“Kaa-chan! Tadaima!”

I heard the front door opened while Sora’s voice echoed around. I glided out from my bedroom to welcome my daughter. Just as I exited the room to the hallway, she appeared from the corner and immediately ran to me. I bent my back to receive her hug. The wheelchair slided a little because of Sora’s excitement.

“Okaeri, Sora-chan,” I mutterred to her ear. Sora had just returned from nursery school.

Sora pulled away, and when I straightened my back, I saw Obasan came, smiling before disappearing into the kitchen.

“Ka-chan, I can see Tou-chan today, right? You promised.”

Sora’s big smile almost suffocated me. I felt hot tears began to form behind my eyes, but I knew how to suppress my emotion well. So, I bent to meet her eye level and mustered a smile, “Yes, but you should change first then eat your lunch. After that, we’ll go to the hospital.”

“Okay!” Sora answered me with a peck on my cheek before dashing away to her bedroom. A wide grin never left her little face.

I heaved a sigh.

It had been the tenth day since his accident, and he had woken up three days ago. But I had not seen him at all. In fact, I had not visited the hospital for the last week. After Kawaguchi Haruna’s visit, Fuji-ojisan had insisted to let him alone watching over him in the hospital while I should just stay at home with Sora. I had forbidden Sora from visiting hospital after she was brought home by Ojisan that day, but she started throwing tantrum, and Fuji-obasan had difficulty to calm her down. I did not have a choice, because Sora would only listen to me or him.

Sora had been too attached to him, and that was my fault. Sora was a lively kid, thus she liked to run around, but my physical handicap had me unable to fulfil her requests of playing. He fillled the role I wasn’t able to.

“Ka-chan, I’m ready!” Sora pulled me out from the thought.

She wore a cute pink dress under white knit cardigan, while a small rabbit-head-shaped bag hunched on her back, her shoulder-length hair made into twin pony tail. My daughter was always adorable, moreover with a big smile on her face.

We waited until Fuji-ojisan picked us up with his old car. Usually I went anywhere by myself since government had been so kind providing public transportation which accommodate people with disabilities like me, but since Sora was going to go with me, I would not take any risk.

During the ride, Sora who was sitting at the passenger seat beside Oji-san kept being cheerful. She told us about her friends and her experiences in school. But seeing her so happy, I wondered what would be her reaction when the divorce got finalized.

Honestly, I had been considering a lot about that. Was I being selfish by asking the divorce? Because Sora was happy with him, and he seemed to not mind about living in the marriage. He even asked me to reconsider the decision, didn’t he? But... it’s not only about me and Sora. It’s also about him and his life.

I looked out through the car window glass, recalling the meeting with Kawaguchi Haruna a few days back.

“Then what is the meaning of your visit this time, Kawaguchi-san?”

It was Ojiisan who got the words out for me after she told us that she was his ex-girlfriend.

She looked at the bed before turning to me and answering the question. “I don’t mean bad.” At this, her expression solemned. “I visited his office yesterday, but they said he is hospitalized.”

“Ryosuke got into accident three days ago,” Ojiisan said. “But what did you want by visiting him?”

I reached out to hold Ojiisan’s hand, trying to calm him down. He was too obvious in showing his dislike toward Kawaguchi-san.

“I wanted to return something,” she took out an envelope from her hand bag and handed it out to me.

I looked up with questioning gaze.

“He sent me this letter about a week ago,” she answered. “And I thought that it’s not me who should read that, because I’m a nobody in his life now. So, please help me to return that letter to him when he wakes up.”

After a brief pause, she added, “I just want to tell him how stupid and unfair he has been all this time to the people around him. You and I are included. Please tell him, it’s not only me that he should tell about his secret. She also deserves to know.”

“She?”

She only give me a smile, a bitter one in my opinion, “Just tell him that, he will understand.”

While I stared at the envelope, she, as sudden as her arrival, announced her leave, “Please excuse me then, and once again, I apologize for intruding.”

