c6 (1/2)

Please Give Me Love Chapter 6 (pg 219-242)

Chapter 6 – A Rabbit With Red Eyes After Staying Awake All Night

My Beloved Motojirou-sama,

When you don’t write a letter for close to ato be a bit of a formal start to a letter, but please bear with me I’ve been able to completely do aith all reserve ata joyous day-to-day existence that is co at the pre-school in Kitazawa The best thing about this place is that there is no bullying Everyone is kind and they’re all such wonderful people Although there are proble to do with the parents of the pre-school children, it’s nothing that botherswell

Currently, I a for the four year olds Children who have just begun to speak are so adorable and pure Everyday is fun, and I a atmosphere

And this goes without saying, but I haven’t gotten into any inappropriate relationshi+ps with any of the fathers of the pre-school children Please don’t worry about that I think a big part of why this is so is because things are going ith me and him (and by “him,” I mean my father) Lately, it’s even co to be able to say the word “father,” however aard itthat happened while I was being an assistant to his rehabilitation He almost tripped on the hospital stairs, and I instinctively reached out to support hi to, I said: “Father!” We both felt a bit embarrassed, and for a while afterwards, it was hard to keep a conversation going between us But this word called “father” has rerained deep within me

If it had been before, I probably would’ve felt repulsed by what slipped frorateful to time; I’ve finally been able to become at least a little more mature

Oh, and I also have one announce to be a bit hard to say (I feel kind of bad since I know you’ve been living day-in-day-out caring for another), but since this is the truth, I’ to tell you this If you could be happy for me, that would mean the world to me To be honest, I’ve found myself a boyfriend (or someone like it We haven’t even held hands yet) He’s a daycare worker who takes care of the five year olds, and he’s an year older than , he wasn’t my type, and he had this look like he was unhappy or, I don’t kno to put it, like he was going to be poor for the rest of his life, so I wasn’t really keen on hiht, by chance, he was very kind to me

When was it…? H that happened when I was on a stepladder hanging up decorations on the wall for the play that ere having, and while I was doing that, he silently came and held the stepladder for me It was an action that he did nonchalantly, but his face when I looked down at hi in love It waslike that, so at first, I didn’t knohere these feelings came fros into words He was the one who askedthat happened on ht, this happened while I aiting at the platforht it up out of the blue, and before I knew it, I had given him my reply: “okay”

I don’t knoill happen from here on out But it was the first timestep forward He’s a very kind person, and he’s been cheering lad I got to ot toI could say about you as well, Motojirou

It’s been a long ti letters fro care of another For someone like you who is in that kind of situation, I wanted to tell you: “I’ well” I wanted to put you at ease I wanted to lighten the burden on your shoulders at least a little bit I’ though, Motojirou It is s you’ve done for me until now That’s henever you’re in pain, please write ht not be able to kindly comfort you as you did me, but I will do my very best to write a reply to you

The pre-school is bathed in light, and it’s a place that motivates me to work I’m happy that I was able to find work that allows me to interact with such pure and adorable children My, what a surprise! To think I would use a word like “happy” Does this alsotwenty As a twenty year old adult, I want to live a life that I’m not ashamed of Motojirou, please watch over for me from afar

April 25th

Ririka

PS

To think I’ll be twenty soon— life has passed before I knew it! Yesterday, I dyed my hair a shade of brown for the first ti that I’ve become a bit more of an adult The place forto be at Disney Land We’ll be going there next Sunday, taking with us Andou-kun’s sister’s sons (they’re 4, 6, and 8 years old respectively) With regards to that, I’ll tell you more about it another day, okay?

My Beloved Nagasawa Motojirou-sama,

It has beco How are youout?

Although working at a large pre-school has its share of troubles, I’ my hardest in such a cheerfulit Yesterday, there was a serious happening in which one of the children broke out with a high fever and had to be taken away by an a, he ca had happened Children can be quite the , I think

It’s been quite a while now since I’ve co from you, but I wonder if it’s because you’re upset withover to where you live? Or is it because sout feeling that I won’t receive a letter froain

But I think that’s fine if that’s the case I’ve been able to h it would be an over exaggeration to call it complete independence, now I’e onhelp from you, Motojirou

I do feel a bit sad that our relationshi+p would die out like this, but this is probably what life is like It’s all about the repetition of s Life really is a mystery to allow for an i so pompous (it’s ridiculous, but fun at the same time)

Although I do feel disappointed that our long letter correspondence would end withyou letters, one day… and it really can be on an i a letter to someone, please send a letter to et you, Motojirou-san (Moto) I will never forget you I won’t Thank you for everything Well then, farewell Please give ood care of your body

May 15th

Toono Ririka

PS

The tree-lined street leading to the pre-school froreenness, and it is refreshi+ng and invigorating Everyday, I hold h as I walk down the street It feels as if the leaves are s pretty ith h

I’ll definitely do my best Thank you, Motojirou

Dispensing with the preliminaries—

This isyou a letter My naasawa Motojirou’s mother

I iine that you must be surprised by this sudden letter, but please read through this letter, at the very least for Motojirou After reading the last letter you sent addressed to Motojirou, I thought that perhaps it would be best not to inforazed at his picture,perhaps I should let you know about the death of Motojirou, orried about you to the very end, and upon thinking it over once again, I came to the decision that I should indeed tell you

