Love is painful. [Oumasai]

Researching

What the- Shuichi thought, looking at the last message that Kokichi sent in. What was this all about? He was going to get to the bottom of this, to solve this mystery. He did remember that one time when Kokichi coughed out a petal. It was clearly obvious that he was trying to hide the petal. Earlier today as well, when Kokichi coughed into his hand he needed to go to the bathroom. That was definitely not a-

"Sorry I kept you waiting!" Kaede said, snapping Shuichi from his train of thoughts.
"Ah, no need to apologise, Kaede," Shuichi said with a small smile plastered on his pale face.
"So! Let's get going!" Kaede hooked her arm into Shuichi's.

❀✿❀

Kaede kissed Shuichi's cheek and waved goodbye to him. "See you!" She said as she walked off with a smile on her face. "See you tomorrow," Shuichi said, and then unlocked his door and walked inside. He took off his shoes and walked upstairs to his room.

He looked over at his digital clock on his studying desk. "4:36 PM." Shuichi's uncle wouldn't be home at this hour. "I'll just ask him once he gets home and isn't busy." Shuichi sighed as he flopped onto his chair and unplugged his computer. He opened up Google and typed into the search bar, "Condition for coughing up flowers". He looked at the first result which was the official one, up in big text with the link.

'Hanahaki Disease is a condition when the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from unrequited love.'

What? No, this has got to be fake. It's too unreal. Who would cough up flowers because of unrequited love?

Shuichi scrolled down the list of sites further to find evidence of this 'Hanahaki Disease' actually exists. It certainly did.

Shuichi's mind went back to Kokichi. He hunched over slightly when he coughed and needed to wash his hands. While he was walking, he clenched his fist (the one he coughed into) as if he didn't want anything to fall out or let anyone see. Hm, maybe there are stages to Hanahaki? Like some illnesses? So, the next thing he searched was exactly that.

From what he read, there are five stages in Hanahaki. First coughing up flowers, next blood, next flower buds and thorns, flowers growing out of injuries, then being unable to breathe, resulting in death. Oh god. Shuichi thought, his eyes scanning over the screen. He couldn't imagine how painful that would feel going through it. Just because of one-sided love?

Soon, he looked up the treatment for this disease. The first thing that came up was that 'The flowers can be removed through surgery, but the feelings are removed with the flowers. The result can vary from person to person, the feeling of love can completely disappear or the memories and feelings for that loved one disappear. Because of this, many are unwilling to go through surgery.' If Kokichi truly is going through Hanahaki, this could be the answer to why he didn't want to get this disease removed - Assuming he hasn't made an appointment yet.

Though, who did Kokichi love, to develop strong enough feelings to make flowers bloom inside of his body?