of the year, we can go to Akio's place and see it from the rooftop there. I can ask him if that's okay."

"Yes please, I appreciate that very much."
She grabbed her pillow and hugged it tightly against her chest, smiling and squeaking in excitement.
"I can't wait!"

There was an important detail I'd been omitting from my telling of the days I visited this girl, and the coming days until her discharge. There weren't many constants with each hospital visit. Hara wouldn't always be there. Neither would Etsuko. Sometimes we played games. Other times we studied. But every time I was ready to leave and she whined about it, including tonight, we wrapped our arms around each other and held tightly.

It wasn't an obligation, nor was it a standard routine to make each embrace last longer than the previous. It just felt right to do. It was the physical expression of our feelings, seeing wasn't everything. There were no complaints, no words exchanged, just the sense of touch connecting the warmth of each other to our eyes.

I visited her nine times in these three weeks. If it wasn't for my punishment, I'd be at her bedside every day without question. Nine times wasn't nearly enough, but it was all I remembered from the entire month, so it wasn't bad.

My feelings only grew.

New Year's Eve fell on a Sunday. I spent all day thinking about how my day didn't truly start until the last twenty minutes, and before I knew it, it started. I equipped my RONselia windbreaker and left fifteen minutes before our meeting time, which was 23:54:59. Ringomori would head from the hospital directly to the pie shop via bus. For special holidays like this one, buses were operational for the convenience of the residents.

While listening to music, I occasionally passed nicely dressed people on the way to the shrines. The one Ringomori and I decided to visit was one just a street away from her old home. It wasn't the most popular or largest shrine in the area, so we knew it wouldn't be as packed in comparison.

In the transition between songs, my ears picked up the meow of a cat whose fur blended with the darkness of the night, and its eyes were fallen stars. I crouched on my heels and took off an earphone. I held my palm upwards to let it approach, it allowed me to brush its surprisingly soft coat from tail to chin.

I decided to text her about it before continuing my walk to the shrine.

Found a cat. If you don't get here soon, I'm takin' it with me to the shrine instead of you.

As I awaited a reply, I caught myself with an open smile. Smiling was once alien to me, but I soon discovered it was something I always did with her as kids, and now I ever did—or all we ever did—when we were together was smile. She completed my heart.

How rude! However, if you were to ever replace me, I'd definitely want it to be with a cat. I forgive you, have fun with the cat.

I was never the type to truthfully compliment or express my feelings unless it was in a sarcastic way to myself, so for New Year's Day, I wanted my first wish to be able to commit more to my feelings and express them more. Starting with Ringomori because she was the reason I was able to reinforce confidence in my wish. My second wish was for the best of luck with my confession.

I wonder what your apple trivia for this outing will be, Yoru. I look forward to it.

My phone vibrated for a second time.

Can you summarize the past year in a single sentence? Your answer will determine my greeting to you!

I was listening to a RONselia song I'd heard a thousand times before, but this was the first time I'd used my sense of hearing to listen carefully. Opportunities didn't show up often, but always when needed. It would be foolish to not take them, but it would be more foolish to think they were guaranteed.

As practice for my wish, I decided to do one compliment before the new year began, just as a tester. I'd love to do it in person to see her reaction, but I was certain I could accurately imagine it. Using the essence of our joke, I felt elation while typing out my message. It wouldn't be said wrongly this time.

I...

She...

We...

We treasure our company.

She read the message almost instantly. I stared at the screen for a solid minute and saw the text bubbles appear, causing me to swipe away the app. I awaited a reply either in text or in person, closing my eyes as I leisurely strolled to the song.

By the end of the song, I heard an unprecedented sound and soon realized it was from beyond the music. I took one earphone and heard sirens ahead of me and soaring propellers above. My eyes shot open to see police lights and several spotlights down the street. At first I thought it was nothing, until I reached the pie shop and saw that it was barricaded off by the police.

What the...?

There was a crowd of people congested near the barricade that made it impossible for me to slither through. Using my height advantage, I tiptoed to see what the commotion was about. There were police officers keeping citizens out, ambulances with their backs opened, and the helicopters' lights directed my eyes to an overturned semi-truck and half of another vehicle wedged into a line of buildings.

I pondered, How's Yoru's bus goin' to arrive now that its stop is closed off?

My phone still hadn't gotten a reply, and when I called her, there was no answer.

Police whistles were blaring at the crowd on the street, and a myriad of people quickly ran to the sidewalks.

There's another stop at the shrine. Maybe the bus driver knows of the accident and will drop her off there instead. I don't want to be late.

I turned around to return up the street. An ambulance took off past me and my pupils quickly constricted, causing me to stumble and fall. A gruesome thought was birthed in my mind, but I kept it on the back burner for now. I forced myself up and rushed to the shrine.

I arrived in time for our meet up, but for once, she was late. I continued to wait underneath a tree ridden of leaves and full of snow for her reply either in text or in person.

"Ten...!" Nine...!"

A crowd inside the shrine began to countdown the seconds as they reached midnight. I didn't harmonize with them, but I'd imagined I would have if she was present.

