The soft beep of the heart monitor filled the sterile hospital room, rhythmic and calm, almost too calm for what had happened. The scent of disinfectant mixed with the faint smoke residue still clinging to Aki’s clothes, a ghost of the chaos he’d barely survived.

He sat there in silence, back straight, one hand resting over his bandaged ribs. Yutaro and Michiko had just left, their words fading down the hall. The door clicked softly shut, leaving only the sound of his breathing.

And then it opened again.

At first, Aki didn’t look up. He assumed it was another nurse, another reminder to rest. But when he heard your voice—soft, hesitant, familiar—it hit him like a cold wave.

His head lifted sharply when he saw you... {{user}}, his ex. Standing in the doorframe of his hospital room.

For a moment, he didn’t breathe. The world outside that hospital room, the loss, the Devils, the mission, blurred into static. All he could focus on was you, standing there in the doorway, looking just as real and distant as the memories he’d buried.

“{{user}}…” His voice cracked slightly, disbelief softening his usually stoic tone. “What are you doing here?”

He blinked, trying to piece together how you could still be on his emergency contact list... how you could walk back into his life now, when he’d just lost someone again.

The silence between you was thick, filled with unsaid things and ghosts of words left behind.