He stared at his wife, a breathless, nervous laugh escaping his lips as he tried to defuse the sudden whiplash. "Honey! Honey, please... why did you hit me out of nowhere?! What on earth did I even do wrong this time, huh?"
But Mrs. Kamitani wasn't laughing at all.
A loud, painful sob suddenly burst from her throat. Before he could even move, she slammed both of her trembling hands straight over her mouth, desperately trying to cover her tear-stained face as the bitter, hot tears completely exploded down her cheeks.
Her shoulders shook violently from pure, overwhelming madness and emotional exhaustion.
"What sort of a father are you?!" Yuna screamed through her fingers, her muffled voice breaking into a breathless, raw sob as she showed all her hidden terror onto him.
"Do you have any idea what I have to endure?!" Mrs. Kamitani suddenly cried out, her muffled voice breaking into a sharp, breathless sob as she fiercely wiped at her eyes.
"Yuna, please, just calm down for a second—" Mr. Kamitani started, reaching his hands out in a panic to calm her down.
"Calm down?!" she shot back, her green eyes flashing with a raw, defensive fury as she stepped back, completely cutting him off.
"I am drowning in my own world of corporate cases at the Firm all week long, Ayato! I prepare Memos until my eyes bleed, and what happens the moment my weekend starts? Do I get a single second of peace in this house?!"
Mr. Kamitani opened his mouth to speak, but she didn't give him a single millisecond to breathe.
"No!" she shouted, her voice cracking with pure emotional exhaustion as she began looking hurriedly across the kitchen tile.
"The absolute second I step through that door on my day off, Kento and Shido have already formed a total alliance against me! They are a complete nightmare together! Just yesterday, Shido convinced Kento to sneak into the upper study, and they completely ruined the fabric layout I was examining!"
"Honey, they're just boys, they were probably just playing—"
"They threw ink on the embroidery base, Ayato! The whole black fabric layout is completely stained!" she screamed through her fingers, her shoulders shaking violently as she used the complaint to block out the image of the burning mark she had seen that morning.
"And don't even get me started on how they drag Hori and Shiyi into their little schemes! They never listen to a single word I say! They run around creating absolute chaos until my head completely spins, and you are always stuck at the Tokyo High Court, completely unknown to it all!"
"Yuna, that's unfair, my schedule this term has been—"
"I don't care about the court's schedule right now!" she interrupted, slamming her hands back over her mouth as fresh tears spilled over her knuckles.
"You always leave the heavy lifting to me! You completely ignore how wild they're getting! I am ordering you right now—you need to stay home more often! You need to look after your own sons instead of leaving me alone to break down in this kitchen!"
Mr. Kamitani didn't argue. He didn't defend his High Court schedule or point out the flaws in her logic. Instead, a soft, incredibly warm expression appeared across his face as he silently pushed his chair back.
He stood up from his seat, his long steps taking him across the kitchen tile until he appeared directly behind the chair in which she sat.
Leaning down slightly, he brought his face closer to hers, a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he quickly tried to break through her thick wall of panic.
"My, my..." Mr. Kamitani teased softly, his voice dropping into a playful tone right next to her ear. "Has my brilliant, top-tier Corporate Lawyer wife finally grown so old that she can't even handle the little yapping of her two favorite sons anymore? Where is that fierce woman who terrifies the entire Firm, hm?"
Mrs. Kamitani's breath caught, her hands still resting over her mouth as she shot a sharp, watery glare sideways at him. "Ayato, I am being serious—"
"I am being completely serious too, darling." he interrupted smoothly, his eyes glowing with absolute fondness.
He tilted his head, inspecting her tense posture with an exaggerated, dramatic look of concern. "Let me guess... your back hurts from carrying the weight of this entire household, doesn't it? Tell me, where exactly does it hurt? Is it right here?"
Before she could even process his words, Mr. Kamitani reached down. His large, warm hands settled firmly onto her rigid shoulders, and he playfully began to massage the tight muscles of her upper back, using just the right amount of gentle pressure to force her body to loosen up.
"Ayato! Ah—stop it!" Mrs. Kamitani instantly gasped, a bright, sudden blush rapidly spreading across her cheeks as the pure embarrassment overtook her heavy tears.
She moved slightly in her seat, trying to remove his hands away without any real force behind her movements. "Stop doing this right now! What if Shido or Hori walks back in here, or Kento wakes up? Don't do this, it's embarrassing! And I am absolutely not old enough to be needing a back massage from you!"
"Hush now, Counselor..." Mr. Kamitani laughed softly, his deep chest vibrating against the back of her chair as he completely ignored her weak protests.
His thumbs traced soothing circles along her collarbone, his touch turning incredibly tender, warm, and soft. "Just relax, Yuna. Take a deep breath and leave everything to the Lawyer."
Hearing that familiar, reassuring words, Mrs. Kamitani's defenses finally crumbled. The rough, suffocating tension left her body all at once.
