Chapter 2

It was in the morning when Sanetoshi walked towards the room of his young patient who happens to be a really sweet boy named Tachibana Makoto, for a check-up. He was smiling to himself when he was recalling how Makoto had been more worried about the others around him than himself who is still hospitalized. Although Sanetoshi is someone who is supposed to heal others, he could not help but feel soothed by the gentle smile of Makoto. When he was a few rooms away from the said patient's room, he saw Makoto dashed out of his own room looking alarmed and frightened. Worried, he crept carefully to Makoto's side, trying not to scare him.

"Makoto-kun?"

The boy turned around, tears stained on his face, eyes widened as though he had just seen a ghost. Sanetoshi was shocked to see the recently-turned-blind high school boy who stayed positive and mentally strong, now succumbed to some fear that was plaguing his mind, and Makoto seemed like…he could see. Not knowing what to say, Sanetoshi attempted to reach out to comfort the boy, but to his surprise, his young patient scurried away frantically and made a run like he was some kind of disease.

"Wait, Makoto-kun! You are in no condition to be out of your bed now!" Sanetoshi shouted, confused about Makoto's behaviour.

He immediately called the male nurses to get his runaway patient back in bed, and the nurses complied. Followed closely behind the nurses, he witnessed the struggle Makoto put up with all his strength, seemingly desperate to get out. Noting this for future reference, he ordered one of the nurses to use the sedative that he prepared. As he watched the young man being subdued, it made him felt sympathy and pity towards Makoto, but somehow the neurologist part of him felt curious and intrigued by this patient of his. Seems like he will need to observe this boy for longer…

"What is going on, Sanetoshi-sensei!?" cried Makoto's mum, finally able to voice her concerns after she saw the whole scene unfold. "What are they doing to him!?" she was unable to comprehend why the nurses were treating Makoto like a criminal. Once again, her husband comforted her and calmed her before he asked in a softer tone, "What happened to Makoto?"

"I suspect that he is mentally unstable now. It may be due to stress of being confined in the hospital for an extended period of time and have been subjected to numerous tests and therapies," explained Sanetoshi in a professional tone, "we will have to place him in the mental ward, for further observation and in precaution if he tries to escape like that again."

Makoto's mother fell to her knees and wept for her son as well as her family that would not be the same again. Makoto's father too, his face wrenched in concern and sympathy while he placed his arm around his wife's shoulders and held her tight.

"Haru, I have something to tell you after the national tournament. Will you hear me out?"

It was the day when the Iwatobi's swimming club's relay team achieved an honorable second place in the national tournament. Everyone was joyous and celebrative on their bus ride back to their school. Nagisa was cheering for more funding for their club. Rei was looking smug and enthusiastic, knowing that he is no longer a liability in the team. Haru as usual, sat by himself as he looked out the window with a stoic face, though everyone knew that their quiet friend was happy. Makoto just sat beside his best friend while smiling to himself as he gazed at his happy friends. However, the sky soon dampened their mood as rain started to pour…and everything started to go wrong.

The rain made the road very wet and slippery, however the driver was not careful enough during the huge turn that he lost control over the bus, which led to the vehicle tilting on its side, threatening to topple over. While the others had something to grasp onto the other side of the bus, Haru who sat beside the window that was going to crash, had nothing to hold. Luckily, Makoto pulled Haru away quickly enough before that happened, but they were unable to balance and ended up bumping into that same window, which caused the bus to tilt even further. Even when he knew he might be too late, Makoto never gave up in saving his best friend and so he became the cushion for Haru's fall.

With Haru in his arms, Makoto landed on the pavement that was scattered with sharp shards, air knocked out of him during the impact. Glass crushed to even smaller pieces and pierced through the skin of Makoto's wide back as well as the back of his skull which banged against the ground, hard. Due to inertia, the vehicle continued to skid along the pavement along with its passengers, and the shards also continued to rip through Makoto's uniform and skin, and imbedded themselves into his flesh.

Once the bus had stopped, Makoto could feel his hair getting soaked in the mixture of rain water and blood, as warmth seeped away from him quickly. The last things that he remembered before he fell unconscious were a safe Haru on top of him with an expression he couldn't quite see and the regret of not being able to get his true feelings across to that person.

Haru…

Makoto's head starts to ache as he regains his conscious groggily from his dream of the accident. With his vision fogged and ears muffled, he is still able to recognize a similar scene from his recent nightmare that is in front of him. As he struggles in his lethargic and aching body, to get out of bed, he realizes that he is bound with soft-looking but strong straps of slimy, dark brownish large intestines. Nausea hits him and he closes his eyes to calm himself down for brief seconds which turns into hours of sleep.

Makoto's friends and family are disappointed to know that they cannot visit Makoto for a while until the doctors are sure that he is mentally stable to not cause any commotion. The swimming club members still can't believe their friend's recent change in behaviour, from what they have heard from his parents.

Haruka can't help but to think of this as his fault. He is still guilty for being the cause for all the stitches on Makoto's body as he had basically put all his weight on Makoto's injured body that was laid on shattered glass. He feels even guiltier when he remembers the small flinch of Makoto at the mention of his relationship with Rin. A hurt look had flashed in Makoto's eyes for a second, which had shocked him and had sent him to look away in shame. But what was even worse, was the bright smile that was pasted on that same, gentle Makoto, who have wished for his friends' happiness over his own. Haruka really do think that this childhood friend of his is too kind for his own good. Sometimes he wants to say, 'you don't always have to be considerate to others, you know', but Haruka knows that his best friend is too stubborn to change his ways now.

