A/N: Thank you everyone for the patience.

Heartbreaking Confession

(General POV)

Naoki felt like the earth beneath him vanished. The world around him shattered. His heart stopped. But then why was he feeling that intense pain piercing him? Why was he still breathing? Nothing made any sense anymore.

He didn't know when he started crying. His breathing became erratic and his head started to pound. He could feel Kotoko was shaking him and telling him something but his mind was already switched off. He couldn't comprehend anything she was saying.

What did he just saw?

What was that?

What does it mean?

Is this some kind of a sick joke?

Is this a dream… a nightmare?

He closed his eyes tightly.

Let me wake up. Let it end. Make it go.

Let me wake up please.

Nothing was different when he opened his eyes again. Everything was true. Everything he was feeling was real. It won't just go away, he realized.

Naoki groaned out loud due to the immense pain in his heart but he chocked immediately which muffled his cry. Kotoko pulled him into a hug again. She was also crying and shaking. She was aghast seeing Naoki breaking down completely right in front of her. She couldn't even voice anything for a while and just kept rubbing on his back. On the other hand, Naoki kept crying on her shoulder… still in a haze.

It was raining outside, hard. It would seem like the sky had also broken down in tears with them. The window pane of their bedroom made a loud shattering noise due to the thunder.

None of them could tell for how long they just cried. Nothing Kotoko said was making any sense to Naoki. He tried to replay what he saw and hear in the video but his mind was a mess… thoughts were jumbled. He gulped and tried to calm down because he needed answers. He pushed Kotoko away from him and finally met her eyes.

"Why?" He could only utter.

She stared back at him with tears sliding down her face. Unable to reply, she just shook her head. She didn't even know how to answer that question.

"Why?" Naoki repeated his question loudly. He didn't mean to shout at her. He was just trying to keep talking. He needed to know before he loses his mind.

Yes, he was angry. Not at Kotoko… well maybe a little… he didn't know. But he was definitely so much angry at himself that he could just grab a dagger right now and run it straight through his heart.

No scratch that.

He wanted to repeatedly stab himself until he couldn't feel anything anymore. He wanted to rip his head off. He wanted to break all the 206 bones in his own body. He wanted to bleed to death drop by drop. He wanted to inflict so much physical pain to his own body just for the slight hope that it might override the mental pain, the torture he was going through right this moment.

But he couldn't do any of it. Human cannot always do what they want. That is just not the way how it works.

"Please…" He sobbed. "Please I'm going crazy… please… please I…" he couldn't finish the line. He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat.

Kotoko closed her eyes. She couldn't see him devastated anymore. She can't take it anymore. It was already too much. She broke him. It was her. It's all her fault.

She did this to him.

So she decided to be honest to him.

"It happened before I started my treatment. The day after I found out about my oka-san and my supposed pregnancy complexity, I went out for a walk. I… I wondered around the streets and probably I was too weak. I lost my conscious and fell down the stairs. I was taken into the Hope emergency because it was closer to the place of my accident. I had to stay a night there. I met Dr. Ayano there for the first time and then I decided to start my treatment."

She stopped. She didn't want to talk about the injuries. She hoped some miracle will happen and she wouldn't have to break him even more. But her wish was not granted.

"And?" Naoki urged in a hoarse voice. She gulped feeling helpless and continued.

"The fall was quite rough. I fell from the 3rd step. But luckily I avoided breaking any bones." She paused.

Naoki kept looking at her breathing hard. He didn't say anything and waited for her to finish.

"I fractured two ribs and my left wrist. I went to the summer house after that because I didn't want anyone to find out and also I wanted to clear my mind."

Naoki still remained in the frozen state after she finished. But he couldn't stop the new flow of tears that started to fall down.

"Irie-kun…" Kotoko held his hand. "Look at me. I am absolutely fine now. I have completely healed from it. It wasn't serious. Please…"

Naoki flinched. He pulled away his hand and moved away from Kotoko. He was feeling suffocated. The pounding in his head was killing him.

"Irie-kun…" Kotoko again tried to reach out to him but he jumped out of the bed.

"Don't… just don't…" He didn't finish the sentence and bolted out of the room.

Kotoko was very weak and all the crying made it worse but she still tried to get down from the bed. But before she could do that she heard the front door slammed shut.

