Soft pink petals scattered about the white sheets just above his legs as he sat up. He brought his hand to his throat as he went into another coughing fit that had awoken his slumber a number of times these past few nights. A dozen more metals flew about from his mouth as he tried to stop it from coming out.
But no matter what happened, he couldn't control it.
"Again?" Morgana perked up from his curled up position as he stretched and walked over to Akira's bed, taking note of the petals. "You seriously need to do something about this, you know?"
"You can't expect me to go up to him and say 'I like you', can you?" Akira countered, trying to get most of the petals off the sheets as he stood up, getting ready for school and probably another venture into Kaneshiro's palace.
"It's still better than spilling pink everywhere, though!" Morgana sighed as he watched the other dress up. He then went into Akira's school bag and made himself comfortable, waiting for Akira to finish up.
Akira finished up getting ready and took one last glance around his room before snatching up a face mask and his bag before going downstairs to eat breakfast. Sojiro was already by the counter reading the paper.
"Again?" His guardian asked, looking up. "I doubt you'll be able to live normally like that, really."
"I'll be fine." Akira assured, taking a seat and eating his curry laid out in front of him. Eating a bit hurriedly so that the flowers wouldn't get on the food. Finishing off, he slipped on the face mask and carried his bag out.
Once he arrived at Shujin, his schoolmates either stared or avoided him when he came to close, afraid of getting whatever he had since he wore the facemask. They didn't know what kind of sickness he's gotten, but they were too wary to ask Akira what's gotten to him, so gossip ensued instead.
His friends weren't aware of his case ever since it's started. Since Akira's done his very best to hide it since he knew, or rather thought, it would become a hindrance during their forays into the palace. Morgana told him on multiple occasions, if anything, they'd be more worried if he didn't tell them what was going on.
"Isn't it a bit ironic?" Morgana mewled from under his desk, whatever was on the board being taught was forgotten momentarily. "You're the one that's supposed to be stealing hearts, not the other way around."
Akira let out a short huff of laughter under his breath before turning his attention back to the teacher, almost getting caught not listening. But even if his full attention was on the lesson, he wouldn't be able to concentrate. Too focused on hiding the small petals that escaped his mask and fell on his desk and around the table every once in a while.
Once class was over, he left his bag with Morgana in it, trusting it'll be there when he returned, and rushed to the boy's bathroom. Slamming one of the cubicles open, he entered hurriedly and locked it. The other occupants stared at the door before a rough line of coughs began to echo throughout the room.
The other boys stared at each other with worry and snuck out the door when the fit was still on going, awkward filling their systems as they didn't know what to do. After the coughs subsided, Akira looked down at the toilet and found dozens of petals floating above the water. Some of it scattered around the small cubicle as he looked around in panic.
Not coughing when you really needed to was a bit hazardous, don't you think? Especially when something that doesn't naturally belong in your system needs to escape.
Scooping up the petals he dumped them in the toilet and quickly flushed it, making sure there weren't any trace of petals left. Taking one last glance around the area, he unlocked the cubicle and exited, taking note how silent it was in the room.
Akira approached the mirror and looked at himself, a light drool formed down the right side of his mouth, his eyes a bit puffy from the tears that accumulated during the cough and a few petals littered over his chest.
He turned on the faucet and wiped his face clean, making sure evidence of his fit wasn't left. He quickly picked off the petals when the door opened. He panicked and turned to his left quickly and saw someone enter.
Ryuji.
Oh no.
Tensing up when his best friend saw the petals scattered about his front and hands, Ryuji's shoulders dropped and stared.
"Dude, if someone gave you flowers you could just have told us." The blonde grinned going over and patting him on the back.
Bad idea.
Akira coughed up a few more petals and that's where Ryuji paused and stared at the scene in front of him. The blonde took a few steps back and took a good look at Akira for once. His mouth hung open as his eyes grew wider.
"Oh shit, you have that disease?!" He exclaimed before Akira quickly covered his mouth with a clean hand.
"Shut up! We don't need anyone else knowing about it!" The leader of the thieves glared before withdrawing his hand and picking up any other petals around before dumping it into one of the toilets and flushing it down. He reached into his pocket and fished out his face mask, quickly putting it on.
"Does anyone else know about this?" Ryuji asked, lowly this time as they both walked out of the stalls and back to the classroom.
"Only Sojiro and Morgana." Akira replied, opening the classroom door and quickly going to his bag. He reached for his phone and texted the group chat to meet not at the usual place, but somewhere a bit different.
"And you didn't bother tellin' us anything?" His friend growled, though glaring at those who stared at them. "You gotta say something if it's this serious, man."
"I know, I'm sorry." Akira apologized before hoisting up his bag on his shoulders and making a motion with his head. "Come on, we're meeting up at Leblanc to talk about this."
"Oh, now you're gonna tell us!" Ryuji threw his hands up in expiration. "Great idea!"
A short train ride to the Yongen and they all met up at the café upstairs to the attic, Akira's heart beating fast and his palms sweaty as he watched the other members of the thieves show up one by one. His eyes lingered on Yusuke's as he arrived, noticing the glance, the artist stared back and Akira looked away.
