When I reached school the next morning, Shunsui had already arrived and I was surprised to find him waiting for me at the gate. I was quite touched by this kind attention of his.
Without losing a second, I ran to meet up with him, but just as I reached him, suddenly, I tripped over my own foot and stumbled forward. I would have fallen face flat on the ground had he not reached out for me just in time to catch me by my shoulders.
'Ah! I'm terribly sorry! I'm so clumsy!' I apologized, in embarrassment, as he steadied me.
When he didn't release my shoulders, I looked up at his face to find him staring at me with a puzzled expression.
'Hime...' he said, in a gasp, 'What happened to your face?'
Reflexively, my hand moved up to touch the wound plaster I had put over my left cheek. I hadn't thought he'd notice.
I felt a surge of panic.
'Oh, that?! Ha-ha, it's nothing!' I lied, in small a giggle, scratching the back of my head nervously. 'I was bending down to pick something up yesterday when, I took the handle of the door in the face!'
'Hime?!' came Natsui's voice, just at that very moment, and I flung around instantly to look at the ginger-haired girl, who had just arrived and who had come to a stop a few feet away from where we were.
She was staring at me, her expression filled with shock.
Oh, Natsui…
She took a short glance at Shunsui, before she dashed at me and took me by my hand to drag me away with her.
'Come with me!' she said.
She didn't release my hand until we were in a desert corner of one of the corridors of the school and letting go of me then, she swung around to confront me.
My breath caught when I saw that there were tears in her eyes.
'It's Hiyori who did this to you, isn't it?' she asked, her voice small and anguished. 'She picked on you because you have defended me yesterday, is that right?'
I opened my mouth to deny it, not wanting to make things appear worser, but she cut me off before I could say anything, to state, 'You don't have to answer me. I already know that it's her doing. I want you to stay away from me from now on!'
My heart skipped a beat. What?!
'But-' I began, but she wasn't listening; the ginger-haired girl was already running out of sight and crying.
I stared after her, my heart squeezing.
Oh, Natsui! I know that you only mean to protect me, but please, don't push me away from you!
When I caught up with Shunsui a moment later, the latter didn't ask me any questions, but I noticed that he was watching me in a very serious manner. We walked to class silently together, and when we entered our classroom, Natsui had already taken her seat. As she met my look, very quickly, she averted her eyes, making my heart sting. I guessed that she has really decided that she wasn't going to talk to me anymore and she was going to try to avoid me from now on. This saddened me, and feeling extremely low, I hung my head and dragged my feet under me as I walked to my own seat, wishing that she would allow me to bring her my support.
***
Meanwhile…
'What are you doing? You're trying to repair the TV set?!'
At the sound of Gōjun's voice, Kenren Shoran took a glance over his shoulder at the teenager, who had just come down the staircase to take his breakfast.
'Ah, Gōjun! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you arrive. Did you sleep well? Your breakfast is ready. It's on the table in the kitchen. It must be bit cold by now. You might need to heat it up again in the microwave oven.'
'That's alright,' said the younger male, and scratching the back of his head and averting his eyes a little, he told him thank you.
'You're welcome,' replied Kenren, and picking his tools up again, he went back to what he was doing.
'I didn't know that you could repair a TV set,' Gōjun pointed out, in reference to his initial question, while he made his way towards the kitchen.
'What do you think?' the older male called at him, in a small chuckle. 'I have many skills other than that of a doctor!'
'Right!' Gōjun acknowledged, scratching the back of his head again.
By the time he was done eating his breakfast, Kenren had finished closing the back lid of the television set.
Putting it back into its place, he switched it on, and Gōjun came to have a look. The screen showed a bright image for the matter of an instant, before it went completely black again.
At this, Kenren closed his eyes and shook his head in disappointment, letting out a heavy sigh. 'Yare! Yare! This antiquity is only good for being dumped! There's no way to repair it. I really should think about replacing it.' With another shake of the head, he began to put the tools he had used back into the box where they belonged. 'But never mind! We can still spend the day fishing at the lake, I guess. We could take the boat out today. What do you think? I've verified everything yesterday; it's still in a very good state. And how about we have grilled fish today? We could eat by the side of the lake this time.
Gōjun didn't reply; he was lost in his own thoughts. The teenager knew that Kenren only rarely spent time in front of television and that, therefore, if he had been trying to repair it, it was for his sake. This kind attention of the dark-haired man didn't escape the teenager's notice, neither did it leave him unaffected, but Gōjun also understood something else by that instant. He realized what Kenren's purpose was behind this vacation. He understood at that moment that Kenren was trying to break the wall between them, and Gōjun was agitated by the idea. On the one hand, he thought about letting the wall down, but there was that other part of him which was desperately resisting it by instinct.
