"Looks like you had it rough, so I had to step in."
"Step in? Who are you?"
"How rude! I've been with you for the longest of times."
"Huh?"
"Oh! You're waking up, time to go. See ya!"
"Wait..."
...
Machine beeps
Faint footsteps in the hallway...
Slow breathing...
"I see this has become a recurring theme!"
"Uncle...I mean Doctor Takeshi?! What am I doing here?"
"You certainly did hit your head hard. You've been out for the past 2 days."
"2 days! It was that bad?"
"Yes!"
"Sorry for troubling you. I wish I didn't pass out. I would have made sure to not have been a burden on you."
I was staring at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact.
There was a short pause followed by silence.
"Nao! Do you still hate us?"
"Why, of course, most certainly. Yes!"
He was dejected.
"What would you do if I said that?"
He looked back at me.
"I would accept it."
"Well, sorry to say this, but I neither have the time nor the understanding to expend my energy for such stuff."
"You've changed since the last time."
"Change is inevitable.
It's just like a log flowing in a river. At some point, it has to fall down the waterfall and change its shape."
"I see you still have your touch on literature."
"I had a good teacher."
I should not have said that. There was a momentary pause.
I looked at him.
"Why don't you hate me?"
He was taken aback.
"Why would I?"
"You're too kind."
"Well, it's my fault. I was not capable of anything. Not in your case, nor when it came to my family."
"Did you ever want to kill me? Or wish I never existed at all?"
He was quiet.
He suddenly strapped up his rubber gloves and went towards the table.
He was looking for something.
Guess I just dug my own grave.
He came back and pulled my eyelid down.
He's gonna gouge my eyes out first.
This is gonna be a slasher movie.
I can't see.
"Is that too bright?"
"Huh?"
Oh, it was a flashlight.
"Did you think I'd gouge your eyes out?"
"Am I that easy to read?"
"Even I raised you. Did you just shut me out?"
"How could I? That would be too rude of me."
"You don't look like you've suffered a concussion."
"Why did you jump to that conclusion?"
He switched off the flashlight and removed his gloves.
"Why would you ask such a question?"
He was serious now.
I guess something hurt him.
"You're repenting and apologizing for something I did. And now, you're treating the man responsible for all of that. Why would go so far?"
He sighed.
"As a doctor, that's my responsibility. To treat my patient irrespective of who they are and what they mean to me. Secondly, I would never kill you. I never can. 'Cause, that's how much you mean to both of them."
"And to you?"
"I hate you. Because you've taken them away from me. While I was never there for them because I was busy working hard and putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their head!"
That was not beyond my realm of expectation, but it was something I didn't think he'd tell with a straight face.
"What would you do if I tell that?"
I see. The old switcheroo.
"I would think of the most painful ways I would die and pray that you would give me a strong dose of medicine that would kill me, there would be very little chance of paralyzing me for life since that would backfire on you."
He was speechless.
It took a while for him to process everything before he responded.
"I don't even know how to respond to that. I can't even fathom what goes on inside that head of yours."
"It's better you don't."
"In all honesty, I guess I'm too kind, 'cause I can't hate you."
"Well, that's bad. But I guess you have to live with it."
"That's how it is."
We both took a moment.
"Uncle?"
"Yeah?"
"If I was the old Nao, and I never left clinging on to Aunt, and after some point, I wanted to take her away from you and be with her, what would you have done?"
"Nothing."
"Why?"
"Because if it was that Nao, and it's an honest fact, sometimes I would be counting the days remaining before Rinko would leave me. Because she loved you more than me, and even she knew that. You were the one she always had in her head. But..."
There's a but. I can guess what it is.
"I would just laugh at myself. Since there was one person who would never let that happen."
"Harumi-senpai?"
He couldn't what he just heard.
"What did you say?"
"I said it loud and clear, I believe."
"But why refer to her like that?"
"She said what we had is all in the past. So it's a clean slate from here. That's why I want to get used to it."
"Can you?"
"I guess the odds are in my favor."
"Anyway, yes my daughter. Unlike her mother, she didn't have any bonds to be free of before being your woman, because you're her No. 1"
....
"Nao!"
"Yuki-nee?"
"I want you to know something."
"I want you to know that you'll always be my No. 1 and you'll be the only one."
"Wait a min..."
Kiss.
....
So that was a lie.
Why did I remember that?
And how many women have I kissed? I certainly feel guilty as a guy without any emotions for kissing more women than other guys who would be on top of the world for just one kiss.
"I doubt that. She's happy currently with her boyfriend and being at the top. She's moved on."
"I wonder why she was crying then? When she brought you over here."
"Maybe she felt guilty for making me a punching bag."
"You don't remember?"
"Remember what?"
"Look like I got to keep an eye out for you."
"Why? What is it I have done?"
"You've clearly haven't stopped making her cry because of what you do."
"Well, I don't always consider doing that to her. It's just collateral damage."
"For the record, she was so shaken up that she was here all night and went home in the morning for 2 straight days."
"Punching bags have value. I'm amazed."
"I think you should rest now."
"Uncle! One final thing. What if I wanted to take Rinko-san away from you now?"
"You have a death wish, or have you turned to a masochist?"
"I see you still love her."
"So that's how you understood it. I do love her. But there's a reason why I live alone now. How about you stop by and visit her once you've recovered."
"Sure! But you didn't answer my question."
"That's a question that need not be answered. Especially since I don't want to be killed by my own daughter."
What has happened between them?
Well, since I've missed more days of going to school than the number of days I've attended, it's better to make the most of the extra time.
And that meant it was time to take a nap.
But the day wasn't over yet, and I soon came to realise it...