Chapter Text
Tomioka Giyuu had a close call with death.
He had been in the car with his partner, who was driving during a heavy downpour. Sabito was supposed to drive Giyuu to a meeting because of the rain – Giyuu was not confident with driving, what more in rainy conditions, so Sabito had offered to give Giyuu a ride (because it was also very troublesome to use public transportation when it was raining as heavily as it was); besides, he was free anyway.
Sabito and Giyuu were talking about how to conquer a particular stage in a Super Smash Bros game. Sabito couldn’t figure out how to clear the stage.
It was then that the car hydroplaned on the wet surface of the road, and Sabito lost control of the car. He gave an alarmed cry, and veered the steering wheel to swerve the car away from the road to avoid crashing into other cars in front. It was fortunate that there weren’t many cars on the road at that time; it seemed that people didn’t want to be on the road in such terrible weather. Sabito stepped on the brake in an attempt to stop the car, but it didn’t work.
Eventually, the breaks began functioning as the wheels of the car found friction with the road, and the car came to a stop perpendicularly to the straight road. Sabito and Giyuu’s bodies jerked forward simultaneously as the car came to a sudden halt.
Giyuu let out the breath he had been holding. His heart was hammering heavily in his chest.
“Whoa,” muttered Sabito breathlessly. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” replied Giyuu. He knew that Sabito was a very safe driver; this incident was not his fault. The likelihood of cars hydroplaning on a road during rain was pretty high anyway. They probably had to replace the wheels on the car.
Suddenly, Giyuu’s eyes widened in horror. From the driver’s side window, he could see another car approach without any sign of slowing down. Sabito was looking at Giyuu in concern, so he couldn’t possibly have noticed the other car. “Sabito!” Giyuu cried out in terror and moved forward in an attempt to shield Sabito, although at the back of his head, he knew it was practically useless. They were going to die.
Then, there was a loud crash and Giyuu knew no more.
When Giyuu awoke, he was in the hospital and in a world of pain. He was currently bedridden, he had bruises and scratches all over, he had a split lip, he had a couple of broken ribs, he had fractured his left arm… But he was alive. Giyuu had been unconscious for two days, and had undergone surgery for the fractured arm. The doctor had patched Giyuu up the best he could, but it would take time for Giyuu to recover.
However, Giyuu’s world was turned upside down when he learnt that Sabito hadn’t survived. The impact of the car crash killed him instantly, as he was directly in the path of the other car. Because of low visibility due to the heavy rain, the other driver had not noticed that there was a car in his path and drove straight into Sabito and Giyuu’s car.
Giyuu didn’t blame him at all.
Giyuu blamed himself. If he didn’t have that meeting, Sabito wouldn’t have had to drive him, so they wouldn’t have been on the road, and so the crash wouldn’t have occurred. It was all Giyuu’s fault.
Now Giyuu had lost the only man he ever loved. All because of his stupid meeting.
Alone on the hospital bed, Giyuu broke down, sobbing after the doctor had made his exit.
Little did Giyuu know, another man also had his life turned upside down because of that car crash.
Shinazugawa Sanemi was a judo instructor and he taught at a judo school owned by his good friend. He had collapsed in the judo school due to a congenital anemic condition – his body had a slight problem processing iron from his nutrition, so sometimes Sanemi’s body could not make enough hemoglobin to transport oxygen throughout his body. It wasn’t that serious a condition – a lot of the time Sanemi didn’t even notice his anemia. Him collapsing wasn’t even that big an issue, in his opinion – he had been dealing with minor episodes such as this all his life – he would feel dizzy and collapse, but after taking his iron supplements, he would be as good as new after a while. But it was the first time it happened while Sanemi was working, and Kanroji Mitsuri, who was an administrative staff in the school was very worried, and called for an ambulance.
Mitsuri had also telephoned Sanemi’s boyfriend, who instantly dropped everything to rush to the hospital, much to Sanemi’s exasperation. He wasn’t that weak! He didn’t need Masachika doting over him just because of his anemia. He was a tough man!
However, while Sanemi was at the hospital, after taking some pills that a doctor had prescribed and was starting to feel better, he received a call that made the world stop and his heart drop.
Masachika had been killed in a car accident.
Apparently, there was a car stopped on the road, and due to low visibility because of the heavy downpour, Masachika did not see that car and drove straight into it. He only noticed the other car when it was too late and could not break in time. Not to mention, he was also driving at a pretty fast speed because he wanted to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. Masachika had a bad habit of not putting on his seatbelt while in the car; Sanemi always had to remind him. But Sanemi was not there to remind him… Sanemi was told that the impact had caused Masachika to be thrown through the windscreen and he even flew through the other car’s windows before landing on the road.
Masachika’s body had been brought to the hospital where he was certified dead. And two hours later, Sanemi was able to make the slow and painful trip to the morgue to officially identify the body and to arrange for the release of Masachika’s body so that the funeral could be conducted. Masachika had no other family – his parents had died young, and he had no other relatives, so as his next-of-kin, Sanemi had to do this.
“The body doesn’t look as bloodied as it was when it was brought in,” the morgue attendant was telling Sanemi. “We cleaned up most of the blood, but there are some pretty major injuries on the body, so I just want you to be prepared.”
Sanemi nodded dazedly.
The attendant pushed open the doors to the morgue and entered, with Sanemi following behind. It was probably freezing, as Sanemi could see the attendant pull her lab coat tighter over her body, but he was so numb, he couldn’t even feel the cold.
The attendant led Sanemi to a steel table. A body lay on top of it, covered with a white sheet. The attendant pulled down the white sheet to reveal Masachika’s face.
Sanemi sucked in a breath. Even though he had mentally prepared himself for the reveal, he really wasn’t prepared to see Masachika lying dead on the table. He looked so pale, but otherwise, it appeared as though he was just sleeping. There was a deep scratch on his cheek and a bloodied injury on his forehead where he must have landed on the road.
Sanemi could feel the attendant’s gaze on him, and he nodded to give her confirmation that it was indeed Masachika.
There was a long moment of silence, before Sanemi managed to speak up. “Can I have a moment alone with him?”
“Of course,” the attendant said sympathetically. “I will wait for you outside.”
Once Sanemi was sure that the attendant had left, he reached out to gently touch Masachika’s face. It was cold. A tear escaped from Sanemi’s eye. He regretted that the last thought he had about Masachika was that he didn’t need Masachika doting over him because of his anemia. If Sanemi could have it his way now, all he wanted was for Masachika to be alive and to dote over him for the rest of his life.