Broken - Raekkuno oneshots

Hanahaki - Dreams

Sykkuno managed to not to cause a scene again when Rae squatted down close to him, but he could clearly feel the familiar texture of the petals squeezing through his windpipe. "At least I've started learning to control it" he thought.

The other members kidnapped him into his bed, telling him that he needed more sleep. The uneasiness, however, made this mission extremely hard to accomplish.

When did this start? His memory was blurred during quarantine, but he remembered it to be around the end of April. At first, he thought that it was only a cold, but as time flew by he started to recognise fragments of petals and whole, tiny ones. For the past few weeks, he has almost forgotten about it as he seemed to recover, until today when he started to cough out fully grown ones.

He wondered who was the cause of it.

Maybe he knew, but didn't admit it, even to himself. 

*

"Sykkuno," Toast squeezed his head through the doors and peeked through, "are your clothes on?"

"Oh jesus, Toast you scared me. Wait, what? Yes of course I ..."

"Okay, I knew that you aren't asleep. Listen. Nobody's outside so I'm gonna ask you this question. I saw the petal in my bathroom."

Sykkuno gasped, "Wh...what petals?"

"This isn't an among us, Sykkuno. Don't lie to me. I at least have basic anime knowledge. Tell me, who is it?"

"...I don't know."

"Bro," he dragged Sykkuno's gaming chair next to the bed and seated himself, "I respect your privacy, but just for your info I have a few names in mind and if you decide to talk about this at some point feel free to bust in, alright?"

He nodded and moved into his blanket. Toast, having sensed that he didn't want to continue this conversation, sighed and went for the door handle.

"Eh Toast?"

Toast turned back, "Yes?"

"..."

"...?"

"I...I won't die, will I?"

Toast's chest tightened up. 

"This is one of the few questions which I don't know the answer to." He tried to sound calm, "What I do know is that victims of Hanahaki  disease always do what's the best for them."

*

Toast pulled an all-nighter researching and recollecting. By the morning, only two names which are not crossed out remained on the paper.

Sykkuno didn't have a good night either.

This dream had been continuing every time the coughs attacked him.

Nothing in his childhood was transferred to his adulthood. The confidence. The innocence. The courage.

However, his favourite colour had always been soft green since his first memory. It was a hazy hue of lime green inside his tiny palms. Unlike the popular flowers, roses known for their gorgeousness and lilies for grace, the hydrangea petals sat there, soft and fragile. But this was what gave Sykkuno the understanding of life. Of the beauty.

But in his dream, this same scene was repeatedly recalled: One of his hands gently touched their petals and felt the smoothness of the silky texture of their surface. And the petal was torn off. Despite that he tried. But this was what gave Sykkuno the understanding of life. Of the cruelty.

And every time this reoccurred, there were fewer and fewer petals. As if some inevitable adversity was approaching. Like those ten soldiers in And Then There Were None (read the book it was awesome XD).