Chapitre 22: The drinking party
As soon as Youhei and Tomoya left I made my way to room near the roof, the one given to Onizuka to live in. He was playing some video game on his small TV, clearly not so good at it because of the amount of deaths.
Rei: "Yo, you ready to go?"
Onizuka: "Huh? I mean yeah, let's go man." He forgot for a moment what I was talking about because of the game.
Rei: "You know what place we are going to drink at?"
Onizuka: "Yeah, it's this old kind of ramen place. It's got really good food and good drinks as well, you'll like it trust me." He smirks and slaps my back.
When we reach the car park Onizuka begs me if he could drive the car, and I give in to his puppy eyes.
Onizuka: "Man I love this car, it's a beast man!" He was clearly filled with adrenaline and blood was rushing to his head.
Rei: "Yeah eyes on the road man, eyes on the road." His driving skills are a bit rusty because he's used to driving motorcycles most of the time.
Half an hour later we arrive to the place he was talking about, the place had a vintage feel to it. The shop badge was slightly rusty and the windows looked like they wound break pretty easily.
The inside looked pretty good unlike the exterior, it was very clean and the tables were all neatly laid out.
Itoko: "Rei! We're here!" She called from a table near the corner of the place.
Next to her sat Youko and Akari while opposite sat Azusa and Nao with two seats reserved for me and Onizuka.
Onizuka took the seat in between Azusa and Nao, while I took the one on the end next to Nao.
Nao: "You guys took your time, hurry up and let's order!" Everyone else agreed with her.
This place had no servers so I got nominated to take everyone's order and take it to the counter. In about 20 minutes our order was complete and again I was nominated to take it from the counter.
Akari: "That's your punishment for making us wait for so long."
Rei: "Right, my bad guys." I said while giving them an innocent smile.
The food was pretty good for the price we paid, and soon enough all of us started drinking. I learned a lot that night... Itoko, Azusa and Akari are really light weight drinkers.
Itoko: "Reeei! Carry me home Reeei!" She got up and fell towards me, luckily I reacted quickly enough and prevented a hard landing.
Akari: "Me too Reei! Hold me as well!" She wanted to throw herself, but luckily Nao held her down.
Rei: "Ok, I think we had enough drinking for one night." I looked towards Onizuka who had similar troubles with Azusa.
"Youko, your car has four seats right?" She looked at me with a normal expression(not the usual 'death' glare) this time and nodded.
Youko: "I'll take the girls home, it's fine."
But now I was faced with two choices... Nao or Onizuka.
Onizuka: "Yo Rei, it's cool man I'll walk back to the school." He gave me a wink and a thumbs up, and left the place before I could say anything.
Nao was left there looking at me, only me and her left in the diner.
Nao: "So, are you going to offer me a ride or not?" She bends toward me and exposed her cleavage, with a seductive smile on her face.
Rei: "So you mind if I drop you off, sugar?" She giggles at my stupid impression of a flirt, and gets up and hooks her arm with mine.
Halfway through the drive she got a phone call, I didn't hear much but her expression turned grim in the blink of an eye.
Nao: "Rei, drive to the hospital! Now!" She shouted with her eyes tearing up, and her body shaking a lot.
I don't question her order at all and make a sudden U turn, racing towards the hospital. As soon as we get there she slams open the door, running as if her life depended on it.
I follow her inside but I wait in one of the waiting rooms, if she wants to tell me about it she can. In half an hour I see her walking out of the hospital hall, this time with a lot of relief on her face.
Rei: "You alright?" I get up from my seat and make my way towards her.
Nao: "Yeah, I'm fine."
I nod my head with a sign of relief and I walk to the exit but she doesn't follow, she only standing there looking at the floor.
Rei: "You staying?"
Nao: "You're not... curious?" She asks in a low voice.
Rei: "Not that I'm not curious, just that I understand that it's personal." My answer brings a little relief to her face.
Nao: "Well since you drove me here and was a witness to such a scene, I might as well show you." She turns around and waits for me to go to her side.
Inside the hospital room that she leads me in, laying still on a hospital bed and connected to multiple machines laid a young man. Inspecting the name of the patient on the door I noticed that he had the same surname as Nao- I completely forgot about her brother's coma from the anime.
Nao: "You've probably guessed the situation already.... this is my younger Kazuhito. He's like that because of me.... because I-"
She starts choking up when remembering the car crash, explaining how she raced her brother as they both liked car racing but he lost control of the car-the crash placed him in the coma.
Rei: "It's not your fault, I'm sure your brother thinks the same. Look you know your brother better than anyone, so do honestly believe that he holds you responsible?
He got into that car after all no one forced him to, all racers know the risks they take. He knew what he was getting himself into and still decided to race."
My words were a little harsh but the truth needs to be said, otherwise if her brother never wakes up she will blame herself for the rest of her life.
Nao: "B-but Rei.... if he never wakes up.... he's my only family Rei!" She fell to her knees with no strength left, luckily I caught her before she collapsed on the ground.
Rei: *If I remember he should wake up... just not sure when...* I sigh at my inability to do anything, after all it's up to the patient in these kinds of situations.
Nao: "A-And the hospital director said that today is the last day they can keep him... they're going to unplug the machines today!" She broke into another fit of weeping and drenching my shirt..
Rei: *Not If I do something about it...* "Wait here, I'll take care of something and be right back." I place her into a nearby chair outside her brothers room, and make my way towards the directors office.
-After about 20 minutes-
I arrive back to where I left Nao, the hospital director(a short middle aged man) was sweating profusely and walking fast paced in front of me.
Nao lifted her head up with tear marks staining her beautiful face, surprised at the new arrival.
Director: "A-ah Miss Kadena, t-there must have been a mistake. Your brother can stay in this hospital for as long as he needs, i-it was my fault and I apologise profusely!" He did a respectful bow, and soon went to fix the 'mistake'.
Nao was left wide eyed at the scene that had just unfolded, looking at me with a mixture of emotions.
Rei: "Relax Nao, I didn't use my standing as yakuza. I've just got quite a high standing in the medical field, so I used my influence to pull some strings that's all- it was the least I could do."
She smiles and laughs weirdly, because she cried previously she had a bit of snot near her nose so I wipe it with a handkerchief.
Nao: "Thank you Rei... thank you.... thank you!" She brings me into a tight hug and tried to kiss me but I move my mouth to the side and kisses my cheek.
I'm not homosexual or a pussy, there are just some moments when you're down and you don't think straight. In moments like these you're very vulnerable, and because Nao was in one of those moments I don't want to bring even more cards for her to deal with.
Rei: "Don't get me wrong Nao, you're beautiful, smart and pretty much perfect. It was a simple favour and it feels like I'm taking advantage of the situation if I accept your kiss."
Instead of being depressed she actually gave a pretty sweet smile, and hugged me one more time.
Nao: "Why are you like that... people will take advantage of your kindness!" I chuckle a little with her and make our way outside after she sees her brother off.
Rei: *Damn that was a long night...* I dropped off Nao and arrived home at 2 a.m, thinking about work the next day. I only stay awake for a couple of seconds before I black out into the long awaited sleep.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone