Translated: Sei, MTL-sensei-tachiEdited: Sei, Grammarly no Danna
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Chapter 1 | The Town Where He Was Born | Remake our Life!
Part 6
Next, we headed to Rokuonkai Hospital, a hospital run by Tsurayuki's family.
I had heard that his father, brothers, and most of them were doctors. I thought they must be famous in the area, based on what I had heard from the driver earlier,
"This is even more impressive than I expected..."
The eight-story building has several outbuildings. There was a big roundabout at the entrance, and it had the atmosphere of a hotel.
Nanako and I looked up at the building from the roundabout and were speechless at its magnificence.
"I-I thought it was just a slightly larger version of a single-family house in the middle of a normal city, since it's called a hospital."
"...Yeah"
"Isn't this, um, too big? It's really big, isn't it? Is T-T-Tsurayuki really a young master...?"
Probably so. And at a decent level. When I saw his house, I had a vague impression that he was one of the top-class local celebrities.
In the first place, Tsurayuki and ourselves were living in different worlds. Witnessing it, I licked my dry lips.
(When it comes time to negotiate, it's going to be tough...)
I shivered, but then tightened my expression and headed toward the building.
Standing in front of the large automatic door, it swooshed open soundlessly to the left and right, revealing a spacious entrance.
I thought it did not look like a hospital, but in a good way. Although the smell of medicine in the room was unavoidable due to the location, the warm colors of the walls and floors were warm, and it was clear that the decor was designed not to make patients feel unnecessarily nervous.
Perhaps because it is a large hospital, there was a general information desk in addition to the outpatient reception desk. I decided to take a moment to talk to the woman sitting there.
"Excuse me, this is Rokuonkai... Rokuonji-san's hospital, right?"
The woman tilted her head,
"Yeah, that's right, but... Can I help you?"
She replied, somewhat wary.
"We are friends of Rokuonji Tsurayuki. We were wondering if he was here."
Then the woman instantly let her guard down.
"Hee, that's rare. Are you Tsurayuki-san's friend?"
"Y-Yes"
“I see, he has friends, too. I feel a little relieved.”
Apparently, she knew him personally, and without us having to ask, she began to talk a lot about Tsurayuki.
"He used to come to the hospital when he was a little. Around the time he entered middle school, Waka-sensei, ah, Tsurayuki's father, the director of the hospital, and he began to have a bit of a disagreement. And so he rarely comes by here anymore.”
After leaving Osaka and returning to Kawagoe, he began to show up two or three times a week.
However, he was not working here yet and was in the process of greeting people to help with housework and gradually learning the job.
"He hasn't been here yet today, but he's probably on his usual stopover course."
“Course?”
"That's right. Tsurayuki-san always has a fixed place to go, so you can find him right away without contacting him~"
She laughed and told us where the places he often went to were. We thanked her and went outside the hospital to open a map.
"Bookstore, movie theater, stationery store, coffee shop, huh?"
With this, the chances of meeting him will increase to the extent that we will not have to search for him blindly.
"They're all near the train station, so I think we can get around."
Even Nanako's words seemed to bring back some energy.
"Yeah, it's still early, so let's take it one by one."
There was a bus that went directly from the hospital, so we rode it back to the front of Honkawagoe station.
One street back from the roundabout is a fairly long shopping street. This is the main street for people who live in the city, not tourists, and it seemed that most daily necessities and groceries could be found here.
"The number of people suddenly increased..."
Nanako mumbled to herself in front of the crowd. The quiet atmosphere that had prevailed earlier had vanished, and the area was filled with noise and bustle. People of all ages, young and old, men and women, walked briskly, passing us as we stood still.
"It looks like everything is on this street except for the movie theater."
I unfolded the map once more to check the location. The stationery store was a short walk away, the bookstore and coffee shop a short walk away, and the movie theater was just a short distance away.
"Somehow, I feel like I'm stealing a glimpse of Tsurayuki's past."
Looking at the stores that lined the street, Nanako smiled wryly as she said that.
"Yeah... I kinda get it"
Sometimes I see a boy in a school uniform. That is the old Tsurayuki. Just a couple of years ago, he must have been walking the streets like this, going into his favorite stores and thinking about this and that.
