The bitterness in her expression was difficult to describe.
Yuto relaxed slightly.
"He... is your father, isn't he?"
This time, he asked directly.
He had already worked out their relationship himself and was nearly certain of the answer.
Even so, saying it aloud still made him tense.
Hanako slowly closed her eyes.
She tilted her head back slightly, her cheeks trembling faintly as she took a deep breath and gradually let it out again.
She did not speak.
She simply nodded.
That was enough.
"So you came back this time because you wanted to see him?" Yuto asked softly.
Hanako's breathing became slightly heavier.
A distant look entered her eyes.
"No..."
Her answer was barely audible.
"Better not to see him."
She repeated the words quietly, but there was so little strength behind them that they sounded almost like something spoken by a sick person too exhausted to raise their voice.
Yuto remained silent.
Seeing Hanako like this left him with an emotion he could not quite name.
After a while, she forced a faint, self-mocking smile.
It made her look strangely vulnerable.
"Can't even find him. What's the point of talking about seeing him?"
The corners of her eyes drooped slightly, fine uneven wrinkles spreading outward from them.
Hanako was already approaching fifty.
No amount of makeup could completely erase what time had left behind.
"Do you still hate him, Aunt Hanako?" Yuto asked carefully.
Hanako drew in a deep breath.
"Hate him...?"
Her gaze lowered.
"Maybe not as much anymore."
She paused.
"But I don't exactly feel ordinary familial affection toward him either. He did far too many terrible things for that."
Another pause followed.
"Maybe I just..."
Her voice faltered.
"Just want to hear him say 'I'm sorry' to me with his own mouth."
People often said that as someone grew older, they learned to let many things go.
But by that same age...
They also learned how to bury things much deeper.
The pride, hatred, and pain of youth gradually changed beneath the weight of time.
They did not necessarily disappear.
Sometimes they simply settled into something quieter and harder to define.
Hanako gave another bitter smile.
Even she seemed unable to explain exactly what she felt anymore.
There had been a time when she hated that man fiercely.
Now...
The hatred no longer burned in the same way.
Instead, everything had become impossibly deep and muddled, like water churned until no one could see what lay beneath the surface.
Yuto pressed his lips together and slowly breathed out.
By now...
He felt considerably more at ease than when the conversation began.
"Aunt Hanako... if you had the chance to see him right now, would you?"
Hanako froze.
The look she gave him immediately became complicated.
Yuto took a breath.
"The truth is... I found him."
Her eyes changed.
"And I went to see him today."
Hanako did not blame him.
She did not become angry, she simply fell silent.
For a while, it almost seemed as though time itself had slowed.
Even the air inside the room felt heavier.
Yuto knew better than to speak.
So he waited.
Eventually...
Hanako gave him her answer.
"Take me to him."
Her voice was calm only because she was forcing it to be.
Yuto nodded.
"Okay."
...
Yuto returned to the hotel.
This time...
Hanako walked beside him.
After entering, they briefly greeted the man in black and went upstairs together.
Once they reached Morishita's room, Yuto asked the man to leave them alone.
The hallway soon became quiet.
Only Yuto and Hanako remained outside the door.
"He's inside." Yuto spoke softly.
Hanako did not answer.
Her eyes had gone distant.
Countless memories had clearly surfaced all at once, pulling her so far into the past that for a moment she seemed to forget Yuto was even standing beside her.
He did not disturb her.
He simply waited.
He understood that whatever happened from here...
Hanako needed to face it herself.
After a while, clarity slowly returned to her eyes.
She released a heavy breath.
Her gaze briefly moved toward Yuto before settling on the tightly closed door in front of her.
Hanako slowly raised one hand.
She was about to knock.
But just as her fingers reached the door...they stopped.
Her hand remained suspended in the air.
And her expression tightened with unmistakable pain.
It was as though simply raising her hand had become something unbearably painful.
"Want me to do it?" Yuto asked quietly.
Hanako shook her head.
"No. I'll do it."
This time, she forced herself to move and finally knocked.
The instant her knuckles touched the door, tension tightened across her face.
Hanako had weathered countless storms and stumbled through nearly half a lifetime. She had survived things that would have broken many people long ago.
