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“He can barely breathe.” His mom tucked her hair behind one ear with shaking fingers, and his dad cupped them with his hand, stilling the nervous habit. There were shadows under both their worried eyes and it made something in Ritsu’s gut twist. It had been two days since they’d come back from the doctor. The man wasn’t worse, but he wasn’t much better. “The fever hasn’t gone down hardly at all.”
It was late, too late for him to be up, but he’d been unable to sleep. He’d found them, sitting at the kitchen table together, pharmacy bags and other supplies covered the surface, testament to the round the clock care Reigen needed. His dad turned her face up towards him, kissing away the tears starting to stream down her face. She looked horrified, afraid.
“What if he-?” She choked, leaning into his dad, burying her face in his sweater, and he blanched. He’d never seen his mother so undone.
“Shh, shh,” his dad soothed, hugging her tightly and pressing more kisses into her hair, thumbing away tears. “He’s not going to.”
Neither of them saw Ritsu melt back into the shadows.
It was dark, and he couldn’t see much, but he could hear the rough, wheezing pull of air into Reigen’s lungs. It made something in his own chest tighten as he crept closer. As his eyes adjusted he could make him out propped almost completely upright, head thrown back, mouth gaping open, curled limp against the back of the couch. The doctor said sitting up would help him breathe, but it certainly didn’t sound like it. Several empty water bottles littered the side table, pink straws reflecting the low light from the street.
Niisan.
Niisan had been taking care of him, forcing water on him patiently every half hour, just like the doctor ordered. Ritsu squeezed his eyes shut and clutched the sides of his head, gripping his hair tightly with his fingers, pulling at it, letting the pain distract him from his mother’s voice in his head.
“What if he-”
This is who he’d felt threatened by? Who he felt he needed to protect his family from? This had all gone so wrong. He’d been so wrong.
“R’tsu?” Breathless, pained. “Wh’s wr’ng?” Ritsu snapped towards the couch. Reigen, eyes half open and bright with fever, reaching out to him with one violently trembling hand.
He fled.