Petals and Pain

I feel like absolute garbage and this was an idea I've had in mind for a while. I found out that Shihai canonly has a crush on Komori. That's how I came up with this. I hope you like it.

Grab your tissues.

Kinoko Komori.

She was the most beautiful girl Shihai had ever seen. Not only that, she was so sweet, caring, and funny.

She was just so perfect.

But he couldn't fall for her. He knew he couldn't. If he did, it would be the death of him.

Literally.

The Hanahaki Disease was something that ran in the Kuroiro family.

This disease causes the victim to have a very painful - and very deadly - thorny rose bush grow in their chest when they fall in love. There are two ways to cure it. One is for the love interest to return feelings. The other is to surgically remove the bush. Although, sometimes the second option isn't enough.

Shihai knew what the consequences of falling in love were for him.

But he allowed himself to fall for the mushroom girl, anyway.

It started on a normal night. Shihai wasn't able to sleep. He found himself thinking about Komori. He wasn't sure why.

The question answered itself when he felt an odd tickling in his throat. The next thing he knew, he was in a coughing fit. He sat up and brought his hands to his mouth as he coughed and struggled for air. It hurt, too.

When the coughing stopped, he pulled his hands away from his face. Cupped by his hands was a small pile of black rose petals and blood.

Shihai immediately knew what the petals meant and he started mentally cursing himself out. The last thing he wanted was for something like this to happen. But he also didn't want his classmates to find out and start worrying about him.

He decided to keep this a secret. Besides, it wasn't that bad.

For now.

As the days passed, he started coughing up more and more petals. The pain got worse and worse. He could feel the bush growing in his chest. He felt it get bigger each day.

Still, he managed to keep it a secret.

Until he was hanging out with Honenuki one evening.

The two were playing video games in Shihai's room. They were talking about school and training, when Honenuki suddenly asked Shihai a question that completely caught the latter off guard.

"So ... what are your feelings for Komori?" Honenuki asked with a mischievous smirk.

Shihai immediately choked on air as he turned red. He could feel the petals rising in his throat, but he managed to suppress them.

"W-What's it to you?" Shihai grumbled with a scoff.

"I've just seen the way you look at her. Whenever she approaches you, you get all red and you stutter. So I can't help but feel like you like her," Honenuki explained with a light-hearted chuckle.

Shihai sighed to himself, struggling to keep down the petals filling his throat. "Fine. You got me. I do like her. She's just so sweet, funny, caring, and cute. Just everything about her is adorable. Satisfied?"

"Very!" Honenuki said. "That is so cute! I hope it works out for you two!"

"T-Thanks ...." Shihai said, looking away to hide his blushing face.

Honenuki noticed this. "Aww! Is THE Kuroiro Shihai blushing?"

Shihai was about to snap at him, but the petals in his throat told him the lecture had to wait. Quickly, he stood up and sprinted into the bathroom.