Chapter 23

“See you tomorrow,” Kento said as he stepped outside to go home. The sun was setting as the spring day came to an end, and the area was washed in a dark-blue light similar to Lake Titicaca from those faraway days.
Feeling a warmth in the air like that of a human touch, Kento let his eyes wander up to the sky and its lingering light. In the neighboring yard was a towering cherry blossom tree, and a crescent moon hung on a branch with swelling buds.
As he began his slow walk to the dorm’s back entrance, Kento recalled the nights he had listened to records with Orihara.
“Kento, let’s practice your English. You know this phrase, ‘C Moon’? Do you know what it is?” Orihara smiled as he pointed at the cover.
“C Moon? No idea.”
“It means crescent moon.”
Kento looked up at Orihara from where he was lying on his stomach on the sofa with his cheek propped up in one hand.
“Oh, because it looks like the letter C!” he said in realization, and stared at Yuri in amazement. “So, is a half-moon a D moon?”
Orihara laughed as he shook his head. “No, that’s just called a half-moon. Obvious, though, right?”
Doctor. Kento felt a tear roll down his cheek. It was a tear of frustration, he thought. He was frustrated that he was still a boy. Yes ? today, he had been slapped in the face with the fact that he was still a child.
Orihara had not told him a single important thing. But even if he had, Kento would probably not have been able to help him.
Kento’s original plan had been to visit Orihara at the hospital where he worked once spring break started. He had planned to convince the man that he really loved him. But in doing so, he would only be a kid causing trouble for Orihara.
Orihara had said that it was his fault that people were unhappy. “Everyone” probably meant his older brother, Keigo, and his injured friend. That was why Orihara had left his home behind and stopped running.
Right at that moment, everything clicked. Kento bit his lip. His mother had said it once: that your time for leaving the nest came when you found someone more important than your family.
Right now, Kento did have someone who was more important than anyone, someone whom he wanted to protect more than anyone else. But he did not have the strength to do so. The wings on his back were still small, barely strong enough to support his own weight.
He had wished every day to grow up faster ? ever since the day Orihara had left him. He had felt like if he wished hard enough, it would happen instantly. But of course, that was impossible. Kento realized for the first time that there were some things he could simply never have, no matter how hard he wished.
Becoming an adult meant being able to protect your loved one. Kento wanted to be by Orihara’s side and to protect him. He wanted to make Orihara happy.
But even if he went to Orihara now, he would be able to do nothing. And Orihara would never acknowledge him as an adult. Kento stopped in his tracks and looked up at the crescent moon.
“It’s called a C Moon.”
He remembered Orihara’s smiling face.
“I’ll keep moving forward on my own,” Kento murmured. “Watch me, Doctor.”
Right now, all he could do was to learn how to walk on his own, without anyone’s help. To do that, he needed to heal his leg, study, and go to school. It seemed like an awfully roundabout path, but there was nothing he could do. There was no shortcut.
Orihara was someone whom he needed in his life, someone who meant more than anything else. That was all the more reason why he needed to become independent, in a place far away from him. That was the only thing he could do right now.
Once more, Kento looked up at the moon. Perhaps Orihara was out there looking at it, too.
“Wait for me,” he said to it, “I’ll get there someday.”