Three days after the dinner, Ryosuke walked back from his work. He finished early this time. It was only afternoon when he stepped out of the train station. He had a thing circulated in his mind; something that happened just this morning.

It was break time on their rehearsal and he was sitting alone in a corner. Suddenly Daiki came to him flashing his wide smile and offering a sport drink. He took it and said thank you before gulping down some sips.

“What’s bothering you, Yamada?” Daiki was sitting casually on his side.

“Eh? What?” He did not want his friends worry about him.

“Need not to pretend, you know,” Daiki said.

He sighed as he realized he could not hide anything from Daiki. Daiki was always the first one noticing when he was down even when he had tried hard not to show it.

“See, Daichan,” he started, “Your friend is in trouble and you want to help him, but you don’t know how. What will you do?”

Daiki answered seconds after, “Hmm, it depends on your friend, too. But if it was me, I would just ask him what I can do to help.”

Just after Daiki finished, they were called back to resume the rehearsal.

He considered Daiki’s advice. Should he ask Mirai directly? How if she did not want people meddled with her business? But he really wanted to know about Akira and had the strong urge to help him. Heart disease was something serious, wasn’t it? Akira’s medical treatment must cost much, too.

“Yamada-niichan!” a familiar voice pulled him out of his daze.

He turned around and saw Akira and Mirai walked hand in hand toward him. It seemed Mirai had just picked Akira up from school. When he threw a glance he noticed that they were not far from the river of their neighborhood.

He tried to smile at the boy, “Just finish school?”

Akira pulled away from his sister and scurried to him, “Un! Today sensei asked us to tell a story about our hero and I told them about Yamada-niichan.”

He blinked in surprise and astonishment, “Eh? Me?”

“Akira considers you as his hero, Yamada-kun,” came the answer from Mirai.

Curious about the sudden information and remembered about his previous worry, he gathered all his courage to ask, “Erm, Shida-san, can I talk to you? Just a few minutes… I guess,” he put a hand on his nape, this time without a smile.

She looked at her watch and then answered, “Alright.”

**********

Ryosuke and Mirai had been in the riverbank for about five minutes. Akira was playing with his ball not far from them.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” Mirai broke the silence.

They stood side by side with enough distance between them. While watching Akira, he started hesitantly, “I apologize in advance. I don’t want to be meddlesome or such, but… Akira told me about you doesn’t let him play outside and about going to doctor.”

He dared himself to turn his head and looked at her, but she