I hid my face in my hands as I silently screamed into the void.
Kitahara Jo whistled, the smirk on his face simultaneously wry and proud. "How bold." He said, his amusement growing as he noticed how red my cheeks had become. "But, come on. Doing the deed in the hospital? Were you two really that-?"
His instincts suddenly rang, and he stepped aside just in time to evade a devastating kick from a less than amused Belno Light. A thin bead of sweat trailed down his forehead as he grinned. He was pretty sure the bones in his back would've been ground to dust if that kick had hit him.
Belno sighed, before she turned back to me and smiled. "It's good to see you awake, Star."
I managed a weak smile, still hiding most of my face behind my hands. "T-T-Thank y-you." I whispered, squirming slightly as I tried my next attempt of escaping from this awkward position I'd found myself in.
I failed. Oguri's grip on me was unbreakable, and she kept carrying me like a princess, uncaring of the dozens of eyes that followed us as we walked into the hospital lobby. If anything, Oguri even looked proud, as if she was showing the world that I belonged to her and her alone.
My cheeks turned even redder at the thought, and my ears flattened onto my head as I silently screamed.
But I knew I couldn't hide myself forever, and though it didn't seem like Oguri would be letting go of me anytime soon, I could at least get things moving along.
Slowly, I lowered my hands, and though my cheeks remained slightly red, I forced myself to remain calm. "So, how long has it been?" I asked. It was naturally the thing I was most curious about. Time had flowed strangely in that dream world; it simultaneously felt I'd been there for only a few minutes and also a few weeks.
"A couple weeks." Kitahara answered casually, tugging his cap down as he grinned. "I was afraid that you'd be asleep for longer and miss the [Arima Kinen], but it looks like luck's on our side this time around!" His expression then dimmed slightly. "That's assuming you want to, of course. If you don't want to participate, you don't need to force yourself."
I opened my mouth for a moment, before I pursed my lips. "There's still a week, right?" I asked. Kitahara and Belno nodded together, and I hummed. "I'll think about it."
Well, I probably would run in the [Arima Kinen] anyway. This would probably be the last chance I'd have to run in the [Arima Kinen] for who knows how long, so I didn't want to miss it. And besides, there would be no better send-off to my career in Japan than to run in one of the most prestigious G1 races the country had to offer.
But I'll need some time, mostly to see how I fared now that I no longer had the System with me.
Kitahara nodded. "Good choice. Gotta see if you can still hold out after sleeping for so long." His eyes then sharpened. "You're fine, right? No pain? Nothing?"
I smiled softly. "I'm fine, I'm fine~" I threw out a peace sign as I winked. "The White Comet's back in action!"
Kitahara was quiet for a moment, before he suddenly walked forward and wrapped me into a hug. His posture was a little awkward—I was still in Oguri's arms after all—but he showed no discomfort as he held me close. "I'm glad." He said, his voice trembling slightly. "Just-, don't do that again."
"Mm." Belno joined in, squeezing between us before she wrapped me in another hug. "It was really scary, Star. I don't-, I never want to see you like that again. Never again." Her grip on me grew almost painful. "Please."
My eyes softened. "Sorry." I eventually said as I pulled them both into a group hug. "I got a little carried away." I was quiet for a moment, before I closed my eyes. "I just-, I wanted to win."
"I know, and I'm so glad." Kitahara took a deep breath. "Just be careful, okay?"
I hummed. "Yeah."
And all the while, Oguri was smiling softly. Beyond anything, she was just glad that everything was over. She wouldn't claim that she fully understood what exactly Star had been unknowingly embroiled into—her friend never elaborated—but her friend told her that things were over now.
Things were over.
That was enough.
…
Eventually, one of the nurses approached and told us that a doctor was waiting for us. After all, even though I knew I was fine, no one else knew that. There were still a handful of checkups I needed to go through, just to reassure everyone that I really was fine.
Strangely, the doctor who'd been waiting for us turned deathly pale when he saw us enter, and his hands began trembling uncontrollably, but he still began the checkup as if nothing was wrong.
