1 Past(1/2)

"...The results of the analysis showed that your son has stage IV lung cancer..."

The doctor, uttering these words in a pained voice, could only swallow observing again the young man diagnosed with this common, but for now an incurable disease.

The first to react was the parent of the boy. She felt as if something inside her had shattered into a thousand pieces. Her only son, who had an entire life to live in front of him, had one of the diseases that were incurable.

"..I-Is there something..you can do..for our son?"

His mother had eyes full of tears, and although she knew what her child's fate was, she refused to accept it. She was a woman strong enough not to give in, even though her face was on fire, gasping for breath, and her hands shaking as if the room was going against a rapid climate change every second passing.

"Yes..there are numerous ways to prolong the life of your child, recently a new method called immunotherapy has been tried that aims to fight cancer by stimulating the immune system of the patient so that it is itself to fight the tumour. However, this method is not always successful. About one in four patients can live for two more years at most...."

The doctor tried to simplify as easy as possible the information on the new method invented for the treatment of tumours, But knowing that her son had only a 25% chance of surviving for another two years was something that still destroyed her emotionally.

"..I-I understand.."

She said nothing more, and the doctor, noticing the woman in front of him was about to break into tears, he could only send her a little smile, even if the doctor himself knew there was no way he could give her enough comfort.

"..When you are ready to discuss the treatment and details of it, please ask for me. I will be there immediately."

Once the doctor left the room, the woman immediately turned to look at her son. The look she had was indecipherable to the boy, a mixture of pain, sadness, but above all, regret.

The boy was lost. Around him, it was as if the world had stopped spinning. They told that if he is lucky, his life would only go on for two more years, and he hadn't even had experiences like the first kiss, he had never drunk, hadn't yet tasted the pleasure that one felt in living at all. His life would end before he could try any of these things.

But by the time the woman in front of him, his mother, showed him that indecipherable expression, the boy realized that it was all true, and even before he got back to reality, he felt tight in a hug different from any hug he had received so far.

"...I'm sorry, Haru...If only I noticed you weren't feeling well sooner..."

Her voice broke mid-sentence, he felt pain in every single word, and this led Haru to a natural reaction. Both their eyes similar to a waterfall, tears ran through their cheeks incessantly as he instinctively responded to her embrace.

"No...I was the one who didn't tell you...about my symptoms...I'm so sorry.."

It was several days that Haru was always tired. He felt chest pain and difficulty to breathe, but he had initially thought that was just the result of his workouts in the gym. So, he decided to rest for a few days, But none of the symptoms seemed to pass. It had worried him enough to tell his mother, and only a few days after the results of the various tests, the doctor's suspicions turned out to be well-founded, and now they were in this situation where they both felt guilty.

---

After about an entire hour, Haru's mother grew stronger by choosing to go and talk to the doctor about the treatment she had previously mentioned. If there was at least the very slim chance her son could hold for enough time from this tragic end for the doctors to find a cure, she didn't care how much any treatment would cost, as long as she could save her son.

Now that Haru was alone, he felt scared. He had always been a brave boy, full of life but above all, he wasn't afraid or embarrassed when it came to friendship, and fate wanted that among his various friends, Haru had a girl that he liked. He had in mind to improve his relationship with her over time. Maybe one day ask her to be together. But now, with his life having such a low expectancy, such a plan had gone up in smoke.

'I have to tell her, no matter what.'

His plan was already working. In fact, after the first week, the two had started talking, Haru had managed to get her LINE contact, and just last day he had a long conversation with her, starting right from the mid-term exam.

'..Even if I'll end up dead, these feelings have to be sent'

It wasn't her body that attracted him so much. From the very beginning, when he was in the classroom listening to the boring information their new professor was explaining to them, Haru had looked around, but this girl had particularly impressed him.

Her expression was like lost in the void. Kids their age would never wear such a look, especially in a school. Those eyes were telling him she suffered from loneliness. But even though it was this negativity that drove the others away, Haru was drawn to the beauty of those bluish eyes, that from his perspective were like two gems, even if they lost something important. That same something had made those eyes even more fascinating.

Once the first lessons finished and the interval arrived, Haru completely ignored his companions whom he had known since the past years. Even before the girl could raise from the chair, he was already in front of her. He laid his bento on her bench without the slightest hesitation.

"...Want to eat together?"

The girl was visibly confused, but looking up to see who it could be, she recognized him. Brown eyes, hair long enough to cover his eyebrows, a face well outlined and a look so innocent to make most girls' hearts flutter. She knew who this boy was, yet it was unknown to her why such a popular boy would be looking for having lunch with her, a glance wasn't even necessary as the other boys in his group were shouting at him, yet he was ignoring them all.

"..I..."

She didn't know what she was supposed to answer. If she had refused a popular boy, people would have assumed she had a bad temper. Even worse than what they already thought. However, if she accepted, she would not have been viewed favourably anyway. All the choices she could make would lead to a misunderstanding, and since she was alone whatever she chose, the girl nodded slowly, accepting his invitation.

From this mere invitation, the two became friends, and their friendship grew day by day. The arguments of their discussions were trivial, but they still managed to spend a lot of time talking during breaks, even studying together. Haru had learned a lot of new things about her. They had some hobbies in common, some not, but he was a guy who was respectful of others, so it all worked out.

After about two weeks, the girl had opened up enough to him to start talking about her problems with other people. Others were afraid of her because she was always alone. She had difficulties with others, which is why she was alone. But after she had shown other sides of her personality and the loneliness was gone, seeing Haru and the girl named Asumi Suzuki together, some classmates realized Asumi was not the girl who appeared from the outside. But it was also easy to converse with her.

[Yamaguchi-kun, you saw these girls just now!? They tried to talk to me!]

Haru had a smile on his face to remember this message. The girls started talking to her a few weeks after he had lunch with her in class every day. Although this had hurt his comrades a bit, Haru remembered he had offered ramen for everyone just as an excuse for his instinctive behaviour.

Those eyes that looked at him could make him smile in a way that he wanted to show only to her. It was only natural for him to forget about everyone else for that moment... These kinds of thoughts had begun to appear in his mind after the first few weeks since he obtained her LINE, and at the mere thought of her eyes staring at him, he could feel as if his broken heart healing up, no medicine could do this, just the smile of that girl was enough.

'I wanted to talk for some more time...'

He was still not sure of her feelings for him, and that frightened him. If she didn't feel the same way, it would be a disaster. For a moment, he hesitated, but he still decided to let her know about his illness sooner than anyone else.

Looking for his phone, Haru quickly found it.

With her LINE contact displayed on the phone, he swallowed. Haru was as devastated as his mother. No, much more so than she was by this illness of his, but he was still strong. Since he couldn't explore the world anyway and couldn't get out of this hospital, Haru wanted only this, that the girl he fell in love with reciprocated his feelings, but he decided that this could wait for the moment.

[... I...The doctors...]

Haru was shaking. He couldn't continue that sentence. Although he seemed determined to type it, it had affected him more than he thought. But, before he could find the will to continue, his mother returned to his room. She had just finished talking to the doctor and, at the sight of Haru in tears for the second time, she didn't hesitate to run to her son, looking for a minimum to relieve his pain, embracing him for the second time.

---

(I wanted only to say his past has a rather important influence on Haru's abilities, I do not know if this can be defined too long of an introduction but from the 5th chapter there will be the reincarnation in the world of Danmachi if you liked this first chapter please let me know...)

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