Chapter 34 Past ⑧

“…Satoru!”

A few minutes after his younger sister left the room, Reika came in with her mother.

The moment Reika saw Satoru with his eyes open and conscious, she rushed to him and threw her arms around him.

“Reika…! I appreciate the sentiment, but—ow, ow, ow!”

His head was still spinning and his whole body ached. But Reika paid no mind to any of that and hugged him with all her strength.

“I’m sorry for making you worry. I wanted to come through like a real hero, but I guess this clumsy outcome is just like me.”

“I don’t care about that! As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters!”

“As you can see, I’m safe and sound, so stop crying already. If you cry like that, it feels like I’m the one who made you cry—it really stings, you know?”

Even if Reika had been under a lot of emotional stress recently, she had never broken down like this.

That’s why the sight of her weeping uncontrollably, completely disregarding who might be watching, left such a strong impression.

Once he finally managed to calm Reika down a bit, her mother came forward and offered her apology.

But Satoru already knew from what Reika had told him—there was nothing they could’ve done.

So he really wasn’t sure what kind of words to offer in return.

“For me… the most important thing is that nothing happened to Reika. And now, I believe there’s no longer any threat to either of you. That’s all that matters.”

His father and sister had told him to think carefully about what to say, but he hadn’t come up with anything clever. So he just spoke honestly from the heart.

For something said by a middle schooler with a still-developing brain, he figured it was a reasonably mature response.

Reika’s mother shed tears at his words.

“You two must have things you want to talk about, just the two of you. I’ll leave you alone now.”

Once the conversation had settled down a bit, Reika’s mother left the room, leaving the two of them alone.

“Feeling a little calmer now?”

“Yeah…”

“Seriously, though, shouldn’t I be the one asking that?”

He tried to joke around lightly, but Reika, her face swollen from crying, stayed quiet and didn’t smile at all.

The heavy atmosphere left Satoru unsure of what to say next—he felt completely lost.

“…Well, with this, one of the biggest obstacles in your life has been completely removed. Now there’s no more reason for you to stay out so late all the time, right?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I mean… after everything that’s happened, maybe you could start spending more time at home. I’m sure your mother would be relieved.”

That’s what he said—but the truth was, he just wanted to be with her as much as possible, like they had been until now.

Even so, Satoru truly believed that would be best for her.

“…I can’t accept that.”

“Huh?”

“It’s written on your face. You’re saying that just for my sake, even though it’s not what you really want. Otherwise…”

Reika looked him in the eyes as she continued.

“You wouldn’t be making such a lonely face!”

“…”

“You’re incredibly pure. That’s why it’s always written all over your face during moments like this. Saying something with a face like that? No one’s going to believe you.”

He knew she was right.

These past few months, how much of his day had been spent with her?

Losing that time… was something Satoru could barely stand to imagine.

“And besides…”

Reika took a breath before going on.

“I love you. No matter the reason, having less time with someone you love… that’s painful.”

“Reika…”

“You’ve protected me, stayed by my side, supported me. There’s no way I would not fall for someone like that.”

He never expected she’d say it so plainly—that someone he loved would tell him they loved him too.

“I’ve said it before, but… it’s because you were there that I was able to keep going. Please… don’t take away the reason I’ve been able to hold on.”

Once again, Reika leaned forward and hugged Satoru tightly—blanket and all.

“…Was I really about to make a terrible decision just now?”

“You were. You saved me, sure, but then you were going to walk away, leaving me with trauma while going against your own heart. No one would be happy with that. That’s just cruel, you know?”

“Yeah, that is awful. No wonder people say I’ve got a villain arc going on.”

Despite his little sister’s pep talk, he’d been ready to do exactly the opposite.

“If you really feel bad about it, then say it here and now—that you’ll stay with me. If you don’t, I’m going to start crying again and squeeze the life out of you.”

“Okay, okay! Then… let’s keep pushing forward together. Entrance exams are right around the corner, after all.”

“Of course. Though I’ll deduct points for that last line, since it sounds like the exams are your main motivation.”

“I worked up the courage to say that and you still come down on me?”

“Which just proves that deep down, you can’t wait to stay by my side, right?”

“Yeah, I can’t deny it! I want to be with you, always! That’s the truth. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone this far.”

“Good answer. I’m satisfied.”

“Actually… with injuries like this, I’m kinda starting to worry if I can even take the exam properly…”

“There’s still time. You’ll heal. And even if you can’t study as much as you want, I believe you’ll pass anyway.”

“Well, uh… I’m more worried about the whole ‘incident’ and how that’ll look on my record, you know?”

“You did nothing wrong. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“When you say it like that, it really puts my mind at ease.”

When Satoru said that, Reika finally smiled a little.

“I’m going to come visit every day while you’re in the hospital. Actually, I’ll study right here next to you—up until the very end of visiting hours.”

“That’s not exactly relaxing. And I don’t think you can do that unless I get transferred to a general ward.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. The doctor already said you might be moved tomorrow, assuming there are no complications.”

“Well, yeah… it’s just pain, otherwise I’m fine.”

Honestly, Satoru was happy Reika would be coming. But once he was moved to a shared room, he had a feeling the other patients might start teasing him about it.

“Would you be able to eat fruit?”

“I can. But you don’t need to go through the trouble.”

“I figured you’d say that. But from my side, this is something I want to do, so I’d be happy if you accepted. Just something we can share together, okay?”

“I see. In that case, if you bring some, I’ll gladly accept it.”

“Good. That’s the kind of honesty I like. I hope you stay that way from now on.”

“For a middle school boy, that’s a pretty tall order.”

And so, the two of them managed to overcome the heavy burden Reika had been carrying together.

For these two, the looming high school entrance exams were now nothing more than a small hurdle in comparison.

Satoru stayed home from school for a while to avoid causing a stir over his injuries, but during that time, he and Reika threw themselves into one final hurdle—together.