Episode 109 – New Fate

Shinya and I faced each other in the hall in front of the elevator. Shinya had a bored look on his face earlier, but the moment he saw my face, he started to smile in a lowly manner. After all, it seems that he came here because my name was mentioned in that hospital room.

“Hey, come on, you haven’t even said hello to me after all these years?”

“I don’t see the need.”

“Haha, you’ve become a lot colder than you used to be.”

The fact that Shinya and I used to know each other puzzled Yukihana, and she looked at me with an expression that looked like she wanted to ask me what’s going on. I thought it would make my heart beat faster.

(……This scent)

Thanks to my calmness, I noticed the smell coming from the package Shinya was carrying. Apparently, what he is carrying are flowers. I would say that it is the perfect thing to bring for a sympathy visit. However, it depends on the variety.

“From what I’ve heard, it sounds like you’ve had a pretty rough time, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, because of you.”

“Oh, come on. It’s your own fault, you know?”

Whether you know it or not, Shinya, who calls me [Tachibana kun] digs into my wounds with an evil smile, unlike his old carefree smile. However, I’m not the kind of person who would flinch from such a mental attack.

“It seems that you have reached the peak of your hobby. For a high school student to claim a high school girl of the same age as his fiancé.”

Shinya’s face contorted for a moment at my sarcastic retort. From this expression, it may be that it is not Shinya who chose Yukihana, but her father, the chairman. For the other side, they wouldn’t think nothing of taking away the future of a mere (though a daughter of a polemicist) high school girl.

“They begged me. They gave me their useless daughter.”

“My father didn’t say that…..grr !?”

I hold Yukihana’s mouth that was about to reach a boiling point. If this guy goes on a rampage strangely, there’s no point in setting up this place.

(That’s right, since I caught him. Now I’m going to get the information out of him.)

If a part of this hospital is in contact with the chairman, they will surely report to Yukihana Tamaki that they have received a request for a visit. And they gave them my name on the request for visitation. Incidentally, I used the “Tachibana” surname instead of “Shiina” in the name field of the form so that Yukihana would not notice. I also introduced myself in the hospital room using my maiden name.

I expected that either Shinya or the chairman would appear in front of me if I mentioned the name Tachibana. And that prediction came true. In other words, I succeeded in fishing. I was a little miscalculated, though, because he arrived at this place earlier than I had expected.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing to my fiancée?

“Sorry, my hand slipped.”

I said and took my hand away from Yukihana’s mouth. Yukihana wrinkled her brow and was twitching, but she seemed to be quiet for a while. On the other hand, Shinya immediately ignores the fact that I touched Yukihana. I guess he doesn’t really care about Yukika, even though he says so.

“I heard that you were very active in the sports festival last time. What? Are you going to come back to the stage again?”

“I don’t know. I was only asked to help out and I ran.”

“I don’t think you understand your position, Tachibana kun.”

Saying that, Shinya walked towards us with his footsteps. His face looks like that of a child plotting evil, and I can see Yukihana feeling eerie.

Then Shinya stood beside me, put his arm on my shoulder without looking at me, and spoke in my ear as if he were whispering, but in a way that Yukihana could hear him.

“Don’t you think it’s going to be like the old days again? Let alone last time, don’t you think it would be bad if the same thing happened at the high school you go to now?”

“……”

‘Well, I don’t care either way, you know? If you don’t do anything, I’m not going to do anything either.”

“……”

“Oh, but don’t forget about that guy, okay? You can always make her do it again.”

“……You.”

“Don’t get too carried away….. Shiina kun.”

Then Shinya gave me a satisfied smile and put a lot of pressure on my shoulders as if to push me away. I stumbled involuntarily, but somehow managed to keep my balance and looked at Shinya. But Shinya didn’t seem to care about me anymore and walked towards Tamaki san’s hospital room.

(……It seems that he had already checked my information before he transferred to the new school.)

He knew that I had changed my last name. As expected, he knew in advance that I was in the same school as him. But he didn’t take any action against me, maybe he was trying to shake my heart and play psychological games.

Although I succeeded in fishing, I could not extract much useful information from him.

It was the moment when I thought I had gotten nothing out of him.

“Hey !”

“!?”

Bang ! ! !

My shoulder was suddenly grabbed and I was pushed toward the wall. Of course, it was Yukihana. Normally, I would have been able to duck and endure, but I was in an unstable state of mind after meeting Shinya, so I was completely late in reacting.

Yukihana, on the other hand, was driving me up the wall and staring at me with a devilish expression on her face. Apparently, she had been holding back until a few minutes ago, but now that Shinya was gone, her suspicions about me exploded.

“You knew that guy?”

“……We were in the same middle school a long time ago, that’s all.”

“That’s all? He seemed very close to you.”

“If that’s what you thought, I suggest you get an eye checkup.”

I dismissed Yukihana’s pursuit with these words, and after pressing hard on my shoulder once, she took her hand away from mine. It seems that Yukihana is still confused on how to treat me. That must be her impression.

At least, Yukihana seems to have given up on the idea that she can extract any information from me.

But now, all of the things that had been stagnant were moving at once. For me and Shinya. And for Yukihana, too. All that remained was to proceed as originally planned.

We silently got on the elevator and left the hospital. But in the elevator, I remembered to give Yukihana some advice.

“If you ever come back here again, buy some flowers for the hospital.”

“……Why out of the blue?”

“Don’t worry about it now. Keep it to yourself for now.”

When I said that, Yukihana started looking at the numbers on the panel above the elevator as if she had lost interest. Apparently, Yukihana was so distracted by Shinya that she didn’t notice. Well, I didn’t notice it until Shinya was standing right next to me.

(Chrysanthemums, orchids, and lilies. How could he buy such flowers in such a short time?)

Maybe he had purchased them in advance, or maybe Shinya had been visiting Tamaki san regularly. However, the flowers in the packet that Shinya was holding in his hand were not suitable for visiting a patient in the hospital.

They are all used for funerals.

(I’m sure Tamaki san will accept them without changing expressions, though.)

Even if only for a short time, I understood a little more about the woman named Yukihana Tamaki. At least, she is the type of person who will stand by her beliefs without giving in to distorted power or pressure.

“….Hey.”

“What?”

The elevator is about to reach the first floor when Yukihana opens her mouth.

Unlike the doubtful face from earlier, that face was more serious than when we first met. Looking at me, it’s an expression that says it will never let it get away.

“Tell me something about you.”