-- The Beginning of Season 2 --

Rio rubbed her hands together and blew on them to keep herself warm. November 1st had finally arrived, bringing along the first chill of the season. As she waited for the rail train to arrive, she rocked her heels back and forth before checking the time on her watch. 

7 am.

As usual, the train pulled into the station right on time. After tightening her grip around her bag, Rio stepped onto the moving transport. It didn't take long for her to arrive at her destination and as soon as the train doors opened to reveal the station, she took a couple of steps towards the station exit before stopping to recollect her memories.

The last time she set foot here was a month ago- before everything happened. She could still remember how uneasy she felt at the arrangement, worried at how naive she'd be by placing all her financial bets on a single person. She could even remember the feelings of resentment she held against him. 

Afraid at what the month of October would've brought her back then, Rio mentally prepared herself to face any possible obstacles Ryosuke would've thrown at her. Things like insults, eye rolls, and headaches were a few of the things that Rio predicted correctly.

However, she never expected laughter, homemade meals, late-night talks, and pure happiness- especially, not from him. She had fallen in love with someone she could never be with and this has been her biggest regret since then. 

Rio took in a deep breath of the frigid air, letting the sharp cold shake her senses back to reality. After finally exiting the station, the girl began her usual commute. She turned down a couple of long blocks then finally approached the familiar large white building.

The automatic doors immediately parted as soon as she entered the building and after taking the elevator to her usual floor, she was quickly greeted by the hospital president. "Dr. Yamada, it's so great to see you back!" She beamed, reaching out to greet Rio with her hand.

"It's great to back." Rio smiled, shaking the woman's hand. "I'm surprised to see you so early this morning. What are you doing on this floor?" 

"I wanted to be the first to welcome you back." The president explained. "Not just that, but I also felt like I haven't properly thanked you in person. Since you were able to complete the arrangement, the hospital was able to coordinate with JE to raise funds for the causes. We've raised a hundred million yen." 

"That's... amazing." The younger one responded, stunned by the large numbers. Even when the hospital held campaigns for non-profit organizations, they never were able to reach even 10% of that goal. The power of influence that the Johnny's company carried was unbelievable.

"I hope the patient didn't give you too much trouble."

"No- not at all." Rio assured her, waving her hands in protest. It wasn't too far from the truth. Surely, Ryosuke was nearly the definition of trouble in the beginning but towards the end, she might've even ended up relying on him more than he did on her. 

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." The woman nodded. "I'll go ahead and let you be. I know you have a lot to catch up on here so I'll see you around, Doctor."

The president wasn't wrong at all. In fact, Rio spent the next hour just catching up with her team. She was relieved that she made the decision to come to work early today.  Although she wasn't assigned to any patients, she had a load of administrative work to take care of. 

After logging into her computer at her desk, Rio went straight to work in making sure that everything was up to date and following up on everything that wasn't. By the time her lunch hour came around, she leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms up above her in exhaustion. As she brought them back down, her gaze fell onto a message notification that lit up her phone's lock screen.

'Hoping you're taking it easy today. Sorry I couldn't visit you on your first day back. Work is super busy today. Can I call you later tonight instead?'

Rio found herself unconsciously smiling at Yuto's message. Immediately, she unlocked her phone and proceeded to message him back. 'Of course, silly. Don't push yourself too much.'

'I'll try not to. I miss you, Rio.'

'I miss you too, Yuu.'

Ever since Rio returned Yuto's confession two weeks ago, the two have gotten much closer to each other. Although they haven't gone on any formal dates yet, they've spent some days together at Rio's apartment, just simply enjoying each other's company.

After putting her phone down, Rio reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of onigiri's that Amu passed onto her earlier this morning. With an onigiri in one hand, she used her spare hand to continue typing away on her laptop.

Despite doing this, she knew very well that both her boyfriend and best friend would lecture her if they saw what she was doing so she quickly engulfed her lunch just in case they happened to pay her a visit at an unlucky time.

After finishing her lunch, Rio continued on working for a few more hours. Everything went well until she came across a name that was all too familiar to her. At that moment, it seemed as if all of her efforts in the past weeks to bury her memories had completely gone down the drain. 

After straightening her back, Rio glanced around her to make sure that none of her colleagues were within reading vicinity of her. After confirming that she was alone, she clicked into the profile of the person who she despised having so much influence on her- Yamada Ryosuke.

Rio lifted her fingers from the keyboard before curling them. Next to his name was a picture of him taken from his ID card. It was the first time she had come across any mention of him since they parted two weeks ago. Just as she was about to click out of his profile, she realized that approximately 4 weeks had passed since his procedure which meant that a check-up was due.

Usually, the assistants would be in charge of following up with patients for their appointments. However, since his file was private, only the person in charge of his stay was allowed access to their records and appointments...

...And that person was her. 

Rio didn't how long she spent staring at his number. She had his contact information on her phone for emergency purposes but she never found the need to utilize it. Now that Rio needed to actually contact him, she didn't know how to feel.

'He's just a patient, Rio. Nothing more.' She reassured herself as she raised the hospital phone to her ear. After inputting the numbers, she hovered over the call button for a couple of seconds. Then taking a leap of faith, she finally pressed it.

Rio closed her eyes as the phone rang and she let out a sigh of relief when he didn't pick up. However, the idea of leaving a voicemail completely escaped her mind and she immediately found herself in a fluster when she was met with the beep of the voicemail recording.

"Hi, Uhm... is this Yamada Ryosuke? This is Doctor Yamada Rio calling from Tokyo Hospital. Umm, I'm calling to schedule your follow-up appointment. Please give me a call back at your earliest convenience." 

After hanging up the phone, she lowered her head, letting her face meet with her desk in defeat. "Why do I still feel this way about you, Ryosuke?" Rio mumbled quietly to herself. 

She thought back to all of the times she had spent with Yuto, especially within the recent weeks, and immediately felt guilty. She had a caring boyfriend who would go to travel to the end of the world for her, yet here she was getting flustered over the idea of speaking to his childhood friend.

"Get a hold of yourself, Rio." She assured herself as she rolled her sleeves up in determination to move on.

"Ryosuke is just a patient. He'll never be anything more."

--

Amu took one last look at the clothing lineups for tomorrow's photoshoot before finally pressing the submit button. After confirming that it has been logged, she leaned back in her chair and blankly stared at the screen in front of her. 

For the past two weeks, she hasn't had a single day off. Approximately one week ago, Nishida tasked her with an almost impossible challenge- to plan outfits for several events next week without any context. Although this took up most of her time, Amu didn't mind at all. In fact, she preferred being at the Jimusho to her apartment. Being at home only reminded her of the memories she shared with the person that broke her heart. 

"You're spacing out again, Amu-chan." A voice echoed next to her, pulling her consciousness back to the present. Her gaze landed on her boyfriend who held two cups of coffee in his hands. "Are you still working on that impossible assignment?"

Amu nodded, expelling a sigh. "I really can't seem to pinpoint what Nishida has in plan for the next few weeks. He only told me to plan for warm weather but that type of photoshoot at this time of the year doesn't make sense." She explained.

"What goes on in Nishida's mind will forever be a m