uncomfortably close

Can we take our bodies for granted? I’d never really thought about it before. It’s weird to move again for the first time in weeks. My brain doesn’t recognize my foot anymore. It’s scary.

Post.

Koharu doesn’t do this on her official account, for obvious reasons, but one of her stealth alts instead. It’s a private account whose only followers are bots. It might as well be a diary.

Once she gets that out of her system, she posts the following on her main:

Hellooo everyone! ≽^•⩊•^≼ Sweater weather is around the corner. Do you have any favorite habits? I love a warm croquette during a chilly day!

By now, most of the initial swarm of ‘where are you’ comments has diminished. The general consensus is that she’s somewhere in Kyushu. That’s pretty much it. Many threads related to her location have gone dormant. The world has moved on. There’s another celebrity that did something stupid and is now the target of those who care.

With that said… many is the key word. Almost a month after her transfer, a handful of regulars continue to try and guess her location. One of them got uncomfortably close, but due to Nagumo’s Hakata-ben misdirections, opinions continue to differ. Koharu also works hard to spread misinformation, although… really, even for her, it’s getting tiresome. Why do they care so much?

Her manager is also getting pushy. Many of the cast members of The Day The Last Blade Was Held are working on different projects at the moment, but Koharu isn’t. BECAUSE SHE CAN’T WALK. But her manager seems to conveniently forget about this.

Koharu waits.

Nagumo takes her blood pressure.

Dr. Shimazu checks Koharu’s latest X-rays for an uncomfortably long time, then says, “All clear.” Thankfully, she elaborates: “Starting today, you’ll start gait and partial weight-bearing training. Twenty-five percent should be fine.”

On second thought, there’s nothing to be thankful about. Koharu doesn’t know what any of that means, nor does she care. She just wants to walk. “Thanks.”

Nagumo translates: “You’ll be using crutches.” He shows a paper slip with Koharu’s blood pressure to Dr. Shimazu, who nods, then writes it down again on her clipboard. Koharu is used to this tomfoolery by now. “They should match your height, I think, but we still have to make a few adjustments before the training.”

Come to think of it, Nagumo knows her height (170 cm) and her weight (undisclosed for political reasons). It’s not fair. Now that she’ll finally stand up again–kind of–she’ll be able to more accurately estimate his statistics.

He takes a grand total of ten steps to retrieve said items. They look like torture devices. Koharu is also used to this by now.

As he helps her up, Dr. Shimazu places the crutches on either side of Koharu, transforming her into sandwich filling. Nagumo places an artifact of doom around her waist. So what, he knows her three sizes too now? Is that how it is? Is his hand going to stay there? Like that? Great–Koharu has to suck in her stomach now. “What is this for?” She asks. “It’s like an umbilical cord.”

Nagumo doesn’t miss a beat. “It’s a gait belt. Please try to be normal for the next few minutes. Thanks. Now, at the count of three, you’ll stand on your own without resting your weight on the crutches. Yeah, just like that. Keep the position Dr. Shimazu put you in.”

He’s close.

“One…”

Will he stay this close the whole while?

“Two…”

Koharu is thinking of ‘accidentally’ slipping so she can stab his foot.

“Three.”

She stands.

She does not rest her weight on the crutches.

Everything is great until she almost passes out. Nagumo is quick to catch her, so then it’s even better. “Ah, right, I forgot they get dizzy,” he mumbles.

Dr. Shimazu nods. She’s tugging at the sleeve of her oversized medical coat. Summoning her aura. “It’s been a while, yeah.”

“In this place, they usually lay down forever, not the other way around.”

“Toshi.”

“Fine, sorry.” He’s half a head taller or so. Of course. Of COURSE. “Ms. Fujinomiya, you might feel some discomfort in your leg, which is normal. In order for you to stabilize, I’ll help you back on the bed for a don’t inte–”

“No.”

Since he’s so close, she feels his sigh, silent as it is.

“That’s alright,” Dr. Shimazu says. “Keep her still for a minute.” This is code for ‘if you shove my rival back onto that bed, she’ll throw a tantrum’.

“...sure, sure.”

It’s annoying how nonplussed Nagumo is. Not looks–is. Since her back is basically pressed to his chest, she’d be able to tell if his heartbeat or his breaths raced. But no. To him, she’s just a mass of flesh and hair.

While they wait, Nagumo and Dr. Shimazu talk about people and places Koharu doesn’t know about. She might as well not be there. Of course, she can’t fault two employees who have known each other for so long to engage in small talk, but that doesn’t mean that she has to like it. Whatever. Dr. Shimazu isn’t the one in Nagumo’s arms right now.

“Ms. Fujinomiya, I’ll adjust your hands before you can try walking again.”

She’s about to tell him that he’s being silly and that most people don’t walk with their hands just to get under his skin, but her tongue freezes when his hand brushes hers, gently adjusting her grip on the handle.

“Ready. Let’s try taking one step. I’ll be right behind you if anything happens, so don’t worry.”

Koharu briefly considers weaponizing the crutch, but instead, she swings it forward, taking the first step in weeks. Her leg feels like her heart just dropped down to it. Like it’s a pulsing, fleshy mass. Like she’s turning into an octopus.

“Good. Very good. Let me know if you feel any pain when using your other foot to walk. Do not rest your armpits on the crutches.”

