Elysian's Monogatari

Chapter 169: Too Late to Notice

"Nii-san!" Ren said as he quickly slammed the door open. He was shocked upon seeing the scene. The reason being lying down on the floor unconscious is Shiro. "Nii-san!" Ren said as he ran towards his brother. "...Get a grip Nii-san! Oi...!" Ren said as he grabs Shiro and tries to wake his brother up.

"Ren-kun!" A voice can be heard. Tsukasa, Tetora and even Ito appeared at the doorstep. The moment they entered the room they were shocked to see Ren holding Shiro who is unconscious. "Shiro-senpai!" Both Tsukasa and Tetora said as they rushed towards him.

Ito, on the other hand, panics a little but since he had already seen the scene earlier before running to let Ren and the others know he quickly brings out his phone and dialed the number for the ambulance. He was about to press the call symbol when Ren stopped him. "Don't Ito-senpai! We don't need the ambulance for this. We still have the reporters outside the entrance."

"R-Reporters?!" Ito asked. "Hai. They were after Shiro-senpai, wanting an 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 with him. But right now Tenshouin Onii-sama is disturbing the filming crew for us so we can't risk calling the ambulance now." Tsukasa said. "N-No way..." Ito said with concern.

"Forget about that for now we have to do something!" Tetora said. "...Tch!" Ren said as he stood up with his brother still in his arms but when he was about to stand up he suddenly fell down and was about to drop Shiro if not for Ren quickly changing his form to that of a bending on one knee.

"Ren-kun?! A-Are you okay?" Ito asked. "..H-He's heavy....!" Ren said. "W-Well...seeing how he's able to beat multiple delinquents by himself before I can't say I'm surprised." Tsukasa said with a sweatdrop. "Ahaha...Ah I-I'll help lift King up...!" Ito said as he goes to carry one side of Shiro while Ren carries the other side.

"Let's put him on the bed." Ren said as Ito nods. The two then slowly move Shiro's body to the bed. They then lay him down. Once done the room suddenly became quiet for a while. Then Ren spoke. "...Nii-san. He's been overworking himself too much lately but looks like he really hit his limit this time."

"R-Ren-kun you knew...?" Ito asked. "...Sort of. Ever since we finished singing Inner Dignity he has had this exhausted look on his face. It wasn't so bad which is why I didn't say anything but..." Ren said. "...But?" Tetora asked.

"....I realised too late how bad the situation was back when we lost against Divine Verse SQUAD. His face got worse by that second but despite that he kept singing and dancing like nothing happened. Not to mention I was too upset on how he kept keeping himself away and not relying on us I forgot about the fact he was struggling to even keep himself awake." Ren said.

"....! You mean...!" "...Yeah. Nii-san's exhaustion started before the graduation and the toll kept growing till now. I knew. And I could have done something about it. Yet I didn't. Even though I knew Nii-san would deny it I didn't bother trying to reason with him even if I could. I'm the worst." Ren said for Tsukasa as he clenched his fists.

"...I-If you say it like that...I-I'm also to blame...!" Ito said. "Eh?" Ren asked. "W-While you two were arguing...I didn't do anything...I only watched....if you're the worst...then I'm the absolute trash...who can't even help both of you...!" Ito said.

"...! That's not true! Ito-senpai you didn't do anything wrong! I know you wanted to say something to stop us but you're just too scared to address the situation!" Ren said. "But..." "...I'll be frank." "Tetora-kun?" Ren asked as the two looked at Tetora.

"I think all three of you including Shiro-senpai are to blame for this." Tetora said. "A-All of us?!" Ito asked. "First for Shiro-senpai, he doesn't want to worry anyone so he keeps suffering by himself not telling anybody about his condition. But because of that stubbornness he ended up like this." Tetora said.

"Next for Ito-senpai, you wanted to say something to help but you didn't know what to say because of your overthinking. You won't know what they'll actually say before you even try it you know?" He added. "U-Ugh..!" Ito said knowing Tetora has a point.

"Lastly for you, Ren-kun, I get that you're mad at your brother for not telling you anything but being so insistent on it isn't going to help. He'll just deny it even more." Tetora said. "T-That's..." Ren said. "...In short all three of us are to blame because of your respective problems. But I suppose the most to blame is Shiro-senpai." Tetora said.

"...I don't know the exact reason but he can't seem to trust people with his problems and so he always keeps it to himself. He can't rely on others easily which causes the burden in him to grow. For goodness sake what a pain." He then said with a sigh.

"....." Ren and Ito can only be silent as they know Tetora is telling the truth. They think it's their own fault but in actual fact it's all three of them. Just then they heard a groan. Immediately the four of them turned in the direction of the bed as that's where the sound came from.

There they saw Shiro moving and opening his eyes slightly. "...Where am I...?" He asked. "Nii-san!" "King!" "Shiro-senpai!" All four said as they checked on his condition. "Are you okay?!" Ren asked. Shiro turned to his side to see Ren and the others. He stood up from the bed and was silent for a while. "Umm K-King...?" Ito asked. However what came out of Shiro's mouth shocked them all.

"....Do I...know you?"