In Stitches

[Applesintime]

(Fumiyo Fujiyoshi Memory Start)

Spray with the anti-bacterial spray.

Wipe with the cloth.

Wipe with the paper towel to dry it.

Repeat.

It was a rhythm that Fumiyo had to repeat nearly every day, and one that was comforting to her. As the nurse's aide, most of the cleaning duties after school fell to her, while the nurse herself was busy writing up any reports for injuries that students might have suffered during the day or ordering more bandages or medications for the students who needed it. The janitor would come in when everyone else had left and empty the wastebaskets, change the sheets on the bed if needed, and mop the floors again.

For those in her class who were more social, being stuck in the nurse's room for half an hour to an hour (depending on if anyone had been in during the day or not) would have been torture. At least while they cleant up the school before going home, they could talk with their friends as they worked. But Fumiyo enjoyed the silence, just turning her mind off and following the various rhythms that cleaning brought. It wasn't that she didn't like socialising, but it did help that unless there'd been some people in, she normally got out before most other people did.

But someone did come in today, one of the soccer players who had sprained his ankle badly during training, and so there was more cleaning to do.

Spray.

Wipe.

Wipe.

Fumiyo wondered what Yukie was doing. She was probably coordinating the cleaning of their home classroom right now. The delinquents who didn't care about that sort of thing had probably slinked off to listen to that stupid rock music or bully people or whatever they did, but Yukie was good at getting the rest of their class to work together. Whether it was representing the class or playing volleyball or even when it came to her grades, she was always good at whatever she wanted to do. Fumiyo envied that ability sometimes. She could say she was good at cleaning, at least.

Yukie wasn't her only friend, though. Mayumi and Yoshimi were nice, too, but she didn't really like the other people Yoshimi hung out with sometimes. Mitsuko in particular was a little intimidating, but now she had that boyfriend of hers, Koji or Yoji, Yoshimi seemed to be getting a little better. And Mayumi had all those rumours about her being in one of those telephone clubs, but Fumiyo didn't believe them. Mayumi really didn't seem like the kind of person who would do something like that.

Spray.

Wipe.

Wipe.

"Miss Fujiyoshi." The voice of the nurse startled Fumiyo out of the rhythm she had gotten herself into, and she set the spray bottle down on the table she had been wiping down, turning around to look at the nurse sitting at her desk, who looked like she'd just finished typing up a report about the soccer player. "Yes, Ms. Matsui?" She answered diligently, wondering what it could be. "I'll finish up here, so you can go. It's a good day outside, and you shouldn't be stuck in here cleaning up messes." Her heart soared at those words. It was a wonderfully sunny day outside, and she had some errands to run for Mom. She had a shift at the hospital today, and she'd asked Fumi, as she called her endearingly, to pick some things up for her. So she could get that done a little earlier, and then the rest of the day and the weekend would be hers.

"Alright, Ms. Matsui. See you on Monday!" Grabbing her bag, not caring to conceal her excitement, Fumiyo rushed out of the nurse's room. Maybe she'd see if Mayumi or Yukie wanted to hang out once she was finished with her errands.

((Fumiyo Fujiyoshi continued in Sunshine in Your Heart))