Hearing the whisper of despair slip from Fuse's lips, the young man dressed in hospital garments stared at him with a highly bizarre expression. His eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe the dark words that had just reached his ears.
"Are you crazy?" he asked, his voice laced with a thick layer of bewilderment.
Instead of getting angry at the insult, Fuse slowly turned his head, fixing his void gaze upon the young man. The corner of his lips tugged upward, forming a crooked, forced smile. He raised one shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. "Maybe I am?"
The young man squinted, trying to decipher the truth behind that bitter smile. He let out a long breath, a weary sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the world, then briefly closed his eyes to suppress something stirring in his chest. With slow steps, he approached and stood right beside Fuse, also leaning his hands against the wire barrier.
Standing side by side, Fuse stared at the young man's profile without uttering a single word. He allowed the silence to take over.
The young man's lips moved slowly, as if weighing his words, before finally breaking the night's silence with his calm voice.
"If you really throw yourself from this height... death might greet you down there," he said softly, his eyes staring far down at the asphalt road. "Or... you might find a fate far worse than mere death."
He turned his head, staring straight into Fuse's pair of red eyes. "You will experience an excruciating pain tearing through your flesh. Your ribs and the bones in your legs will shatter into pieces upon hitting the asphalt, but your brain will process that pain very slowly. You won't be able to utter a single word because of the agony. Your voice will be trapped in your throat as your lungs collapse. Even just to scream for help... you won't be able to do it."
The young man shifted his gaze back downward. "There is no torture more painful than those moments of awareness right before death finally claims your life."
Hearing that spoken in such a flat tone, Fuse could only remain silent. He gaped, his eyelids widening slightly in shock.
The young man looked away, returning his gaze to the busy flow of vehicle lights below.
"Besides... suicide is a coward's act," the young man continued, his voice beginning to thicken with restrained emotion.
He turned his body back to face Fuse. "Thinking that all sorts of problems and suffering will just end with death. Running away from life's responsibilities and leaving the burden on those who are still alive... There is no act more cowardly and selfish in this world than that."
Struck by the reality of those words, Fuse could only fall into a mute silence. He looked away, returning his gaze to the glittering city lights that looked like falling stars. His heart felt numb.
"At the very least..." Fuse murmured softly, his voice sounding like shattered glass. "A dead person gets a sympathy wreath from the world."
Fuse paused for a moment, letting the night wind blow through his red hair before continuing with a melancholic tone. "A man only gets flowers when he is dead."
Hearing that, the young man's eyes widened in surprise. A second later, a soft chuckle escaped his lips. The chuckle slowly morphed into a long, unrestrained laugh, breaking the tension between them. The laughter sounded discordant, a mix of amusement and profound sorrow.
Fuse didn't join in. He just stood there watching the young man laugh, allowing the sound to fill the emptiness in his head.
After a while, the young man's laughter subsided. He wiped the corners of his eyes, which had grown slightly teary from the laughter. He looked much more relieved, exuding a sense of calm once more.
"I guess there's some truth to your poetic words earlier," he said, wiping away the remaining tears.
He looked at Fuse's face. This time, he wore a smile. A bitter smile that concealed thousands of sorrows, yet felt incredibly sincere. "Don't give up. Keep trying, you can do it."
…
The night sky had completely enveloped the city in its black blanket, adorned with a scattering of stars.
After spending a long time talking about nonsense and the philosophy of life with the young man while lying flat on their backs on the concrete floor, staring at the sky, Fuse unconsciously turned his head to the side. He looked at the young man, who was also lying there with his eyes closed, smiling peacefully at the expanse of constellations.
"I guess... I should go now," Fuse said, breaking the silence. He got up from the floor, dusting off his pants to clean away the clinging dirt.
Hearing this, the young man sat up as well and nodded slowly. "Same here. My parents are probably really anxious waiting for me to come home," he said.
He looked back up at the night sky, his gaze seeming to drift infinitely far away, as if he were looking at something Fuse couldn't see. Then, he turned his face back toward Fuse.
