Chapter 143 - Mother (1/2)

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The interrupted memory began again when I was standing in front of the hospital room, soaking wet.

I don’t remember how many minutes or hours I ran around.

The soles of my feet were in terrible pain from going barefoot and were covered in blisters and cuts.

For some reason, I was afraid to open the door and couldn’t take a single step.

The interior lights of the hospital were dim and that made me feel uncomfortable.

It took courage for me to remember why I was standing here.

“Kunpei…. mom is waiting for you.”

My father, who was soaking wet like me, pushed my back.

My cheek, which had been slapped earlier, ached slightly.

I was sheltering from the wind and rain in the multi-story parking lot of the department store I wanted to go to, when my father appeared out of nowhere, out of breath, and hit me. He then hugged me strongly then gently and brought me here.

It was already dark outside, and the rain hadn’t stopped yet.

“Dad, why are we in the hospital? Is Shouhei sick?”

“…It’s okay, just go. Mom, isn’t mad.”

I thought that Shouhei’s condition had gotten worse because I had been selfish.

In hindsight, there was no relationship at all, but as a young child, I could only think that way.

“U-un.”

He pushed me gently again, and I finally grabbed the handle of the door.

The door, which was a sliding door, opened much more smoothly than I had imagined, and I squinted a little at the bright lights inside.

“… Kunpei?”

I heard my mother’s voice.

It was definitely my mother’s voice, but it was muffled and hard to make out.

She was lying on the bed and turned her head to look at me while stretching her arms out from under the covers towards me.

“Kunpei, thank god… Where have you been? Your father found you, didn’t he? Are you hurt? Ah, you’re soaking wet, Kouhei-kun, there’s a towel over there. Oh, your feet are all injured! We need to see a doctor. The reception isn’t closed yet, right?”

“It’s fine, you go back to sleep.”

She wriggled her body to get up, but father immediately stopped her.

Her voice was muffled because she was wearing an oxygen mask.

I didn’t know what it was called at the time, but I immediately understood that it was something that sick people often wore on TV.

“M-mom! Why? What’s wrong with you? Dad!”

I immediately ran to the bed and grabbed her hand.

“What? Mom…?”

My mother’s hands that were always warm and gentle.

My favorite hands were as cold as ice.

“Ah, your hands are so cold… make sure to take a bath as soon as you get home…”

“It’s your hands that are cold!”

She was more worried more about my body than her own.

She grabbed my hand with a hand that didn’t have any strength in it at all, and I couldn’t help but feel uneasy as he talked to me in the same way she usually did.

I couldn’t help but interrupt her loudly, and she let go of my hand, took off her oxygen mask, and put her index finger over her mouth.

“Shh. Shouhei is asleep. This is a hospital, so you need to be quiet, okay?”

“Shouhei?”

With those words, I realized for the first time that Shouhei was asleep next to Mom.

A cooling sheet was placed on his forehead, and he was breathing hard, gripping Mom’s shoulder with his eyes closed.

“… Kunpei, sorry about the department store, okay?”

“No, it’s alright. I’m sorry I was so selfish too. Let’s go again some other time when Mom and Shouhei are feeling better.”

It was at this point that I was finally able to be honest.

It was my fault for not listening to her.

Shouhei’s body is weak and it was all my fault that I had troubled her by saying all that.

My dad patted me on the head.

His hand, which always crumpled my hair without hesitation, was very unreliable at that moment.

When I looked at my father’s face, he looked at me as if he was troubled, and his mouth was bent into a crooked line.

“Kunpei, make a promise with Mom.”

I looked at mom again.

My mother, who looked somewhat pale, smiled gently and stroked my cheek.

“Promise?”

“Yes, a promise.”

She slowly sat up to not wake Shouhei up, and cupped my cheeks with both her hands.

I felt the cold hand gradually regaining its temperature, and with a sense of relief, I rubbed my cheek against her hand.

“The most important thing is to protect Shouhei. You’re his big brother, so make sure you help him when he’s in trouble or in danger, okay?”

“You don’t have to tell me that.”