As I opened my eyes, a thick blanket of darkness greeted me.

The scents of medication and chocolate crammed my nostrils, mixing into an odd concoction that appeared all too acquainted. I heaved myself up, feeling a tough mattress beneath me. I opened my eyes, however noticed nothing.

When did I lose consciousness? The ache that ravaged my physique was gone.

But, my eyes remained unresponsive. Bewildered, I scanned my environment.

It was then that I heard a faint sound, a noise that I knew all too properly. A way of aid washed over me.

“Don’t fear. Your blindness is barely short-term,” Mayuzumi murmured softly. “Your thoughts couldn’t bear the shock of getting your eyeballs gouged out, and it influenced your physique. You didn’t really endure any accidents. It’s an uncommon type of blindness, however it ought to heal in due time.”

She chewed on a bit of chocolate. I may sense her sitting by my bedside. The shock of shedding my sight was an excessive amount of, however I knew higher than to query Mayuzumi’s phrases. If she mentioned it might heal, then heal it might. I needed to keep centered, lest I risked my abdomen ripping open once more.

As a substitute I requested in regards to the one factor that weighed heavy in my thoughts.

“Mayu-san, what occurred to the person?”

“Ah, I knew you’d be curious.”

Mayuzumi set free a sigh. Her garments rustled. I may image her black lace swaying.

Delicate fingers touched my palm. Mayuzumi took my hand.

“Do you wish to meet him?”

Mayuzumi led me by the hand down the hallway. The smooth contact of her fingers on my palm was odd, and on the identical time being in direct contact with part of her was unsettling. I adopted her anyway, dumbfounded.

“Mayu-san, what are you plotting?” I requested.

“How impolite. I don’t wish to make use of any extra individuals that can assist you, however on the identical time, I don’t need you to stumble and damage your self. At present is an exception. Get pleasure from it to your coronary heart’s content material,” Mayuzumi mentioned with a light-weight chuckle.

Get pleasure from what precisely?

I adopted her silently. Cautiously. The darkness appeared to go on eternally. I held tight to Mayuzumi’s hand, the one tangible factor within the void. Finally, she got here to a cease. I wasn’t certain how far we walked. I silently waited for Mayuzumi to open the door.

Then I heard the door creak open, and a gust of autumn wind brushed in opposition to my cheeks. The window was open. Mayuzumi pulled me into the room. The heat of the solar introduced a transparent sky.

“Ah, whats up,” a voice spoke calmly. It was not the voice of somebody who was injured.

I felt a way of aid wash over me on the thought that he had not gouged out his personal eyes.

“Um, Mayuzumi-san… You mentioned that your companion grew to become like me. Is he okay? If it gained’t heal, I’m actually sorry. My apology won’t change something, however I’m sorry.”

His phrases left me speechless. What did he imply by ‘grew to become like me’? I couldn’t see in the mean time. There may solely be one rationalization.

“Right. He’s grow to be identical to you,” Mayuzumi answered nonchalantly. “However don’t fear. His blindness is short-term, not like yours.”

She took my hand and guided it in the direction of the person. My fingers brushed in opposition to his hair. I may really feel dry bandages beneath it.

To my shock, the person set free a smooth snicker.

“Once I misplaced my sight, I ended being afraid.” His voice was serene. “I’m not afraid anymore. The issues that tormented me are now not inside my sight. Lastly, I will be regular. Lastly, lastly… I’m free from myself.”

He set free a sigh of aid. His tone was extra composed than when he may see. I pulled my hand away, and his determine vanished within the darkness.

“I wish to inform the police every part. I can’t make up for what I’ve completed. It’s already too late. However I’ve determined to face the results.” His voice was now cheerful, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

My discomposure was unattainable to hide. My insides twisted and turned, and my fingers twitched.

His eyes now not labored, a indisputable fact that left my head numb.

“Was it unattainable so that you can face others when you possibly can see?” I requested.

My voice was however a low echo, as if it belonged to another person. Silence ensued. The wind howled in my ears.

I knew the reply already. He took his time, and at last spoke.

“I couldn’t do it,” he answered. “I’m a pathetic and depressing human being who finds pleasure and ache within the act of gouging out eyes. There was no salvation for me till it got here to this.”