Yet right now...
She was genuinely nervous.
She and Yuto stood outside the room, waiting for the person inside to answer.
Several moments passed.
Nothing.
Their expressions gradually changed.
Knock, knock, knock.
Yuto knocked again, harder this time.
Still no response.
His brow furrowed.
Without wasting another second, he called the man in black back over and asked for the room keycard.
The door clicked open.
The moment Yuto and Hanako stepped inside, both of them froze.
Morishita Ihito... had hanged himself.
Hanako immediately covered her mouth.
Her eyes reddened in an instant.
Yuto rushed forward, cut the old man down, and lowered him carefully to the floor.
But...
They were already too late.
Yuto pressed a hand against Morishita's chest.
Nothing.
No heartbeat.
No breathing.
Death by hanging could happen within only a few minutes, and Yuto had no way of knowing exactly when Morishita had made his decision.
His thoughts immediately returned to their conversation earlier.
After hearing about Ayako's death, Morishita had fallen into a long silence.
Perhaps...
That was when the thought first entered his mind.
Yuto quietly exhaled.
If only he had noticed something at the time.
Beside him, Hanako stood motionless before her father's body.
Her eyes were red, yet no tears fell.
Her expression had gone strangely hollow.
The corners of her mouth drooped naturally, and all the vitality seemed to have drained from her face.
She simply stared at Morishita.
Not saying a word.
Yuto did not disturb her.
Instead, he quietly looked around the room.
If Morishita had chosen to end his life after everything they discussed...
There was a good chance he had left something behind.
Sure enough, beneath the glass of water on the table lay a sheet of paper folded several times.
Writing could be faintly seen through the creases.
Yuto walked over and picked it up.
He did not read it.
Instead, he carried it directly to Hanako.
"Aunt Hanako... he left this."
Hanako stared at the folded paper for several seconds before blankly accepting it.
Then she opened the letter.
[Nobuko,
It's Dad.
I'm ashamed even calling myself that. I never fulfilled a single responsibility as your father, and for that, I'm truly sorry.
By the time you read this, I should already be dead.
Don't worry about me. Don't waste too much time thinking about it either. This was my own decision. Someone as pathetic as me probably deserves to die a coward's death like this.
My entire life has been nothing but cowardice and failure. I failed my family, and I failed at practically everything else I ever tried to do.
When your mother died, I didn't even cry.
I went straight back to gambling instead.
That was what finally drove you and Ayako away from home, and it has become the greatest regret of my life.
I know now...
Ayako is dead.
It's my fault.
If I had been even a little more responsible back then, maybe things would never have turned out this way.
I'm a sinner.
I caused all of it.
I'm sorry.
I'm truly, deeply sorry.
I heard that you're doing well now.
Knowing that puts my mind at ease.
At least I can die without worrying that you're still suffering because of me.
I originally wanted to see you. That was why I came to Tokyo.
But after thinking about it carefully...
What right do I have to stand in front of you?
All I ever gave you and Ayako was pain and tears.
Even if I met you now, I would probably only cause you more trouble.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe things would be better if I simply disappeared.
I don't expect to go to Heaven.
I hope I go to Hell.
I hope they torment me there forever.
Maybe then I can finally begin to atone for what I did.
And if I meet a god there, I want to ask for one thing.
I want to see Ayako again.
I want to apologize to her properly.
There's one more thing I want to tell you.
I'm sorry about the ball.
The one you made when you were little.
After you took Ayako and left home, I made another one myself.
But you never came back.
Goodbye, Nobuko.
Live well.
I was a useless father who never gave you a single happy memory in my entire life.
I'm sorry.
From now on...
Just pretend you never had a pathetic father like me.]
By the time Hanako reached the end of the letter, the tears she had been holding back finally fell.
Drip... drip...
They landed against the paper in her trembling hands, blurring the ink beneath them.
For several seconds, Hanako said nothing.
Then a broken curse escaped her lips.
"What a pathetic father..."
Her voice trembled.
She clenched the letter tighter.
"You couldn't even find the courage to look your own daughter in the eyes one last time...?"