She doesn’t. She knows how it works. It helps to imagine that the last person who used this had very hairy, lice-ridden armpits. “Very good, Ms. Fujinomiya!” Dr. Shimazu claps with the tops of her fingers. “Let’s try moving to the hallway now.”

It’s almost like she’s a toddler again, except marginally more self-aware. Other adults are congratulating her for walking…

Halfway through her hospital runway, a savior appears at the stairs at the end of the hallway. Not Soujiro, who refused to show up (he probably knew she’d tell him to do Nagumo’s job, the traitor…), but Mrs. Matsueda.

Making Nagumo audibly gasp, Koharu takes off… well, kind of. “Matsuuu! Hiii!” Nagumo holds onto the gait belt and barely even budges, but Koharu pretends like she’s swinging herself across the hallway, dramatically glomping Matsu as she tells the kind old lady about how her granddaughter and her future grandson-in-law were excluding her from conversations.

“Grandmother,” Dr. Shimazu mumbles. “You should be resting…”

Matsu ignores her. “Good morning! Glad to see you on your feet, Ms. Fujinomiya! I brought snacks. And friends.”

Mrs. Matsueda is her savior. Mrs. Matsueda is the best thing to ever happen to Koharu ever. (Sadly, she always forgets to take the meat off her snacks.) Now she can exclude those other two from conversations. Make them feel how it’s like. As if this wasn’t enough of a miracle, right behind Matsu emerges Soujiro. “Sorry… I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen…”

“Stop,” Nagumo tells Koharu as she tries to pull both of them forward.

“Soujirooo! Save meee!”

As he climbs the rest of the stairs, Soujiro grimaces. “I knew it would’ve been a mistake not to show up. Just so you know, Fuji Sr. has been–” He freezes.

Koharu stops struggling; she follows his gaze, right towards an equally wide-eyed Dr. Shimazu.

“Um,” Soujiro says. “Good… good morning.”

Dr. Shimazu’s nod looks more like she’s buzzing. “Good morning.”

Nagumo clears his throat. “Hello, Hino, Mrs. Matsueda. Glad to see everyone’s in high spirits. I won’t ask you to leave, but please know that we’re in the middle of a session. Please keep your distance so Ms. Fujino–stop pulling–miya can focus.”

“Soujiro can do it,” Koharu says. “Go see other patients.”

So he knew. He knew she’d been checking his… statistics. “All over what?” Koharu presses.

“...using the wrong posture.”

Coward. 

Meanwhile, Mrs. Matsueda calmly walks by, holding a stack of containers on her way to Koharu’s room. “Just… calm down. I know therapy can be embarrassing, but all of us are here to help.” He moves his foot out of the way before she can stab it with a crutch. He doesn’t even comment on this. “It’ll be easier the more you practice.”

Meanwhile, Soujiro stands at the end of the hallway. She can’t tell what darts around more–his hands or his eyes. As last, he settles for glancing to the side with his hands on his pockets.

Dr. Shimazu unsubtly steps away from him. Her eyes are wide and puppy-like again. “Let’s… let’s continue. Um. To–um. Nagumo. Ms. Fujinomiya. Please continue. Walking.”

“Go on,” Nagumo says, back in nurse mode. “One step at a time. I’m right behind you.” He moves his foot away again before she can stab him.

They’ll see. They’ll all see. “Soujiro,” Koharu begins, swinging the crutches forward. “You were saying? Is mama still hara… harassing you?” Moving while talking is a lot harder than she would’ve thought.

Soujiro nods, then shakes his head. “Not harassing me, just worried about you.”

Another step. “That’s what she always says. You haven’t given her my location, though, I’m sure.”

“...about that…”

Koharu stops; the Nagumo-shaped shadow follows. “What!?”

Soujiro holds up his hands as though he’s getting aimed at with weaponized crutches. “No, no, I haven’t told her yet. Fuji. Please. Finish your exercises.”

“Yet!?”

“Hino,” Nagumo warns.

“Yes.” Soujiro steps back. “Sorry. I thought you guys might’ve needed help, maybe, but I’m clearly just stressing her out.. I’ll be waiting in the lobby.”

“Traitor,” Koharu says.

“Fuji, come on now. Act like an adult for once. I have not told Fuji Sr. about your location.”

“Then why bring it up?”

“Because… because she’s been begging me to tell you to pick up her calls, damn it!”

Soujiro is a traitor. Nagumo is her enemy. Dr. Shimazu is her rival. Matsu is the only one she can count on now, but she’s closer to those three than she is to Koharu, so she’ll probably take their side. Thus, Koharu is alone. Again. That’s all she can ever be apparently. Needless to say, Nagumo and Dr. Shimazu look very uncomfortable now. “I will,” Koharu lies. “And I’ll behave. Go away now.”

The instant she talks with her mom is the instant that her stay at Otohama ends, not only because her mom is incapable of stealth, but because she’s also incapable of keeping a secret. The instant Koharu picks up her call is the moment that reporters, curious onlookers, and Kerochanfans will invade the village.

Of course, she can’t say this, so now she just looks like a spoiled ingrate who hates her parents for no reason. Stupid Soujiro and his stupid tactless obliviousness. Stupid Dr. Shimazu and her aura bewitching all the single men in the area. Stupid Nagumo.

“Keep moving,” Koharu tells him. “And don’t talk to me again.”