The Collection - Chapter 12
Akane woke up to the sound of the rain. She stretched and that’s when she noticed that Tomohisa was still next to her. She looked at the clock, it was 7 in the morning. She was surprised he was still there. When he went to the office and her house he was usually gone by that time. Yes, she did know that was odd and she had pondered about it. She had thought he might be married, but she dismissed that. She would have heard about a wife in her months in the office. Other theories included vampires, werewolves and the idea that he might be superman in disguise, but since the news weren’t plagued by the stories of a man of steel she stopped imagining and hoped he would just tell her some day.
Anyway, she was happy he was still there. She looked at him, lying in her sheets, his was partly uncovered and even though Akane was enjoying the view, it was rather cold even inside the apartment. She grabbed the covers and covered them both and then wrapped herself around him. She felt his arms coming about her and holding her close.
“You woke up he said.” He said
“Yes. I think you overslept.”
“No, I woke up some time ago, but it was raining too hard for me to leave.” Akane repressed it, but she did feel a little disappointed that that was the reason he had stayed. “And you were all cute and warm and I just couldn’t bring myself to leave the bed and go into the cold.” He added nuzzling her neck. Okay, that made her feel better.
“You still have to go, tho?”
He sighed and said: “Yeah, and soon.”
“Okay, then let’s have some breakfast before you do.”
They had breakfast and then Akane walked with him to the door.
“Are you sure you have to leave? You are gonna get soaked jut by going to your car.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll call you later.” He said and put his lips on hers and lingered there. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
Akane had been right, he had gotten soaked going from her apartment to his car even with the umbrella. He had turned up the heat in his car but he was still freezing so he was very glad when he reached his house. He went in and debated between taking a hot shower of seeing to his dolls first. He looked at the watch, 9:30. He had been away too long. He changed his clothes and got the food, he would take the shower afterwards.
He went down the stairs and put on the hoodie and then covered his head and he started his round right about Purple’s room he started sneezing.
When he got to Pink’s room she talked. She had been talking to him all those months, so he wasn’t surprised anymore.
“I thought you’d forgotten about us.” He didn’t answer. “I’m glad you are back.” He sneezed again. “Are you okay?” She asked in a sweet voice. He nodded once and left the room. He really needed that hot shower. Shivering a little he made his way up the stairs and into his room he removed his clothes and got into the shower. After that he felt a little better but after working at his computer he was tired. He went to bed.
He woke up at 1 and got up. His head hurt a little and so did his muscles. He took two aspirins and prepared the food. He didn’t drug any of the plates; he wasn’t feeling up to it.
When he got up again, he was definitely worse. He got up out of habit and went into the kitchen. Prepared the food and went down the stairs. He went through every room. He sensed them looking at him but none of them talked. Except Pink.
“Are you okay.” He nodded. “You don’t seem to be.” He felt a hand on his. He didn’t hear her approach; he must be really distracted, he hadn’t noticed he had gotten so close to her. Her hand was cold he noticed.
From under the hood he looked at her. She released his hand and tentatively reached his face and touched him gently.
“You have a fever.” She said. The room was spinning a little now. “You need to go to bed and you need someone to take care of you.”
Her face was a little blurry; the lights were stinging his eyes.
“I can do that if you let me. Then I’ll come back here but you can’t be alone. It’s okay I’ll take care of you.” She moved her thumb on his cheek. He was so tired and everything hurt.
“A-Aka…” he stated to mumble but then his sight sharpened for a moment. It wasn’t Akane. He shook his head a little and stepped back then he left the room unsteadily.
Unsteadily he walked up the stairs and went to his room. He found his cell phone and dialed.
Akane answered the phone.
“Hello.”
“Akane, it’s me. I- I need you. Please come.”
“Tomohisa? What’s wrong?”
“Will you please come? Don’t tell anybody but please come.”
“Of course I’ll go. Give me the address.” She wrote down the address and left. She ran down and got into her car.
This was her chance; she had to convince him to let her go. He hadn’t looked good before and he looked worse now. She was actually a little worried about him but dismissed the idea, the last thing she needed, that they all needed, was for her to start developing Stockholm syndrome or something.
The he shook his head and left. Sank to the floor. She had failed.
“Yuuko.” It was Takara’s voice. “Yuuko what happened?”
Yuuko got closer to the wall. “I’m sorry. He left. I thought he might… but he left. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Yuuko. We all knew it was a long shot.” They had agreed that Yuuko would try to become his friend but it had failed.
“So? What happened?” Shouted Rin.
“He left, Yuuko is still here.” Answered Takara.
