He walked through the hallway, back toward Rose’s apartment, with a much lighter step.

“Here he is!” A female voice said, from down the hall. Al noticed that Rose and Yui were wandering around. Yui ran up to him.

“There you are,” Yui said, with relief in his voice. “We left the room a few minutes ago, and you were nowhere in sight!”

“I told you he was just getting a drink from a vending machine,” Rose said with a smile. She had what Al has come to think of as the Anabelle aura. The entire air around her has changed to one of complete bliss. She looked right at Al and smiled. “Was I right?”

“Bathroom,” he said curtly. “Sorry if I scared you before.” 

She gave him a soft, content smile, as she tilted her bright pink head ever so slightly to the side. “What do you mean?” She asked. “You don’t scare me.”

He squinted at her. Excuse me? He wanted to say, you literally jumped and hid behind Yui. Not to mention how much he felt it. Instead, he just stared. But she didn’t crack.

“I’m glad you didn’t get lost,” Yui said with a smile, as he stood by Al’s side. “How would I get home without my bodyguard?”

“What, do you think I have an awful sense of direction?”

“Well, from what I can tell,” Yui began, “You haven’t been out of your house in so long, and you probably don’t know how to use a GPS, so…”

“Fair,” Al smirked and bobbed his head to the side. 

“I’m glad you found him,” Rose said. “Thank you for your help, Yui.” She took his hands and bowed.

“You’ll let me know how you’re feeling in a couple months, right?”

“Absolutely,” she promised. Without further ado, they parted ways. Rose returned to her apartment, and Yui and Al started walking back the way they came. 

“Sorry if it’s kinda boring for you to sit around when I’m with a patient,” Yui scratched his head as he spoke.

“No, it’s okay,” he claimed. Boring wasn’t the word Al would use. 

As they approached the elevator, Yui spotted a vending machine out of the corner of his eye. “Ooh, this is what she was talking about,” he said, with a surprising amount of excitement. “They have some really cool things, like canned bubble tea,” Yui added. He grabbed Al by the wrist and pulled him away from the elevator and to the vending machine in the hallway to the right.

Yui was so enthralled by the assortment of goodies, that it wasn’t until after he put money into the machine, got his canned tea, sat on the nearby brown leather lounge chair, and lifted the can up to his lips, that he noticed the red fluid covering his hand.

Al noticed first, but he stayed silent, bit his lip, and held his arm.

At first, Yui looked a little scared, and then he simply looked confused. “I don’t think I cut my finger on the can,” Yui said, while he turned his hand around in search of a wound. “And Rose was a bit rough with me, but not in any way that would make me bleed. My butt-cheeks are just a little…” As he adjusted his sitting position, he looked up at Al and realized… it was him. 

Yui jumped out of his seat and over to his friend. “Al, tell me what happened,” he demanded. His voice was full of panic. “Did someone attack you? Did you slip and fall and…” he looked at Al’s sleeve and realized just how much blood was seeping through his multiple layers of black fabric. “What happened?!”

“It’s nothing,” Al said, shakily, as he continued to cover his wound.

“It’s obviously not nothing,” Yui yelled. “Let me see!” He made a movement to pull up Al’s sleeve, but Al backed away.

“Let. Me. See,” Yui demanded.

Al reluctantly pulled up the soaked fabric and disintegrating paper towels so Yui could see the wound clearly.

“Holy crap, Al,” Yui grabbed his friend’s upper arm. “We have to take you to the hospital.”

Al scoffed. “We can’t afford a hospital,” he said. “Besides, I’m fine. I’ve done worse.” 

Oops. He didn’t mean to say it like that.

“Al,” Yui said, carefully. It was obvious that he was trying to sound calm.

Al timidly met his gaze.

“Did you do this to yourself?” Yui asked.

Al pursed his lips and nodded.

Yui’s eyes filled up with tears. “Were you trying to kill your self?” He asked.

Al couldn’t stand seeing Yui so sad. “No, I wasn’t…”

“Then what…” Yui tried to continue, but his voice cracked and tears fell down his cheeks. He took Al’s hand, bloody though it was. “Come with me,” he said weakly. “Let’s see if Rose has some bandages.”

They knocked on Rose’s door. Although the girl displayed some shock at seeing the blood, she remained unnaturally calm, and Al didn’t feel any change in her mood. 

“It doesn’t look too serious,” she said, once they were in the apartment. “Take off your coat and follow me to the bathroom.”

Al hesitated after taking off his coat. He wasn’t sure where to put it, as he didn’t want the blood to get anywhere.

“Just put it on the back of the dining room chair. Don’t worry about the blood,” Rose said, from the other room. “I’ll clean that up later. What matters most is you.”

Al was slightly surprised to hear this from a stranger, but he did as she suggested and followed her into the bathroom, with Yui in tow. 

“Wash it in the sink, while I get some things,” she said. She left the room, and Al washed his arm thoroughly. He winced, as the soap stung the wound. Yui stood there beside him and rubbed his back. “You’ll be okay, buddy,” he said.

