Chapter 118 Tennis 06
"Seishi?"
"Um?"
"It's rare that you would be distracted, Jingshi."
“………”
Inside the Kanagawa Tsuchiya General Hospital, the purple-haired boy sat quietly waiting for the report of his routine checkup. His good friend Yanagi Renji was by his side as always.
"Are you thinking about her?" After determining that Yukimura Seiichi's silence didn't mean he disliked the topic, Yanagi Renji continued, "Niou is right. I also think Kurikawa is serious this time. After today, she won't bother you anymore, Seiichi."
What the King said was...
——"My favorite one? It's hard to say."
——"After this time, she should really give up completely."
Along with Niou's frivolous yet pointed words, what appeared in his mind at the same time was the black-haired girl's face with unprecedented sadness and loss, and the rabbit ears behind her head that were clearly not there but seemed to droop down in loneliness.
She is different from any time before.
"If she really can give up, that would be great." Yukimura Seiichi closed his eyes. "The regional preliminaries are about to begin. Nothing should prevent the reigning champion, Rikkai, from achieving their third consecutive national championship."
Hearing this, Yanagi Renji opened his eyes in surprise.
He had subconsciously categorized Kurikawa Sana as someone who "might have an impact." It seemed that Seiichi wasn't as peaceful as it appeared.
It is indeed a bit difficult to remain completely indifferent when facing such a dazzling person, just like the "Emperor" of Hyotei Academy. Even Keigo Atobe could not do this.
But no matter what, even if she was different, it would not affect the change of the result, and Jingshi had already made a complete rejection.
Feeling the topic of Kurikawa Sana was over, Yanagi Renji turned to the topic of Rikkai University's third consecutive championship, "I don't have much to worry about in the regional preliminaries. What I'm more concerned about is whether or not we can meet Seigaku in this year's Kanto Tournament."
"You mean Tezuka."
"Yes, I don't know how Tezuka's elbow injury is doing now. Genichirō has always wanted to face Tezuka."
Yukimura Seiichi nodded, "Genichirō must be hoping to face Tezuka in his prime."
"That's right." Yanagi Renji stood up after checking the time. "Let's go, Jingshi. Your review report is almost out."
…
Corridor on the fifth floor of the hospital.
"Jingshi, what are the results of the reexamination?"
Yukimura Seiichi closed the paper report and said, "The condition is under control well. No surgery is needed for the time being."
Yanagi Renji breathed a sigh of relief, but was still worried. "But to control your condition, you've been using too much macrolide antibiotics. If you continue like this for a long time, it's going to be a huge burden on your body."
"What I couldn't accept more than the overdose was not being able to play tennis anymore."
When talking about tennis, the emotion that suddenly flashed across the boy's purple eyes was completely different from all the calmness before.
Now Yanagi Renji couldn't say anything more.
Jingshi's love for tennis is beyond words.
Just as the two were about to leave, the head nurse hurriedly walked down the corridor, grabbed another colleague, and asked anxiously, "Ms. Kurikawa from Ward 3 has been discharged, right?"
Hearing the name, the purple-haired boy paused.
"Yes, he just left this morning." The other nurse she held back asked in surprise, "What happened?"
So she was just discharged this morning... Doesn't that mean they just passed by? Yanagi Renji quickly glanced at his friend's expression. Although the latter had stopped walking, there was nothing unusual on his face.
"Ms. Kurikawa's ultrasound results came out, and the entire department was stunned. The director and department head held a meeting, saying this case was extremely rare worldwide. Yet, she was discharged early?!"
"Huh? So what happened to Miss Kurikawa?"
"She has four congenital heart defects! Each one alone is fatal!"
“……!”
Hearing this, Yanagi Renji finally opened his eyes in surprise.
At the same time, he also saw that his good friend Yukimura Seiichi was also stunned on the spot, and the boy's slender and straight body stiffened visibly.
Such an expression of surprise and disbelief rarely appears on the face of Yukimura Seiichi, who is always calm.
"Excuse me, what are the four types of heart defects?"
An extremely pleasant young man's voice sounded behind her, and the nurse was stunned at first.
