Disclaimer: No, I am not Yandere Dev, just another one of his many fans. And therefore, I don't own Yandere Simulator, or whatever it ends up being titled in the future.

Author's Notes: I'm afraid that for this story, I may be falling into a few bad habits I usually try to avoid, like meaningless author's notes in every chapter, and, uh, writing cliffhangers that will be completely invalidated by the next chapter, and maybe some weird, repetitive sentences that I miss while editing because I'm lazy. In fact, I'm somewhat worried that certain plot points or scenes may wind up feeling repetitive to people... but then again, I'm just having fun with this. I already have the ending and major plot details for this story planned out, it's just a matter of actually writing it now.

Thanks to everyone who left me your encouraging messages! If it weren't for you, updates would probably be as slow as my other story. Which means about 9+ months in between updates. Nobody wants that, I'm sure.

First uploaded: 2017/08/27

Chapter 3

Week 4 - 2018, April 29th, Sunday

Osana's ward was exactly as Taro remembered: clean, bright, and neat. The Najimis had spared no expense in ensuring the finest available care for their recovering daughter, and so she had an entire room in the Saikou Medical Centre of Buraza Town, en-suite bathroom and private 24-hour attendants included, all to herself. In a part of himself that he often refused to acknowledge, Taro found it all quite unnecessary.

Directly opposite from the door into the ward, was a large window that looked out to the west, over the hospital's extensive gardens. The setting sun's rays filtered through the thin white curtains drawn over the window, lighting up Osana's bed as he entered the room and approached her. The nurse in charge of tending to his best friend, smiled at him as she left the room to fulfill his request for privacy. For a moment, Taro simply stared down at Osana, his jaw clenched.

'I wish I could say yes, but we can't.'

Her injuries seemed to be healing well, though he was no doctor. The horrific mass of bruises which had covered her face, the last time he had seen her, had now mostly faded away.

'I see. If I may ask, is there any particular reason why?'

But then again, Osana's bruises were only the tip of the iceberg when it came to her condition, as evidenced by the upper-body cast she still wore after all this time.

'She... hasn't woken up yet.'

Perhaps it was a good thing that Osana wasn't conscious for her recovery; Taro knew just how much she would've hated being trapped like that, day in and day out, for weeks on end. The hospital staff probably preferred looking after a comatose patient who couldn't make demands, too - Osana was a great friend and person, but staying in one room for so long would've driven anyone insane.

Finally, the silence grew too much to bear, and Taro broke it with an explosive sigh.

"Hey, Osana," he began, rubbing the back of his neck to relieve the prickles of guilt creeping up his spine. "Sorry I haven't been visiting as much as I should, it's just... school, you know? We've... we've been pretty busy, and all." Osana's doctors and nurses had assured him, on multiple occasions, that she could hear him, even in her coma. Her parents certainly believed it, if the numerous occasions Taro had walked into this room to see them speaking to Osana, were any indication. Taro didn't doubt their belief, though, and in any case, it wasn't the reason why he hadn't made the trip down to the hospital as much as he knew his friends and family expected him to.

Truthfully, he was only here today at Hanako's request, if one could define dumping a massive, colourful bouquet of flowers into his arms, with a shrill, insistent cry of 'Nii-chan, you've gotta give this to Osana-neesan!' as such. It was that same bouquet that brought Taro back to reality, as the delicate crepe-paper wrapping crinkled under his tightening grip. Tearing his gaze from Osana, Taro moved to her bedside table, where a large vase sat, ready to receive such offerings. Carefully unwrapping the bouquet, he slid the bundle of stalks into the neck of the vase, adjusting it to make sure the flowers sat for the best possible presentation.

"Hanako's been worried sick about you, but she was too busy to come today, so she gave me these flowers for you!" he said as he worked, injecting cheer into his tone. "Don't tell her, but it definitely looks like she put them together herself." Ikebana was far from Taro's area of interest, but even to his untrained eye, the bouquet arrangement was anything but professional. Rather than the subtle, gentle pastels he usually thought of when calling traditional flower arrangements to mind, Hanako's bouquet was a blaze of primary colours: large, bright yellows and reds surrounding a topping of orange the exact shade of Osana's hair. Taro narrowed his eyes, trying to recall the exact names for the flowers used in the bouquet, but gave it up as a lost cause with a sigh. The only flowers he could ever reliably identify off the top of his head were roses and cherry blossoms, anyway...

'HEY! Get your head out of the clouds and listen to me, dummy!'

Taro jumped, reflexively snapping his attention back to Osana. "Sorry, I-" The words died on his lips as the reality of the situation, the sight of his best friend lying silent and unconscious, crashed back into him. He swallowed past the lump in his throat, looking away from her again. This was exactly what he'd been struggling to avoid, after all. Osana being quiet and unresponsive... it was all so simply unnatural. She wasn't meant to be this way, she should never have been in this hospital as a critical-care or long-term inpatient. Osana Najimi was bright and warm, like a campfire, and she had always been so, for all the years Taro had known her. Losing the warmth that had been present for almost his entire life, would've been unbearable, had it not been for Amai and Kizana.

