23: Burden

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-at the hospital-

Riku stayed behind and looked after Sougo beside his hospital bed. The white cat told other members to go back first so they would not disturb Sougo's rest and other patients.

"Nanase-san, don't push yourself." I can't leave without saying this. Iori spoke to Riku with concern before leaving the hospital.

"Mou, Iori. I'm fine! I'll only be sitting beside Sougo-san most of the time anyway." Riku pouted.

The emergency doctor said to the members that Sougo could go home when he woke up. He said the swan seemed to have collapsed because of stress and he must have tried to reach for the pills while feeling light-headed.

The members were relieved it was not anything too serious, but they were worried about why their friend was stressed.

Riku was heading back to Sougo's room with some water. "Ah, Riku-kun." Riku did not have to look to know who called him. It was his friendly doctor, Ogami Banri.

"Banri-san!" Riku gave the usual killer smile. Before Banri could ask "how can I help today", Riku stated his reason. "I'm looking after a friend today, Banri-san."

"Hmm... a friend? Is that the boy with white wings who was admitted here earlier?" Banri asked Riku while thinking, that boy, I've seen him a few times.

"Banri-san, do you know him?" That's unusual. Banri-san normally only looks after a few patients with chronic illnesses. Riku grew slightly worried.

As a doctor, a patient's information should be kept confidential, but seeing that Riku was a friend who cared about Sougo, Banri thought Riku may be able to help Sougo. Banri knew more than anyone that Riku was a good person. He decided to tell Riku something no other IDOLiSH7 members knew about.

"Riku-kun, come with me." Banri took Riku to a more private place. "Your friend, he is not my patient, but I have seen him around. He pops by here about once every two weeks or so."

That surprised the white cat. "Eh?" Sougo-san comes here regularly? As a patient? "Banri-san, what's wrong with Sougo-san?" Riku asked hesitantly. He did not want to be rude. However, Sougo was one of his friends. He needed to know how he might be able to help.

"Sougo-kun... Once his doctor consulted me," Banri paused a little. "The boy, he seems to be traumatised by something in the past, and now he has a hard time dealing with stress. He has been working with his doctor to learn how to cope and take proper medication." Banri did not know that Sougo had collapsed today because of stress. Something in Riku's mind clicked. Sougo-san is suddenly troubled by something! I need to speak to him!

"Thanks, Banri-san, for telling me. I need to go see Sougo-san now." Riku bowed and headed towards Sougo's room.

Riku-kun, you really have grown. Banri looked at the redhead as he walked away before heading back to his room.

~~

Riku opened the door as slowly as possible to keep the noise to a minimum.

"Ngghhh, father..." Sougo groaned as he twisted and turned in his bed. He was probably having a nightmare. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes to see Riku walking towards him.

"Sougo-san, you are awake!" Even though Riku had heard a sad story from his doctor, he was excited that Sougo regained his consciousness. "Here, have some water!" Riku picked up the phone to text the others that Sougo woke up.

"Ah, thank you." The swan took the glass with both hands but did not even take a sip.

"Ne, Riku... looks like I can no longer be in IDOLiSH7."

Riku's smile disappeared as soon as he heard that. "Sougo-san, why? Can you please tell me?"

Sougo looked away. He did not want to get anyone involved in his own problem. He went quiet, but the quietness did not last long. The door opened and the rest of the members walked in, just like that day Riku was sent to the hospital. The day IDOLiSH7 was formed.

"Sou-chan, are you okay?" Tamaki asked quietly.

"Yeah. I'm okay now, Tamaki-kun." Sougo forced himself to smile at Tamaki. And that was it for Riku. He could not bear it. Bear the fact that Sougo kept everything to himself and felt all the pain in his heart.

Riku's expression turned very serious, almost angry. Iori noticed and blinked twice. "You're not okay," Riku said under his breath, his whole body shaking. Why, Sougo-san? Why can't you tell us? Aren't we your friends? Iori approached Riku and crouched down in front of the cat. "Nanase-san, is something wrong?"

Seeing Riku's reaction like that, Sougo was troubled. The swan then made up his mind.

"Everyone... I cannot sing with you all anymore."

BUT WHY? Riku started sobbing. He wanted to scream so badly. Iori didn't know how to act. He hugged Riku gently and tried his best to calm Riku down.

For the first time in his life, Sougo talked about his family. Talked about how he was turned into an Anifusio. Told everyone how his father only thought of him as a tool. Everyone, including the sobbing Riku, listened with such understanding when Sougo tried hard to describe how difficult it had been for him to deal with stress. And lastly, he said that the thief who broke into Tamaki's house worked for his father, as he recognised him.

"I need to confront father about it, but I did not want to bother you all. I escaped from his house and enrolled in this uni to pursue my dream. Now that I am going back to talk to him, I might not be able to leave again, so I called the headmaster that I would drop o-" Sougo was cut off by Tamaki, who rushed in to grab the swan's shoulders.

"Sou-chan, why?!? Why didn't you tell us? Or tell me? I am stupid, Sou-chan! I can't tell when you are hurting!" Tamaki, who was usually relaxed, almost cried like Riku. Nagi and Yamato rushed to Tamaki's side at first, thinking Tamaki was going to do something to Sougo. "Next time, Sou-chan... please don't keep all the burden to yourself, okay?"

Tamaki smiled with tears, "And I am glad you told us about yourself."

Sougo had never felt so light before. Yes, he could fly freely as a swan. Although every time he took flight, he felt like someone was throwing stones at him trying to make him crash.

Everyone, thank you...

"So where can we find your father, Sou?" Yamato hated to be the one breaking a "heartwarming" moment, but this kind of problem had to be solved at the source. He had no choice but to ask.

"Eh?" Sougo wasn't sure why Yamato would ask that.

"We are all going to see your father." Nagi smiled at Sougo and spoke for once without shouting.

"And tell him you are no tool to him," Mitsuki added.

"And that he cannot control you," Iori continued.

"or IDOLiSH7!" Riku finished.

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE, LET'S GO!!" Nagi went back to his usual energetic mode.

"It would have ended nicely if you hadn't said that..." Mitsuki joked and everyone laughed as Nagi went "OH!"

Everyone, I will treasure this moment.

Always and forever.

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Poor Sougo ('°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥) why did I do this to him //slapped
Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please don't kill me. (I'll happily accept caramel slices however) // stabbed OwO
Next update may be a little slower as I'm also working on "The sweetness of tears" teehee~

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