Fuse fell silent for a moment. The two of them held each other's gaze for quite a long time. Fuse then looked away briefly, feeling awkward with the silence, before looking back into the young man's eyes and extending his right hand.
"My name is Fuse."
The young man was slightly surprised by the extended hand, but then a warm smile graced his face once more. He raised his own hand and clasped Fuse's in a firm handshake.
"A man doesn't need to go out of his way to give his name just to be a friend," the young man replied, refusing to offer his own.
Hearing such a cliché response, Fuse was taken aback for a second, but eventually, a faint smile touched his lips. "Alright, if that's what you want."
After releasing their parting handshake, Fuse turned around and began walking toward the iron door that connected the roof to the building's stairwell. Upon reaching the threshold, his steps halted. He glanced back for a moment.
There, the young man was still sitting on the floor, his head tilted up toward the night sky with a peaceful smile.
Satisfied that his business was done, Fuse turned his body back around. His hand grasped the cold metal doorknob, and he pulled it open gently. He stepped over the threshold and closed the door from the inside, severing the outside world from the dimly lit stairwell.
Up on the roof, which now felt utterly desolate, the young man who had been staring at the sky slowly lowered his gaze. His eyes locked onto the wire barrier at the edge of the building.
With very slow movements, he stood up and walked toward that deadly edge. He lowered his head, staring far down at the asphalt street below, and a satisfied smile crept onto his face.
He stood still for a moment, allowing the night wind to embrace him.
Then, with a slow but certain movement, he climbed over the wire fence. Balancing on the edge of the abyss, he spread his arms wide to his sides like a pair of wings.
The gust of night wind battered his face fiercely, causing his hospital pajamas and hair to whip wildly backward.
At that moment, the center of gravity of his body suddenly tilted slightly forward. And slowly, that tilt grew more extreme, as if he were letting the world pull him down.
Down in the empty stairwell, Fuse was descending the steps one by one with slow, heavy strides.
But right at that moment, just as his foot had touched down on a few steps, Fuse's eyes suddenly snapped wide open. His body froze. On reflex, he whipped his head backward, tilting his face up to stare at the concrete ceiling above him.
The blood in Fuse's veins seemed to stop flowing.
With his magnetism quirk, which had recently undergone an enhancement, Fuse could sense anyone's presence by tracking and detecting the iron within the bloodstream of living beings around him.
He could no longer feel the presence of the young man up on the roof!
That was why his heart pounded brutally when his radar-like senses suddenly detected that the young man's body was plummeting from the roof's height at the speed of gravity! The young man had jumped!
Fuse's lips, which were still slightly parted, suddenly trembled. He struggled to string his words together before finally managing to whisper a single sentence in a hoarse voice.
"In the end, you admitted to being a coward yourself."
His red eyes stared blankly at the steps below him. "What a truly stupid decision."
…
Screech... The slow sliding of a wooden door broke the silence of the hospital corridor.
Fuse stepped inside, opening the door to the room where his mother was being cared for.
After closing the door tightly and silently behind him, Fuse turned to face the interior of the room.
In the corner of the room, his father, Isamu, was still slumped over in the same plastic chair from that afternoon. The large man's hand tightly gripped Sakura's pale hand, which was riddled with IV needles.
It seemed Isamu was completely oblivious to his son's presence entering the room. His mind appeared to be sucked into another realm entirely.
The atmosphere inside the hospital room felt incredibly silent and suffocating. Only the constant beep of the heart monitor could be heard.
Standing by the door, Fuse kept his eyes fixed on his father's trembling back. His heart felt heavy. Then, with silent footsteps, he walked closer. He had already raised his hand, intending to place it on his father's shoulder. But before his palm could touch the fabric of his father's shirt,
"Forgive me."
"Forgive me..."
His hand suddenly froze in mid-air.
A very soft, utterly despairing sob escaped Isamu's lips. He kept repeating those two words of apology over and over. What started as a sound as faint as a whisper of wind slowly grew more intense and louder, shattering the silence of the night.
Hearing the wailing from the man who had always been his pillar of strength, Fuse shivered as if frozen. It felt as though his heart was being carved by a sharp blade.
