Here now is the 17th episode of 'Kanon Returns'. As recalled in the previous chapter, Patrick Ozaki moved in with Nayuki Minase, Mrs. Akiko and Yuichi Aizawa while his mother is in the hospital. In this chapter, we will learn of the date of Patrick's birthday and how he's doing since moving into the Minase house. As always, the rating is PG with no swearing included, but there will a little bit of action included from some troublemakers that were first seen back in chapter 10, and this chapter's date starts at the early morning hours on Wednesday February 16th 2011. Also note that the title of this chapter was inspired by the Rascal Flatts song 'My Wish'. Anyhow, I hope you will enjoy reading this next installment of...

Kanon Returns

Written by: ThomasZoey3000

Episode 17: My Wish

Despite the cold weather, I stood out on the balcony sometime at around four thirty in the morning for some fresh air, "you know you are nuts for standing out here when it's freezing cold," said a voice from nearby. It was Yuichi, standing outside of his own room.

"You're one to talk Yuichi, you're standing out here too. What are you doing out here anyways?"

"No reason, I just feel like standing out here until everyone wakes up. What about you though huh? What brings you out here? Having trouble sleeping? You having a good time here so far?"

"Man you're just full of questions aren't you?" I chuckled, "anyways, in the correct order you asked your questions, I came out here for some fresh air, I had a little bit of trouble getting to sleep and yes I'm having a good time living here so far. Does that answer your questions?"

"Perfectly," Yuichi muttered quietly.

I sighed and leaned back aganist the wall, "oh, what a crazy couple of days this has been."

"What are you talking about? Your mother's accident happened yesterday."

"Oh...oh yeah, that's right, it was yesterday, my bad." I looked back over to Nayuki's bedroom, "I sure hope our talking out here doesn't wake Nayuki up."

"Nah don't worry about it, Nayuki can sleep through anything. You've heard of heavy sleepers right? Well that's what Nayuki is, she's a heavy sleeper, she won't wake up unless you mention track practice or strawberry jam. I guess you could say she's a super heavy sleeper." Before I could say anything back, Yuichi turned and walked back into his room.

"That was uncalled for Yuichi," I said quietly.

I stayed outside for a couple more minutes before returning to my 'temporary' room and getting underneath the covers to keep myself warm.

At around six thirty the next morning, I was woken up by a loud ringing sound, it was coming from Nayuki's bedroom. I got up and walked over to Nayuki's door, "hey Nayuki, wake up!" I called to her, but I got no response. "I'm opening the door!" Still no response, I went in...I had to cover my ears because of the loud ringing from the alarm clocks.

As for Nayuki herself, she was still hugging that frog toy she usually has on her bed.

Before waking her up, I turned off all her alarm clocks, then I nudged her gently on the left shoulder and called her name. She soon opened her eyes and looked up sleepily to me, "hey Patrick, what's up?"

"That's not how you greet someone in the morning," I said with a small smile, "you're suppose to say 'good morning'."

"Oh right, good morning Patrick," she yawned.

"Good morning Nayuki. Now come on, don't fall back to sleep, we got to get ready for school, you don't want to be late do you?"

"No, I don't want to be late," she said sleepily, "I have track practice later today..." she strecthed her arms out for a second and let out another yawn, but then fell back to sleep.

"Oh come on Nayuki, don't fall asleep again..." I sniffed for a second and smiled, "I think Mrs. Akiko is making some toast and you know what that means..."

Nayuki got up till she was sitting upright, "Strawberry jam?" she asked.

"Yep, strawberry jam."

Well that got her up, she was now wide awake and walking over to get her uniform. She didn't need to say anything, I walked out of her bedroom and back over to my temporary room to get changed.

After breakfast, the three of us headed off to school, Mrs. Akiko promised me that if she got any call from the hospital, she would drop by the school and tell me, that way I wasn't distrubing the class.

On the way to school, someone ran smack into Yuichi and knocked him over.

"Ah...opps," giggled a little voice, "sorry Yuichi, my bad. I ah...kind of slipped on the ice again and...well, you know what happened next."

"Yes I know, you slipped, you tripped and then you bumped into me again," he groaned, "You have got to be more careful Ayu."

"Oh come on Yuichi you can't blame her," I said, holding my hand out to Ayu, "it could've happened to anyone. Need a hand Ayu?" she excepted my hand and I helped her back to her feet, then I helped Yuichi back to his feet.

