Chapter Text
The sun shined brightly outside The Suzuki Household. The rays of the sun shined brightly against Mari’s face as the curtain was unable to stop it. Mari woke up from the rising heat on her face. Did she oversleep? What time is it? She sluggishly gets up from bed, ignoring the increasing demand to just go back and sleep again. She needs to get up so she can start the day early. Besides, any more time sleeping would mean less time practicing!
The recital is in 2 weeks. It’s a small recital, not the biggest one Mari has participated in. But, it was still the most precious and important one. Not because of fame, certification, or anything like that. No, it was because of something close to her heart.
It was the first recital where all her friends would be there. And it’s not just some of her school friends that she rarely talks to. No, they were her best friends, her second family. Basil, Aubrey, Kel, and Hero would watch her perform. It was exhilarating just to think about. Showing off how far you’ve come to the people you excessively care for? There is nothing else that’ll make her happier than that.
Not only that, but her little brother would also be performing with her. Flowers were raining down on Faraway when her little brother suddenly asked if he could participate with her in this recital. Before that, she thought that the recital would just be another meaningless one to add to her portfolio. But as soon as the words came out of Sunny, she knew this recital would be different.
“ ...can i… join you? ”
She looks at her, flabbergasted.
“ You want to perform with me? ”
…
That was some months ago, but it was practically etched onto her brain. It was something that will never be forgotten, just like this recital.
Anyway, enough introspecting and reminiscing. It’s time to wake Sunny up so they both can practice sooner! She walks over to Sunny’s bed. Her little brother was still sleeping, knee-deep into whatever he usually dreamed of. It wasn’t like she didn’t know, but it was so incredibly bizarre that she couldn’t even imagine it even when he was explaining it to her.
Like, come on. The only thing that she could understand was how Sunny was fighting spider bunnies…
No, wait. That also doesn’t make sense. Where did that come from?
Mari mentally slaps herself as she realizes she’s spacing off again. It was practically tradition in her bloodline to space off sometimes. She doesn’t know if her father does it too. But from the stories her mom used to tell on family dinner, he had it the worst.
…
Mari only knew how her dad looked from pictures and how he acted from her mom's stories. Maybe she should ask what happened to him. Mari never really thought of it. Why would she? He died when she was really young, at an age where death was the least of her worries.
She begins to shake her brother up. Even though Sunny’s a bit on the heavy side of sleeping, Mari never had a single struggle with waking him up. Some gentle shakes and a bit of encouragement were enough to rouse the sleeping boy.
“Sunny… Come on, it’s morning. Time to get up!”
Sunny’s eyes fluttered open as Mari smiled down on him. She begins to walk to the bathroom to prepare for the day as Sunny raises his body, trying to wake every nerve ending he has.
Today was going to be a good day.
Practicing gets a bit frustrating for Mari, though. It wasn’t like this piece was complicated or anything. Heck, it was the easiest one she had in a while! But her little brother was having a hard time with it. She couldn’t blame him for messing up a lot. This was his first recital ever. She would be a lot more worried, but mostly shocked, if Sunny could perfect the piece in mere weeks. Of course, it would take months for him to be good at it!
But he didn’t get better. In fact, he got worse . Mari didn’t know why. Maybe because of nervousness? But he hasn’t broken a sweat or anything. The body language Mari has trained over the years didn’t pick up on any kind of signal from Sunny. He looked fine , but something was clearly wrong. His arms were lagging behind. His legs looked like it was made of twigs being this close to breaking. His eyes would unfocus as if he was thinking of something else really hard. This started happening a couple weeks ago, and it hasn’t gotten better.
“One more time, alright?”
Maybe he needs a bit of a push. Mari knows when her little brother is at his limit, and this is not it. But something was holding him back. She doesn’t know what it is, so she’ll just push him through it. She looks at him; examines him for any kind of injury as he nods and gets into position again.
Mari sighs internally as she gets into position herself. Maybe the recital was getting to Sunny’s head a bit. He hasn’t played with the others for a long time. He probably misses them. She should cut today’s practice short. After that, maybe she could call Hero if he’s up for a sudden picnic at the park. If not, having some quality time with her little brother could also help him get better.
Mari starts the piece. She had already perfected it, so she didn’t have to worry about messing up or anything. She looked over to Sunny, who had his eyes closed. His legs still looked like it was shaking ever so often. She looked back at her grand piano, waiting for the violin’s entrance. But that’s not what she got at all.
CRACK
Mari snaps her head over to the direction of the noise. The violin, a gift bestowed to Sunny using everyone’s hard work, was lying on the ground, dropped harshly by the violinist. She looked over to Sunny, expecting some sort of anger, or fear, or anything like that.
She didn’t get any of that.
Her little brother was confused .
“S-Sunny? What happened? Why did you do that?”
Sunny focused his eyes on the violin. His pupils dilated as if he had just realized that he had dropped it. Mari waited for a response, but from the looks of it, her brother was as confused as she was.
