Shinjiro bolted upright ferociously, and his face hit something soft. He heard a cry of victory that was female, yet sounded a lot crazier than a woman’s voice would normally sound. He was too disoriented to hear it clearly, but it probably said, “Hah, told ya that would work.”

  Her voice was so loud that Shinjiro felt like his eardrums were gonna burst. He drew his face back from the soft place where it sunk. Dang, he is running into soft things a lot lately. He rubbed his eyes and looked clearly. A middle-aged woman with fiery red hair and crimson eyes beamed at him (yes, he was 100 percent sure that it was a woman and not a girl, unlike his confusion in his dream). Did he run straight at her chest? The thought turned him red with embarrassment.

  He looked around. He was in a hospital. In these situations, normally someone would say, “Where am I?” or “What happened?” or something like that. But when he opened his mouth to speak, the sentence that came out was, “How is she?”

  This officially proved that he had either gone crazy or had hit his head really hard. He was asking about the well-being of someone he didn't even know about when he himself was admitted in a hospital—and subconsciously at that. But the question seemed to have rung a bell. The woman's face lost its beam and darkened. She said, “She's...” but before she could finish her sentence, another man elbowed her.

  He said, “What she wants to say is: who are you talking about?” Then he eyed her and said again, “Don't you?” as if daring her to protest. Which she didn't, and instead said, “Yeah, who're ya talkin' 'bout?”

  Shinjiro turned to him. He was an old man in a white apron. A doctor, maybe. A really sleep-deprived one, cause he had bags under his eyes and it made him look really scary. No wonder the woman obeyed him so easily. He oriented his thoughts and asked a more normal question, “Um, who are you?”

  The woman said, “Thought you'd never ask. I'm Anh Mei.”

  And the doctor said, “And I am Victore, if you even asked for mine,” then he started whispering to himself.

  But Shinjiro didn't care about that. He thought, “And me?” What kind of name is that? He looked back at Ms. Anh, and terror took over him. She was glaring at him. Apparently, the funny pun he made of her name in his mind had betrayed him and left his lips.

  She said, “It's Anh Mei. Not 'And Me'.”

  In a quick effort to save his life, Shinjiro said, “No, I was asking, 'And what is my name?'”

  It worked, because she beamed again and said, “You don't remember your own name? That's weird. Must've hit your head really hard. You are Kazaragi Shinjiro.”

  Victore laughed, probably at Shinjiro's futile effort and Anh's giveaway at it. He said, “Ok, enough chitchat. Now go and wash up. I need to run a few tests on you. And um... you smell bad. So, please, if you would.”

  Anh said in protest, “Hey, give him a break. He just woke up from a one-week coma. Can't you be a little considerate?”

  Shinjiro didn't care about Victore's insult or Anh's siding with him. For some reason, he felt as if he was used to it. His real concern was: A week in a coma? No wonder the dream felt so damn long. Shinjiro could tell from the look on Victore's face that he would engage in a high-stakes debate with Anh if he wasn't supported by another voice.

  It spoke, “I agree with Victore. Shin should really wash up. It’s not good to stay like this. He hasn't showered in a week.”

  Shinjiro turned to face the producer of the voice. It was a boyish-looking girl with gray hair and bangs. Though her hair size and fashion was unfitting for a girl. Wait, why didn't I notice her earlier? The thought gave Shinjiro chills. He was also surprised that a girl just called him "Shin"; maybe it was a cute nickname. Or maybe she was too annoyed to say his full name. Going with the first presumption, he must be pretty popular with girls to be called by a nickname. But he didn't remember her. Why would a stranger call him by a nickname?

  Now the thought struck him like lightning: He didn't remember anything at all. The hospital, these people, the view through the window, and even his body... it all seemed so unfamiliar. He turned to the Victore vs. Anh showdown and was assured to find that it had been resolved by the supporter from the sidelines.

  “Ok, if you say so. You really do smell, Shinjiro.”

  Woah, that's a quick change of sides, Shinjiro thought. The girlie has quite the influence on Anh.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The girl clapped her hands, picked up some clothes from the bedside desk and said, “It's settled then. Shin, let's go.”

  “Huh? Oh, ok, let's go,” Shinjiro said. He tried to move and found that there were almost a dozen wires attached to his right hand. Well, at least it didn't malfunction from a week of coma. He turned to Victore to request him to detach them and was happy to find him already at it. He said, “Thanks.”

  Victore smiled faintly and said, “Kinda my job, lad. Being a doctor and all. Let's see... we untie that and... oh, sorry... and... you're free to go.”

  Shinjiro stood up from the bed and almost fell due to the numbness in his feet. But luckily, the girl caught him. Victore said, “Woah, take it easy, boy. You just woke up.”

