"...Mr. Kamitani."
The Shield of the Court didn't move. He stood tall in the doorway, his chest rising and falling heavily, his dark, terrifying eyes locking onto the trembling boy.
"Kashima." Ayato Kamitani called out, his deep voice carrying a chilling, deadly weight.
"Mr. Kamitani!" Hori cried, a wave of huge, shaking relief breaking the terror on her face for a second.
Behind her, Shido closed his eyes tightly, letting his spine go completely loose as his head dropped back against the wall. "Thank God..."
But the heavy, suffocating atmosphere in the room didn't break. Mr. Kamitani stood like a massive, dark shadow in the doorway, the freezing rain water dripping from his sharp jawline onto the kitchen floor.
The smell of a heavy storm followed him inside, cutting straight through the warm, humid air of the kitchen. His intense, dangerous glare didn't soften for a fraction of a second.
"Kashima." Mr. Kamitani called out again. His deep voice carried a chilling, deadly weight that sliced right through the buzzing sound of the fluorescent lights.
Ignoring every rule of a proper Japanese household, the man didn't even stop at the entrance. He marched straight onto the clean wooden floor, his heavy, mud-stained boots leaving dark, filthy tracks and clicking sharply with an urgent, angry rhythm.
In his right hand, his knuckles were white around his mobile phone. From the loud speaker, a sharp female voice was quickly speaking, buzzing over and over like an angry insect. 'Ayato! Ayato, answer me! What happened?! Why did you stop speaking—'
Without breaking his terrifying, locked gaze from Kashima, Mr. Kamitani blindly pushed the vibrating phone straight into Kento's chest. Kento caught the device out of pure survival instinct, his green eyes wide as he quickly brought the phone to his ear.
"Mom, Dad is busy right now," Kento muttered into the line, his voice breathless, strained, and raw from his sprint through the hall. "He'll call you back later."
"Kento?! Hello? Kento, wait—"
Click.
With a swift press of his thumb, Kento cut the connection. The sudden silence that followed was instant and heavy, pulling the kitchen right back into a tense, breathless silence.
Then, a loud, sharp ringtone violently cut through the quiet from the opposite corner. Shido's phone, which Hori had been clutching in her trembling hands, was vibrating against her palm.
The call had finally been picked up.
Hori's pink eyes widened in a desperate surge of adrenaline. She put the device against her ear, her voice cracking instantly. "Hello? Hello, Dad?! Yes, it's me, it's Hori!"
She swallowed hard, hot tears finally coming to her eyes. "I'm using Shido's phone. Dad, please, you need to hurry to Kento's house right now! There's... there's something really wrong with Kashima!"
"THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!"
The explosive, raw shout tore from Kashima's throat, echoing violently off the kitchen walls.
"Ah—!" A sharp, broken cry escaped Hori's lips.
The complete sound and unstable rage in his voice made Hori flinch backward, her eyes squeezing shut as a sob caught in her throat.
In a flash of pure protective instinct, Shido stepped directly in front of her, using his broad shoulders as a human shield to completely block Kashima from her sight.
Shido stared across the room at the blonde boy, his usual playful grin completely wiped from his face, replaced by a look of deep shock. "What the hell is wrong with you, Kashima? Just calm down!" Shido urged, his arms braced protectively over the trembling girl behind him. "We're going to take you to the hospital, alright? Just sit—"
'HOSPITAL?'
The word struck Kashima's panicked brain like a physical blow. A cold, sharp fear shot through his chest, freezing the blood in his veins. Why were they taking him to a hospital? He was completely fine. He was standing right here.
His bloodshot blue eyes darted wildly from face to face, searching for a single person to understand him. "I'm fine! I'm alright! It's just... my throat is just a little sore!" He looked at them, his chest panting as he begged for a single nod of agreement.
But nobody moved. Shido's jaw remained locked in deep suspicion, Hori was weeping silently into his uniform shirt, and Kento's brow was furrowed in deep anxiety. It was a look of total, complete disbelief. They didn't believe him.
