Chapter Text
[ 1.5 weeks left. ]
No.
No. No. No. No. No.
This can't be happening. Not now. Why now?
"I'll be back in a second, Aoi," Teru's chair screeches against the ground as he stands up, tucking it back under the table and swinging his bag around his shoulder. Aoi looks up from his work, visibly confused.
He sets down his pencil, eyeing Teru suspiciously, "What for?" He raises an eyebrow.
"It's nothing, I just…" He pondered for an excuse, "…I need a bathroom break."
Akane turned back towards the multiple piles of papers stacked in front of them, "Really? Alright then. Be back soon, okay?"
He laid a hand on the open door frame, waving towards Akane, "Yep! Don't miss me too much!~" He slammed the door shut, hearing the distant sound of Akane groaning in annoyance but ignored it. He didn't have time for that right now.
After walking about a minute away from the Student Council room, Teru dashed for the bathroom. The nausea was overwhelming—he could almost feel the petals brushing the back of his throat. He had to get out of there, and fast. Thankfully, it was already past five, meaning no one, apart from a few members of staff, was around. If anyone ever saw him, they wouldn't question it. He hoped.
Teru sprinted as fast as he could, pressing an arm against his stomach. He knew the bathroom was so close, yet so far. The hallways seemed to get longer and longer, stretching on forever until Teru collapsed to the floor in exhaustion. Despite this, he managed to scramble back onto his feet, feeling his bag slip off his shoulder. It fell to the floor with a loud thump but caught in an adrenaline rush, Teru didn't notice.
Being the Student Council president isn't easy. Being the Student Council president especially isn't easy when you're constantly resisting the urge to throw up onto the floor in front of the Vice president.
And that's exactly what he did. Almost.
Halfway through their usual daily Student Council session, Teru had suddenly become hyper-aware of the way his stomach had churned erratically, and the deafening, constant, pounding headache that had been nagging at him the entire day. Of course, being almost three months into the Hanahaki disease, this was expected. But why then? Why did it happen when he was with Akane—the one person who absolutely couldn't know, no matter what?
A weak, shaking hand frantically pushed the door to the bathroom open, as he practically hurled himself towards the sink. This was a regular occurrence by now, so he was already made accustomed to throwing up blood and petals every so often. It didn't surprise or hurt him as much anymore, which was a relief. Over the course of his last week or so, this was supposed to somehow become an even more regular thing. Teru supposed getting used to it was the best he could do, for now. It wasn't like he could do anything else to prevent it.
He watched in horror as the metallic, black liquid continued to pour out of his mouth. He covered it with a hand, using the other to clutch onto the sink counter for dear life. The sight appalled him. Teru clenched and unclenched his hand, letting the bloodied, tattered petals fall through his fingers.
Okay, he tried to stand back up again but found that he couldn't do so, This is weird. Whenever he tried, his legs seemed to give up beneath him and fall to the ground. When had this been a symptom of Hanahaki? Not to mention, the flow of blood hadn't stopped, and Teru had to, with a lot of difficulty, hoist himself back up to the sink. What the fuck is happening to me?
He inhaled. Sharply. His chest tightened. His heart was beating exponentially faster. Teru shakily exhaled—this was it, he was going to die. In a school bathroom, covered in flowers.
How embarrassing.
Teru was coughing up more and more petals by the minute, each batch more tattered and darker than the last. It scared him. The previously bad headache had turned into something akin to shooting yourself repeatedly in the head with a shotgun. And his lungs—he didn't know if they were deflating or being sucked into themselves or what, but breathing was a difficult challenge. Before he knew it, he was panting on his hands and knees on the bathroom floor, surrounded by petals and splatters of blood. His vision was blurred, and the beat of his heart was clear in his head. He held a violently trembling hand to his chest, squeezing it in a futile attempt to calm himself down.
Eventually, the panting and wheezing had stopped altogether, and the never-ending flow of blood and flowers had ceased to an occasional cough every few minutes. He was exhausted. This had never happened before. Confused, Teru reached for his phone in his bag—
Wait. He remembered back in the hallway when he had collapsed to the ground. He remembered hearing something drop, and the feeling of something heavy being posted off his shoulders, but he didn't know that was real. Why hadn't he picked it up? Why didn't he realise sooner?
He looked helplessly at the door. He couldn't just walk over to another floor to get it, his body would give in by the time he stepped out of the bathroom. Maybe, this time, it was best if he would just lay down for a while. He was still awake, of course, and he would be fine again in two minutes. Perfect.
Teru rested his head on his arm, lying across the ground, and slowly scooted away from the puddle of blood and bright blue hydrangea petals. The ends of his hair had been stained from the blood on his sleeve, and his face was smeared with it around the edges, as well. But he didn't mind. Before he realised it, his eyes were closing and he was drifting off to sleep.
