The call came on a Tuesday evening, just as Aiko was settling down to practice advanced braiding techniques for her upcoming apprenticeship with Master Fujiwara. She almost didn't answer the international number, thinking it might be a spam call, but something made her pick up on the fourth ring.
"¿Diga?" came the familiar voice of Maria, though it carried an excitement and urgency that Aiko had never heard before.
"Maria? Is everything okay?"
"Aiko, I had to call you immediately. Something incredible has happened." Maria's voice was breathless, as if she had been running. "Javier woke up."
The words hit Aiko like a physical blow, causing her to drop the practice mannequin she had been working on. "What did you say?"
"He woke up three days ago. Gradually at first—small responses, eye movements, attempts to speak. But this morning he was fully conscious, talking, asking questions. Aiko, he's back."
Aiko sank onto her bed, her heart pounding so hard she could barely hear her own thoughts. "Is he... is he okay? I mean, after two years..."
"There will be rehabilitation, physical therapy, adjustments. But his cognitive function appears intact. His speech is slightly slurred but improving rapidly. The doctors are calling it miraculous—they never expected such a complete awakening after so long."
"I can't believe this," Aiko whispered, trying to process information that seemed impossible after accepting that Javier might never regain consciousness.
"There's something else," Maria continued, her voice growing more careful. "The awakening has been gradual. He's confused about time, disoriented about what happened. But as his memory started returning in fragments, he began asking about 'a girl' he helped before the accident. He doesn't remember clearly - just pieces about washing someone's hair in a park, that it felt important to him."
"He's asking about me?"
"Isabella told him about your visit, about how you traveled to Spain to find him, about the time you spent talking to him while he was unconscious. He's slowly processing this information, but it seems to matter to him that someone cared enough to search for him."
Aiko felt tears starting to flow, though she couldn't identify whether they were from joy, confusion, or something more complex. "What does he remember about me?"
"Fragments. He knows he helped someone, that it was meaningful to him. The doctors say memory recovery after such a long coma can be unpredictable - some things come back clearly, others remain foggy. But your story, what you did to find him, that seems to have made an impression."
The room seemed to be spinning around her. After months of building a life with Hiroshi, of moving forward from her impossible love for Javier, the person she had kissed goodbye was not only conscious but somehow aware of her search for him.
"Maria, I don't know what to say. This is... this is wonderful news, but it's also incredibly complicated."
"I understand. Your life has moved forward during the time he was unconscious. Isabella mentioned that you're in a relationship now, that you've built something meaningful with someone else."
"Yes, I have. Hiroshi and I are planning a future together. We've been making decisions about careers and goals and..." Aiko's voice trailed off as the implications of Javier's awakening began to sink in.
"I'm not calling to complicate your life," Maria said gently. "I'm calling because you deserved to know that the person you searched for so desperately has recovered."
"How is he handling everything? Learning about the two years that passed, adjusting to being conscious again?"
"It's difficult for him. He's struggling with the time he lost, with changes in his physical condition, with learning about everything that happened while he was unconscious. But he's determined to recover fully, to rebuild his life."
"And what does he know about me? About my current situation?"
"Isabella told him the basics—that you became a successful hairstylist, that you're happy, that you found closure during your visit. But she felt it wasn't her place to share details about your personal relationships or current circumstances."
Aiko closed her eyes, trying to imagine how she would feel if their positions were reversed—if she had awakened from a two-year coma to learn that someone she remembered helping had searched the world to find her.
"Maria, I need time to process this. To figure out what this means, what the right response is."
"Of course. But Aiko, I think you should know—he's planning to leave the hospital soon and begin serious rehabilitation. He's talking about rebuilding his strength, maybe returning to cycling eventually. The doctors are optimistic about his recovery."
After ending the call, Aiko sat in her dorm room staring at her phone, trying to process the most significant news she had received since returning from Spain. Javier was awake. The person she had fallen in love with, kissed goodbye, and accepted might never recover was not only conscious but somehow aware of her story.
Her phone buzzed with a text from Hiroshi: "Still on for dinner tomorrow? I found a new restaurant I think you'll love."
The ordinary sweetness of the message felt jarring against the magnitude of what she had just learned. Tomorrow she would sit across from the man she was building a future with, knowing that the person who had inspired her transformation was no longer an impossible memory but a living reality recovering in a Valencia hospital.
The carefully planned future she and Hiroshi had discussed just weeks earlier suddenly felt much more complicated.
Javier was awake, and everything was about to change.