And then, a truly dreadful, monstrous thought crawled out from the pitch-black corners of his guilty conscience, wrapping around his throat like a rope.
'Unless... they're trying to trick me. They're telling me it's a hospital... but they're actually going to take me straight to a dark, cold jail cell.'
The pure horror of the realization snapped whatever control he had left.
"I am not going to the hospital!" Kashima screamed, his tall body shaking so violently his teeth clenched together.
Mr. Kamitani's eyes narrowed further, a sudden spike of protective panic breaking through his grumpy expression.
Seeing the boy fall apart, the father took another fast, aggressive step forward, his large hands slightly raising. "Kashima, stop. Breathe. You need to calm down—"
"I am not stepping a single foot out of this house!" Kashima shouted back. He threw his weight backward, slamming himself flat against the kitchen wall as if he could physically melt through the wall to escape them.
Hori cried, burying her face completely into the fabric of Shido's back. Shido kept himself firm, his mind spinning in absolute confusion. 'What the hell happened that he is acting like a lunatic?'
Kento stepped closer, raising his hands in a soothing, desperate gesture, trying to hold his friend before he completely shattered.
"Kashima, please, just listen to us. Calm down. Nobody is going to chase you out of this house."
Mr. Kamitani let out a rough, heavy sigh, the leftover adrenaline from his furious phone call mixing with the immediate panic of the room.
His face settled into a grave, deeply serious look. "Kashima... I already know everything from Kento."
That was it.
The words felt like a bomb exploding right inside Kashima's skull, breaking his vision into thousands of pieces. A wave of horrific thoughts crashed into his mind in a violent, suffocating loop.
'What did Mr. Kamitani find out?!
Did Kento figure out the truth about Asuka's death?
Is the police already on their way to arrest me?
Am I going to jail for hiding the truth?!'
The crushing weight of the misunderstanding broke his spirit entirely. Hot, bitter tears finally spilled over his eyelids, running rapidly down his deathly pale cheeks.
"It wasn't my fault..." Kashima sobbed, his voice cracking and breaking into a pathetic, breathless mess that didn't sound like the Ice Prince at all. He clutched his head in his hands, his throat burning. "I... I didn't do anything wrong! It wasn't me!"
The entire kitchen went completely, deathly silent. Even the storm outside seemed to fade away.
Shido and Kento's eyes widened to the absolute limit in pure shock. Kento stared at his childhood friend in utter, paralyzed disbelief, his voice dropping into a stunned whisper. "Kashima...?"
Behind Shido, Hori burst into quiet, terrified tears, her fingers gripping Shido's hand so tightly her knuckles turned paper-white. "Shido... what's wrong with him? What is he talking about?"
"I... I don't know," Shido muttered, his voice dropping into a grave, frightened tone he had never used before.
Mr. Kamitani's expression shifted instantly from an angry frown to deep, urgent concern.
The large man stepped directly into Kashima's personal space, his deep voice softening as he reached out a damp hand.
"Kashima. Look at me. Are you in some kind of trouble? Are you hiding something from us?"
"I'm innocent!" Kashima screamed, throwing his body sideways to escape the reach of the Shield of the Court.
But the exact moment his weight shifted, an invisible, blinding white-hot agony flashed violently right through his collarbone.
"G-GAH!"
Kashima let out a sharp cry of pure agony. His knees gave out completely, and his hand flew to his neck, his fingers scratching at his shirt as if he were trying to rip the pain right out of his flesh.
"Kashima?!" Kento yelled, taking a frantic step forward to catch him.
But before Kento's foot could even land on the floor, a glowing, burning sensation suddenly glowed beneath his own uniform shirt. The hidden spiral mark on his skin activated with a brutal, piercing heat, moving perfectly with Kashima's pain.
"URGH!"
