The blond girl with the violet eyes was quite excited. Finally, after almost three months of rehabilitation, she would be released from the hospital. She had been longing so much for this day in the past few weeks, but now that her discharge was so close, she was overcome by an almost numbing excitement.

Takashi, the tall-grown carer with short, black hair, had warned her about this. He had become a very close friend in the past few months and she would miss him very much when they wouldn't see each other almost every day. Fortunately, they had exchanged their mobile numbers, so they could write to each other.

Yui Masuda, dressed in brown shorts and a light green T-shirt, looked at the packed bag, which stood beside her on the bed. On the top was 'The Hobbit' by Tolkien. This book had done so much for her. She loved it even more than before, which she would never have thought possible. She had even read it once more while she was here.

Her left hand wandered to her scarf, which her sister Yuna had brought her to the hospital. She pulled it from her neck, twisted it in her hands, folded and rolled it, then re-tied it. With her fingertips she stroked nervously through her long, blond hair.

She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and checked the time. Just a few more minutes. The girl put the device back in her pocket and put her right hand on her chest. Her heart thumped quickly.

The blonde looked around her room again. For more than three months, this room had been her home, but now she moved to her sister into the pension. She was anxious to see how she would get along living with Ayumi and Wataru.

For a moment, the faces of the people she loved appeared in her mind. Father and mother. Her little sisters, Mai and Ayu. But her family no longer existed. Even her friend and 'uncle' Yoshiro had left this world. Her heart grew heavy from these thoughts. She had missed so many things. So much had happened, so much she had lost, but luckily she still had her beloved sister Yuna.

Yui concentrated on the happy thoughts, as she had learned in therapy. She was teached how to live with the pain, and Midori Omura, her future legal guardian, had assured her that it would go away in time. Eventually, it would take a few years, but it would get better.

There was a knock at her room door.

"Yes." She straightened up and looked at the door.

It tapped again, but this time in a code. The blonde giggled cheerfully and tapped her answer on the bedside table next to her former bed. The door was opened and Takashi pushed a wheelchair in front of himself into the room.

"Are you ready, Frodo?" the tall man asked, grinning.

"I'm, Bilbo. Frodo is too childish for me."

"But then I can't be Bilbo."

"You're ... Gimli, anyway."

Disgusted, he twisted the corners of his mouth. "Oh, come on. I'm not that ugly."

"Would you rather be Gollum?"

"Okay, okay. I'm Gimli. Then swing your Hobbit-ass into the wheelchair so we can go to Mordor. Why ever Bilbo wants to go there." The black-haired man laughed.

"I can tell the story the way I want. This is called fan fiction, you muffling stub."

"You're the stub here. Dwarves are bigger than Hobbits."

"Then I'm a giant Hobbit."

"That's called human."

"Ew, humans."

"Totally. So awkward." Both grinned broadly. He let go of the wheelchair and came closer to her.

"I'll be missing that, Takashi-kun ... I'll be missing you," the girl admitted.

"I'll be missing you too, but that's not the end of the world. You will simply live somewhere else. We've exchanged our numbers, so we can keep in touch."

"Yes. Nevertheless ..."

"You have jitters, don't you?"

The girl closed her eyes. "Just a little. The world has changed a lot in the last months."

The nurse put his big hand on her left shoulder. "At the moment you may think so, but believe me, in a few weeks everything will be normal for you."

"I hope not."

"How come?"

The blonde looked interested at the tips of her sneakers, as she arranged her thoughts. When she compared her future life with her old one, nothing was the same. Everything had changed.

"This world is no longer normal. My life was destroyed."

The man pressed her shoulder gently. "We talked about this. And Doctor Yamada talked to you about it too, didn't he?"

She sighed. "I know. But that's how I feel. Everyone who has meant something to me is gone."

"Not everyone. Yuna is there for you. And also Midori. And I'm here for you too, Bilbo."

A smile, against which Yui couldn't defend herself, appeared on her face. The nurse went to his knees in front of her, so that he could see her purple eyes. Tears glittered at the edge.

