They continued to talk every day until Sakura was eventually discharged.
Karamori’s mental state had stabilized enough for him to undergo detailed questioning about the incident. The memories were just as painful, but he was able to keep his composure as he recounted what happened. He had not, however, accepted Nanba’s proposal for avoiding his miserable fate and still thought he should be punished for killing all those people.
The mark on his arm continued to grow. It originally extended from his wrist to his elbow, but now, it was starting to creep across his palm and shoulder.
He didn’t care. Karamori was past ready to accept whatever misfortune would befall him.
In fact, fate had already begun to torment him. A chair had broken beneath his weight, causing him to fall, and he’d started to bleed after his IV tube came out one night. Yet none of it bothered him at all.
He thought he might have seen the last of Sakura, but she kept her word and visited him in the hospital. She always brought snacks and popular local sweets.
“I tried to get back into running, but it was a disaster. I’ve lost too much muscle,” she said one day with a sigh. She was talking to Karamori in his hospital room as he stuffed his cheeks with a chocolate cake shaped like a tree stump. Her side ponytail swayed with her every movement.
“Will it be hard for you to get back in form?” Karamori asked.
“And then some. I’m still forbidden from intense exercise, so I want to at least get my strength back… I’ve just gotta keep at it.”
“I’m rooting for you.”
Karamori smiled and took another bite of the cake. His IV was out, his bandages had been removed, and he was getting stronger every day.
“Man, this is really good,” he said, gesturing to the cake. “To be honest, chocolate isn’t my thing, but I’m loving this.”
“Oh, you don’t like chocolate? Sorry about that,” Sakura told him.
“No, I don’t dislike it. And this is perfect because it’s not too sweet. Where’d you get it from?”
“Apricot.”
“‘Apricot’?”
Sakura had casually thrown out the name, but Karamori had never heard of it. He suddenly realized he knew nothing about this town outside of the hospital.
“You don’t know it?” Sakura asked. “It’s the place next to the convenience store at Kuki Station. The one with the red sign.”
“Sorry. I’m not sure if I told you, but I don’t know anything about this town. It’s a long story, but I was, uh…transferred to this hospital.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Oh man. I feel bad for you. That means you don’t know Nakamura. It’s an amazing ramen place near my school.”
“Nope, no idea. Is it good?”
Sakura snorted. “Good doesn’t even begin to describe it! They use a fish-based broth, which sets their ramen apart from others and gives it an intense seafood flavor. It’s famous enough that people from other prefectures see it in magazines and come to try it.”
“My mouth’s watering already. I wish I could go there…”
Sakura jumped up excitedly. “Let’s do it!”
“Really?” Karamori asked, taken aback.
His physical condition had improved enough for him to return to his normal life without issue, but he was still here for psychological treatment—and because Noary hadn’t decided what to do with him yet.
Nanba always told him to be safe and not leave the hospital. Apparently, Noary had influence over this hospital and used Distortionism to infuse it with special protections. The older man probably didn’t want Karamori venturing out on his own, given his unique circumstances.
He knew that, but…
“…Yeah, let’s go.”
Karamori had been stuck in the hospital for more than a month now, and he was starting to get sick of it. Fate would likely punish him with another unlikely bout of unfortunate events, but he would accept them without complaint.
He stood up and started forming a plan to sneak out.
Sneaking out of the hospital ended up being incredibly easy. It required hardly any effort at all. Karamori simply got changed, left his room as if he was going to use the bathroom, then walked right out of the lobby’s main entrance, making it seem as if he was allowed to leave.
Once the automatic door slid shut behind him, he and Sakura exchanged a glance and laughed. They hurried away from the hospital to avoid suspicion, completing Karamori’s escape.
He had no way of knowing everything that had just gone wrong. Unbeknownst to Karamori, Noary had been surveilling him. Right before he left the hospital, however, the observer on duty just happened to get distracted by an emergency call and miss him as he snuck out. And so began the distortion of fate.
Karamori followed Sakura to the ramen shop. It was his first time walking through the town, and everything about it felt new and exciting. Even the air tasted different. When he thought about the fact that he was experiencing the scenery that, for the last month, had only ever been visible from his window, it gave him a thrill.
The hospital faced a highway with never-ending traffic. A billboard at a nearby intersection was so rusty and faded that it looked like it hadn’t been swapped out in years. A gyudon shop and other chain restaurants lined the street. Karamori got the sense that business in this area had declined over the past few years, but it still seemed relatively popular.
The ramen shop ended up being close to the hospital. There was also a school nearby, just as Sakura had told him. It was visible beyond a building across the street.
“That’s my school,” she said to Karamori. “Doesn’t it look ancient?”
“It looks pretty typical to me.”
“Really? You should see the high school in the northern district. It’s huge and has amazing facilities.”
“Sounds like a case of ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ to me.”
They chatted until they entered the restaurant and received an energetic “Welcome!” The shop was smaller than Karamori had expected, and Sakura strode right to the counter with exceeding familiarity and sat down at an empty seat. A middle-aged man with bold features emerged on the other side of the counter. He seemed to be the owner.