Saori pushed against his hand, Fond of the touch despite how boney his hands were. After all, any small gesture of armth of affection from him was something she cheshired. It was dark, but internally she was worried that she might not get to be with him tomorrow or the day after, and that made her more determine to feel as much of his self-ness as she could.
“Soon, I’m sure. I have his phone number, so I can send him a message tomorrow?” She suggested, once she felt like talking again. She’d already been able to purge her thoughts of Sakahagi, so primarily she was just taking comfort in Akinari’s grip. Perhaps she was a bit too clingy, but he fact that anyone wanted to protect her as an equal was oddly warming.
Even farhter in her mind, she wondered if she was hurting him, somehow. Aside from avoiding talking about Sakahagi, she’d always seen herself as a bit of a pest, ands it was something that returned to bother her again now, though she avoided showing that as well.
Perhaps Saori hid that part of her too well — Akinari absolutely did not think of her as a pest, but given that he had no idea she felt that way, he could not communicate those feelings towards her. Still, he smiled at Saori’s kind offer. “Tomorrow, huh… I’m fine with that. We can meet up after class.” he nodded in agreement. “Though… where would be the best place to do that? Here, or at his room…?” To be honest, he would much rather prefer it to be here, where all his medicinal supplies were in easy access, but at the same time, he didn’t want to inconvinience such a good friend of Saori’s — and Saori herself.
“It’d probably be better to be here.” Saori replied, after a moment of thought. “He was already here the other day, because he didn’t want me to walk back alone at night.” She explained, nuzzling into him a bit more just to prevent him from thinking anything badly. It was a bit odd for a girl to be inviting a boy into her room, after all, and the makeup stained towels sure didn’t give off the best impression. . But it was Akinari. He understood, hopefully, that she wasn’t that type of girl.
“Do you need me to help you with unpacking or anything? The room’s pretty bare, so anything that you’d like to put up is welcome. I just want to help you in any way I can.— Ah, what all can you do, though? What regular things do I need to help with?” She figured she’d have to help him with food and class, of course, but what about other things?
“Is that so…?” Akinari gave a grateful smile. This Michel seemed to be quite the lovely, kind fellow, to have escorted Saori back so considerately. He would have to thank him when the two met — he was looking forward to their meeting now more than ever. He put aside those thoughts as he focused on Saori’s words once more, losing himself in thought as he wondered what exactly he needed help with. He hoped he could manage to do things on his own - nothing was more liberating than a sense of independence - but he of course realized his predicament and gave in. Things would be worse for Saori if he pushed himself and got hurt, because after all, she was the one looking after him. “Helping me back my clothes away into the drawers would be nice.” Akinari gave a gentle, yet bashful smile to Saori. Really, that was all that needed to be done right now. He could take out and arrange his pill bottles on the desk nearby just fine on is own; they weren’t heavy at all, thank goodness. He quickly thought back of what other things he needed help with… normal, everyday things… walking was a given, but he felt he could manage that well enough on his own with his cane. Baths were probably something to consider, but he felt awkward, blushing at the thought of it. He could sit down in the tub and bathe on his own. But… “Eating, perhaps… I think I might need help with that. My hands won’t stop shaking…” He sighed. “I think it’s due to the weight of the food on my utensils, it throws me off balance…And class… I may need a bit of assistance carrying around the larger books.” Listing the various ways he needed help made him feel needy, and he hated that… But this is necessary. ”Going upstairs and downstairs, too… I think I might like to have help with that. Or is there an elevator here?”
“Just stairs, but I’d be glad to help.” Saori offered, more than glad to help with everything. This was all things she was fairly used to— cleaning around the house (or room) was easy, and helping him eat was something was just another thing she’d heard about in her medical training. This was…just a way things worked, even if it was a bit unorthodox.
She quietly wondered how long she’d be able to care for him. If he got well enough to be on his own, would he leave her? After all, he was an attractive and well balanced man, health aside. His color scheme was interesting and he always had something sweet to say, and she was sure even the words he refused to say held good nature and love. He just didn’t seem like the type to think badly…Would she be able to stop someone from taking advantage of that?
It really wasn’t something she wanted to worry about, but truth be told, she was aware that people used her like a doll and threw her aside. She’d never had the backbone to stand up to it.She’d wanted to, but alas, the constant reminder of her unimportant lead her farther and farther down into her hole of selflessness.
“Just tell me how you want things organize and I’ll be glad to do it for you, alirhgt?” She added, after a thoughtful pause. “I haven’t even been organizing my own things very well, so I suppose it’s a good thing that you need it. We can decorate sometime next week, too, if you’d like the room to look less… “
Well, there was really only one way to describe it, wasn’t there? Dull, boring, lifeless, they all danced around the true adjective. “A little less dead.”
Akinari couldn’t help but chuckle at Saori’s choice of phrasing. A little less dead. He wished he himself could be a little less ‘dead’. Regardless, he couldn’t bring himself to be upset at the choice of words – it was just more ironic than anything else. And besides, how could he be upset at Saori, the kind, caring woman who had looked after him here at the dorms, and even assisted him before at Gekkoukan? He simply could not… though he was certain that others would grow upset at her penchant to reach out to others and help them, if her scars and wounds were any indication. Still, he promised he would avoid that topic… just for now. Until he met one of her friends. Right now, he just wanted to spend time with, and speak to, Saori. “I think there’s nothing wrong with the room looking… dead, so to speak. It matches my complexion, don’t you think?” he teased slightly, giving a soft laughter. “It’s rather calming, to be honest. It reminds me of the hospital room… but if you really want to change it, maybe we can brainstorm some ideas… together?”
She pouted slightly at the hospital comment, quickly becoming annoyed by it. She wished she’d changed something or other, to at elast make it seem a little less like that.. .The last place she wanted him was the hospital! Or anything that reminded him of it. . .It scared her. The idea that he’d die. It scared her a lot.
She tried to change her mental topic at least. Decorating together was good! She quietly tried to think about things she’d want in here, like flowers. . .Akinari liked flowers, right? And books. She still had a lot that needed to be shelved, too, so that was a start. Colors would probably help out a lot, too.
“We can be like a married couple, huh?” Saori giggled some as she spoke her internal mental note, though she felt like a schoolgirl really. “Decorating our first room together.”