———— ☆
Teru had been gone for fifteen minutes, and Akane was starting to get worried. Knowing Teru, as frustrating as he could be, he wasn't late. At least, not to this extent. He had sent him a few messages—none of which had been replied to or seen—and even abandoned his work to look for him. He couldn't shake off the feeling that something was…wrong.
For the past few weeks, Akane had noticed the gradual change in Teru's demeanour. It started slowly at first, barely noticeable, but there. He had started to excuse himself more often from meetings and when he was with Akane. It wasn't anything major, so Akane brushed it off as his exhaustion finally caught up to him. Serves him right, too. No one would be that energetic after getting less than four hours of sleep a day for the past eleven years.
But then, at some point within the last month, Teru had stopped showing up to meetings at all. Of course, this came with a valid excuse the next day, but he knew Teru—he wouldn't let something as mild as a light fever put him off of his work. But that was the excuse he used almost every single time. And naturally, the other members believed him. Why would the Student Council president lie to them to not show up to the meetings? Would their Perfect Prince of Kamome Academy deceive them into letting him skip? Akane, once again, had pushed this to the back of his mind in a futile attempt to ignore it.
Not to mention, Akane noticed how Teru looked more agitated than usual, even struggling to conceal it around his followers. None of them had noticed, but Akane did. He noticed how Teru's brow was more furrowed than usual, making him look more irritated when anyone came over to him. No one else noticed, yet again. The list could go on for a while, but Akane didn't have the time.
He gathered a few documents and stacked them into neat piles at the centre of the table, making sure to line them up perfectly against each other. It was a habit of his that Aoi had always complained about when they were younger, when it was more extreme and he was labelled a "perfectionist", but he strongly believed that this was actually a benefit, and not a flaw.
He glanced one last time at the room, leaning against the door frame. Teru's seat had been abandoned from when he last stood up, and Akane had kept it that way, in case he showed up again while he was looking for him. His bag sat on his chair under the table, with the straps dangling from the seat and onto the floor. He sighed, quietly closing the door behind him and briskly walking through the hallways.
Where did he say he was going? To the bathroom, I think. Akane turned a corner, waving to a few students who passed him in the hallway. They were still dressed in football uniforms, so Akane assumed that they had just come from practice downstairs.
He walked up the stairs, running his hand along the circular, cold metal railing. He felt himself trip over something in the middle of a hallway and flushed bright red. That was embarrassing. Thankfully, no one was there to see him fall, and he sighed in relief.
He looked down and was surprised to see Teru's bag lying at his feet, which was slightly dented from when Akane had kicked it just moments ago. He recognised it from the stupid animal keychain that he sometimes clipped to the zipper. The bag was vibrating, so Akane assumed it was his phone. He knew where it was, and zipped open the front pocket.
For some reason, he also knew the password. He unlocked the phone, dismissing the several missed calls and messages sent by himself. However, he noticed that Kou had attempted to call Teru a few times too, so he picked it up.
"Hello? Teru-nii?" The sound of heavy rainfall mixed with the shouts of nearby people was prominent. Why is the volume at max? Akane thought, turning it down, so he wouldn't go deaf.
He cleared his throat, "Minamoto-kun?"
The line went silent for a few seconds, Akane only hearing the faint noise of mumbling coming from the other end of the call.
"Ah! Aoi-senpai! Is Teru there?" The poor kid sounded desperate, and Akane felt bad.
He looked around, knowing that neither Kou nor Teru was there to see him do that, "Uhm, no. I found his stuff in the middle of the hallway and went to go look for him." Akane sighed and shrugged to himself.
"Oh, okay," His voice dropped, sounding disappointed, "Tell him to come home quickly then, okay? Also that I'm with Nene-chan at my house right now, and we're looking after Tiara." Oh, so that was where the shouts were coming from.
"You got it. I'll tell him that. Bye, Minamoto-kun." He removed the phone from his ear and his thumb hovered over the 'End Call' button.
"Bye!" Akane abruptly hung up, locking the phone and setting it back in the front pocket of his bag. He held the straps tightly in his hands, slightly jogging over to the bathroom. Now that he knew the president had somewhere to be (and so did he—it was around ten minutes after they usually ended so he wanted to go home), he felt the need to inform him quicker.
He dropped the bag as he was running, and (unlike Teru) noticed right away. He stopped and knelt down, realising that the bag's front pocket was still slightly open. God, how did I miss that? Akane thought as he quickly skimmed its contents, just to be sure nothing had dropped along the way. He sighed in relief. Everything was fine. For now, at least.
It was only when he went to zip it back up, that he noticed something. He took a closer look, opening the pockets a little wider. Akane's eyes widened.