"I'm scared, Takashi-kun. I'm afraid that I'm not ready for this."

Her friend stood up, took her in his arms and pressed her to him. "That's perfectly fine. You are allowed to be afraid, Yui-chan."

The girl clung to him. "I don't know if I can do this."

He stroked her back soothingly. "You can call me anytime. Midori, Yuna and her friends are all there for you. You don't have to do this by yourself."

"Okay."

The hug lasted for a few more seconds, then the man separated from her. "Now let us throw this damned ring into the Cracks of Doom."

Yui wiped her eyes and peered past him. "Why the wheelchair?"

"Regulations. Patients to be discharged are rolled to the entrance."

"How stupid. Don't you have more important things to do?"

He snorted. "I do. There are a few people waiting for me to change their diapers, but they have to wait until you are discharged."

"You're the worst."

"What do you expect from a dwarf, girl? Move now."

Yui stood up from the bed, took her bag and sat in the wheelchair. One last time she looked around the room, then she glanced at the nurse and nodded. He pushed her out into the hall, to the elevators, then drove with her down to the ground floor. During the trip, Yui listened to the calm breath of Takashi, as she had done so often when they were riding the elevator together. It had always had a calming effect on her.

As the elevator doors slid apart, her heart beat violently. The girl fumbled nervously with her fingers on the strap of the bag and hardly dared to look up. Takashi silently pushed her from the elevators to the reception. She lifted her gaze.

First, the long, blue hair of her sister came in view. Yuna smiled all over her face as she saw her little sister. Ayumi's influence was clearly visible, as the blue-haired wore a sleek jeans Hot Pants, a light yellow, wide top with spaghetti straps and a pair of red sneakers. Her right eye was hidden by a black eyepatch, like Yui had suggested. Luckily, she was able to end this tick with the bandages. The blonde didn't know exactly what had happened to her sister's eye, but it had to have something to do with the explosion in their old home. With the disaster that had changed their lives.

Beside the high-school girl, Midori Omura waited in an airy, light orange summer dress and flat sandals. The black-haired worked as a nurse in this hospital and had meanwhile also become Yui and Yuna's legal guardian.

"You look like runaway models," Takashi greeted the two, laughing. Yui giggled.

"Yeah. Ayumi has turned my life once more into hell," Yuna complained.

"You look gorgeous, sister."

The blue-haired rolled her eye. "Ha. I also look good without such fumble. You look good, Yui."

"Thank you."

While the sisters greeted each other, the hospital workers came into conversation.

"Hey, Omura-san," Takashi greeted the black-haired woman.

"Hello, Kawase-kun."

"Are you alright?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes. I'm fine."

The nurse looked at his colleague. "I can see nothing."

"Just because I wear a wide dress. The pounds are gathering."

The blond girl looked more closely at Midori's waist. She really couldn't see anything. She looked up at Takashi, who nodded. Sighing, Yui rose from the wheelchair. Yuna hugged her tightly and then reached for her bag.

"I can carry it myself, sister," Yui declined.

"I only want to help you."

"I can do this myself, okay?"

The blue-haired released the bag handle. "Okay. No problem." She turned to the carer. "It's a pity you didn't get a day off."

"That doesn't matter. I hope it will be easier for Yui to get away from me," he joked.

The three women and the carer laughed, but it was not a happy laugh.

The black-haired man put his hands in his trouser pockets while he looked at the blond girl. "Well ... until then, Bilbo."

Yui set down her bag and hugged him again. "Take care."

He put his mighty arms around her and pressed the petite girl to himself. "Do it better."

"Do it best."

"Do it bestest."

The blonde looked up at him. "That doesn't count."

He snorted, then answered, "I don't care."

She pulled away from him and smiled at him again as she took off her patient bracelet and dropped it into his hand. She picked up her bag and then went out with her companions.

"I've already done the paperwork, Yui-chan," Midori said as they headed towards the exit.

"Okay." The blond girl was curious about her new life.