Morning
As for what happened afterward, Jyuu didn’t know anything beyond what was reported on TV and in the newspapers. The arrest of the main culprit, Kusaka, and the conclusion of the case were reported as top news. Moreover, a considerable number of members of the criminal syndicate were identified. It developed into a large-scale arrest drama. The media buzzed for a while, and weekly magazines ran featured articles investigating the truth.
Kusaka somehow managed to survive, at the cost of his sight. It was karma. At times like this, it felt good to believe in the existence of God a little.
In the end, it was reported that Kusaka, The Gouger, had stolen children’s eyeballs and sold them. However, the parents’ involvement wasn’t reported. Many people connected to Kusaka were arrested, but for some reason, the incident never came to light. The narrative was basically: a man had come up with a bizarre method to make money. Was it a political decision, or an ethical one?
Perhaps because of Madoka’s connections, Jyuu and the others’ involvement weren’t even reported in the media.
I see, sometimes the truth is buried in the dark like this, Jyuu thought.
On TV, parents with children were all smiling and talking.
「I’m so glad! Now I can let my kids play outside freely without worry!」
「The children’s smiles have returned!」
Jyuu watched with a complicated look as a mother said this with her child on her lap.
The demon that had been targeting children had indeed disappeared. The crisis had passed and they were saved. However, what about the children who had fallen victims?
Even if the police uncover the eyeball trafficking route and arrest everyone involved, what would that solve?
After the incident, Kusaka’s sister and parents were targeted by the media. A ruthless uncle who stole his niece’s eyeballs for money. The family was responsible for giving birth to and raising that sociopath. Watching the reports became painful for Jyuu, so he gradually distanced himself from news related to The Gouger.
Jyuu wanted to know what Kusaka Eri thought about the outcome of the incident. Of course, it was obviously anything but positive. Besides, there was another child that Jyuu wished to see.
Jyuu and Ame visited a university hospital in Tokyo together. He’d intended to go alone, but Ame naturally came along. It seemed that Yukihime wasn’t informed of this—this might’ve been Ame’s way of getting revenge.
She bought a bouquet of flowers near the hospital. Jyuu had no clue about flowers, so Ame picked some nice-smelling flowers.
After asking the receptionist where the room was, the two of them walked down the corridor to the elevator.
Aware of his heavy steps, Jyuu asked Ame, “Do you think what I’m doing is strange?”
“Not at all.”
On the day of the incident, he happened to come across a lost girl. He never expected her to be involved in a harrowing experience afterward. Jyuu hesitated for a while, but he decided to go visit her after everything had settled down.
“Please let me see your daughter.”
Jyuu explained this to Kagami Sakura’s parents. And to his relief, they agreed, but at the same time, he felt a pain in his heart. Even now that he knew everything, he still didn’t know how to process this incident in his mind.
“Does a blind person dream?”
“I’ve heard that if you’re born blind, you only dream of sounds and presences, but I don’t know much about other cases.”
“I wonder what she saw at the end...”
While waiting for the elevator, Jyuu reminisced. Ame never once called this an “incident.” She’d said it from the start, it’d be best not to get involved in this matter.
Jyuu didn’t realize what she meant at the time. She had predicted the outcome would be unpleasant and painful. Yet, she was loyal to him.
Jyuu didn’t realize her concern for him.
“I’m so sorry...”
“Jyuu-sama...”
“I’m stupid. Really stupid.”
“That’s not true.”
“I didn’t notice anything. I was just angry.”
“I think you’re fine the way you are, Jyuu-sama.”
Jyuu gave her a questioning look, and Ame quietly answered, “It’s probably weirder to notice something like this easily. This has nothing to do with intelligence, so Jyuu-sama should never belittle himself.”
“But I was of no use.”
He looked at his right hand. There was a scar there from when he’d smashed the glass. Jyuu couldn’t punch Kusaka with these hands.
“Did you want to succeed, Jyuu-sama?”
