As the coldness touch his cheek, Chinen tried his best to numb the overwhelming emotional burden inside his chest. He took a sharp exhale upon feeling the chill from the can of iced tea in between his fingers, “What am I doing?”, he pondered on himself before placing both his arms on the railings of the balcony overlooking the dark forest.

He heard the faint sound of owls screeching and water flowing not so far away. It seemed so peaceful. Despite the amity of his surroundings, his mind was clouded by the thoughts of his best friend.

“Hey, Chii!”, the young boy’s frame of thoughts was disturbed by Rio’s abrupt call, “have you seen Amu?”, the girl started before joining him inside the balcony. Her tone was somewhat worried, “She said she’ll be in the sauna room but…”, Rio paused to catch her breath, enough to alert the boy almost immediately. Her hand pulled Chinen’s sleeve as if summoning for his help, “That was almost an hour ago. She would’ve at least texted me if she went somewhere else. I couldn’t find Yuu-chan too… can you help?”, Rio didn’t want to sound so panicked but with the sound of her trembling voice, Chinen already knew something was up.

“Okay. I’ll call Yama to help too”, the young boy replied and agreed to split up with Rio.

--

“Any luck?”, Ryosuke’s made an abrupt halt when he saw his own girlfriend frantically searching the grounds. Chinen and Ryosuke met eyes with Rio, shaking at the thought of her two best friends no where to be found. They’ve been searching the whole inn for more than 25 minutes, but to no luck.

Chinen felt his heart sink when Rio shook her head, “This is so unlike Amu. I have a bad feeling about this”, the poor girl said.

“Where the hell is Arioka?!”, Ryosuke grunted. Last time he saw the older one is when he told him he wanted to get some fresh air after his heated argument with Chinen a few hours ago. Ryosuke looked at Rio’s alarmed expression and just couldn’t help but to hold her hand.

This was when Chinen’s eyes landed on an abandoned sauna room only a few meters away from him and his friends. This was located near the entrance and soon, pondered at the sign ‘Out of Service’ lying peacefully on the floor. Immediately, he went towards the door but found it locked with the door unable to budge.

“That’s weird, it says out of service, but I could see light inside”, he heard Ryosuke's thoughts.

With this, the three hurriedly called out for the cleaning lady who happened to pass by at the right time. “Excuse me, can you please unlock that sauna room? We just want to check something”, Chinen requested. Ryosuke, Rio and Yuri saw the lady tilt her head in confusion before giving a reply.

“That room is not in use. The thermostat is broken so we had to close it. Plus, the door gets stuck”, the lady explained.

“Then can you please open it? I have a feeling our friends went inside by mistake”

“Eh?! Wait here”, the lady was prompted to quickly open the door. Seconds felt like hours to the three while waiting for the woman to push the door open with her key. Having their patience take peak, Chinen and Ryosuke gently pulled the woman out of the way and shoved the door at the same time. It was lucky that the door popped open with one strong push. In an instant, an enormous cloud of steam welcomed them, making the two boys cough as the dense air filled their lungs. The mist inside the room was thick but soon diffused revealing two of their best friends lying unconscious on the sauna floor.

“Amu! Yuto!”, Rio shouted and quickly ran to their rescue. Chinen quickly placed Amu’s arm around his neck and carried her outside the room. Ryosuke and Rio did the same thing and used both their bodies as the tall boy’s crutches.

“Should I call an ambulance?”, the cleaning lady panicked.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere. The ambulance will take hours”, Rio clicked her tongue, hoping that her worries will not get the best of her clinical judgment, “It’s heat exhaustion. Get me two buckets of iced water and cloths”, she instructed while carrying half of Yuto’s weight.

--

“Is she okay?”, Chinen paced up and down the room while Rio examined her best friend. The young doctor raised her feet up to help with her blood pressure and circulation while covering her forehead with a cold compress. Chinen sighed in relief when Rio smiled as reassurance.

“She’s much better. We just need to let her rest for now”, she announced while placing her manual sphygmomanometer back inside its pouch, “I managed to make her take sips of water so when she wakes up, please ask her to finish the whole bottle. I’ll go check up on Yuu-chan now”, she concluded before heading to the other room to check on Yuto.

As the girl passed through the door, Rio saw someone standing frozen while looking blankly at Amu’s sleeping figure from afar. “Wh - What the hell happened?”, Daiki fought the block on his throat and felt all of his blood drain out of his system, “I-I was just gone for an hour”, the poor boy clenched his fist, angry at himself for not coming sooner.

“They were trapped inside a sauna. She’s fine now don’t worry”, Rio reassured, but these were merely words. Guilt started eating him up inside, “... and I wasn’t even there to rescue her… it had to be Chinen”, he scoffed at the irony of promising to protect Amu but was not there when she needed him the most.

Rio patted the older boy’s shoulder, knowing the emotional toil this must’ve given Daiki, “I’m sure you’re the first one she wants to see when she open her eyes. Make sure to be there”.

Daiki looked down, fist curled into ball and was unable to even take another step inside Amu’s room, “I don’t deserve to be there”, he whispered to himself with eyes fixated on Chinen’s figure leaning over Amu’s bed while his hand attached to hers, “Why do they look so perfect for each other?”, he thought, not allowing his rival to notice his presence.

Daiki didn’t have much choice but stay right where he is – just watching on the side lines. The small gap in between the sliding door and the frame was enough to see Amu’s figure from a distance. Feeling helpless and alone, he felt his bottom half collapsing on the floor. He buried his face on his palms, dying to pull his girlfriend to his embrace.

Steadfastly fighting with his own urges, he froze from his place while pleading heavens for Amu to finally open her eyes.

-----------

Chinen refused to release Amu’s hand, moistening the back of his palm with his breath like a prayer, “Please be okay”, he muttered under his breath. He didn’t mind his aching back while continually leaning over Amu’s bed to stay closer. He suddenly found himself staring at her sleeping face the longest time and found absolute comfort by her hypnotising breath sounds. Without thinking, he leaned closer and placed a soft peck on her forehead, then down on her nose. His eyes then landed on her peach coloured lips p