Chapter Text
Mafuyu isn't one to believe in fate.
The concept to her is simply incomprehensible. If fate existed, then what would be the point of being able to make your own choices? Of living?
So when she continued to see the boy on her way home from school, she thought of it as nothing more than a coincidence.
The first time she saw him, he was crossing the street near her school. The only reason she noticed his existence in the first place was due to the fact that he walked in short strides. Other than that, she hadn't paid him any mind. Aside from his strange way of walking, there wasn't anything about him that particularly caught Mafuyu's interest. She didn't even recognize his uniform.
But eventually, due to their overlapping schedules, catching a glimpse of the boy became somewhat ingrained into Mafuyu's schedule. She'll take note of it if he runs late or early, and it'll feel somewhat strange if he isn't there.
Even so, he's still someone that Mafuyu doesn't know at all. They've never said a word to each other. As it is, they're nothing but strangers.
So that's why it shouldn't matter when she notices that he's walking with a group of people, presumably classmates, instead of alone. That's why Mafuyu should simply ignore it and walk straight to get to her house instead, but there's something different that makes her stop.
But perhaps it's the way that the boy drags his feet, taking hesitant steps, or the way his head is tilted downwards as he tries to hide his pale face. Maybe the way his classmate grabs his wrist instead of his hand.
Whatever the case is, it gives her a sinking feeling in her stomach that makes her want to throw up.
The boy's classmates walk faster than him, the one grabbing his wrist practically dragging him along. At a particularly harsh tug, the boy stumbles, falling to the ground. His classmate glances at him, eyes full of disdain, as the boy scrambles back to his feet, pushing himself up with the arm not being restrained by his classmate's grasp. His lips move, and although Mafuyu isn't the best at lip reading, it looks like, "I'm sorry". His classmate simply scoffs.
Mafuyu doesn't even realize that she's stopped walking until she notices someone walk around her from the corner of her eye.
She quickly shakes her head. What is she doing, observing this random stranger like some kind of stalker? It doesn't matter what the boy does in his free time. At least, that's what she tells herself. So she won't follow them. That would be creepy.
But she does backtrack a bit because she suddenly remembers that she needs to go to the mall to get something, moving closer to the other students and getting a better look at the boy's dead eyes in the process.
While there, she sees some medical supplies on sale. While they sit there tauntingly, calling to her, begging her to buy them, she suddenly remembers the boy and his eyes.
Mafuyu isn't one to believe in fate.
But she finds herself buying them anyway, with the rest of the money her mother had given her for her birthday. Just in case.
As Mafuyu walks back, she takes the route that she usually sees the boy take. She's not exactly sure what she's accomplishing by doing so, nor does she know why the sick feeling in her stomach hasn't gone away yet.
But it can't hurt to investigate a bit, if one can even call it that. It's bit creepy, perhaps, but maybe if she does that, it'll be enough to satiate her curiosity somehow.
So Mafuyu continues to walk in the direction opposite from her house. As she does, she starts to feel a little silly, but it'd be even more silly if she immediately turned back. So she continues walking taking in the familiar yet different scenery.
It's almost distracting enough to make her forget about the ugly feeling.
However, as she passes by an alleyway, her body suddenly freezes up, heart speeding up when it has no reason to. She peers into the darkness, and upon turning on her flashlight to see better, she catches a glimpse of blonde-red hair.
The boy is lying next to a pile of broken glass, curled up on his side. Other than the heavy, uneven breaths that border on sobs shaking his body, he's still, not attempting to move or get up.
As she walks closer, Mafuyu can see the boy's injuries in more detail. The first thing that sticks out is his face, bruised and bloody, a trail of saliva mixed with blood oozing down his cheek. It's only then that Mafuyu notices a pile of vomit on the floor next to him.
He's still alive at least, but the way his eyes are shut tightly makes Mafuyu wonder if he wishes he isn't.
It's obvious enough that his classmates did this to him, a bloody footprint only proving it further. But why? The thought of people doing something so cruel to another person makes Mafuyu want to throw up as well.
But as soon as the boy's eyelids flutter open and their eyes meet, all of those thoughts go out of the window.
Devoid of all light, of emotions, of everything that makes a person a person, his completely empty eyes are more unsettling than any physical injury that Mafuyu's seen so far.
The boy blinks once, eyes filling up with light as soon as he does. "Hi." he says awkwardly before coughing.
"Hello." Mafuyu replies, more out of habit than anything. "Do you want me to take you to the hospital?" The boy visibly stiffens at the word 'hospital'. "I have a medical kit on me, but I won't be able to do as much…"
"You don't have to do anything!" The boy smiles brightly. Fake, forced. "It's not as bad as it looks, I assure you!"
"Hm…" Mafuyu looks at him worriedly. "…Can you even sit up on your own?" she decides on saying.
He tries, only to almost immediately fall back down, catching himself out the wall. He smiles again, a bit more shaky. "…I'm just a bit dizzy. Once that wears off, I'll be in tip-top form!"
"Then at least let me patch you up in the meantime." Mafuyu crouches down next to him.
"I'm fine on my own." he says stubbornly, trying his best to scoot away from her. "You don't have to worry about me."
Mafuyu raises an eyebrow. "You're bleeding."
"They're small cuts. No worse than scraping your knee after tripping." Mafuyu can hear a hint of steel lining his tone. Defensive, uneasy. "You really don't have to worry."
"I'll only worry more if you don't let me do this."
The boy hesitates. "…You shouldn't waste your time worrying about something so insignificant. Like I said, I'm fine."
"I can't really help what I worry about, can I?" Mafuyu thinks about the methods of persuasion she had learned in school. "If you were to come home like this, your family would be worried as well, right? So wouldn't it be better if I, a stranger, helped you now? Maybe you wouldn't be completely better, but it'd alleviate your family's worries somewhat, right?"