"So, what's with the sudden meetup? We going back in the palace again?" Ann questioned, though a bit tired from their adventuring yesterday. "Not that I don't mind."
"By the suddenness of the calling and difference in location, it might be a bit more serious than Kaneshiro at the moment." Yusuke provided, though wondering himself.
"The Hanahaki Disease," Akira said after a short while, earning questioning looks by his members. "Do you know it?"
"I've heard of it." Makoto replied. "It's an illness born from one-sided love, where the patient coughs up flowers or flower petals. The only cure is to have that love reciprocated, or to somehow wipe away all one's memories of their beloved person. The infection can be removed through surgery, but the feelings disappear along with the petals."
"As expected of miss class president to know everything." Ryuji lightly commented, receiving a glare from Makoto.
"Why?"
"I have it."
Silence enveloped the group by the newfound information given to them. They all stared at their leader, excluding Ryuji, in disbelief. That… couldn't be, right? Besides, who in the world could've caught Akira's eye? The silence stretched and Akira was becoming more and more uncomfortable. Luckily, Ann broke the silence.
"Since when?"
"… Two weeks after Madarame's."
"It's been that long?!" Ryuji stared at him, shock on his featured. "And you tell us this shit now?!"
"Shut up!" Ann scolded, looking around to discard the lingering eyes of others that passed by their small group. "I'm sorry for not noticing this earlier, Akira."
"It's okay, I did try and hide it, after all." Akira admitted, looking away in slight shame.
"But why would you keep something so important such as this and just tell us now?" Makoto asked, though worried, intrigued by the new discovery.
"He said he didn't want to burden anyone with this." Morgana supplied, jumping out of the school bag. "Said it'd be a bother when we enter the palace and you'll be more worried about him than the mission and stuff. Also, Ryuji found out so might as well since he can't keep his mouth shut."
"Hey!"
"While that may be true, it wasn't very logical of you to hide it." Yusuke crossed his arms, though disapproving of his leaders' actions, worry was shown on his face and there wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment.
"I know, I'm sorry…" Akira apologized again, earning a huff from Ann.
"Stop apologizing, silly." Ann patted his back and reclined a bit, taking off the face mask and looking at the poking petals that peeked out. "This isn't your fault at all."
Parting away from him, Makoto looked closely at his face and narrowed her eyes. Akira stiffened up a bit as the school council president inspected his features then plucked a petal that poked through his mouth.
"What flower is this?" She held up the petal. It was roundish of sorts and light pink, the others looked at it for a bit before admitting they didn't know. "Akira, do you know?"
"They're Pink Camellias." Akira informed, looking down at the petal thoughtfully. "They mean longing."
"How tragic." Yusuke muses, looking down at the petal on Makoto's hand curiously but a frown etched his features. "The one you long for has no idea how much you must be suffering from the overflow of petals that fall…"
Akira wanted to laugh so much at the irony. Oh, Yusuke, if you'd only know who I long for. Suddenly short on breath, he quickly brought his hand to his mouth and coughed, spurting petals and—was that an entire flower? Everywhere. His teammates stepped back a bit and looked at Akira with worry.
After the fit was done, Makoto approached first and patted his back, urging him to let out any more flora left in his system. Ryuji spotted the flower and picked it up, inspecting it a bit with awe.
"Dude, you just coughed an entire thing up." He voiced out, turning it around with his fingers before Yusuke grabbed it gently from his grasp and inspected it as well. "What the hell, man."
"Isn't it a bit fascinating on how a flower could be coughed up? Petals, I understand, but the flower itself is quiet a mystery." The painter muttered to himself, nodding as he did.
"Hey, now's not the time to understand the concept of this, Akira's hurting and we need a way for it to stop!" Ann cried, grabbing the attention of her two friends. "Look, maybe we could convince the girl to go out with you or somehow reciprocate your feelings?"
"Whoever said it was a girl?" Morgana smirked, earning a frightful glare from Akira. "It's a really special guy, you wouldn't even expect it was him!"
"Morgana, you're getting a button smash later on." Akira muttered, making the cat flinch, Morgana's ears flattening into a scared state.
"Dude, who cares, though?" Ryuji shrugged, taking a seat on the small couch. "If you like a dude, fine, that's you. But who is the lucky guy's the question."
"That's true!" Ann beamed, taking a seat on Akira's bed and motioning the owner to sit beside her. When he sat, she leaned a bit closer. "So? Who is it?"
"I can't tell you since…" Akira stopped, treading his words carefully. "You guys know him, and I think it's safer if I told only the girls."
Both Ryuji and Yusuke stared at each other for a moment before looking back at Akira. Nodding at both Ann and Makoto, the two guys then descended back downstairs and left Akira alone with the two females of their team.
"It's fine, we won't say a word to either of them." Makoto assured, looking downstairs to make sure they weren't eavesdropping. "They aren't here, so go on." Sitting down next to Akira, Makoto urged him.
"Okay…" Taking a deep breath, Akira sighed. "It's Yusuke."
…
"Oh my god?"