Itazura Na Kiss- Eternal Love Story

#25 Painful Realisations

(General POV)

When Yuki entered the sitting room, he found everyone had remained in the same posture as he left them. He hovered over the door pondering what to do. The total turn of the events since this morning was the last thing he expected. While Naoki suddenly inviting a guest over lunch was surprising, the revelation of Kotoko suffering from Neuroshia was absolutely shocking. He started to remember the times when he witnessed Kotoko being ill over the whole year.

"How can we not see how much Kotoko-chan was suffering. How can we not know she was ill?" Mrs. Irie voiced the words that was crossing Yuki's mind at the same time.

"I understand how you feel Naoki mama. But we have to be strong now. We have to take care of her." Mr. Irie said, caressing his wife's hair.

"What kind of father am I? I failed as a father in the same way I failed as a husband." Mr. Aihara howled.

"Ai-chan, don't be ridiculous. You did not fail in anything. You have raised a very strong daughter. She must have had her reasons to hide it." Mr. Irie stated.

"According to the doctors, she didn't want to worry us." Yuki said.

"Oh... Kotoko-chan, why must you suffer alone? We're your family, aren't we?" Mrs. Irie sobbed. She has been crying since the doctors left.

"Naoki mama, please be strong." Mr. Irie said sitting down beside her.

"What are we going to do now Naoki papa?" Mrs. Irie looked at her husband with red puffy eyes.

"Everything will be fine. I'm sure Naoki will do everything in his power to save Kotoko-chan. I'm sure he will find a way." Mr. Irie tried to console his wife.

"I wish she didn't hide it for so long. I wish she would let us be there for her." Mr. Aihara gulped.

"Oji-san, it's never too late. We will start from today. We will be with her starting from now." Yuki declared.

"He is right Ai-chan. In order to be with her, we have to be strong." Mr. Irie said.

Mr. Aihara nodded in agreement. He took long deep breaths to calm his senses.

Yuki decided to bring water for the adults. He went into the kitchen. His eyes fell on the lunch table set outside. He sighed. He went back to the sitting room with water and poured water to all the adults. After that he went into their back-yard and cleaned the lunch table. No one would want to eat lunch under the current circumstances for sure.

He returned into the sitting area again and sat down on a sofa. He was mentally cursing himself for not noticing anything till now.

Oni-chan wasn't home but I was. How can I not notice anything at all? Baka Yuki.

"I wonder how oni-chan is coping up." He mumbled in an audible tone. Everyone looked into his direction but nobody answered. They all were pondering on the same thing.

...

Naoki was seated beside the sleeping Kotoko. He was still struggling to breathe normally. His heart was hammering and he was really thirsty. But he didn't want to leave Kotoko for one moment right now so he remained seated. No one can fathom the amount of guilt he was experiencing. His heart was very heavy. He softly took Kotoko's hand on his right hand and put his other one on top of it. He read a few reports in Kobe and Dr. Ayano already emailed the rest 10 minutes ago. He saw the email notification but couldn't bring himself to check those out just yet. He doesn't know why... but he just couldn't.

...

(Naoki POV)

Finally I mastered up the courage and got up. I turned on the laptop to check my email. It was indeed an email from Dr. Ayano. I took a long breath and started reading the reports. He had sent me all the reports containing all the details that were found out until now. I opened the first document. It's her first diagnosis report. I went through them carefully, taking in every detail. She had started her treatment as soon as she started working in the hospital like Dr. Ayano said.