We are following in his footsteps. Perhaps there are things he doesn't want us to know. If it had not been for what happened at the hospital earlier, we would never have known about it.
With a bit of an unsettled feeling, we walked around looking for him.
A stationery store with a pleasantly stylish selection of goods, a bookstore with a wide selection of specialized books and interesting genres along with major publications, and a coffee shop with a sense of history and style where the smell of freshly ground beans wafts outside the store.
Although I sensed Tsurayuki's atmosphere, I couldn't find him in any of them.
"The last one is... here."
Go north all the way through the main street and enter a further back street. An old movie theater was built as if to hide its existence.
It seems to have a history dating back to the Meiji era, and the old building and signboards had scratches and rust here and there, symbolizing the weight of the times. The building has been remodeled several times, and there was a mixture of old and new parts in different places, which further indicated the time spent in this movie theater.
A blackboard was placed next to the entrance. On it, the films currently being screened were handwritten.
"Both Japanese and foreign movies, it's all the works I don't know"
Nanako is looking at the list of screenings with a curious look on her face.
They are quite a unique group of films, including some that have been the subject of a film magazine and radio reviews, as well as a love story set in Kawagoe by a local filmmaker.
It is a mini-theater that does not play major films like those shown at so-called cinema complexes, but rather a collection of minor productions. Tsurayuki was attracted to this theater and visited it frequently.
“It’s a line-up that Tsurayuki likes.”
It is said that one of his seniors who taught him about film was originally a fan of these minor films. Influenced by him, Tsurayuki also came to love these films that had never seen the light of day.
"Is he often coming to see the show ... here."
"I guess so."
I had a feeling of certainty. I am sure that Tsurayuki is still coming here. He may have stopped creating, but he has not given up.
In search of his favorite story, I am sure.
"Areh... the clouds are coming out."
Nanako looks up at the sky.
The sun, which had just been burning our skin, had been swallowed by a large gray cloud before we knew it. The strong light spilling through the cracks was like an aurora borealis shining down on the earth's surface.
The purple air softly enveloped us. The dusty, light air was beginning to become heavy with high humidity.
The rain is coming.
It was a moment when both Nanako and I felt this way.
"You guys... why?"
I heard a voice from the main street. It was a familiar voice. We turned our heads at about the same time.
“Tsurayuki—”
In front of us, he was exactly as he had left us that day.
His short hair, his narrow eyes, his slender height. None of these things had changed at all from the Tsurayuki I remembered. No, he looked even better than he did then, with a better complexion and even more vitality.
Maybe we could talk, I thought. I knew that if Tsurayuki had changed too much, it would all be over at this point. Even if I conveyed how I felt, I was sure it would not reach him.
But the Tsurayuki I see in front of me now looks just like he did when we first met. He was full of vitality and ambition, putting everything he had into his creations.
"Tsurayuki, you know."
So I made my opening statement.
We need you, and we want you to come back. I want you to come back and let's make another work together. My wish was simple. I tried to convey this to him, and his mouth was open,
"Tch, are you serious?"
His clicking tongue and awkward voice prevented me from doing so.
"Of all the places to meet, to meet you in a place like this."
Clearly, I knew I was not welcome. It was obvious that rather than being happy to see me by chance, he considered us a hindrance.
In an instant, I noticed something strange. At first glance, Tsurayuki in front of me looked the same as before. However, this was only a matter of appearance.
"Did someone from the hospital tell you? That I'm around here a lot."
"Ah, yeah. We went to your parents' house and they said you weren't home, so we went to the hospital."
I tried to tell him that we couldn't contact him on the phone,
"Haa, you even came to my parents' house, huh? Are you playing detective or something? I don't know what you're up to, but I don't feel good about being snooped on."
Tsurayuki scratched his head in a bad mood.
"What are you talking about, because you changed your number, we couldn't even contact you."
When the air was getting bad, Nanako interrupted.
"Phone? Ah, yeah, I changed it, didn't I? I figured you wouldn't be calling me anyway."
Tsurayuki smiles self-mockingly.
"So? If you want to see around Kawagoe, ask an old man from the tourist association. Because I'm sure they'll show you around in the nicest possible way."
