After a breakfast of eggs and tofu again, Sana felt tired, so we went to lay down in the living room. Sawai-san helped Sana get on top of me, and I appreciated her help. She laid a blanket on top of us. Sana thanked her, and I did, too. His glucose reading after eating was normal, as the app told me. It was such a relief to not have to hurt him by pricking his fingers anymore. Instead, with a glance at my phone, he could relax without any worries. This, more than anything, was an unexpected benefit of the device he now wore. I hadn't thought about that when he first got it, but what an amazing thing.

He breathed gently, resting safely as I read a book on my phone. This was the quiet bliss that I had wanted. Peace of mind, for both of us. No worrying if he was in trouble while sleeping, because the app would tell me before he could feel it. We could prevent anything truly terrible having to do with his diabetes, and this... This lifted something I had on my shoulders that I didn't know I'd acquired.

My mom came inside briefly, checking on us. She was amazed at the peace in the house.

"Everything's okay?" She asked, poking her head into the living room.

I looked up, smiling.

Sawai-san looked up from her phone, too. "Yes, everything's fine. Do you have any chores you need done, Hirano-san? I'll gladly do them," she offered.

"Oh no, no, you're our guest," my mom answered humbly, waving her hand a little.

"I'll make lunch, then," she said, going to get up from her seat. "I was thinking of something I've been wanting to make." She smiled at me, and I looked at her curiously. "Do you remember our conversation at the hospital? About kitchen sink fried rice?"

I gasped.

My mom made a loud noise of acknowledgment. "Yes! Te-chan, you wanted to eat it! Sawai-san, how kind of you to remember! I think I have- yes, I have lots of things that could go in there. Some leftover vegetables, pork. We seem to have acquired sausage, as well? I don't know where it came from. Maybe your papa bought it..."

"Oh, I bought it," Sawai-san said, so pleased. "It's turkey sausage. Safe for Sana to eat."

"Ooh, you'll have to tell me where you got it! I'll have to remember," my mom gasped.

"I'll write it down. I found the store's location on the internet. You can input it into your GPS when you want to go." Sawai-san stood up, walking with my mom out of the room.

Kitchen sink fried rice. I sighed, happily, hugging Sana a bit more, but not enough to accidentally wake him. He'd slept on through the whole conversation. I gazed at him, his cheek on my chest, his face inwards towards the couch. His hair was still a bit wavy, the curls having almost completely fallen from yesterday. It was a beautiful effect.

Images of him at the stove, folding rice around a pan with a wooden rice paddle, humming to himself. Adding frozen peas and carrots, tossing in leftover green beans, cutting up fresh white onion in large pieces and tossing that in, too. Cracking eggs on the sides of the pan, and plopping them at the edges so they could cook under the rice. Cutting up the hotdogs and mini sausages so they looked like octopi and crabs, because I love the sea. The way his wrist twirled as he added black pepper and salt. The sounds of the cooking, the snapping and popping sounds, the rush of noise as he flipped things over. Him tasting it to see if the soy sauce and sesame oil were in a proper balance...

The taste wouldn't be exactly the same. It might actually be quite different. But, just the idea that it was his recipe... I couldn't wait.

My mom called to Sawai-san from the start of the hallway, saying she was going outside again. She wondered to herself if tomatoes would do well in kitchen sink fried rice. That was a great idea. Maybe they would? I had no idea. If they were cucumbers such as what she had last year, they would do well. Sana had put cucumbers in there before, and at first, I was cautious, but they were absolutely delicious with it. It was the strangest thing, like an overly weird salad, but it worked-

Bee-bee-beep!

Huh?

Bee-bee-beep!

My pocket was vibrating.

"Oh no!" Sawai-san shouted from the kitchen. Had she dropped something? I hadn't heard a crash.

Bee-bee-beep!

I gasped. My hand snapped into action and fumbled getting my phone from my pocket, waking it up quickly. Sana's device's text alert was there clear as day. I swiped it open, but as soon as I did-

"OH NO!" I cried out. Sana immediately began to stir at my outburst. Little sounds came from him as his eyes squeezed shut and fluttered closed. Tiny gasps. I rubbed his back.

Four-hundred and fifty-one. How could it be four-hundred and fifty-one?! Why hadn't the app told us sooner?!

"Sawai-san!" I called out. I knew she'd seen it before I had. That's why she'd shouted. "Get Sana's insulin, he's-!"

"It hurts," Sana whimpered, "ow, ow, my joints..." He began to sniffle, small tears coming out of the edges of his still closed eyes.

His joints? "We'll get your Tramadol, it's okay," I said, instantly changing my tone for him, trying to soothe him.

"Oww, oww, ow..." He groaned, sniffling more, squirming.

My hands found his elbows, rubbing up and down them with a firm pressure, and he let out a longer groan at this, like he was lifting something heavy. It was helping. He kept making this noise, feeling a little better.

"Don't cry, baby, it's okay, I'll make you feel better," I said, moving my hands up to his shoulders and massaging there now. His head relaxed onto my chest again, his whole body releasing its tension at this touch.