She stopped moving, letting out a long, quiet sigh—a soft, involuntary "Haaah..." that breathed out all the exhaustion hidden under her collarbones.
She allowed herself to sink completely back into the safety of his touch, her eyes closing softly as his hands began to gently knead the heavy stress right out of her shoulders.
But then, right in the middle of the soothing warmth, the peaceful atmosphere suddenly fractured. Mrs. Kamitani's eyes slowly opened, the relaxation draining from her face as a quiet, heavy thought gripped her mind.
"Why?" she asked out loud, her voice dropping into a flat, unsettling whisper.
Mr. Kamitani's hands instantly stopped their continuous movement. He paused, leaning his upper body forward until he was resting his chin gently on her right shoulder, his breath warm against her skin. "Did you say something, honey?" he asked softly, a trace of his earlier playful tone still lingering in his voice.
Mrs. Kamitani slowly turned her head toward the right, her gaze shifting until her eyes locked directly onto where her husband's chin rested against her shoulder. She looked at him with an intense, quiet seriousness, her voice dropping to a very low murmur.
"You didn't ask about it, Ayato." she whispered, her green eyes piercing straight into his. "In every single matter, whether it's a minor fight at the Firm or a tiny issue with the kids, you are always the most curious person in the room. Your instincts never switch off. But why not today? Why didn't you ask me what happened to Kento?"
Mr. Kamitani immediately pulled his chin back, lifting his head as he let out a short, forced laugh. He waved his hand dismissively, trying to force a confused, easygoing smile back onto his face.
"What do you even mean by that, Yuna? I'm completely lost. I just thought you were overwhelmed by the boys' usual morning behaviour—"
"The mark."
The two words left her lips like a cold, heavy stone dropping into a glass of ice.
Mr. Kamitani froze entirely. The fake smile instantly shattered, his hands completely locking in mid-air as the air in the kitchen went entirely dead. His chest tightened painfully.
"What...?" he breathed out, his voice suddenly losing all of its warmth.
"This morning, when I went up to Kento's room to check on him, he wasn't well." Mrs. Kamitani continued, her voice trembling slightly as she recalled the moment.
"He looked incredibly pale, and the second he saw me, he tried to hide it. He told me that his stomach ached."
She let out a fragile, humorless breath, her lawyer instincts mixing with a mother's terrifying intuition.
"But I know my son, Ayato. Kento has never been interested in Human Anatomy. To a boy like him, any pain in his midsection is just a generic stomachache. He didn't know how to tell me properly."
Mr. Kamitani's heart began to hammer frantically against his ribs, a sickening wave of panic rushing through his veins as he stared at the back of her head.
"He said his stomach was hurting..." Mrs. Kamitani whispered, her fingers clenching into tight knots against her lap. "...but when I actually noticed where his hand was pressing, he wasn't holding his stomach at all. He was tightly clutching the left side of his body."
Mr. Kamitani's eyes widened in pure, raw terror, his breath completely catching in his throat as the dark, bloody memories of the ancient basement rushed to the surface of his mind. The panic completely paralyzed his limbs.
"Right below the rib...." she said.
The specific, forbidden location left her mouth, and the psychological weight of the truth became too heavy for the quiet room to hold.
CLATTER!
---
🖋️ AUTHOR'S NOTE 🌙
Well...
The secret that haunted the Kamitani family for eleven years has finally begun knocking on their door again.
I had been looking forward to writing this conversation between Ayato and Yuna for a long time. It isn't loud or action-packed, but sometimes two people quietly talking can carry more weight than a battlefield.
I hope you enjoyed Chapter 52. 🤍
Now, I also wanted to let everyone know something.
My exams are getting pretty close, so I won't be able to publish chapters as consistently for a little while. 📚 (•﹏•;)
The Divine Whorl is absolutely not on hiatus, and I have no intention of abandoning it! I simply need to give my studies the attention they deserve before I can return to the Spiral with my full focus.
Thank you so much for your patience, your comments, your theories, and for continuing to walk beside this story. They genuinely make my day.
Wish me luck for my exams! 🌸
I'll see you again soon.
Until then...
Take care of yourselves, and don't let the Spiral make you overthink too much. (≧▽≦)✨
----
✦ 🔮 A GLIMPSE INTO THE NEXT CHAPTER 🔮 ✦
"What awaits beyond this page...?" 🌙
(灬･◡･灬)♡
"Imagining things?!"
"GOD DAMMIT!!!"
----
🗝️HIDDEN BETWEEN THE PAGES 🌙
Fun fact:
Ayato tried three different strategies in this chapter.
✅ Comfort wife.
✅ Make wife laugh.
✅ Give wife a shoulder massage.
None of them survived.
(￣▽￣;)
----
🌙 The stars may fade, and memories may sleep...
But the Spiral continues to turn.
Until we meet again beneath the same forgotten sky.
(•▽•;)
— SakuraShinomiya