She was pacing up and down in that small room with a worried look on her face. The sound of the sharp raindrops shooting down onto the roof only served to make her more nervous.
Then it came, the sound that she was waiting for—the sound of the door to the house sliding open and the cold wind bursting in.
She immediately rushed to the door, only to find Ayako completely drenched with an unconscious boy on her shoulder.
She fell to her knees, saying, "Quick, Kanami. He's hurt. We have to save him."
Something felt wrong with her. Something in her expression, something that she couldn't outright point out, but it was there.
It was as if her mind were somewhere else entirely, despite the severity of the situation they were now in, but she couldn't waste time pondering over it.
"Let me take him," she said as she lifted him by his shoulder.
The two of them took him to the open room by the corridor that led to the door of the house. There, they lay him down flat on his back.
Kanami checked his pulse, then she felt the heat coming off his forehead. She noticed blood pouring from his shoulder and from his head.
"What are we going to do?" Ayako asked. "We can't get him to Ririsa's place since it's raining, but we can't afford to leave him like this either."
"We can worry about the specifics later," Kanami said as she rolled up her sleeves. "Right now, all we need to worry about is keeping him alive through the night."
"Go and get me some dry clothes and some water. Hurry!"
Ayako immediately obliged and disappeared into the corridor. Kanami stayed there, pressing down on the wound on his shoulder.
Looking at him more clearly, she noticed a streak of white in his hair, so distinct that she wondered how she missed it in the first place.
His fever was high and his breath short, but his body seemed calm, like it knew that it wasn't in any danger. That was good. If he was going to make it through the night, then that calmness would be his best chance.
Muffled sounds rang sharply in his head, along with a series of flashes. He tightened up and clenched his fists until he felt something snap.
He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar roof in an unfamiliar home. Everything felt unfamiliar. As he sat up, he felt a sharp pain in his head. As he passed his hands over it, he felt it tightly wrapped in cloth.
His eyes then unconsciously scanned the room, looking for something that he couldn't name. Whatever it was frustrated him. He felt trapped, like his mind was edging him toward something important.
He clenched his fists again and felt a snap. The same snap that woke him up. Looking down at the palm of his left hand was a broken hairpin.
Looking down at it, he finally remembered something.
"This was hers," he mumbled. "That girl by the stream. She was wearing it in her hair. How did I end up with it?"
"Did I pick it up thinking that it was something else?" he thought, but then he heard a sound coming from outside the room.
He immediately hid the pin away in his robe and looked up. The door slid open, and two girls walked in, their expressions exhausted.
One of them he was familiar with, but the other he wasn't. She looked similar to her, though, so that put him at ease.
The girl he knew whispered something into the other's ear, then crouched down beside him and asked, "How do you feel?"
"I'm fine," he mumbled.
"Good," she said with a sigh. "Can you tell us about yourself? Like who you are and where you came from?"
"Who I am? I'm... I'm Hyogonosuke," he said. "Hyogonosuke Yamada."
"Good. My name is Ayako Shio, and this is my sister, Kanami," she said while pointing to her. "Now, can you tell us where you came from? I found you injured by the stream, so do you remember how you got there?"
"Where I came from?" he mumbled. "Where did I come from?"
He looked down at his own palms as if they were unfamiliar and said, "Who am I?"
"No need to force yourself," Kanami said. "You just woke up, so focus on feeling better for now. You can think about that later."
She turned her head behind her toward the door and said, "It's sunrise, and the rain stopped. We should be able to take him to Ririsa now so she can examine him properly."
"Can you walk?" Ayako asked him.
"I don't know," he replied. "Can I?"
"Can you try?"
He nodded and tried pushing off the ground to get himself up. When he did, he stumbled and almost fell, but Ayako caught him.
"Don't worry, I got you, so just focus on staying upright," she said. "We're going to take you to our friend. She's a physician, so she can help you get better."
He nodded, and the three of them started walking away with his arm over her shoulder.
It was still pretty early, so the streets weren't that crowded, which helped them get to Ririsa's place without much attention.
Once they got him there, Kanami explained the situation to her. She took one look at his confused face, and a look of worry appeared on hers.
She tried her best to hide it as she said, "Come in."
"My father isn't going to be in today, so I'll try and take care of him the best I can."
She took them to another open room and laid down some bedding for him to rest on while she got her tools.
Once she came back, she checked his pulse and his fever and said, "Looks like you did well with the basics I showed you, Kanami."
She took off the cloth on his head and inspected the wound there, then the one on his shoulder.
"Looks like I'm going to need to stitch both of them, but aside from that, they should be fine," she said. "But before that, I need to ask you some questions."
He looked over at Ayako, and she nodded before he agreed.
"Okay, now tell me, what is your name?" she asked.
"It's Hyogonosuke Yamada," he replied.
"How old are you?" she asked, but he didn't reply, so she asked, "Where did you come from? Do you remember anything about your family or anyone you were with before the accident happened?"
"I don't remember any of that," he replied.