"Irie-kun…" She screamed out for him.

Yuki entered the room running.

"Kotoko!" He ran to her and held her as she was about to fall to the ground from the bed.

"What happened? Was that oni-chan? Where did he go out in the storm?"

Kotoko didn't answer. She only kept crying. The word storm didn't even register in her mind.

Yuki heard it from his room when Naoki was crying but he didn't interfere and left them alone. He didn't hear everything as the heavy rain was covering most of the sounds. He thought Naoki was upset because Kotoko was ill.

But he came to see what happened when he heard Naoki running out of the room and straight out of the house. Mrs. Irie also entered the room while Mr. Irie hovered over the door, unsure if he should enter. Apparently they have also heard the front door.

"Kotoko-chan, are you okay? What happened? Where is Naoki?"

"Oka-san, Irie-kun… Bring Irie-kun." Kotoko said in between her sobs.

"But where did he go? There is a storm going on out there." Mr. Irie said with concern.

"I will go look for him." Yuki said while going out of the room.

"Stay careful Yuki." His father told him. He just nodded and ran towards the stairs.

Yuki regretted not bringing a raincoat as soon as he stepped outside his house. He had no idea how hard the rainfall was from inside the house. But he continued running.

He searched their neighbourhood for any sign of Naoki. But the rain was so thick that it was very hard to see anything within nearly 2 ft. He didn't have any lights with him and their neighbourhood was comparatively darker than usual. Probably there was some electricity failure due to the storm. He searched here and there for 20 minutes but then gave up and went back home.

On the other hand, the elders of the house were trying to comprehend the situation and calm Kotoko down. Mr. Aihara had also joined them in the bedroom. Mrs. Irie hugged Kotoko and tried to console her. All of them were dumbfounded. They assumed Naoki and Kotoko had a fight but what astounded them was Naoki losing control and leaving the house in this weather.

They didn't hear anything earlier as their rooms are a bit further away from Naoki and Kotoko's. Also the storm outside covered Naoki's cries and didn't let it reach them. They couldn't imagine Naoki would get mad at Kotoko when she is in this condition.

Mr. Irie went out of the room went he heard the front door open.

"I couldn't find him. It's raining so hard. I couldn't even see properly. Where did he go?" Yuki spoke to his father right outside the bedroom.

Mr. Irie didn't know what to reply. Listening to that Mrs. Irie hugged Kotoko tightly and looked up at Mr. Aihara who looked equally worried.

Suddenly Mrs. Irie realised Kotoko's body became limp so she pulled away from the hug immediately. She was having short of breathes.

"Kotoko…" Mrs. Irie shouted.

Yuki and Mr. Irie barged into the room.

"What happened?" Mr. Aihara was panic-stricken.

"She can't breathe properly." Mrs. Irie responded.

Yuki immediately opened her emergency aid and pulled out an oxygen mask. He put it on her and helped her to lie down. Then he connected the oxygen cylinder kept next to her bed. Naoki had shown him how to do that for emergency case. Kotoko started to breathe through the mask and slowly her breathing came in control but remained very weak.

They all looked around when a phone rang in the room. It belonged to Naoki.

"Just as I thought. He left his phone." Mr. Irie mumbled.

"Try calling at Hope. We are supposed to inform every incident to the team. She is having breathing difficulty right now." Yuki told his father.

Mr. Irie immediately tried to call at Hope emergency. But he couldn't get through in the first two tries.

"Damn it. Even the network is poor due to the storm." He sounded frustrated. But on the 3rd attempt the line was connected.

He informed about Kotoko's situation. Dr. Ayano was instantly connected to the line. He asked where Naoki was. Mr. Irie just said he wasn't home. Then Dr. Ayano said, they will come with an ambulance as soon as the road is clear.

Apparently many trees and shops were destroyed in the past hour and most of the roads were blocked. Everyone was warned to stay at home in the news.

Dr. Ayano told Mr. Irie to keep him informed about Kotoko's condition and they will be out as soon as possible.

"The roads are blocked? Where is Naoki?" Mrs. Irie cried when Mr. Irie told them what Dr. Ayano said.

Nobody answered her. Nobody knew the answer in the first place. Naoki had no phone and they have no other means to contact him.

Now all that the Irie family could do was waiting and praying that Naoki would be safe.