Of course, it's not our purpose.
The time had come to finally say what I had been preparing to say.
In my head, the materials are turned over. I felt the gears of the "story" click into motion.
“Tsurayuki, we're not here for sightseeing. We're here to —”
I was going to say, we're here to take you back,
"Don't say that, Kyouya!"
With a strong tone, Tsurayuki interfered.
Then silence fell. A couple of high school students walked a little further away looking at us as if they were wondering what was going on. From the busy main street, the sound of children running around excitedly could be heard.
Both I and Nanako were overwhelmed by the strong words that Tsurayuki had said. The rejection was so strong that we could not continue to speak.
"I know what you were going to say. I've been thinking about it over and over again since I came back here."
Despite his words, he sounded quiet, as if he had already been blown away.
"But I've already put an end to all that. I've finally gotten used to this shi*tty boring daily life. Don't bother me now."
Then he sighed lightly,
"It's over"
He said in a decisive tone.
“Wait a minute, Tsurayuki, it's over, you said, no way.”
I extended my hand to stop Tsurayuki, but he shook it off.
"Now, please leave "
He left a discarded note and tried to walk away from the alley.
I haven't told him anything yet. If this is over, I will not know what we met for.
But right now, I can't find the words to say to Tsurayuki.
As my mind wanders left and right looking for answers,
"Tsurayuki"
From right beside me, Nanako's voice stopped Tsurayuki.
"What?"
Surprisingly, Tsurayuki stopped walking and turned around.
Nanako snorted and held out her hand.
"What's this? Are you still mugging people? You're too old for that."
Even after we had lost an argument, Nanako cut in the middle,
"Your number"
She said, and thrust her hand further toward Tsurayuki.
"Ha?"
"Hurry up. If something happens, we don't want to not be able to contact you. Hora."
Tsurayuki smiled wryly at the strength of Nanako's pushiness.
"This, don't call me."
He took a note out of his pocket, wrote with a pen, tore off a piece of paper, and handed it to Nanako.
"See you"
And Tsurayuki continued walking slowly down the alley.
I couldn't say a word to him. I just stared at his silent back.
Part 6
Next, we headed to Rokuonkai Hospital, a hospital run by Tsurayuki's family.
I had heard that his father, brothers, and most of them were doctors. I thought they must be famous in the area, based on what I had heard from the driver earlier,
"This is even more impressive than I expected..."
The eight-story building has several outbuildings. There was a big roundabout at the entrance, and it had the atmosphere of a hotel.
Nanako and I looked up at the building from the roundabout and were speechless at its magnificence.
"I-I thought it was just a slightly larger version of a single-family house in the middle of a normal city, since it's called a hospital."
"...Yeah"
"Isn't this, um, too big? It's really big, isn't it? Is T-T-Tsurayuki really a young master...?"
Probably so. And at a decent level. When I saw his house, I had a vague impression that he was one of the top-class local celebrities.
In the first place, Tsurayuki and ourselves were living in different worlds. Witnessing it, I licked my dry lips.
(When it comes time to negotiate, it's going to be tough...)
I shivered, but then tightened my expression and headed toward the building.
Standing in front of the large automatic door, it swooshed open soundlessly to the left and right, revealing a spacious entrance.
I thought it did not look like a hospital, but in a good way. Although the smell of medicine in the room was unavoidable due to the location, the warm colors of the walls and floors were warm, and it was clear that the decor was designed not to make patients feel unnecessarily nervous.
Perhaps because it is a large hospital, there was a general information desk in addition to the outpatient reception desk. I decided to take a moment to talk to the woman sitting there.
"Excuse me, this is Rokuonkai... Rokuonji-san's hospital, right?"
The woman tilted her head,
"Yeah, that's right, but... Can I help you?"
She replied, somewhat wary.
"We are friends of Rokuonji Tsurayuki. We were wondering if he was here."
Then the woman instantly let her guard down.
"Hee, that's rare. Are you Tsurayuki-san's friend?"
"Y-Yes"
“I see, he has friends, too. I feel a little relieved.”
Apparently, she knew him personally, and without us having to ask, she began to talk a lot about Tsurayuki.
