Iâm sure sheâs not even looking at us in the first place. She was wearing a mask of a smile on her face, looking out over the entire living room. Our every move was as oblivious to her as the flow of air, blending into her vision.\n\n
âUmâŠâ\n\n
I was curious and called out to her. She was replacing the heat cooling sheet.\n\n
âAra?ăUm, âŠyour name wasâŠâ\n\n
She seemed to have forgotten the name that I had given her once.\n\n
âItâs Ookusu. Is your body okay? Itâs a little cold hereâŠâ\n
âYeah?ăIt feels like it, but it doesnât bother me.â\n\n
To be frank, itâs hard not to be bothered. Weâre wearing warm clothes to clean this room, and itâs still too cold for us. If you have a fever, you should feel even colder.\n\n
â Your cold is not going away, isnât it? Are you taking any medicine?â\n
âI donât really like medicine. Risa took me to the hospital once, but I only took the medicine the first day. It worked for me until now.â\n
âBut if it hasnât healed so far..â\n
âYouâre worried about me, arenât you? Thank you. I may have a cold, but Iâm not that sick. My throat doesnât hurt and Iâm just a little lightheaded.â\n\n
Indeed, she didnât seem to be coughing or sniffling. Her cheeks were flushed, but her lips were not blue.\n\n
âI heard from your daughter, Risa. She said the fever hasnât gone down for more than a week.â\n\n
Mother Enami gave a composed nod.\n\n
âThatâs true. As we get older, we tend to heal more slowly. In the past, I would have been cured in a day.â\n\n
She smiled. The smile on his face was very similar to the one I had seen on Enami-sanâs face some time ago.\n
I think itâs mostly the environment that makes it hard to get rid of colds. The weather is cold, the hygiene is poor, and Mother Enam is mentally unstable. To begin with, instead of being cured, I feel that she might as well be wasting away little by little.\n
Mother Enami sipped the water again. Her forehead was covered with sweat again.\n\n
âOokusu-kun, right?â\n\n
Mother Enami said after setting down the plastic bottle.\n\n
âAh, yes.â\n
â If you come here too much, youâll catch a cold someday.â\n
ââŠDoes that mean I shouldnât come here anymore?â\n
âI wouldnât go that far. But if you get a cold, it will only make your family worry about you. My health is my familyâs business. Itâs not your concern.â\n
ââŠThatâs true.â\n\n
I think Enami-san also worries about that.\n\n
âRisa has you pushed around a lot, hasnât she?â\n
âI canât deny that pointâŠâ\n\n
Enami-san is not a person who is willing to open up about her thoughts and feelings in general. No one has ever been able to reach the depths of her heart that have been hidden behind the veil.\n\n
âStill, Iâm the one who decided to helpâŠâ\n
âRisaâs friends are kindâ\n\n
Behind me, the two of them were quietly cleaning. Iâm sure they could overhear our conversation while they were cleaning.\n\n
â⊠What were you looking at earlier?â\n
âEh?â\n\n
âWhile we were cleaning, I had the feeling that you were vaguely looking at somethingâŠâ\n
â⊠I donât quite follow what you mean.â\n\n
Mother Enamiâs voice faltered a little. I felt like I shouldnât pursue the matter too much, but I felt like it was the only time I could ask.\n\n
âToday, you didnât fall asleep, and your eyes kept looking this way.â\n
âI wonder if thatâs the case. I am not so sure myself.â\n\n
She refused to make eye contact with me.\n\n
â⊠after youâve been doing that for, what, an hour?â\n
âWellâŠâ\n\n
At that moment.\n
I felt the time inside Mother Enami stop. It was the same as before, when Enami-san had angered her. As expected, it would be impossible to pursue the matter any further. I gave up.\n\n
âWell, I guess it happens.â\n\n
Little by little, time advanced for Mother Enami. Her eyes, which hadnât even blinked, slowly moved their lids.\n\n
âI suppose soâ\n\n
She answered shortly as if to say that this conversation was over.\n\n
Iâm just a stranger. There is no need to pry any further than necessary. But I felt that I had to find out what was there to solve the problem at its root.\n
I cut the conversation short and went back to cleaning.\n
I silently collected the garbage. There was still a lot of trash left. But thanks to my hard work today, the area around the dining table is now much cleaner. Now all I need to do is clean up the kitchen, and things should be better.\n
It will probably take me two or three more days to complete the request. I didnât know if I would be able to cook, but I was going to do everything I could.\n
When I looked up and checked on Mother Enami, she was under the covers.\n
She was no longer looking at us. Maybe she was worrying about what I had said.\n\n
There were more than ten bags of garbage piled up in the corner of the living room today alone. By the time we finish everything, the pile will probably be twice as big.\n
We decided to do the bare minimum of sorting and call it a day.\n\n