An Honest Liar
sat in front of a huge window one afternoon, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain against the cold glass. Her eyes weren’t moving when she stared outside, overlooking the dark hospital grounds and the main street that lay behind, cars zooming by with bright yellow lights. The street was lined with blinking signs, advertising Christmas sales.
sniffed and pressed one hand against the window. It was cold and dank, her room was tiny and dark and smelled too much of antiseptic to breathe properly. But going home and staying there was out of the question.
Two months ago, was diagnosed with Tachycardia, and her parents had decided to let her stay at the hospital. And although it wasn’t sure yet if her disease was only normal instead of abnormal, had the feeling as if her life had already stopped after stepping into hospital.
“When are you coming back home?” ’s little brother always asked, but she could only shake her head and say that she didn’t know.
“This sucks,” muttered and got up from her chair, the legs scraping over the cold tiling and echoing in the four white walls. She turned around and looked at her bedside table, cards and pictures and a bouquet of flowers lining its surface. picked up one of the framed pictures and brushed her hand over the thin glass. She saw herself smiling up at her- long, brown hair framing her pretty but pale face, her eyes sparkling mischievously. The boy next to had slung an arm around her shoulder and was looking at her, smiling brightly. His long silver bangs were hanging in front of his eyes and the end of his hair was pulled in a short rat-tail.
Niou Masaharu and had been friends for several years now, getting to know each other in their first year of high school during a project for their Biology course. They hit it off immediately and spent a lot of their free time together, talking about this and that and making fun behind other people’s backs.
A teardrop clear as crystal dropped onto the open space between Niou and ’s heads and dripped down onto the floor, leaving a tiny wet spot next to ’s left foot.
put the picture aside, letting herself fall onto the soft cushion of her bed and started to cry bitterly.
***
“God, Niou, that’s so pants!” laughed and snagged the picture out of Niou’s hands. “Can’t you even express a single emotion in your drawings?!”
Niou grumbled and leaned back against ’s bed. They were staying over at ’s house to finish their paintings for Art; Niou was seated on the floor while was lying on her bed, examining the crappy picture Niou had drawn, chuckling loudly.
“What’s that even supposed to be?” she asked and handed the paper back. “Boondocks?”
“Actually,” Niou began and turned around to glare at the girl behind him, “it’s a single flower. But it looks more like your garden, I’m sorry.” And he ducked his head to avoid getting hit.
sighed and leaned back, staring at the ceiling of her room. A soft breeze swept in through the crack of her window, rustling the curtains. sniffed, turned her head and reached out to play with the strands of Niou’s hair.
“You know, I’m very glad to have you as a friend, Niou,” she said after a while and smiled when she saw Niou’s puzzled facial expression. “You calm me down and you care for me. It’s … no, I’m truly glad.”
“I’ll always be your friend, ,” Niou whispered and leaned closer. “But I don’t know if friends are supposed to do this.” And he grabbed the back of ’s head and kissed her hard on the mouth. The kiss didn’t last long and stopped abruptly when pushed Niou away. She blinked and stared at him, shocked and irate.
“You jerk!” hissed and got up from her bed, shoving her elbow into Niou’s shoulder. “If a kiss doesn’t mean anything to you, you shouldn’t do it, ok?!”
“Who said it didn’t mean anything to me?” Niou asked and got up as well, approaching who was leaning against her bedroom door.
“I did.” flinched when Niou leaned in again. “Besides, should I believe a liar?”
“I think you should,” Niou smirked and closed the distance between them.
***
“Yo,” Niou said when he walked into the room the next day, waving at . He smirked and held up a plastic bag. “I bought cake.”
smiled when Niou sat down on the end of her bed, bouncing on it a few times and creaking the mattress. He unpacked two pieces of strawberry cake with cream and sliced strawberries on top, and handed one over to who accepted the plate gratefully.
“Did you know that I love strawberry cake?” asked and winked. She picked up the plastic fork which was lying next to Niou and dug into the creamy and buttery paste. Niou just smiled and looked at when she tasted a small piece of the strawberry cake, the cream melting away on the tip of her tongue.
“Wow! That’s so delicious!” exclaimed and looked up at Niou, her eyes huge and shiny. “I can’t even remember the last time I ate a cake. Thank you so much, Niou.”
Niou laughed when he heard that and put his plate aside, leaning back on ’s bed and stretching out his lanky legs. “Now I know why you’ve grown thin over the past weeks,” he said and winked, brushing a hand through his silver bangs.
glared at Niou.
“Don’t make fun of the sick!” she hissed, but they both started laughing soon, Niou clutching his stomach and leaning back against her raised pillow. The plate was lying on her thighs while she held the plastic fork in her right hand, the strawberry cake long forgotten. Spending time with Niou had always been the best medicine.
