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Chapter 8 : She’s Starting to Visit – Part 2
After Amiru left, Shoichi suddenly began to feel restless.
It was because he was now alone with Yui. He wanted to talk to her, but it had been so long that he didn’t know what to say.
It’d be easier to talk if Amiru was standing between us.
He inwardly grumbled, but called out to her anyway.
“Um…”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Um… How is your living situation?” These were the words that came out of his mouth.
In fact, he wanted to ask her about her illness, but he was somewhat hesitant and switched his mind halfway through. In actuality, he was curious about this too.
Yui smiled and followed up Shoichi’s words with a giggle. “Are you worried about our finances, by any chance?”
“Yeah, well… Auntie can’t work, and Amiru doesn’t seem to have a part-time job or anything.”
“Fufu, thank you. We’re fine. We’re getting help from my husband’s relatives. He came from a surprisingly wealthy family. So you don’t have to worry about our living situation.” After telling him that, Yui looked at Shoichi meaningfully. “And it’s not just my extended family that’s helping us. You haven’t heard anything?”
“Eh, what do you mean?”
“Your mother is helping me too. She helped me with this hospitalization.”
“Eh?!”
“Your mother and I were classmates in high school. We’ve always been close. That’s why she used to leave you with me, but after I got hospitalized, she said she wanted to thank me and paid for everything.”
“I didn’t know that… No, I knew Auntie and my mom were friends, but I didn’t know she was paying for your hospital stay. Is it really true?”
“Yes.”
“That means she knew about Auntie’s hospitalization… What the h**l, she could have told me. I’ve been indebted to Auntie a lot too.”
“Fufu, I was just being considerate. Before, I thought there was no need to tell Sho-chan anything unnecessary when he was avoiding Amiru.”
“I, guess so…”
Shoichi wondered if it was just a matter of being nice, but he dared not say anything.
To such Shoichi, Yui stared at him intently, but then shifted her gaze to the air and mumbled, “But I’m glad that Sho-chan is with Amiru again. I was a little worried about what would happen if she had a lot of trouble in her life, not to mention the money part. But with Sho-chan, who is a strong person, Auntie really feels at ease.”
“N-No, I… I can’t do anything that great.”
“But when you were little, you used to pull Amiru along with you. Don’t you remember? That time when you were in the first grade, at that villa…”
“Ah, yes.”
During the summer vacations, the Kashima and Yuzuki families, who were family friends, once went to visit the Kashima family’s villa on top of a mountain–which they lavishly owned–to have fun and relax.
It was a small but solid structure, and above all, there was a wooded area nearby with insects and a flower garden, which was quite the sight.
Amiru was the one who wandered into the area. When she found out that there was a flower garden, she couldn’t stay still. At the time, she was a quiet girl, but she had all the energy of a child. She took Shoichi with her and explored the forest like crazy.
‘Sho-chan, over there, over there. Catch the beetle.’
‘Yes, yes.’
However, it was then that they got lost. It was Shoichi’s fault for not being able to stop Amiru from going ahead, but in any case, they found themselves lost on the way back.
The forest path was divided into several sections, so it was hard to tell which was the right path.
‘What should we do, Shou-chan…?’ (T/N: Not a typo.)
Amiru was on the verge of tears, but Shoichi calmly replied, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got this.’
From the adults’ conversation, he knew that this forest was located south of the villa. The only thing left to do was to find out which way was north, using the knowledge he had acquired at the time, based on the annual rings on the stump and the moss growing on it.
Afterwards, he marked the path with branches to make sure it was safe to go back and check the way to the north. Thanks to this, they were able to return safely.
The adults were impressed with Shoichi’s quick thinking and praised him for it. It was at this time that Shoichi began to realize the importance of studying.
“However, it was just a small wooded area, and if an adult had come looking for us, I think we would have been found immediately. Rather, I regret that I was so reckless as to try to find the path with the knowledge I had only heard about.”
“No, that’s not true, it was a big deal. Besides, thanks to this, Amiru has come to trust you. I’m sure she counts on you.”
Indeed, since then, Amiru seemed to be following him around frequently saying, “Sho-chan, Sho-chan.” This was up until elementary school.
However, the current Amiru–
“To be honest, I don’t really understand the current Amiru.”
“Ara, why is that?”
“Because she’s not the same girl who used to walk behind me. She’s not the quiet Amiru of back then. She’s cheerful, light-hearted, and likes to talk nonsense just like the friends around her… Really, she’s doing a lot of things that are hard to understand, or rather, she’s being wasteful.”