Ame’s sharp gaze pierced through her obscuring bangs, meeting his head-on.
She wasn’t blaming him—she just wanted to hear his true feelings.
So, Jyuu said honestly, “...I don’t know. I just wanted to do something. I wanted to do what I could for that girl. But in the end, I couldn’t do anything.”
“That’s not true.”
“Huh?”
“If Jyuu-sama had never tried to get involved in this in the first place, I wouldn’t have been interested. Yukihime and Endo wouldn’t have been involved either. The Gouger would probably still be on the loose. Many more children would’ve been sacrificed. Because of you, we could stop him."
It seemed like she was trying to comfort him, but Jyuu decided to listen silently.
The elevator door opened, and after waiting for the wheelchair patient to get off, the two got in.
The doors closed, and the elevator began to rise slowly. Upon getting off on the eighth floor, they went to a hospital room specified to them by the receptionist. The sign read Kagami Sakura.
He knocked, and there was a response from inside. After receiving permission to enter, Jyuu placed his hand on the side-swinging door. Despite how heavy it looked, it seemed to be designed so that even a feeble elderly person could open it. It easily opened with one hand.
The inside of the hospital room was filled with sunlight streaming in through the window.
Jyuu and Ame bowed their heads and introduced themselves to a woman who seemed to be Kagami Sakura’s mother, and exchanged greetings.
“Thank you for coming.”
She was a little haggard, yet still a young woman in her late twenties.
Jyuu handed her the bouquet and shifted his gaze to the bed.
Kagami Sakura sat on the bed while the nurse changed the bandages around her eyes. She hated it so much that she threw a tantrum and gave the nurse a hard time.
Being considerate of Jyuu and the others, the nurse left the room, saying, “I’ll come back later.”
Sakura seemed refreshed after the bandages were removed and rubbed her eyes.
Her mother said with a sigh, “Sakura, you’re so selfish...”
“Noisy.” Sakura pouted, but then she seemed to notice Jyuu and the others. “Did someone come, Mom?”
“It’s Jyuuzawa-san and Ochibana-san. They’ve come to visit you.”
The mother explained with some difficulty to her daughter, who tilted her head.
“That day, when you got lost, you said you met a tall, kind man, right? That’s Jyuuzawa-san.”
“Jyuuzawa...?”
Jyuu approached the bed and put his face close to Sakura’s. “Have you forgotten?”
Sakura, who’d been trying to remember, opened her mouth in surprise when she heard his voice.
“It’s Jyuu!”
“You have a good memory.” Jyuu praised her, and Sakura smiled happily.
Next to Ame, who was staring at the scene, the mother was trying to put the bouquet into a vase.
Ame said casually, “You must be tired.”
“Yes, it’s been rough...”
“Are you not getting enough sleep?”
“Yeah, I haven’t been getting much sleep lately.”
“It’ll probably be like that from now on,” Ame said pityingly.
Jyuu would never forget the look on the mother’s face at the time—the nasty look she shot at Ame. It was a mixture of sadness, blame, resentment, anger, and humiliation—the face of a person who was both a parent of The Gouger’s victim and his accomplice.
When Kusaka was arrested, the parents who consented to sell their children’s eyes must’ve been terrified at first. They must’ve prepared themselves for arrest.
However, the police never came, the media coverage gradually decreased, and in the end, their crimes never came to light.
Was she hiding the truth? Or still haunted by fear? She must have wondered when her betrayal would be uncovered. Was that why she was so sensitive to Ame’s trivial remark? Did she know something?
As the mother glared at Ame, she said flatly, “Take care of yourself, for Sakura’s sake.”
It was a mundane phrase.
Hearing this, her mother seemed to think that her worries were unfounded.
She put on a smile, “I’ll go change the water in the vase,” she said, and hurriedly left the hospital room.
As he saw her off, Jyuu wondered, would the parents continue to live like that in the future? They’d never find peace of mind. Such was the punishment for the sins they’d committed.
“Jyuu, will you hold me?”
“Yes.”
