The next morning, a sunny but chilly Saturday, Nagisa groaned and slowly made his way to the bathroom. Reaching for the bottle of pills once more, he shook out a few and tossed them in his mouth and swallowed them easily with a sip of water. Sighing as he put the glass down on the vanity, he looked up to face his reflection. Instead of the bright eyed and energetic self he was used to seeing, a set of dull magenta orbs set in a slightly thinner, clearly fatigued face returned his gaze.
Grabbing his toothbrush, he tried to figure out how he was going to break the news to his friends, especially Gou and Rei. They were sure to take the news the hardest, as it would affect the swim club directly if he had to quit: without Nagisa, the full weight of the club would fall on Rei's shoulders, which was partly why Makoto chose to make them co-captains in the first place. Makoto never had to say it out loud, but Nagisa knew he didn't want to choose between them for the captain position.
That, and he guessed Makoto remembered him calling the vice captain position 'an empty title with no real responsibilities'.
Either way, he had to admit that he and Rei made a good team.
Even if he didn't quit, though, he knew things wouldn't be the same; there would still be the feeling of just being there to fill a slot on the roster.
Rinsing his mouth and washing the slightly bloody spit down the drain, Nagisa realized that any decisions he made from now on would not be easy.
After getting dressed, and noticing that his favorite shirt fit more loosely now, he went downstairs to the living room where his parents and youngest of his three sisters were waiting. His other two sisters, no longer living at home and beginning their lives as young adults, had apparently texted earlier and told his mother they would be there shortly.
Although both busy now with careers and relationships, they had made a point to be there for breakfast after their mother called and told them about Nagisa's diagnosis. This morning, the plan was for everyone to be together and talk about what they could expect in the next few weeks. Thankfully, after a lot of pleading and persuasion, the doctors had allowed Nagisa to put off beginning treatment until Monday to give him time to prepare his friends, which was what he would be doing after this "family meeting" was over.
His mom greeted him with a small smile and he returned it, albeit a little forced, and then she disappeared to the kitchen to finish preparing breakfast. His dad put down the paper to really look at his youngest child and only son: he took in his slightly thinner frame and the need for his son to now wear a belt with everything he wore, and inwardly ached from not knowing how to help him. His sister only gave him a look of pity. It all made Nagisa squirm uncomfortably.
A short time later, the front door opened and Nagisa's remaining sisters arrived and Mrs. Hazuki reappeared with some fruits and veggies, pancakes and eggs with cheese and crackers on a platter. Folding the newspaper neatly and laying it down next to him, Mr. Hazuki rose from the couch and moved toward the table, motioning to his children to do the same.
The rest of the meal was spent between awkward silence, gently prodding Nagisa to eat something, and questions being answered the best Mrs. Hazuki could, sometimes looking to her son to participate in the conversation but mostly answering for him. Mr. Hazuki joined the conversation when he could; as the sole breadwinner of the household, he was forced to return to work on Monday and would not be able to help much with appointments. Thankfully, Nagisa's sisters were more than willing to help take some of the stress off of their parents. Nagisa only sat quietly, slowly moving the food around his plate and avoiding the looks his family was giving him. It all made him feel like a burden to his parents, and it was frustrating to Nagisa.
When the conversation finally died down, Nagisa asked to be excused and, before anything else could be said about his uneaten food, grabbed his jacket before rushing out the door to meet Rei and Gou. Once he was outside, Nagisa took a deep breath and tried to clear his head. It was still all so surreal that a week ago he had been a normal kid, and now he was going to have to tell his friends that he had a disease that could potentially kill him. He really didn't want to talk about it to anyone, but he also didn't want them to find out about it from anybody else either. He would have to figure out how to say it on the train ride. Then, before he decided to talk himself out of it, Nagisa pulled up his collar around his neck and walked to the train that would take him to where his friends were waiting.