“Yuto-kun, I feel bad,” Suzuka muttered. She was in the passenger seat of Yuto’s car as he was taking her home after he and Yamada Ryosuke insisted for her to take a rest.

“It’s not your fault, Suzu-chan,” Yuto replied. “You would have done the same for Shida-chan, right?”

“It’s not what I mean,” she shook her head slightly. “I mean, I feel bad about Yamada-kun.”

“Why?”

“Back then... when I supported Mirai, I only thought about Mirai’s well-being. I didn’t consider about his feeling at all. I thought that if he did love Mirai-chan, he would think the same as me.”

“When Shida-chan’s case happened, we hadn’t been closed yet, so I didn’t really know what happened between the three of you. You told me that Shida-chan took hypnotherapy to block her horrible memories, but I don’t really get it why it included Ryosuke. I mean, I didn’t remember he and Shida-chan were that close, or even had a romantic relationship. They even never talked in the class.”

“I didn’t know either,” she confirmed. “It came as a shock for me, too, the first time I found out about it. One night when Mirai was still in the hospital, I found Yamada-kun with her. He was hugging Mirai and trying to calm her down.”

“Suzu-chan, well, I don’t want to probe into their privacy, but I need to understand what you’re feeling. So, if it’s okay, can you tell me the detail of what happened to Shida-chan after that incident?”

Suzuka looked at Yuto for a moment, considering whether to grant his request or not. She had been keeping the secret of Mirai and Ryosuke’s relationship all these years, she didn’t even share with Yuto. However, now she wasn’t sure how to handle this matter by herself. She wanted Mirai to be happy, and she knew how much Mirai loved Ryosuke and in the short period back then, she also witnessed how Ryosuke’s presence and affection had played a big part in bringing Mirai back to her senses. Yuto was one of Ryosuke’s close friends, so she thought he might be able to help if he knew the problem.

“Well,” she had decided. “I accompanied Mirai-chan ever since the first day she was hospitalized. Mirai-chan regained consciousness in the third day after the incident. She was badly traumatized. The shock was too much for her to take that she became numb. She didn’t respond to anyone nor anything. And it pained me to see my best friend like that.”

“I only heard from our classmates about her. I didn’t get a chance to see her back then,” Yuto sounded regretting.

“It couldn’t be helped since you had to leave for your police academy orientation right after graduation,” she gave a small reassuring smile to him.

Yuto sighed. “Then at which point Ryosuke was involved in the story?”

“You know, during her stay in hospital, Mirai-chan got a flower bouquet everyday from an unknown person. The flower was always left before her room and either I or the nurse that picked it up. Later I found out, after the night I saw Yamada-kun with Mirai-chan, that it was him all along. Yamada-kun had visited hospital everyday, but he only left that bouquet because he thought he would only disturb Mirai-chan’s rest if he came into the room.”

Yuto let out a brief chuckle, “That’s indeed sounded so Ryosuke. He is such a worrywart sometimes.”

She smiled at the remark, then resumed her story, “That night... I went out for some errands. Mirai-chan was sleeping when I left, but when I came back, she was already crying in Yamada-kun’s embrace. Only when the doctor put her to sleep with the sedative that I got to talk to Yamada-kun. He told me that Mirai-chan tried to kill herself by slicing her wrist with the mirror she had broken. Fortunately Yamada-kun came and heard when she broke the mirror. So, unlike the usual, he stayed to calm her down. Ever since that, Yamada-kun visited Mirai-chan night after night.”

Suzuka paused to take a breath.

“There were times I felt jealous when Mirai-chan responded to him more often than to me. Then, bit by bit Mirai-chan came to her senses, and returned to be herself. I just realized that it was all because of Yamada-kun’s presence when oneday Mirai kept being restless because he didn’t show up in the hospital for a few days. It seemed she could only be calmed by Yamada-kun. That was why, when Mirai-chan was released from the hospital and Yamada-kun offered her to stay with him, I agreed.”

“Wait, Suzu-chan!” Yuto was surprised that he pulled up and brought the car to the side of the road. “Ryosuke and Shida-chan had been living together?”