The boy stares at Mafuyu silently, unmoving. Just as Mafuyu starts to get uncomfortable, wondering if she had said something insensitive, the boy deflates, sighing. "You're right. I… I don't mind if you help me."
"Great!" Mafuyu sits down, enthusiastically pulling out her first aid kit. "Ah, now that I think about it, we haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we?"
"Right. How rude of me. I'm Tenma Tsukasa. Future star."
Mafuyu thinks that she can see the barrier around him growing weaker. Just a little bit. She smiles. "Asahina Mafuyu."
"Thank you for doing this, Asahina-san."
"It's no problem!" Still smiling, Mafuyu opens the medical kit, immediately overwhelmed by the options. What is she supposed to do with all of this?
Taking a deep breath, Mafuyu recalls what her mother did one day when she had tripped and fell in the backyard. She had cleaned the cut with water first, right? Mafuyu has a water bottle on her, and the kit provides cotton balls. Those should help, right?
Mafuyu walks herself through the steps, eventually being able to bandage the cut under Tenma's eye. He flinches when Mafuyu's fingers brush over his bruised eye.
Ah, you're supposed to use an ice pack for those, right?
…I'll get to that later.
Mafuyu moves on to the other cuts scattered around his body, before remembering the broken glass Tenma was laying next to.
"Can you roll up your left sleeve?" Mafuyu asks. "I just want to make sure the glass didn't cut you there, since you were laying on that arm."
Tenma freezes. A few beats pass before he rolls up his sleeve. Mafuyu freezes as well.
He'd been cut like she feared, but Mafuyu is more focused more on his older wounds rather than the new ones. Perfectly straight pale lines drawn into his skin, definitely not caused by any accident.
Silently, Mafuyu cleans the other cuts and bandages them up before rolling his sleeve back down.
The silence is suffocating, and Mafuyu finds herself speaking to break it. "Why did your classmates do this?"
Not the best conversation starter. But better than nothing.
"…How did you know it was them?" Tenma asks.
"I saw you walking with a group of people with the same uniform as you earlier. Am I wrong?"
Tenma exhales through his nose. "No. No. You're right. They did this. They were mad at me."
"'Mad'? And they did this to you?"
"…They never liked me in the first place. They've probably wanted to do this for a while. They just finally found an excuse."
"An excuse."
"The teacher yelled at them. For stealing something. And they were convinced that I was the one who told her."
"If they were the ones who did it, then they should've expected consequences." Mafuyu says. "This was completely uncalled for."
"It could've been worse." Tenma offers. "They could've broken my bones. Or killed me. It's just cuts and bruises."
How can you be so accepting of it? Mafuyu wants to ask, but bites her tongue. "…I guess so."
There's another awkward silence before Tenma whispers something under his breath, so quietly that Mafuyu can barely hear it. "Asahina-san would make a good nurse."
"Hm? A nurse? Why?"
Tenma flinches, clearly not expecting Mafuyu to have heard. "I mean… I'm around nurses a lot because my sister's sick and… it's just… the feeling you give, I guess." Tenma stumbles over his words as he tries awkwardly to explain. "You speak kindly yet cheerily in a way that would comfort a sick child or patient… You're good at patching people up too. I think… I think if you became a nurse, you can make a lot people smile."
Mafuyu smiles softly. "A nurse, hm? …That sounds nice." she muses. "Does that mean you're my patient, Tenma-san?"
Tenma laughs lightly. "I guess, yeah. I never thought I'd be in the patient position."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"I've just always been 'the healthy one' in my family. So I've never really… been taken care of like this."
"How does it feel?"
"It's…" A pause. "…fine."
Mafuyu can tell that he's not fine with it at all. But she doesn't comment on it. That would be rude.
But she does speed up her work afterwards, hoping Tenma doesn't notice.
After a bit, Mafuyu finishes disinfecting and bandaging all of Tenma's cuts. She doesn't have any ice packs on her for his bruises, but she does pour cold water on a paper towel, hoping it's enough. Despite his initial refusal, Tenma is quite a good patient, allowing the process to go along smoothly.
Mafuyu is proud of her progress until she glances at the sky. The sun is already setting. "I'm sorry, but this is all I can do for now." she apologizes, quickly putting the unused medical supplies back into the bag and handing it to Tenma. She pauses guiltily as Tenma winces, trying to get up. "…On second thought, do you want me to help walk you back?"
Tenma shakes his head. "It's fine. I've bothered you enough already." he says. "I'm sure you have somewhere else to be soon, right?"
Mafuyu bites her lip. She'll probably be scolded by her mother for coming home so late, and although she can make the excuse that she was in the library studying, she doesn't know if she can push her luck any further. "I do, but I can't just leave you here…"
"Like I said, it's fine. I can use the wall to support me." Tenma says. "I don't have to walk very far anyway, so it's okay."
"Really?" Mafuyu helps Tenma up. She props him against the wall, watching as he makes his way to the entrance of the alleyway with slow steps.
"See?" Tenma smiles brightly. "I'm fine! I just have to keep this up for a bit longer, so you don't have to worry."
Mafuyu ignores the way his legs tremble. "…If you insist." she finally says, letting her skepticism slip into her voice.
Tenma doesn't notice, or rather, he pretends not to notice. "Thank you again, Asahina-san." He bows his head slightly. "It's been an honor meeting you, but we both have places to be, so farewell for now!"
"Goodbye as well! Stay safe, alright?"
In a story, this would be the first encounter between two people destined to meet, the start of a beautiful friendship.
But Mafuyu doesn't believe in fate.
So as she runs to her house, leaving Tenma behind, she knows that she won't see him ever again.