After turning around and seeing the stunning face of the purple-haired boy, she was even more taken aback by his handsomeness, but still chose to refuse to tell him, "I, we can't tell strangers about the patient's medical condition..."
The head nurse recognized him, "Hmm? Isn't this Yukimura-kun who brought Miss Kurikawa to the hospital?"
"Yes, Kurikawa-san is my friend. I was the one who brought her to the hospital before." Yukimura Seiichi's handsome brows slightly frowned. "I am also... very worried about her condition."
Yanagi Renji: “…”
If he remembered correctly, who was it that said "I don't think I'm short of friends" when rejecting Kurikawa Sana yesterday?
"I remember you were Yukimura-kun from Rikkai University. I have a good memory of you coming to our hospital for checkups often. And yesterday afternoon, when Ms. Kurikawa was leaving, she also said she was going to Rikkai University to see you." The head nurse sighed. "Why is Ms. Kurikawa so anxious to be discharged? Doesn't she realize how serious her condition is?"
"Her family isn't in Kanagawa, and she must be in a hurry to get back to Tokyo for classes." Yukimura Seiichi paused and continued, "So her heart..."
——What on earth happened?
"Since Yukimura-kun is Ms. Kurikawa's friend, please help us persuade her to receive treatment as soon as possible. Ms. Kurikawa must have known about her condition for a long time, but she refused to cooperate with the treatment. We can't contact her parents and relatives, so if you can speak with her as a friend, please help persuade her."
"Ms. Kurikawa has four fatal congenital heart defects. Ultrasound shows she has tricuspid atresia, atrial septal defect with a foramen ovale, right ventricular hypoplasia, a subclavian ventricular septal defect, and severe pulmonary artery stenosis and pulmonary artery stenosis—"
At this point, the head nurse's face changed and became worried.
"You may not fully understand how serious this is. Take tricuspid atresia, for example. As the 'valve' that controls blood flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle, the tricuspid valve prevents backflow. But Miss Kurikawa's tricuspid valve is congenitally closed, completely blocking blood flow to the right atrium. Tricuspid atresia alone is an extremely rare congenital malformation, enough to cause death at birth. She also suffers from an atrial septal defect, another fatal congenital heart disease that can lead to arrhythmias and death from heart failure at any time..."
She spoke anxiously, and seeing the stunned expressions on the faces of the two young men in Rikkai University uniforms, the nurse paused for a moment before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I was too nervous and worried about Ms. Kurikawa, and I spewed such a long string of confusing technical terms in one breath. It would be difficult for a junior high school student who hasn't studied medicine systematically to understand these symptoms..."
"No, since I became ill, I have learned about all kinds of diseases and medical knowledge, big and small. I can understand them."
Hearing Yukimura Seiichi's answer, Yanagi Renji subconsciously looked at him and found that his friend was clenching his fists tightly with a complicated expression.
...Indeed, it is hard not to feel complicated when hearing this information.
Who would have thought that the girl who was particularly disliked and irritating not long ago, in her vigorous pursuit, and in her perseverance after every rejection, actually had a terminal illness hidden in her body that was fatal and could die at any time.
After suffering from acute radiculitis, Yukimura felt deep sympathy for all the unfortunate people who were sick. He was an empathetic person, and even more so after feeling the same pain.
Yanagi Renji asked himself, even he, who had never spoken a word to Kurikawa Sana, felt indescribable sigh at this moment, and Seiichi, who had a deeper contact with her, felt even more so.
After all, things like death are still too far away from these junior high school students, so even if they are just classmates they know encounter such a situation, they are still quite shocked.
Yanagi Renji heard Yukimura Seiichi continue to ask, "Is it because of those other heart diseases that blood flowed to her heart?"
Upon hearing this, the head nurse opened her mouth in surprise, as if she had not expected that Yukimura-kun really understood, and that he actually had some knowledge of medical diseases, and could actually deduce the problem in one go.
