~TWO AND A HALF WEEKS LATER~
And now, Japan World Sports Radio presents coverage of the Canadian Football League; today's game is the Hamilton Tiger-Cats vs the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Good evening, from Regina, Saskatchewan. It is week 11 in the CFL season, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders are at home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The two teams are in second place in their respective divisions, with Saskatchewan trying to overtake the West-leading B.C. Lions, and the Tiger-Cats are trying to leapfrog the leading Eastern team, the Toronto Argonauts.....
For Kaori Miyazono, Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryouta Watari, this summer was turning out to the most tragic summer for the three of them. What information regarding Kousei, when it went through them, was Hiroko Seto relaying messages to Kaori in the form of text messages and pictures (which were usually ghastly). It was now August 30. Kaori was in her home, by herself, just tossing around her CFL ball and wearing her Saskatchewan Roughriders T-shirt.
She was looking listless, as she had already gone through much of her 20 Famicom games that had played since she first discovered it months ago. She got up out of her chair on the TV and looked in her room. Somehow, unbeknown to her, Kaori found another plastic box in her closet that she hadn't looked for in a while: Inside that box, were another 50 Famicom games. She looked in awe. "Well, will ya look at that? Just when I think I have completed all the Famicom games I have, there's more that I can enjoy. Eh, I'll get to that later, maybe I should get back on my violin. I haven't touched it in, like, weeks!" Even though she was going through the motions, she had tried to play her violin from time to time to stay sharp. She once again got it out of her case, and she began playing.
Unfortunately, her concerns for Kousei meant that she was playing even worse than before the third accident and the Gala. She was hitting the wrong notes nearly frequently. This was now a source of frustration for her, and she angrily put it away. "Goddamn it.... I sound horrible! All these years of training.... nearly GONE! What was I thinking picking up the violin?! What was I thinking choosing it? UGH!!"
She then just decided to get back on her Famicom, as it was now one of the only things that was keeping her slowly descending mind at ease. Out of the new box, she picked up a newer CFL video game, this one was from 1992 (the original was from 1989). She was playing as Saskatchewan, when a knock was heard on her door. She was leading in the fourth quarter 20-12 against the Calgary Stampeders, but she abruptly stopped the game to answer the door.
It was Watari and Tsubaki. "Hey, you guys....." she said listlessly to the two. "Kaori, are you okay?" Tsubaki asked. Kaori just sighed and said "I guess....." Watari said "Yeah, it's about Kousei again, huh? My heart breaks for him. Don't get me wrong, I'm trying my best to keep a brave face, but it can be hard for me, too. I know your mind, and Tsubaki's is just tearing apart over all this." Kaori sighed, again. "Yeah....." Tsubaki then suggested something. "Are you up for a little walk around town?" Kaori agreed. "Yeah, sure. Let's walk."
The three discussed how their friend was seemingly fading fast, and what had happened to their dear friend since March. Kaori started with "OK, guys. I haven't actually seen Kousei since last month. All the information I'm getting from him is from Hiroko Seto, who is his mentor. I think you saw him before the Gala in May. She's been sharing all the info, and it's quite ghastly and scary. The guy's skull fractured when he got hit by the bus, and his spine broke because he went flying in the air, and it got damaged as he came down to the ground; and what's really heart-breaking is that tall the damage that's been done to him? Irreversible. I mean, this guy who was living in his own prison at one time, meets someone like me, and then gets into all these accidents and has some sort of disease his mother has? Good lord, that is a recipe for tragedy."
Tsubaki lamented "Tell me about it. We can't bear to see him like that, all messed up! He's fallen faster than the Roman Empire!" Watari then added "I've known the guy for a damn long time. I know he's gone through some crap in the past, and that sometimes he avoided the both of us, but to go through all this? It's like I don't even know the guy anymore." Kaori said "Tell me about it. All I've done this summer is listen to Canadian football games on the radio and play my Famicom. I haven't played the violin much, as I've been largely worried about the guy. My mind.... It's like I'm wandering aimlessly. Wandering around in circles. He's becoming like a slow-motion car wreck, it just breaks your heart to even look at him, but at the same time you can't just look away! It's like.... a morbid curiosity. Alas, I guess that must be human nature."
