Chapter 17: Avoidance

They easily carried Kaito's slight weight down to the living room, laying on the sofa with him, leaving the TV off, their full attention on their still crying boy as he tried desperately to stop crying, Chikage rubbing circles in his back to soothe him as Toichi rocked him slightly in an effort to help him breathe more easily. It was at least ten minutes before Kaito managed to stop crying, his face still buried against his father's chest and hands still clutching the man's dark-colored shirt. The three of them stayed like that for a while longer, until Kaito was finally calm enough to get squeamish about sitting still for so long: The boy had never been the type to sit still, always running about and bouncing off the walls.

Toichi let him go, he and his wife watching with concern as Kaito began to simply pace about the room, arms crossed to hold himself as he let out his restlessness by pacing.

Chikage hummed before clapping her hands together, smiling, Kaito instantly stopping and looking up at her. "Why don't we go for a walk?!" She suggested. "Won't that be fun?"

Kaito smiled for a moment, but then hesitated. His smile faltered, though he forced some small sliver of it to remain on his face, and shook his head. "N-no thanks," he said quietly. "I... Feel tired all the sudden. I'm going to take a nap." He exited the living room without another word, heading for his bedroom.

Because, honestly, how could his mother suggest going outside when he looked so horrible? Kaito knew that his parents were pretending he didn't look so bad, hoping that he wouldn't notice, but it had stood out to him immediately as he looked in the mirror earlier.

His face had a big, angry purple bruise all across the left side of it for some reason, and it stood out against his pale skin like a blotch of ink on paper! Not to mention the angry discoloration around his throat and the white bandages that covered some of it... Kaito definitely didn't want to go outside. He didn't want to think about how other people would react to seeing him if his parents were already acting so strangely around him. At least his parents were being nice to him: What would other people do if they saw him like this?

Kaito shook his head as he opened the door to his room, ridding himself of the thoughts. He looked up and stiffened.

Toichi had already, as he'd told himself he would, removed everything in the room which had a direct correlation to the Fishy Magician and burned it. Kaito didn't notice that those three posters and several other items were missing... What he did notice was the fish. They were everywhere. Because of them, there were a great many eyes as well, and he felt as if they were all staring at him, unblinking, judging...

Kaito closed his own eyes shut tightly and made his way blindly over to his bed, feeling around and climbing onto it before pulling his covers up over his head. He kept his eyes shut tightly because, surely, if he couldn't see them, they wouldn't bother him, right?

He continued to shiver under his covers until dinner. His father brought him down to the kitchen while his mother served them noodles and chicken. Kaito ate half-heartedly, thanking his mother for the meal before politely and quietly excusing himself again, returning to his room with his eyes shut and remaining painfully awake and aware of the fish all over his room all throughout the night.