Jyuu picked up Sakura from the bed.
She was very light, probably because she’d been in the hospital for a while.
Sakura’s face was the same as before, except that her eyelids were closed. There were no visible injuries, and her complexion wasn’t bad.
Her small hands clung to him, as if seeking someone’s warmth. Even if she acted cheerful, it wasn’t easy to overcome the anxiety of being suddenly thrown into the dark, especially since she was only six years old.
Sakura smiled happily at Jyuu’s gentle touch. “Jyuu, you’re warm.”
“Really?” Jyuu said in an effort to sound cheerful.
He also gave his best smile, even though she couldn’t see it.
“The bad guy got caught, right?”
“Yeah.”
“There are those who stand for justice, after all.”
“That’s right.”
She must’ve heard the details of the incident, or maybe she was told that the culprit was apprehended. At the same time, Jyuu didn’t want to say anything that could trigger Sakura’s trauma. Sakura touched Jyuu’s face with her small hands, feeling for him. She also brought her own face closer to him several times.
“What’s wrong?”
“I still can’t see.” Rubbing the scruff of her hand, Sakura said with dissatisfaction, “My mother said I’ll get better if I behave, but I still can’t see at all.”
Not noticing Jyuu tensing up, Sakura continued, “It’s been night for ages. Morning never comes. I hope I get better soon.”
Kagami Sakura’s closed eyelids would never open again.
Although Kusaka was very careful with the eyeballs, he only provided the bare minimum for the children. The forceful removal of healthy eyeballs damaged the nerves around the eyes, rendering the eyelids shut.
The police were currently investigating the whereabouts of Sakura’s eyeballs, which had already been sold. Even if they were lucky enough to find them, it’d be impossible to transplant them back into Sakura.
“Do you remember our promise?” Sakura raised her left pinkie.
“Yes.”
“Sorry. I can’t draw until I recover. Once I’m better, I’ll definitely draw you.”
“Of course.”
He was lying.
Unable to look at Sakura’s face, Jyuu closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
A gentle breeze blew in through the window, ruffling their hair.
“Is it nice weather today, Jyuu?”
“Yeah, it’s nice.”
“Is the sky blue?”
“Yeah, it’s blue.”
“I want to see it.”
Jyuu opened his eyes and moved to the window as if in response to Sakura’s request.
The sky was clear and cloudless.
Jyuu narrowed his eyes in the strong sunlight, yet Sakura felt nothing.
“It’s going to get colder, then warmer, and when spring comes, the cherry blossoms will bloom, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then I’ll be in the first grade.”
“Yep.”
“The elementary school I go to has a big cherry blossom tree like my grandpa’s.”
“I see.”
“But the cherry blossoms at grandpa’s are the most beautiful, after all. I’ll show them to you next time, Jyuu. They’re so beautiful, you’ll definitely be shocked,” Sakura said with an innocent smile. “When I get better, let’s see them together.”
Jyuu opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He couldn’t find the words.
Sakura looked up as if looking up at the sky, but when she realized she couldn’t see anything no matter what she did, she seemed downcast.
“I hope I get better soon...” Sakura clung to Jyuu’s clothes tightly. “It’s so dark.”
Jyuu’s lips trembled and his shoulders shook. He pursed his lips, desperately trying to stop the sobs rising from the back of his throat. Yet, his tears still overflowed.
Jyuu didn’t know how her parents and the doctor explained the situation to her, or how they intended to explain it to her from now on. Jyuu had no idea. He couldn’t say anything at all.
Ame gently touched Jyuu’s back as he gritted his teeth so Sakura wouldn’t hear him cry.
Ame nodded quietly as Jyuu shot his tearful gaze at her. He handed Sakura to Ame and pressed his forehead against the wall of the hospital room. Then, he cried silently.
Hearing his soft sobs, Sakura curiously asked Ame, “What’s wrong with Jyuu?”
“Big brother is praying.”
“Praying?”
“Yes, praying to God for the morning to come.”