"Okay, fine. Then follow my finger with your eyes, Hyogonosuke," she said before she raised her left index finger and started moving her hand around randomly.
His eyes followed it well, so she said, "From what I can tell right now, there is no serious damage, but I'm going to need to do some more tests later to confirm."
"What about his memory?" Ayako asked. "Will it come back?"
"It's too early to tell," she replied. "The best you can do now is wait."
The two of them sat down while she started stitching up his wounds. As she did, he wasn't grimacing or showing any pain. Instead, his gaze was fixed on her.
He passed his hand over the pieces of the hairpin hidden in his robe and thought, "Why did I hide it? What was I afraid of?"
Looking at her again, he thought, "She looks afraid too. Is she afraid because of me, or is it something else?"
The stitching took a long time, and all through it there was nothing but silence in the room. Then, as Ririsa took a break, she looked over at Kanami and asked, "Did you tell him?"
"He didn't come yesterday, so I couldn't," she replied. "And to be honest, I don't know if I should."
"Tell him what?" Ayako asked.
She hesitated for a moment before saying, "Ririsa did the test for me the other day, and it's confirmed."
Her hand rested on her stomach as she said, "I'm pregnant."
It wasn't shock or horror that showed up on Ayako's face, but just a blank expression as she listened to what she had to say next.
"I was going to tell Ashiro about it, but I'm not sure how he will react, so I don't know if I should," she said as she took Ayako's hands into hers. "Please don't tell him yet. I'm not ready."
"I... I won't," she mumbled, still stunned. "I promise."
"Thanks, Ayako," she said, sighing. "What would I do without you?"
"Don't mention it, big sis," she replied.
Ririsa took a long stretch before she went to start working on the stitches again, but before she could, they all heard sounds of murmuring coming from outside.
Kanami walked out to see what it was, and Ayako followed. When they got outside, they saw a large crowd in front of the bridge, so they walked up to see what it was.
Kanami forced her way through the crowd to the front, but she immediately wished that she hadn't.
Ayako came up from behind her and shook her, asking what was wrong, but she didn't react. Her gaze was fixed on the banks of the stream below the bridge, with a look of horror on her face.
Confused, Ayako looked down too, only to find her worst nightmare come to life. Down by the bank of the stream, half immersed in the water, was a body floating with its back facing up.
She didn't need anyone to tell her who it was, so instead she thought to herself, "How? The currents should have been leading away from the town, or did it change because of the rain?"
She clenched her fists hard as she thought, "This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening!"
"It's just a dream," she thought. "I'm going to wake up any second now, right?"
She wasn't waking up, and before she could react, she watched Kanami walk down to the bank alone. She hesitated before following her, but she eventually did.
Kanami walked up towards it and pulled it out, and surely enough, it was him. The guy she thought was out messing around with his gambling friends throughout the night, like he always did.
The look on his face was something she had never seen before. One of fear. She felt a lump in her throat as she felt his cold face.
A single tear flowed down her cheek, then another and another. By the time Ayako stood beside her, she was crying.
Looking down at her, Ayako thought, "Why is she crying for him? After all he did to her, to me."
"This is my fault. If I tell her the truth now, will she hate me?"
No one answered her, so she just stood there watching.
From the murmuring crowds, Hyogo heard of the disruption.
Despite Ririsa's warnings, he walked into the crowd and found himself at the front, looking down at them just like the rest of them.
"I know those girls," someone whispered. "They're the daughters of the Shio family. Which means that guy is Ashiro Abeno."
"That degenerate," someone else said. "I can't believe someone actually killed him."
"He might have been repulsive, but he wasn't a pushover."
"Who do you think did it?" someone asked.
"With that guy, it might just be anyone," another replied.
"Those poor girls," someone said. "They just lost their father a year ago, and now this. It's like tragedy is chasing them."
Hyogo heard all this before looking back down at them again. In the next instant, he found himself approaching them.
His unsure steps stopped beside Ayako. She looked pale, like her whole world was about to shatter.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he found himself saying.
A long silence followed before she said, "Can I ask you something?"
Even though she was talking to him, her gaze was still fixed on Kanami.
"Sure," he said.
"Do you think someone killed him?" she asked.
"That's what everyone is saying, but I'm not sure," he replied before looking down at the body too.
"It looks like he hit his head, just like I did," he said. "Maybe that's what killed him."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I don't think he was killed," he replied. "It might have been an accident."
Then, for the first time since he walked down there, she finally looked at him and said, "Is that really what you think?"
"I do," he replied.
She just stood there, transfixed, not knowing what to say. For the first time since it all happened, she felt relieved. Relieved that someone believed her, that someone didn't condemn her.
Could it have been then? The start of what drew him to her. The comforting thought that someone believed her.
Whether or not it was the fact still remained that this would be a day that she could never forget. The day she took the lifelong promise to keep that secret and the day she met him.
By then, all she could do was wonder whether he would be the string that unravels her lie or the firm wall that she could lean on so that the weight of her despair wouldn't crush her.