She nodded. “Well, I was worried at first, but who was I to deny Mirai-chan’s happiness? She always looked happy whenever Yamada-kun was around, and he cared alot about her. They never told me, but I could see and feel it that they loved each other deeply.”

“How about Ryosuke’s parents? Uncle and Auntie Yamada would not be pleased to have their son brought Shida-chan in. I knew them,” Yuto’s curious tone probed further.

“Actually, Mirai-chan was hospitalized for about three months. She was released two weeks after Yamada-kun’s parents died in the accident. So, when they started living together, his parents were already gone.”

“Oh,” Yuto couldn’t say more. He restarted the engine and drive the car back to the road.

“I didn’t know if it was because of the financial problem in Yamada Corp or what else, but Yamada-kun brought Mirai to live in one of Chinen-kun’s apartments, not in his family house,” Suzuka added.

Yuto heaved a sigh. “So, Chinen was involved, too. No wonder since he is Ryosuke’s best friend.”

“Are you not?” she inquired.

“Well, I and Ryosuke are good friends, but we’re not as close as him with Chinen.”

She nodded showing she understood.

“Then,” Yuto continued asking. “If they were happy, why did Shida-chan took the hypnotherapy?”

She rewinded the day Mirai came to her while crying. It was still vivid in her memory. The deppressing  feeling overwhelmed her, so she inhaled a breath before answering, “Mirai-chan told me that it didn’t work anymore. Living with Yamada-kun didn’t work anymore to soothe her. She was still haunted by nightmares and she was scared.”

“Then why blocking her memories?” Yuto’s brows creased as he considered the explanation. “Why not try talking the fear out with a phsychologist? Blocking some memories would jeopardize her memories entirely, wouldn’t it,  since memories link to each other? That’s what I learnt in the academy.”

“Actually the phsychologist who took care of Mirai-chan was also against it at first, and suggested to just take the normal treatment because of that reason, too. However, Mirai-chan insisted. She was so desperate. If only you saw her, you wouldn’t have a heart to refuse her request.”

“So, in the end it happened?”

“Yes, the doctor reluctantly agreed. At first Mirai-chan wanted to erase her memories, but the doctor didn’t allow her to. The furthest she could get was blocking her memories. The memories which blocked was the ones started from the incident till the day of the treatment. To avoid greater confusion after the blocking was done, we created lies. We told Mirai-chan that she didn’t remember the memories from those six months because she got into coma after falling from her balcony. We contacted our classmates and asked them to help giving the same explanation if ever they met Mirai-chan.”

“By the word ‘we’, who do you mean?”

“It’s me, Yamada-kun, and Reiko-sensei,” Suzuka replied.

“But you said Ryosuke was against the idea?” Yuto found it a bit off.

“He was indeed, and I believe he was really hurt because of Mirai-chan’s decision. He cut all the tie with us; with Mirai-chan after she decided to take the treatment. Later I heard that his company was acquisite by Chinen-kun’s family, and Yamada-kun pursued his study and career abroad. But before he completely left Mirai-chan, he asked me to deliver a gift for her but she mustn’t knew that it was from him.”

“What kind of gift?”

“A scholarship,” she answered honestly. “He left a great amount of money for Mirai-chan’s college fund, and also a letter of acceptance from a university in Germany. When I asked why he gave her that, he only said that since she was willing to forget part of her life, including him, he wanted to make sure he would never see her again so that he could forget her, too. He wanted her to disappear from his life once and for all.”

“I believe it’s not the real reason. Ryosuke would not be that heartless,” Yuto shook his head.

“That’s why now I felt so guilty. Back then I took his words in literal meaning. Now that I think it over, perhaps he was only protecting Mirai-chan. If she stayed in Japan after that, she might still be reminded of those horrible memories even after it got blocked. That was probably why he sent her away.”

Yuto’s face contorted with complex seriousness when responding, “And the fact that he spent his money for her while he needed every single peny he could afford to save his company proved that he cared about Shida-chan.”

“You think so?” she asked.

Yuto nodded, “And there is one thing bothering me from your story, Suzu-chan.”

“Eh? What is that?”

