17 Sixteenth Lie

Later that day, Hiro went to Kaori's school personally, saying that Kaori will not be able to attend school for the mean time because of health issues. The school understand and wish her well. Hiro requested the school not to let others know including her classmates about her condition and they agreed.

Meanwhile, Akane is staying with Kaori at home. Kaori slept after their talk. Akane is watching over Kaori, looking at her from time to time. She cannot forget the story of Kaori, her heart still aches remembering that time. Akane and Hiro decided to bring Kaori to a specialist but they will let Kaori know first. She might not want to go to but Hiro finally understand that this is for the best and if Kaori will agree to them, then they will go to a specialist tomorrow.

Akane woke Kaori up as she needs to eat. It took awhile before she can convince Kaori to eat though. After eating, Kaori noticed her phone vibrating. She carefully checked her phone, it seems  a new message was received. She have a total 12 messages and 6 missed calls. She checked it one by one and they are from Watari, Tsubaki and Kosei. Kaori felt disgusted to herself, making her friends worried again. She decided to lie to them and sent them all a message.

To: Tsubaki-chan, Watari-kun, Kosei-kun

Subject: Sorry

I am currently in my relatives side. I was asked to go here for some ceremony or celebration. I don't know when I can come back though. But let's keep in touch!!

Kosei sighed in relief as he received the message. Well, as long as she is fine and she will update them time to time, then there should be no problem, right? However, Kosei can't be helped but to feel anxious. His mind keeps saying that something is wrong but he don't know what it is. Maybe he is just paranoid as the last time Kaori was absent was because of her parents death.

'No, Kaori is okay. She says so'

The fact that Kaori did not even mention that she's okay or fine went unnoticed to Kosei. He sent her a message reminding her to take care of her health.

***

The next day, Hiro and Akane talked to Kaori informing her about their plan of going to a specialist in order to help her better. Kaori was hesitant as she does not believe that it will make some changes if she goes and have a consultation. But she does not want to have Hiro and Akane be worried any further hence she agreed. They went on the same day and have her first consultation. After an hour or two of consultation, she was asked to go outside and stay in the waiting area. Hiro and Akane was asked to stay inside as they need to talk to the psychologist.

"Miss Kaori Miyazono have a mental illness called depression. I am sure that you are already aware of it before going here. Am I right?" Dr. Sakaki asked the two and they nodded. "She already lost the interest in everything she enjoyed before. Are you aware that her violin was broken by herself?"

The two silently nodded as well and the doctor looked at them sympathetically. Of course, they saw it. Kaori informed them everything and after their talk, when Kaori was asleep, they went to her music room and found her violin in the case, disintegrated.

'They are taking my music away. The voices.. those demons are planning to take my music away and before they can do that, I destroyed it myself. I-I cannot let them rob another thing from me.' Kaori informed the doctor, her eyes are lifeless.

"We will still do some test and I highly recommend to continue the session at least twice or thrice a week. For now, I will prescribe a medicine that can help her. It seems that she's also having hallucinations. From the sessions, we will proper monitor her changes and we'll see what are the actions needed to be done to help her. You should know that she's harming herself, do anything to prevent this as much as you can. A person who always wants to harm oneself will do anything to have it done." The doctor sighed, "I do understand that this situation is hard for you both, but please do not give up on that child. We do not know how fast depression moves, we don't want to be a minute late to save the kid right?"

"Yes. Kaori is like our daughter and we love her genuinely. Thank you so much for helping us." Hiro answered with a new resolution. He held his wife's hand who gave him a small and soft smile.

**

As per the recommendation of the doctor, the session continues. A month have passed and she noticed that it is not helping her anymore. The voices are still taunting her in every chances they get and there are some nights where she will spend it talking with those voices. She also lost her appetite and feel weak every time. Kaori complained it to the doctor saying that she feels like a lazy person as she only wants to stay on her bed but Dr. Sakaki keeps telling her that it is one of the side effects of her medicine.

Kaori is also doing her best to attend school but there are some times that she cannot really bring herself out of her room. Akane and Hiro assured her that she does not need to go to school if she don't feel like to. Speaking of the couple, they did their best to prevent Kaori from harming herself. They never let her touch a knife or any thing that she can use to harm her body. But little do they know, Kaori is hiding a razor that she use every time she feels that she needs release. Of course, she feels bad after doing so especially if Akane and Hiro notice the new cuts on her arm, they always look like they want to cry. Since then, Kaori did her best to cut to the places no one can see.

Like Akane, Tsubaki also noticed the way how lost Kaori looks when she thinks that no one is looking at her. She asked her if something is wrong but Kaori keeps insisting that everything is okay. Afterwards, Kosei and Watari noticed it too. They want to know what is wrong but they are also afraid to learn the truth. They know that Kaori is having a hard time to sleep and even to eat. She's getting thinner and the black marks under her eyes are getting prominent. Her complexion is getting paler too each day. The three of them will always make sure that Kaori will eat in the luch, even a little. They also let her sleep in the music room while Kosei plays music that will help to sooth her mind even just for a while. It somehow works in school but they can only do so much since they do not know what is happening in her house.

More importantly, they do not know what is going on her mind.