Chapter 4 of 11

Chapter 4

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“….”

The humid Japanese summers were uncomfortable, Shouri stood impatiently behind the school gym at lunch. He was certain the owner of the note was one of his classmates, but the girl standing infront of him was from the year below. She wasn’t particularly pretty or stylish, just a plainly average girl. He recognised her from the tennis club, but had barely seen her around. Maybe she lived outside the school district, in other words, he didn’t know her name, and had never spoken to her before.

“Ah, Iwasaki-senpai.”

The girl glanced at Shouri, a blush spreading across her cheeks. Shouri sighed, knowing his answer already, so he felt a sense of pity. He prayed that it was a challenge for a fight instead of a confession, but he knew that was not going to happen.

“I-,” She stammered, the blush on her face growing, not giving Shouri a chance to say anything. She then took a deep breath, letting the momentum carry her through.

“I like you, Iwasaki-senpai! Please go out with me!” She bows her head. Awkward silence followed as she looked up, wondering how long it was without either of them saying a word.

“Can I ask you a question?”

The girl nodded.

“What do you like about me?”

She flinched, her eyes avoiding Shouri’s gaze, pausing, before opening her mouth again.

“At first, I saw you playing soccer, and thought you were cool… And everyone says that you’re kind, so it was love at first sight,” The girl talked with a dreamy expression on her face.

“I see, thank you,” Shouri said, looking down on the floor. He was not used to being in this situation, as he kicked the floor, dirt flying up. “I- I’m sorry, I just- I don’t really know you, and yeah, umm. Its just.. I ca- I’m sorry…”

Shouri stumbled on his words, he didn’t know what to say in a situation like this. His words were unclear, and said in a hushed voice. The girl immediately looked to the ground, her face painted in disappointment.

”I see…no, I’m sorry too. Thank you for coming all the way here… Goodbye.”

Her voice was trembling as she ran off, her face flashing a forced smile.

Did I make her cry…? Shouri wondered to himself, feeling inexplicably uncomfortable.

“Arrrghhh” Shouri grunted, his face in his hands. Let’s go back to Kazusa

“How did it go?” Kazusa, who had been propped up on the desk, asked, as soon as Shouri returned.He sighed, exhaustion painted all over his face. Kazusa pinched his cheeks, and looked up at Shouri, seemingly curious.

“So what was she like?”

“Dunno, a junior though.”

“Was she pretty?”

Shouri looks up at Kazusa, who smirks at him, a playful glint in his eyes.

Shouri replied with a sigh.

‘Normal. Very normal.”

As normal, Shouri and Kazusa left the school gates a little later than the rest of the students. They laughed about the usual stupid stories. Stories about the math teacher being bald, and about the Japanese teacher falling asleep during a problem exercise.

It was only a few dozen meters away from leaving the school before Kazusa leant against a wall.

Cough

He coughed dryly, and Shouri immediately sensed something was wrong.

“Kazusa? Are you okay?”

“No, I can’t breathe. Aa-..I can’t breathe….”

“Eh!? What do we do, What do we do.”

Kazusa coughed again, his expression becoming distorted with pain. The sound of his intense breathing, dry breaths, indicated that the condition was serious. He rubbed Kazusa’s back, trying to console him, but it was futile.

“What do we do? Hospital? An ambulance? No… We didn’t bring a phone… School? Would there be anyone there? The school nurse?”

“Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit…”

Kazusa gripped Shouri tightly, the dull pain of his nails on his bare arm brought Shouri back to reality. Kazusa collapsed to the ground, staring at Shouri with tear-filled eyes.

Shouri felt his heart beat fast.

Onyx black eyes that rivaled the stars, cherry-red parted lips, clinging to Shouri now was a life that was so beautiful, yet so fragile, as if it could flutter away from his grasp with a blow of the wind. He was beautiful. A voice quivering as it gasped for oxygen. A face flushed with red. I want to see more, I want to see more.

Shouri snapped back to reality.

“Inhaler? Do you have an inhaler?”

Just then, What was I thinking? Shaking off his tangled thoughts, Shouri glanced at Kazusa, who nodded in affirmation. He couldn’t stand anymore, his weight was fully supported by Shouri. His hands trembled, so scared that Kazusa was going to die right in front of him. He unzipped his backpack and took out the first aid bag which contained his inhaler. Shouri rested Kazusa on the floor, his back leaning against a brick wall, praying that someone would come past. He opened the drawstring bag and found a piece of paper with the dosage instructions on it. Using that as a reference, Shouri loaded the inhaler, hands still shaking. Perhaps it would have not been an exaggeration to say that Kazusa’s life was in his hands, but Shouri still could not stay calm.

“Done!”

Finally finished, he put the inhaler to Kazusa’s mouth, telling the latter to take deep breaths. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure running towards him.

“Shouri-kun! What’s wrong?” It was a girl from Shouri’s class.

“Can you get the doctor?” Shouted Shouri.

The girl nodded, before running off, insearch of the school doctor. By the time she left, Kazusa’s breathing had somewhat calmed down. Although his dry coughs still had not subsided, he had recovered to the point where he could speak.

“Shouri…. I’m sorry…”

“Don’t talk. No need to apologise. The doctor is coming, stay strong.”

Kazusa nodded as he leant languidly against the wall. Recovering from the past few chaotic minutes. Shouri glanced at him again, and felt the emotions he had experienced earlier, a wave of guilt mixed with embarrassment washing over him.

“I’m sorry too…”

Kazusa opened his closed eyelids at Shouri’s whisper, his long eyelashes casting shadows around his eyes. The eyes staring at Shouri were the usual Kazusa’s, causing him to sigh a sigh of relief. On the verge of tears, Shouri hugged Kazusa. The latter was taken aback at first, but returned the gesture.

“Please don’t die, Kazusa,”

Those were the only words Shouri could squeeze out.

Edited by Whistle

No one:

Shouri: Yup while my crush slowly dies I’ll just admire his beauty in suffering instead of saving him.

Rei

Objection! Leading the witness!

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