Volume 3 - CH 13

Toyotomi Mitsuhide’s Mother

After changing trains a few times, I wander around to find my destination.

Using my smartphone to look up the address Sensei gave me, I managed to find Toyotomi-kun’s house.

When I pressed the button on the intercom, a woman came out of the house.

She’s probably Toyotomi-kun’s mother.

“N, Nice to meet you! My name is Kurusu Yumi. I’m Toyotomi…….Mitsuhide-kun’s classmate…….I, I came to pay my respects……”

“I see. Welcome. Mitsuhide would be happy you came.”

“Sorry for intruding.”

The sadness is just too much that I just want to start crying right now.

But I still have to face the reality.

This is my first time at the house of the person I love.

However, even though this is his house, he is not here anymore.

That’s right, I’m here to light the incense for him and pay him my respects.

I feel like I can finally start to accept the reality that Toyotomi-kun is no longer in this world.

After I finished paying him my respects and was about to go home, Toyotomi-kun’s mother called out to me.

“Kururu-san, can we talk a little?”

“O, Of course…..if you are fine with someone like me.”

“I want to talk because it’s you. Kurusu-san is the only one of the same age as Mitsuhide who came here to pay respects to him after all.”

“Is, Is that so……”

He didn’t cheat or find another girl he likes after all.

With the worries I had the entire summer dispelled, I was a little relieved.

“You know, Mitsuhide told me that he found a girl he liked. Seeing Kurusu-san here, I thought that it might be you.”

“Haha, I see…….I also liked Toyotomi-kun…….no, I’m sorry, that was a mistake. I still love him.”

When I said that, Toyotomi-kun’s mother smiled happily at me and started crying.

“That child, after he lost kendo he was living like a husk of his former self you know.”

“Yes…….the reason I fell in love with Toyotomi-kun was kendo after all. Right after he was injured, he did lose his brilliance…….”

“But it seemed that he managed to recover from that thanks to a certain girl you know.”

“Eh…..?”

I’ve always thought that Toyotomi-kun got better by himself over time.

Since it was only a short while that he looked so depressed, I thought that he didn’t have that much regret about it.

“He said that there was this one girl who despite her illness still came to school with a smile every day you see. He told me that the girl’s strength was so dazzling for him that he couldn’t help but think that she’s both cool and beautiful.”

“No way…….”

I thought that Toyotomi-kun never noticed me until we were put in the same class.

I mean, it was last year that he recovered from his depression……

“He started saying something like [Since I can’t do kendo anymore I will try something else! Which hobby do you think will make me popular with girls, mom?] you know. That’s not something you would just ask your parents right. When I told him [How about guitar or magic tricks?] he said [Magic tricks it is then!] and started learning them by himself……”

Perhaps it was too painful for her, Toyotomi-kun’s mother took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears.

“Did that child manage to show you his magic?”

“Yes. It was so cool that I was fascinated by them. I’ve been interested in Toyotomi-kun ever since I first saw him at the kendo club but before I knew it, I’d already fallen in love with him……..I should’ve, let him know my feelings sooner. That way we might have already started dating…….”

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There are so many things left that I can do during my school life.

Still, I don’t think I can laugh from the bottom of my heart ever again.

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[[Hey, I went to Toyotomi’s funeral, it was so damn depressing to lose him you know.]]

[[Right, you’d been friends with him ever since elementary school right.]]

I hear someone talk about Toyotomi-kun in the school corridor.

I’ve never gotten to know Toyotomi-kun’s friends but since he attended Toyotomi-kun’s funeral, it seems that he was a good friend to him.

It was only a coincidence I overheard him.

In truth, I shouldn’t really be listening in on others’ conversations like this but such conversations just naturally flow into my ears.

——–and I didn’t know at the time how much regret that would bring me.

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[[Uwah……so he might have survived if he wasn’t injured huh. Such a pity.]]

……eh?