Chains of the heart.

"It has been an hour...", Kanako wondered, as his eyes gazed at the wall clock.

"The second period must have been started..."

Being kinda bored, Kanako looked around, as if he is in an unfamiliar place, although his is.

His eyes locked on the pack of painkillers on the table, and a grocery bag.

Approching closer to the table, he found a cash memo, which shocked him to a great extent.

"This... this hasn't been brought long time ago?! Its been five days, and she consumed 10 of them!?"

He looked at sleeping Ayane, quite concerned.

"It must have been hard. Was she bullied in her class? If so, then why?"

Little did he know that he was the reason.

He went to pat Ayane's head again, out of sympathy.

"If it was bully, I have to do something about it."

As the time went on, his boredom increased, as well as his thoughts. His guilt that he has been trying to stop was growing more and more, to the point where he might start to cry. It was his first time e doing something like this. He feard that this might disappoint his mom.

Then a memory from his childhood came to him,

He remembered the time when he accidentally broke the vase that was in the living room. When his mom found out, he denied his deed, while his eyes moistened out of fear.

Looking at her son, his mother thought that it would be a good time to teach her son something important.

"Kanako, shall we go out to the park?", she said to crying Kanako.

But she found no response from him, who was busy controlling his tears. But it was as if he gave silent consent.

She prepared him and got prepared herself. As she was making him ready, Kanako avoided eye contact, out of guilt.

She took him to the park, which was filled with other children who were playing there.

"Want to go play with them?"

Little Kanako nodded his head, before leaving his mothers side to play. In the meantime, his mother found a seat to sit and watch.

But guilt got the better of him, as he couldn't play freely. It was as if... something was locking down his heart, and he couldn't free it.

Eventually, he left for his mom, and sat beside her, distancing himself from her a bit.

The silence grew between them, but his mother decided to break it.

"Kanako, remember, if you feel any kind of trouble, tell mom, okay? If you do a bad thing and don't know what to do, tell mom too. Mom will help you, okay?"

"But... won't you scold me?"

"As long as you understand, and promise not to do it again, Mom wont scold you."

"Really?", he smiled a bit.

"But if you do it again, Mom will scold you then, remember it, okay?"

"Okay!", he said.

"Now tell me, is there anything you want to tell mom?"

As he opened his mouth to speak about what he did, tears rolled down his eyes. One drop, another drop, another drop, and eventually it became a stream of tears. His mother embraced him, and comforted him. It was as if the chains of his heart was breaking. She felt a sense of relief.