Orihara had been dispatched to a rather large hospital in Shimizu City, with its own emergency center. Kento and Ishizaka put in an appointment at the front desk, claiming the visitor was “Suzuki from Shonan Private School”, just like they’d rehearsed. Of course, Suzuki was a fictional persona.
“Kind of like how a spy would sign his name as John Smith,” Ishizaka whispered to him.
However, Orihara appeared not to have any suspicions, and immediately answered the internal telephone line after being put through by the receptionist. The sharp-looking woman with short hair spoke a few words into the phone before smiling at the two.
“He’s in a meeting right now. Will you have a seat and wait in the lobby?”
The two decided to wait on the lobby sofa as they had been told to do. Ishizaka watched the receptionist from afar and nudged Kento with his elbow.
“Don’t you feel your heart race when you see a beautiful woman like her?”
“Not at all,” Kento replied promptly. It was the truth. Ishizaka shook his head in exasperation.
“Well, if you really love him, I’m not going to complain, but…”
“Yuri is the only one for me,” Kento said firmly. Ishizaka gave him a sidelong look.
“He did have a pretty face, now that I think about it. Our upperclassmen used to try to make moves on him. I thought they were being stupid,” he reminisced. Kento looked at him sharply as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
✦ ✦ ✦
Once consultation hours ended, quite past five, the elevator doors opened to let out a crowd of doctors in white coats. One broke away from the group and came to the lobby. It was Orihara.
Orihara saw the two of them and stopped dead in his tracks.
“Hey,” Ishizaka said, getting up from the sofa. For a moment, Orihara almost turned on his heel, but sighed before striding towards them.
“Kento. What in the world is going on?” Orihara looked at him critically. “Ishizaka, what are you doing here with him?”
Ishizaka slid an arm around Kento’s shoulder and drew him close. Orihara’s face tensed for a split second.
“We’re friends now. Kento came to interview me.”
“Interview you?”
“Yeah. It was part of a series on athletes with prosthetic limbs.”
Orihara’s shoulders tensed at the words “prosthetic limbs.” Ishizaka paid no mind to him as he rolled up the right leg of his pants.
“Look at this baby. I made it. I’m aiming to enter the next Paralympic Games.” He then rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt and displayed his muscular arms. “Go on. Touch it.”
Orihara hesitantly touched his arm. His eyes widened in surprise.
“See that? Pretty impressive muscle, huh?” Ishizaka laughed jovially and looked at Orihara from head to toe. “You, on the other hand, were right to stop running. You haven’t grown a bit since high school. Look at how scrawny you are.”
“How rude,” Orihara said with a wry smile.
“I’m only stating the obvious. I train every day. I’m even more serious about it than I was in high school. If I hadn’t lost my leg, I wouldn’t have come this far.”
Suddenly, his tone softened.
“That’s what I’m trying to say. I came to show you me. To show you what I’ve become.” Ishizaka told Orihara the very words which Kento had asked him to say.
“Orihara, I’m no Mother Theresa. I won’t say that I’ve never hated you for this. But right now, I have no grudges.” He grinned and stuck his thumb up. “If I’d led a normal life as an athlete, I might never make the Olympics. I’m proud of my leg.”
“Ishizaka, I?“
“I have a favour to ask of you,” Ishizaka interrupted. “Let go of the baggage you have because of what happened to me. Do it for him.”
Ishizaka grabbed Kento’s arm and pushed him out in front of Orihara.
“You two haven’t seen each other in a while, right? I’m sure you have lots to talk about. I’ll leave him with you.”
He then glanced at his watch and picked up his bag and suit jacket from the sofa.
“The bullet trains will be running for a while still. I’m going home. I have work tomorrow.”
Orihara stood still for a while after seeing Ishizaka off. After a long stretch of time, Orihara sighed and turned back to Kento. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and put them back on.
“Kento, what about you?”
“I have the day off tomorrow,” Kento managed to reply gloomily. He hadn’t been able to take part in their conversation at all. Even after all these years, the air between Orihara and Ishizaka still implied that they had a strong bond. Kento felt completely dwarfed.
Orihara approached him, oblivious of his diminished spirits.
“Why don’t you stay the night at my place, then?” He then looked up at Kento with an exclamation of surprise. “You’ve gotten so tall!”
“Uh, yeah,” Kento replied.