"So where are you off to today Ayu?" asked Yuichi, "off to steal more Tayuki?"

"No I'm off to steal Tayuki and for the record Yuichi, I am not a crook! I just got scared those two times, I didn't mean to steal."

"Relax Ayu, I was just joking around," he chuckled, "for the most part," he muttered. Ayu gave him a firm stare, "just kidding. Seriously though, why were you running anyways?"

"Need you ask?" Ayu asked cheerfully, "I was running to catch up to you silly, I wanted to say hello."

"You were going to sneak up from behind me and attack me again weren't you?"

"Ugu! No I wasn't! I just wanted to hug you again...stop saying I attack you!"

"Fine I will, but only if you promise me that the next time you want to hug me, don't sneak up behind me, come up to me and give me a hug..." no sooner had he said that, Ayu walked up to him and gave him a hug.

"Well that is whathe asked for," I whispered to Nayuki, who giggled quietly after I said that.

"Ah Ayu," Yuichi spoke up almost half a minute later, "as much as I'm enjoying this hug, Nayuki, Patrick and I have to get going, we have to get to school and so should you now that I think about it."

"Ah right," she said letting go of Yuichi, "I guess I better get going..."

"Ayu hold on," called Nayuki, "I need to talk to you for a second." Ayu stopped and Nayuki walked up to her and spoke to her. After their short conversation, Ayu walked away and Nayuki joined us for the rest of the walk to the school.

"What were talking about with Ayu?" Yuichi asked.

"Sorry Yuichi, but that is for us to know and for you and Patrick to find out," she giggled, leaving us speechless and nearly leaving us behind as she walked off to the school.

"That girl is weird," Yuichi muttered to me.

"I heard that Yuichi!" she called back, "That was uncalled for!"

Well that left Yuichi speechless, even to when we arrived at the school.

At around lunchtime, Nayuki went off to talk with her team-mates, Yuichi went off to meet up with someone else, he never did say who he was going to meet up with. As for me, I headed out to the courtyard.

"Huh, it's been a while since I last sat out here," I said out loud.

Just then, I heard some footsteps coming over towards me. I spun round to see who it was, it was Shiori, "hello Patrick, I haven't seen you in a while."

"Well that's mostly because I'm always on the go and being kept busy with everything I do," I said, "how have you been doing Shiori?"

"Quite well," she smiled, "actually, truth be told, I had just recovered from a nasty cold I got a few days ago. It's my fault really, I was trying to make a snowman and I...wasn't dressed properly for the cold weather."

"That happens sometimes. Still, I'm glad to see that you're feeling a lot better."

"Thanks...hey Patrick, Kaori told me that your mother went to the hospital yesterday. What happened?"

"How did you...ah never mind," and so, I told Shiori everything that happened. "...anyways, my mother is doing okay now, although she's going to be there for a while, so I'm staying with Nayuki, Yuichi and Mrs. Akiko till then."

"That's good...so how's your crush with Nayuki going?"

"What?" I asked in surprise, "how did you know? I don't remember telling you...it's that obvious to see isn't it?" Shiori nodded, "well Shiori, most recently I was going to tell Nayuki how I felt, up to that point I was waiting for the right moment and I thought for sure that Valetine's Dance would be a good time to tell her."

"So what happened? Did you tell her?"

"Ah...no I didn't. I overheard her saying to her team-mates that she wasn't ready to fall in love, and after hearing that, I just ran off."

"Ohh, so I guess that ends your crush huh?"

"Not excatly. Just yesterday, Nayuki was helping me clean up the blood and the little mess in the apartment and well, she told me that she is ready to fall in love...ah, just don't tell anyone okay? Not even your sister Kaori, I promised Nayuki I wouldn't tell anyone."

"Don't worry Patrick, your secrets are safe with me."

"Thank you. So anyways, my hopes of becoming Nayuki's boyfriend aren't crushed, but given what's happened most recently, I think it might be best to wait for the right moment...again."

"Well if you're sure, just don't wait too long otherwise someone else might take her."

"Don't worry, I won't make her wait that long."

"Good," Shiori smiled. She turned when she heard some voices call out to her, "oh sorry Patrick, I got to run, I promised the book club I'd have lunch with them, I'll see you later and good luck!" With that said, she turned and ran away to join her friends.