  “I'll help him,” the girl said. “Come on, lazy pants, we don't have all day.” Saying this, she clapped his back.

  Shinjiro started to walk. His legs felt weak, but gladly not like rubber like in his dream, and he could walk. They got out of his hospital room. Shinjiro said, “Um, which way?”

  The girl looked at him and said sadly, “It's this way.”

  They started walking down the corridor. There were a lot of patients, and all of them had injuries. Had there been some big accident? Shinjiro thought. It's useless to think about it; he didn't remember anyway. He didn't know any of them. But wherever they passed, the people stared at them. Now, there could be two reasons behind that. Either he was some sort of bigshot and famous hottie, or they were thinking, “What's that cute girl doing supporting that trash?” He went with the second one this time, because he doubted the first one greatly.

  She was walking really close to him. He appreciated it alright, but it was getting really embarrassing now. As he was walking perfectly now, Shinjiro stopped and said, “I'm good now. You can let go.”

  The girl let go gently and said, “If you say so.”

  They started walking again. Suddenly, the girl laughed and said, “That was quite outrageous—telling Mrs. Anh that her name sounded like 'And Me'. No one in the academy dares to tell her that. Except for the principal, though. But even he gets in real trouble for it.”

  Shinjiro blushed and said, “I was actually thinking it sounded like that. But apparently, the thought betrayed me and left my lips instead.”

  She was looking at him weirdly. Now he has done it, Shinjiro thought. Nobody is delulu enough to state it like that. She must think that he is a madman now. He expected her to stay silent for the rest of the trip to the bathroom or call him crazy. But instead, she laughed even more loudly and said, “More like the thought rebelled and gained freedom from your mind!”

  Oh, she is quite the mad girl herself, Shinjiro thought and smirked.

  The girl stopped laughing and said seriously, “Really though, this is going to bite back at you at the academy.”

  Shinjiro replied even more seriously, “Why? She a teacher?”

  The girl narrowed her eyes and said, “More like the Dean of the Martial Arts Sector. She's a damn member of the academy's Big Five. You can't pass a grade without her signature. Although, she is strict to the bone anyways, so I don't think it will matter.”

  Shinjiro took a deep breath and said, “Thank God. I don't want her going extra strict on me just cause my thoughts are rebellious.”

  They had another laugh and kept walking. The Valerious Academy for Sovereign Arts: the biggest and most prestigious academy of the Martial Empire. The only academy where you can learn martial arts, magic, history and other knowledge related things at the same place. It had always been Shinjiro's dream to get into it. He had applied to be admitted. And there was a high chance that he was actually gonna get admitted. Life was going perfectly, but now he was in a damn hospital. He swayed away the thought and started walking quickly.

  The girl caught him and said, “Where do you think you're going? We have reached the bathroom.”

  She was right. When Shinjiro looked to his right, he saw two doors with signs on them indicating which bathroom was for men and which one was for women. He slid the door for the men's section open and walked in. The girl followed him.

  Shinjiro said, “Are you sure you want to come in?”

  The girl nodded. He tried to enter the first bathroom on the row but was stopped by the girl. She told him, “The ones at the end of the row have showers. Use one of those.”

  Shinjiro said, “Ok.”

  As he walked to the end of the row, the girl followed him. Was she intending to go IN the bathroom with him? The thought hit him like a bullet train. There is no way he is so close to any girl that she would be willing to go in the bathroom with him. And he was also damn sure that she wasn't his lover, because if she was, Shinjiro is sure that he would remember her. Maybe she was only trying to help. The thought felt quite cheeky, but good. Him peeing and changing in the bathroom as this slim cutie watched him... him bathing and asking the girl to pass the towel... maybe he could even score with her.

  The thought didn't feel so good when she tried to ACTUALLY enter the bathroom with him. He told her, “Why don't you wait here as I do my job in there?”

  She made a confused face as if she couldn't process what he was saying and said, “Why? The doc told me to help you. Aren't you gonna need help with changing and stuff?”

  Shinjiro took another trip through the land of imagination at this, but he returned to reality rather quickly and said, “I, um... would like some privacy.” He felt embarrassed and his ears were getting red.

  The girl noticed that redness and said, “Privacy? From me? Are you joking? We have bled together. Are you embarrassed to bathe in front of me? Even if I jumped into the bath with you, it wouldn't be the first time. We bathe together all the time.”

  This officially overloaded poor Shinjiro's futile brain. Bleeding was understandable as he was a fighter, but he bathed together with a GIRL—a girl for God's sake—all the time? He tried his best not to sound dumb and said, “Still, it would be embarrassing to change and stuff in front of a girl.”

  The girl widened her eyes and said, “You think I'm a girl?”

  Shinjiro said, “Yes. Wait, you're not?”

  The person now with a confusion of gender yelled, “Of course I'm not!”