“It just didn’t make sense to me that there was a drastic change in Ryosuke’s influence towards Shida-chan. When at the beginning no one but Ryosuke could calm her, then how could in such a short time it no longer worked? Human’s feeling is not easy to change. Unless there is a serious cause, I don’t believe that Shida-chan told you the truth when she said Ryosuke’s presence couldn’t calm her as it used to.”

Yuto’s logic never crossed her mind before. She was at lost. “I... I didn’t consider that possibility.”

“Did something happen between them during their time together?”

“I didnt know,” she tried hard remembering the past. “But the last time I visited them, they seemed just fine, and Mirai-chan looked like she was comfortable staying with him.”

Noticing her sudden tenseness, Yuto rubbed on her hand with his free one while his other hand keeping on the steeringwheel. “It’s only my assumption, Suzu-chan. Don’t think it too much. It’s better we pray for Shida-chan’s recovery instead.”

Despite the unsettling feeling, she nodded. She got a reason why she took Yuto’s assumption seriously. Yuto had sharp analizing skill. He almost never missed in analizing a case, thus he got a quick promotion in his department. So, when he said that there might be something happen for Mirai to change heart, she felt so anxious.

“And this time, I won’t let her go.”

She wasn’t sure anymore whether Ryosuke’s statement awhile ago was a good thing.

**********

Umika was with Yuri, standing outside Mirai’s room. She saw her brother inside, sitting beside the bed while holding Mirai’s hand, unmoved. She just heard about what happened to Mirai, and her brother never once left the hospital. She was sad, and worried; sad because once again she witnessed her brother in sorrow; worried not only about his health and Mirai’s condition, but also about her own wedding. She wouldn’t want to get married without her brother at her side. Seeing the current circumstance, she wasn’t sure Ryosuke would ever leave Mirai’s side. That’s just how deep his love for Mirai.

“Umika?” Yuri called out to her softly, his hand taking hers, squeezing weakly. “Coming in?”

She followed Yuri’s lead. Ryosuke turned around on his seat when Yuri called out his name. A small yet tired smile formed on Ryosuke’s face when she met his gaze.

“You should have enough rest, Ryosuke,” she softly spoke as Yuri helped himself getting a drink from the mini fridge in the bedside drawer.

“I’m fine, Umika, don’t worry,” Ryosuke smiled, but fatigue was still evident.

“I’ll count on you while I take my wedding leave, so don’t fall sick,” Yuri straighforwardly spoke.

Ryosuke let out a bried chuckle. “Yes, boss.”

“Also, don’t think to ditch my wedding for any reason,” Yuri gave out a stern gaze.

At this, Ryosuke turned at her instead, still so tenderly smiling, “Don’t worry, Umika-chan. I’ll be there on your wedding no matter what happen. So, be at ease, alright?”

She mustered a smile for him, nodding, “Alright.”

Looking at the bed, Mirai was still unconscious. She couldn’t help but consoling her brother, “She will be fine.”

Ryosuke focused his gaze at Mirai, “Yeah, I know.”

“What do you plan after this?” Yuri threw a question.

Ryosuke did not take his eyes off Mirai when answering, “You suggested me to just restart my relationship with her. I’ll simply do that.”

“I heard she has been insisting on reviving her forgotten memories. What will you do about that?” Yuri asked further.

“I don’t care anymore. It’s good if she remembers what we were, but if she doesn’t, I’m willing to create new memories of us for her.”

“Seem you’re now determined to never let her go again,” Yuri gave Ryosuke a friendly smirk.

“Yeah,” Ryosuke smiled, however small.

“Good luck then. Umika is looking forward to have Mirai as her sister-in-law, right?”

Yuri shifted the attention to her who had been silently watching them. Her lips curved up as she nodded.

“Ah,I just remember,” Ryosuke exclaimed. “Umika-chan, I think it’s impossible for Mirai to work on your wedding even if she is awake soon. Sorry about that.”

It was disappointing that her favorite friend wouldn’t be able to do the shoot for her wedding, but it couldn’t be helped with the current circumstance.

“It’s okay. But if possible I still want her to attend our wedding as my guest,” she replied.