"I can't stop, I don't know why I'm crying. I'm not sad," he whimpered, his voice so high. He sniffled again, harder.

"Maybe a natural reaction?" I tried to assure him. My fingers went to his shoulder blades, getting up against the undersides of the bones, and this made his body like jello. He groaned, sighing.

Sawai-san ran into the room, tapping the side of Sana's insulin pen in the air. It was fresh from the refrigerator. I threw the blanket off our legs, and grabbed Sana's pleated, rainbow plaid mini skirt and lifted it up off his thigh. Sawai-san kneeled down in front of it and pinched the flesh of his thigh firmly. He didn't react to it, instead rubbing his cheek into my chest. I looked away, knowing the insulin pen was doing it's job now.

She sighed in relief, getting up from her position.

"I'm sorry to trouble you again, but can you get Sana's Tramadol? It's upstairs in the bathroom medicine cabinet," I said in a rush. I began to massage the base of his neck with my thumbs, deep in his flesh, and he let out cute noises of bliss, like a bubbling crab, making a tiny smile appear inappropriately on my lips.

Sawai-san laughed anyway. "Sana, what are those noises? Do you like that? Makes you feel good?"

I laughed, too, unable to help it because of her laughter.

"Mmm, yes," Sana sighed.

"I'm glad," I grinned, watching him relax further. I turned my head to Sawai-san. "His Tramadol says Hiroki on it. His legal name."

"Good to know," she said, smiling down at Sana. She patted him on the back, then went on her way.

How strange it was. To be smiling when this was an emergency. How different. He sighed deeply, rubbing his cheek on my chest again. My head tilted a little, to see his face. Small tears were coming out of his eyes, but he was smiling.

"Ohh, Sana..." I breathed, so relieved to see him smiling, too.

I watched Sana eat his modified version of kitchen fried rice. Sawai-san was so clever. Instead of using rice for his, she'd made it into an omelette. She assured she hadn't used much salt, and had gone easy with the soy sauce, which was low sodium as well. His had mostly vegetables in it. She knew what she was doing, absolutely. It looked delicious.

But, mine was wonderful, too. It was everything I remembered. The taste wasn't quite right, but that was okay. It had the essence of the original dish, and that's all I could ask for. I was so pleased.

I rubbed my hand on Sana's thigh under the table, watching him eat. The fact that he was eating on his own... He was a bit sluggish, due to recovering from his high blood sugar about an hour ago, but he was doing so much better. We'd stuck him twice with the insulin pen, and his glucose had finally come down to a normal level. Sawai-san told me it was safe for him to eat now, and I tried to trust her. I was cautious, but watching him now... Maybe it was going to be okay.

I poked my chopsticks into his omelette, making small movements, cutting it up a bit for him. He looked up, shoving his bangs out of his eyes and behind his ear. I was caught, he was so beautiful. He smiled at me, and I took him in. We gazed at each other, and I paused my chopsticks, hanging them in the air like time had stopped.

"I'm going to tell your mom to come in for lunch," Sawai-san said with a hint of sneakiness, ducking her head a little, so discreet as always, I was learning.

I waited for the backyard's double doors to close before I wrapped my arms around him. He looked at me demurely, his perfectly made voluminous eyelashes framing his eyes in a come hither manner. My arm held him securely and I dipped him on the side of his chair a little, kissing him from up above, my other hand caressing his cheek. His fork clattered on his plate, and his arms met my waist, lightly touching me.

Something was different. It was so odd, but amazing. We'd just had an emergency, but we were calm now, going about our day. It was surreal, but there was no panic. We could eat lunch together after something like that? With a glucose reading like that and Sana in pain, there was no question. If it were just my mom and I, Sana would be in the hospital right now. Another overnight stay, or more. But, something had changed, and we'd handled it at home. We were shaken, but it was okay. Weirdly okay.

I parted from Sana as the doors to the backyard opened with a creaking whoosh. He smiled so cutely. My hand swept his forehead, getting more of his bangs out of his face. His eyes closed briefly in the pleasure of this, and he grinned at me, making my heart flutter.

"No making out at the table!" Sawai-san barked at us, then broke into laughter.

Sana started laughing, and I laughed with him. I helped sit him back up, and his shoulders went up as I released him, so shy and adorable. My mom sat down opposite me, and Sawai-san took the seat next to hers.

As my mom gasped in awe at the rice dish in front of her, complimenting Sawai-san, I realized what was so different with a shock:

It was Sawai-san's demeanor. Where I would panic, she was a rock. It was her confidence in knowing what to do, not losing her head. Doing what she needed to do, being focused. Making us smile in an emergency, calming us down.

I picked my chopsticks up from Sana's plate, and began cutting up his omelette, a content feeling filling me. He waited patiently, his hands on his lap so properly. My eyes wandered to Sawai-san, who was eating her food, still smiling, so pleased with my mom's compliment.

I breathed an enormous sigh of relief inside. No hesitation. We didn't know each other well, but any worry I had about her was suddenly gone.