The sterile white of the hospital waiting room buzzed under the flickering ceiling lights. Time didn't pass normally here. It pulsed—slow, heavy, and cruel.
Yuu sat in a plastic chair that squeaked every time he shifted. His hands were stained with dried blood—Kenji's blood—and he couldn't stop staring at them. He'd tried to wash them in the restroom, but it hadn't come off completely.
It felt wrong to wash it off anyway.
Across the room, a vending machine blinked in soft blue, offering stale crackers and lukewarm coffee. He hadn't moved in hours. Didn't need food. Couldn't imagine sleep.
He just needed one thing: Kenji to come out of that operating room alive.
The nurse had said the stab wound was serious. Deep, near the liver. He'd lost a dangerous amount of blood. The words echoed over and over in Yuu's mind, no matter how hard he tried to silence them.
Every time someone in scrubs walked into the waiting room, Yuu's head jerked up. Every time, it wasn't for him.
At some point, Nakamura arrived, wide-eyed and winded, coat half-buttoned like he ran out of his apartment without thinking.
"I came as soon as I heard," he said breathlessly, sitting beside Yuu.
Yuu didn't speak for a long time. His jaw was clenched too tightly. His heart too broken open.
"Did they get him?" Yuu finally asked, voice hoarse.
Nakamura nodded solemnly. "The cops picked Souta up behind the building. He didn't get far."
Good.
But it didn't fix anything. Not yet.
"Kenji told me once," Yuu murmured, staring straight ahead, "that the hospital was the first place he realized he was finally free from him."
Nakamura stayed quiet, listening.
"And now…" Yuu swallowed, rubbing his eyes. "Now we're back here. Again."
Silence.
Then, a soft voice: "Mr. Hayama?"
Yuu snapped his head up.
A doctor stood in the doorway. Mid-forties, kind eyes, blood on her gloves. Yuu's heart dropped.
"Kenji made it through surgery," she said gently. "He lost a lot of blood, but we were able to stop the internal bleeding and stabilize him. He's in recovery now."
Yuu choked on a breath. His knees buckled slightly.
"He's okay?" he asked.
"He's alive," she said. "He's weak, and he'll need time. But yes. He's going to make it."
Yuu didn't realize he was crying until Nakamura put a hand on his back.
"Can I see him?"
The doctor nodded. "Soon. Let him wake up first. We'll come get you."
Yuu sat back down, this time letting the tears fall. Relief crashed over him like a wave, shaking every inch of him.
He didn't care how long the recovery would take.
Didn't care what came next.
Kenji was alive.
That was all that mattered.