"He used to come to the hospital when he was a little. Around the time he entered middle school, Waka-sensei, ah, Tsurayuki's father, the director of the hospital, and he began to have a bit of a disagreement. And so he rarely comes by here anymore.”
After leaving Osaka and returning to Kawagoe, he began to show up two or three times a week.
However, he was not working here yet and was in the process of greeting people to help with housework and gradually learning the job.
"He hasn't been here yet today, but he's probably on his usual stopover course."
“Course?”
"That's right. Tsurayuki-san always has a fixed place to go, so you can find him right away without contacting him~"
She laughed and told us where the places he often went to were. We thanked her and went outside the hospital to open a map.
"Bookstore, movie theater, stationery store, coffee shop, huh?"
With this, the chances of meeting him will increase to the extent that we will not have to search for him blindly.
"They're all near the train station, so I think we can get around."
Even Nanako's words seemed to bring back some energy.
"Yeah, it's still early, so let's take it one by one."
There was a bus that went directly from the hospital, so we rode it back to the front of Honkawagoe station.
One street back from the roundabout is a fairly long shopping street. This is the main street for people who live in the city, not tourists, and it seemed that most daily necessities and groceries could be found here.
"The number of people suddenly increased..."
Nanako mumbled to herself in front of the crowd. The quiet atmosphere that had prevailed earlier had vanished, and the area was filled with noise and bustle. People of all ages, young and old, men and women, walked briskly, passing us as we stood still.
"It looks like everything is on this street except for the movie theater."
I unfolded the map once more to check the location. The stationery store was a short walk away, the bookstore and coffee shop a short walk away, and the movie theater was just a short distance away.
"Somehow, I feel like I'm stealing a glimpse of Tsurayuki's past."
Looking at the stores that lined the street, Nanako smiled wryly as she said that.
"Yeah... I kinda get it"
Sometimes I see a boy in a school uniform. That is the old Tsurayuki. Just a couple of years ago, he must have been walking the streets like this, going into his favorite stores and thinking about this and that.
We are following in his footsteps. Perhaps there are things he doesn't want us to know. If it had not been for what happened at the hospital earlier, we would never have known about it.
With a bit of an unsettled feeling, we walked around looking for him.
A stationery store with a pleasantly stylish selection of goods, a bookstore with a wide selection of specialized books and interesting genres along with major publications, and a coffee shop with a sense of history and style where the smell of freshly ground beans wafts outside the store.
Although I sensed Tsurayuki's atmosphere, I couldn't find him in any of them.
"The last one is... here."
Go north all the way through the main street and enter a further back street. An old movie theater was built as if to hide its existence.
It seems to have a history dating back to the Meiji era, and the old building and signboards had scratches and rust here and there, symbolizing the weight of the times. The building has been remodeled several times, and there was a mixture of old and new parts in different places, which further indicated the time spent in this movie theater.
A blackboard was placed next to the entrance. On it, the films currently being screened were handwritten.
"Both Japanese and foreign movies, it's all the works I don't know"
Nanako is looking at the list of screenings with a curious look on her face.
They are quite a unique group of films, including some that have been the subject of a film magazine and radio reviews, as well as a love story set in Kawagoe by a local filmmaker.
It is a mini-theater that does not play major films like those shown at so-called cinema complexes, but rather a collection of minor productions. Tsurayuki was attracted to this theater and visited it frequently.
“It’s a line-up that Tsurayuki likes.”
It is said that one of his seniors who taught him about film was originally a fan of these minor films. Influenced by him, Tsurayuki also came to love these films that had never seen the light of day.
"Is he often coming to see the show ... here."
"I guess so."
I had a feeling of certainty. I am sure that Tsurayuki is still coming here. He may have stopped creating, but he has not given up.
In search of his favorite story, I am sure.
"Areh... the clouds are coming out."
Nanako looks up at the sky.
The sun, which had just been burning our skin, had been swallowed by a large gray cloud before we knew it. The strong light spilling through the cracks was like an aurora borealis shining down on the earth's surface.
The purple air softly enveloped us. The dusty, light air was beginning to become heavy with high humidity.
The rain is coming.
