Aftermath

Ch 61: Recrimations

A/N: Happy Holidays! (I had hoped to have this out on Update Day, but real life got in the way, so here it is now.)
This installment begins right after Kota's little slip-up about his memory.

Kota

Sang stood in front of me, only steps away from where I sat on the side of my bed, and looking thoughtful, Sean was just behind her. Gabriel, Victor, North, and Nathan had all crowded in the doorway, hanging back as though they were afraid to come in.

Their faces were filled with confusion. Hurt. Pity. It had felt like this when I had been in the hospital, with them watching me every second, and to varying degrees, it hadn't stopped.

I knew they had questions, but I wasn't up to any kind of confrontation. I toyed with asking them if we could just do this later when I wasn't so tired.

Sang's hands were shaking, and seeing that I noticed, she hid them behind her back.

I had done that. I had caused her hands to shake, the tears to fill her eyes. No matter how I was feeling physically, I needed to toughen up and let the recriminations come as they may.

Sean held out the immobilizer. "If you're done with the ice, you need to get this back on. Do you need help?"

I shook my head as I accepted the sling.

"Kota, how extensive is your memory loss?" Sean asked.

I looked down at the green duvet. "I can't remember about twenty-four hours before the explosion. Maybe a few more hours--I'm not completely sure."

I heard a gasp or two, though who it was, I wasn't sure. Not that it mattered.

"I haven't forgotten anything new," I emphasized.

"Regardless, let's see if we can narrow it down," Sean said. "The explosion was on Tuesday afternoon, so twenty-hours before. . . Around sixth period on Monday?"

Despite my best tries, I still hadn't been able to answer this question with certainty. "I think it's probably closer to lunch. There are some text messages we sent out around fifth period that I don't remember."

Frowning, both Victor and North pulled their phones out, checking to see what conversation I couldn't recall.

"We had taco soup that day for lunch," Nathan said. "You heated it up and brought it outside to us."

I slid the sling over my right hand and arm. "Yes, I remember bringing it out to our table."

"And Luke knocked his cup over," Gabriel prompted. "Remember? I got it all over my shirt, and I had to go find another one?"

"He had help spilling it," North put in. "All that horsing around--"

"You didn't have to go too far to get your shirt," Victor said. "Just to my car."

"It was still a fucking mess," Gabriel whined.

I shook my head. "I don't remember anything like that," I said. "Are you sure I saw it?"

Wrong thing to say. An uncomfortable silence followed until Nathan filled in the blanks. "Yeah, you saw it. You went with him and Vic to the car."

Well, that's embarrassing. I took the opportunity to finish with the sling, a handy excuse to avoid their eyes.

"Doc, how bad is this?" Nathan sounded worried.

"It's not great, but it could be far worse," Sean said, looking me up and down. "The good news is that this apparently isn't a new symptom. We have things to discuss, but that can wait until Kota's feeling a little better." He gave me a pointed look. "You do have a headache, don't you?"