Eternal Melody

HINO

It was painful, because even though he knew she was suffering. There was a limit to what he could do.

"I'll talk to Yuhi after you go to sleep, so rest now."

Sumire rolls her eyes. "After being knocked out twice. I am tired of sleeping. Besides, I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away."

He was already willing to do anything for her 

"Did you know about my grudge against Hijiri?"

Hino wasn't expecting her to ask this but seeing her serious expression he nodded. "Yes."

"You also know the reason why?" Sumire prodded, causing him to nod. She sighs. "You really are sly Hino. Hijiri being the mastermind to my parents accident, to my kidnapping when I was fifteen, Ru's accident, and Yuhi-san's issue-"

"Wait, he was responsible for your kidnapping?" 

Sumire nodded. "Yes."

But, isn't that kidnapping case, the one where Tsueno went to save her, and ended up taking those drugs on her behalf leading to the current situation with his health. 

Sumire frowned at his silence. She suddenly leaned forward causing him to panic.

"What are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing." Hino said nervously.

Damn it, why is she always so sharp? After everything she has gone through the past two months. Shouldn't she want to rest? 

"Narasaki Hino, you know you're not very good at keeping secrets."

"No, I'm great at keeping them. You're just too nosy." Hino reached over and tapped her forehead. "The nosy one should get some sleep."

"Uh, in that case. Can you send Toh back in?" Sumire asked nervously.

Hino raised his eyebrow. "You want him to sleep beside you?"

Sumire's cheeks reddened and for a split moment he had this crazy thought - that he wanted to kiss her. That thought however vanished when Mashima re-entered the room. He looked at the two of them on the ground, before walking over to Sumire.

"What did I say about resting beautiful?"

"It's your fault! You left me alone."

Toh smirked. "I didn't know you desired me to warm your bed so much."

"I didn't say that! Don't put words in my mouth."

"You're right, I should be putting something else in your mouth."

Sumire frantically tried to escape Mashima's arms, but Mashima wouldn't let her go. 

"No can do beautiful, you invited me to your bed. So, there I shall stay."

Hino exhales deeply. He has already gotten used to seeing the two of them interact. At first he was wary that Mashima would over step his boundaries, that's why he frequently checked on them. But, Mashima has always maintained a reasonable distance. 

"Take care of her, I'll call Yuhi and explain." Hino was already dreading this conversation.

Toh flinched at the mention of Yuhi but nodded. "Just leave her to me."

Hino exited the room and walked down the corridor. He made sure he was a safe enough distance away. But even then he headed in the direction of the staircase to the rooftop. He has always hated rooftops because it reminded him of a disturbing memory of the facility's experiments. However, he noticed a certain couple often hung out on rooftops.

Taking a deep breath, Hino takes out his phone. Turns out Sano was the one who picked it up when they discovered Sumire and him went missing.

"It's me."

Yuhi exhaled deeply. "Your back. Is she-"

"We're in Sano's hospital."

At those words Yuhi started to fret. "Did she get hurt? Did Lucifer hurt her?"

"No, it was Eli." Hino trails off. "Eli went overboard when he went to fetch her."

"Explain."

After Hino explains the details, he hears the sound of something being smashed in the background.

"Is he fucking insane? What if he damaged her actual soul? If he did that, she would have died on the spot."

"And that's why I hit him."

"Just a punch? I would have left him half dead." Yuhi said angrily.

Hino sighs. "Calm down. I understand how you feel, but I had to leave him alive to fetch Aki."

"Aki was there too?"

"It seems like Eli knew where Aki was the entire time. The reason I told him to fetch Aki was-"

"The darkness, and the foreign soul living in his body." Yuhi finished his sentence.

Hino's eyes widened. So much for investigating his bad feeling. A foreign soul living in Aki's body? That must be the dark presence he sensed when he looked into Eli's memories. 

"Anyhow, I will explain everything regarding this later. Is Sumire with you?"

"I left her to rest."

-with Mashima. Hino stopped himself from saying that. There is something different about Yuhi, and he doesn't want to carelessly provoke him now.

His thoughts break off when Yuhi suddenly requested a video call. How unusual. Hino clicks the accept button and the first thing he sees is an exhausted looking Yuhi, and spots the ocean in the background.

He raised his eyebrow. "Unless your doing a shoot in the beach in winter-"

"I'm-I've been taking some time off."

Seeing Yuhi's quiet demeanour, he exhales deeply. "For your mental health?"

Yuhi nodded and Hino had to stop himself from saying finally. While he admired Yuhi's dedication to helping Sumire. Hino was very concerned about Yuhi's condition. Sumire appearing in his life helped distract Yuhi. However, he wasn't in a good state before she came. 

'I almost cancelled all his work so he could go on vacation for a year.'

"I've been doing a lot of thinking." Yuhi mumbled. "-and I realized, I never really gave Sumire a chance to decide whether or not she wanted to be with me."

"What on earth are you talking about-" Hino paused, seeing Yuhi's expression. "Yuhi, don't be an idiot. Is this why you sent Kusabe instead of coming yourself?"

Yuhi nodded, causing Hino to sigh deeply. He thought it was weird. Why would Yuhi send Kusabe Renna over simply to guard over Sumire? Even if Yuhi couldn't come himself, he thought Kusabe's purpose would be to help Sumire escape.

"Lucifer's slept with her, multiple times." Hino sees Yuhi cringe and continues. "He got her pregnant."

At those words Yuhi's face turned pale.

"I'm sorry for being so blunt about this. But, did you know too? That it was possible?" Hino wondered.

Yuhi seems to know everything. Hino knew that Yuhi's main purpose of agreeing to go to the US wasn't for his career, but because he wanted to destroy the black alice organisation bases one by one. No, even before Yuhi went to the US. There were occasions where Yuhi would disappear for hours. Once, he asked Sumire why she never questioned where Yuhi was going and she gave him an unusual answer.

'There are lies that protect people, but even then there those who won't use these lies to protect their loved ones. Yuhi-san isn't like me, he is a serious person and would never mess around. That's why I know, rather than lie about where he is going. He would rather not say anything.'