Nine, sapphire-blue, wilting hydrangea petals fell to the floor. He stood there in shock, perplexed and confused as to why the president had a batch of dying hydrangea petals in his bag. Each petal had a tint of dark red to them, some almost completely covered in the stuff. Akane, like the rational, completely human being he is, decides to take a few with him, carefully placing them in his pocket to preserve what's left.
He closed the bag, this time holding the straps more firmly. He was not going to drop it again.
He had already checked the bathroom downstairs, and was now walking up to the third floor of the building. No one was around—it was weird considering the fact that like Akane, other supernaturals were constantly roaming around the school, so why avoid this place? He glanced out of an open window to the building Hanako's bathroom was in. The light was just angled right to see the faint silhouettes of three people in there. Oh, so that's where they all are.
He reached the third-floor bathroom, clutching Teru's bag tighter. It was silent. Too silent. For someone who should be doing something in there, it was oddly quiet. Akane didn't like that.
He gripped the door handle, knocking quietly with his free hand and turning the handle with the other. He pushed the door open, checking behind him, just in case the president was standing behind him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to scare him. Akane snickered. He wasn't doing that again this time—
Oh. Oh.
Akane's heart stopped. He felt sick to the stomach. He couldn't move. Couldn't speak. All he could do was stare.
Right at Teru's motionless body.
His senses had finally come back. Akane dropped the bag in an instant, running up to the immobile boy laying on the floor, surrounded by puddles of…blood? Blood???
Akane dropped to his knees, now regretting leaving his school bag on his chair in the Student Council room. So much for that, he scowled, trying not to let his terror get the better of him. Not now.
He took off Teru's blazer for him—Akane should have suspected something was wrong, he never wears his blazer.
Frantically, he searched Teru's discarded bag by the door, ripping it open and scouring through the insides of it, looking for something, anything. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing. Nothing except a sword and a few, measly bandages. Akane looked back at Teru. Judging from the smeared, dark-red mark around his face, the blood seemed to be coming from his mouth. A small relief, if you could even consider it one.
"What should I do…?" He murmured, taking out Teru's phone from his bag, and unlocking it, "Maybe I should call the ambulance. God, how long has he been here?"
Akane began to dial the number, about to press 'Call' when an arm suddenly shot up to grab at his wrist, knocking the phone out of his hand and across the room. He snapped his head away from the phone, now also lying in a separate pool of plasma. It, to Akane's horror, slightly splashed, spreading the blood further towards Akane. He was horrified.
The hand, which was clasped around his wrist, tightened, making Akane wince.
"Don't." A quiet, but steady voice whispered. Akane looked down—his wide eyes meeting Teru's, they locked gazes, staring each other down and caught in the moment. He'd noticed that Teru, for once, was the deer caught in the headlights. So what am I? The other deer?
The grasp Teru had around his wrist had significantly loosened, and Akane could easily pull his arm out anytime he wanted to, but he didn't. The blonde lowered their hands together, "How…long have you been here?" Teru's voice was hoarse and strained. It itched the back of his throat, and his lungs didn't feel any better, but breathing wasn't as hard anymore.
"Not long, maybe a few minutes," Akane removed his hand and sighed, earning a small pout from the other, "I should be asking you that question! What is this?!"
Teru dismissively shook his head, slowly sitting up straight to face Akane properly, "Well…" He ran a dried bloody hand through his maroon-tinted hair, looking down at the ground in shame.
Wait. What.
Everything, finally, fit together.
Akane's eyes widened in shock. The ground where Teru had been lying down was covered in blood…and petals. The same petals he found earlier, the same in his pocket. He gaped, confused and in complete terror as to why he would be carrying those around.
The blonde followed his gaze, panic beginning to show on his face. He quickly looked back at Akane, but couldn't find the right words to say. He had only hoped that he didn't know.
Unfortunately for him, Akane did.
The puzzle pieces clicked together. The story finally made sense. Something like that.
He recalled everything that had happened over the past few weeks—all the excuses, all the times he had caught Teru acting off, all of the nights he had spent lying awake, trying to figure out what's wrong. But now, it all made sense.
He quietly stared at the spot Teru was laying in, not saying anything. Neither of them dared to.
"Who?"
"What?" Teru heard a quiet mumble escape from the other's mouth. Akane tilted his head up, locking eyes with the blonde and staring into their eyes, an unfamiliar feeling lurking behind his eyes.
Akane shuffled uncomfortably closer, "Who is it?"
.
.
.
"I don't know what you mean." Teru coughed, sustaining his glaring contest with Akane, not breaking their gazes.
"You know exactly what I mean."
Teru's vision, for the first time in years, began to blur as he felt a stream of hot tears cloud his eyes, threatening to escape. He was surprised. What am I doing? I'm not going to cry in front of him. With that, he started frantically rubbing his eyes in a futile attempt to calm himself down. It didn't work.
