Chapter 21
"After crying for a while, she said, 'Im going home'.I said to her, "Look, I'll call someone from your house and have them come pick you up." Then, without saying a word, she looked sharply into my eyes...She left the nurse's office unsteadily. "
Ryosaku, clenching his fists tightly, listened intently to Teacher Suzuki's words.
"At the east entrance, I said, "I'm going to walk with you home." But she walked out the front door without looking at me.In front of the horizontal bar play equipment...yes, I think it was just around that area. She walked all the way over there and she...she stopped there. "
Teacher Suzuki pointed out the window...that was the place where Ryosaku treated her coldly that day as she ran towards him with a smile on her face.
"Then she looked up at the second floor of the school building, right around the fifth-grade classroom, and burst into tears again, without blinking.And then, while wiping away her tears, she walked towards the school gate. She looked lonely as she looked back over and over again.All I could do was watch her back in silence... "
Ryosaku listened, his body trembling as he felt the weight of his guilt over the fact that his heartless act had hurt Mieko and ruthlessly trampled on her modest love for him.
