Kazuma couldn't stop teasing him. "You kissed her? You? How did that even happen?"
Kento smiled but said nothing. His silence said everything.
But soon, Kazuma noticed changes. Kento was leaving home more often, returning late. He was secretive, distracted. Then one morning, Kazuma discovered the piggy bank — broken open. His savings gone.
"You took my money?" Kazuma shouted.
"I borrowed it. For Arisa," Kento said quietly.
Kazuma's eyes flared. "She's changing you! That witch took my friend away!"
That night, Kento woke with pain surging through his chest. "Kazuma," he whispered, "I need... the toilet."
Kazuma, still bitter, ignored him. Seconds later, a loud crash echoed. Kento had fallen from the bed. Blood filled his mouth.
"Kento!" Kazuma screamed, rushing over. He called an ambulance, trembling.
At the hospital, the doctors worked in silence. Then one came out and said, "He's in the final stage of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. We'll need to insert a tube for him to breathe. He may never speak again."
Kazuma's knees buckled. "It's my fault," he whispered. "It's all my fault."
---