"Ace! Ace! You're awake again!"
Ace stirred, the voice distant yet achingly familiar. His eyelids fluttered open, revealing the stark white ceiling of a hospital room.
The faint scent of disinfectant clung to the air, sterile and cold.
"Ace…!"
He turned his head slowly, and a blurry silhouette sharpened into a figure, a woman in a lab coat, her features delicate, framed by glasses.
A stethoscope hung around her neck.
Just beneath her, kneeling by the side of the bed, was a sobbing girl.
Tears stained her cheeks as she clutched the edge of his hospital blanket like a lifeline.
Rina.
The name pulsed in his mind but he didn't speak it aloud.
He said nothing at all.
"You passed out again," the girl said between choked sobs. "I was so scared…"
The doctor clicked her tongue and adjusted her stethoscope, placing it gently against his chest.
