Yumi finally stepped out of the medbay, and the moment Kouhei noticed her coming through the doorway, his eyes immediately locked onto her. The expression on his face was almost painfully obvious, because there was a small amount of hope behind it, the kind of hope that made it clear he was waiting for Yumi to tell him that things had somehow turned around.
Deep down, however, Kouhei already knew better than to expect a miracle.
He had seen enough situations go wrong to understand that hoping for good news did not magically make good news appear. Still, knowing that did not stop him from hoping anyway, because when someone he cared about was lying inside that room, telling himself to expect the worst was easier said than done.
Unfortunately, if the answer turned out to be bad, that little bit of hope would only make the disappointment hurt even more.
