This was her chance; she had to convince him to let her go. He hadn’t looked good before and he looked worse now.  She was actually a little worried about him but dismissed the idea, the last thing she needed, that they all needed, was for her to start developing Stockholm syndrome or something.

Then he shook his head and left. She sank to the floor. She had failed.

“Yuko.” It was Takara’s voice. “Yuko what happened?”

Yuko got closer to the wall. “I’m sorry. He left. I thought he might… but he left. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Yuko. We all knew it was a long shot.” They had agreed that Yuko would try to become his friend but it had failed.

“So? What happened?” Shouted Rin.

“He left, Yuko is still here.” Answered Takara.

“Well, so much for that idea. I knew it! Just another disappointment”

“I’m sorry. I really thought I could do it” said Yuko.

“It’s not her fault. She tried and it didn’t work, it’s more than what you’ve done.” said Takara.

“Nobody blames Yuko for anything, right Rin?” Said Keiko in a conciliatory tone.

“Yeah, sorry.” said Rin. “I’m just frustrated with everything.”

“What now?” Keiko asked.

After a few seconds Rin answered: “We could hope for him to die and then try to break the ing walls to get out.”

“Break the wall?” asked Takara in disbelief.

“Well, the chains are strong and we can’t reach the door, but the walls are thin. They have to be for us to be able to talk to each other.”

“I think we should wait to see if he comes back, if he doesn’t, we might as well try Rin’s idea.”

“So we wait,” said Keiko

She went in and looked in the rooms until she found him. He was lying on the bed still in his red t-shirt and black jeans. Akane ran to the bed.

“Tomohisa? Can you hear me?” He moved his head towards her voice but didn’t open his eyes or answered. She touched his forehead, he was scorching hot and his breathing was labored.

“I need to take your clothes off and put you to bed, can you help me?” With a big effort she managed to remove the t-shirt and the pants and somehow got him under the covers.

She ran out of the room and started looking for the kitchen. The first door she opened lead to a stair way, “the kitchen wouldn’t be in the basement” she thought and moved on. Finally she got to the kitchen. She opened a cabinet door, glasses. Another, some plastic plates and plastic cups in different colors. In the third she found what she was looking for: a big bowl. She opened the fridge and she was relieved to see ice cubes in it.

She went back to his room, filled the bowl with water and put in the ice cubes. She went back to the side of the bed and with a towel she dabbed his forehead, face and neck. Then she applied cold towels to his wrists and ankles. She had to get the fever down.

She looked at his face, it was flushed, his lips opened to take in air and his eyes were moving behind his eyes.

She combed his hair with her fingers. “You’ll be fine. I’m here.” she said and kissed his forehead.

Akane spent the next day getting his fever down and then trying to feed him some soup. He was much better now, but he was still asleep. In the second day his fever went down considerably, though it was still high. He was breathing much better, too.

Yamaa woke up. Everything hurt and even lying down, he felt weak. He moved his head tentatively. To his left he saw Akane sitting on a chair. She had bags under her eyes. He could remember bits and parts, her pressing a cold towel to his forehead, her talking to him.

She looked exhausted now. He tried to speak but his throat was too parched and it sounded more like a croak. Akane looked up and saw he was awake. She immediately stood up and got him a glass of water. She helped him get his head up and held the glass for him.

“Thank you.” He said. She smiled a little.

“How long…?”

“You’ve been out for 3 days.”

“3 days?” he had been sleeping for 3 days? He had to get up. He tried to, but Akane put her hands on his shoulder and pressed him back down on the bed.

“You are not well enough to be walking around yet” she said. She looked exhausted and weary? Probably just exhausted, if she’d been taking care of him for 3 days straight. “But,” she continued. “You are well enough that I can go back to town to get some things.” She hesitated and added “aren’t you?” He nodded. He didn’t want her to go but…

“I’ll be back soon. Do you want me to help you get to the bathroom, get a bath?”

“No, I’m fine, really. Go, you must be sick and tired of being locked up in here.”

She got closer and kissed him sweetly. “I’ll be back in a little bit.” She kissed him again and left.

She must have been very tired because she wasn’t talking as usual.

Yamaa heard the car leaving. He had to get up.

He went into the bathroom. Slowly. He was weaker than he thought.

He took a shower. After 3 days, how had Akane stand being next to him?

The shower took longer than he expected. He made his way into the kitchen and set about fixing food for his dolls. He had to hurry. It hadn´t been a good idea to call Akane here but he had needed her and he was so happy he had come to help him.