Chapter 161: Who you Really are
"Arata?" Erina couldn't believe what she was seeing. The girl wiped her eyes, shook her head, and blinked quickly multiple times. Yet his body never once disappeared from sight. "But, you got hit by that truck."
"Yeah, you're right about that." He didn't sound like he had the serious tone of someone who was in grave danger.
"No, there's no way. You can't be real." Erina refused to believe it. Nothing about what she was seeing made any sense to her. "This has to be in my head… Unless…" There was one other much more depressing option to explain what was going on. Was this a spirit she was talking to.
"Well, seeing as the doctors don't seem to be in any rush." He looked over down the hall to the man who was going to be his surgeon. While they appeared to be moving quickly, no one seemed to be treating this as urgent enough to begin moving faster. "I think I'm the Arata in your head."
"That's…" She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. On the bright side, at least it meant her friend was still alive. However, now Erina was worried over whether or not she was going crazy over this situation. "I don't know why I'm thinking of you. All I am is a failure who can't even get up to save her friend."
"Well, the real me is aware of how freaked out you can be about getting blood drawn." He responded. "So, I know that he won't get mad if you don't decide to do it."
"Now this is just silly." She knew that the words being spoken to her were supposed to make the girl feel better. That was kind of the point of these types of conversations. There was just one major problem with this one though. "You're the one in my head, so it doesn't mean much to hear it right now."
"And you also know that you really do want to do want to donate blood, right?" He continued on. Seeing as he was just a figment of her imagination, it was easy to understand why he knew so much about what was going on in her head. "Even though it's not like I'd fall for you just because you saved my life."
"Who said anything about that!?" She yelled back, which would've looked weird to anyone watching her as she argued with something only visible to her. "I-I don't care if he likes me or anything." Erina denied as hard as she could. "But… I want to give him blood. Not because I have to, but because I want to."
"Because if you don't, then…"
"Then… Then I might never see you again." She buried her face into her knees, trying to hide the tears coming out of her eyes. "I want to be able to talk with you again. I want to be able to laugh, hang around, touch... The real you, my best friend."
"Of course you do." He replied. "But it's not because we're only friends."
"I can't live without you." Finally, she was able to admit the truth. Not that the world needed to know, but that her heart needed to realize what had been there all along. "Arata… I love you." Erina said. "I want to be able to see your smile again." The girl was able to stand up. It was now the time to push past her fears for the sake of someone she held dear.
"I'm happy to hear that." The imagination Arata faded as she ran past him. There was a place that desperately needed her and the clock was ticking.
"Nurse, nurse." She yelled out to the lady as she was getting prepped to assist on the surgery. "The blood for the boy, I have the same type as him."
"What? Who are you?" She was confused from the revelation. Understandably considering how random it was for some girl to come up to her at this moment. Erina quickly informed them of who she was to him. Telling them that she was also someone with type O blood that could help donate for him.
"Here's my ID and everything. Just please, take my blood and I promise it'll be fine." The nurse eyes at her, still concerned about the truth. With the circumstances, it required some discussion between her and the doctor.
"There's little time for me to waste." He told her. "Please, I'll call a nurse over to check and take your blood, but I'm going to start operating right now." The man did hope that this girl was telling them the truth. With his limited resources, he was going to need all the help he could get to save Arata's life.
"Are you ready?" Erina had been whisked away to another room where a different nurse prepared to take her blood.
"Y-yeah." This was the moment of truth now. She still had a hand covering over the spot where the needle was to be placed. "Sorry, I'm just a little scared of blood." That was a massive understatement, seeing as she was shivering from fear.
"It's really brave of you to be coming in to help your friend." The nurse calmed her down by gently moving her hand. "I promise you we're doing everything we can to save his life, so don't worry."
"Right." Finally, the needle was stuck in and the red blood began to run out into the container holding it. Erina's legs were shaking in fear as her body felt the instinct to get up and run. Still, she bit her tongue to try and control herself in this moment.
Sitting in this chair reminded her of the last time this had happened. Of course, she wasn't alone as Arata was there to give her something she didn't expect. The way he made those funny faces and helped her over that fear. That was still during the time she had been blackmailing him, yet he still chose to help her in that manner when he didn't have to.
At that point, did he begin to treat her as a friend? Even when she was being an absolute jerk to him. It was during that time when she began to change how she felt about him. Perhaps, more than just viewing him as a friend. Yet her mind didn't want to admit that she could be in love with someone other than Yogi. That sounded rather immoral to her, even after all the times he tried to assure her that it was fine.
"That should be everything we need." The nurse broke her out of thought as the needle was taken out. She seemed to be in a rush, seeing as this blood needed to be moved to the surgery as quickly as possible. "Thank you so much for your contributions."
"I should be thanking the ones trying to save Arata's life." She replied, looking back onto her arm that now had a bandage.
"Anyway, I was informed before we began that some people who knew your friend had just arrived." The nurse informed her. "I assume that they're also your friends as well, so please come out to see them." Erina got a little excited to hear that she wasn't alone in dealing with the dread of waiting for results. Though she already wasn't alone seeing as Matsu and Hifumi were already here, but people she was closer with was kind of better for this situation.
"Erina." It was Yogi along with a fair bit of their friends, Misei, Yuriko, Akiba, and Akaki, who were able to get the news and be able to make it in time. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered and looked back onto where the needle was just minutes ago. "I just had to… Well."
"I can't believe you really did that." Said Misei, observing the tell-tale signs of someone who just gave blood. "It must've been a terrifying experience."
"Yeah, I remember the mess you got us into the last time." Yuriko reminded them of those rather unfortunate events.
"Well, I guess I've grown up a lot." It was unlikely that she'd be doing that again unless she was forced to.
"You look pale." Akiba commented, getting a closer look at Erina's demeanor. "Are you sure you're fine?"
"I can get you a drink from the vending machine." Akaki offered.
"I'm sure I'll be fine." She tried to assure them, but her heavy breathing was more than enough evidence for them to doubt that claim. Akaki and Akiba both left to grab some drinks for everyone to try and calm and collect themselves over the events that just occurred.
"This should be a good spot to sit down at." Said Misei as they moved the still shaken Erina to one of the chairs. "Can you tell us everything that's happened?" The girl told them about the events that led to up to him getting hit by the truck. Which also included informing them about the whole date with Matsu, which would've garnered more attention were it not in the context of him nearly losing his life.
"...So now he's in surgery and I donated some blood to help them out." She finished the story.
"Well, thank goodness you're both all right." Yogi breathed a sigh of relief and gave Erina a tight hug from where they sat. "It was really brave of you to do that."
"It… Was…" Erina replied as she returned his hug. Somehow there was something different about this one. The girl always cherished being able to have physical contact with him of all people. However, the feelings she felt was different compared to all the other times.
Now she knew for certain where her heart truly stood.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone