The moral dilemma followed him throughout the meeting as he emptily answered the questions asked to him. But he never spoke up and like that, the meeting ended with a positive conclusion by Takeharu.

Kori left that building even more confused than when he entered it, the opposite effect to what he wanted.

He cursed himself for not having the courage to just say it, was he destined to stay a wimp for the rest of his life, not even the smart sort or the kind sort.

Just worthless.

Kori left the school building and walked up to the area in front of the entrance that was just flat asphalt with a couple of benches and trash cans spread across it.

Hyoru suddenly put his left arm on Kori's shoulder, which he didn't expect. The grip was firm and steady, Hyoru smiled at Kori and said filled with hope

"You may not be the best in school, especially at mathematics. You didn't even tell me about the time that you threw the textbook at the blackboard because you were frustrated. It's fine. Although, you have to tell me from now on so we can take care of stuff like that. Anyways, you're getting better at studying, it may not be much but you did increase your score by 10 points during the last test. And you're not getting in any fights or trouble like that, just like I told you to. I know we don't see each other that often, I work a lot and even when we are together, we don't talk that much. But I just wanted to say that I'm incredibly proud of you, son. I'm sure that if you continue at this pace, you'll become a wonderful man in the soon future."

Kori stared at his father in shock, the words that he'd never expect to hear was just uttered right to him. Like a flick of a light switch, the deep anxiety from before suddenly disappeared and the reluctance to tell his dad about his problems also vanished. Kori suddenly said

"Dad, we need to talk."

Hyoru looked curiously at Kori and said

"About what?"

Kori stayed silent for a second, he then said

"Let's talk about it later in the car. It's private."

Hyoru tilted his head slightly and said

"Okay, sure."

They were walking towards the car when Hyoru suddenly said

"I'm going to go to the convenience store real quick. I need to pick up some toothpaste. It's a mission from Yumino."

Hyoru turned to his left and walked towards the crossing, which led to the convenience store across the street. Before he crossed, Kori said

"I'll come along with you!"

He then sprinted up to the side of Hyoru, who smiled in surprise. Kori then took the lead and walked a tiny bit in front of Hyoru.

Kori didn't want to stay by the car because he already knew exactly what his mind was going to be filled with, and he didn't feel like thinking about it anymore. The temperature had switched from a humid warmth to a ruthless cold, and everything had become significantly darker than before. The street lights did their job and illuminated their respective part of the pavement, the moon also tried its best to light up everything but only managed to make the sky a little lighter. Even though it was cold, Kori felt completely comfortable in the weather and enjoyed it. He basked in cold and silent happiness as he crossed the street, he enjoyed it so much because it gave him a cozy feeling inside. For the first time in several weeks, he felt relaxed and happy. There was still a small part of him that worried, but that weight would be lifted after he got to talk to Hyoru later in the car.

*SCREECH*

*SLAM*

Kori instantly froze solid, not a single muscle was able to move even a single centimeter. He gulped down the biggest ma.s.s of saliva in his life and s.h.i.+vers raced down his spine, competing over who could get to the end of the spine first.

Tears were already slowly forming around his eyes, even though he had not looked yet, he could put 2 and 2 together and know what had happened. Although, a part of him didn't want to believe the logical conclusion. But, Kori wasn't able to prove any of the theories right, because he couldn't move. He was frozen still, not a single muscle wanting to obey him. He was stuck staring at the ground with an excruciating fear. He cursed himself once again, and thought

-Is this the time to be a wimp? Is this the time to be a spineless coward!? I need to see what happened, I can't escape reality.-

Kori slowly got control of his body, body part after body part.

He then slowly turned around, with his legs cowering in fear. Right before he turned around, his heart beat at an unhealthy pace. Feeling like his heart was going to jump out of his chest, he grabbed it violently and harshly squeezed it. He said to himself quietly just before he turned around

"I can't..."

Until he turned around and saw the scene, when his words stopped.

He squeezed his chest to the point that he almost actually tore his whole heart out of his body.

Hyoru Hanesawa, the hard-working father who cared so much about his family, laid lifelessly on the ruthlessly cold asphalt with blood spilling to every side. The lights stemming from the car cast a clear light on the body, making it easier to see it.

Kori couldn't stop staring in disbelief, it looked a thousand times worse than he imagined, maybe even a million.

The man who had just happily talked about the bright future just laid there on the ground.

The man who worked hard every day and got home late, exhausted but smiling just laid there while the people in the car chaotically panicked.

The man who was about to hear his son's troubles and desires unabridged just laid there, being watched by the son himself.

Small drops could be heard, and soon they became more and more frequent. At first, the sound was of Kori's tears. .h.i.tting the ground rhythmically, but it started to rain as his tears picked up the pace. Soon, his tears were insignificant compared to the amount of rain that poured down over the city.

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With a sudden jump in energy, due to a small hope within him, Kori ran with all he could towards his dad.

He grabbed his hand, hoping for the same warmth he had felt earlier when he grabbed his shoulder to appear.

But the same cold as the pavement he sat on, the temperature around him, and the rain that dropped onto him and the body in front of him, prevailed as he squeezed the hand desperately.

The boy's expression was in pure chaos, his mind couldn't decide what he was feeling and his head spun around and around.

He looked at Hyoru's face and slowly said

"dad?"

But no response came.

"Dad!?"

He was wis.h.i.+ng for something, anything, to happen but still: Nothing.

He realized what was going on, and he looked at the ground helplessly.

He felt so insignificant, so helpless, so useless.

The tears came in for real at that moment, they poured as heavily as the rain that surrounded his everything.

This was accompanied by Kori mumbling as he desperately searched for any sign of life.

Like an animal in distress, Kori gathered everything he had left and screamed into the night

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

But life wasn't as nice as to let Kori Hanesawa get to hear his dad's comforting voice for the last time.

Instead, the thing that took over his voice was the quiet tapping of the rain.

*Tap Tap Tap*