Then, one thing hit my hand. He was holding it, greedy at me with a determined fervor.

“This was the perfect factor that would have occurred. Thanks a lot.”

His phrases had been real, coming from the depths of his coronary heart, however I couldn’t acknowledge them. They had been like a type of insanity, an expression of a thoughts unhinged. I couldn’t muster a response.

What goal wouldn’t it serve to make somebody who may by no means be blissful much more sad?

It will be nothing however self-indulgence. So I swallowed my phrases and saved the ideas to myself.

The sunshine of autumn seared my eyelids, however even with it, the world round me remained shrouded in darkness.

As we stepped out of the room, I let go of Mayuzumi’s hand, and she or he merged with the darkness.

“He’s grateful, that a lot is for certain,” I muttered. “However was there actually no different method? That selection was too merciless.”

There was an extended pause earlier than Mayuzumi chuckled. Within the darkness, I imagined the curve of her crimson lips.

“An individual’s happiness just isn’t one thing you resolve, Odagiri-kun. Whether or not one’s place is heaven or hell is decided solely by the particular person’s thoughts. He ought to have been left in hell, in a position to see, pressured to atone for his sins. Isn’t that what you’re saying?”

If the world his eyes beheld was insufferable, did he not make the best selection?

Others would see that as hell. Removed from true paradise.

I clenched my fists, however Mayuzumi appeared unbothered by my internal turmoil.

“Effectively, it doesn’t matter to me both method,” Mayuzumi went on coldly. “I used to be merely fulfilling a request. And the actual fact is, this end result expedited issues.”

I turned in the direction of the route of the door, biting my lip laborious.

“However nonetheless, I…”

I couldn’t see the face of the person behind the door. What was seared in my thoughts was the picture of him writhing in agony. I by no means noticed his smile.

“Thanks a lot.”

I mulled over his phrases. His eyesight would by no means return.

I may solely hope that the place he had discovered was paradise.

Crimson leaves fell earlier than my eyes, piling up on the backyard that lay past the porch. My youthful sister lifted her face barely, broom in hand. I watched her with a smooth smile on my lips. She will need to have sensed my gaze, for she turned to face me, concerning me with huge, clear eyes.

In her eyes was a deep sorrow that jogged my memory of a darkish sea. However greater than something, they had been stuffed with compassion and concern for me.

Not did I worry her eyes. After confronting and reliving reminiscences that I had lengthy prevented, I came across a realization. Her eyes weren’t condemning me, however mourning for me.

She was merely grieving for me.

I needed to beg her to smile. I needed to embrace her, inform her to be blissful, to have enjoyable. She will need to have felt the identical method about me.

We must always have laughed collectively like youngsters, and not using a care on the planet.

“Are you indignant, Brother?”

“There’s nothing to be indignant about. Actually, there isn’t,” I replied in a whisper that would now not attain her.

However she smiled anyway, that very same endearing smile that lit up her face. Her eyes sparkled with pleasure as she nodded innocently.

It was nothing however a figment of my creativeness, however I knew she would have smiled for me.

I lifted my face gently. A breeze caressed my cheek. The autumn solar streamed via the window. I used to be sure the identical azure sky was stuffed with clouds as white as milk. My sister smiled and seemed up on the sky, simply as I did.

“It’s shiny, Brother,” she mentioned, like we had been again in our youthful days.

“It’s,” I replied out loud.

“The sky is gorgeous.”

“I feel so too.”

To others, it’d appear to be the mutterings of a madman. However I used to be sane.

As I watched her smile, a smile that was now not round, I mirrored upon the previous.

I couldn’t defend you, the particular person dearest to me.

You confirmed me extra kindness and concern than anybody else ever did.

However now, identical to again then, we may lastly snicker collectively.

Below the clear blue sky, we confronted one another.

Each you and I, identical to in our childhood days.

We stand right here, with none worries or troubles.

“Ah…”

The fantastic thing about that day endured even now.

That truth alone gave me solace.

Within the darkness the place I couldn’t see something, I took my sister’s hand.

And, from the underside of my coronary heart, I whispered.

“I’m blissful.”