181 Chapter four, 2016, the long, long night: 9 (1/2)

Twice a nurse had arrived only to tell him there were no news.

Yukio looked at the rows of chairs where Kyoko lay sleeping head to head with Kuri. By the windows Sato-sensei walked the length of the waiting room. First left to right, stop and turn, and then back again. She had done so for the last half an hour, and remained silent throughout the time.

The clock on the wall showed half past two am, and a long day made itself felt in his limbs.

With a sigh Yukio rummaged through the last of his coins. Sato-sensei nodded when he shot her a questioning look, and he went to buy two cans of coffee. Come tomorrow his stomach would have him pay for his excess coffee-drinking.

”Black,” Yukio said as he handed over one hot can to Sato-sensei. He didn't have to. She had drunk nothing but black coffee since she arrived, but it was the polite thing to do.

Urufu's guardian nodded her thanks and opened her can. Yukio copied her, turned and walked back to where the undefined zone where waiting room and corridor melded into one. Back at the windows Sato-sensei resumed her walking, only broken by taking a sip of more and more lukewarm coffee whenever she reached a wall.

Yukio spent his time standing under a lamp and read the same poster he had read several times since Kyoko fell asleep.

A part of him wanted to shake her awake so he could get some much needed sleep himself. Another adamantly refused anything so unchivalrous, and a third told him he was a stuck up idiot. Kyoko wouldn't thank him for spending the entire night awake and leaving her to sleep through it.

He pushed the thought away and read yet another poster he by now knew by heart.

From the chairs he heard one of the girls stirring and moaning, and shortly after Kuri groggily sat up. She looked around her with panic in her eyes, until she recognised him by the bulletin board.

”Anything?” she asked and rose from her chair.

Yukio shook his head. ”I'm sorry. They'll tell us when they know more.”

”What time...” Kuri stared at the clock above his head and scowled. ”You let me sleep that long?”

He emptied the last of his tepid coffee and nodded. ”No reason to wake you up.” Yukio looked at the windows until Kuri started turning. ”Sato-sensei arrived a while ago.” There wasn't much point in telling Kuri Sato-sensei had been here for over two hours.

”You're late,” Kuri said to the walking silhouette. ”I tried to reach you earlier, but they wouldn't let me through. I'm sorry.” She slowly approached the figure, and the last words had been faint enough for Yukio to barely hear them.

'Why are you apologising?'

”It's not your fault. You tried.” With those words Urufu's guardian abandoned the windows and walked to Kuri.

In the poor light Kuri looked like the older of the two women. Something in the way she stood showed her true age, and Yukio saw how Sato-sensei momentarily deferred to his fellow student.

'I always forget who's the more experienced,' he thought. 'And that she's not from here,' he added mentally. 'What would Urufu have done?'

The answer came surprisingly quickly. Yukio resolutely walked to Kuri and hugged her. ”He'll be just fine. He always is.”