Emotional Plague (Estrangement Syndrome 2) ✅

Prologue

June 22nd, 2013

He didn't want to see anyone, and he didn't want anyone to see him. He just want to curl into a ball and disappear.

San had never felt such a terrible pain inside of him in his entire life. His stomach throbbed and ache, and the pain wasn't getting better. Hugging his knees to his chest wasn't helping the pain, but instead made it worse. But he had needed to curl into a ball to fit into the cubby, and he didn't want to come out.

They hate me. They hate me!

He couldn't shake the thought and cried harder against the top of his knees. "Papa," he whispered, his small body shaking. "Papa...help me..." a sob gurgled in his throat but he tried to be quiet. He didn't want to be found.

San hadn't heard the footsteps outside of the cubby. When the fusuma was gently pushed open, he cried out and pressed himself against the back wall. He raised his arms and gloved hands, as though expecting a blow.

"Well, well. Here's where the birthday boy has been hiding."

San gasped, and lowered his arms. "H...Hogo-sama?"

Hogo Monbon smiled down at him with his gentle smile. His eyes were always so kind and always without judgment. The elderly gentleman slowly knelt down to sit on the floor next to the open fusuma. "What are you doing in there, San-kun? You've made everyone worried, you know. Your Papa and Otou-san have been quite frantic trying to find you." He held out his hand to San. "Here. Why don't you come out and we go and see them?"

San shook his head, scrubbing his hands against his face. "I-I can't! I can't go!"

"Oh? Why not, San-kun?"

"Hogo-sama, they—" the words caught in his throat and he turned away to face the way.

"'They' who?" Hogo asked him. His tone was low and calm. "San-kun...did you speak to the visitors from Seirei-Kai?"

San quickly shook his head. "San-kun," Hogo said. His tone was still calm but disbelieving.

"I d-didn't," San protested, still facing away from him. "But I—they—" he hiccuped on another sob. "T-They...They said I killed someone!"

Hogo let out a sharp gasp. "...They said what?!"

San pressed his face against the wall, his tears returning once more. "I h-heard them! They said—They said I was bad! They called me a h-h-h-h-hiru! A leech! They said I was a-always going to be bad!"

"San-kun," Hogo said. His tone was serious and coaxing. "San-kun, please come out. We need to see your fathers this instant."

"I CAN'T!" San screamed. His shriek rattled in his own ears. "I can't see them! They—They—They said I k-k-killed...!" He let out a noise of anguish and curled into himself once more.

"San-kun," Hogo implored him. "San-kun, please come out. Everything will be okay, just please—"

"Is he in here?!"

Terror and panic shook San's body at this shout—the voice—and he screamed. He scrambled out of the cubby past Hogo and frantically crawled across the tatami mat, but he was grabbed from behind by strong and large arms. "I'M SORRY!" he screamed, and he began struggling violently. "I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN IT, I SWEAR!"

"San—San!" Renjiro Kadokawa held his son tight despite his struggles and sat down on the floor with him. "San, calm down! You're not in trouble, you just scared us!"