The air in the clubroom seemed to have been sucked dry by those words.
Kousei Arima, who had been about to step through the door, stopped dead in his tracks.
Miyuki Shirogane, Hachiman Hikigaya, Houtarou Oreki, and Ken Kaneki turned their heads stiffly, as though struck by lightning, and stared at Lin Xiao in disbelief.
And the radiant smile on Kaori Miyazono's face froze the instant she heard the words "terminal illness."
The hand holding her violin case trembled slightly, and a flash of utter shock and panic crossed her clear eyes.
"H-how did you know...?"
Kaori Miyazono instinctively took half a step back, even her voice trembling.
She had hidden her condition so well. Even her parents and doctors thought they could keep it under wraps for a while longer. How had this upperclassman she had never met exposed everything with just one look?!
"H-how is that possible?!"
Kousei Arima looked at Kaori Miyazono, his face deathly pale, as though he had taken a crushing blow. "Miyazono... she's always so positive, and she smiles so happily... how could she have a terminal illness? Lin Xiao, are you sure you haven't made a mistake?!"
"The light of nature doesn't make mistakes."
Lin Xiao's tone was as matter-of-fact as if he were stating a basic medical fact. "Multiple neurodegeneration, accompanied by a precipitous decline in cellular activity. With current medical technology, it is indeed a hopeless death sentence."
Hearing that merciless verdict, then seeing Kaori Miyazono's pale face, unable to deny it—
The boys' hearts clenched painfully.
Smack!
Ken Kaneki suddenly gave himself a sharp, resounding slap. His eyes reddened, and he was so ashamed he wished he could crawl into a hole:
**"I really deserve to die!! This girl is already this sick, and I fucking used virgin boy piss