NOVEL NEXT Chapter 67
My father woke up on that Friday of the week.
“…Oh, Megumi?”
“Yeah, good morning.”
“What happened to him?”
“If you’re talking about Yamamoto, he’s coming tomorrow. He had school.”
“…I see.”
My father, with his usual grumpy face, said. But why did he look a bit lonely?
Well, it seemed like my father had genuinely taken a liking to Yamamoto. I felt a little sympathetic.
The next day, I came to the nearest station to our family home with my mother.
The person we were waiting for was, of course, Yamamoto.
“Long time no see.”
As soon as Yamamoto arrived, he first greeted my mother.
“Yamamoto-kun. We’ve been waiting.”
“I’ve been waiting as well.”
Speaking of which, he can be surprisingly sociable.
“What is it, Hayashi?”
“Nothing?”
I averted my eyes from Yamamoto, who I hadn’t seen for several days.
I had informed Yamamoto that my father had woken up the previous night. Therefore, the mood in the car was a bit more relaxed than before.
“Long time no see.”
“Oh. I haven’t been waiting for you at all.”
At the hospital, my father was contrary to Yamamoto.
Then, for a while, a friendly conversation continued in the patient’s room, and we returned home. Of course, it had been arranged that Yamamoto would also visit our house.
“Yamamoto-kun, is it okay for you not to go home?”
At our house, my mother asked Yamamoto such a thing. I wish she would stop. I was happy to see Yamamoto after a long time, yet she said something that sounded like she was kicking him out.
I think I was pouting a little.
“Ah, my house is laissez-faire.”
“I see. That’s good then.”
“Am I causing any trouble?”
“Of course not. Right?”
Before I knew it, I had joined in their conversation.
My mother, after looking surprised for a moment, nodded with a grin as if to say of course.
Sunday.
My father had woken up, and I was about to return to Tokyo with Yamamoto.
“Bye, mom. I’ll come home right away if anything happens.”
“Yeah. Do your best. Yamamoto-kun, please take care of my daughter.”
“Yes.”
After a short conversation with my mother, we got on the return train.
…What should I do?
Inside the return train, I was lost in thought.
The story that Kako-chan told me at school the other day. Where and when should I tell Yamamoto about it?
First of all, what should I do after telling him?
Should I apologize? That’s for sure. …But what after that?
What should I do for Yamamoto after that?
“It turned out well, didn’t it? Hayashi.”
While looking at the scenery outside from the train window, Yamamoto said.
“Huh?”
“Your father, he woke up.”
“…Yeah.”
Really, this guy…
This guy.
Yamamoto, he’s… not straightforward at all.
Yet he’s kind and selfless.
…I wished Yamamoto would be a bit more indulgent.
Because he’s always been misunderstood. As someone who knows what kind of person he is, at least from me, I wanted him to be rewarded.
“I’m sorry, Yamamoto.”
“Huh? …Not at all, it’s not a burden to meet your father. Rather, I feel like I’ve been the one causing trouble again.”
“That’s not it.”
“What’s not it?”
Hayashi, who had been looking at the scenery outside, slowly turned to look at me.
“…I found out.”
“Found out what?”
“About the incident at the post-festival event in our first year.”
“…Ah.”
That was unexpected.
Back then, Yamamoto was forced to bear the brunt of the blunder made by the cultural festival committee, and he was treated terribly.
Yet Yamamoto seemed to be looking back on the past with nostalgia.
“Yeah, that did happen.”
“That did happen…? Despite being a bed of needles, you can easily say that.”
“That’s an old story.”
Ah, I see.
…I realized.
Just as we think of that cultural festival as something from the past, he probably thinks of the cultural festival in the same way.
“Besides, they gave me a chance to make up for it.”
“…Make up?”
“Which cultural festival did you enjoy the most in these three years?”
“Huh?”
I couldn’t grasp Yamamoto’s intention. But I looked up at the sky to respond to his feelings.
And then…
“The one in our third year, I guess.”
“I see.”
Yamamoto smiled happily.
“Do you know who was the head of the cultural festival committee in our third year?”
“Huh? Wasn’t it Akari?”
The opening ceremony. The closing ceremony. The post-festival event.
Akari was the host at all the public events during the cultural festival. So, I just assumed that Akari was the head of the cultural festival committee… But this hint…
“…At first, I thought they were just dumping their problems on me. But I realized later on. Kako Kawaguchi Sensei probably gave me a chance to redeem myself.”
Just recently, Kako-chan told me about the work of the cultural festival committee in our first year.
…Thinking about it now, it’s strange.
Kako-chan definitively stated that the cultural festival in our first year was due to the teachers’ negligence. In other words, Kako-chan said that what happened was due to the teachers failing to manage the cultural festival.
…But then, why did Kako-chan know so much about the work of the cultural festival committee in our first year?
Ah, I see.
It wasn’t just Yamamoto.
Kako-chan too…
“So, it was you.”
“Yes.”
To Kako-chan, it’s natural to appoint Yamamoto as the head of the cultural festival committee.
It’s not just because she knew the circumstances of the cultural festival in our first year and sympathized.
It’s because she believed that Yamamoto, who was capable of doing so much work, could create the best cultural festival ever.
That’s why the cultural festival in our third year was prepared under Yamamoto’s leadership.
“…Yamamoto?”
“Hm?”
“I evaluated you without favoritism, you know.”
“I understand.”
Yamamoto was smiling.
“The most important thing is to have an experience that can change your mindset. To have such an experience, I believe you need to face things head on without running away. If you can do that, even without a second round of experiences, life will surely become wonderful.”
I remember Yamamoto’s words from some time ago.
Maybe Yamamoto was able to lead the cultural festival in our third year to success because… he faced the cultural festival head-on in his first year.
…I felt envious.
Honestly, I was envious.
To use failure as nourishment for success.
Especially because there was a past failure…
There would be a series of anxieties. It wouldn’t be short of hardships.
But overcoming such anxieties and stress to achieve great success would surely… surely…
It would be an irreplaceable and wonderful experience.
“…I think I want to face things more head-on.”
“Hm? …Oh.”
Yamamoto gave a vague response.
He probably has no idea what kind of commitment I just made.
I smiled at Yamamoto nonchalantly, and moved my body just a bit closer to him.
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