The doctor closed his eyes and nodded slowly, but the meaning behind the gesture was sharp as a blade.

  Nagisa's lack of response prompted the doctor to continue speaking, his voice now directed at a man whose heart was breaking in silence.

  "Nyoko is suffering from a rare type of multiple sclerosis… it's uncommon, and that's what concerns me."

  Nagisa felt like his body was about to collapse, but he resisted. Not now. Not in front of the doctor.

  He took a short breath and turned to him, trying to hold himself together.

  His voice came out choppy, as if something inside was blocking it.

  "A-And... what is... this disease?"

  His voice was unsteady, trembling, barely escaping his lips.

  The doctor noticed his state and understood, then began to explain calmly.

  "It's a very rare autoimmune neurological disease, similar to multiple sclerosis, but more dangerous and long-lasting.

  It attacks the optic nerve, causing sudden vision loss.

  It also affects the spinal cord, which can lead to paralysis or weakness, and in some cases, even reaches the brain…"

  Nagisa's face fell. It was as if his world, made of glass, had begun to shatter beneath him.

  His entire body went numb, more like a corpse than a living man. Even his lips didn't move.

  The doctor felt the weight of the silence, but he had to continue, with what was even worse.

  "The monthly treatment cost can range from ￥70,000 to ￥145,000… if you have insurance."

  Nagisa felt a crushing weight in his chest that wouldn't lift.

  He nodded slowly, confirming that he had insurance, though his mind had already stopped functioning.

  He stood up from the chair unsteadily and left the office in silence.

  He walked through the hallway; nurses passed him and asked where he was going, but he didn't hear a thing.

  Everything had turned into a blur.

  He entered the restroom and headed straight for a stall with a blue door. He closed it and leaned against it.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  His legs gave out, and he slid down onto the cold floor.

  Sitting there, he hugged his knees to his chest and buried his head between them.

  "Why her?

  Why not me?

  Why does the world keep taking away those I love, what makes me happy?

  I can't... I can't live without her…

  Please… don't take her from me…"

  Those words repeated in his mind over and over, until he felt the burn of tears welling in his eyes.

  He could no longer hold them back.

  He began to cry… that strong facade he always wore shattered in silence.

  He cried and cried, until his cheeks turned red and long, unerasable trails of tears ran down his face.

  His body trembled on the floor, like the last leaf on a tree branch in autumn…

  Fragile, hanging by a thin thread needing only the slightest breeze to fall.

  ***

  In Nyoko's room, she was still unaware of what was happening to her husband… or what was happening inside her own body.

  All she felt was fatigue and a slight ache, which she assumed were just natural symptoms of childbirth.

  She was playing with little Haruki, swaddled like a warm sandwich in her arms, small, helpless, completely reliant on his mother to move, to guide him through the first steps of his life.

  Nyoko made a gentle cooing sound, which made the baby let out a soft, warm laugh.

  In the corner stood her mother-in-law, watching her first grandchild, a smile never leaving her face, following his laughter as it filled the hospital room.

  Soft, innocent laughter… unaware that beyond these walls, someone was silently falling apart.

  At that moment, the white door opened, revealing Nagisa behind it, pale, slouched, eyes swollen from crying, and surrounded by a heavy, dark aura that seemed to carry a mountain's weight of exhaustion and grief.

  His presence overpowered the warmth of the room, turning it cold.

  The flowers arranged on Nyoko's windowsill began to wilt, their beautiful petals falling one by one, as if the illness had touched them too, eating away at their core.

  The room fell silent as Nagisa entered.

  Both Nyoko and his mother instantly sensed that something was wrong.

  Terribly wrong.

  Something had walked into the room with Nagisa, something they could not yet name, but felt in the pit of their stomachs.

  "Welcome back,"

  Nyoko said, her usual beautiful smile soft on her calm face.

  She was trying to lift his spirits in any way she could, trying to add a bit of cheer to his heart.

  But to her surprise, Nagisa didn't respond.

  It was as if he was no longer the same man whose mood she could lift with a silly joke or a lighthearted laugh.

  Maybe what he carried now was too heavy to be touched by laughter.

  Nagisa looked at his mother, who wore a worried expression, trying to understand what had happened to him.

  He was fine moments ago, before he went to the doctor's office.

  He took in a heavy breath, which left his lungs in a shaky, burdened sigh.

  "Mom... can you take Haruki and leave us for a moment? I need to speak to Nyoko in private."

  His voice was firm, rougher than usual, as if speaking required a tremendous effort.

  As if even his body resisted the words.

  His mother wanted to object, her concern growing stronger by the second, but she stopped herself.

  She could feel how serious her son was, and understood that he needed this moment alone with his wife.

  She nodded in understanding, stepped toward the bed, gently lifted Haruki from his mother's arms, separating the two, and left the room…making sure to close the door behind her.