“These kinds of unauthorized actions…”
“…are really quite the hindrance to Dr. Sanetoshi’s special treatment.”
The boys’ manner was so detached that I wondered if they wouldn’t just abandon her entirely.
“I’m sure Himari has a good reason for doing this.” She knew better than anyone how much we would worry over her when we eventually found her.
Kanba, who was pacing around the room, suddenly looked at me. “Yo, Shoma, let’s go.”
“Where?”
He pointed to the Yozawaya bag with her knitting supplies and several instructional books.
“Right, she’s been knitting.” She needed tools, or more likely, yarn. “We’ll go find her!” I said quickly in parting to Shirase and Souya, and then rushed out of the room behind my brother. If Himari was headed to her favorite craft supply store, then the two of us should be able to track her down before nightfall. It was terrifying to think of what might happen if we passed her by, but for now, we had to do what we could.
We searched for Himari.
When Ringo received a call from Himari, who was still hospitalized, at first she was delighted to be hearing from a friend. But then she thought of the current situation with Shoma, and lost the will to speak. Not only was this a matter of her connection to Shoma, but to the whole family as well. That was their fate, he’d said. She’d replied that she was going to change that fate, but thus far she had no real plans on that front.
All that Ringo had left, now that the diary was gone, were the special feelings she held for the Takakuras.
After school, she met up with Himari, who said she was given special leave from the hospital. Now the pair were headed to a craft store in Ikebukuro. She began to suspect that the reason Himari’s overprotective brothers were not in tow was because they were avoiding Ringo.
“How are you feeling, Himari-chan?”
“Pretty great lately! How’ve you been, Ringo-chan?” Sure enough, as Himari strolled merrily between the store shelves, her complexion was good and her steps lively.
“Shoma-kun didn’t tell you anything?” Ringo reflexively asked back as she was faced with Himari’s beaming smile.
“Hm? What about?” asked Himari, tilting her head.
Ringo heartily replied, “It’s nothing, never mind.”
He doesn’t even talk about me. As far as Shoma is considered, I might as well not exist. I’m sure if he knew I was meeting up with Himari like this, he would be cross, Ringo thought.
“Ringo-chan?”
“Hey, so is knitting hard? I wonder if I should give it a try, too,” Ringo said, hurriedly throwing on a smile. She already knew how unexpectedly perceptive Himari was about these things.
Even if Ringo were to knit something appropriate for midwinter, she got the feeling Shoma wouldn’t accept it. Still, she wanted to do something. Anything at all would be fine; all she wanted was a connection to Shoma.
“I mean, I learned to do it. I bet you could pick it up right away, too. Let’s knit together sometime! I’ll teach you. It’ll be fun! Oh, there’s the yarn.” Himari rushed happily to the yarn shelf.
On the shelf were balls of yarn in various colors and weights, organized by brand and variety. Himari grabbed the ones that caught her eye, carefully comparing their colors and prices.
“Himari-chan, let me know right away if you get tired.”
“I’m fine! Dr. Sanetoshi gave me permission to go out, after all. Plus you’re here too, so it’s fine, it’s fine!” Himari puffed out her chest. Then, she lifted a finger to her lips, signaling to Penguin No. 3 at her feet not to spill her secret. No. 3 picked up a nearby yarn ball, nodding.
“Well, that’s good then.” This still seemed a bit odd to Ringo, however. Even if Himari really was given permission to leave, there was no way her brothers would have let her go out alone. At the very least, Shoma would have stopped her if he knew that the friend she was going out to meet was Ringo.
She did believe Himari when she said that Shoma hadn’t told her anything. If she had, it would be even more strange for her to meet with Ringo in secret.
“I want to finish some sweaters for Sho-chan and Kan-chan before I leave the hospital,” Himari said softly.
“You’re knitting sweaters? That’s amazing.”
“Wanna know something? The other day, they secretly grilled some takoyaki in my room.”
“Whoa.” It was difficult for Ringo to clearly picture anyone cooking takoyaki in a hospital room, but she gave a little smile, thinking it was just the sort of thing the two brothers would do.
“Those two are always doing things for me. So, sometimes, I want to be able to do something for them. Please don’t tell them about the sweaters, okay, Ringo-chan?” Himari’s face was so serious, one could practically see the shadows upon it. Considering that her brothers were not to know about the sweaters, maybe Himari received her permission to go out in secret as well.
“Yeah, of course!” Finally, Ringo smiled, beginning to feel a bit at ease.
“So actually, I started knitting one already, but when I showed it to them, Kan-chan said he didn’t like the color. So I think I’ll start over,” Himari said, picking up a yarn ball of a beautiful teal hue. “I wonder if he’d like this color. He doesn’t like subdued colors.”
Ringo picked up the same yarn and looked hard at it. “Hmm. I think bolder colors are definitely better for Kanba-kun. And for Shoma-kun, a less distinct color, maybe.” The yarn that she pointed out for Shoma was a skein of something indistinguishable in color or pattern, a mess of many colors, sitting in the bargain bin.
“Ringo-chan, this isn’t some kind of horoscope,” Himari giggled in surprise.
“Ah, right.”
The two looked at each other and laughed.