Watari said "By the way, how's your favorite CFL team doing?" Kaori said "You mean the Saskatchewan Roughriders? They're doing OK, they're at 6-3 and in second place in the CFL West Division." Watari then said "Good to know, Kaori. Well, you did mention Hiroko Seto earlier. What about her?"
Kaori then had a moment of clarity. "Oh, her. Yeah, she and I have talked quite a bit in the past few months. I think she is the big sister I never had..... given how she knew Kousei so well, she's almost become like a pillar that's holding me up in this trying time." Tsubaki said "She is quite nice, from what I heard. She's also a talented pianist, who's pretty renowned around here." Watari nodded and said "Yeah. Now we're left wondering what's going to happen to him soon?"
Kaori then brought the two up to speed. "OK, Hiroko told me yesterday he'll have to go under the knife on September 7. Because of how badly damaged his brain has, alongside with the unknown illness his mom had that he has, they can only do so much to help him..... but even at this, I do hope he will pull through. I also wonder to myself what'll happen to me if he doesn't make it?" Watari and Tsubaki grew even more concerned. Watari started with "Well..... if he doesn't make it, then well.... you will have us, Kaori. And Hiroko, too."
Tsubaki said "You poor thing, Kaori. Everything has just been a blur to you, and it has been for us. We're just as worried as you are." Kaori shed a few tears, then started to cry. "Yeah.... .if this will be it for him, well..... he's had a good life. I sometimes blame myself for pushing him, but...." Tsubaki said "It's not your fault. We all tried to help him. And we tried our best. We can only do so much for a guy who's just been so severely damaged...." Watari then started crying. "Same here...... our Kousei.... now on the verge of death.... I can't bear to look at him either."
Tsubaki had the bravest face of the three at this moment. "We all must keep ourselves together. Somehow, we'll pull through. But for now.... Let's just try and keep ourselves from breaking apart over this. We have each other. We must have each other." The three then got their fists together, and both Kaori and Watari stopped crying momentarily. "ALL FOR ONE.... AND ONE FOR ALL." This was the same battle cry that Kaori had Kousei say at the Gala.
-----
That evening, Kousei was being kept under observation at the hospital. Not much progress had been made in the two and a half weeks since. He was being propped up by his hospital bed because of the damaged spine.
"Kousei, how are you doing?" One male nurse asked. Kousei replied, through his computer (taking the necessary time to type his response), with Not so good. I have no idea where I am or what my name is. Who am I? My brain is short-circuiting - headache incoming.....
As the two male nurses were checking on how he was, Kousei began trembling slowly, and this trembling became more violent by the minute. "Oh, my god.... Mr. Arima is having a seizure! CONTROL HIM, QUICK!" one of the nurses said. As Kousei continued to tremble violently, this was one of the most apparent signs of his nerve damage: He was having a grand mal seizure and it took four doctors to keep him together and stable. This was now the biggest sign of what the blows to the head had done to him. His brain had all but short-circuited; his amnesia had grown even worse since the third accident; this is why he said he couldn't remember his name or even where he currently was.
Later that day, they had found out he had a brain aneurysm stemming from the head trauma (which was the cause of the seizure) and the decision was made to operate him earlier than expected..... on August 31.
As the doctors engaged in a conference call, they briefed each other on the situation. "Mr. Kousei Arima had a very huge seizure this evening. We did some scans, and it turns out the reason for the seizure was that he had a brain aneurysm" said one of the doctors. A second one said "As a result, we must operate on him immediately, due to the rather dire situation he is facing." The four doctors that met agreed that he would have to go under the knife much sooner than expected because of this turn of events; it was now imperative that he be operated on posthaste; the hospital decided to also bring in three neurosurgeons from the United States and Canada to operate on Kousei; they were also engaged in this conference call.
As this summer was coming to an end, Kousei Arima, once one of the most renowned young pianist in Japan, was now hanging on by a thread for his life. He wouldn't even know whether he would survive this ordeal this time, given his diminished mental faculties. It was shaping up to becoming the most tragic summer of all.