“...i– i don’t…” was the only thing Sunny said before tears were leaving his eyes.
She cut the practice session much, much shorter. Something was clearly wrong.
“He just dropped it?” Hero said as his brain started to work in overdrive.
“Yeah. I-I honestly don’t know what’s happening with him.” Mari sounded worried, really worried. Hero didn’t blame her, but she needed to calm down. His father always said that making decisions should only happen with a clear mind. She clearly does not have a clear mind right now.
“It’s scary, Hero. It’s not like it just started happening. I noticed it weeks ago. It just felt like today got really bad.”
“Deep breathes, Mari. It’s gonna be okay.” There was no response from the other side.
“Did you talk to your mom about it?”
There was a deep sigh that came from Mari before she spoke again, “No, not yet. She’s been swamped with work recently. You know how it is. Being a single mother is hard. That’s why I have to be there for Sunny when she’s not here. And now Sunny’s acting like this. The sudden change scares me, and the fact that it’s not getting better scares me even more. I can’t think of anything that hap-”
“Mari, calm down.” Hero laughed a bit as he said that. Of course, Mari would be distraught to the point of blabbering words beyond use. “There is no point in overthinking it. Take deep breaths, alright?”
Hero could hear Mari pause for a bit before taking deep breaths on the other side of the phone call. Hero continued to speak as she calms herself down,
“Look, I think you should stop practicing for now. Maybe Sunny is just really tired. You know how he is; he would never complain about something if it meant it would hurt others. He probably doesn’t want to tell you that he’s tired because he thinks it’ll ruin the recital.”
…
“Y-Yeah, but…”
“No buts, Mari. What else could you do other than to take a break?”
“...You always know what to do.”
There was a giggle from both sides of the call.
“Alright, then. Should we set up a picnic now, then?”
“Sure! Kel is free from chores today, so he’s quite bored. I’ll ask Aubrey and Basil. You should check up on him. He might still be a bit… shaken from the incident.”
“Yeah… Alright, so…!” There was a level of enthusiasm and pride that wasn’t there at the start of the call.
“I’ll meet you at the park soon. See ya, handsome!” click
Hero ignored the blush on his face. Mari was always like this. He loves her so much .
But that feeling quickly subsided and was replaced with worry. As much as Hero was blabbering about overthinking and being calm, Hero was slightly worried about Sunny’s condition too. He noticed it as well. Not as much Mari, he didn’t see Sunny a lot this past month, but it was still noticeable. How his movement became sluggish. How his shoulder would tense up out of nowhere. Sometimes he was practically shaking as if trying to stay still.
He quickly replaced those thoughts with the planning of the next picnic. He called Basil and Aubrey, asking if they wanted to go on a picnic in an hour or two. Both of them could make it. They sound a lot more excited than they used to. Maybe we all needed a break. Everyone got kind of split apart as soon as the recital was mentioned.
“Kel!” Hero shouted slightly towards the staircase.
“Yeah?!” Kel screamed back.
“We’re going on a picnic with the others in an hour! You wanna join?!”
…
Footsteps were slowly gaining volume as Kel rushed towards the first floor.
“Really?! Let’s go now!” Kel was practically vibrating.
“Kel… Why are you still in your pajamas?” Kel stopped shaking as Hero mentioned his clothing.
“Kel, how have you not taken a shower yet…?”
“Hehe… uhh…”
Hero sighs, “Take a shower now, then we can go.”
“Okay!” The boy exclaimed before rushing towards the bathroom.
Hero hopes Kel never changes.
Mari smiled as she and her little brother walked down the street to go to the park. She feels like she made the right choice. As soon as she mentioned the picnic, Sunny looked much better. His walk is a lot less rigid. His eyes were lit up with stars. It was as if he was waiting for this.
But Mari couldn’t thoroughly shake off the feeling that it was something much more rooted than she thought. She’ll ask her mom today. Maybe she knows what to do. They should probably go to the doctor. It might be fever or something. She should be home a lot sooner than she usually does. But even then, it would still be late in the evening.
“Excited, little brother?” Mari asks, gauging his response. He nods at the question multiple times. He definitely missed the others a lot. It was still noon, so they could play for a really long time. Maybe they could do a sleepover at Hero’s house after the picnic.
“Mari! Sunny!”
Aubrey called excitedly. It seems like they also missed this. Sunny waves at Aubrey as Basil and Kel also join in.
“Yeah! We’re back again!” Kel piped up.
“Y-Yeah. It’s b-been so long since we had a picnic…”
Mari felt lighter when the pre-teens started to talk about what they’d been doing this past month. Kel was doing nothing but chores and playing games on his console. Super Mario was great and all, but playing it over and over again gets boring fast. Aubrey didn’t do much at her home. Just lodging around and doing nothing. But she did hang out with Basil a couple times. They usually help around Basil’s garden and do chores together.
When it came to Sunny, he just shrugged.