Isamu's voice trembled violently, his shoulders heaving as he held back a chest-crushing sob.
Staring at his father's crumbling, trembling back, Fuse, who was himself shocked and frozen, slowly felt his own eyes grow hot. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, swallowing back the emotions that were on the verge of exploding. When he opened his eyes again, his gaze once again radiated a forced calm.
With a very slow and gentle movement, he stepped forward and finally rested his palm on his father's broad shoulder.
Feeling a touch on his shoulder, Isamu jolted in surprise. The man turned with sluggish movements, his face looking utterly exhausted and his eyes red-rimmed.
Realizing who was standing behind him, Isamu hastily wiped his tears with the back of his free hand. Then, he forced his lips into a faint smile. The smile looked incredibly stiff, awkward, and highly contrived as he tried to hide his wounds.
"Oh... so you're back," Isamu greeted, his voice slightly hoarse.
Fuse stared into his father's eyes in a lengthy silence, trying to read the lingering sorrow within them. Then, he bit his lower lip gently, hesitating before asking. "Are you okay, Dad?"
Hearing such a direct question, Isamu was slightly taken aback. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he quickly looked away, turning his face back toward the bed. "So you heard all of that..." Isamu murmured softly.
Fuse didn't answer. He just stood there in mute silence, allowing his question to hang in the air.
Just as this awkward atmosphere seized the room, Isamu suddenly raised both of his hands. With a very swift and harsh motion, he slapped both of his own cheeks at the same time!
Smack!
The sound of the slap echoed through the room. Then, Isamu forced a wide smile and turned to look at Fuse, his eyes feigning a renewed spirit.
"Of course I'm perfectly fine!" Isamu replied with a cheery tone. "Forgive your old man for carelessly showing you such a weak and unreliable side. But you don't need to worry, I feel perfectly fine now."
After saying those reassuring words, Isamu slowly turned his head back to gaze at Sakura's peaceful, sleeping face.
Following his father's line of sight, Fuse also turned his head, directing his gaze to his mother. His lips moved slowly.
"Besides, it's time for us to look straight ahead, Dad. Endlessly lamenting past tragedies and blaming yourself will never solve the problems we have in the present," Fuse said in a wise tone, pausing for a moment.
He swallowed hard before continuing his sentence. "If Mom were to wake up right now, she would definitely say cliché comforting words just like that to both of us."
As he said this, Fuse turned his head and stared directly into Isamu's eyes.
Hearing his son's words, Isamu's eyes widened. The father stared at Fuse's face in disbelief, as if he were seeing a completely different side of his child.
The two of them locked eyes in a mute, drawn-out silence, uniting their pain through their gaze.
Just as this silence began to feel suffocating, Isamu suddenly closed his eyes and cleared his throat softly. He changed the subject.
"Go on home and get some sleep, Fuse. You have to wake up early and head to school tomorrow morning, right?"
"Don't tell me you're planning to skip school again tomorrow." Isamu squinted. "If your mother wakes up one day and finds out about your behavior, she'll scold you relentlessly all day long. And when that terrifying moment arrives... naturally, I wouldn't dare help defend a naughty kid like you."
Hearing the lighthearted threat, Fuse narrowed his red eyes, glaring at his father with a feigned look of annoyance.
"Such a traitor of a parent," Fuse muttered, then let out a long sigh as if casting off a heavy burden.
"Remember, betrayal always comes from your closest ones."
Hearing that, Isamu immediately let out a soft chuckle. His laughter lasted for quite a while, shattering the tension that had momentarily reclaimed the room.
Once his laughter died down, Isamu looked at his son with an amused smile and asked curiously, "Where do you even hear these strange sayings?"
"Social media, fiction, real-life experiences, and..." Fuse paused for a moment, then a faint, enigmatic smile crept onto his face.
"A previous life."
…
A/N: I tried to write a scene where Isamu seems to blame himself heavily, but that would create a repetitive and boring pattern considering I've already shown it in previous chapters. So I kept it brief. This is because it will lead to the next actions Isamu will take. Btw, I tried to insert a few quotes I found on social media, lol. And W random kids.