She bowed then walked away. I stared at her back, and saw she halted at the door. I caught her drew a breath before turning to the side to look at my direction. “You know what? I envy you, Yamada Mirai-san. Four years was not enough for me to convince him, but you did. Congratulation.”

And she quickly stepped out and closed the door before I could process her words.

“What did she congratulated me for?” I muttered to myself, unable to answer.

I kept the letter from Kawaguchi Haruna till now.  Honestly, there were times I was tempted to open and read the letter, but I had successfully refrained myself from trespassing on his privacy.

I and Fuji-ojisan were forced to halt because of a surprise we saw in the hospital. A distance away in the coridor, we saw some police officers came out from his room. A middle age man dressed in a suit sent them off by the door, and after the policemen left, the man returned inside and closed the door.

“Ka-chan, let’s go! I want to see Tou-chan!” Sora kept whining.

“We’ll see your Tou-chan, but you promise to be a sweet girl, okay?” it’s Ojisan that took care of her.

I was too distracted by the scene we just saw before to realize that Ojisan had pushed my wheelchair approaching the door of his room. Just as we arrived in front of the door, we heard a talk from inside.

“It’s good to see you just have one leg fractured instead of amnesia,” a deep voice spoke.

A low chuckle was heard. “But even if I didn’t make it, the case would still be unveiled,” a reply came from the voice which I recognized well as his.

“Yeah, no one would guess that you’d send a copy of that document to your ex-girlfriend. I was so surprised when Kawaguchi Haruna visited me and brought me those documents, ” the same deep voice replied.

“But because of that we’ve succeeded in unveiling the fraud, right? I knew Haruna would never betray my expectation. She is a persistent tax officer as always.”

I unconsciously clutched a fist on my skirt as I heard the conversation.

“Aah. However, this case almost took your life, Ryosuke. You should be careful next time.”

“It’s the risk of our job, Masaharu-san,” he shrugged the thing off. “But thanks for taking charge of the case while I can’t.”

Sora chose the time to make a noise as she got impatience to wait outside the door, and the voice inside soon died down. I knocked on the door immediately so that they wouldn’t think that we’ve heard their conversation. After his voice allowed us to come in, Fuji-ojisan opened the door, and soon Sora bounced her way inside.

“Tou-chan!” she ran toward the bed.

I saw how his eyes widened in delight as a smile formed on his face. The man called Masaharu-san stepped aside when Sora reached the bed. She couldn’t climb the bed, so she leaned as close as possible on the railing of the bed, tiptoeing so that she could touch his hand. He chuckled while his gaze staring tenderly at Sora. Masaharu-san helped to lift Sora to the bed, arranging her to sit on the space beside him.

“Tou-chan, are you okay?” Sora asked with her baby voice, her small hand touching the IV which pierced his hand looking curiously yet worriedly.

He took Sora’s hands in his and smiled, “I’m fine, Sora-chan.”

Masaharu-san looked at where I and Fuji-ojisan stood, then bowed a little. He then excused himself to go while wishing for him to get better soon.

I kept looking at the bed. Sora was engrossed in her chatting with him. They seemed enjoying each other’s presence, but my chest clenched in pain instead. And in the mid of that, he turned to me, his smile faded slightly. Fuji-ojisan walked closer to the bed, yet let me stay at my spot. After subtly inhaling a breath to brace myself, I glided across the floor.

“Thank you for visiting,” he said.

“Sora wanted to see you,” I answer shortly, focusing my gaze at Sora instead of him.

Fuji-ojisan initiated a light talk by asking his condition and such, while I was only listening to them and Sora nestled in the crook of his free arm.

“Sora-chan, do you want ice cream?” I heard he asked Sora.

“Yes!” Sora excitingly nodded.

“There is an ice cream parlor in the cafeteria. Fuji-san, can you accompany Sora-chan to go there?”

I held a breath for I realized his intention. Fuji-san gathered Sora in his arms, then left the two of us in the room.

The air suddenly felt thick that I found it difficult to breathe.

“How are you doing, Mirai?” He opened the talk.

“I’m fine.” I answered, not really meeting his gaze.