Lying is a Sin, A Sin Hanagaki Takemichi Commits Too Often

Chapter 3

"Hina, can you come over?" Takemichi rasped over the phone.

"What's wrong?! Are you okay?! Oh my god oh my god oh my god-"

"I'm fine! I swear, I was just hoping you could come over to put some makeup on me? Nothing too much, just to cover up some stuff so I don't have people asking all day if I'm alright."

"Have you not been sleeping again? You need to take all of your medication, each one is important, Takemichi-kun."

'Yeah, they're also the half the reason for why I feel and look so shitty'

"Please? Or do you want me to come over?"

"Emma's home at the moment...but she's the only one in this relationship who knows how to use makeup," Hina drawled out on the other end of the line, Takemichi knew what she was hinting at.

"I'm not telling Emma-chan, because she'll tell Mikey, who will then beat me up for hiding it, while also telling everyone else."

"Look, just come over, I'll just tell her that you've not been sleeping well and I don't know, have iron deficiency," she reasoned.

Takemichi paused and thought it over, that seemed believable enough, "Alright, I'll be over in about twenty minutes. Thank god I don't open until 9 today, you'd probably kill me for calling you at 5 am if it were any other day."

"You're right, I would. No one is allowed to disturb my beauty sleep except my beautiful fiance," Hina said dreamily.

" Ah Hina, you're so sweet. Is that Takemichi?" He heard Emma say in the background.

"Yeah, he wants you to put makeup on him," Hina snickered.

"Hina! Don't say it like that!" Takemichi whined.

"Ahaha, come on over Takemichi-kun! I'll have you looking model material in no time!"

"Thanks Emma-chan," he mumbled bashfully.

.

It was Emma who opened the door, with a wide smile that faltered into one of worry when she saw Takemichi.

"Oh, you really don't look well. I don't think you should be going into work," she said, putting the back of her soft hand against his forehead.

"You're a little warm," she murmured.

Hina appeared at the doorway, her eyes widened. She knew what Takemichi looked like on bad days, but she wasn't expecting this. His curly back hair stuck out in all different directions from under his beanie which he had been wearing more and more often lately. His skin wasn't just pale anymore, it had grey undertones, he looked like a corpse. His eyes were dull even if he had a reassuring smile. His lips were almost blue and chapped. His cheeks and under eye bags sunken in and dark. And she knew that under the unnecessarily oversized hoodie and sweatpants, there was just a skeleton covered in skin, she could tell how thin he had gotten just by his face, neck and hands.

It made her feel physically sick in the stomach, how her best friend was literally deteriorating right in front of her. And she knew how much the bastard overworked himself. The bakery was only small, before he owned it, it was only him and another worker (aside from the owner who was never around) employed there. But the other worker was a med student who ended up having to quit just before Takemichi took ownership because she was being located at a hospital in another city. So for the past few months, Takemichi had been the only worker. He wouldn't bake things the night before because he wanted 'only the freshest for my customers', instead, he would spend hours after closing measuring everything perfectly for each menu item so that when he'd come in the morning, two-three hours before opening, he'd start baking everything straight away.