“Well, so much for that idea. I knew it! Just another disappointment”
“I’m sorry. I really thought I could do it” said Yuuko.
“It’s her fault. She tried and it didn’t work, it’s more that what you’ve done.” said Takara.
“Nobody blames Yuuko for anything, right Rin?” Said Keiko in a conciliatory tone.
“Yeah, sorry.” said Rin. “I’m just frustrated with everything.”
“What now?” Purple asked.
After a few seconds Rin answered: “We could hope for him to die and then try to break the fucking walls to get out.”
“Break the wall?” asked Takara in disbelief.
“Well, the chains are strong and we can’t reach the door, but the walls are thin. They have to be for us to be able to talk to each other.”
“I think we should wait to see if he comes back, if he doesn’t, we might as well try Rin’s idea.”
“So we wait,” said Keiko
“We wait.” Echoed Shigeko
Akane finally got to the address, it wasn’t easy to find. She got off the car and went to the door. She found the spare key where he’d told her she’d find it.
She went in and looked in the rooms until she found him. He was lying on the bed still in his red t-shirt and black jeans. Akane ran to the bed.
“Tomohisa? Can you hear me?” He moves his head towards his voice but didn’t open his eyes or answered. She touched his forehead, he was scorching hot and his breathing was labored.
“I need to take your clothes off and put you to bed, can you help me?” With a big effort she managed to remove the t-shirt and the pants and somehow got him under the covers.
She ran out of the room and started looking for the kitchen. The first door she opened lead to a stair way, “the kitchen wouldn’t be in the basement” she thought and moved on. Finally she got to the kitchen. She opened a cabinet door, glasses. Another, some plastic plates and plastic cups in different colors. In the third she found what she was looking for: a big bowl. She opened the fridge and she was relieved to see ice cubes in it.
She went back to his room, filled the bowl with water and put in the ice cubes. She went back to the side of the bed and with a towel she wiped his forehead, face and neck. Then she applied cold towels to his wrists and ankles. She had to get the fever down.
She looked at his face, it was flushed, his lips opened to take in air and his eyes were moving behind his eyes.
She combed his hair with her fingers. “You’ll be fine. I’m here.” she said and kissed his forehead.
Akane spent the next day getting his fever down and then trying to feed him some soup. He was much better now, but he was still asleep. In the second day his fever went down considerably, though it was still high. He was breathing much better, too.
She felt hungry, so she went into the kitchen to make herself something to eat. Tomohisa was much better so she figured she could spare some time looking for something to read next to his bed until he woke up. She hadn’t seen any books in his room, maybe he had a studio? She opened a door. Wow, it wasn’t a studio it was a home theatre with a huge screen and a big sofa that looked like the most comfortable thing ever…
Yamashita woke up. Everything hurt and even lying down, he felt weak. He moved his head tentatively. To his left he saw Akane sitting on a chair. She had bags under her eyes. He could remember bits and parts, her pressing a cold towel to his forehead, her talking to him.
She looked exhausted now. He tried to speak but his throat was too parched and it sounded more like a croak. Akane looked up and saw he was awake. She immediately stood up and got him a glass of water. She helped him get his head up and held the glass for him.
“Thank you.” He said. She smiled a little.
“How long…?”
“You’ve been out for 3 days.”
“3 days?” he had been sleeping for 3 days? He had to get up. He tried to, but Akane put her hands on his shoulder and pressed him back down on the bed.
“You are not well enough to be walking around yet” she said. She looked exhausted and weary? Probably just exhausted, if she’d been taking care of him for 3 days straight. “But,” she continued. “You are well enough that I can go back to town to get some things.” She hesitated and added “aren’t you?” He nodded. He didn’t want her to go but…
“I’ll be back soon. Do you want me to help you get to the bathroom, get a bath?”
“No, I’m fine, really. Go, you must be sick and tired of being locked up in here.”
“I know.” She interrupted. She got closer and kissed him sweetly. “I’ll be back in a little bit.” She kissed him again and left.
She must have been very tired because she wasn’t talking as usual.
Yamashita heard the car leaving. He had to get up.
He went into the bathroom. Slowly. He was weaker than he thought.
He took a shower. After 3 days, how could Akane stand being next to him?
The shower took longer than he expected. He made his way into the kitchen and set about fixing food for his dolls. He had to hurry. It hadn´t been a good idea to call Akane here but he had needed her and he was so happy he had come to help him.
“I’ve already fed them.” Yamashita froze. No, no, it couldn’t be...
CH01 - CH02 - CH03 - CH04 - CH05 - CH06 - CH07 - CH08 - CH09 - CH10 - CH11 - - CH13 - CH14 (Final)