BEFORE WE STARTED: So UH. I feel like doing this (again?!) after Summertime Record. And I wanted to write ShinHaru bromance. Ayano didn't survive in this one, I'm sorry. ;; I finished it on a rush, so I'm not very satisfied with how it turned out on the end, so I might post a revised version on tumblr, but only if I felt like it.
I do not own KagePro.
It was during a peaceful night during the autumn. Kisaragi Shintarou, no longer a NEET without job, had been enjoying the best of his day off-work by going online on the computer and checked the sites he loved back during his time without work.
Just when he was tired and decided that he should call it a day and went to sleep, his phone rang.
Being sleepy enough to not caring at all, Shintarou ignored it. But not very later, it kept ringing, and two messages came. He finally opened the content of one message as he grumbled. The message came from a man he knew as his best friend, Kokonose Haruka. He wondered for some second what could have been driving Haruka to send those mails on the middle of the night, but soon after he had read the words [Takane's giving a birth tonight!] on one of the message, he suddenly knew what happened.
Of course, he couldn't ignore it. He rushed after he got dressed and ran his way to the hospital Haruka mentioned.
"Shintarou! You came!"
Haruka had been alone, waiting outside the operation room, and he looked far from calm. Shintarou could tell that Haruka was not calm at all from how he typed the messages he had sent to him, and how he trembled despite looking slightly relieved and forced a slight smile on the sight of Shintarou.
"After you attempted to call me five times on the middle of the night and sending me messages all telling me about your pregnant wife giving a birth, how can I just leave you alone?!"
"So…sorry…"
Haruka sat back on the waiting chair, and Shintarou followed.
"It's okay, no need for sorry for that. Did you contact your relatives?"
"I did contact our relatives." Haruka said after he nodded. "They can only reply to my messages for now and couldn't come until maybe, tomorrow…"
"Figures. How about the rest of the Mekakushi-dan?"
Hibiya is clearly out of question since he lived back on the countryside, and only came here during summer holidays of his senior high school years. Momo was busy with her job; she told Shintarou the day before that she would have an important drama shooting tonight. Kano and Kido lived quite far from the hospital they were in; it would take them a while until they arrived. Seto and Mary lived back on the forest; it would take them even more time than Kano and Kido to get here.
"W…well, I did think of sending messages to them, but I wanted Shintarou to arrive here first…" Haruka took his phone from his pocket, and started writing short mails that would tell the news to the rest of the Dan.
"Yeah, I live quite near from here…."
Shintarou added the reason that he speculated to be the main reason why Haruka did so, but it's not Haruka's reason.
"Not only that! Shintarou's my best friend, so I wanted you to be here first before the others knew… Sorry, did it trouble you?"
"Not really, but is it really okay for the others? Oh well, thanks."
A silence followed as Shintarou took a deep breath and gazed at the ceiling nearly at the same time as when Haruka gazed down again, trembling. Shintarou glanced back at Haruka who looked nervous- it was a rare sight for Shintarou since he usually sees Haruka as a cheerful man with no worries. Even during the time when Haruka was Konoha, he didn't show this kind of him much.
"H—hey. Are you really okay?" Shintarou said in a gentle tone. "Do you want me to buy any drinks?"
There should be some vending machines near them. Rushing through to the hospital made Shintarou thirsty too, he thought it would be nice to grab some drinks for both of them. However, Haruka shook his head.
"It's okay… I'm just worried…" Haruka gazed at the door of the operation room. "Takane… She'll be okay, right?"
"She'll be okay. Believe in her."
Shintarou patted Haruka's shoulder in his attempt to calm him down. Shintarou never really felt the same worry Haruka had to get through on that moment, but Shintarou believed in Takane. Even that they had their childish fight almost every time they meet, Shintarou knew how strong Takane was. Haruka should have known it better than Shintarou is; after all, Takane's husband is Haruka.
"B-but…" Haruka's lips trembled as he started to state all of his negative thoughts. "I… I'm scared. I believed in Takane, but… if she would never return…"
"Oi, Haruka-"
Haruka grabbed Shintarou's shoulder, and Shintarou could really feel how Haruka trembled by that one movement. The man who now had light brown hair started dripping his tears, muttering his fears in his words.
