𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃

restcrts: a private multi-muse featuring characters from various media.

He's thankful that she's trying to keep her sobs to herself, but any little noise is another spike of pain and annoyance in his ears; Eito has to remind himself that he can use this information to his advantage if he's strategic enough. The fact that Nozomi has confirmed this is related to Takumi is enough for him to double down on this attempt — if he can make this whole thing worse under the guise of 'helping', then he can isolate the both of them even further ( he hates how his skin crawls when he watches those two interact as if there's some special connection between them ).

'That girl in the complex. . . that's right, Takumi has said that these two are identical.'

"He said... That he would erase me entirely if it meant he could have Karua."

"That's not really believable, Nozomi-san." Normally he wouldn't bother trying to talk to her on his own, but after Takumi brushed him off just a moment ago while running up the stairs towards the roof? His curiosity is piqued given how his rival this ugly girl is close to bawling.

She tried to collect herself. Nozomi had always been an easy crier. Which just made things harder for her mother time and time again. Takumi's response had been natural. After all, as much as she felt herself trusting him since they had opened up to each other, she knew that this girl in the complex was a special person to him.

Why did it hurt so much? It felt like a part of her was bleeding and bleeding. She had really foolishly believed that Takumi could value her at all. HER. A failed experiment. Despite her not sharing the past with him that other girl did, it still felt like she had known him for a long time. Like some past life or something. She hadn't really noticed that until this had broken her heart.

Eito was Takumi's best friend here. She really shouldn't confide in him about this. But he seemed worried. So...

"Egh-" He hiccuped. Oh no. Eyes closed, scrunched tight. Don't think about it. Don't. His eyes burned with tears.

He didn't even want to think about the last time he had poisoning. For all this time, he'd managed to avoid making himself or Karua sick, but he couldn't say the same now. What worried him more was that he didn't even know what his body wanted to do- besides the flush in his cheeks, he had grown slightly cold, and it was hard to tell if he was shaking or shivering. How... was he supposed to respond to this? Was he just freaking out for no reason? But why won't it just stop?

"S-sorry..."

Tentatively, he let go of his mouth and tried to breathe more deeply. Slowly. But the unease wasn't going anywhere. Just being in a position where he could... in front of Nozomi? No- he couldn't. He had to calm down.

Nozomi wouldn't think any less of him for getting sick. She lived practically stuck in the hospital due to her mother's work. She tried to pet his hair to calm him down.

"Try to breathe out of your nose. Breathing out of your mouth makes you more likely to be sick." She had been made sick by the experiments enough times to know. It gutted her to see Takumi go through this. She remembered venting to... Someone... No. She hadn't. She never told anyone.

"Shh... It's okay. You shouldn't have to do this alone." Her voice was soft, attempting to comfort. She hoped she wasn't making things worse for him.

"I- it's not... it's fine, r-really..." Contrary to his words, he's starting to get aches even from thinking about this. His stomach ached. Even if it was only small, it twisted up his gut in a way that he didn't expect. The thought of losing it like that... His memory just seemed to fail him out of nowhere- how did he even manage this? Stupid. Idiot. He knows how to do this. He's done it before, at home. How did he even...!?

Eventually, he tried to take her cue and focus on calming down- but the breathing was staggered, strained. The warmth of her hand made him feel at least a little comforted.

Nozomi guided him to the nearest seat and tried to get him to sit down so she could sit beside him. She could tell that he was having some sort of anxiety attack. She could relate. Even if it was brought on by a vastly different type of situation. She didn't let go of his hand, but she tried to guide his head to rest a little on her chest so he could feel her breathe.

"Here, Sumino-kun... Try to match your breathing with mine." She took deep, calming breaths.

"Y...eah. But it was already cooked once, right...? It should've been..."

She forces a smile. It looks like Takumi might be dealing with significant anxiety about this. Unless he actually did get sick from it. She places a gentle hand on his shoulder.