"Megumi Hayashi," the sister humbly introduced herself to the young man and the teacher. "Pleased to meet you."
"Masumi Ito," the teacher answered her, rising from the bench. "I am a teacher at Ryou-kun and Glenn-kun's school."
"I am the doctor of this hospital."
Glenn stood up and bowed his head. "Glenn Zaleman. I'm a friend of Ryou-kun's."
The nurse slowly glanced over at the young man and looked him over and over. "Friend, it turns out? Well, I didn't know my little brother had friends."
"So you're Ryou-kun's older sister?" asked Glenn, inwardly amazed, to which Megumi nodded and glanced back at Masumi.
"What are you doing here, Ito-san?"
"Keeping an eye on the students. It's my responsibility."
Megumi hummed when she heard her teacher's words, then looked back at Ryou, who at this point was not leaving his lowered, gloomy gaze.
"I see," the sister replied, meekly, without raising her tone. Then the teacher stepped closer to the woman, and crossing her arms, whispered in her ear.
"We should talk in private, without the boys present."
The teacher's words sounded unabashedly confident in consistency with the saddened tone of her voice. Megumi only lifted her shoulders and they walked away. Their antics were strange to Glenn, and he couldn't get a certain feeling off his head. It was as if their formality had been long lost to time, and familiarity was used for granted, before the young men. He got the feeling that the two women had known each other before, but how could he know if he himself was barely conscious at that moment. Glenn thought he was mistaken.
In the blink of an eye, Megumi turned to face the boys, stopping her step.
"The old lady is all right," she declared, and the boys' glances simultaneously turned to the woman. "She fainted, she'll wake up soon," the woman added, and continued her stride.
Glenn inwardly thought that was not the case at all. There was a chance that after fainting, grandma might lose her mind or have even more problems with her blood pressure. Glenn wondered why Megumi hadn't told him about that moment, but settled on the fact that she so wanted to warn her younger brother not to be sad.
A little while later, the women returned, and Megumi added that they had discovered the grandmother's use of headache pills before fainting, and it was likely that the old lady had overdosed in order to downplay the pain. The outcome, doctors speculated, ended in dizziness.
"We could be wrong," the nurse said, giving the young men hope. "Maybe grandma was thinking of doing the household chores herself, but she failed. Maybe that's why she wanted to take a pill without any help and get on with it."
"But why..." said Ryou, pressing his lips together, to which her sister had no answer.
"Maybe a personal grudge for being helpless," Masumi suggested, looking away.
Soon, another piece of information came in. The sister said the grandmother was found to have blood pressure and to have heart problems because of her age. They also found muscle atrophy, and the presence of a contusion in her left leg. The old lady was believed to have suffered a severe contusion from a fall.
"Recovery takes much longer in older people than in younger ones," Megumi added, "And so the leg will take a long time to heal. She won't be able to walk on her own two."
Glenn lowered his head, and Ryou felt a sense of self-loathing, for the young man thought he could do without the extra responsibility, seeing as how Glenn had supported the old lady on the first day and assigned Ryou secondary tasks.
Nurse, looked back at the paperwork she was holding and added that grandma could have died if the guys hadn't picked her up and called an ambulance. "Lying down disproportionately for a headache leads to even more blood pressure."
"What about her brain condition?" asked Glenn gently, hopefully.
"Otherwise, she's fine," Megumi replied. "The old woman has a strong will. She'll remember everything."
Glenn was slightly comforted. Right now, grandmother needed a long rest.
"So, in that case…" stated Megumi urgently, fearing for the young men's health. "Ryou-kun, Glenn-kun, go home while the buses are still running. Mei-san will wake up soon."
Masumi agreed with Megumi's words and asked to obey her.
"Be sure to call me when she wakes up," Glenn insisted, pitifully. "Please."
Megumi nodded and obliged.
There was nothing to lose. The hospital where the old lady was left to be treated was one of luxury, and despite the fee-for-service, the quality of the hospital was superb.
***
A day after the incident, Ryou could not pick himself up. For a day already, he lounged around the house, not doing much of anything. In the evening, wrapped in a blanket, he huddled against the window and looked out over the bright city from the height of the twenty-five-story building, far from where people could see his presence. The young man worried about his helplessness and recalled how he had been unable to cope before. His parents, without their son's opinion, had decided to move to another city just before the start of the next year at the old school. Ryou could not abruptly say goodbye to his old surroundings in the form of his best friends.
According to Ryou, he never sought acquaintance, but instead, his friends found him by chance, and dragged him along so that he would not be alone. Fear of society was the worst situation a young boy could face.
At night, as he was lying on the couch in the big kitchen, his sister, who had entered the apartment a few minutes earlier, came into the room. Thinking she would wake and frighten her brother, she stepped toward him.
"Are you awake?" she asked in a whisper, gently rubbing her hand on the elbow of her other hand.
"I'm awake."
"I talked to your teacher," the sister added, sitting down on the couch. "She told me everything. I also have a responsibility... and I promise that Mei-san will be fine."
There was a closed pause.
"I'm useless," Ryou muttered, after which the sister shook her head amusedly.
"The soil of my decision to choose medicine is the love of helping people. You know, I used to wonder for a long time what I wanted to be and how to be in the future. In an instant, looking at you as a boy, your happy, sweet smile helped me find the answer."
And then, Ryou looked at his sister's gentle face, covered in feminine warmth.
"Finally finding the answer, I was able to put all other thoughts aside and really started to do what was to my liking," Megumi added, and leaned toward the lying Ryou. "I left my parents for a similar reason: they used to force me to become a model, assuring me and the world's brands of my beauty. What a pity it was for them when I moved out without saying anything."
"Sister…"
"More than anything else in my life, I was pleased to see you smiling happily at me," Megumi added, and pressed her forehead against her younger brother's and closed her eyes. "And it doesn't please me when my little brother loses his joy. So, Ryou-kun, be strong. Follow the call of your heart and find the answers to the questions that trouble your soul."
Ryou remembered the times when they were little and walked around town secretly from their parents. His sister would always hold his hand and point the way, introducing him to the Kyoto delights that mesmerized their eyes. The rustling of sakura petals on a clear day and the two children sitting under a tree was a scene that the younger brother could not forget even ten years later.
My sister, who reeked of a fragrant sense of happiness, got up from the sofa and stepped toward the kitchen. Unexpectedly for her, Ryou stood up to reach his sister and hugged her thin waist tightly. His head pressed against his sister's back to hide his stricken look.
"I only wanted to help them…" the boy replied with a shaky voice. "How am I supposed to prove that I exist? I'm confused."
"In that case, ask your friends," replied the sister warmly. "And if you can't, come to me. Reveal yourself, Ryou-kun."
Megumi turned toward Ryou, who was sitting on the couch, and crouched down and gently touched his slim neck with her hand. She felt the pumped muscles and rejoiced mentally, for she did not know that Ryou was taut. Following that, she put her hands to his dark, thick hair that reached up to his ears.
"You have stylish hair."
"Sister," Ryou said softly, lowering his eyes. "I'm thinking of cutting them, but not sure, for I like my hair."
"In that case, think about changing your image and start with your hair. Start with yourself, Ryou-kun, and that might be the beginning of what you're looking for."
Ryou listened carefully to her words, and could not look away from her face. And yet, she is incredibly beautiful, he thought within himself. The young man clung to the thin thread that pulled him up, away from the abyss of despair, where he might have fallen if the thread had failed. Accepting his sister's comfort, the young man felt better than before.