Work Text:
The room felt empty.
A room where things remain scattered, but the familiar presence is gone.
A hollow, lonely space.
She and her mentor couldn't stay in Japan anymore, so they left.
I wasn't told where they were going.
I have no way to contact them.
On my day off, as the sun was setting, I couldn't accept the fact that they—that she—had left us behind. Still, I couldn't help but check, so I visited the building that used to be the Kambara Medical Referral Office.
Through the gaps in the blinds, the intense evening sunlight dimly illuminated the interior.
Stepping slowly across the floor, I looked around.
We used to gather here as colleagues, having serious conversations and joking around.
But now, it feels so different. The atmosphere is definitely different now. My chest tightens in this space filled with the loneliness of being left behind.
I stand leaning against the mahjong table that remains.
She used to sit there, her mentor across from her, with me between them.
Remembering those times, affection wells up inside me while simultaneously constricting my throat.
It's been four years since I came here.
Five years since we met.
The reality of being left behind tears at my heart, while at the same time bringing resignation—perhaps it couldn't be helped.
I ask myself if I wanted to be taken along.
Maybe if I had been asked to go with them, I couldn't have said yes then.
Despite thinking this, the loneliness and sadness festering deep in my heart grow day by day.
"Daimon-san..."
I think I was in love.
Even when I jokingly talked about my remarriage, I was the one who got hurt by my own words.
I was the one who couldn't speak the truth while she remained silent.
The time we spent joking around and playing together—it might be fair to say we were flirting with each other—was so precious that I didn't want to ruin it.
Am I regretting it now?
It would be a lie to say I don't.
But even if...
Even if I never see her face again...
"I'm doing what I can in my own place, Daimon-san."
So someday, surely, come see me.
* * * * *
She hit my chest with a gentle fist.
Leaving her clenched hand against my chest, she hung her head and cried.
"Disappearing without saying anything, then coming back on your own terms—what on earth are you thinking?!"
Her voice, trembling with tears, listed her selfish complaints.
The fact that I found even this adorable probably meant that I care about her―hopelessly, I'm in love with her.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Jonouchi."
Even as I apologized, I couldn't stop my cheeks from relaxing into a smile.
Again, her fist raised and fell against my chest.
"Try... being... the one... who gets... left behind... you idiot."
Two, three times, both her hands continued to pound my chest. Their force only grew weaker.
"I'm sorry."
Since I didn't say anything other than those words, she continued crying.
She sobbed so painfully that I couldn't stand it anymore.
I sighed roughly and ran my fingers through my hair just as roughly.
I wrapped my arms around her back as she cried with her forehead against my chest, and held her tight.
This adorable person squirmed and struggled to escape my arms.
"Listen, Dr. Jonouchi. Wherever I went, there was no one better than you."
Already, I've been remade to fit you perfectly, and it's the same for you, isn't it?
No one else can satisfy you but me, and there's no one else I can entrust everything to but you.
Still, she continued to sob, and I wanted to do something to make her stop crying.
"Hey, look at me."
When I lifted her downcast face, our eyes met for just a moment.
This is the best we can do—we who still can't look each other in the eye when saying important things.
I wiped the tears flowing down her cheek with my thumb, then traced a path to her lips. I ran my fingertip back and forth across her lips several times, then quickly tilted my face so she wouldn't anticipate my next move.
Then I released my arms.
Her eyes were wide open.
I smiled mischievously and grabbed her right wrist that had settled at her side.
"Come on, let's go to our usual place."
Pulling her arm, we headed toward the place where we both belonged.