as comfortable as an iron maiden

How Toshi ended up in this backwater village isn’t important; what matters is that he’s here. That he got to take an extra break. That he’s pushing a menace into his workplace. Since, again, this is a backwater village, the paint on the walls is chipped, and the same posters have been on the same wall for longer than he has been alive.

For an actress, Fujinomiya Koharu sure has a hard time hiding the way she’s going through the five stages of grief. Why she transferred here isn’t important; what matters is that she’s here when, unlike most of the elders, she has the option not to.

“Toshi, hi!” Cries Mrs. Matsueda, an 81-year old patient that treats the center as an amusement park. Toshi waves in return. “Is that her?”

“Yes,” replies Toshi. “This is her. Also, Mrs. Matsueda, what are you doing here?”

“B-bathroom.”

“Riiight.”

Out of the three regulars in this backwater medical center, he’s the least likely to chase after her, but that doesn’t stop her from bolting. Not too far away is 78-year old Mr. Oda, using his phone as a radio. Again. Aside from a nod, he doesn’t acknowledge them as they pass by, so Toshi returns the favor.

Fujinomiya judges this in silence. From what Toshi knows, she’s some kind of star born from and for the elite. She’s the main character of some fantasy show his sister likes, which means that it’s a bad show. She probably thinks country life will ‘detox’ her or some shit. He gives her a week… no, three days before she desists. These are still three days he could’ve spent taking care of those who can’t get anything better.

They reach the elevator.

“Don’t be scared,” Toshi tells her.

“I’m not,” she replies, then gasps when the elevator screeches. Wails, even. In fact, it would be an amazing stock sound for a horror film.

“...oh, wow,” he says. “That is new. I was referring to the shaking.”

“Shaking!?”

“Yeah. You feel it?”

Fujinomiya grips the wheelchair like that’ll do anything. Seeing a new patient’s reaction to the elevator is one of Toshi’s many pleasures in life. Unfortunately, they’ll probably fix the whirring screech.

By the time they leave the danger box, she’s holding onto the seat for dear life. The Fujinomiya estate is paying extra so she has a room for herself, plus an extra bribe… eherm, “donation” so she gets the best view in the hospital. It’s a room supposed to be for specialized care, but no, the princess has to use it.

To Toshi’s delight, at least, the door leading to said room creaks. When they finally reach it, she lets out an, “Oh!”

“Beautiful, huh?” He asks.

“Yes!”

Against his best interest, he leans forward to get a better look. There’s no trace of irony in her face, or in her voice–none. In fact, she takes out her phone. She has a giant salmon as her lock screen and her code is 1234. Oops. Well, not that he’ll ever touch that thing.

Fujinomiya takes a picture of the room.

Toshi pretends like it’s the first time he sees it.

It’s… nice? The sunset pouring through the window glows like fire, but the walls are so gray that they dampen this. The single wooden table has seen better days, or decades, or centuries. The bed looks as comfortable as an iron maiden. The single pillow might as well be a piece of fabric, though if she showed up with three cars’ worth of luggage, it’d be strange not to bring bedding of her own.

To say she types fast would be like saying that Pluto is cold. “Are there any rules against livestreaming?” She asks.

“I don’t… maybe? Who cares. As long as you don’t film anyone else.”

“Can I do that now?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Good.” Fujinomiya checks herself on her phone’s camera. She adjusts her fringe. She pulls a strand of hair behind her ear to strategically show her diamond studs. They’re probably sponsored. It’s around that time that Hino shows up carrying half his body weight in luggage, which isn’t nearly as impressive as it sounds given his build. That guy looks like punching him would result in self-injury. Before Toshi can leave, Fujinomiya says, “Wait!” And so he waits. “Move me closer to the window.”

Toshi has done this hundreds of times for dozens of patients, yet there’s something about the way she says it that makes him reply, “You can push the wheels to move forward.”

“Wait, why? Come to think of it, where’s the button?”

“The what.”

She taps one of the armrests. “These things have a button for the wheelchair to move, right? So where is it?”

“Ah…” Toshi pretends to think about it. “I can request one with those features.” He won’t, mostly because they’d ignore him anyway. Why didn’t she bring one? “This one is manual, although I read your chart, Ms. Fujinomiya. Using your upper body should be safe, no? Can you try pushing the wheels as a small exercise?”

