Warnings: In this chapter: Seishirou, death.
Centum
016-020
Aoki is married and Kigai is an irrecoverable flirt… and they have no idea where Shiyu is. For the first time since they've known him he's late.
"Maybe he's finally met a girl," Kigai says. "I don't even care if they're a boy –isn't he still a virgin? Sakurazuka–"
"Is disliked by everyone, including Shiyu." Aoki looks uncomfortable and typically stressed. "Besides, I don't want to know about Shiyu's personal life."
Kigai hums and looks around. "Maybe we missed him. Can't imagine how…"
Their friend does eventually turn up. He doesn't explain himself, which means that they guessed right.
.
It was horrible, the worst thing imaginable. Gross, grotesque. It made Kamui want to collapse to his knees, breakdown and cry.
Kamui inched closer to the mirror and gazed upon the horror before his eyes. It was, it was…
A spot.
He didn't deserve this. Hadn't he suffered enough? And nobody seemed to understand the severity of the situation! Arashi had completely ignored him, and Sorata had made fun of him. He'd need yet another year of counselling after this.
Kamui opened up the tube in his head and smeared its contents on his face. Yuzuriha truly was a lifesaver.
.
Both Arashi-chan and Kotori-chan have such long hair. Yuzuriha-chan wants to grow hers too, but it'd be difficult to manage when she's looking after the animals. What's the point of having such lovely long hair if she has to bundle it all up afterwards?
Kotori-chan lets her brush and play with her hair though, so it's not all that bad. Yuzuriha-chan wants to brush Arashi-chan's hair too, but she won't let her.
"Why not?"
Arashi-chan didn't answer her properly, but she did blush and mumble something about Sorata-san. Something about playing with her hair? That's all Yuzuriha-chan heard. How cute!
.
I have a confession. It's important that I tell you now.
Confessions are strange things. You can confess to bad things, like cruelty or murder, or good things. Like love. Love is a good thing, isn't it?
Some things are easier to confess to than others. Some get better reactions than others. There are even some that are taken to the grave… but this one won't. This one is a secret between two people. You will keep it secret, won't you? I have a reputation to keep.
Why are you crying? These things happen every day. Isn't that right, Subaru-kun?
.
Kakyou is surprised to find that Nataku dreams. They're pretty abstract dreams, mind –spinning gears and curtains and shallow pools of water– but Nataku dreams, and dreams regularly.
They're so routine and predictable in fact that Kakyou likes to cross into them when he's tired of the vast expanse of the ocean, the vast expanse of loneliness. The water that Nataku dreams of is calm, and warm, and unsalted. They don't talk to each other, and that's okay.
One day the dreams stop. Kakyou misses them but there's nothing he can do about it. It's just another thing to grieve.