My only son, Motojirou’s brief life came to an end at the start of March of this year As I atteht now, rief and sorrow from this reality

How is it that I should possibly begin to explain? As you have already realized, Motojirou never worked at the ropeway That was a complete fabrication on his part And I had the role of passing on your letters to Motojirou, who had been hospitalized for a long time

At times, when he had difficulties with his vision, I, in his place—although I felt truly sorry for doing this– read your letters out loud to him However, to , it is not the case that I read your letters fro It was only for the few letters from the end of last year, and the ones that he received at the start of this year I’ve only runa ti the letters on his own, along with the ones that were sent after his death

He never allowed me or anyone else to read your letters It was only when he realized that was the only way for him to read your letters that he caards to the contents of your letter correspondence with him, I do not know the details That is a world limited to you and Motojirou that continues to be protected preciously even to this day

In addition, Motojirou never allowed anyone to write in his place Until the very end, when he was no longer able to put strength in his fingers, he continued to write you letters in his own hand This is why I iine that the latter half of the letters you received from him must’ve been quite difficult to read He also continued to turn down suggestions to use a word processor (he kept insisting that that wouldn’t convey warmth), and it took hile letter

In the rest of this letter, I will be opening up to you about the truth However, this is not Motojirou’s wish I could have just remained silent, but I couldn’t help but think that you had a right to know the truth, so in place of Motojirou, I would like to tell you the truth

What I must confess to you first off is the fact that Motojirou is your older brother You two are biological siblings Your icalbirth to you I am at a loss as to how I should explain this fate It ht inadvertently cause you sorrow But please, respond to these unskilled words that I a your way the best way that you can

Your father, Usui Akihiko-san, lost the will to work after losing his wife, and around this same tie sca coinally came from Tokyo on a marine products-related work position, but he wasn’t very well acquainted with the people here Our relationshi+p was one that was forh the job my husband, who passed away, had, but still, our relationshi+p was not a close one by any means

It was by chance that your father (Usui Akihiko-san) left Motojirou in our care and went into hiding, but I think this was a decision that he ca Motojirou happy Your father, as being chased after by loan sharks, took only you along with him and ran away to a relative’s house in Tokyo We took care of Motojirou for a while, but since he was not our child, we decided to leave hie We did visit hi that, eren’t in a position that allowed us to take him in This was because ere poor as a consequence of your father’s company bankruptcy However, after we found out from a medical standpoint that ould not be blessed with children,Motojirou as our son I was in agreeestion He was a sincere child, and we did have that unique bond, after all

And yet, while Motojirou was growing up, an to live together with just the two of us Motojirou, who had reached adulthood, was able to land a job working in the local touris One day, there was an unusual change in his condition, and I found out that he was facing an incurable illness This was so that happened in the summer of his twenty-second year

That hen I made the decision to tell him the truth This was because however short his life ht to choose to do with his life what he will I also told Motojirou, who had just begun to battle his illness, that he had a father and younger sister

At first, he took the information in in a blank daze, but next, it seedown the whereabouts of his father and younger sister who shared his blood lineage I also aided in his search by tracking down an acquaintance of Usui-san’s Gradually, ere able to narrow the scope, and one day, we ed to find out first your father’s whereabouts Shortly after, we also found out that you were living in an orphanage not far froht of Stars orphanage who acted as a go between to offer information We were also told of how you had attempted suicide Motojirou was very troubled by this This was how he came to the decision that he wanted to first atteer sister as in the depths of misery, rather than reunite with his father

Although he came to such a decision, he couldn’t reveal his identity as your older brother to you Even if he were to reveal hi from this world in a few years It see more cruel than that As a last resort, what he ended up co your pen friend and continuing to cheer you on through letters, he was trying to save you fro and of only speaking the truth” was so that came about as a way to hide his difficult situation

At one point, it seems that he tried to end his letter correspondence with you when his ti He seems to have believed that it was his last role as a human to make his sister happy as best as he could This belief also beca days

In addition, I also think that for him, rather than focus on the parent who had abandoned hiuide the sister whom he had never met who lived under the sa in even worse circu he could do as an older brother Boosting your spirits was also the way that he boosted his own spirits

Another thing he did was fabricating an iinary character named fuki-chan (as you already know, he used my name) To be more accurate, it was this character “fuki” as Motojirou himself If you read the letters he sent to you froain, it will beco hospitalized and having collapsed, put si which he was experiencing these things He was the one who underwent surgery, and as suffering fro deteriorated overlapped with the ti as he willed it And the surgery to make an incision in fuki-chan’s windpipe that occurred at the end of last year was, of course, when Motojirou hiery

The letter that he wrote dated February 1st (it was one that took many, many rewrites) became his last letter It was only for a small portion of that letter that I wrote on behalf of hiether The tears that poured froain, and each time that would happen, I had to neatly wipe them away so as to not leave a stain

He focused his entire being on writing that letter And afterwards, the only reply he could give to your letters were the tears that he shed There were also tier bear the pain of his oerlessness at not being able to protect you, and he broke down crying

It was those tears through which he communicated his last wishes