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Japan was supposed to be a good bonding experience for Michael and the rest of Offline TV. A test run, of sorts, to see how well he gelled with the rest of the group. Everything had been going really well and the group was having a ton of fun exploring Tokyo, until the one night where Lily found out what was really going on.
Everyone had felt bad for Lily and furious at Albert, and had been comforting her during the rest of their stay after Albert left early. However, everyone still wanted to make the most of their trip, and had continued on with their plans, understandably giving Lily space when she didn’t want to participate.
Michael was furious, and felt horrible for Lily. Furious because Lily was his friend, and furious because Albert was his friend, and that he would ever do something like this.
Michael and Lily had gotten close in the last few weeks, and he considered her one of his closest friends. They had bonded very quickly once he started hanging around the Offline TV house. They were great at bantering and making each other laugh, and it was surprising how much they had in common, despite him being 6 years younger than her.
It was the second to last night in Japan, and Michael had gotten word that Lily wasn’t going to be joining them for their last night out drinking.
”I dunno, she said she wanted to stay in and get some sleep. I’m not gonna force it, she’s still hurting,” Scarra said.
“Alright. I’m gonna check in with Lily and make sure she’s good. I’ll catch up with you guys later,” Michael replied.
It was about 9pm, the group had just left go to out drinking at an Izakaya in Roppongi, but Michael was back at the hotel.
Once everyone was gone, he quietly left his room and made the trek down the hall to Lily’s. He knocked on her door, and after a few seconds, heard the sound of a latch unlocking.
“Hey…!” Michael quietly exclaimed, awkwardly smiling.
“…Michael?” Lily questioned. “What are you doing here? I thought everyone went out.”
“They did. I, uh, stayed here,” he said, nervously, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Can I come in?”
“Oh! Uh, sure!” She sniffled. Michael looked at Lily’s face and saw her eyes were red and swollen. He wondered how long she’d been in here alone. He walked over to the bed and sat down. Lily took a seat next to him and immediately fell back onto the mattress.
“This might seem like a dumb question, but, are you okay?” He asked, looking down at her. Lily let out a small giggle.
"Not at all,” she said.
”Everyone still wants to see you if you’re down to go out,” Michael said. They sat in silence for a minute and then she let out a small sob. Michael winced and looked over at her.
“Fuck. Buddy. I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what to say,” he said, and lied back onto the mattress next to her.
”I just don’t even know what to feel,” she said between sobs, “I love him, so much, I hope he’s doing okay.. but I’m also so sad, and so angry.”
“That…. makes sense,” he answered.
Silence fell between them for a few moments. Michael felt awkward. He had no idea what to do.
Lily started sobbing more. Michael jumped off of the bed and sat her up.
“Hey, buddy… it’s gonna be okay,” he said. He started rubbing her shoulder, eventually deciding to pull her into a hug. Lily started crying even more into his chest. Michael just sat there, rubbing her back, letting her cry as much as she needed to.
She sat up a few minutes later, and started rubbing her eyes.
”Ugh, I have a headache,” she complained. Michael looked over at her worryingly.
“Have you eaten anything today?” he asked her.
“No…” she meekly said back.
“Alright, I’ll be right back,” Michael responded.
Before Lily could protest, he ran out of the room.
~~
Lily always knew Michael was nice, despite the edgy, sarcastic persona he put out on the internet. She had become good friends with him in the last few weeks when he started hanging around OfflineTV, but she never expected him to go out of his way for her like this. He was sacrificing his time with his friends, in another country, just to check in on her and make sure she was okay.
Michael returned about 10 minutes later. He came in the room and placed a plastic shopping bag full of snacks and drinks from 7-11. He placed two bottles of water, two onigiris, a katsu sandwich, and a couple of small cans of sake on the table in the hotel room.
“Here,” he said to her, “you need to drink some water.” Michael threw the onigiris and a bottle of water on the bed.
“Michael…” she tried to protest, “you don’t have to do all of this.”
“I don’t. You’re right. But I’m doing it anyway,” he said.
Lily gave up on trying to stop him. She was exhausted. She slowly sat up and took the bottle of water from the edge of the bed and opened it. The cold water felt good after crying all day.
“I know you like seafood, so I got you those,” Michael said, pointing to the rice balls he’d picked out.
“Thanks, Michael.” she said, unwrapping the wrapper and taking a bite.
“Here, I have this too,” Michael said, referring to the sake can he picked out. “I know maybe alcohol isn’t the healthiest coping mechanism, but I have this if you want to take the edge off.”
He tossed it over, Lily catching it in both of her hands. She opened the can and took a sip.
~~
A few minutes later, after eating, both Michael and Lily were lying on the hotel bed, both nursing a half drank can of sake. Lily could feel tears welling up in her eyes again and let out a sniffle. Michael looked over at her, at a total loss for what to do.
Until he suddenly wasn’t.
“Hey buddy?” he said.
“….what?” she replied.
“Do you wanna listen to come sad songs?” he asked. Lily let out a small laugh in between the sobs.
“…sure”
Michael reached in to his pocket and pulled out a pair of wireless earbuds. He put one in one of his ears, and gave the other one to her.
He pulled up a playlist on Spotify he made of sad music, hoping it would ease her pain a bit. Michael tapped the play button on his phone screen. The first song that came up was Dayglow’s “Fuzzybrain”.
Scattered mind, I call it a friend
I wish I thought a bit less and spoke up instead
In my head
There’s rain inside my skeleton frame
A hurricane within my rib cage
I never left but I never stayed
I’m cleaning out the fuzz in my brain
Lily sat there and listened to the lyrics, feeling herself like her mind was scattered and fuzzy. It was definitely the emotional distress, but it was also partly the sake. She hadn’t cried in the last few minutes, which was a small relief.
She turned her head over and looked at Michael, who turned and looked back at her, smiling.
“You feeling okay?” he asked.
“Not really, but, at least I’m not crying anymore,” she responded, “thanks, Michael.”
Michael, feeling a little tipsy, felt a sudden wave of anxiety at her saying his name like that.
Why did he like that so much?
~~
Michael woke up to the lights on in Lily’s room, his earbud still in his ear, and Lily fast asleep next to him. He grabbed his phone and looked at the time, 2:57am.
Shit, he thought, Toast and Scarra are probably wondering where I am.
Michael quietly got up and took the earbud out of his ear, leaving it on the nightstand. He silently hoped Lily would remember to give those back to him, but he wasn’t going to worry about it now. He walked over to the door, shut the lights off, and left Lily sleeping. He made the short walk back to the suite that he, Scarra and Toast were sharing, put his keycard in the door, and turned the latch.
Michael walked in to Scarra, Imane, Toast, Celine, and Aria, half drunk, playing Smash on the hotel room tv. Toast and Aria immediately turned their heads to look at him.
“Whoa, where the fuck were you?” Scarra asked. Michael froze.
“I was, uh, making sure Lily was okay,” he responded.
“Until 3am?” Toast questioned.
“I fell asleep in there,” he responded curtly. Toast looked surprised. He’d never heard Michael this genuinely frustrated before. Aria gave him a suspicious look. Michael rolled his eyes.
“I’m going to bed. I’m exhausted,” Michael said. Jet lag was the main reason, but taking care of an emotionally distraught friend also took a mental toll as well.
Toast shrugged and looked back at the character selection screen.
“Alright well, good night,” said Toast, shrugging. Michael sleepily walked into the other room in the suite and closed the door. He collapsed on the bed, took his glasses off, and threw his arm over his eyes.
“Fuck,” he said out loud, and rubbed his eyes really hard with his hands.
The next few weeks were gonna be tough.