After hearing what Yukimura Seiichi said, another nurse suddenly realized something and clapped her hands in surprise, saying, "I understand. Tricuspid atresia was already fatal, but Miss Kurikawa also has an atrial septal defect, so blood from her right atrium can flow back to her left ventricle through this gap! And with the subclavian ventricular septal defect, blood can even flow back to her right ventricle from left to right!"
"It's unbelievable. Miss Kurikawa suffers from four fatal heart defects, each of which is fatal on its own, but combined together, they unexpectedly created a unique path for her survival. Oh my god, this is a one-in-a-million miracle... It's truly not easy for Miss Kurikawa to survive until now!"
“……!”
The two young men in Rikkai University uniforms were both stunned.
The head nurse's expression remained grim as she spoke. "That's right, Miss Kurikawa is miraculously still alive, but her heart is like a colander. There's no cure, which is why the director and the others have been discussing it for so long. It's practically a terminal illness—Miss Kurikawa's heart is like a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment. She lives in constant fear of her death."
"How could this be... Miss Kurikawa is so beautiful, and so young... She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen!" Another nurse muttered softly, "But if it were me, I probably wouldn't want to be hospitalized either... Lying in the hospital all the time, getting injections and undergoing surgery every day, would make me grow haggard and miserable. And the chances of recovery are so slim. I'd choose to do what I want outside..."
--Carpe Diem.
Although the word was not spoken, everyone understood it tacitly.
Since there is no way to guarantee how long I can live, I might as well enjoy every day, do whatever I want, and make myself as happy as possible.
Suddenly thinking of something, Yukimura Seiichi's expression changed slightly.
"It's understandable, and it's human nature. That's why I'm hoping Ms. Kurikawa's friends can help persuade her to receive treatment." The head nurse's expression turned somewhat helpless. "Judging from Ms. Kurikawa's reaction, I think she's already aware of her condition better than anyone else, but she's simply unwilling to cooperate."
“……!”
Yukimura Seiichi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and asked, "So she fainted and was admitted to the hospital this time because of a heart attack?"
"That's right. Drastic emotional fluctuations and external factors could have triggered a flare-up of Ms. Kurikawa's symptoms. Judging by the examination results, Ms. Kurikawa's symptoms likely began in the last few months."
Yukimura Seiichi was stunned and subconsciously clenched his fists.
His thoughts instantly returned to that evening at the beach not long ago. He listed the girl's past deeds one by one in a mocking and cold tone, and said to her - "Is liking someone so simple for you, Kurikawa-san?"
At the same time, the girl's face suddenly turned pale and she collapsed unconscious.
And there was the last complete rejection in the Rikkai University Tennis Club, when the girl's face turned lost and sad in an instant after being stunned.
Complex emotions swirled around him, and the boy finally answered with a slightly strained voice: "...I understand. Thank you. I will try to persuade her to actively seek treatment."
Yanagi Renji was silent for a moment.
How to persuade her to seek treatment?
As far as Yanagi Renji knows, Seiichi doesn't even have Kurikawa Sana's phone number or contact information.
Kurikawa Sana had asked Seiichi for her phone number many times before, but Seiichi never gave it to her.
Plus, Kurikawa Sana had clearly given up and wouldn't come to Rikkai University to look for Seiichi again. Japan was so vast, and with so many people, the chances of them meeting again were negligible... unless Seiichi took the initiative to look for her at Hyotei.
But will Jingshi take the initiative to go to Hyotei to find her?
If it were yesterday, Yanagi Renji would have thought the answer to this question would definitely be "no", but now even he couldn't be sure.
As a person who is also seriously ill, when he learns that Kurikawa Sana is suffering from a terminal illness, his attitude towards her may change because of emotions such as "sympathy".
It has nothing to do with the feeling of "liking".
Jingshi would do this only because he is essentially a very kind person.
…
*
As they walked out of the hospital, Yukimura Seiichi looked down at his phone. Yanagi Renji thought for a moment and then asked, "Seiichi, do you need her phone number?"
Yanagi Renji said again: "It's a call from Kurikawa Sana."
“…”
Yukimura Seiichi was silent for a moment.
"Do you have her phone number?"
