Why can't I be free!? - Free! (ON-HOLD)

Chapter 1 - Back in Iwatobi Town

Please enjoy first chapter!
And also listen to the soundtrack I put above for the feels!

The ring tone of my alarm wakes me up from my few hours of sleep. I slept for three hours, to be exact. I straighten up in bed after shutting off the alarm and touch my aching throat afterwards, realizing that I'll probably have to puke again before leaving the house for school. What a nice start into the day.

Ah, right. You don't know about that, right?
Now that I think about it, you don't know anything about me. Should I start with introducing myself then? I'm bad with that kind of things, but I'll just give it a try.

My name is Tsuki Mirai. I turned 17 a while ago and I moved to Iwatobi Town with my father after we two have lived in London for four whole years. If you ask me, it was the most boring stage of my life. Not did I only not know how to speak English at all first, but I also had no friends due to me being homeschooled. My daily life consisted of learning a little for school till I had a doctor's appointment again. I rarely saw my father because he always worked overtime to pay for all of my treatment fees. The only reason why we lived in England was because my father heard that a great doctor was there right after my mother deceased.

Mum had an illness. The same I have. This illness is so rare that it hasn't even got a name. A cure wasn't found yet either. The first stage consists of the victim suffering under overweight. I was chubby since I could remember. There was no other symptom I had. This stage was a rather harmless pain since there was no physical pain at all.

The only pain I felt back then was when people talked about my weight behind my back. They acted like they were my friends, yet they judged me because of my body. I don't know if you would really call it betrayal, but it just felt that way to me.

The second stage that I currently suffer under is the stage where you abnormally lose all of the weight you have gained over the first stage. But you don't look normal at all. Loss of appetite takes over your whole body and you are afraid of eating because it will be thrown up in a painful way along with blood. Coughing blood is also usual. You feel like your throat is slowly tearing into pieces. It honestly feels like hell.

The third one basically is the last one - the so called 'death stage'. It consists of the invalid passing out really often and their skin finally losing it's remaining color. They look like a corpse. It takes about a few weeks till the suffering finally ends and they die.

Mum spent the last stage with crying day and night. She was hospitalized till her death since not even one day passed without her not passing out. I once asked her what it felt like and she replied that she felt how her organs were slowly giving up the fight. She explained that she felt how her organs accepted that there was no use in fighting anymore because there wasn't a chance of winning for them.

She was diagnosed with the disease when I was 5 years old, meaning that she died after 8 years of pain and visiting one doctor after another to look into their sad faces and hear them saying that there wasn't anything to do. If you assume that the same will happen to me, you can say that I have approximately 4 years left. But my body is much weaker than my mother's and I guess that my time is reduced to about 2 or 3 years. You may think that it is a lot of time time, but believe me one thing. It definitely isn't.

Not when you know that these are the last days of your life.

Back to my time in London. The doctor was indeed a great one with a lot of experience, but we were forced to move back here because he too was not able to heal my illness. I wanted to move back here because I knew that my father was having difficulties with paying the hospital fees. I knew how much he was suffering. I know that he still is.

Dad found a new job here a few days ago and I enrolled in Iwatobi High School. I will hand over my previous file of Iwatobi Hospital in a few days to continue my treatment there. Who knows how long I'll live. Might as well spend my last months or years in peace in the hospital I was used to visit.

Crap. I was so deepened in thoughts that I forgot to get ready for school! It's my first school day, so I definitely can't afford to be late. Especially since I didn't take part at the opening ceremony yesterday because I kneeled in front of the toilet bowl the whole time and threw up blood. I definitely want to leave a good impression on the teachers because I want to want my father to be proud at me in my last stage of life.

I hurriedly make my way to the bathroom of our apartment and take a quick shower, then put on my new school uniform. It consists of a light brown skirt that is way too short in my opinion, a white shirt with a red bow tie, a long sleeved jumper that I didn't put on, a dark gray blazer I buttoned up, black shoes and black socks that go up to my knees.

I tie up my dark brown medium-length hair in a neat and high ponytail and brush my teeth, then leave the bathroom to go back into my room. I tidy up my room a bit and look at a picture of my mother. I smile weakly and take my school bag and other belongings such as my phone, keys and earphones. I throw my backpack over my shoulder and wave at the photo, bending down to place a small kiss on it.
"I will be back soon, mum."

After taking out my fluffy and small dog named Sho outside for a little walk, I pat his tiny head and fill fresh water in his little water bowl after giving him a little treat. Sho is a really small dog for his age, he is already 6 years old and only reaches a little higher than my ankles. Dad and I took him with us to London because I never wanted to let him go. He means so much to me. Seriously, cuddling with him and touching his white and soft fur cheers me up every time I am sad or in pain.

I fastly go to the kitchen to prepare my lunch there. I can't eat much anyway, so I just smear some vanilla cream on a slice of toast and close it with another slice. I put my lunch into a brown bag and leave the apartment afterwards, locking it before starting my way to school.

Dad is seldom at home since he still has to work a lot. It's not easy to pay for my hospital fees and medicine because they are really expensive. I offered to work too a couple of times, but dad doesn't allow me to work. He always says that he would do anything for me, which I can understand. He has already lost mum because of the disease and doesn't want to lose me too. But I can't help but feel so guilty about that. I mean-

"Mirai-chan! Mirai-chan, is that you?", a cheerful voice sounds all of sudden and I freeze on my spot when I recognize the voice. It was so familiar...

I haven't got the guts to turn around. Do you know that feeling too? Being ashamed to face someone because you have done something terrible to them? Or maybe even because they have done something terrible to you?

I can't face him or the others....
I have left without saying anything to them, after all. But it's not like they should have the guts to face me either. I know what they have tried to hide from me all the time...

-

Can you already guess who it is?