Chapter 139 – Returnee, lanting his helplessness
Translator: Pink Tea Editor: JackOFallTrades
_______________________________________________________________
When the detectives left, the doctor introduced himself as『Maeno Koichi』
After lightly addressing so details about the treatnt, I was led into the assigned private hospital room.
After leading to my room, the nurse promptly leaves as well, leaving alone with Mai.
「…To think I am repeating grades.」
Not sure where to begin, I just mumbled those words.
The lack of mories over a period of more than a year, the mass disappearance and the magic circle, and it would seem that I am the only one who ca back.
「One year, one year, huh… That’s quite long.」
Probably due to the passage of ti, a situation that was so hard to comprehend started to feel more real.
I began to slowly accept the story that I deed impossible when I first heard it.
「……Tell , Mai. Did Kenta and Suehiko really disappear?」
Even so, in the hope to hear that『It’s all was just a joke』, I ask a question. But Mai gave a slightly saddened look, which only a family mber would be able to recognize, and shook her head.
「…Among brother’s acquaintances, the only one whose whereabouts are known is Yuuto-san」
「! Yuuto is okay?! 」
「It is a quite rare and big incident so it turned into an open investigation. It is also possible to see a list of those who disappeared from the school.」
Mai took a smartphone from the bag and for a while, she was fiddling with the screen.
「…This.」
On the display of the smartphone, which was handed to , was a ho page of the police.
I scroll down a simply compiled list that ca along with proviso requesting for information.
On that list, the nas of my best friends『Itou Suehiko』and『Kida Kenta』 were clearly written.
And not only them, but most of the classmates I can rember are also on this list.
「Why…, is such…」
There was no aning behind the words of denial that leaked out.
Even though I am only looking at rows and columns made up of letters, I still felt a numb pain in my chest.
I recall what the inspector has said.
Among the vacuum of what I cannot rember, are there any hints that could help in finding them?
（What happened. Why can’t I rember anything…Shit, what did I…）
However, trying to rember anything only made thestronger feeling that I am getting deeper into a quagmire stronger.
Feelings of loss and impatience are stirring up uneasiness in my heart.
「…Brother, please go to sleep. I can not bear to look at such a miserable face of yours anymore.」
Pretending as if she is about to cry, with quick movents, my little sister snatches the smartphone from my hands.
She talked and acted the sa way as I rembered her, but with Mai growing slightly taller than the last ti I saw her, that inconsistency triggered a distinctly felt feeling of discomfort.
There is a ti I know nothing about. A ti that had passed of which I have no recollection of.
There is sothing in the depths of that empty void, sothing important to .
「…!」
I’ve got a headache.
A severe headache. Pulsating, it feels as if the space between skin and bone is burning with fire.
「It’s fine, for today just go to sleep, brother. If you keep overexerting yourself, your face which is diocre to begin with, will really turn into sothing that no one except will be able to look twice upon. For your little sister, it is too much.」
「Yea will do. Sorry, I made you worry.」
When I beca conscious of it, a wave of exhaustion swiftly overca and I was assaulted with drowsiness.
It is still early in the evening, but I am not quite able to endure it anymore.
Let’s leave thinking for later.
As I thought of such, I laid down on the bed and Mai gently covered with a blanket.
Yup, hospitals ain’t that bad at tis. I can feel my little sister’s love.
Though were I to say that out loud she is likely will twist my ear, so I have no intentions of doing that.
「……It’s okay since reforming my unruly brother is my job. So, don’t go any further… 」
「? Ma, I…? 」
Unusually, Mai closed her mouth when she was about to say sothing.
It was bothering a bit but I let the entity known as sleep take as I closed my eyes, unable to resist the warmth of the bed.
☆
「It’s my fault. Hic, It’s my fault.」
A small child was crying in a corner of the room.
No, the one crying is not the child, it is .
「Sorry, I am sorry…」
It is an old dream. A bit old and bitter mory that was burned into .
Father and mother were away, working, and only Mai and the that just beca a primary school student were at ho.
Being a sickly child, Mai didn’t go outside too often and today as well, she was sleeping at ho since she had a slight temperature in the morning.
『Mai, do you want anything? Want to read you a picture book?』
『Books are fine. Rather, let’s hold hands.』
『Sothing like that I can do as much as you want.』
She had a slightly lost expression on her face as the palms of her hands beca slightly wet due to her fever.
