Chapter 161 (1/2)

Volume 2

Chapter 140

Father and mother are dead?

Aunt and grandmother are missing?

What is that? What Is that what is that what is that what is that?

Looking back, there was a lot of unnatural details.

The first person that appeared when I woke up was Mai.

All the following explanations began without my parents showing up.

Which is strange. It’s not like I am conceited, but my parents most likely would have abandoned all of their work and came running to me like Mai.

Even if they can’t do that, they would at least give me a call.

But in reality…

「Really…? Father and mother are really dead?」

For some reason, when I said those words aloud, I couldn’t bring myself to doubt them.

「Granny and aunt are also gone?」

My Grandparents, with the exception of my grandmother from my mother’s side, were all either dead or at a retirement home.

Aside from my unmarried aunt, there were no other relatives we could rely upon.

And if both of them are gone.

Then what about Mai? What happened to her? Who stayed with her?

「This is, this is just…」

My head is spinning.

My breathing became shallow, my heartbeat got faster and the ringing in my ears grew awful.

「I have to go… I have to I have to I have to I have to I have to.」

While I still can meet her, if I can meet her, right now I can still go to her!

「…!」

Overwhelmed with impatience, I withdrew from that place step by step.

I ran down the stairs, tried not to make a noise and searched for an exit.

The front entrance was already closed. Suppressing my rushing heartbeat, I found a place that looked like a rear entrance.

After having snuck past the yawning sleepy guard, I rushed away from the hospital’s territory.

I got to a broad road and found myself in an unfamiliar place, looking upon an unfamiliar scenery.

A whole crowd of people was going on with their business among the clusters of the night’s darkness that was scattered by lights from buildings and shops.

A cold night wind calmed me down a bit, making me realize that I have no idea how to reach home.

「Shit…」

Nevertheless, this hospital shouldn’t be that far from home and I also had the general idea in which direction it’s supposed to be.

I never came to this area, but as long as I ran along a big road, I will eventually reach familiar places.

「….Ey, Hey!! Hey, wait!!」

Then I heard someone calling out to me.

「Hii, haah, haaa, you, you are, quite fast. Wa, wait a moment, let me catch a breath.」

The one that called out to me was a bespectacled woman in a shawl and with a black rectangular bag over her shoulder.

Dressed in a coat, the woman that appeared to be in her late twenties was breathing roughly, producing steam out of her mouth.

「Pheew… Calmed down. Hey, you are Ukei-kun, right? Ukei Kaito-kun.」

「Aah, well, yes.」

「Yes! Stakeout was worth it!!」

I had no recollection of this woman that had a very sociable smile and called me by my name.

Ignoring my stare filled with doubts as to why she knew my name, the woman was clenching her first and striking triumphant pose.

「I am reporter for『Monthly ・Utopia』Kawakami Kumiko. Mind if we talk for a bit?」

「No, I am in a hurry so I’ll be going.」

「Then how about that family restaurant… Eh? What?」

Ignoring the woman that introduced herself as a reporter, I tried to get away from that spot.

「Wa, Wait a moment! Please, just ten, no, five minutes!」

But the woman got in front of me and blocked my way.

「There is a place where I have to go right now, so give up on it.」

「I can’t just give up! From the way you look, you escaped from the hospital? If I contact the hospital, they will come to bring you back right away. If you won’t answer my questions…」

I will be brought back to the hospital? I won’t be able to meet with Mai?

Something inexpressibly dark swelled up inside me when those words reached my brain.

『Don’t get in my way don’t get in my way don’t get in my way, don’t get in my way, don’t get in my way don’t get in my way.』

「Enough, get out of my way, otherwise…」

—————I will kill you.

「Hii?!」

「Ah…」

The frightened voice cooled down the fuming dark emotion that I have never experienced before.

What was this feeling?

It wasn’t a joke or a bluff. A feeling like every bit of my blood has turned into something entirely different, I seriously thought about killing this woman.

（Kill? What am I even thinking, why I have such violent thoughts…）

Though I did not say those words aloud, I felt a certain weight behind them.

There is no point in thinking about that, there is no way I can do something like that.

Yet it felt as if it was the most reasonable thing to do.

「I, I am sorry, I had no intentions of threatening you. I finally got to meet you after being on the stakeout for a whole week and got in a weird tension.」

For better or for worse, the confusion caused by the sudden surge of emotions weakened my anxiety.

「No, I am sorry as well, but I must go right away.」

「Eehm, I don’t get the circumstances but is that place somewhere nearby? If you are going to run around like that you will be in custody in no time.」

「That is…」

When I thought about it, I realized that the white hospital gown really was attracting the stares of the people around me. And it seems that argument from just now brought even more attention.

I surprised myself just how hastily I acted, including the fact that I just jumped out without any plan.

「…Nevermind, anyway, it looks like at this rate I won’t be able to get anything from you… Or rather, making ruckus might turn into problems for me as well… And I am kind of scared…」

After mumbling for a while, she made a deep sigh of resignation.

「If you have a place to do, then I will get a taxi for you. I’m sure you didn’t bring any money so I will lend you some.」

「Huh? No, Why…」