“My hands are fine.”

“So, in other words, you can use them to move yourself forward.”

Fujinomiya stares at him. Toshi stares at her. Bizarrely, she complies, even though her assistant is right there. She draws the curtains. “Dim the lights. I don’t like how white everything looks. Also, don’t smoke within a twenty-meter radius of me again. You’re lucky I didn’t report you this time.”

He bursts out laughing, which startles her. “Sorry,” he says. “Anyway, there’s no way to ‘dim’ anything. What you see is what you get. You can order a custom light if you want. Since your bodyguard’s here–”

“He’s not my bodyguard.”

“I’m not her bodyguard.”

“–I’ll let you settle your luggage in peace. You can press the button next to your bed if you need anything. My co-worker will check on you in a bit. What laugh? What smoke? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Anything else I can help you with for now? Great, thanks. Have a wonderful day.”

***

Soujiro waits until the tyrannical demon nurse leaves before he sits on the bed. He takes out his phone to keep playing his stupid gacha games. Koharu knows, she just knows he’s waiting for her to say, ‘I’m done. Let’s get out of here,’ but she won’t, not only because she doesn’t feel that way–yet–but because it’d also mean losing.

As she holds her phone, her hand shakes. Who would’ve known moving a wheelchair would be that taxing? “Soujiro.”

“...yeah…”

“Do I look weird?”

“...no...”

“I think I do. Can you get me my makeup? It’s in the pink suitcase. The other one. The coral one. That one’s fuchsia.”

“They’re all pink!”

“Ugh.” Her left eye has less mascara than the right one. It’s not that noticeable if she tilts her head at the right angle. That’s what she tells herself anyway. Her bad leg is beginning to hurt. One earring is angled slightly lower than the other and she’s only finding out about this now. Her beauty mark doesn’t look beautiful at all. Soujiro keeps digging through the suitcase, so she finally says, “Stop,” and then, “I’m supposed to look vulnerable right now, anyway. Do I look vulnerable? Can you see anything through the curtains?”

“No. No.”

She double-checks just to be sure; after all, a stream with a visible landscape might as well be giving people a map of her location. “...good, but also bad. You’re always so mean to me. Rei would agree with me and feed my arowana.”

“Then why didn’t you bring him? Oh, that’s right, because he would’ve said no. He would’ve told your mom, your mom would’ve called you, and you’d be crying right now at the hospital with A/C, decent signal, a personal chef, and medical staff that don’t commit shameless medical malpractice. But noo, I’m the bad one.”

To shut him up, Koharu hits play. “Hiii! How’s everyone doing? Me? Been better, but I’m trying my best! Yeah, I did decide to breathe some country air after all. It’s been great so far!” She mutes herself. “Soujiro, log into NotKoharu44 and tell the guy with the frog pic to kill hims–”

“No.”

Rei would’ve done it. That guy with the frog profile picture, Kerochanfan, is her nemesis. He keeps logging in to insult her every single time she streams, and she has to pretend like she doesn’t notice. But she does. Sooner than later, Kerochanfan will fall. Against her best wishes, Koharu unmutes herself, then continues to perform.

Her viewership is higher than usual. They were very strict back at the Tokyo hospital, so this is the first time that she’s been able to stream since the accident. She only gave a thirty-minute notice, too. “Thank you so much, everyone! I didn’t think I’d get this many people today!”

she almost died yet she’s looking like a queen

“Soujiro.”

“I said no!”

“Log into NotKoharu1 and like all of Pekopeko’s comments.”

“...alright, fine, that’s more reasonable. One sec.”

where r u? there’s a crack behind the bed ol

girl why are you live go rest

where’s sharky????

Koharu pouts. “Sharky’s back home. He’s being taken care of, though! Don’t worry!”

that fish lives better than me

where are you?

yeah, that place doesn’t look good at all

NotKoharu1 says: you should :))))) go home :)))))))

She flashes Soujiro a look, who gives her a passive-aggressive smile in return, as if misusing her favorite alt wasn’t enough.

Somebody knocks at the door. “Ms. Fujinomiya?”

Said someone sounds not only female, but shockingly young. Koharu has read that Otohama’s population is aged 65 on average. “Hello! Sorry, guys, looks like my doctor is here! Byeee!” She blows a kiss at the camera before ending the stream. Immediately, she logs into NotKoharu44.