"…. Or if our child is just as sickly as I was before that summer happened but won't be as lucky as I did…and…" Haruka let loose of Shintarou's shoulder, and now gazed back down again, still in tears. "I…if those kinds of things happened, what should I…."
Slap.
Shintarou's hand slapped Haruka's back, quite fast that made Haruka lost his balance from the chair, and fell into the floor. Shintarou knew that Haruka was quite clumsy, but he didn't expect that to happen at all, and was surprised for a moment. So Shintarou stood and he extended his hand to help Haruka stand back while he stated;
"Kokonose Haruka! Man up! You're going to be a father, aren't you?!"
Still in tears, Haruka still looked down.
"B..but…"
"I know. It's natural that you couldn't get rid of those kind of thoughts easily, especially with your situation." Shintarou sighed. He realized that he would be that worried too if he was in Haruka's situation. "..But will that help Takane? All you can do is pray for the best for her and your child."
"S…Shintarou…"
Haruka wiped his tears, and smiled sincerely. Haruka was still far from relieved, but Shintarou thought that he'll be okay. Both men smiled at each other as they sat back on the chairs.
"Thanks… I couldn't think what would happen if you weren't here, Shintarou. Thanks for being here…."
He moved closer and laid his head towards Shintarou's shoulder, only to be gently pushed aside by Shintarou.
"Now that you're getting a child, could you just drop that now? I knew we're friends, but we're adult now, and I think you don't want Takane to get the wrong idea…"
Haruka blinked. It took a while before the ever dense man had understood the meaning of Shintarou's words before he let out a tiny laughter.
"…You're right. Sorry."
...
...
...
...
...
Not for too long, the sign indicating the operation blinked. Haruka hurriedly stood after one of the doctors came out from the room. Praying deep in his heart, he started to get nervous, but his expression changed to one of relief as that doctor said to him-
"Congratulations. It's a healthy baby girl."
-bonus
"So…. Otoha, was it?"
"She's adorable….!"
Mary's eyes twinkled as she looked at the little baby on Takane's arms. Meanwhile Momo clearly started poking the little baby's cheek, and Tsubomi, who asked the first question, was on a state of refusing to admit that she wanted to poke Otoha's cheeks just like Momo did.
"Yep! I took the kanjis for her name from the 'Ne' Takane's name and the kanji for 'leaf'" Haruka smiled. "… she's our child, so I wanted her to have something with our names… Right, Takane?"
"To be honest, I think Haruka's choice is a bit strange, but… She was born during the autumn, so I guess it could be relevant." Takane gently stroked her daughter's black hair.
"…Kousuke… I…"
"Got it, Mary! Let's do it tonight at home!"
"….Are you both shameless?!"
"Ah! Tsubomi, you wanted to have a child too?"
"Shuuya, t-that's….!"
"Geez, you guys are having so much fun there! I'm stuck with school here!"
While the others were busy by their blabbers, on a video call, Hibiya complained. No one knew why Hibiya managed to convince his parents to get a computer, but this was how he hung out with the gang outside of holidays. Momo moved closer to the computer's webcam.
"Well sorry then, Hibiya… Why didn't you go here next weekend? I—I'll pick you up, so…"
"H-huh?! What are you talking about….! I don't want to get chased by your rabid fans again!"
The two lovers started quarreling via the video call. Haruka laughed, but then he glanced at Shintarou and found him thinking about something.
"Hm….Shintarou? Is there anything you're concerned about? You didn't talk much…" ask Haruka, looking worried.
"N—Naah, it's just… I thought it'll be nice for me to visit Ayano's grave after this. I wanted to tell her lots of things… including Otoha."
Both Haruka and Takane were surprised for a moment, until Takane spoke up.
"I see… Would you send her my thanks?"
"About?"
"…D—during the time of the childbirth…. There was one time when I think I couldn't stayed strong any longer… but…." Takane smiled, remembering the bittersweet memory.
"….I think, at that time, I heard Ayano encouraging me…. This is stupid, but…"
The whole gang was silenced for a moment as they overheard the conversation, before words such as "Ayano-sis is really amazing" and "She still keeps on being the hero" comes out with smiles and Shintarou's eyes widens.
Soon, Shintarou nodded.
"Of course."