The Accompanist

Chapter 34: Save Her, Not Me

When Boutarou awoke, his head felt as though it was weighed down by wet cotton, and his memories from the past hour were hazy. Stomach acid was making its way up his throat, tempting him to gag it out and puke. He cracked open his eyes to marvel posters on white walls.

"No, it's not very deep. But you should have been more careful." The voice belonged to Mrs. Tsukasa.

"More importantly, how's Sayaka? I heard she was--"

"Sh."

At the sound of her name, Boutarou forced himself into a sitting position. "Where is she," he groaned, his voice weaker than he thought it'd be.

"You need food before you go anywhere. How long as it been since you've eaten something? Your stomach has been growling non-stop."

Boutarou made eye contact with his father. "You said you 'heard she was.' And then you stopped... Where is she?"

He tried to get out of bed, but Tsukasa stopped him with the ease of a grown man pushing a toddler back into bed. "You don't need to worry about where she is. You need to eat something. Eat something and lay back down."

"But I--"

"No buts. Doctors orders. She's safe, I'll tell you that much."

He breathed a subtle sigh of relief.

"Is he back to normal now?" His father was the one who questioned their caretaker.

"One would hope."

With that, Tsukasa left the room.

Mr. Utsushima pulled the edge of his shirt back down and turned to Boutarou. "Boy, what on earth did you do with Sayaka before you came here?! Be lucky I'm the one that got injured and not Shinsuke, or you'd be dead!"

"I..." He rolled over and put the pillow over his head. There was no use talking about it. Everyone was bound to tease him anyways, and it's not like he even... "Wait, how do you know about that?!"

"You've been talking about that and screaming about stopping someone hurting her this whole time. That... I don't know how much of it was your imagination, but there are certain things that your imagination shouldn't have been able to make up!"

He tucked himself further under the blankets.

"If she ends up with a kid, I hope you take responsibility."

"Wha- I didn't go that far! What on earth was I even talking about?! Actually, don't tell me that. Just... Just get me some food and take me to wherever she is."

"I'm not letting you anywhere near her until you're completely sane. Wait until tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?! You don't understand, I need to see her now!"

"I think I understand better than you." His father stood up and winced. "Stupid injury... Anyways. Katsumi is guarding her right now so there's no need to worr--"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

His father growled under his breath. "Quit worrying about everything. He's on our side now, we're going to take care of him for a little--"

Boutarou stood up and threw a punch at his father. The rush of adrenaline was flooding his muscles, but his head still felt like a bag of cotton. His fist was caught almost immediately, pinned behind his back, and with that, he forced against the side of the bed.

"I told you to stay here until further notice."

Hot tears stung the back of his eyelids. He wrestled to get out of his father's grip. "Dad please..."