"C-Cough! Gah—"
A violent, chest-racking cough suddenly tore through Kashima's throat, cutting him off mid-breath as his vision began to spin in sickening circles. He quickly raised his other hand, throwing it out in a stiff, desperate gesture—a silent plea for space.
'Get away from me...' his mind screamed in absolute panic as the kitchen walls blurred. 'Stop looking at me. Just don't worry about me and leave me the hell alone!'
But his body completely refused to cooperate with his panic.
"Dad! I'm going to get Dad!" Kento shouted, his panic hitting its peak. He didn't waste another second, running and sprinting out of the kitchen door to find his father.
"Sit down! Just sit down!" Shido yelled.
With a loud, agonizing screeech, Shido dragged a heavy wooden chair across the floor, aggressively forcing it right behind Kashima's knees. The harsh sound scraped violently against Kashima's eardrums, making his head throb.
Hori was practically in tears, hovering over him helplessly. "What's wrong? Where does it hurt? Kashima, please speak to me!"
"I'm... I'm fine..." Kashima choked out, his voice raw and broken as his knees gave out, causing him to collapse heavily onto the wooden seat.
But the moment he sat on the chair, reality began to unravel. Shido's frantic movements, Hori's tear-stained face—it all started spinning. Their overlapping voices twisted into loud, broken shouts, piercing through his mind like physical needles.
"Where does it hurt?!"
"Are you alright?!"
The repetitive, stabbing questions hammered against his skull over and over, growing completely overwhelming.
'Too noisy...' his mind wept, a suffocating weight pressing down on his chest. 'It's too loud. Stop screaming.'
Shido snatched a glass, filled it with tap water, and pressed it into Kashima's trembling hands. "Drink this! Calm down. Is it your stomach? Is it your head?"
But Kashima couldn't answer. His fingers lost their grip entirely, and the glass slipped.
CRASH!
The glass shattered violently against the floor, breaking into sharp pieces as water splashed across his bare feet.
"Whoa! Dammit!" Shido cursed loudly, instinctively leaping backward into the kitchen counter to avoid the flying fragments.
"Ah! Watch out!" Hori screamed, jumping backward in pure panic as a single droplet hit her leg.
But Kashima didn't even flinch. He sat completely frozen, his eyes glassy and unblinking as he stared blankly at the sharp glass at his feet, as if his mind were miles away.
'I'm fine... I have to be fine... just breathe....' one desperate corner of his mind crawled for control. 'Don't show it. Don't let them look at you.'
But the rest of his mind was drowning, screaming in absolute horror. 'No, it's tearing open. Everything is bleeding inside. The blood from the car—it's filling my lungs. I can't breathe because she can't breathe!'
The imaginary metallic taste of blood flooded his tongue, making him choke. He gripped the fabric of his uniform shirt right over his heart, twisting it tightly in his fist as if he could physically stop his chest from collapsing inward.
'They're looking right at me. They're going to see the stains on my hands. Stop looking at me! My head is going to explode.'
"He's not breathing right!" Hori panicked, her face pale as she turned to Shido. "Shido, give me your phone! Call an ambulance right now!"
"No... stop..." Kashima tried to mutter, but his voice was a faint, breathless whisper that didn't even leave his throat.
"Shido, hold his head up! Don't let him collapse over!" Hori screamed, her face pale as her trembling fingers flew across his phone screen. "I—It's not calling! What's the number?! Shido, look at me, is it 119?! What do I press?!"
"I don't know! Just press dial!" Shido yelled back, his arms swinging wildly as he hovered over the chair.
He slammed his palms onto the edge of the kitchen table, the sudden impact rattling the dishes with a loud, chaotic clatter. "Kashima! Brother, stay with us! Don't close your eyes! Look at my face!"
"I am... fine..." Kashima choked out.
He forced his head up with agonizing slowness, his bloodshot blue eyes begging them to just look at him, to see him. He threw his hand out flat against the air, trying physically to push their overwhelming voices away from his face.
'Just shut up!' his mind pleaded, his chest heaving as the room spun. 'Please. Just listen to me.'
But Hori didn't even glance up from the screen, her thumbs clicking wildly. "Shido, his hands are freezing! Touch his arm—is he shaking?!"
"He's shaking violently! He feels like literal ice right now!" Shido panicked. Completely ignoring Kashima's outstretched hand, Shido grabbed the boy's trembling shoulders, desperately trying to calm him. "Breathe, Kashima! Come on, man, look at me and take deep breaths!"