"Thanks Shiori," I said quietly as I sat down on a small brick wall and started eating my lunch.

After the long school day was done, I was getting ready to go when Nayuki came walking up to my desk, "hey Patrick, are you going to go over to the hospital?"

"Yep, I'm going to go over there and see how my mom is doing. What about you though huh? Are you going to track practice?"

"Yep, we got to be ready for our upcoming track meet. Oh and if you get home before I do, can you tell my mom that I might be a little late getting home tonight? I got to meet Ayu later about something important."

"Sure Nayuki, I'll let your mom know."

"Okay thanks Patrick, anyways I got to go, I'll see you later." With that said, she turned around and ran off towards the gym, almost running smack into Kaori, "sorry Kaori!" she called before she ran out of sight.

"It's alright!" she called back and walked inside, "hey Patrick, don't you usually go with Nayuki to track practice?"

"Yes normally I do, but not today, I'm going to see my mom in the hospital and see how she's doing. What about you though, you got another meeting to go to?"

"Yep, another club meeting, then I'm going to meet up with Shiori later and do some shopping."

"Let me guess, you're going to ask Kitagawa to go with you right?"

"Not this time, it's just the two of us this time. And besides, Kitagawa came down with the flu after the Valentine's Dance, so he's going to be away for a while."

"Well that would explain why I haven't seen him all day. Well anyways," I said while grabbing my book bag, "have a good time out tonight."

"Thanks and tell your mother we all said hello."

"Will do," I smiled and headed out.

When I arrived at the hospital, one of the nurses told me that they had moved my mother to a different room, "she's in Room 307, third floor...ah not excatly everyone's favourite floor."

"Oh?" I asked while raising an eyebrow, "how come?"

"You know I have no idea why."

After that short discussion, the nurse gave me directions to my mom's new room. The nurse gave me good directions cause it wasn't long before I reached my mom's room. She was sleeping when I arrived, but she woke up as soon as I stepped in, "sorry mom, I didn't mean to wake you up...I didn't think I was making that much noise."

"It's okay Patrick, it's not you. I've been having a little bit of trouble sleeping...it's this bed, it's so uncomfortable, plus I had an unfriendly discussion with a doctor who's really rude."

"Is that so? Well, just tell me which doctor it is and I'll have a serious chat with them."

"Oh no Patrick, you don't need to do that. Someone else already spoke to him...and from the sounds of it, it didn't sound pretty good. Oh Patrick dear, can I ask you for a little favour?"

"Sure mom, what would you like me to do?"

"Can you go by the apartment a little later and pick up my big blanket and a couple of extra pillows?"

"Sure mom, I can do that...in fact I can probably do that now if you want. Ah, would it be okay if I left my school bag here?"

"Of course it would be okay."

"Alright then, I'll be right back."

As I got up and walked over to the door though, I heard my mother say, "happy Birthday my son."

I stopped at that moment and turned around to face her, "thanks mom," I smiled, "I'll be back." With that said, I turned and walked away. Given what's been going on recently, I had completely forgotten that today was my birthday.

Anyways, being true to my word, I went back to the apartment and got a few things for mom, then I took a taxi back...why I didn't take one to the apartment in the first place I'll never know...anyways, after getting back to the hospital and helping to get my mom's bed to be a little more comfortable, we chatted for an hour and a half until around six.

"Okay I'm going to head out, is there anything else you need before I go?"

"Nope, I'm good. Have a good night out Patrick dear."

"Thanks mom, you too. Remember, if you need anything, just call me okay...and don't say you're being a burden, cause you're not, I don't mind helping you out."

"Thanks Patrick, you are a good son," she smiled, "good night."

After saying good night to my mother, I headed off back to the Minase house. On my way back, I found three big guys standing in my path, "excuse me," I said politely, but they didn't move out of the way, instead they just blocked my path, "Can I help you with..." it was then I recognized their faces, "oh it's you again, what do you want?"

"What else?" one of them snarled, "payback for making us look stupid last time!"

"Hey come on, Nayuki and the rest of our track team won fair and square and as for the beatings you got, you deserved it for threatening her."

"Right," said the second man, "just like you deserve this!" He punched me hard in the stomach, making me groan in pain and fall to my knees. "Nobody makes fools out of us and gets away with it."

Before I knew it, the men had surronded me and were either kicking me or punching me hard, not giving me a chance to fight back.