It was a moment when both Nanako and I felt this way.
"You guys... why?"
I heard a voice from the main street. It was a familiar voice. We turned our heads at about the same time.
“Tsurayuki—”
In front of us, he was exactly as he had left us that day.
His short hair, his narrow eyes, his slender height. None of these things had changed at all from the Tsurayuki I remembered. No, he looked even better than he did then, with a better complexion and even more vitality.
Maybe we could talk, I thought. I knew that if Tsurayuki had changed too much, it would all be over at this point. Even if I conveyed how I felt, I was sure it would not reach him.
But the Tsurayuki I see in front of me now looks just like he did when we first met. He was full of vitality and ambition, putting everything he had into his creations.
"Tsurayuki, you know."
So I made my opening statement.
We need you, and we want you to come back. I want you to come back and let's make another work together. My wish was simple. I tried to convey this to him, and his mouth was open,
"Tch, are you serious?"
His clicking tongue and awkward voice prevented me from doing so.
"Of all the places to meet, to meet you in a place like this."
Clearly, I knew I was not welcome. It was obvious that rather than being happy to see me by chance, he considered us a hindrance.
In an instant, I noticed something strange. At first glance, Tsurayuki in front of me looked the same as before. However, this was only a matter of appearance.
"Did someone from the hospital tell you? That I'm around here a lot."
"Ah, yeah. We went to your parents' house and they said you weren't home, so we went to the hospital."
I tried to tell him that we couldn't contact him on the phone,
"Haa, you even came to my parents' house, huh? Are you playing detective or something? I don't know what you're up to, but I don't feel good about being snooped on."
Tsurayuki scratched his head in a bad mood.
"What are you talking about, because you changed your number, we couldn't even contact you."
When the air was getting bad, Nanako interrupted.
"Phone? Ah, yeah, I changed it, didn't I? I figured you wouldn't be calling me anyway."
Tsurayuki smiles self-mockingly.
"So? If you want to see around Kawagoe, ask an old man from the tourist association. Because I'm sure they'll show you around in the nicest possible way."
Of course, it's not our purpose.
The time had come to finally say what I had been preparing to say.
In my head, the materials are turned over. I felt the gears of the "story" click into motion.
“Tsurayuki, we're not here for sightseeing. We're here to —”
I was going to say, we're here to take you back,
"Don't say that, Kyouya!"
With a strong tone, Tsurayuki interfered.
Then silence fell. A couple of high school students walked a little further away looking at us as if they were wondering what was going on. From the busy main street, the sound of children running around excitedly could be heard.
Both I and Nanako were overwhelmed by the strong words that Tsurayuki had said. The rejection was so strong that we could not continue to speak.
"I know what you were going to say. I've been thinking about it over and over again since I came back here."
Despite his words, he sounded quiet, as if he had already been blown away.
"But I've already put an end to all that. I've finally gotten used to this shi*tty boring daily life. Don't bother me now."
Then he sighed lightly,
"It's over"
He said in a decisive tone.
“Wait a minute, Tsurayuki, it's over, you said, no way.”
I extended my hand to stop Tsurayuki, but he shook it off.
"Now, please leave "
He left a discarded note and tried to walk away from the alley.
I haven't told him anything yet. If this is over, I will not know what we met for.
But right now, I can't find the words to say to Tsurayuki.
As my mind wanders left and right looking for answers,
"Tsurayuki"
From right beside me, Nanako's voice stopped Tsurayuki.
"What?"
Surprisingly, Tsurayuki stopped walking and turned around.
Nanako snorted and held out her hand.
"What's this? Are you still mugging people? You're too old for that."
Even after we had lost an argument, Nanako cut in the middle,
"Your number"
She said, and thrust her hand further toward Tsurayuki.
"Ha?"
"Hurry up. If something happens, we don't want to not be able to contact you. Hora."
Tsurayuki smiled wryly at the strength of Nanako's pushiness.
"This, don't call me."
He took a note out of his pocket, wrote with a pen, tore off a piece of paper, and handed it to Nanako.
"See you"
And Tsurayuki continued walking slowly down the alley.
I couldn't say a word to him. I just stared at his silent back.
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