『Your hands are so warm…』
『Anything else? Is there sothing else you want to do?』
『Nothing…You don’t have to do anything…… Just stay with … Brother… I don’t want to be alone.』
『Got it, yup, I will stay like this.』
When weakened, she becos really honest and spoiled.
Grasping my hand, she gradually drowsed off.
A little sister that could not bear to stay alone was unbearably cute to . But usually, when Mai was sick, mother or father stayed with her. However, two of them weren’t here at the mont.
Being able to care for my little sister, I was full of myself.
The little sister that always took a rebellious stance being this honest felt incredibly good.
To my weakened little sister, to this situation where I was the only one she could rely upon, I felt sothing akin to a sense of superiority or even desire to monopolize.
Since that ti, I only made mistakes.
I did not see what was the most important thing to or even the true form of my own feelings.
That is why, leaving my sleeping sister alone, I went outside. To buy the apple yogurt that Mai liked, I departed towards the nearby convenience store with several coins in my hand.
Thinking that Mai surely will be delighted when she wakes up, I easily broke my the promise.
Without thinking about what Mai wants at all, I left lonely sister alone.
Just a mont after I said『I will stay like this』, I left Mai all by herself.
Mai, who woke up and did not find nearby, went outside looking for and was drawn into a traffic incident.
「God, please, save Mai…」
When I lost sight of an ambulance that carried Mai away, I felt like I will never see her again.
It never occurred to that ho without anyone there can feel so cold and lonely.
Making her experience sothing like that, what a shaful and disgraceful brother I am.
As if locking myself into a small box, I hugged my trembling knees.
☆
「Nnmn, Mmmm, Aaah…」
Upon awakening, I didn’t feel so bad.
I was more level-headed but a bad aftertaste from the dream crept along.
「It’s night already, that is a problem. I woke up at a weird ti.」
Looks like my sleep was more shallow than I thought.
In the dark hospital room, a luminous display showed that it was a bit over eight hours.
The room, where only routine sounds from dical ters can be heard, felt cold and inhumane.
The silence that was stealing warmth from one’s heart reminded of that empty ho where I awaited Mai’s return.
This is the sa hospital where Mai ended up after that accident.
TProbably this is probably the reason why I saw that old dream.
On the table beside the bed was a note that contained the words:
『See you tomorrow, I will bring a change of clothes. When you wake up, eat your food thoughtfully and then quietly lie on your side like a dead fish and rest.』
…She,that as always, had to add a couple of twisted, unnecessary words.
「…I am thirsty.」
When I beca aware of my thirst, my sense of hunger returned as well.
Don’t they also serve als at hospitals?
It also was ntioned in Mai’s note, could it be that the food was taken away when I was asleep?
「…Nurse call would be anne an exaggeration. It’s not like I am feeling unwell. Let’s look for a stand and fill my stomach with sothing.」
As I was about to do so, I notice that I don’t have any money on .
I rummaged through the desk beside the bed but it had neither a wallet nor a cellphone.
「Guuugh… Even so, this hunger won’t do.」
When I realized that I won’t be able to eat, the feeling of hunger beca even stronger.
After deliberating for a while, I sighed and left the room.
Since it ca to this, let’s catch a nurse and ask if it’s possible to get sothing to eat.
In the corridor, no one could be seen except for so patient-like people walking here and there.
Walking over the linoleum that did not change since Mai’s hospitalization, I was looking for an information board relying on my faint mory of this place.
And when I was about to turn a corner, I heard a voice.
「But that is just terrible, isn’t it?, I an that patient in the private room on the third floor. They say he is involved in that disappearance case. 」
「Yes, that boy? On one hand, I pity him but isn’t it a bit scary? Didn’t they incite an incident not so long ago? Even though it is not his fault, you know what I am talking about.」
（Disappearance incident? Are they talking about ?）
「But, I hope that things will get better for that little sister now. Losing everyone she could rely upon she did her best all by herself until now, didn’t she? 」
（? No one to rely…?）
Gradually feeling of sothing being terribly wrong enveloped .
Could it be called foreboding? A bad premonition was filling my heart.
I felt that I will regret listening to this conversation any further, but I could not run away.
「She is a clever girl, but she is only sixteen.」
「Yea, right, even if she got money from insurance. It’s that pattern when money alone won’t bring you happiness.」
「Both of her parents are dead and even the whereaboutseven whereabouts of her aunt and grandmother are unknown…」
There, I heard the sound of a key locking up Mai all by herself in that loneso and cold house.
Reviews
All reviews (0)