mariko pulls up to the hospital in her car,a pink fiat 500. she skids to a stop in a parking space and gets out.she doesnt bother to lock the doors.she is in a hurry. her sister,erica had given her an earful until she gave in a came to visit nina. being mariko,she was let onto the floor where nina was staying. she knocks lightly on the door frame. poking the little head of the plush hello kitty she bought for nina to the window.

outside the door mariko winces. nina sounds so unlike the nina she knows and loves. usually she is loud and boisterous...it pains her to hear the voice. especially since she was heavily considering not visiting nina at all. mariko slowly opens the door,as if nina might have fallen asleep in the few seconds since she spoke. "nina chan." she starts to gasp,but barely holds it back. the sight of her in the hospital is hard to take. " erica pretty much threatened to kill me if i did not come right away." she laughs weakly and pulls a chair next to the bed. "is...what i read true?" she asks softly. she never was tactful with sick people.

mariko shakes her head. "no,it is fine. do not be sorry,nina chan." she says quietly,taking a hold of one of nina's fingers as she speaks.before she arrived she was furious that whatever was going on was kept entirely secret from her. but seeing nina like this,it immediately doused her anger. "i guess you have your life and i have mine." she says,with just a hint of bitterness in her voice. she takes a deep breath,possibly catching the one nina let go, and says to nina. "well...it was kind of confusing. it almost sounding like you were purposely starving yourself or something." mariko blushes after speaking. she could speak english fairly well. but reading it? that sometimes didnt work out so well.

mariko lets go of ninas finger and places her hands in her lap. "well....its just.." she starts then abruptly stops. "i am sorry,nina chan. this is neither the place of time for that conversation. " she says this in her fairly formal way before looking over to nina,or the side of nina's face rather. she knew nina did this on purpose,so she had to be careful and not seem like she was blaming. "what scared you? well,before all this." she says with a weak giggle,gesturing around the hospital equipment.

mariko scoots her chair a little closer to nina's bed and fiddles with the blanket. "that sounds petrifying. not being able to breath? ugh." mariko visibly shudders.it was a scary thought,one she was pretty familiar with actually. she lets out a little sigh and states quietly. "aire or i...we were just a phone call away. you do not have to be alone. ever." perhaps her bitterness was still affecting her,but she cant help but feel something is being hidden from her.her face dissolves from passive concern to a deep frown. "i am supposed to be there for you.but if you do not reach out for..or keep me at arms length,how can i ?" she finally whispers.

mariko shudders a little. "you poor thing...has this ever happened before? " she says rather optimistically,hoping this was a one time thing. she slowly slides her hand across the bed to take hold of ninas finger again.the furrowed brow of nina makes mariko squeeze the finger reassuringly. mariko looks slightly confused by ninas answer of things running through her mind. "is the tour not going well? cause i will come down there and kick butt if i have to." she weakly jokes.she squeeezes ninas hand slightly tighter. " i know it is not. you are my strong nina chan." she says this with admiration. in mariko's eyes nina is the strongest,bravest person she has ever known. "that being said...sometimes a friend is needed."

"maybe it is due to the holidays coming up? it seems the entire nation is in a titter about black friday...whatever that is.it sounds sinister." mariko states with a furrowed brow. she tries to run through what could be bothering nina. but aside from the incident with vara,she comes up with nothing. she is briefly hurt by nina being off the tour for a month,but then realizes she should know these things. she giggles and shakes her head., "nope. i just assumed you were work work working! just like me." she says brightly. mariko holds ninas hand fully now. "ninarita is cute! i love it. but...nina chan makes you mine." she nods with a squeeze of ninas hand. she lets out a little sigh. " nina....i was worried and angry when i heard you were here. promise me,and i do mean promise me that you will not let this get to this extreme ever again. i want to know what is going on in your life. no matter what. i am your friend first,above anything else." she says quietly. she felt weird being rather firm with nina. but she had to.

mariko grins as nina laughs. it is a welcome sound,given the situation. "good." she says happily. she is not really one for holidays,other than birthdays. those are always important to her. mariko looks slightly confused when nina says rehab. "rehab...like drug rehab? you have been doing drugs and not sharing? baaaaddd nina chan." she jokingly scolds with a wagging finger. she was rather happy as she would be seeing nina on the import export tour,at least for a little bit.mariko looks into ninas eyes and squeezes her hand tightly,hoping that nina meant it. in certain respect,mariko had always felt like nina kept private matters from her. it felt nice to hear nina say she was more than a friend. mariko had wondered if nina even liked her as more than a friend. mariko lifts ninas hand to her lips and softly kisses it. "but nina chan,how can we be lovers,if we can not be friends?" she giggles. inwardly,she was very happy to be elevated above aire in the pantheon of ninas head.

Marilou makes her hand into a fist and shakes it at nina. " I guess you better go too,nina chan." She giggles in a mock threatening way. She couldn't see nina ever freely wanting to enter any sort of program. It made her at ease to see nina wanting help."I will sneak you in some Mickey d's." she whispers. " I will put the burgers in my bra,giving me a nice Big Mac bustline.fries? Without getting dirty,I do not know where I could put them. " Mariko giggles thoughtfully before blushing a little. She squeezes Nina's hand and leans down to kiss it. " I have to be both. I am a greedy little thing." She says with complete honesty. " though less of the friend. I hear there is a zone for those. And I do not want to be there."

"i know what my nina chan likes."mariko says before humming the "im loving it " tune. she then stifles her own laughter. "i could say i got implants. implants that mysteriously disappear after i leave you." mariko pulls the waistband of her pants out and points. "
the only natural place is to stuff the fries down my pants" she says joining ninas laughter. "but if you dont want trouser fries,i could strap them to my waist with duct tape. where there is a will,there is a way. we wont let you fall victim to rehab food." mariko says with certainty. she loved the fact that nina had no qualms about mcdonalds. in an industry populated by foodery snobs,it was nice and real. "you never know,we could be the only successful friends with benefits movies...we could part with a firm handshake and only speak of the weather.which would be kinda boring. lets go your route. but i am not being ashton kutcher! i would rather be justin timberlake." she says this seriously,as if she could change into a man at any second. she smiles warmly at nina. it was nice to hear her laugh again.