With the discussion concluded, and it being late, they decided to visit the Kunitomo household tomorrow. Tomomori then recounted the story of the knife incident he had heard from Hachiman earlier. Kyoko wanted to hear the full details, so Hachiman began to tell the story again. The difference from before was a small detail Hachiman remembered and added at the end.
"You're amazing… You actually confronted Father directly and picked a fight with him."
"Ah, but in the end, he told me to 'come again.' Does that really count as picking a fight?"
At Hachiman's words, Tomomori and Kyoko fell silent. Immediately after, both showed expressions of surprise and pressed Hachiman.
"Eh, eh, is that true? You're not joking, are you?"
"No way, I've never seen Father tell anyone else to 'come again.'"
"Eh, is that so?"
Seeing Hachiman's puzzled face, the two exchanged glances.
"This might mean…"
"He might have taken a liking to him…?"
"Haha, no way."
Their interest in Hachiman now piqued, the two wanted to hear about his experiences in SAO. In response, Hachiman looked at Kyoko and said:
"Let's save that for another time. Even though you're putting on a brave face, Kyoko-san, you've been worried about your daughter all this time, haven't you? We'd also like to visit, so if it's alright, we'd like to meet Kaede-san."
"Ah…"
The moment she heard Hachiman's words, Kyoko's smiling face crumpled, and tears welled up and flowed down her cheeks. Hachiman took out a handkerchief and gently wiped Kyoko's tears. Her tears didn't stop for a while, and Hachiman silently continued to wipe them away. Eventually, she seemed to calm down, regaining her original smile, and said to Hachiman:
"Thank you. Alright then, I'll take you to Kaede's room. This way."
It seemed Kaede's illness wasn't contagious, so the group was able to enter Kaede's hospital room directly.
"Mom, Tomomori-san!"
"Kaede, how are you feeling?"
"Kaede-chan, it's been a while."
Kaede happily greeted the two of them, then looked at Hachiman and the others, puzzled.
"Um, who are these big brothers and sisters?"
"Nice to meet you, Kaede-chan. I'm your cousin, Yuuki Asuna."
"I'm Hikigaya Hachiman. Asuna, your big sister here, and I are planning to get married soon, so I guess I'm like your cousin too, Kaede."
"I'm Yukinoshita Haruno. You can think of me as your big sister too."
At their greetings, Kaede's eyes sparkled.
"Wow, wow, Mom, I have two big sisters and a big brother now?"
"Yes, that's right, Kaede. Isn't that wonderful?"
"Yeah! I don't really like my other cousins, so I'm super happy!"
Hearing this, Hachiman's expression hardened, and he quietly asked Kyoko:
"Kyoko-san, those other cousins…"
"Well, they've accompanied other relatives who came for inspections a few times, but I'll leave their attitude at the time to your imagination."
"I see."
"This place, due to its location, can't escape those kinds of entanglements. Sometimes, I wish I could just take my daughter and the patients here and go somewhere far away."
Hearing her words, Hachiman suddenly asked:
"Kyoko-san, um, your husband…?"
"He passed away about five years ago."
"I-is that so? I'm sorry."
"It's alright, Hachiman-kun, don't worry about it."
Hachiman then tentatively asked Kyoko another question.
"How many children are currently here?"
"Let's see, about ten in total, I suppose."
"Ten, huh… If it's that many…"
Hachiman said, then glanced at Haruno. Haruno seemed to grasp his intention and silently nodded in response.
"Um, Kyoko-san, if the environment isn't good here, would you consider bringing the children here and coming to Tokyo with us? We'll prepare a place. We'll have the Medicuboid developers there, and you can cut ties with all these entanglements. I don't think it would be a bad thing."
Kyoko was astonished by Hachiman's words.
"That would be a dream come true, but… is that really alright?"
"Yes, no problem at all. We've already started construction on the facility."
Soleil had already begun constructing a facility for the experimental operation of the Medicuboid. Kyoko's reply upon hearing this was:
"In that case, I'll take you up on your offer. After I've seen Kaede through to the end, that is."
"Th-that's…"
Hachiman was speechless at her words.
"It's alright, Hachiman-kun. Kaede doesn't have much time left. So please, just let Kaede have some fun dreams at the very end."
"…Understood."
Hachiman said, desperately fighting back tears, then walked over to Kaede, who was happily chatting with Asuna, and said with a smile:
"Kaede, your big brother and sisters are here to help you have wonderful dreams. The preparations will be ready soon, and then we'll play together to our hearts' content."
"Really? Yay! Yes, I want to play with big brother and sisters!"
And Kaede added, finally:
"Big brother, I want Grandpa to come too!"
"Grandpa too…? You don't want to be with the other kids?"
"Yeah, the people here are a bit older, and we always talk a lot through monitors, so right now, I want to play with big brother and big sisters, and Grandpa!"
"I see. Alright, big brother will forcefully bring Grandpa here for you."
"Big brother, are you stronger than Grandpa? Wow, wow! Kaede will be waiting excitedly!"
"Yeah, you can look forward to it."
At Hachiman's words, Kaede smiled very happily.
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