Hi guys! Thank you so much for reading my story and the reviews (I love them so much)! I've created a poll on my profile on whether you guys would like an alternative ending to this story so do vote for it. Of course I would finish the story the way I planned but this poll is just to see if anyone would be interested in reading an alternative ending for this story

"Onodera... what happened to you..."

Even though Takano-san had whispered it to no one in particular, it was the only sound I heard. The rain had drained everything else and his gentle voice was all that my ears heard. It was soft, gentle but it was sad. His gentle voice sent warm chills down my spine as he hugged me, not moving. I could feel the rain droplets landing gently on me, completely different from the painful assault I felt when I was running. I could feel many eyes looking at us but I didn't care. It was warm and gentle, something I haven't felt in the longest time and I didn't want it to end.

After a few minutes, Takano-san let go of me and I immediately felt the cold hit me with the assist of the rain. Takano-san extended his hand and offered to pull me up but all I could do was just stare at him blankly, not being able to do anything else. Before I realised, Takano-san had bent down and was now looking at me in the eye. His strong hands supported me under my arms as he pulled me up from the cold floor. When I was completely off the floor and didn't have to rely on him to stand, his hand slipped into my own and he held it tightly, firmly and yet gently. With our fingers intertwined, we began walking back to the office slowly.

The walk back to the office was long and painfully silent, normally I wouldn't allow Takano-san to hold my hand but today, his hand gave me warmth and I didn't struggle as he led me back to the office. My ears had shut out all sounds around me. I could see the rain forming ripples when it landed in a puddle, I could see cars driving past but I couldn't hear anything.

When we finally reached the office, Takano-san let go of my hands but placed his hands on my shoulder instead. He guided me via my shoulder towards the lift and once we reached our floor, to the toilet. Along the way, I heard Kisa-san voice coming from our department.

"Wah Takano-san and Ricchan! You're both soaking wet! Did you get caught in that heavy rain?" I kept my eyes downcast.

"Ya. We're going to the toilet to dry off."

"Kays~"

In the toilet, Takano-san closed and locked the door. Afterwards, he gently tugged me towards the hand drier and made me sit down below it. He waved his hand above my head and the hand drier roared to life. I could feel his huge hands slowly massaging my head as he tried to dry it. When we were done, Takano-san pulled me slowly to the sink to wash my hands which was covered in blood.

When that he done, he inspected my hands and found out that the wound had stopped bleedind. Feeling satusfied with what he saw, Takano-san bent down and asked me: "Onodera, we have to dry your shirt or you're going to catch a cold. Do you want me to do if for you?"

I shook my head.

I muttered a soft okay and saw him walk over to the other hand drier. As the other hand drier echoed in the toilet, I took off my shirt and tried to dry it. My eyes never leaving my shirt or the ground. When my shirt was dried enough, I quickly put on my shirt only to see that Takano-san was done and waiting for me.

"Onodera, are you alright."

"Just call me if you need me."

I nodded and we both headed back to our department with me following behind him. Along the way, I saw the group of people who were talking about me at the vending machine and I immediately shot my gaze downwards back to the floor. They were talking happily among themselves but when they saw me and Takano-san, they stopped and started whispering to each other. I really wanted to dig a hole in the floor and hide myself there but sadly I couldn't so I just tried as best as I could to walk faster with my head still downcast. When we passed them, they muttered a quick greeting to Takano-san and quickly walked in the other direction, much to my relief.

Back at our department, everyone was back from their lunch break and was already getting started on their work. I 2 stacks of papers on my desk, one much taller and thicker than the other. I realised that the smaller pile was probably Mutou-sensei and Saitou-sensei's manuscripts and the thicker one was the other author's manuscripts. Before Takano-san could walk back to his seat, I quietly passed him Mutou-sensei and Saitou-sensei's manuscript and he muttered a quick thank you before walking back to his seat.

I slumped down on my seat and saw the whole pile of papers. Normally I would sigh and get a headache but this time I just started checking without saying anything else. When I was done checking the first two manuscripts, Takano-san had also finished checking both Mutou-sensei and Saitou-sensei's work so he passed it back to me. I didn't even look up at him when I received the manuscripts.

