Whoever Leaves First || Renga

bonus chapter three (.3; reki's time)

it's been four months after langa hasegawa's passing. it was summertime, maybe around mid june, and reki was having the time of his life with his friends.

yuji fit in well. it was like he was always a part of them. one day they had went to an amusement park. reki was having so much fun. everywhere he went, he brought langa. he always wore his hoodie they got at the aquarium whenever they went somewhere so langa would always be there, with them.

reki wasn't off the hook. he still had his fanny pack with his to go air tanks in them. amusement parks always call for fun and positive emotions. laughter, joy, and screams of delight.

screams. reki didn't mix well with those. shouting of any kind was not good for reki. it took too much air from him that he couldn't afford to lose.

he was shouting too much. too much air was taken from his lungs and too little was giving from the tanks. he couldn't breathe.

worst part of it all, he was on a ride when this was happening. the zipper. a fun and thrilling ride for those who don't have to worry about how much shouting their doing.

he was struggling to breathe and this ride wasn't making it any better. his seat kept swinging and moving and he was hitting the sides of the ride.

he touched miya's hand and miya looked at him. miya remembers this terrifying moment all too well. reki's face was turning red and it looked like it was getting purple.

miya kept shouting at reki asking him what was wrong but obviously reki couldn't answer since he was hyperventilating.

then miya was yelling to stop the ride. the ride operator obviously couldn't hear over the screams of joy coming from the other riders.

then the ride finally stopped but reki's breathing was shallow and he couldn't walk. he was slumped against the ride and was trying to catch his breath but couldn't. miya got terribly scared and he ran out the ride, grabbed cherry and joe, and told the ride operator what happened. the ride was shut down but a crowd was watching and miya was furious.

reki was already passed out by then and he was taken to the hospital. he was told that he only had six months left to live last time. that was six and a half months ago. reki had outlived his death date and he had hope he would finish this summer with his friends.

fake hope always let down these sick boys. he hoped but he should have known better not to hope for much.

so, reki was hooked up to a ventilator. the breathing tubes were helping him breathe so therefore, he couldn't talk. he's been on the ventilator for a week now and every time they try and get him to breathe on his own, he couldn't.

he was officially in the final stage of pulmonary fibrosis. it was concluded by his doctors that any day he could be gone. there was no getting better. he felt like such a vegetable.

his friends and family were always here, for every second. this became his mother's home. nanako and his mom became close. it was such a bittersweet feeling. he loved that nanako became a part of his family but now she had to watch two sons die. he hated that for her. he felt responsible for giving her more pain to bare.

yet, he made a promise to langa to always make sure she was never alone. now she wasn't. she had reki's family and he knew after he passed, it wouldn't be the end of their connection. his family was her second family.

he also felt extremely guilty for putting miya through this again. langa was miya's first big loss and now reki was going to be his second. he didn't want that weight on his shoulder because he was just a little boy.