Tsuna opened his eyes to pitch darkness, the sound of instruments ticking by.
It didn't take much to tell that it was already night.
After a while, once his eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness, the faint moonlight filtering in from the window finally allowed him to make out the unfamiliar white ceiling.
A dull ache in the back of his head and a stabbing pain in his left arm combined to make him suspect he'd been kidnapped, but the warm bedding and the faint smell of disinfectant in the air immediately dispelled this suspicion.
Clearly, this was a hospital ward.
He must be there now, having been rescued during his coma.
As for who had done this, it was unclear...
Still trying to reason about the cause, Tsuna finally couldn't stand the numbness and tingling in his arm anymore and tried to lift his left hand to investigate.
But lifting and pulling repeatedly proved futile. He finally realized something heavy was holding him down, causing the numbness and tingling.
This noise naturally alerted the culprit who had been holding his hand down.
"Tsunayoshi...?"
He instantly recognized the voice as belonging to Shouko, though it was tinged with tears.
She must have cried for a long time while he was unconscious, feeling a pang of guilt...
"Tsunayoshi, are you feeling unwell? Why aren't you talking?" Shouko asked anxiously, seeing him staring at the ceiling with his eyes open.
"A little thirsty..."
"Oh, I'll get you some water."
Shouko hurriedly rose from her chair, ran to the ward door, and flipped the light switch.
At that moment, Tsunayoshi felt a flash of light before he quickly closed his eyes, only to slowly open them after a moment's adjustment.
"Here, drink some water."
Shouko held a transparent disposable cup out to him. Seeing he lay there motionless, she gently reminded him, "I tried it, it's not hot."
Tsunayoshi's gaze lingered on her slightly red and swollen eyes, and at her gentle urging, he instinctively took the cup from her hand.
He took a sip to moisten his throat, then asked in confusion, "By the way, where are Mom and Dad?"
Tsuna looked around the ward. It was a single ward that couldn't be more ordinary.
There was a bed, a single chair, a toilet, and an instrument on the left bedside table. As for what the instrument was used for, he had no idea.
"Uncle and Aunt were busy at night, so I let them go back to sleep." After saying that, Shouko took out her cell phone from her pocket and showed it to him.
"Sorry to worry you..." Tsuna looked at the time displayed on the phone screen: 2:21 AM.
Shouko saw that he was fine, shook her head, and said nothing more. She took the cup he had drunk from, walked to the side, and poured him another glass of water.
"Go out and call Aunt." Shouko handed him the cup, then walked out of the ward with her cell phone.
Five or six minutes passed, and the door of the ward was opened. Tsuna asked curiously, "How is it? Did Mom say anything?"
Shouko smiled and shook her head, walked to the chair next to his ward, and sat down, "No, my aunt scolded me, saying that I was disturbing her beauty sleep so late."
Seeing that the cup that had just been poured was empty again, she reached out to take it and pour another cup, but he raised his hand to avoid it.
"Huh?"
"No, I'm not thirsty anymore."
"Tsuna, are you hungry? I'll go buy you something to eat, okay?"
Tsuna saw that she wanted to get up again just after she sat down and shook his head to refuse, "I'm not hungry, and it's the middle of the night, where can there be any food to buy?"
Shouko muttered softly when he heard this, "If there's nothing, I'll go home and make it for you. It's not far from home."
She tried to get up again. Seeing this, Tsuna reached out and pushed her back into the chair, explaining, "I'm worried about you, a girl, going out so late, and I'm really not hungry."
"Really!"
Shouko could only nod helplessly, wondering if she could sneak out to buy some food after she got him to sleep.
She thought this plan was feasible! She immediately said, "Tsuna, I'll go turn off the lights. You should get some sleep. Auntie should be bringing breakfast by then."
"Yeah,"
Tsuna observed the expression on her face. Seeing she had no intention of sneaking out, he nodded and removed his hand from her shoulder.
"Click..."
She stood up and quickly walked to the light switch, flipping it on. The ward was plunged into darkness again.
As she returned to her chair, Tsuna's eyes slowly adjusted to the pitch-blackness. The dim light from the equipment allowed him to roughly make out Shouko's outline. He asked with concern, "It must be uncomfortable for you to sleep sitting up, right?"
"No, it's just like when we take a nap at school." Shouko knew he couldn't see her clearly, but she still shook her head.
"How about..." Tsuna hesitated. "How about we squeeze in? I'm not wearing any needles or anything, and it's not uncomfortable anywhere..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he realized he'd said something without thinking. How could Shouko agree to such a thing...
"Okay!" He coaxed Shouko to sleep in bed.
Shouko didn't give him time to react. She stood up and flung the covers off him. She placed her left foot on the heel of her right shoe, and with a slight push, she slipped it off. She did the same with her other foot.
"Move over here, there's no room..."
Tsuna could only move to the empty seat next to him. Seeing Shouko's unceremonious attitude, he didn't think much of it.
Even though they hadn't slept together in ages, no, they'd only shared a bed a month or two ago...
"Tsuna, does the back of your head still hurt?" Shouko lay down, covered herself with the covers, and stared at the ceiling, feeling sorry for him.
"No." Tsuna observed her profile in the moonlight.
Hearing this, Shouko turned over and looked him in the eye, staring into his eyes, trying to tell if he was lying to her.
Feeling the hot breath from his nose, her heart began to panic.
"Aren't you sleepy?" Tsuna asked curiously, seeing her keeping her eyes wide open.
Shouko was still young, so he didn't have much feeling for her. As long as she didn't do anything to tease him, he wouldn't have any big fluctuations in his heart.
Besides, now was not the time for him to think about these things. He was very curious about who had done this.
Shouko shook her head, said nothing, and gently placed her legs on his knees.
Seeing this, Tsuna reached out from under the quilt and gently stroked her eyes, which were a little swollen from crying. Shouko didn't dodge, and let him stroke her gently, but her heart was beating fast.
"Tsuna, it's time to go to bed, and my eyes will be fine after a good night's sleep. It's okay." She saw the pain in his eyes and said soothingly.
(End of this chapter)
Thanks for the review Ashborn7 and 2 chapters delivered.
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