I'm not leaving until you tell me why

TW: mentions of self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

This is the last night you'll spend alone,
Look me in the eyes so I know you know
I'm everywhere you want me to be.
The last night you'll spend alone,
I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go,
I'm everything you need me to be.

~ The Last Night - Skillet

January 18th

Nagihiko slowly woke up, dreading school that say. In class, they were preparing for a board test that was coming up in a few weeks, and in his other classes teacher were piling projects and assignments on the class like nothing. He expected a lot of work this school year, but this wasn't how he expected to deal with it. He found himself not only doing his own work, but helping Rima out with adjusting to life living in his house, and his mother constantly seeming to be over his shoulder. But those certainly weren't the things he had on his mind. Nagihiko is of course a teenage boy and despite his head telling him to just leave Rima alone with her feeling for a while, but his heart (and maybe his penis) was dying to get closer to her.

But Nagihiko trudged through the funk and got ready for school, brushing his hair and going to breakfast. Rima was there already, with her uniform skirt and shirt on, but no blazer or tie, and her hair was a mess. He smiled at her and greeted her good morning, and asked her how her sleep was.

"It wasn't bad, how was yours?" She said, tugging her skirt down a bit. Nagihiko shrugged, and took a sip of his drink. The two then sat in silence for the rest of breakfast, and afterwards went back to their respective rooms to finish getting ready. Soon enough, it was time to walk to school. They made small talk, about how much schoolwork they had and how they really hated their math teacher. When they reached school, the met up with their friends, and even though Rima wasn't in the best of moods she plastered on a smile even if just to reassure her friends that she was fine. Kukai was with the group today, even though he usually hung out with his soccer friends in the morning. Him and Nagi had been talking and they were both a bit worried about Rima but were happy to see her with her friends. It was definitely a support group of some sort for her, with the hectic-ness that was her life recently.

But as the day progressed, Rima's mood dwindled and her friends continued to carry on with their day, which was expected. The world couldn't stop every time someone was sad, and she wasn't expecting it to happen for her. But once the school day was over and she found herself back at Nagihiko's, which was hard for her to call home because it still didn't feel like it. She skipped dinner, and took a long bath instead, but as she came out of the bathroom wrapped tightly in her towel, she bumped into her long-haired roommate of sorts. She dropped her ball of clothing and as she picked them up, Nagihiko saw something. Specifically the somethings on her arms.

"Rima, are you okay?" He asked, his voice full of concern. Looking at him with a look of confusion, Rima replied sharply.

"Why wouldn't I be okay? There's nothing wrong, okay?" She tried to move past him, but Nagi stopped her.

"Rima, you know what I mean. What's going on with your arms?"

"Oh, those? Yeah, that's happening. Now can I go put on some fucking clothes?" Her cheeks her red, and she tightened her towel as she walked back to her room. Quickly dressing, a few knocks were on the door.

"Rima, why are you doing that to yourself? Please, just tell me."

"Dude, I'm not telling you. Now leave me alone." Rima said through the door with a scoff. Nagihiko opened the door, and Rima swore softly 'Not sure if the door locks but I should've at least tried.'

"Rima, why are you doing that to your arms? What's wrong?" Nagihiko asked, closing the door behind him.

"I've already said that I'm not telling you, okay? Now get the fuck out of my room."

"I'm not leaving until you tell me why."

"What do you expect me to tell you Nagihiko? That it's hard transitioning into this? That this is the only way to get out my emotional pain? That it's easier to feel it on my arms than to feel it tightening in my chest and making it near impossible to function? Is that what you want me to tell you? And do you expect me to let you just try to make it all better, come up with one of your shitty plans to just get through it silently? Because I am already being silent with this, and I don't need your help."

"I just don't know what to do! I just want to help her, y'know? But it's so obvious that she doesn't want to be helped."

"Why are you so damn set on helping her anyway? I'm a bit confused." Kukai said to his friend.

"Kukai, I saw cuts on her arms. Like razor cuts, not like scratches."

"Oh. That's pretty shitty then. But if she wants to talk about, I think she needs to actually be ready to talk about it, y'know?" Nagihiko was exasperated by this point.

"Kukai, it's not like i can let her suffer like that. "It's obvious that she's in pain and I cant stand by and watch her do it to herself. She's like a crumbling tower and there's got to be something we can do about it. She's already said that she doesn't want to suffer so I'm thinking that she obviously wants to stop but it's just the when and how she can repair herself and what we can do to help."

"Look, I'm up for whatever you want to do to help her. you're not the only one who cares about her. why don't you try telling your mom, I'm sure she'd be able to get Rima help." Nagihikio takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down to get in the right mindset to help rima.

"yeah, i'll bring it up to her. rima's gonna be so pissed though."

Ayameko walked down the silent hallway, heading towards rima's room. knocking softly, she asks if she's allowed to come in. a muffled 'sure' comes towards Ayameko's ears and she opens the door. "Rima, it's come to my attention that you've been... self-harming. did you want to talk about it?"

"listen Ayameko, anything your dumbass son has told you about the supposed cuts on my arms is irrelevant and non-existent." Rima said, tightly crossing her arms and looking at Ayameko with a sense of frustration.

"I have reason to think otherwise, my dear. Your body language is saying the exact opposite. Could you please show me your arms?" She asked kindly, with a concerned look. Rima sighed heavily, rolled up her sleeves, and extended her arms towards Ayameko. Her eyes widened, and watered slightly. A child who was placed in her care was hurting herself on purpose, and that broke her heart.

"I wish you could've told me this before."

"I thought you were going to be disappointed in me." Rima said, looking away from Ayameko and tugging her sleeves back down.

"My dear, I would be proud of you for telling me." Ayameko smiled a bit, and hugged Rima. "Now, what do you want to do? Do you want to talk to someone, get professional help?"

"Well I mean I guess it could be worth a try but I can't promise that it'll work."

"And that's okay. As long as you can admit your feelings and try to get help."

so that's chapter 14 guys enjoy i love you all stay positive