Kento gasped loudly, his face violently twisting in sudden shock. He bent over completely, his hands slamming over his stomach as he stumbled backward, his spine hitting the hard edge of the kitchen counter with a heavy Thud.
'What the hell... what the hell is happening to my body?!' Kento thought frantically, his teeth gritted so hard his jaw ached as a cold sweat broke out across his neck.
Mr. Kamitani's head snapped between the two boys, his lawyer instincts instantly going on maximum, red-alert panic.
His own son was bent over, groaning in strange stomach pain, while Kashima was pinned against the wall, weeping and yelling in pure pain as he clutched his collarbone.
Mr. Kamitani's black eyes narrowed in complete confusion.
'What the hell is going on in this room?!'
-----
📢 CHARACTER CORNER 📢
╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗
🍡 TODAY'S STAR GUEST 🍡
╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝
Author: "And that is a wrap for Chapter 40! Everyone take a breath, the suffering is temporarily over."
Author: "To help us clear the heavy, freezing air, please welcome today's special guest..."
Author: "The greatest showman of Kaijo High, the ultimate Style King, and the heart of the journalism club..."
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
✨ KIRISHIMA SHIDO ✨
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
"SHIDO-SENPAI!" 😍
"LOOK OVER HERE!" 👋
"FLAWLESS REFLEXES!" 🧎♂️
"WINK AT ME!" 😉
"THE REAL MAIN CHARACTER!" 👑
(Someone literally throw a box of fresh kikufuku mochi straight toward the stage.)
Shido: (Flawlessly catching the box of mochi mid-air with one hand) "Woah! Watch the face, guys! I mean, I get it, I'm incredibly handsome and my dark blue spikes look perfect today, but let's keep the flying desserts at a safe distance."
Shido: (Casually ripping open the box and popping a whole rice cake into his mouth) "Mmm... kikufuku mochi. To whoever threw this—you have excellent taste. You're officially invited to hang out with me and Kento at the arcade later."
Author: "Are you seriously eating snacks on stage? Right after that insane cliffhanger?"
Shido: (Chewing happily, completely unbothered) "Uh, yes? Life is too short to skip sweets, especially after you made me drag a heavy wooden chair across the floor and scream my lungs out in that kitchen. My tragic soul needed a sugar boost."
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🍡 SHIDO'S LIVE OUTBURST 🍡
╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝
Author: "Speaking of the chapter... you seemed pretty offended that Hori called her dad."
Shido: (Gulping down the mochi) "Offended?! I was terrified! You made the atmosphere so cold I felt like a literal ice cube. And then Dad marches in with muddy boots—completely ignoring household rules, by the way—looking like a literal demon!"
Shido: "Between you and me... I love a good adrenaline rush, but if the Shield of the Court looks at me like that again, I'm dragging Tamiko on a running date to a different prefecture. A hero knows when to retreat!"
Kashima: "You called me a lunatic before you ran away."
Shido: (Waving his hand dismissively) "Details, Ice Prince! Details! I was establishing a heroic perimeter! Besides, you're the one who started screaming and glowing with supernatural collarbone pain. You completely ruined my dramatic hero pose!"
╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗
🍡 FINAL WORDS FOR THE READERS 🍡
╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝
Author: "Alright, alright, wrap it up before you two start a real fight on my stage."
Shido: (Turning back to the audience, striking a flashy, cool pose while adjusting an imaginary pair of sunglasses) "Fine, fine. To all my lovely readers out there—thanks for sticking through the chaos. Make sure to leave a comment telling the Author to stop being so mean to us."
Shido: "And remember, no matter how crazy things get in the next chapter... Kirishima Shido is always the main character of your hearts. Peace out!"
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🌸 Thank you for reading Chapter 40! 🌸
If you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to leave a comment and share your theories. 👀✨
I'll see you all in the next chapter.
Until then...
May your hearts survive.
And may Kashima survive whatever is happening to him. 😭
With gratitude,
✍️ Your Tragic Author 🌙
_SakuraShinomiya,