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The bushes and trees’ leaves swayed with the soft breeze. The page in a pocketbook tried to too, pinned by its reader’s thumb. It was a comfortable temperature today in Inazuma Town. Not too hot, not too cold. Just enough sunshine and clouds.
Yuuichi was under the shade of the tree, having finished his physical therapy for the day; so now he was just reading to pass the time.
Kids playing soccer a short distance away laughed, “I bet you can’t catch me!” One taunted with a smug smile, and his competitive little brother retorted, “Sure I can!”
It was really nostalgic. Yuuichi couldn’t help but be happy when he looked up at the scene. He and Kyousuke were exactly that way before the accident. It was also the dream he held onto for the future: he was slowly but surely getting stronger, after all. Soon he would be able to use his legs again.
“Hey, did you know there was a really good player I met here when I went for a check-up a month ago?” One of the two beamed.
Yuuichi’s expression fell.
“Yeah? What was he like?”
“Well, kind of energetic and really competitive! He mentioned there was this friend of his he wanted to be the first rival of! And that he wasn’t going to go easy on him.”
“That just sounds like a really proud person… I don’t think I’d like him.”
A laugh. “Well he’s a lot nicer than how I described… At the least I’m sure you’d like his playstyle!”
“—Oh, is that Mom calling us? We’re coming!”
Fondly remembered. … That was no surprise. When it came to friends made in the hospital, they come and go. That’s why it was always a little lonely. There was this one patient, who garnered a reputation for sneaking out of his room and fooling around, brightening the days of those he came across, nurses aside. The ruckus he caused meant his last name reach even those he never personally got to know.
The infamous Amemiya-kun.
But they don’t call out his name anymore.
Amemiya Taiyou died here; when his heart finally failed him. Into his final days, he still smiled when he could barely move. He still smiled when he barely made out what was in front of him anymore. But even more than that, when nobody was around, he probably cried, didn’t he?
The news reports made a big show of it on the day following his actual death. “Soccer genius dies at 13” and the such… Yuuichi should have been glad Taiyou was being remembered, but it made him feel ill instead. Because they only remembered Taiyou the player. They never knew the Taiyou who cheered and laughed—the Taiyou who was his dear friend. And the mystery of how much of it was a façade.
Yuuichi clenched his fists.
“We’ll play soccer once we get out of here, right?”
“Yeah, that’s a promise, Taiyou-kun.”
“I can’t wait~”
How often did he lie when people asked him if he was alright? A reckless boy. In not wanting others to worry for him, he became selfish. He alone carried the burden of fear of the future always. Even if he’d be asked now, he probably wouldn’t apologize. He would claim it didn’t exist.
Yuuichi choked.
There was a small envelope back in Yuuichi’s room, containing a crumpled letter. Taiyou’s best friend Sata had handed it to him at the funeral, forewarning that it was alright if he didn’t open it. Taiyou himself had never gathered the courage to send it after all. He just thought it would be a shame if it was forever left unsaid. Sata had found it among his several discarded drafts of goodbye letters to friends.
The one to Yuuichi took the most tries.
Hi, Yuuichi-san. I’m really sorry I couldn’t keep our promise. I could apologize a thousand—no, a /million/ times—and it wouldn’t be enough.
… I guess it just wasn’t meant to be, huh?
There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. But it’s kind of stupid. I would wait a few years, but it’d be too late by then.
I really want you to be happy, okay? Now that nobody will be harassing you to hide in your room, I hope you won’t get in trouble with Fuyuka-san anymore for my sake. Thank you for those times. Have fun playing soccer with your little brother. Take care of yourself. Experience the world.
Yuuichi could no longer restrain a sob.
I really had fun during our time together.
Thank you, so so much, Yuuichi-san.
I love you.
The light of the sun shone onto his face, piercing his vision, as if mocking him. Yuuichi covered his eyes with his hand.
Right now, of all the things in this world, the sun was the thing he most wanted to leave him alone.