When It Rains

Ichiro felt like his world was crumbling around him.

It all just happened so quickly that he still couldn’t wrap his mind around it all.

Hesitantly, Ichiro turned his attention from his shoulder to the frowning doctor standing before him, whose eyes were clearly filled with worry over the results he was studying. Ichiro asked the question that weighed heaviest on his heart, “I can still play, right?”

Wincing a bit before shifting his sight from the notes to the teen before him, the doctor forced a reassuring smile. “Of course, but you need to rest that shoulder of yours first.” Though the doctor tried his best to reassure the young athlete, it wasn’t enough to convince Ichiro that his future wasn’t over already.

It was surprising how quickly everything fell apart for him. It was only a few short hours ago that he was in practice with the rest of his team, warming up for a scrimmage before the season would begin. He had given several practice pitches already when suddenly there was a sharp pop in his shoulder.

Those moments were still replaying in his mind as he gripped his elbow, hung in a sling provided by the hospital. “How long?” Ichiro pressed the doctor for answers while he kept his gaze locked on his sore arm, “When can I play again?” His voice quivered, a blend of hope and anxiety intertwined within his words.

Uncomfortably adjusting his collar, the gray-haired doctor considered his words before answering, "Um, well, let's establish a rehabilitation schedule for you first. After that, we can discuss your return to the field, OK?”

***

Outside the hospital, Ichiro stared up at the skies above from beneath the outdoor overhang. The doctor’s words still hung heavily on him.

Frustration and apprehension weighed heavily on him, causing him to slump back into the curved wooden seat and gaze aimlessly. Thoughts of what his friends would think of him missing class and his team playing matches without him swirled in his mind. Deep down, he worried about his standing in the school as both an exemplary student and athlete, sinking him further into despair.

Making matters worse, the skies had opened up and released a torrential downpour, preventing him from leaving without risking being soaked to the bone. In the swing of the moment as they rushed him off the field and to the hospital, the coaches had forgotten to grab his ball bag which had all of his equipment, including his change of clothes out of his ball uniform. So he sat there awkwardly on the hospital bench in his dirt-caked cleats.

Though even if they had remembered to bring that to him, it wouldn’t have mattered. The forecast called for clear skies all week, so Ichiro had left his umbrella at home without a second thought.

It wouldn’t be so bad if he had someone to come and pick him up, but his parents were both busy with their work and couldn’t leave. Not that he expected things to be different. He had long since grown accustomed to coming home late in the evening to a completely empty house. He understood the circumstances and had no issues with it. This, in the end, was no surprise to him.

So instead, he watched the relentless downpour from the heavens above and sighed silently to himself. “Geez…”

“Yeah, I know.”

The sudden appearance of a voice beside him nearly caused Ichiro to jump out of his skin. It seemed like only seconds before that he was sitting alone, but turning his eyes to where the voice had come from revealed a teen girl sitting on the edge of the bench with him. She, too, was gazing up at the cascading rain with wide eyes and a soft smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Dressed lightly in a hospital gown, she rubbed her arms together to ward off the chill of early spring.

Turning to return his gaze, shot him a goofy grin, “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Ichiro had no idea how long she had been there and only stared across at her in utter confusion.

The teen girl giggled at the sight of his perplexed expression, causing her obsidian hair to sway around her slender shoulders. Turning her gaze back to him, she teased, “What, cat got your tongue? Or are you deaf? Mute, maybe?”

He wasn’t sure how to respond, just barely realizing he had been questioned at all. Shaking his head to regain his senses, he stumbled on his words, “What’s beautiful?”

With his returned question, she narrowed her eyes with a disapproving glower and scoffed under her breath, “Figures you wouldn’t either…” As she trailed off her sentence, she shook her head from side to side while she answered him in her lackluster way, but ended with her eyes cast up again.

The suddenness and severity of her heel-turn in demeanor caused a growing pain to form in Ichiro’s head. Cupping his head in his head, he prepared to alleviate it by leaving for a more quiet bench. But he was halted by another question posed to him.

“So what are you in for?”

He stayed motionless, wondering what she was referring to, only turning his head to ask the simple question. “Huh?”

Just barely tearing her eyes away from the rain, she nodded sideways at his arm in the sling, “What happened? With your arm?”

Following her gaze, he instinctively clutched his elbow with his free hand. “I bruised the muscle in my shoulder or something.”

“And you won't be able to play?”

He was stunned for a moment. “How’d you-?”, he wondered aloud but was cut short by her sudden snickering.

“Your uniform kinda gives it away.” She pointed while covering her mouth while she continued to giggle at his expense.

Realizing his folly and frustrated with himself for being so easily teased, Ichiro let out a sigh before gazing out at the rain again. “For now. They say I have to undergo physical therapy before I can play again. It's so annoying…”

His worries over his chances of playing again quickly return to cloud his heart. But that wasn’t enough to prevent another fear from taking over him.

As his voice trailed off, he could sense the girl's gaze shifting from the rain onto him, lingering intently. A chill ran up his spine, causing him to unconsciously distance himself from the peculiar girl at the end of the bench. “Are you OK?” he hesitantly questioned her, feeling an instinctive urge to pull away further.

Her face remained devoid of emotion for what felt like several minutes. Her deep, inky eyes seemed to peer not at him but through him, observing and deciphering. Then, her expression morphed into the mischievous smirk he had seen previously.

“Guess that means we will be seeing each other for a while then, huh?” she replied, her brows raising in a knowing look at him.

“What?” Ichiro asked, his mind struggling to connect the dots, “You are here for physical therapy too?”

Her face morphed once again to a look of pure discontent with his question. A brow raising incredulously with a doubtful smirk, “Seriously? You’re kidding, right?”

It took Ichiro several moments to notice, his mouth was left agape, unable to comprehend what he had missed. He tried to speak, but his mind’s gears were left steaming with no progress.

Suddenly, the teen stretched her arms above her head and puffed out her chest before speaking through a large yawn, “Well, I think it's about time I got back to my room. Thanks for indulging me for a while.”

As she finished speaking, there was a peculiar click, followed by her effortlessly gliding backward through the bench. Or, at least, that was what Ichiro thought he had seen. Like his head on a swivel, he watched as she glided effortlessly behind him with the soft whirring of metallic clicks proceeding her. She stopped directly behind him and playfully patted him on the back.

“The name's Izumi, by the way,” she said, continuing to glide away from him towards the hospital's sliding door. Just before entering the building, she turned over her shoulder and waved. “Remember that when we see each other again. Bye.”

As the sliding doors closed behind her, obscuring his view, Ichiro was left almost completely turned around on the bench to watch her leave, completely stunned by the enigmatic girl. But some oddities were beginning to make sense to him.

For one, she hadn't been sitting on the bench with him; she had been beside it.

“She is,” he muttered to himself, unable to tear his gaze away from the spot where he had last seen her, “in a wheelchair.”

It took him several minutes to regain his senses and sit back properly in his seat again. Once again, he was left alone, staring up at the clouds as they churned above. With an uneven sigh, he wiped his palms on his uniform pants. He couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling growing in his chest.