Rin senses the discomfort of his boyfriend, and so he places his hand on Haru's shoulder while giving his best grin he can manage. When Haru turns to his direction, he blushes lightly while looking away with an annoyed face and scratches the back of his head awkwardly, obviously still not used to dating someone, especially that someone is a childhood friend and a rival. His face falls when he thinks about his childhood friend who also had the same experience of losing someone dear in the typhoon on that fateful day. That goody-two-shoes who always wore a goofy smile, is mentally unstable? Rin just can't imagine that.

Not only Haruka and Rin, everyone wants to know what is happening to Makoto and what is going on in his mind…

Once again, Makoto wakes up to a room where it seems like the interior of a microwave in which several cows exploded in it. He still can't get use to the sight as he swallows the bile that has burnt his esophagus. His body is still bounded by something that looks like intestines to him now and he struggles in vain. He freezes immediately when he hears familiar squishing sounds, and then cautiously he turns towards the source.

They meet again. The first flesh monster that he has seen since…how long? How long has he been out for, Makoto doesn't know. Everything is so confusing to him now. Why is he stuck in this bad joke of a haunted house and bounded to what seems like a bed? Where is this even? He is pretty sure that he was in a hospital. Wait, is this the hospital…? Fear shrouds his mind when he thinks of this predicament as the side effects of the brain damage that has done him.

"How #%feel$ s $af*#QyA $*"

…What? Is that monster trying to speak in Japanese? I'm pretty sure I heard 'How' and 'feel'. Is it asking 'how am I feeling'? Makoto tries to answer but he just can't get his voice to work. Instead, the monster just comes closer beside him and stretches its arm over Makoto's face, much like the first time they have met. With no room for escape, Makoto can only watch in fear and disgust as he feels slimy, stinking strokes on his cheek. Too focused on the hand of the monster, he doesn't realize the streaming tears of fear and frustration until the hand touches his eyes.

"WhatQ& *$wrong"

Instinctively he turns his head away in attempt to get away from the touch of rotten flesh, but its hands never left his face as the monster cups his chin to guide his head to face it. Makoto finally sees the part of the monster he never wanted to see again – the distorted face of the monster. He quickly averts his eyes while he trembles in fear at the sight of it and tries to struggle against the binds to escape.

"Don't touch me! Stay away from me! You monster!" Makoto cries and the rotting but living, mutilated corpse does back away while doing something with his hands. He tilts his head in confusion as to what the giant lump of meat is doing.

After finishing what it was doing, he holds up something and says something that sounds like 'can you tell me what I am holding?' But that 'something' is just another piece of flesh that looks like a part of the monster, at least to Makoto. So he just shakes his head, eyes not leaving the flesh for a second in fear of the monster hurting him. It seems to be doing something with that flesh again, and Makoto then notices another lump of flesh but with a kidney stuck on it which looks rectangular. Linking them together, his mouth opens in shock and disbelief. Those things are most likely a pen and a clipboard, given the context, and so he guesses that the meat creature is a doctor diagnosing him.

"HowQW(# 'Gx fingersO!x$sj*E $%*,Mako$Sg%-kun"

"3?" Makoto is slowly getting used to the 'accent' as he understands more and more, although he is just linking the words and trying to make sense out of it. But somehow, this question feels oddly familiar…

"Are you by any chance, Sanetoshi-sensei…?" He asks hesitantly in fear for the truth of his condition. The monster does not move immediately. It seems that it is deep in thought but soon figures something out before nodding its head.

"What's going on!? What's happening to me!?" Makoto grabs his head with both of his hands, eyes clench shut and he questions in panic and desperation. Disregarding this, Sanetoshi asks him several more questions before telling him that he might have agnosia – the inability to recognize objects, people or sounds which usually only affects one modality and unfortunately, it is an incurable condition. At the word "incurable", Makoto can hear his world – in which he spent happily with his family and friends – falling apart. Tears of despair flow from his eyes continuously as he refuses to accept this new reality. Does that mean he will have to live like this for the rest of his life? In this slaughter house that is the world? Where every living creature looks like piles of decaying flesh and organs? No…No! NO! NOOOOO!

"…I want to go home…" he whines in a whisper, as he watches his transparent tears fall on a liver-looking thing that absorbs the saline solution.

"You can't."

"Why!?"

"In your mental state right now, you are unsuitable to leave the hospital."

"D-D-Does that mean that I have to be caged here forever?! No-No way!"

"Calm down, Makoto-kun. I meant you should relax and stop panicking. Actually this is better than being blind. As I said, agnosia is a condition where a person cannot recognize something, but it only affects a sense, which means you can use your other senses to compensate that." Before Sanetoshi leaves, he ruffles Makoto's soft hair in a disgustingly sweet way that causes Makoto's body to tense at the contact, "I will ask the nurses to get you something to eat."

Nodding, Makoto stares at the retreating figure of his doctor, and when he is sure that the pulsating pile of meat is gone, he hugs himself into ball and cries silently in his, thankfully, human arms.

To be continued...

Thanks for reading! :D