NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 3: Chapter 1
Chapter XXIII: The Ill-Stricken Recall
As the school year ends for Senior Class 1-A, Akiko thinks of enrolling for second year in Kota's school. After thinking straight for about ten minutes, she tells her mother about this but she refuses. Knowing that this situation would occur, she urges her. In the end, she complies.
Akiko arrives at their classroom but she's the first one. She finds her desk and sits. She then brings out her phone and plays a game. Five minutes later, she hears someone at the door. The door opens and it's Kota. Upon seeing her, he drops his bag and rushes to her. He is very glad to see her there.
"How did you get here?", asks Kota.
"Tehehe, it's a secret."¸ says Akiko.
While waiting for the others, they chat to one another.
"There is one guy I really hate back from my previous school. Although back then in elementary, he was always been like that. Very flamboyant, elegant and obnoxious. And he managed to show up there. His personality became even more worse and to top it all, when I taught him a lesson, he still does some flirtatious things to me. That is one of the reasons why I transferred here", says Akiko.
After their orientation, Kota is about to go with Akiko but Asahi and Enmei pull him. The highest temperatures erupt that time making it hot enough to boil an egg on the metal playground. Even though they already know this, they aren't aware of the consequences. They walk the entire city just to eat Takoyaki. As they are also finishing their iced coffee, Akiko texts Kota if he's ok and Kota tells her that he's fine. They finish at 12nn and start to head out again on the blazing streets of the city. After that, they all go home. Kota gets home and lays on his bed. 15 minutes later, his mother then phone calls him and asks him to help her with the groceries. He gets up and goes out of the house again. After getting home again, he feels ill but at least he helped his mother. While playing his phone in the living room, he feels a little hot and he tells his mom. It turns out, he has a raging fever. Upon arriving in his room, he receives a notification on his desktop. It is Asahi which then bugs him to play chair wars. He texts him in reverse about his condition. Asahi then replies that he already knew it during the hangout.
Just two months before their junior high school graduation, it turns out that Asahi had anxiety and depression which he was shown to a psychiatrist. He had suicidal tendencies like drawing lines on his arm with a cutter. Another time was when he and Kota video chat and due to what happened to his platonic relationship with a girl 4 years younger than him, he appears to have a noose in which Kota tries to warn him about the dangers of what he is doing.
A week after that, Asahi arranged a hangout with Toshiro, Kota, Enmei, and Masashi. This was to help each other with the modules. Although he is the first to suggest the said hangout, he's the late one. Toshiro, Enmei, Kota, and Masashi gather at a fast food chain and while they are eating their lunch, their topic is about him.
"Who in the world would even show off their own ways to commit suicide?", exclaims Toshiro.
"I know, he's like advertising it to his closest friends", says Enmei.
Then Kota speaks,
"I think he's seeking attention."
He continues,
"I've seen him doing self-harm during our video calls but he's somehow not continuing it afterwards. From all that, maybe he wants attention".
Masashi says,
"Although he is like that, we need to understand and be patient about his condition"
"We only need to respect his condition", says Toshiro.
Speaking of the devil, Asahi turns up and all goes silent. The flashback ends and back to the present where Kota wakes up and looks at the time which is 7pm, dinner time.
The next day, as he is waking up feverish, Kota hears a familiar voice calling,
"Yoooooooo, are you awake? I'm coming in."
Then he feels something heavy on the bed. He opens his eyes and sees Akiko in front of him. Kota appears speechless from this.