(Completed) Bloody Petals {Miritama}

11

If the ending of the last chapter and the beginning of this chapter seem a little weird to you guys, it's because I lost track of my words when writing the last chapter and kept going, so the first paragraph here was originally the next paragraph of last chapter. I do that a lot whenever I'm really into writing. Which is a good thing, because it means I finally got back into the mindset of this book! I'm hoping to be able to finish it without anymore hiatuses before the end. Anyways, I'll shut up and let y'all enjoy the chapter. As always, thank you so much for reading! Enjoy!

This time, it happened at the end of the day. He and Nejire had already parted ways. He was almost to the front door of the school when he felt a familiar sharp pain in his chest. Soon afterwards, his throat started to feel unbearably tight. He gagged and immediately turned, pushing past the crowd of students leaving the building to head for the nearest bathroom.

Thankfully, the bathroom was empty. He tossed his backpack into the corner and ducked into the closest stall just in time for the first few petals to fall from his lips. After that, he was coughing and hacking to the point that he wouldn't be surprised if he opened his eyes to find a piece of lung alongside all the blood, flowers, and leaves.

He coughed and coughed and coughed, but nothing seemed to happen. As a matter of fact, the pain only seemed to be getting worse. His chest and throat burned, tears fell from his eyes, blood on his lips and hundreds of bloody petals and leaves decorated the floor. He gagged, for a moment unable to breathe.

Was this it? Was he going to die now, on the floor of his high school bathroom? That was kind of lame, wasn't it? Although he supposed he wasn't being given much of a choice; he couldn't seem to get air past the clump of flowers lodged in his throat, not could he seem to cough it up. He was shaking, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. He was going to die--

Someone's hand slammed against his back, hard, and he coughed, bending over the toilet bowl as a clot of blood and petals fell from his mouth. He trembled pathetically, not wanting to look up because he knew who it was that had just helped him. And looking at him would only make things that much worse.

"Tamaki!" Mirio's voice was frantic as he came to kneel in front of him, holding him steady by grabbing onto his shoulders.  "You weren't breathing just then! Don't tell me--"

"Go...away..." Tamaki rasped, wiping at his eyes. More coughing, more blood, more petals. "I...don't...I--" He was cut off by a cough, another cluster beginning to block his airway once again. He choked and gasped, desperately trying to breathe, but it was no use. The edges of his vision were tinted black.

"Tamaki!" Mirio was shaking him, patting his back again to try and help, but this time it wasn't working. "Need...Recovery Girl...with me!" Tamaki's ears were ringing so he missed some of the statement, but he got the gist of it and shook his head.

He tried to speak. Tried to say, "No. This is fine. It was always going to happen." But he couldn't. He had no air to make the words. His head was spinning. He could see Mirio trying to talk to him, but he couldn't hear a word he said. Mirio's frantic expression was the last thing he remembered before losing consciousness.

~~~~~

Mirio was panicking.

When he walked by the bathroom after school and heard the violent coughing coming from inside, he just knew it was Tamaki. And he knew something bad was about to happen. He could feel it.

But he had not been expecting this.

He grabbed his phone and dialed 119 for an ambulance. The woman on the phone gently instructed him on how to turn Tamaki on his side to get at least a little air in his lungs so he wouldn't suffocate before the paramedics arrived. He was crying, something he almost never did, as he sat there on the bathroom floor, ear pressed to Tamaki's chest to listen to his heart. It sounded so soft.