And–
"I…" The doctor began, staring at the full report like it personally offended him. So much so that it seemed to make him forget about whatever had caused him so much fear just moments before. "I don't even know anymore." He sounded completely defeated as he ran a hand across his bald head. "Frankly, I don't ever want to see you in this hospital ever again, Blossom-san."
I grinned as I received the report from him. "I'll take that as a compliment." I said as I began skimming the report.
The results were as I expected: A miraculous healing that'd swept across every corner of my body. All the cracks on my body, gone. The bruises and torn muscles, healed. My broken bones, renewed. My lungs and heart, now even healthier than they were before the race. Overall, it was almost as if someone performed a factory reset on my body. And in a sense, that wasn't wrong—that was essentially my System's final gift before it left me.
If there was one thing that starkly stood out to everything else;
I frowned slightly. "A fifth compartment?" I read out, my eyebrow slightly raised.
The doctor sighed as he messaged his eyes. "Yes. That is the best way we could describe it." He frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest. "After multiple scans of your heart, we discovered that there was a 'fifth compartment' that we're unable to scan." He shook his head. "Any method we attempted failed. Any scan we performed returned only white noise."
Behind me, Kitahara unconsciously frowned as the doctor rattled off his grievances. He wasn't actually annoyed or anything—he was simply worried that there existed something strange in body that couldn't be explained.
But the doctor clearly didn't see it that way, and his face quickly paled as he cleared his throat. "A-Apologies." He said, attempting a weak smile. "I…I must be more tired than I thought."
I tilted my head, confused at the sudden change in the man's attitude. "Uh, yeah. Sure." I turned back to the report, reading some of the hypotheses put out regarding this 'fifth compartment'. "So-, you think it's causing the 'scar' on my chest to glow?"
The doctor quietly sighed at the sudden change in topic. "We cannot be sure, of course, but we believe this to be the most likely option." He then turned to Oguri. "Especially since we have detected this same compartment in Oguri-san's heart."
I remained quiet for a moment before I glanced at Oguri, who was sitting right next to me, her hand gently holding mine. She seemed entirely nonplussed at the fact that she effectively had a new organ within her body.
I hummed.
The more I thought about it, the more it felt like this had something to do with my {Soul of Bravery}. Or in Oguri's case, her {Soul of Strength}. Maybe this 'fifth compartment' was something that symbolized our metamorphosis into Demigods, especially since it seemed to be connected to the constellations on our chests.
Of course, these ideas were nothing but conjectures. I'd have to see if Secretariat's heart also contained this same 'compartment' for my theory to hold more weight.
Anyway,
"That aside, I assume I'm free to go then?" I asked, smiling slightly as I placed the report back onto the desk. "After all, I feel like we've been in the hospital for long enough."
Of course, I mostly meant that I just wanted to be out. I've never had any particularly pleasant memories about hospitals, and the more I remained here, the more I'm reminded of my previous life. The faint smell of antiseptic was making me sick.
But then the doctor suddenly sprung up, standing so fast that he knocked his chair back. His eyes were wide and dull as he stared at me, as if shocked to hear me say those words. "W-What?" I asked, inching back slightly at the almost reverent gaze he sent my way.
"We…We can go home…?" He whispered, sounding both afraid and hopeful.
I stared for a moment before I smiled. "Uh, obviously?"
And the moment I said that–
"WE CAN GO HOME!!" The man shouted, before he rushed out of the room, laughing and crying all the while. I stared at the door he'd slammed open in undisguised shock, my jaw having fallen wide open as I began hearing other nurses and doctors cheering and crying with joy.
"...what the fuck?"
Belno sighed as she held her forehead. Oguri just quietly hummed, more occupied with holding my hand. And Kitahara just chuckled, smiling wryly as he pulled his cap down.
"Let's just say that a lot happened while you were asleep." He said.
"Define 'a lot'." I said.
He grimaced for a moment, before he began telling me what'd happened over the past two weeks.