After a while, Niou broke the silence that had settled in, moving closer to ’s outstretched legs.
“The brat’s going to have his last tennis match next weekend,” he said and cupped his cheek with his left hand. He looked at out of the corner of his eyes and sighed. “It’s already winter but the high school tennis club still keeps going on when it comes to playing regional matches.”
“Oh, you were referring to Akaya?” asked and blinked.
“Of course!” Niou laughed. “He’s the only one who’s still going to school, isn’t he?”
’s smile fell. “It’s already quite long ago since I’ve last seen him,” she murmured and closed her eyes, breathing in the disgusting hospital scent full of antiseptic, sickness and death. “I wish I could go and see him play.”
An uncomfortable silence swept in. folded her hands and opened her eyes again, and Niou reached out to take one of her hands in his own. It was clammy and warm but it still felt good.
“We could ask your parents if you’re allowed to come along and watch the game with us. It’s in Tokyo, and Yagyuu, Sanada and Marui are coming as well – they don’t have to worry that something could happen to you …”. Niou smiled encouragingly and tightened the grip around her hand.
hummed in agreement, tugging the thick, white blanket around herself and closing her eyes again.
***
The train to Tokyo was packed. sat by the window, her red coat tugged tightly around her so that she wouldn’t catch a cold. Niou sat beside her, across the aisle from Yagyuu, Sanada and Marui. Sanada and Yagyuu were quietly talking about the upcoming match, cracking little in-jokes about the team Akaya would have to go up against, while Marui listened to his mp3 player. Niou was staring out of the window, his leg pressed against ’s.
After half an hour, it started snowing outside - white little flakes were swirling down onto Tokyo while their train rattled loudly through the countryside. pressed her hand against the window which had started to steam up and sighed tiredly.
“What’s up?” Niou asked and turned around to look at him. He had dark circles around the eyes and his bangs were hanging in front of them, plain and lifeless. “Aren’t you glad that we could convince your parents and the medics?” He leaned back in his seat and looked at out of the corner of his eyes. Marui was slurping a package of orange juice, the sound drowning the other people’s conversations out.
“Of course I am!” snapped and stirred in her seat. “Running around with a box of pills in your bag, thinking that you might collapse any second isn’t that nice, though.”
Niou stared at with raised eyebrows but didn’t say anything.
The next stop was theirs, and they got up to push themselves through a group of girls in skirts and oversized jackets. They followed Sanada through the station and out of it- no one beside him had ever been here before, and he still seemed to know the way to the tennis courts Akaya would play on.
They stopped at a tiny yakiniku restaurant which Marui had spied out and got something to eat before moving on. Niou and weren’t talking to each other the whole time; she was walking ahead with Sanada while Niou and Yagyuu were talking quietly.
***
“I can’t believe that you’re skipping tennis practice!” frowned and smacked Niou’s forehead. She was sitting on one of the benches in the park near their school grounds, swinging her legs back and forth and enjoying the soft spring breeze that had sprung up. Niou was wearing his school uniform, his tie hanging loosely around his neck.
“You said you wanted to talk to me,” Niou smirked, sat down beside and put an arm around her slender waist. “Besides, I wanted to see you anyway.”
“Oh, you’re such a liar, Niou!” laughed and slapped his arm away. She didn’t move away from him, though, sitting there quietly and looking at the boy next to her out of the corner of her eyes. “And I didn’t say that I wanted to talk to you right now.”
“Well,” Niou began and leaned back, brushing a hand through his messy silver hair. “But it’s the perfect excuse to skip tennis practice even though I might have to run laps later.”
When didn’t reply Niou cocked his head and blinked. “So what did you wanna-“
“I haven’t been feeling well lately.”
Niou’s smirk vanished from his face and he turned around to look at the petite girl next to him. He had already noticed that had grown thinner over the past weeks but he had put the blame on the graduation exams and the continuous fights with her parents.
“I … I’m not sure how to explain it because you’re actually the first one I’m telling this but …,” stopped talking and looked at Niou, probably searching for a sign that he was listening, a sign that he cared about the things she was about to tell him. “I have trouble breathing properly and it even went so far that I collapsed a few days ago.”
’s eyes were huge and watery when she looked up the second time, clutching her chest as if her breathing was about to stop abruptly.
“I’m scared, Niou,” she said, her voice shaking. “I’m so scared.”
Niou reached out and embraced , his bangs tickling her face. He didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t even sure what to do.
“Rescue me, Niou,” whispered and tears started to run down her cheeks. “Rescue me.”
***
The bleachers around the courts were packed even though it was cold and snowing lightly. Students with blue, green or red jerseys were strolling around, some of them eating, some of them talking loudly about the upcoming matches. Akaya’s team was already lining up on the courts as Niou, Yagyuu, Sanada, Marui and sat down in one of the middle rows, and their yellow uniforms were shining brightly in the dusty winter sun.
