Chapter 9: Reckoning and Reaching

Renji sat on the edge of the hospital bed, his hand wrapped tightly in a cast, the white of it nearly glowing against his pale skin. The pain wasn't unbearable anymore, just a dull throb, like a reminder that he still existed. That he hadn't vanished that day on the bridge. That someone—Touka—had pulled him back.

He didn't know what to make of her. She wasn't supposed to care.

Yet… she came.

Every single day.

The door creaked open.

"Knock knock~" came her familiar sing-song voice. Touka stepped in, her hair slightly damp from the rain outside, a plastic bag dangling from her fingers. "They had your favorite melon bread at the bakery near the school gate, so I fought a grandma for it."

"You… didn't have to," Renji mumbled, not meeting her eyes.

"I wanted to." She placed the bag gently on the side table. "Jeez, you could at least pretend to be happy to see me."

He looked up briefly. "You really don't need to come here every day."

Touka blinked, then leaned forward, resting her arms on the bed's guardrail. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Renji…"

"Seriously," he muttered. "Don't you have better things to do? You're in the student council. You're… busy. You have a life."

She tilted her head. "You think I'd rather be in some boring meeting than sitting here with you?"

Renji flinched.

Touka's voice dropped lower, softer. "You're not just some obligation, Renji. I'm here because I want to be."

Renji shook his head slowly. "I'm not worth that."

"Baka." (Idiot.) She said it without venom, just a whisper.

He blinked.

She stepped closer, placing a hand gently over his good one.

"Renji," she murmured, "daisuki da yo." (I really like you.) "Not out of pity. Not because you're broken. But because… there's something in you that's still fighting, even when everything's tried to kill it."

He stared at her, stunned. The silence between them stretched.

"I'm not asking you to fall in love with me or anything," she added, suddenly bashful. "But if you do… I wouldn't mind."

He looked away, cheeks faintly pink. "You're ridiculous."

Touka grinned. "Takes one to know one, ne?" (Right?)

She sat in the chair beside him, unpacking the bag. Melon bread, warm tea in a can, a little handwritten note taped to the lid.

He didn't read the note. Not yet. But he didn't throw it away either.

Later that evening, after the nurses had come and gone, Renji watched the city lights through the window. The world kept moving. Laughing. Breathing. Living.

And for once, it didn't feel like it was mocking him.

Touka sat by his side, reading a manga aloud like a bedtime story.

She was halfway through a ridiculous romantic chapter when she paused.

"Hey, Renji?"

"Hm?"

"After you're discharged… will you come back to school?"

He didn't respond.

"I mean…" she continued slowly, "only if you want to. I'll be there. And Hina's still trying to fix what she broke. And Yuuto… well. We'll deal with him. Together."

He frowned. "You sound too optimistic."

She smirked. "Someone has to be. You're a walking raincloud."

"…You don't give up, huh?"

"Nope." She leaned in, smiling mischievously. "Especially not on people I care about."

He blinked. "Why?"

Her voice softened again. "Because no one did that for me when I needed it. So now, I'll do it for you."

To be continued...