Evening and Winter (夕方と冬)

Bedridden

A few days have passed since Taylor last seen Chifuyu, it was beginning to make Taylor concerned. When Chifuyu didn't show up the day after, he assumed something came up that Chifuyu had to take care of since he was leaving for his homeland soon. But when Chifuyu didn't show up the next three days, Taylor was starting to get concerned.

"Good morning, sir. I brought your tea," Lucas knocked and entered the office, approached Taylor's table to place the cup of tea on the detective's desk.

"Merci," Taylor thanked him, "By the way, Lucas, have you seen Chifuyu lately?" he asked him.

"Huh? N-No, I haven't seen him for 3 days actually..." Lucas replied, he last saw Chifuyu exactly the same day Taylor did.

"I'm worried about him, if only I know where he lives..." Taylor sighed heavily.

"Honestly, I'm getting worried too." Lucas smiled, "If you would like, sir, I can go and check up on him." He suggested.

"You can? You know where he lives?" Taylor lifted his head.

"W-Well, I do... but Fuyuchi doesn't want me telling anyone where he lives... Je suis désolé, sir." Lucas replied hesitantly.

"I see..." Taylor nodded, "Alright, please go check up on him. Let me know after," he told Lucas.

"Yes, sir." Lucas responded and left the room, then left the house to start heading to Chifuyu's rooftop residence.

Lucas had a hard time making his way through the route Chifuyu usually takes him, slipping and nearly falling a few times along the way. But it was the rare moments where Lucas felt he could see things from Chifuyu's perspective, such high grounds and a different feeling of wind. There were many things to see, and there's so much that could be seen from such high grounds, which explains how Chifuyu is aware about almost everything going on in the city and knows nearly every corner of the city.

Chifuyu was not outside, he was on his bed still in his sleep wear and under the warm covers, bedridden. He was pale, heavily breathing and wheezing, frailly reaching for his inhaler on his small bedside table. He pressed and gasped silently to take a dose, but it seemed to be futile, even when he took additional dosages. His vision was blurry and he dropped his inhaler to the floor next to his bed, the warm steam of his breath was constantly in front of his nose. He closed his eyes and placed his arm over his eyes, clenching his grip on the blanket over his chest.

"My time is up, huh...?" he thought, just laid there on his bed, accepted and given up.

Lucas eventually arrived at the metal ladder leading to the rooftop where Chifuyu lives, he climbed up the ladder and peeked over the edge to see nobody there. It was white and covered in snow, cold and silent.

"He might get mad at me... I came here without letting him know..." Lucas thought as he started walking on the rooftop, "Fuyuchi! Are you home?!" he starts calling out, Chifuyu jolted and his eyes opened rapidly.

"Lucas??!" he was shocked, but he was too little on oxygen to respond and too weak to move from his bed. "Why the hell is he here?? Why??" he thought as he clenched his fists.

"Oi~! Please don't be mad at me! Fuyuchi?!" Lucas kept calling out since he got no response as he walked around the rooftop.

"This... This is the last thing I wanted to happen..." Chifuyu tried to get up, but he fell on his side on his bed, only moving an inch from his previous position.

"Fuyuchi?!"

"I never want for anyone to find out... I don't want him to know... Lucas, Eve, or even the old man..." Chifuyu's consciousness was fading away, his eyes turning dull and lifeless, "They're the last people I want to know... about my illness..." he was gasping and wheezing for air.