"When we're done giving you this lesson," said the third man, "we're going to teach that girl a lesson and maybe next time, she and her team will learn to give up before getting to the finish line."

He was about to throw more punch at me, but didn't connect...due to the fact that someone else had punched him hard in the face.

"Who did that?" asked the second man, but didn't get answer...well, not with words. Instead it was another punch thrown to him.

Following the third punch to the first man, I heard someone groaning, "ow, that hurts." I knew who the voice was. I turned around to see who it was, it was Nayuki, "are you alright Patrick?" she asked.

"Ah...yeah, yeah I'm fine," I panted.

"Good," she panted, then she turned her attention to the boys, "leave Patrick alone, otherwise you'll have to deal with me."

But the boys didn't look scared, "now we can teach both of them a lesson they won't forget," the first one snickered. The three of them started walking towards us with their fists clinched. One swung his fist at Nayuki, but never connected, mostly he got punched in the face...not by me and not by Nayuki, but by Yuichi.

"I was just on my way home and I saw you guys in trouble," he said, "good timing on my part don't you think?"

"Yeah, thanks Yuichi," I said.

Before Yuichi could say another word, he punched in the right side of the face by another one of those guys. Then he charged towards Nayuki, but never connected as I kicked him 'there' again, then punched him in the face.

"I told you the next time we meet and you threaten Nayuki or any of my friends, that I would give you a worst punishment than what I gave you last time. Well now it's time I give you that lesson."

"I'm with you Patrick," groaned Yuichi as he got back to his feet.

I don't know why, but for some reason, the three men decided not to fight anymore, instead they ran away.

"What the heck was that about?" Yuichi asked.

I didn't answer, mostly because I had passed out, the last thing I heard was Nayuki shouting my name just before I went out like a light...

I came to in my temporary room. As I was getting up, I groaned in pain, "careful Patrick, you took a lot of blows today," said Nayuki, who was sitting on her knees beside my bed.

"Ow," I groaned, "how long have I been out?"

"You've been out for two hours," she answered.

"Two hours huh? Ow."

"It's a good thing I went out to look for you, otherwise those guys could've really hurt you. Not excatly the best way to celebrate your birthday huh?"

"No I guess not...hey wait, how do you know it's my birthday today?"

"Yuichi told me," she answered, "we actually had something special planned for you...just give me one second and I'll be right back..." she got to her feet and walked out of the room. Less than a minute later, I heard Yuichi, Mrs. Akiko and Nayuki coming up the stairwell and singing 'happy Birthday'. They came into the room with a big cake which had the words 'Happy Birthday Patrick'.

"What's your girlfriend's first name?" Yuichi sang cheekily.

"Yuichi!" Nayuki and I snapped in unison.

"Hold on! Hold on!" cried Ayu as she ran in, "I haven't finished putting the rest of the icing on the cake!" She went to squeeze the rest of the icing out, but she pushed too much out, some went on the cake and the rest splatted everywhere, even on her face.

"And there she goes again," Yuichi chuckled.

"Ugu!" Ayu exclaimed.

Mrs. Akiko just chuckled quietly as she put eighteen candles on the cake, then she lit them all, "go ahead Patrick dear and make a wish." I thought about it, then I blew out the candles.

"Happy Birthday Patrick!" Nayuki and Ayu shouted.

"So Patrick, what did you wish for?" Yuichi asked.

"Sorry Yuichi, but I can't tell you what I wished for, otherwise it won't come true." I looked over to Nayuki and smiled, I'm sure you guys can guess what I was wishing for.

Anyways, after making my wish, I cut the cake into six pieces, five of the pieces were to go to the five of us, "and what about the sixth piece?" Ayu asked while having her slice of cake, "are you going to have that Patrick?"

"Nope, I'm giving that piece to Nayuki."

"Oh well...thank you Patrick, that's so sweet of you, but..."

"But what?"

"I would actually like to share this piece of cake with you." She picked up the knife and cut the piece of cake in half, "there we go, one piece for me and one piece for you Patrick. Happy Birthday."

"Thanks Nayuki," I smiled.

Ayu looked over to Yuichi, "I'm not even going to bother saying it this time," he said quietly. Both Ayu and Mrs. Akiko just laughed while Nayuki and I ate our pieces of cake. I'm definetly going to say that, despite having been involved in a fight earlier tonight, this is one of the best birthdays I've ever had.