Mari understands that. Sunny probably doesn’t want to talk about how he broke the violin. It can easily be fixed, but it was a gift from everyone. Sunny definitely feels bad for breaking it. The kids don’t have to know, so she lets her brother pull a white lie.
“How’s Sunny?” Hero asked as he walked over to Mari.
“Better already. I think you were right.” They both set up the picnic area as they called the rest over. They were going to have sandwiches today. It was the classic, but nothing beats it. After Kel gulfs down his sandwich in mere seconds, he hopped over to the monkey bars and called the rest to have a showdown. Kel had to wait a couple minutes before the rest joined in, trying to play tag in the small park of Faraway town.
Mari really missed this. Just seeing her group enjoy themselves brightened up her heart. Sunny also looked much better. He was smiling, chasing Basil to get the tag before the time ran out. Mari cheered her little brother on, but she knew he was a lost cause for sports or any physical activities. Kel and Aubrey were arguing about who was gonna lose as if they both had already won.
Sunny stopped chasing Basil. The time hasn’t run out.
“Sunny? Why did you stop chasing? You’re gonna lose!” Kel yelled at Sunny. But he wasn’t focusing on him. He wasn’t focusing on anything. His eyes are loose. His body tensed up every couple of seconds. His legs were shaking. His arms were trying to grab on to something. He looked over at the bushes. He looked terrified.
What was…
THUD
“SUNNY?!”
Mari ran for her life as she got down to the fallen boy. Sunny was shaking. His arms and neck were jerking. His upper body has tensed up. He was gasping for air. He was trying to say something, but all that came out was guttural noises and grunts.
“Sunny?! Sunny! I’m here. What’s wrong?” Mari spat out. She didn’t receive any response. She didn’t hesitate at all as she pulled out her cellphone and quickly dialed the emergency number. The call picked up, and before the operator had anything to say, Mari spoke immediately. She recited her address with a clear voice and explained the situation.
He was having a seizure .
The operator mentioned that they had called over the ambulance. She’ll have to wait , wait while her little brother is still shaking and gasping for air. Hero told the others to stay on the picnic blanket while hero tried to calm Sunny down. He was gliding his hands across Sunny’s scalp and saying something that Mari couldn’t focus on. Was that the way to help someone from a seizure? Do you have to do CPR? She doesn’t know. God, why is this even happening?!
The operator was saying something, but Mari couldn’t process it as her brain was clogged with replays of the past month. What happened? What went wrong? Everything was fine; there was nothing wrong with anyone. Why is this just... Suddenly happening?!
A sob broke out of her vocal cords. Nothing was holding her back. Hero was still busy with Sunny while the others looked on with worry and fear. She couldn’t even look at their faces. They probably don’t understand what’s even happening right now. But she doesn’t know as well. No one knows.
The ambulance came after that. How long has it been? She looked over to her little brother.
He was lifeless.
Mari had waited for hours on Sunny. Her mom came in a few hours ago, and now they were both waiting on the diagnosis. She had to explain everything to the doctor that happened at the park. It was a seizure, just as expected. But the cause of it was still unknown. Sunny is safe now. But they need to track the reason. It might be something much worse, they said. She had to answer many questions, and her mother responded to much more questions when she came in. There was nothing they could do now other than wait. They had to do an MRI scan, for god’s sake.
Still, all those hours waiting around didn’t help her mental state. She was left with her thoughts alone. Hero and the rest had gone home, as it was almost midnight. They still had worries and wanted to stay, but their parents had forced them to go home. They promised to revisit tomorrow.
Mari hoped she could bring them some good news.
But she was still left reeling for any kind of cause. Even after repeatedly replaying every memory in the past month, she couldn’t find a single clue. It was all sudden. She was no doctor, but at least she would notice some sort of clue or something, even if it was wrong. But nothing came up; she was left with more questions than answers.
She was called by a nurse. Mari and her mother walked across the dead hospital as they entered a room. A doctor was already waiting for them across a table as if he was preparing something. Her mom took the first seat as Mari followed.
“How… How is he?” Mari’s mom spoke with a dejected voice. She was tired, restless.
“Your son’s stable, ma’am.”
There was a pause before he continued.
“The MRI scan showed some clues to the cause of his sudden epilepsy. While we’re still not one-hundred percent sure, most of the tests we did showed that your son has a neurological disorder.”
Just like that, her world crumbled. But it wasn’t that bad, right? It was probably something that they could power through. Silence spread across the room again as the doctor tried to gather himself.
“I’m sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but all the tests came back positive.”
“Your son has The Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.”
Mari shivered. It sounded foreign.
“It is a brain disorder that breaks down the patient. It usually starts at adulthood, but it rarely occurs in children.”
Mari’s breathing became more quick and disorganized as she listened more and more.
“Epilepsy, memory loss, loss of motor skills, speech impairment, and hallucinations are some of the symptoms of the disease.”
…
“We’re very sorry, but your son only has months to live.”