When Shimizu Nayotake opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Tsushima Kagami's face — etched with worry.
He was sitting beside her, letting her lean against him, one hand holding hers tightly.
That hand was warm.
His brow was faintly creased.
"Nayotake?"
His voice was a little hoarse — a tension in it she had never heard from him before.
The haze cleared, and Shimizu Nayotake ca fully back to herself.
She looked down at her hand, still held in Tsushima Kagami's grip. Then she looked around — at Sayuri, Kosaka Akane, Machida Sonoko — every face drawn tight with anxiety and concern.
She shot upright, pulling away from Tsushima Kagami.
"I... I'm fine," she said.
Her voice ca out flustered, and her face felt warm. That position just now had been far too embarrassing.
"Nayotake!"
Sayuri threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around her, voice thick with tears. "You scared half to death! You just collapsed! We kept calling your na and you wouldn't wake up!"
Kosaka Akane, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned to look back at Nayotake and let out a slow breath of relief.
"Good. You're awake."
Machida Sonoko pressed in as well, face full of concern. "Does anything hurt? Are you dizzy? Do you feel like throwing up?"
Shimizu Nayotake found herself surrounded, everyone speaking at once, and she didn't know how to begin answering.
She dropped her gaze, avoiding all those worried eyes.
"I'm fine...." she said quietly. "I'm just a little tired... there's no need to go to the hospital..."
"Yes there is!"
Tsushima Kagami, Sayuri, and the others spoke in unison.
"You have to get checked!"
"But..."
"No buts!"
Sayuri nodded firmly. "That's right! You have to go! You fainted!"
Kosaka Akane nodded as well. "This isn't sothing to take lightly."
Machida Sonoko was already pulling out her phone to look sothing up. "The nearest hospital is five minutes away."
Shimizu Nayotake opened her mouth — wanting to say sothing, finding nothing would co.
She didn't want them to know. She didn't want anyone to know about her heart condition.
Tsushima Kagami spoke then.
"Whatever the reason — we get you checked first, and talk after."
Shimizu Nayotake lowered her head.
She gave a small, quiet "mm."
Keio University Hospital.
Kosaka Akane had used her family's connections to arrange an appointnt with one of the hospital's attending professors in advance.
The mont Shimizu Nayotake arrived, she was wheeled off for a battery of tests. Sayuri and the others waited in the corridor — not one of them left.
Midway through, Yukinoshita Shizuku and the rest of the Light Music Club arrived as well.
"How is she?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku strode over, the worry on her face impossible to conceal.
Tsushima Kagami shook his head. "She ca around in the car. She's still being examined now."
Hearing that Shimizu Nayotake had regained consciousness on the way over, everyone let out a breath — though the anxiety of waiting for the results still lingered.
Two hours passed before the test results ca back.
The doctor was a man in his mid-forties, glasses on, expression grave. He held the report, looked around at the cluster of students gathered by the bed, then at Shimizu Nayotake lying in it, and pushed his glasses up.
"The patient — Shimizu Nayotake... correct?"
Shimizu Nayotake lowered her head without a word.
"How is she?"
Sayuri asked urgently.
The doctor glanced at the report in his hand, then back at Shimizu Nayotake, and was silent for a few seconds.
"She has congenital heart disease."
The air in the room seed to freeze solid.
The doctor continued.
"Moderate to severe congenital heart disease."
"Based on the results, it appears she missed the optimal window for surgical intervention when she was young."
"As for her current condition..." He paused, and glanced at Shimizu Nayotake.
Shimizu Nayotake sat with her head down, both hands clenched tight around the blanket, knuckles white.
The doctor sighed.
"She should avoid strenuous physical activity, emotional agitation, and excessive fatigue. Her heart cannot bear those kinds of demands."
He looked around at everyone again.
"I understand you were just performing at a cultural festival. The collapse today was most likely a vasovagal syncope — brought on by a combination of emotional excitent, physical exertion, insufficient rest, and her underlying heart condition."
"You should consider yourselves fortunate it wasn't cardiac arrest."
The room fell silent again.
After the doctor finished explaining that there was no imdiate danger, and after giving them a long list of precautions to follow, he also described the now well-established options for adult surgical intervention — urging Nayotake to have the operation as soon as she was able. Then he left the room.
Everyone turned to look at Shimizu Nayotake on the bed.
Her head was bowed. Her expression was hidden.
"I'm sorry."
"It's our fault."
Tsushima Kagami's voice broke the silence.
Everyone looked at him.
"If we hadn't pulled you into the band. If we hadn't made you sing so many songs. If we hadn't eaten into what little rest ti you had — you wouldn't have collapsed."
Shimizu Nayotake, who had been sitting silently with her head down, suddenly shook her head — hard.
"That's not it!"
She lifted her head and sat up straight, looking at Tsushima Kagami — looking at everyone in the room.
"It's not your fault!"
Her voice was louder than usual, edged with urgency.
"I wanted to be part of it! I said yes myself! This has nothing to do with any of you!"
She drew a deep breath and gripped the blanket hard.
"I wanted... to do it together... with everyone..."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller, until the last few words were barely a murmur, half-swallowed.
"All my life, I never once..."
"Never once had this many people invite to sothing...."
"No one ever said to , 'co play with us'..."
Her eyes were red.
"I knew I wasn't supposed to get too worked up, wasn't supposed to push myself too hard..."
"But I thought — just once, just this once, it would be okay..."
She dropped her head. Tears fell onto the blanket.
"I'm sorry... for making everyone worry..."
Everyone rushed forward, one after another, to comfort her.
Then ca the sound of hurried footsteps from the corridor.
The door burst open.
A middle-aged woman rushed in, face drained of color, eyes red and swollen.
"Nayotake!"
Shimizu Nayotake froze.
"Mom...?"
Shimizu's mother crossed the room in a few steps and threw her arms around her daughter — holding on with a tightness that said she was afraid she might vanish in the next instant.
"You scared to death... you scared to death..."
Her voice was trembling. Her whole body was trembling.
Shimizu Nayotake sat wrapped in that embrace, feeling her mother's shaking body, her ragged breathing, the fierce grip that wouldn't let go.
She gently raised her arms and hugged her mother back.
"It's all right, Mom."
"I'm okay."
Shimizu's mother held her and wept for a long, long ti.
Kosaka Akane had noted Shimizu Nayotake's ho address during the tis she'd driven her back — so the mont Nayotake collapsed, she had sent soone to go and bring her mother.
Watching the mother and daughter together, the others quietly slipped out of the room.
With so many people crowding the hospital, Tsushima Kagami eventually asked everyone to head ho. He and Yukinoshita Shizuku would stay behind to keep watch.
Kosaka Akane agreed readily, taking on the task of getting everyone else back.
Once Shimizu's mother had cald down, a quiet settled over the hospital room.
Tsushima Kagami and Yukinoshita Shizuku returned to the room.
____
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