As he was mumbling this, Yui suddenly extended her hand.
Pock, she smacked Shoichi on the head lightly. And before Shoichi could even blink his eyes, she held up one of her fingers.
“Sho-chan, one correction.”
“What?”
“There is nothing in life that is trivial or useless. What may be meaningless to you may be important to others.”
“That’s… But…”
“Besides, Amiru is Amiru. She’s not like who she used to be, but she’s still the same person. I’m her mother, so I can guarantee that.”
Yui smiled at him, and then her expression suddenly tightened.
“So Sho-chan–Please take care of that girl.”
“Eh, ah, yes!”
She suddenly bowed deeply, and Shoichi nodded his head several times in panic.
Even though there’s no need to be so formal. As he mumbled this in his heart, the door opened again.
A girl he knew well came stumbling in.
“Ah, Amiru. Did you finish talking to the doctor?”
“…Yeah.” Amiru nodded, but seemed to be somewhat preoccupied. As she was, she slowly looked at Yui.
Yui tilted her head, but then suddenly smiled and told her, “Amiru, it’s late. You should go home for the day.”
“But Mom–“
“In return, you have to come visit me again. Ah, that’s right. I haven’t had pudding in a long time. Can you bring me some the next time you come?”
“Y-Yeah.” Amiru finally smiled at those words and turned back to the door.
“Ah, oi, Amiru. Wait for me.” Shoichi hurriedly followed her.
Although she had regained her smile, Amiru’s condition was still a little strange. He wondered if the doctor had said something to her.
A little curious, he asked in the hallway. “Hey, Amiru. What happened?”
“Mhmm, nothing happened.”
Amiru sounded a little cheerful, which relieved Shoichi, but he didn’t notice that her response was somewhat off from his question.
As they were, the two of them walked to the exit of the hospital ward–
“Ah!”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry, Sho-chan. I forgot my bag in the hospital room. I’ll go back and get it!”
“What the h**l are you doing…? Alright, I’ll wait for you.”
Amiru hurried back on her heels.
While he was waiting for her, Shoichi looked around, not quite sure what to do with himself. That said, there weren’t many people around at the moment, and other than the nurses walking around the corridors, nothing really stood out.
There was a lobby with a TV in the distance, but it was empty there, probably because it was closing time soon. He wasn’t particularly interested in the program either.
“I’m kind of bored.”
I hope Amiru comes back soon, As he thought this,
“I heard that Yuzuki-san’s daughter received an explanation?”
What?
When he heard a familiar last name nearby, Shoichi couldn’t help but look in that direction.
He looked over and saw two nurses standing side-by-side, placing some equipment on a wagon. They were probably preparing for a medical checkup. One of them was the woman who had come to call Amiru earlier.
That woman murmured in a hushed voice.
“Yeah, I feel sorry that we couldn’t live up to her expectations.”
“If that medicine had worked well, her mother’s condition would have improved significantly.”
“It can’t be helped. The effect of that medicine varies from person to person. There was no guarantee that it would work.”
“But don’t you think it’s too pitiful for her daughter? At that age… Her mother’s suffering from such an incurable disase, I just can’t believe it.”
Incurable disease? Auntie?
Shoichi hurriedly tried to listen more closely, but the two nurses’ words were full of technical jargon, and in the end he could not understand what disease Yui was suffering from.
However, it seemed to be a very serious illness and not something that could be easily cured.
Since she had been in the hospital for three months, he knew that she had a serious illness, but as Shoichi listened in shock, the nurses’ expressions became more somber and their voices lowered.
“But really, I don’t even know what can be done about it.”
“Yeah, I feel sorry for her and her daughter. They’re a single mother and child family.”
“You’re right. If things stay like this–Yuzuki-san only has a year left to live, right?”
“……!?” At those words, Shoichi almost shouted.
–What did she just say?
He wondered if he had misheard something or if it was about someone else. Shoichi wanted to question them, so he turned to face the nurses.
And then, right there. Amiru came back, out of breath, with a bag in her hand.
“Sorry I took so long… Hmm? What’s wrong, Sho-chan?”
“No, um… It’s nothing. Let’s go.” Shoichi said, giving up on confirming anything and decided to leave the ward with Amiru.
However, his heart was still beating loudly in his chest. Sweat beaded on his palms and he felt thirsty.
Does Amiru know about this…?
About how her mother might not have another year to live.
However, even if he wanted to ask about it, he didn’t know how to start the conversation. In the first place, was he even qualified to ask such a question?
Shoichi pondered this and that, but there was no way he could come up with an answer, and all he could do was keep silent.