When Kenren looked at the teenager's face, he knew that the latter had worked out what he was trying to do. What the dark-haired man dreaded now was how Gōjun was going to react this time.
'O-Okay,' the latter replied, edgily, his expression uncertain.
It was not a definite acceptance of his suggestion, but it wasn't a no either, and therefore, this answer pleased Kenren quite a lot, though he remained cautious with the teenager.
'Very well, then. I'm going to take the boat out and try to find everything that we need in the garage.'
'I left my phone upstairs. I'll go fetch it in the meantime,' Gōjun told him, and on these words, he headed for the staircase.
Will he let his walls down this time? Kenren asked to himself, anxiously, as he came out of the cottage.
He had to admit that nothing was done yet.
***
After Gōjun had collected his phone, he didn't come downstairs immediately. He took out a cigarette and lit it up, his mind racing as he smoked. He was caught in an interior battle with himself.
At some point, he began to cough, but he didn't pay any attention to it and decided to get back downstairs before the dark-haired male would start wondering what was taking him so long.
Stubbing his cigarette end, he came out of his room to head for the staircase. As he was descending it, his cough had worsened and he was finding it hard to breathe. Very quickly, his breathing became short, shallow and fast, and he had a squeezing feeling in his chest. He became utterly conscious by that instant about exactly what was happening to him, and he felt completely panicked.
He was having an asthma attack and he had not brought his quick acting inhaler with him!
He couldn't stop coughing anymore, his chest muscles and neck tight. He could hardly stand on his two feet, and he stumbled backward in the living room, knocking down a furniture on the way; the flower vase which had been resting on it, breaking to pieces as it hit the floor.
A shard of glass sliced one of his palms as he fell to the ground too, but he was hardly conscious of the pain or the blood oozing out of his wound, his mind completely absorbed in his struggle to breathe.
***
'I've searched everywhere but I can't find the stove!'
As he arrived into the doorway of the kitchen, Kenren Shoran felt his heart jump to his throat as he found the teenager half-lying on the floor of the living room, struggling to breathe.
'Gōjun!' he shouted, rushing up to him without losing a second.
Grabbing the younger male by his shoulders, he pulled him into a sitting position.
Gōjun had apparently not used his inhaler and he was trying to say something to Kenren without being able to. However, the latter immediately understood what he was trying to do say- that he had not brought his inhaler with him.
Fortunately, Kenren always kept a spare inhaler on him, in case, Gōjun might need it, being aware how irresponsible the teenager could be about his health.
Letting go of him immediately, Kenren rushed upstairs to his room, and finding his bag, he opened one of the small pockets on the side and took out the spare rescue inhaler, before he ran downstairs with it. He placed the teenager back into a sitting position from where he was half-lying on the floor again, and he helped him use the inhaler, which had a rapid effect. Indeed, within a few minutes, Gōjun was breathing more easily.
'Are you feeling better?' Kenren asked him, in dead worry.
The teenager nodded, his expression worn out.
'How many times should I tell you to always keep your rescue inhaler on you?' berated the older male. 'And you smoke too much! In fact, you shouldn't even be smoking! It's dangerous for you!'
He had repeated these things to the teenager him so many times, but the latter would never listen.
If only Gōjun could understand how much the older male worries about him, not only as a doctor, but also, as a father!
Kenren let out a sigh.
But then, he noticed that there was some blood on the floor, the same red liquid lacing the fingertips of the younger male.
'Did you cut yourself?' he asked, anxiously. 'Let me see!'
Taking the teenager's hand in both of his, he turned it around to look at his bleeding palm.
'I'll go get the first-aid box,' he declared when, without any warning, Gōjun pulled his hand away in an abrupt movement, telling him in distraught, 'Stop! Don't do that! It makes me-'
Kenren stiffened.
'It makes you what?' he demanded, but the teenager didn't complete his sentence and simply turned his face to the side, his expression tormented.
Gōjun's words had come out before he could have contained them. His action had been unconscious.
Kenren realized something at that moment. He had suspected it before, but now he was absolute certain what was stopping Gōjun; why he refused to let his walls down.
And the dark-haired male came to a decision.
He decided that he wasn't going to force the teenager to do anything anymore. He would wait for him to come to him and trust him on his own. He would wait for the day when Gōjun would feel comfortable enough to let his walls down by himself. This, was perhaps the wisest decision, for all his attempts have proved counter-productive. He wasn't giving up, but has only decided to allow the teenager all the time that he needed.
'Listen,' Kenren declared, quietly, trying his best to contain his disappointment, 'We're going to get back to Kokubunji, okay?'
To this, Gōjun nodded, keeping his eyes averted.
Thank you for reading!