Akaya waved to them when he spotted Niou’s bleached head of hair in the crowd, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“Rikkai’s going to slaughter the other team,” Marui said and shifted beside , following with a crack of his apple gum. “I mean, just take a look at them.” And Niou and Marui started to snicker while taking a look at the other team in their grey-red uniforms, standing behind the net and looking at Rikkai as if they were their worst nightmare.
brushed a strand of hair out of her face and looked down onto the courts. Her hands were shaking, her fingers numb, so she stuffed them into the pockets of her coat.
The snow didn’t stop once the first match started and Yagyuu rummaged through his bag to pull out a wee, black umbrella. “Here, you can have it,” he said and handed the umbrella over to who nodded in thanks. Her throat was feeling dry and sandy and she had the feeling as if a scratchy loop had found its way around her neck, pulling tighter and tighter with every passing second.
’s heart began to beat faster when her eyes followed the match like bouncing pin-balls, her hands clutching the umbrella’s handle in a tight grip. Not now, she thought and tried to smile when Akaya’s team-mates scored a point and high fived each other. Please, not now.
“I … I think I’ll get something to drink,” said after a while and got up from her seat. Niou looked up, but turned around when she felt his burning gaze, picking up her handbag and wandering off. ’s shoes made scrunching noises on the snow when she walked up the bleachers, breathing heavily and clutching her chest.
Don’t stop beating, she thought anxiously and pushed the chainlink fence gates open. Not now. Not here.
“Oi! !” she heard someone call out, and when turned around she spotted Niou in the crowd, walking up the stairs behind her. But she didn’t even notice the umbrella slipping out of her cold hand, not until it hit the ground with a soft clatter. ’s gaze swirled when she tried to pick it up again, her hands reaching out, grasping nothing but pure air.
“!” Niou yelled when the petite girl fell forwards, her knees giving in, her hands not protecting her from the impact when she made contact with the hard, cold, snow-covered ground.
***
The sun was hanging low when woke up, its last rays dancing across the white cushion of her hospital bed. The rest of the room was dark and sinister, and had to adjust her eyes to make out the silhouettes of her surroundings. She was hooked up to a beeping machine with blinking buttons, an IV drip in her right arm and an oxygen mask in front of her mouth.
shifted and slowly lifted her hand to pull the oxygen mask off her face, but another hand stopped her, gripping her wrist and pushing it down softly. “Don’t,” Niou said quietly and closed her eyes when they started to water, holding back her tears and her sorrow. Niou entwined their fingers and pressed his warm cheek against ’s cold hand.
“I’m glad that nothing happened to you,” he whispered after a while, his head hanging low. opened her eyes and moved her head so that she could look at Niou. “I didn’t … I didn’t know what to do when you were lying in front of me, pale as the snow around you, and you weren’t breathing, it just …”, and he squeezed ’s hand tighter, “… it just stopped.”
“Niou …,” whispered and the oxygen mask fogged up, getting warm and tasting of bitter medicine.
“But I’m relieved that I didn’t break my promise,” Niou said quietly and looked up into ’s dark brown eyes. “I rescued you, .”
stared back into Niou’s pale green eyes, breathing softly and even. She then slowly pulled the oxygen mask off her face and lay it aside; her hand was weak and trembled but she didn’t care.
“You didn’t lie to me, did you?” she said, her voice hoarse. Niou looked at with a questioning look but shifted when she continued. “You really wanted to see me back then, right? Please Niou, you have to tell me.” And she reached out to touch his cheek, stroking the soft skin right next to his mouth. Niou leaned forward to say something but the door opened suddenly and ’s mother tiptoed into the dark room, still thinking that her daughter was fast asleep.
“-san,” Niou said and got up from his seat. “ just woke up.”
’s father, who had followed his wife into the hospital room, turned on the light and both parents hurried to their daughter’s bed. ’s mum started crying in joy and lovingly combed through her daughter’s hair with her hands, talking to her quietly and soothing. Niou stood aside, and when turned to look at him he smiled to answer her question from before.
***
One year later, was sitting on a bench in front of the hospital, a book on her lap and a smile on her face when she overlooked her surroundings. The weather was mild even though it was already November and most of the patients, who were allowed to go outside, took advantage of the situation to wander around or sit on one of the benches near the entrance.
looked up when a nurse walked by, pushing the wheelchair of a little boy. The nurse stopped in front of and smiled at her.
“Look at -san, Sho-kun,” she said and the little boy turned around in his wheelchair, looking at with huge eyes. “She’s going to be released from hospital soon. It won’t take long, and you can go home too.” She patted the boy’s head. “Love is still the best medicine, isn’t it?” And she turned her head to look at again.
“Yes,” said and slowly got up from the bench, holding her book in one hand. “It is.”
©Le