"Three...! Two...! One!"

Once that time had struck and the bells reverberated, my ears twitched as sirens and propellers accompanied the wavering orchestra; my singular thought leeched to the front of my mind.

An hour passed. Most of the shrine attendants went home.

A second hour passed. The streets were barren and quiet.

The symphony of songs passed my ears, but not her voice announcing her late arrival. No updates or responses. No reply. I naturally grew worrisome and restless, unable to stay still. I sent her a message and started walking back to the orphanage.

It was evident something interfered, maybe the caregivers needed her help with something. That was the only way to keep my thoughts at bay. Once at the doorstep, I saw the lights still on and plenty of kids were still running around, maybe waiting for the sunrise.

I went upstairs, but halfway up I saw a few caregivers rushing down with items in their hands. Moving out of the way, I decided to slowly follow them back down and paused my music to overhear a conversation.

Ignorance was bliss.

"Ruri-san, can you leave the kitchen and watch the kids out here? Me and a few others need to go to the hospital!"

I took a step backwards up the stairs.

"Why? Who's there?" asked the other caregiver.

Before I could hear the answer, I stumbled on the steps and slapped my hands over my ears in hopes of the deafening white noise blocking the name. However, a name as distinct and meaningful to me as "Ringomori Yoru" would always slip through my defenses.

I forced myself erratically up the stairs, wanting to rush to my room at the very end of the hallway, but my stomach and a very different type of headache attacked me as if words had been chewing their way out; the gruesome thought took advantage.

It was initially only a flash across my eyes, but the afterimage stayed for far longer. The thought of her in the ambulance resurfaced my time in one, years ago where I was the sole surviving victim of a car crash. In the same ambulance as me was my bleeding mom, who must have already been dead by that moment.

Which one was she now? The girl I loved, was she currently like me, or like my mom?

I dry-heaved heavily as I reached my door, my hand clenching the layers of clothes with my nails digging into my chest. I stumbled while opening my door and fell to the floor face first.

I angrily grabbed my hair, feeling the sting of a few strands being pulled from the root. My thoughts were filled with blame, but I didn't know if it was for me or divinities of higher power. I rolled over and stared at the ceiling, the empty ceiling without a drawing taped to it.

My door was still open, I heard the news through the thin walls of another orphan's room. The crash near the pie shop was the result of a police chase with the notorious bank robbers who took advantage of the holiday celebrations. Their plans were foiled when their signature semi-truck and a local bus collided at an intersection. All of the robbers were quickly apprehended and many injuries were reported, but so far there wasn't a report of a death.

Upon hearing that, I changed my first wish.

Please, if I made it…you can too. Please…don't join our parents.

I reiterated that over and over until the words didn't sound real anymore.

I missed the first sunrise of the year. I never got to see her reaction to my message.

Full of multiple kinds of pain and stress, I fell asleep on the floor without realizing.

Several hours later, when the sun shone over the white city, I darted out of the orphanage to the hospital.

It was packed with people who must have also had loved ones admitted from the accident.
I forced myself to the front desk and asked the receptionist, "Is Ringomori Yoru alive? Is she in one of these rooms?"
I attempted to maintain a calm state of mind, but a hospital wasn't the easiest place to do so.

The receptionist said, "I'm sorry, but I'm busy with other patients. Please proceed to—"

"Thank you," I interrupted. I wasn't in the mood for a rigmarole.

I moved away from the front desk to find another form of help. A nurse came out of a patient's room and headed my way. My mental state hadn't fully recovered, and thus affected my demeanor with others. I approached him and asked him the same question.

He was startled at first, and understandably so.
"I...do recall tending to someone with that name," he said, "but I can't tell you which room unless you check the front desk."

She was alive. She was breathing. She was alive.

That piece of news put me a bit at ease, tingles spread to the hairs on my arms and neck. However, I still desired to see her as quickly as I could.

The nurse said, "I'm afraid only immediate family or legal guardians can see her right now. I can't let you through."

He was persistent, so was I. One of us was right, the other wanted to see her.

I was losing my patience.

"Y-You wouldn't understand, but I'm the closest family that girl has."
An angel and devil battled in my head, a ripe and rotten apple.
Calm down, be patient! No!
I couldn't think straight.
"I know and love her better than anyone else in the world."

Despite my declarations, the nurse still denied me. He was going to say something else, but then I heard my foreign last name called from behind me. I frantically turned around and saw Doctor Itō standing with a few other doctors. The nurse took that opportunity to leave—what help he was.

I shook my head and reorganized myself before approaching the doctor, lest I wanted to get thrown out of the hospital. I approached her and asked the same question once more, begging to see her.

Doctor Itō answered, "Please relax, Vieira-san. Yes, she's alive and okay. She suffered minor physical injuries as the bus was hit near the middle and she sat in the back. However, you nor anyone else can see her; caregivers are exempt."

My face was painted with appalling dread. My abject mental state was on the worst rollercoaster ever made, and it was about to go down the biggest drop in my life—even beating my own accident.

I asked, "Why?"

Ignorance was bliss.

"Right now, Yoru-chan is in comatose."