𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

Part 41: Shattered💧

"Tt- Tou-chan," Minato breaths out. He can't move, he was afraid.

Juriko displays a calm grin at him, eyes shut. "Hm.. I knew it all along that you're actually a scaredy-cat person. Guess you need a lot of effort to get rid of your fear, Minato."

"Tou-chan.. what happened? Why can't I- where am I- why.. why," Minato shrieks out, blabbering some words that he himself couldn't figure out the real meaning.

And so, his mother and father exchanged a concerned look to each other. Then, they leaned forward, enveloping Minato into a tender hug.

Minato froze, his eyes welled up with tears. He was shivering, between fear and ultimate sadness.

"Sorry for leaving you a little bit too early, Minato."

"We love you."

"Take a good care of yourself, and Aishito."

"You must.. get to your big sister. Yurika needs both of you."

"Kā-chan.. Tou-chan.."

A tear escapes, the others follow until it break to form a few streams on his pale face.

Hamada Minato finally understands.

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BUTTERFLY ESTATE
06:00

*huff. huff. huff.
In that single bed, lays an injured teenage boy with a large white bandage strapped all over his forehead. The bleeding had stopped few minutes ago, causing the once cleaned bandage to be soiled with scarlet fluid.

His breaths are slow and steady, better than an hour ago.

Kiyo sat on the edge of the bed, placing two fingers on his wrist to check on his pulses. It beats in normal pace, no sign of pressure or worser.

She glances at the boy's pale face, huffing out a breath of relief.

*krekk.
The wooden door behind her slowly swings open, revealing a tall blonde man with a pink-eyed woman beside him. Kiyo stares up at them, humming first before bowing awkwardly.

"Zenitsu-sama, Nezuko-sama," Kiyo greets them.

"Kiyo-chan," Kamado Nezuko cringed at the formal call Kiyo gave to her, but paid no mind to it once her pink eyes laid upon the unconcious boy on the bed.

"How's the boy?" Nezuko walks ahead, Zenitsu tails behind her soon after.

Kiyo stands up, allowing Nezuko to take a position close to the boy. Zenitsu paced across the bed, standing at the other side.

Before Kiyo could open her mouth to explain, Zenitsu cuts her off. "Judging by the sound of his heartbeats, he seemed better than before." He said in a cracked tone.

Nezuko blinks at him first, returning to look at Kiyo for further approvement.

Kiyo nods in respect, while her right hand tucks the blanket that had covered half of the boy's body. Another bleeding wound had been exposed, on his waist area.

Nezuko and Zenitsu patiently wait for Kiyo to fumble with her words.

"Yes, Zenitsu-sama is right. Hamada-kun's bleeding has stopped. Besides his forehead, he also got a deep cut on the left side of his waist, nothing serious and we managed to save him from losing too much blood." Kiyo paused to catch a breath. "Now, we just need to wait until he gets up."