The thought of his missing and dead friends had Taro's jaw tightening with yet more guilt. No, he silently acknowledged, Amai and Kizana hadn't really been helping him through Osana's absence, they had simply served as convenient distractions from his... loneliness. He owed them that much, to at least realise how much he had been using them, and to make sure that he never treated anyone else the same, or take them for granted, ever again. With that in mind, he drew in a deep breath, and turned back to face Osana.

"After you were... attacked, I started talking to some other students. Amai Odayaka, and Kizana Sunobu. You know, the presidents of the Cooking and Drama Clubs. They were really nice, and all. Well, Amai came back to school first. And you know, I always thought you had to be good at cooking to be president of the Cooking Club, but Amai, her baking was- is, is just... out of this world. Totally amazing," he said. The words were slow and hesitant at first, but somehow, it got easier as he went along. "But then she went missing. And Kizana-sama, she's... dead." How easy it was to kill his momentum. Couldn't he at least make it through a proper conversation without breaking down? He wasn't the one in a coma, or missing, or dead, even!

Still, he had to force the next few words out. "Then I met- well, it's more like she approached me, but there was this junior member of the Photography Club, Ayano Aishi. Turns out the Photography Club's investigating these... incidents, and Aishi-san's been running her own private investigation. She realised that all of the victims so far have been connected to me in some way, so she wanted to ask me about anything I knew. And even after she knew I didn't know anything, she still agreed to let me start working with her." Talking about Aishi-san helped; it was a good reminder that he was still somewhat capable of doing something. Almost unconsciously, Taro felt his hands curling into fists.

"I promise, Osana," he said, with all the conviction he could draw upon, "I'll find out who did this to you, to Amai, to Kizana. I'll make them pay, and I'll make sure they never hurt anyone ever again!"

His declaration was met with the same silence that had greeted all of his visits to this room, so far, but somehow, someway, having his vow said out loud, seemed to loosen the ever-present knot in his chest.

Taro didn't linger too long in Osana's ward after that, merely filling her in on the basic happenings of the school that had gone on in her absence. The sun had just sunk out of view when his phone buzzed with a text from Hanako, telling him to get home soon for dinner. It had jolted him out of his recollections, and without further ado, he had bid Osana goodnight. He was on his way out of the hospital's foyer when he was unexpectedly hailed.

"Taro-kun!" He paused, turning to scan the vicinity, and his gaze landed on a tanned blonde who seemed vaguely familiar, making her way towards him. A student of Akademi, certainly, and she might have been in his year...

"Rito-san?" he said, the pieces clicking together even as he spoke. Asu Rito, the president of the Sports Club of Akademi High, and definitely in his year. "I haven't seen you since school started. It's good to see you."

She laughed, a cheerful, confident sound that he hadn't heard from anyone at school in a while. "C'mon, Taro-kun, we've known each other since we were freshmen, you can call me Asu!" she said, her smile bright and easy as she drew level with him.

"Asu-san, then," he agreed, and she rolled her eyes, but let it go. "So why haven't you been at school? I thought you'd transferred out or something."

"No way!" she exclaimed, sounding offended at the suggestion. "I wouldn't leave Akademi High for the world! Well, except for a competition," she flashed a wry grin at him, "but anyway, I couldn't make it to school 'cause I broke my leg just before it started. I've been in physical rehab this whole time."

"Oh," Taro said, glancing down at her legs. She had no cast or even a crutch with her, so... "But you're all right now?"

"Yup, just got done having my cast removed, and the doctor's given me the all-clear," she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet for good measure. "Can't wait to get back to the gym and catch up on all the training I've missed. Physical rehab just isn't the same, you know?"

The reminder of just what Asu-san had missed, had Taro sobering as he hummed in non-committal agreement. "Yeah, you've... you've sure missed a lot, Asu-san."

And just like that, her exuberance dimmed. "I heard about what happened," she said, dropping her arms to rest limply at her sides. "I can't believe something like that could happen to one of us. I didn't know Odayaka-san or Sunobu-san all that well, but still..."

It was all Taro could do then, to release his jaw long enough to utter a single, simple, "Yeah." After all, what else was there to say?

"Did you... know them?" Asu-san said, peering up at him and blinking curiously. Suddenly, he couldn't meet her eyes, instead turning to look out the hospital's front doors, at the immaculately-maintained gardens on each side.

"Yes." His response was once again, too blunt and clipped for polite company, but Taro couldn't bring himself to truly care about that, right now.

She rocked back on her feet. "Ah, I see. Well... I'm sorry for bringing that up," she said, and although her expression held only sympathy, it suddenly felt too much for him. He shook his head with a long exhale.

"It's not your fault," he said, forcing himself to look directly at her again. "It's been nice talking to you, Asu-san, but I need to get going now. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

The smile she directed at him was somewhat strained, but still genuine nonetheless. "Sure thing, Taro-kun. See you tomorrow."

And with that, Taro stepped out through the elegant glass doors of the Buraza Saikou Medical Centre, to begin his journey home.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to threaten me via PM, I relish the terror and I'm down with a fever! Halloween is only two months away! Maybe I'll update again before then! Maybe this friggin' flu will kill me! PLACE YOUR BETS!