Chapter 75: A lie.

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Translated and Edited by: luccayn.

Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you're close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it's cutesy and childlike.
-senpai: A common suffix and noun used to address or refer to one's older or more senior colleagues in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club.

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Tsukino’s POV

The sea.

A vast ocean stretches out before me. The sea breeze ruffles my hair, tangling it in my darkened vision. The blazer of my uniform isn't enough to keep me warm, but I walk briskly down the deserted road, too focused to mind the chill.

The place Tsukaji-san told me about is a few blocks ahead. When I asked a police officer at a nearby station, he mentioned that the area is a slightly unsafe suburban neighborhood.

This town feels lonely. The oddly luxurious houses stir unease about Shinji-kun's past. Given his upbringing, it's hard to imagine he grew up in a place like this.

Looking toward the horizon along the coastline, the lights of downtown cast a bluish-purple glow across the sky. I don't actually dislike the lively neon bustle of such places, but ever since meeting Shinji-kun, I've started to think—like an old soul—that it might be nice to spend quiet days together in a place like this.

…Somehow, even my smallest thoughts seem to be resembling his. The pretense of always being the person everyone admires has faded, leaving me with a mind that has calmed, yet emotions that fluctuate wildly.

That's why I feel so restless right now. I just want to see him, to be reassured that he's safe. That's all I need to know.

He's always relied upon by others, yet he has no one he can rely on himself. That fact alone pains me more than anything.

“I don’t know him.”

“…I see.”

Dinner time has long passed, and the town is already settling in for the night. Just finding someone outside is difficult, let alone someone who knows Shinji-kun.

Besides, the people living around here would only know the old him. That one stolen photo…

No, I wasn't the one who took it. Yamaka-kun posted it on social media—I just saved it without permission.

Even so, there's no way anyone would recognize him from a recent photo. But I still kept searching, hoping that maybe someone would notice even the faintest trace of him. Two hours passed before I realized it.

It was already midnight.

The last train was gone, leaving me with no way back to the townhouse. The silence of the residential area pierced my ears. The faint sound of waves reached me as I wandered, retracing my steps to the nearest station for what felt like the hundredth time.

On my way, a taxi stopped in front of a house. Its sign read “Occupied.” After a moment, an elderly man with white hair and glasses stepped out.

“Excuse me.”

When I asked him about Shinji-kun, he tilted his head with a troubled look. As expected, no matter how many times I asked, no useful information surfaced. It was about time to try a different approach—

“Oh, but I recognize this pattern. It's a tattoo, isn't it?”

It was an image that had slid into view by accident. A record of a certain pattern on a piece of paper—the only clue I had about my own birth, having never known my parents.

“…This?”

“Yes. A patient at my hospital had the same tattoo on his arm. I'm a doctor at the hospital up on that hill over there.”

“I’m not actually looking for this man.”

“Haha. You have a rough way of speaking for someone with such a gentle look. Do you have some kind of grudge against him?”

“Excuse me.”

Frustrated, I ended the conversation abruptly. I turned back toward the hill, staring into the pitch-black darkness. As my eyes adjusted, I began to make out faint, shadowy shapes.

That must be his hospital. The place where the tattooed man had been. Before I met Shinji-kun, I might have gone there to gather information, but now, it doesn't matter anymore.

…But, a hospital, huh?

Maybe—just maybe—someone among the patients knows Shinji-kun. It feels like most of his acquaintances are older people, so a hospital might actually be a logical place to gather information—

“…Huh? Shinji-kun?”

“…Yo. What a coincidence.”

As I walked along the gently curving seawall road, I saw him—standing alone, staring at the dark ocean.

A completely unexpected reunion. My mind couldn't process it.

“Wh-why are you here…?”

The first words out of my mouth were meaningless. That's something he should be asking me. But I'd been thinking about him so much that it just slipped out.

“Just some business.”

“Business?”

“Yeah. But it's already done.”

As he spoke, Shinji-kun draped his coat over my shoulders. His white breath danced in the darkness. My earlobes grew hot, my vision blurred with relief. I had planned to scold him, to tell him how worried I had been.

But why does he look so lonely?

It's like he doesn't see me standing right in front of him. No—it’s like he’s trying not to see me.

…If he looks at me like that, I won't be able to say anything.

“I thought I had saved Taishou.”

“…Huh?”

“I thought as long as I was there, he wouldn’t feel lonely anymore. That he wouldn’t need alcohol. That even if he was alone, he wouldn't do something to hurt himself. I really believed that.”

My heart aches.

“Why did I go on that school trip? I got carried away. I got excited over nothing. When I think about it now, it was obvious—Taishou sent me away on purpose, to keep me from stopping him. But I ignored all the signs, twisted the source of the money into something convenient for myself, and walked right into his trap.”

No—that can't be true.

“That's not true at all! Daisuke-san was thinking of you—”

“There was a suicide note. One even Tsukaji-san didn't see. A real one, with his true feelings.”

I can't bear to see the pain on his face.

“I could never replace Youko-san. I couldn't understand his suffering. All I did was prolong his painful life with my useless meddling.”

“…!”

“Taishou was in debt. A debt so massive he could never repay it in a lifetime.”

But Tsukaji-san never said anything about that…

“Youko-san had an expensive surgery in America. It failed. You hear about those, right? The ones with a survival rate of 30%. They lost that gamble.”

“…Yeah.”

“And I took away his escape route. I'm so disgusted with how stupid I was. Seriously—”

Before I realized it, I had thrown my arms around Shinji-kun's back.

I couldn't listen anymore.

To think that the path he had walked so earnestly only led to hurting the person he loved most—

It was just too cruel.

“Let's stop.”

“Stop what?”

“Helping people. Let's stop. You've done enough, Shinji-kun. If you keep going, you're going to break.”

Shinji-kun gently pulled away, placing his coat properly over my shoulders. Then, for some reason—he didn't meet my eyes.

Instead, he looked at me with the kind, distant gaze of a father stroking his child's head.

“Why?! Why do you have to go through so much?! You've worked so hard, and yet you haven't been saved at all! Even now! I—I should be the one being kind to you…!”

It wasn't the kind of touch that made me feel love.

It was warm, yet felt more distant than anything.

“Yeah… To be honest, I was thinking this might be my limit. Maybe Michiru's right—it's time to stop.”

“Then—”

“But there's still one person I have to save. Someone who, because of me, will probably be hurt so badly they'll never recover.”

“…Huh?”

Then, Shinji-kun pulled the hood of his coat over my head.

“Sorry, Michiru. I can't stay by your side anymore. Everything we felt… was a lie.“

In an instant, my blurred vision turned completely white.

I couldn't understand anything anymore.

As I stood there, speechless, Shinji-kun looked at me and smiled.

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