"I don't have it, but my good friend Sadaharu from Seigaku does." Yanagi Renji closed his eyes and said, "When Kurikawa went to Seigaku... to look for Tezuka and Fuji, Sadaharu got her phone number."
When mentioning "looking for Tezuka and Fuji", Yanagi Renji's tone paused slightly, and Yukimura Seiichi's expression also became a little colder.
……really.
Anyone who thought about it would be surprised if he was pursued as a member of the "Iron Chain Boat".
But looking back now, recalling the information he had just learned about Kurikawa Sana's terminal illness, Yanagi Renji paused, then said, "Now it seems that Kurikawa did this because... she wanted to get as much love and emotional value as possible in the limited time she had."
Yukimura Seiichi's walking back suddenly stopped.
Yanagi Renji continued his analysis, "From what I know, Kurikawa lives alone in Tokyo without her parents, and she has an older brother. Assuming her parents knew of her condition but chose not to be with her, opting instead to raise her healthy brother abroad, these factors may have exacerbated her unconventional behavior."
She was seriously ill, her heart like a ticking time bomb, and could die at any moment. Her parents, knowing her condition, let her live and go to school alone. It was like she was abandoned...
Just imagining it, Yanagi Renji felt pity for him.
Under such circumstances, it is understandable that she pursues several boys at the same time, hoping to seek the emotional value and love that she could not get from her original family.
...What's more, she has been pursuing five or six guys at the same time, and none of them have agreed to her. Thinking this way seems even more miserable.
"Lian Er, I didn't expect you to collect this kind of information."
"To be precise, I got the information from Sadaji, and the analysis derived from it is just my personal speculation. Sadaji was very interested in all the information about Tezuka and Fuji, so when Kurikawa was pursuing them, Sadaji collected information about her."
Yanagi Renji raised his head to look at the sky, and opened his eyes again, a rare occurrence. "I was just thinking about this. If it were me, knowing that I only had a limited amount of time left, what would I choose to do?"
Yukimura Seiichi was also a little stunned.
His disease, Guillain-Barré syndrome, has the potential to cause patients to lose their ability to exercise. Just the thought of not being able to play tennis in the future... this alone is unacceptable. The only consolation is that acute radiculitis is usually not life-threatening.
But what Kurikawa Sana got was a terminal illness that could kill her at any moment.
"My final answer is that if it were me, I might also want to be willful and do what I want." Yanagi Renji stepped forward and handed his cell phone to the other party.
"So, do you need her phone number?"
A gentle breeze blew by, stirring the wisteria flowers in the hospital garden corridor, bringing with it a faint fragrance.
“………”
The young man with hair the same beautiful color as wisteria flowers gently closed his eyes.
After a long time.
The boy reached out and took the phone from his friend.
…
*
The other side.
On the Shinkansen train from Kanagawa to Tokyo, Kurikawa Sana was so sleepy that she almost fell asleep, her head nodding.
However, just as she was about to fall asleep——
With a "ding" sound.
[Yukimura Seiichi, favorability +8. 】
[Yukimura Seiichi's current total favorability: -18.]
Kurikawa Sana: "!!!"
She sat up in shock from her dying illness, stood up suddenly, and jumped with a little excitement, and her head hit the luggage rack above her head.
“Hiss, it hurts, it hurts… Hehehe, hahahaha…”
Although she said that it hurt, there was a silly smile on Kurikawa Sana's pretty face.
system:【………】
【How come Yukimura-kun suddenly gained so much favorability? 】
The system pondered: [It should be the same as the two points of favorability increase before. Last time, Yukimura saw you faint and took you to the hospital. Out of empathy brought by the same serious illness, Yukimura's favorability increased. This time, it should be for a similar reason.]
Kurikawa Sana nodded: [I see.]
From this perspective, it is only a matter of time before the favorability level turns from negative to positive.
"I'm right, right, system? I told you, if you stick around a little longer in this world, you'll be rewarded with a surprise!"
The black-haired girl smiled and sat back down, looking out the window.
Outside the window, the sun is shining brightly, the green vegetation is thriving, the road ahead is wide and bright, and the future is bright.
This world... can still be saved!
This hellish start doesn’t seem that difficult!
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