"Stop..." Kashima whispered, his chest throbbing in agony as their figures blurred together into a chaotic wall of noisy, frantic movement.
Hori suddenly slammed the phone straight into Shido's chest, hot tears spilling down her cheeks. "I can't type! My fingers won't stop shaking, I keep hitting the wrong emergency digits! Call them, Shido—dial 119 right now!"
'Just sit down...' Kashima's mind screamed in absolute exhaustion as he stared at their frantic, blurry movements. 'Please, just one of you... sit beside me. Stop shouting. Just stay quiet and listen to me.'
He wanted to tear his own throat open, to let out the silent scream that was suffocating him from the inside out, but the wall of their overlapping voices was too thick.
"Is it your head?!"
"Kashima, look at me!"
"What do I press?!"
"Take a deep breath!"
"Just answer me, where does it hurt?!"
Their voices were everywhere, but none of it made sense. No matter how close they stood, the noise kept him completely isolated, trapping him alone in his nightmare.
And Kento had gone to get Mr. Kamitani.
A wave of pure, icy terror flooded Kashima's veins, freezing him from the inside out. 'How am I supposed to face him? I can't look at Mr. Kamitani anymore. I can't control my own face.'
His eyes darted wildly toward the kitchen entrance. 'If he looks into my eyes right now, the truth will be out. He'll see right through me. He'll chase me out of this house like a dog.'
A cold sweat broke out across his chest as his dark, guilty conscience twisted into a horrific trap. 'They'll throw me into a dark, freezing concrete cell. They know I'm the son of a murderer. I'm a silent witness to a fatal crime.'
His heart hammered violently against his ribs like a trapped animal, his stomach twisting as his mind fractured completely. He was running out of time, and the world was collapsing around him.
Hori snatched the phone right out of Shido's hands, her fingers frantically flying over the screen. "That's it! I'm calling my father right now—"
"STOP IT!"
An explosive, raw shout tore from Kashima's throat, echoing violently off the kitchen walls. Hori froze instantly, the phone nearly slipping from her fingers as Shido went completely stiff.
Kashima stood up from the chair so violently it flew backward, crashing loudly against the floor. His blue eyes were wild, burning, and filled with a dangerous, unstable rage.
"Stop doing whatever you're doing! Stop annoying me!" he screamed, his vocal cords straining to the absolute limit with pure desperation. "All of you... just leave me the hell alone! I just need some time alone!"
"K-Kashima..." Hori stammered, her voice dropping into a scared, heartbroken whisper. She took a physical step back, completely shaken by the raw cruelty in his tone.
"Don't..." said Kashima, the word cutting off sharply as he gritted his teeth so hard his jaw throbbed. He couldn't look at Hori's face. He couldn't bear to see the raw pain and terror he was causing her.
Squeezing his eyes shut to block out the spinning room, he turned blindly toward the kitchen exit, his posture stiff and defensive.
"Kashima, wait! Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Shido demanded. His voice wasn't just angry—it was fractured with pure disbelief and a desperate, frantic need to keep his friend safe.
He took a heavy, aggressive step forward, his hands still raised. "You can barely stand!"
"I'm going home," Kashima muttered. The words didn't come out as a loud, rude shout, but as a hollow, freezing whisper dripping with a cold, absolute finality. He was locking them out completely.
"Are you insane?!" Shido yelled back, closing the distance between them. "Look at yourself! You're not going anywhere like this!"
Kashima didn't answer. He slammed his hand against the kitchen door and pushed it open, his eyes snapping wide as he prepared to storm out into the hallway.
But his escape was instantly cut dead.
Kento stood right in the doorway, his chest panting violently as he stared at Kashima with a terrified, breathless expression. Yet, it wasn't Kento's presence that made Kashima's soul completely leave his body.
It was the massive, dark shadow standing right beside him.
Ayato Kamitani looked like an absolute monster coming out of the dark. His white shirt was completely soaked, sticking tightly to his broad, heavy shoulders from the pouring rain outside.
Wet strands of black hair clung to his forehead, and water droplets ran down his sharp jawline.
But it was his eyes that instantly turned the air in the kitchen freezing cold.
His eyes were narrowed into an incredibly intense, dangerous glare. He looked furious—like a man who had just fought through a brutal storm and was ready to tear anyone apart with his bare hands.
The heavy, terrifying weight of his presence filled the small kitchen, freezing everyone in their tracks.
Kashima's breath caught hard in his throat. His knees shook, ready to give out beneath him as his voice dropped into a faint, terrified whisper.
"...Mr. Kamitani."
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