Orihara lived in a condominium next to the hospital. He invited Kento inside a simple one-bedroom unit with a living/dining room and kitchen. Kento had planned to say so many things once they were alone, but he was so choked up with emotion he had trouble opening his mouth.
“I thought I’d take you to a nice sushi restaurant since you’ve come all the way to Shimizu, but I thought it might cause a commotion if people recognized you,” Orihara apologized as he ordered off a delivery menu. “I’m sorry. Next time, I’ll try to find a restaurant where we can go without you being found out.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Kento inwardly gave a wry smile at Orihara’s overly concerned tendencies. He hasn’t changed at all. He had wondered what he would do if Orihara had changed over the past year.
The apartment was clean but barren-looking. There were no floral-patterned cushions or lace curtains. It looked very much like a man’s apartment.
It doesn’t seem like he has any girls coming over, but….
Kento also kept a sharp eye out as he inspected the bathroom. There was no extra toothbrush as far as he could tell. Good. That means he hasn’t found a new girlfriend. But he was still worried. When Orihara came into the bathroom as he was leaving, he decided to make sure.
“Doctor, are you going out with anyone right now?”
Orihara blushed furiously. “No,” he said.
Good, Kento thought.
✦ ✦ ✦
Once he got out of his bath, Orihara went to the kitchen and came back with a can of beer. He offered one to Kento, but Kento declined, saying he was still underage.
“Oh, right, you’re still seventeen. You’re so tall, I sometimes forget.”
“Stop treating me like a kid,” Kento protested as he toweled off his freshly-shampooed hair. “I might not be able to drink or smoke yet, but in two weeks I’m turning eighteen. I’ll be able to gamble.”
Orihara smiled slightly before bringing the beer to his lips. He came to sit down beside Kento on the sofa.
“Thank you,” he said. “I can’t thank you enough for… what you did. I wanted to see Ishizaka for so long… but I thought I never could. I thought I had no right to.”
The care he felt for Ishizaka was evident in his voice, which made Kento feel a prick in his chest.
“Were you in love with Mr. Ishizaka?” Orihara snapped his head up at Kento’s slightly sharp tone. He nodded his head almost unnoticeably.
“I could never tell him. I mean, after all, I was the one who…”
Kento hurriedly scooted beside Orihara and put a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter now,” Orihara said. “But the same doesn’t go for what I did to you. I left without saying a word.” He sighed, taking off his glasses and putting them on the table. “I was… happy when you used to come over to my uncle’s house to visit. Before I knew it, I was looking forward to it.”
Kento’s eyes widened at the unexpected confession. Orihara continued sheepishly.
“About that night… I was so ashamed that I took advantage of your kindness, and… that’s why I said what I did. And if I stayed there, I knew I would end up relying on you, so I put a stop to it.”
He rubbed his fingertips together as he squeezed the words out painfully.
“I always thought I should never have been born.”
“You’re wrong!”
Orihara choked at Kento’s loud outburst.
“Thank you,” he said. “That’s why I left without saying anything to you. And when I got back to the university’s medical office, I signed up for a relocation. I was trying to distance myself. You hated me for it, didn’t you?”
It had been hard to say goodbye a year ago, but Kento shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter now. I was able to see you again. That’s good enough.”
Orihara lifted his face in surprise and stared at Kento. A blush rose in his cheeks as he averted his eyes.
“You’ve become a lot more mature.”
“You think so?”
Kento slid his hand on Orihara’s shoulder and gently held him closer. Orihara twitched, but didn’t resist.
“Doctor…” Kento whispered as he held Orihara close. “You were wrong.”
“What?” Orihara said in a startled way, looking up in his arms.
“You said I would forget about you, but I never stopped loving you.”
Orihara was looking up at him with a slightly troubled expression. Kento hooked a finger under his chin.
“Will you accept me now?”
When their lips overlapped, Orihara still did not resist.