Hopelessly Obsessed (KomaHina)

20: Conversations

Chihiro's POV:

"Hey Chihiro-kun, what did you want to ask me? Sorry I couldn't talk before, I had to run home," Chiaki-chan says after picking up the phone.

"Hey, Chiaki-chan. I just had a few questions about Komaeda-kun, if that's okay?"

It's been a little while since school ended. And I really think I could be good friends with both Komaeda-kun and Hinata-kun. But...I still don't understand what Chiaki-chan said before, when we met up at a local café a little after I was discharged from the hospital.

Flashback:

"So yeah, I think it'd be good once you're back at school. Could help with Celeste and I's relationship. But I think it'd be really good for Komaeda-kun. You know, who I told you about before?"

"Yeah," I say, "I remember him. Why do you think it'd be so good for him, though?"

"Well," She says, twirling her hair around her finger, "I don't know what his particular struggles are, but both Celeste and I think he has some kind of mental disorder, or something like that. I think you guys could become friends because I think you'd hit it off, and it'd be good for Komaeda-kun to have a friend who understands what it's like to struggle with that stuff. You have a shared experience, I guess."

"Makes sense. I'd agree with that. What do you think he has?"

"What? Mental disorder?"

I nod, and Chiaki-chan sighs and leans backwards. "I don't know," she mumbles, "His behavior is so...abstract. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. You've met him, right? You remember what he was like last year?"

I nod. "Yeah. He seemed so all over the place. He looked insane and sick. With his clothes and hair and everything. He acted so weird too. Ah, I don't mean that in an offensive way! It's just..." I tap my fingers on my cup in a gentle rhythm as I gather my thoughts. "It was all so strange. The counting, the finger snapping, the hair pulling, that time he had a mental breakdown in front of all of us..."

"Yeah," Chiaki-chan huffs. "It's still like that now, except he looks more presentable and it's kind of more...subdued."

"Well," I say, starting to smile. "I'd love to learn more about him, not just in relation to this, and see if I can do anything to help. From the few conversations I've had with him, he seems really nice."

Flashback over.

"Cool, cool," Chiaki-chan hums, "I'll answer as best I can, but there's still plenty of things about him that I don't know, myself."

"Well..." I start, "Before I went to hospital, he was all over the place, as we were talking about before. I mean, he seemed to be getting a little better, at least. And when I came back from hospital, he was...well, you know, he's like he is now. What do you think happened?"

"..."

There's silence for a few seconds as Chiaki-chan gathers her thoughts.

"I don't really know. He's not very talkative when this subject is brought up. If we're right in assuming he has a mental disorder, he might have started treatment or something. But at the same time, something similar might have happened very recently."

"Huh?" I stammer, "What happened?"

"Before you were discharged, or actually maybe after, the memory's a little foggy...it was definitely before you came back to school, though. Anyway, Komaeda-kun got a lot worse. He didn't go back to the way he was last year, he just got a lot more depressed. And I think he was contemplating...y'know..."