Two weeks later...

Karamatsu cried out in pain early in the morning, feeling as if thousands of needles were stabbing him all at once.

Hands trembling, heart racing, Karamatsu shakily grabbed his phone, calling Ichimatsu.

"Hello?" Ichimatsu mumbled sleepily. He wasn't accustomed to waking up at 5 in the morning like Karamatsu was.

"H-H-Help..." Karamatsu wheezed before letting out another pained cry. His phone slipped from his hand, falling to the floor below.

Karamatsu shivered, trying to block out all the pain he was feeling, though it was absolutely impossible.

Within minutes, Ichimatsu came crashing inside his brother's home, tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong?!" Ichimatsu exclaimed, running to Karamatsu's bedside. "Are you okay? Do I need to call an ambulance?"

"I-It's fine..." Karamatsu choked, feeling nauseous. "I just didn't feel good and started to panic."

"Your lips are so pale..." Ichimatsu muttered. "Shouldn't we call the doctor just to be safe?"

Karamatsu didn't respond. He had passed out completely from the pain he felt.

"Good grief!" Ichimatsu exclaimed, picking his brother's phone up from the floor. Carefully, he dialed the number of Karamatsu's doctor, hoping he'd pick up.

An ambulance would cause too much of a scene. Plus, Karamatsu's doctor would know exactly what to do. He'd been caring for their family for years.

"Please pick up..." Ichimatsu muttered, awkwardly holding the phone to his ear. "Please...please please..."

Karamatsu was still out, and his breathing seemed somewhat pained.

The doctor picked up the phone and listened carefully as Ichimatsu attempted to explain what had happened.

"Come to the hospital right now," the doctor spoke urgently.

One week later...

Ichimatsu lifted his head up off of a table, which was in Karamatsu's hospital room.

As it turned out, the man had the shingles, and the medicine to fight it off had made him ill. His body was still extremely weak from chemo therapy, and had to be hospitalized just to be safe.

The clock ticked above Ichimatsu, each second dragging by slowly.

The thick hospital curtains were blocking out all sunlight, causing the room the seem as if it was still night.

Ichimatsu twisted his head to glance at the clock.

"It's 2 in the afternoon..." he thought, glancing worriedly over at his brother, who was fast asleep in his hospital bed. "You've never slept this long in your life! Wake up! I know you're tired, but you need to eat at some point, too!"

Karamatsu stirred a little in his bed, turned on his side, sighed, then went back to sleep.

Ichimatsu sighed. It was hopeless.

"I want to see you get better, you know," Ichimatsu thought somewhat irritably. "The doctor even said if you were feeling better today, I could take you home! But no. No! You just want to keep on sleeping. Stop being so selfish...you know how awful my nerves are..."

That evening...

Karamatsu sat up in his bed, laughing weakly with one of his neighbors, who had come to visit him.

"You know, that peach cobbler you gifted us last Christmas was absolutely spectacular!" the lady laughed, and Karamatsu continued to join in. "Would you mind sharing the recipe?"

"I don't mind at all!" Karamatsu smiled. "In fact, I think I have it down by heart...Could you give me that notebook and pen, Ichimatsu?"

Ichimatsu nodded his head as he reached for a pen and a thick, old notebook with papers falling out of it.

"Here," Ichimatsu handed over his brother's items.

"Thank you so much!" Karamatsu smiled. It was as if that was all the man knew how to do. Smile, after smile, he seemed to smile more and more each time he did such....

The next day...

"I'm so sorry..." a nurse choked, almost starting to cry. "It's all my fault this wasn't caught sooner...."

Karamatsu sat up in his hospital bed, smiling weakly. He had just been hooked up to his dialysis treatment, which he had to deal with every few days.

"It's fine," Karamatsu replied. "We've tried our best!"

Ichimatsu bit his cheeks, trying to fight back a wail growing in his throat. He could taste blood in his mouth, but he knew he had to stay strong for his brother's sake.

"The cancer spread all over your body," Karamatsu's doctor sighed. "And it's come back ten times stronger than before!"

"I see," Karamatsu replied calmly. "What are my options?"

"You could either go through treatments again, though there's no guarantee that they'll work at this point," the doctor spoke. "It'd be extremely painful, too. Your body might not be able to handle it at this point. Or...we could take you off of your dialysis."

"NO!" Ichimatsu objected, his voice cracking at the end. Tears began to spill down his cheeks like a waterfall. "Y-You can't take him from me!"

"Ichimatsu, I don't think I can keep fighting this anymore..." Karamatsu spoke softly. "My body is getting weaker as we speak."

"N-No..." Ichimatsu whimpered. "Y-You'll m-m-m-make it out just fine! You always told me you'd be just fine. You said this wasn't any b-b-big deal!"

"Shall I leave you two for a moment?" the doctor asked, but Karamatsu shook his head.

"When I was younger, I thought I could defeat anything. I didn't think life could beat me. But, you know- you can't always be a winner," Karamatsu smiled. "So please, let me die in peace. Take me off of my dialysis."