Ultimate War (Kaguya x Shirogane Fanfic)

Chapter VII

He stands in a dark room. The faint light flickers, menacing to turn off at any second. He gets a sudden urge to sit down, and as if someone out there responded to his thoughts, a table and two chairs materialize before him. He feels like a criminal brought in for interrogation as he drags the chair towards him and rests his sore body on it. Then he waits.

Barely five minutes passed when he heard the door across from him creek open, and just like that, he found himself facing her, the large wooden table separating them.

She looks everything but fine. Tears streak her cheeks, the light gone from her scarlet irises. He wanted to know what happened to her. He wanted to reach for her face, wipe those tears away and tell her that he is always going to be with her. Alas, his voice was stolen. He instinctively touched his throat, then his...

His mouth is gone.

Panic seizes him, bile rises to his imperfect throat as he moves both hands on every part of his face, looking for something that was no longer there.

"No", Kaguya finally spoke, her voice colder than ice. "You don't get to say a word, President. You abandoned me."

Miyuki's eyes sprang open, the darkness replaced by a blinding light. He covered his eyes with his left hand, waiting for the pain to be over as his retinas got used to the new environment around him.

What happened to me? , he wondered.

He lied on a snow-white bed. In the Infirmary. To his right, an opal wrinkled curtain concealed the rest of the room. The big square-shaped window to his left was open, letting a cold breeze find its way to Miyuki's bones. He shivered enough before he decided to close it. The smell of medicine hit his nostrils, then quickly disappeared from his mind as fear gripped his insides. He remembered why he was there in the first place.

He must have fainted upon hearing the news of Kaguya's departure.

It's all my fault, it's all my fault, he repeated. I didn't cherish her like I should have, and now, I go ahead and collapse like a total loser.

"President, you're awake!" , a voice spoke from behind the white curtain. Fujiwara approached his bed, tears having no mercy over her eyes as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"President I thought you were dead I totally thought that maybe Ishigami's voice turned into a curse and you just dropped dead when you heard it but I didn't know why I was still alive maybe because I am immune or I don't know--" She sobbed harder.

"There, there" , Miyuki couldn't help but say, guilt starting to swell inside him. "I'm okay now. Sorry for worrying you."

"Fujiwara-senpai, please don't make me seem like a really bad guy" Another familiar voice.

Ishigami Yuu came in behind Chika, looking as unconcerned as one could ever be about their closest friend.

"You forgot to eat your breakfast today, President, didn't you? Of course you'd faint from hypoglycemia, it is totally normal. Fujiwara-senpai, you're overreacting."

Miyuki mouthed a silent Oooh before nodding at him. The pink-haired girl wiped her tears with the hem of her shirt then swallowed back the excess of saliva forming in her mouth.

"President, don't scare us like that again, okay? What will happen to this student council if you are gone too?" Ishigami's words seemed to go right over her head, as usual.

Miyuki's worry rushed back to him like a mother to her baby, and he knew that he wouldn't rest assured until he fixed his own mistakes, or paid for them. The thought of his first love disappearing without a trace gave him nausea, and he had to drain the whole glass of water that Fujiwara brought him upon his request.

He swallowed hard, readying himself for what's to come.

"Did she really go abroad?" , he asked no one in particular.

They both looked sad for him, and perhaps for themselves too. Shinomiya was an irreplaceable gem, and their hearts would all break if she left without saying goodbye.

Miyuki's friends reluctantly nodded.

"Do any of you know when she'll come back?" When, not if. He had to keep that tiny sparkle of hope to light his broken soul.

"She texted me saying that she will not be there for long" , Fujiwara said. "She said she will keep in touch with all of us."

"Really?" , Miyuki asked without meaning to. His tone sounded higher than usual. He cleared his throat. "Ah I mean" , he quickly added. "How will she catch up on her lessons here? and her work as the vice-president?" In truth, he couldn't care less about academics. He trusted Shinomiya, she was one of the top students in Shuuchiin Academy. She wouldn't be affected by anything. What he was really worried about was his own heart, but obviously, he would never say such a thing out loud.

Ishigami was the one to reply, this time. "She must have asked you to send her the work to be done by email. Didn't she?"

Kaguya must have heard him, from wherever she was. How else could Miyuki's phone have rang at that exact moment?

They were all so startled by the sudden noise they gasped simultaneously. The president of the student council grabbed his smartphone with shaking hands, unlocking the screen and tapping the second message sent by Shinomiya, that morning.

He read it out loud, struggling to keep his voice even.

"Dear President, I am sorry for sending such an odd text, earlier. I have already explained to Fujiwara-san and Ishigami-kun my situation. You must have heard from them by now. I would like you to send me all the documents necessary for me to keep doing my job as the vice-president here. Don't worry, I will keep in touch.

Send my love to both of them."

"A bit late for that. I already told him, Shinomiya-senpaaai" , Ishigami said, answering her message aloud.

Miyuki wasn't listening. He reread the text twice more before he typed frivolously with his keyboard.

The words he has always feared to say.

The words that will change his destiny forever.

Shinomiya, I have something to tell you.