Chapter 54-2
Ryosaku thought.
(Teacher Suzuki... did you evaluate yourself that way? But you're not the only one. Everyone is weak. My teacher, please don't blame yourself so much. At that time, I was the only one who was unilaterally guilty...)
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"After that, no matter how many times I called, no one answered the phone.
But Minegishi-san answered the phone the day before she came to school.
When I asked her, "How are you...? Where's your mom?" She said, "Yeah, my mom is out right now, so it's just me." It was a very dark, lonely voice.
When I asked her, "Are you feeling okay physically? Aren't you tired?", she replied, "No, I'm not tired. But Ryosaku-kun..." So I asked her, "Ryosaku-kun...did he say something to Minegishi-san?"
Then she said, "No, he didn't say anything. But...I made Ryosaku-kun angry. He might not like me..."
When she said that...she burst into tears.
I...I didn't know how to comfort her, so I just waited for her to stop crying and calm down.
I said.
"I'm sure that's not true, Ryosaku-kun...maybe he just happened to be in a bad mood at the time. So, there's nothing wrong with Minegishi-san. I'm sure Ryosaku-kun was the one who made Minegishi-san cry so much. , I think he's remorseful. So please forgive him... okay?"
"...Yeah," she said.
When I asked her, "Do you think you can come to school?", she replied, "I'll go tomorrow. But teacher...we're moving tomorrow. We'll all be living with your father."
Just before she came to school with her mother the next day, she went to the stationery store in front of the school and bought a bunch of pencils to give out to all her classmates.
At that moment, I suddenly thought that maybe she had bought some pencils for Ryosaku-kun as well.
But I was so preoccupied with saying goodbye to Minegishi-san and seeing her off that I completely forgot about it.
I remember watching Minegishi-san looking forlornly at the 5th grade classroom where Ryosaku-kun was taking lessons in front of the school gate... I regretted that I should have run and jumped into the 5th grade classroom to make Ryosaku-kun and Minegishi-san meet.
Here too, my poor decision-making skills came out.
Mieko-san's mother also heard about Ryosaku-kun from her older sister Kaori.
Kaori-san was a child who was always locked in the classroom and rarely showed up in the schoolyard, so she didn't know much about Ryosaku-kun and Minegishi-san's relationship...that's what I thought, but that wasn't true.
After all, they're sisters... I guess it's because she's Mieko's older sister that Kaori-san was the first to notice the change in Minegishi-san, and immediately decided that it was related to Ryosaku-kun. "
On the day Mieko stopped attending school, Ryosaku remembered the piercing gaze he received from her older sister, Kaori.