"Everyone, can we have a quick meeting? Ah Onodera we will fill you in with the details after the deadline. You just continue doing what you need to do."

"Takano-sannnnn why can't we have the meeting after the deadline? The Ricchan can join us."

"This is important. Meeting room 3 now!"

And before I knew it, the room was emptied. I just continued on my work.

In the meeting room, no ones POV

"Ok, this is a very important matter and whatever I say stays in this four walls understand?" Takano said with seriousness in his voice.

Everyone in the room nodded.

"Just now during lunch, Onodera ran out of the office. When I found him, he was crying and his hands were bleeding."

pauce*

"After I somehow managed to convince him to come back to the office, we were at this traffic light. When I took my eyes off of him for just a second, the next thing I saw was him walking towards this lorry that was speeding down. I pulled him back in time. When I asked what was he doing, he asked me why didn't I ley him die. Afterwards, he mentioned that he was useless and a failure and that his death would benefit everyone."

At this point, Kisa gasped. Hatori and Mino just stood there eyes widened from shock. Takano took in a deep breath and continued.

"My guess is that something happened to Onodera but I'm not sure what it is. And that something is causing him to have suicidal thoughts. So for the remainder of today, I want at least 1 person to be with him no matter where he goes just to make sure he doesn't do anything. Alright?"

Seriousness filled the room as all of them nodded their head in agreement. Worry was evident in all their faces especially Kisa since he was quite close to Onodera. After assuring everyone that he would bring Onodera to a doctor after the deadline, Takano dismissed everyone. He stayed in the room for a while trying to think of things that may have caused his lover to fall into such a state when he heard Kisa shout.

"Ricchan! What are you doing! Oi! RICCHAN!"

Takano immediatly ran out of the room towards the department. When he saw what Kisa was shouting about, he ran towards Onodera and placed his hand on Onodera's shoulder before shouting.

"Onodera! Snap out of it!"

Onodera POV

I saw all my colleges leave for the meeting room while I still sat at my seat checking the manuscripts. Even though I still felt horrible, I knew that I had to do whatever I had to do and just pressed on with checking the manuscripts. When I was half way done, my eyes drifted back to the meeting room and they still had not come out yet. My eyes wandered back to my desk with the stack of manuscripts. Just as I was about to pick up the next manuscript to check, I spotted something glistening at the corner of my desk. I reached out my right hand and found out that it was a penknife with the blade still out.

'This is dangerous' I thought to myself as I held it in my hand. As I stared harder and harder at the blade, my hand holding the blade unconsciously moved over to my left hand. Before I could process what I was doing, a cut had formed on my wrist and blood was oozing out from it. Surprisingly, I didn't feel any pain. I just sat there holding the blade in one hand with my other hand bleeding as I stared into nothing. Unconsciously, my right hand found it's way back to the left hand and another cut was formed.

"Onodera! Snap out of it!"

I blinked and turned to see Takano-san holding my shoulder with his eyes widened. I saw Kisa-san, Hatori-san and Mino-san standing behind him, all their faces pale. I felt something warm on my left hand and I saw the 2 cuts with blood oozing out from them. My eyes widened and Takano-san asked me: "Onodera... what were you doing..."

"I... I... I don't know..."

"Ri-ricchan... did you... not hear... me?..."

I turned to Kisa-san and shook my head slowly, shock still evident on everyone's faces. Afterwards, Mino-san, Kisa-san and Takano-san took over my joba dn helped to check the other manuscripts while Hatori-san brought me to the rest room to patch up my wrists.

When Hatori-san was done patching my wounds, I mumbled a quick thank you as he packed up. Suddenly, he asked me: "Onodera, did you know what you were doing?"

"No... Hatori-san, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Is... is it supposed to hurt... or feel comforting... when you cut? Because... somehow I don't know what I was doing... but it was calming and somewat soothing..."

I turned to Hatori-san when I heard him drop the bandages. His eyes were widened and his mouth was slightly agape. Shock written clearly all across his face. Did I say something weird?