Akane observed in awe as tears began to pour down his cheeks, and as the president—someone who Akane thought couldn't feel emotions for anyone outside of his siblings—desperately wiped at his eyes with his not bloodied sleeve, turning away from Akane to the side and muttering apologies. He didn't know what to do in this situation. With Aoi, when they were little, he would always sit her down and give her a hug, talking it through with her and saying stuff to make her feel better. But right now, the president was actually sobbing in front of him, and he couldn't do anything.
Feeling brave, Akane gently grabbed Teru's wrists, holding them away from his face. Teru instantly looked up and despite his efforts, his eyes were still blotchy with tears, face flushed and trembling. (He somehow still looked good—Akane would never say that out loud.)
The blonde struggled, trying to free his wrists. However, his attempts to get out were feeble, either from the crying or the fact that he just woke up after constantly throwing up blood.Who knows?
"What are you…" He stopped struggling, instead choosing to look directly into each other's eyes. Akane was determined, and it showed.
Akane suddenly but gently pulled Teru into a hug, wrapping his arms around him and burrowing his face into his shoulder. Teru was stunned, "I— Aoi?" Teru said, just above a whisper. Akane, to his horror, felt tears cloud his own eyes, instantly squeezing them shut. Teru could feel them soaking his shirt, but didn't say anything.
Teru lifted his arms around Akane, placing his head on his shoulder. He rubbed gentle circles on his back, giving his arm a reassuring squeeze as Akane occasionally gasped as he sobbed.
What am I doing? I'm supposed to be comforting him, not the other way around. This is embarrassing.
Still, he felt teardrops soak his shirt too, so he guessed he wasn't alone.
Teru had a blank stare on his face, scrunching up his eyebrows a little but the tears still fell down. He couldn't help it—did he know what they were even crying for? Not exactly.
They stayed like that for a while, both eventually stopped crying, but their grip on each other was still firm. Akane lifted himself off of Teru, holding his shoulders as the other looked up in surprise. Teru dropped his arms.
"How long do you have left?" Akane's question was vague, but Teru knew. He knew that Akane knew exactly what had been happening to him. But what he didn't know?
He loved him. Not some random girl who happened to not reciprocate his feelings, because he had almost everyone at this school falling at his feet. Except Akane. He stood next to Teru, not below him. Teru thought he was narcissistic for thinking this way, but he didn't care. He didn't have anything to lose, except Akane. And he could finally see that now, just a week before he would accept death for him.
Teru looked down at the floor, "Ten days."
Akane suddenly stilled, "...Ten?"
"Yes."
Oh.
Reality suddenly hit Teru. He was going to die, and he couldn't do anything about it.
Akane was horrified, and his grip on Teru's shoulders almost hurt, "You were just going to wait to die for this person?" Teru watched as he furrowed his brows and his eyes became glossy again, loosening his grip on his shirt but not pulling away. He looked away in shame—he couldn't beat the thought of losing him so soon, especially when he was right in front of him.
Teru muttered something under his breath, something that Akane didn't quite catch.
"What was that?" He said quietly, breaking himself out of his trance.
"I said," Teru crossed his arm across his chest to hold Akane's hand comfortingly, "I'm sorry."
"That's it..?" Teru nodded, blinking away the remnants of his tears, "I guess that explains the flowers in your school bag."
Teru looked shocked, but didn't comment on it. Akane already knew.
He knows how pathetic I am.
Akane sighed, finally opting to stand up. Thankfully, no blood covered his trousers or shirt or anything, surprisingly. His legs felt weak from sitting on them for too long—wait, what time was it, anyway? He pulled out Teru's phone. It was almost six now. How did it get to this?
He sighed, outstretching a hand and waiting for Teru to take it. Teru looked up, and was stunned. He stared at the hand, as if he didn't know what it meant.
Eventually, he took it, letting Akane bring himself back up to his feet. Before he let go, he squeezed Akane's hand supportlingly, as if to say that he was there. He was still there, for now.
Akane turned around, bending down to pick up Teru's school bag. He handed it to Teru, not turning back. He mumbled a quiet 'thanks', and it seemed to reach him. He gripped the handle of the door, hesitating before opening it. He let go, amounting to Teru's ever-increasing confusion.
"Hey, President?" Akane said, finally turning back to face the president. Teru gripped his school bag tighter in anticipation.
Akane smiled, stepping forward to brush a loose, blonde strand of hair out of his eyes.
He kept his hand behind his ear, lingering for too long. He stepped back.
"Let's make this the best last ten days of your life." Akane opened the door, the sunset rays from the window contrasting nicely with his auburn hair.
Teru smiled, his face dusted with bright red. He liked this.
I wish it didn't have to end like this.