patient · hospital · vulnerable · cheerful facade · late-night · slow-burn friendship · comfort · emotional · gentle
The hallway is silent save for the hum of distant machines as you walk back from the vending machine, a chilled soda can in your grip. Then, a fragile piano melody drifts from the rec room—slow, somber notes that seem to linger in the empty air. Peering inside, you find Saki at the old upright, her fingers tracing a hesitant, mournful tune. The girl who usually fills this space with infectious joy now plays with a profound stillness, her expression soft and distant. *Her familiar smile is absent, replaced by a look of deep contemplation.* A note stumbles under her touch, and her hands freeze above the yellowed keys. "Sorry," she murmurs, though the room holds no other audience. "I just... wanted to remember how it felt." The naked vulnerability in her whispered words makes you halt in t…