Chapter 33 (1/2)

When I went to Ma on the knitted item from before

“I’ve brought one more person with me today,” I said

Ma and she made a puzzled expression “Who is it?”

Kayama entered the room from behind me Even from here, I could see that he was nervous

“Do you remember me?” he asked

“Umm… Ah, I remember! If I recall, you’re the person Isurprised

“I’m happy that you remembered me My name is Kayama Akira”

“Well then, I can call you Akira-kun”

Kaya us alone for a little bit?” he said hesitantly

“Yeah… Alright”

I quietly left Mamizu’s room I sat on a bench in the corridor and looked up at the ceiling, bored During the day, nurses walked back and forth busily up and down the corridors

Kayaht

Of course, I didn’t have the right to stop him

Even so, there was a kind of gloo in my mind

What was this? Jealousy? I felt like s bitterly at this pathetic emotion inside me

And then I thought about thebehind Mah I’ve been rejected, I still love Maht

I looked at the clock and saw that only five minutes had passed

I felt like ti Time didn’t flow evenly; different periods of fiveor short I felt like the time I spent with Mamizu was short Time that was precious was short, while ti Why isn’t it the opposite? I wondered

I closedFor soood does it do ht

I heard the sound of the hospital roo thrown open violently I turned around to see Kayama

“Hey, Kayaan The retted it

Kayama wasn’t in a state for me to call out to him

He stared back at me, his face ashen, hollow and expressionless The word ‘du at so that I’d never seen such a powerless expression on his face before

He stayed silent

Confused, I just looked back at him

“It’s so frustrating,” Kayama said finally, as if he had barely squeezed the words out He stayed expressionless, but his words were emotional

With that, Kayaet away from the hospital room

I didn’t knohat to do

I wondered whether I should chase after Kayama, but then decided that I should leave him alone

And then I entered Mamizu’s room

Mahed Silence passed by

“It’s gotten hotter lately, hasn’t it,” I said vaguely as I approached her

“Akira-kun said that he likesastonished

“I see,” I said

Had Mamizu just replied, “I’m sorry,” like she had done with me?

“What did you say?” I asked

“Sorry”

As I expected, I thought

But Mamizu continued “I told him that there’s someone else I like” She looked at me with a somewhat powerless, pathetic expression

“O-oh I see”

It was kind of a shock It was a sudden shock It was the first time I’d heard this

Who on earth was it?

When and where?

I was confused

But I didn’t ask

“Hey, I went to visit shi+zusawa Sou’s grave the other day,” I said, changing the subject I opened the photos I took the other day on my phone and showed Mamizu the screen

“Wow, it really says ‘無’” Mamizu returned to her usual self and stared at the screen of reat interest “Maybe I should have ‘無’ written on rave, too”

“I’d kind of want so else”

“Like what?”

“Neurosis, maybe?”

“That’s terrible,” Ma

I laughed with her

“What’s next?” I asked

“What?”

“You know, the things you want to do”

“Let’s see… Well then, I want to try sht?”