Rose quickly returned with bandages, towels, and ointment. “Give me your arm,” she said, without asking for any sort of explanation. He did as he was told, and she blotted it off gently. She applied some antibiotic ointment before tightly wrapping a gauze bandage around it.

Al grimaced, as the girl applied a bit more pressure than he was expecting.

“You seem like you know what you’re doing,” Yui observed. “Are you a doctor?”

“Oh, no,” she laughed softly, “I just have a few reckless little brothers, so I’m used to this sort of thing.” 

Al observed her hands as she expertly wrapped the wound. His eyes strayed to her arms. The baggy sleeves of her gray hoodie were rolled up, and on her arm, he could see subtle scars. Considering it was mostly her feelings that led to him doing this, he wasn’t surprised at all. He gave her an empathic look, but she didn’t seem to comprehend.

“All done,” she said, triumphantly. “How does it feel?”

“…Tight,” he admitted.

“Good,” she said, “that’ll keep it from bleeding.”

“Thank you, Rose,” he said, as he looked into her brown eyes. “Can I call you if I need you?”

“As I said, I’m not a doctor,” she laughed, “but sure. Yui can give you my number.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” she said.

They left the apartment and finally made their way out of the building. “Hey, Al,” Yui said, solemnly. “We need to talk.”

“I know,” he said. He could still feel the blood on his sleeve. “Can it wait until we’re back in our room? Away from… this?” He gestured to their general area, as though Yui could see the insufferable emotions of the tenants that surrounded Al.

“Sure,” Yui said. He took Al’s hand in his. Al didn’t fight it. They walked back to the motorcycle and drove home.

“How can I help you, Al?” Yui asked, once they were comfortably back in their room. They sat up on Timmy’s old bed, with pillows propped up against the headboard. Al sat closest to the wall. He held his bandaged arm. Yui sat beside him, and played with a fidget spinner.

“You can’t,” Al replied, in a hopeless tone. “It’s something I need to do. A long time ago, I was overcome by the emotions around me, and… I lost it and hurt someone dear to me. Since then, I’ve tried everything to ease these emotions so they don’t take control again, and cutting is the only thing that soothes me.”

“There’s gotta be something else,” Yui said, “maybe if…” His voice trailed off, as he changed his mind. He thought about offering himself to Al. That’s what he did, after all. Healing people with his body was his calling. But somehow, it didn’t feel right to suggest such a thing to Al. Maybe because he couldn’t stop looking at the ring on Al’s left hand.

Al looked at Yui’s thin, dainty hands as they played with the toy. His eyes opened wide in realization. “There is something,” Al said. He looked excited for a moment, but quickly became embarrassed. “Actually, nevermind. It’s a dumb idea.”

“If it can help you, it can’t be dumb,” Yui said. “You can’t just stop there. What is it? Oh!” He looked at his fidget spinner. “Maybe a toy would get your mind off of it?” He smiled so brightly as he waved the toy in the middle aged man’s face.

“No, not that,” Al couldn’t help but laugh. Then he collected himself and looked at Yui. “It’s you.”

Yui blushed. Was he asking for his services after all? “Me?”

“The other day, when we went shopping… and I had an attack in the street… You held my hand. My pain went away then. It soothed my empathy. Even if it was only while we were touching, it still helped a bit. But I couldn’t ask you to…”

“Man, is that all it takes?” Yui had a shocked smile on his face. “Of course I can hold your hand if you need comfort! Do I look like the kind of guy who doesn’t like physical contact?”

“Well, no,” Al said. “Obviously.”

“Oh,” Yui deflated. “Are you uncomfortable with me touching you? Since I’ve been with so many people?” He reverted to playing with his fidget spinner. “I promise I wash my hands thoroughly,” he said with a pout.

“What?” Al squinted at him. “No, that’s not… if I seem hesitant to let you touch me, it’s because… well, because of what I said a moment ago. I’m the problem. I’m… dangerous.”

“But you wouldn’t be dangerous, if you let me touch you to ease your tension, right?” Yui raised his eyebrows and smirked like he was all-knowing and powerful. 

Al couldn’t help but smile. “I hope so.”

“Well, let’s try it, shall we?”

“What?”

Yui laid his hand gently on Al’s ringed hand.

Al shuddered for a second, and then relaxed. Damn, he thought, how long has it been since someone touched him? He was way too sensitive. He closed his eyes and breathed.

“Wait, seriously?” Yui raised his dark eyebrows in surprise. “That actually worked?”

“It… seems relaxing,” Al said. However, he only felt half relaxed. The other half of him felt like he was a teenager who had never been touched before. His heart was beating faster than he would like, and he really hoped Yui didn’t notice.

“This is wonderful,” Yui sighed, happily. “Now you just have to promise me that, next time you feel overwhelmed and want to hurt yourself, you’ll come to me, alright?”

Although Al was terrified that, if he felt the way he felt today, he would end up snapping Yui’s neck in his rage, he also felt too tired and relaxed to argue. “I promise,” he said, while he kept his eyes closed.

“I’m also a really good masseuse,” Yui informed him. “If touching your hand helps, I bet that would work wonders!”

Al began to wonder why Yui didn’t simply heal people by giving them massages, but he was too tired to press the issue.