From the Shadows || Katsuki Bakugou x OC

Chapter Eighty-one

"Mr. and Mrs. Kirishima? I thought you weren't telling anyone about his condition?"

"Well," Mrs. Kirishima said, "We weren't at first. But that was only because we still weren't sure of everything that was happening and we wanted to tell our family first."

"That makes sense... but is he okay?" I asked.

Kiri's mom bit her lip slightly, "Mind if we sit down first?" Katsuki gave them the go-ahead to have a seat. My hand is still on his, and I can feel him shaking. Who am I kidding, I'm probably shaking just as bad as him.

"So how is he?" Katsuki asked. I can hear the pain in his voice.

Kiri's dad took a deep breath, "In short... he's not doing well at all. His condition is..." He choked up a bit, he tilted his head down, hiding his face.

Mrs. Kirishima's lip shook, then continued talking for her husband. "His skull is fractured, his ribs are bruised..." mascara streaked down her cheeks as she tightly held her husbands hand, "and he hasn't woken up yet."

I felt as if I couldn't move, react, say anything. I couldn't have heard her right. He hasn't woken up yet? That can't be. My breaths got quicker and shallower.

"What do you mean he hasn't woken up yet?" Katsuki sat more upright, letting go of my hand. "What does that mean?" His voice was hoarse, and I could see him tearing up.

"He's in a coma..." Kiri's mom sniffled and sobbed, "He won't wake up without surgery. Multiple surgeries."

"On top of that," Kiri's dad finally looked up with red eyes, "The doctors discovered that he has thyroid cancer."

"What?" I spoke. "He never mentioned anything that could be related to that..." My throat tightened and because dryer. "He wouldn't just... not tell us something..." The tears that had welled up in my eyes spilled down my face.

"The only good thing about it is that it's only stage one..." Mrs. Kirishima said.

"However..." Mr. Kirishima said, "The surgeries required for everything is extremely expensive. They would need to call in a doctor from across the country, and with at least three different surgeries, our insurance would barely be able to help."

Katsuki and I didn't speak.

"They told us that..." Mrs. Kirishima started hyperventilating, but was fairly quickly calmed down by her husband. "I can't..." She whispered, then sobbed into her husbands shoulder.

Kiri's dad took a shaky breath, "He... needs the surgeries within a month, otherwise everything will be far too advanced for them to help him. After that... they'll probably need to put him in hospice..."

Katsukis hand found mine again and squeezed hard. Silent tears flowed down my face, when I looked up to him, he was the same.

"We were really hoping we wouldn't have go break this kind of news to anyone... but unfortunately he won't get better on his own..." Mr. Kirishima said.

"I'm sorry we have to drop such a heavy weight on you two, but we hope you can let your classmates know what's going on," Mrs. Kirishima said while hiccuping, "this isn't the type of thing we should be asking of children... I'm so sorry."

We agreed to let our class know through our tears, and once Kiri's parents left we couldn't help but hysterically cry in each other's arms.

"How do we even break the news to everyone?"

"We could send a text in the group chat..." I answered.

"We could... but that just feels too... ugh, what's the word..." His voice trailed off.

"Too much like we don't care?"

"Yeah..."

My head rested on his lap, "You're right. That was stupid."

"No. It wasn't stupid... just part of brainstorming." He rested a hand on my head.

"I just don't know if we could tell everyone at the same time... I mean, Momo is at her work-study with Majestic and is in a place where she can't get any calls or texts." I thought for a second. "And that will be for at least the next week."

Katsuki groaned, "Shit. I forgot about that."

"On top of that, a quarter of us are in the hospital. Well, I guess some of us are cleared to be at home, but still." I sighed. "This is so frustrating."

"Wait."

I sat up and looked at him "What?"

"What if we just have everyone meet us in my hospital room?" He thought for a second. "We'll just have to catch Momo up when she gets back."

"That's not a bad idea. I think Shoto should be able to use a wheelchair or crutches to get over here." I looked at him, "Our class will probably all be free to come down tomorrow..."

"I'm thinking 4 p.m. would be fine."

"I agree." I stared at him for a minute. "Well... aren't you going to text the group chat?"

"Keiko..."

"What?"

"I literally cannot move my arms enough to get to my phone."

I quickly got out my phone so I could text them instead. "I am so sorry I completely forgot about that."