“What are we doing here?”

That was the first question Ryosuke asked when Kanata halted in front of a building after they got off the train and walked for some time. Adjusting the black beanie covering his hair and the glasses he wore in place of contact lenses, he observed the building.

“You’ll see,” Kanata resumed his steps to enter the building.

He was confused, but he followed after Kanata nonetheless while his mind wondering...

What are we going to do in a hospital?

Walking behind Kanata had him noticing the slight hunch of the lad like there was a burden on his back. He remembered how uptight Kanata’s face when he saw him this morning. It felt like Kanata had been dealing with something difficult inside himself. Maybe Kanata had been hesitated to bring him meeting Mirai? He shrugged it off as someone greeted Kanata.

Under the mask hiding half of his face, he observed Kanata conversing with a doctor. In the mid of the conversation, suddenly the doctor turned to him.

“You bring a friend, Kanata?” the question was intended for Kanata while the smile of the doctor was directed at him.

He bowed slightly just enough to be polite to the elder.

“An acquaintance, Uncle,” Kanata said, making him flinched inside. Kanata gestured him while telling the elder, “We’ll head off.”

Giving a small bow once again, they left the doctor and turned to a hallway.

“Isn’t it impolite not to introduce me to him?” He could not help but ask.

“And revealing your identity?” Kanata retorted.

He let out a mild sigh as he understood the reason. Kanata had insisted him to wear a masker to hide his face so that no one would recognize him and create a scene. He did not like to use a face masker for he felt suffocated whenever he tried wearing one, but the circumstance had him shoved aside his discomfort.

“You called the doctor by uncle?” he got another question to be asked while taking a spot beside Kanata to walk.

“He is indeed my uncle, and this is my family’s hospital,” came an immediate answer.

The fact successfully took him off guard. So, Hongo family was indeed rich, he thought, and becoming doctor seemed had been running in their blood through generations.

“Yamada,” suddenly Kanata halted, and somehow had a grim expression on the face.

“What?”

Turning to him, he saw hesitation in Kanata’s face when asking, “How long have you known Mirai?”

His eyes narrowed while he tried remembering the first time he got acquainted with her. “Since the beginning of spring, so... about half a year. Why?”

Kanata smirked unkindly, “Only half a year?” There was a hint of sarcastic in Kanata’s tone before he heard Kanata muttered lowly, “And you’ve suceeded to jeopardize her life.”

It sounded like Kanata did not intend to have the words heard by him, but he heard it nonetheless, and it kindled mix feeling between confused and annoyed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He probed.

He swore he saw Kanata’s eyes glistened when the man turned away and answered, “You’ll understand soon.”

He was about to probe more before Kanata halted in front of a VIP room. Without knocking, Kanata pushed the door open and he followed entering the room. Inside, he saw the room parted by a curtain, separating the part meant as ‘living room’ and the part where the patient’s bed supposed to be. A woman was standing before the curtain when they entered, but quickly turned to greet them when she noticed their presence.

Kanata bowed slightly, and he did so. The woman smiled gently, “You come, Kanata, and he is...?”

He was hesitated to introduce himself, but different from the previous encounter, this time Kanata answered without a doubt, “He is Yamada Ryosuke, Sensei.”

Surprise was evident in her expression, but she immediately regained her composure, and greeted him, “Nice to meet you, Yamada-kun. I’m Tachibana Reiko, Kanata’s and Mirai’s junior high school teacher.”

He perked up by the mention of Mirai’s name and the relation between the woman, Kanata and Mirai, but he managed to politely reply after taking his mask off and bowed slightly, “Nice to meet you, Tachibana-san.”

“I heard that your schedule is tight, but you come here today. Thank you,” the gentle smile and gratitude confused him even more.

“It’s not a big deal,” he smiled awkwardly while his mind imagining the lecture he would get from Anji-san tomorrow because of defying his job.

Tachibana-san turned to Kanata, and with gentler tone saying, “Thanks for bringing him here, too, Kanata.”

Kanata scowled, and that was the time he realized that inviting him that day was not Kanata’s own decision. It explained then why Kanata seemed reluctant during their trip to the hospital.

“Pardon me, but I’m really confused now. Why am I brought here?” He could no longer hold in his growing anxiety.

He turned to lo