You're The Last One

The Truth

Friday morning, hot and humid just like any other day at the peak of the summer season, Takano did the impossible. He followed Ritsu.

The so-called rich kid that everyone knew to be a prick just used the local train system. The Ritsu he knew back then was the kid with so many masks. He had forgotten whether the real Ritsu was the sweet one he knew or the one who dumped him, or the one who did all those bullying and trouble. He didn't know yet he still loved that frail brunette ten years ago. So much that the wound was something no one could measure up. Wasn't that why he was even trying to show Ritsu he had moved on and didn't care anymore?

Anyway, that day, Takano just followed while Ritsu walked a good distance and once in a while rested under the shades of huge trees. Takano felt like some idiot while tailing a brunette who had no inkling he was being followed.

Annoyed at the same time amazed, Takano realized Ritsu could be robbed or hurt without even knowing. Nevertheless, despite his own white shirt clinging to his sculpted body due to sweat, he still followed Ritsu.

It was nothing out of the ordinary. White buildings, white walls and white-wearing people greeted his eyes. Even in that early morning, the hospital seemed to be pretty packed. The smell of sickness made Takano wrinkle his nose as he watched from a good distance Ritsu taking a left turn.

Once he reached that left turn, Takano thought he was transported to a different place. Much calmer and silent ambiance filled the area. The hallways were wider, and the people he saw were fewer.

Attempting to follow Ritsu without being noticed, Takano stood beside a coffee vendo machine. From his point, Ritsu then greeted a very tall dark haired man with a kind smile. The giant looked young but had strong hands that patted the other on the shoulders firmly. The next thing Takano knew, the two were already walking away, towards a back-to-back bench situated at an empty children's playground.

The doctor and patient sat without talking for a long while. As if both were resting and gathering their thoughts. Takano then sat quietly behind the two, nonchalantly flipping at a health brochure he grabbed at the entrance.

"You're being quite busy aren't you? Don't over do it...besides, forgetting your medicine pouch is very careless you know?" the doctor scolded in a friendly way as he handed the brunette a small, leather pouch.

"Sorry," Ritsu replied. "Kusama-sensei...I'll be more careful."

"You should," Kusama Hiroki replied as he crossed his long legs more comfortably. "By the way...that list of yours, still not done?"

Takano glared at the brochures without actually seeing anything.

"No...not yet."

"Tsk...Onodera-san, you never cared if people actually forgave you as long as you did your best to sincerely relay your apology...why the effort with this last name in your list?"

Ritsu forced a laugh, slipping a hand in his medicine pouch and opening a small notebook with names of people he had already apologized to. The last name remained unchecked. Takano Masamune.

"The entire time I stayed in the hospital...I tried listing the names of people I have toyed with...some I could not even remember...but Takano-san...his answer is really important to me..."

Hiroki ruffled the back of his head and sighed. "Say he forgives you finally, after following everything he's making you do...what's next? Bye bye then? You'll die in peace is that it?"

Some of the brochures Takano was holding fell silently on the floor. He didn't even bother picking them up.

"I guess so," Ritsu replied.

"Look here Onodera...you could still have that tumor removed in your abdomen...you've been fighting it for ten years...why give up now?"

Ritsu gave a small smile as he looked at the slightly moving swings because of the dry wind that brushed to their faces.

"It's because I've been fighting it for ten years that I should give up..." the brunette rested a hand on his abdomen shortly. "All those ten years, I've had surgery year after year but it's a recurrent cancer... the tumor keeps on coming back...I am pretty much tired of it..."

"You make it sound so unimportant..." Hiroki replied, looking troubled himself. "Onodera...what if this last surgery is the last you have to undergo? Give it a try..."

"That's exactly the same thing the surgeon in America said at my fifth operation. The sixth, seventh up to now, they all said things differently but had the same meaning...I feel sorry for my parents too."

"As long as you have the means to have surgery, whether it's the eleventh or the twentieth, just go and do it! So you don't want to take another surgery, giving up completely and then you came up with that silly list, running around people asking them to forgive you?" Hiroki asked almost sarcastically. "Don't be an annoying shoujou manga heroine..."

"Because I really think I'd end up in hell, that's why I need to do this..." Ritsu mumbled. "I was such a selfish person at a young age...and the simple stomach aches, I thought they were nothing yet it came to this..."

Kusama Hiroki inserted a pen inside the breast pocket of his white coat and stood. He stood before Ritsu yet he was eyeing the frozen man sitting at the opposite side of their bench.

"The reason you left that Takano dude ten years ago was because you got diagnosed with gastric cancer right? You ran away before...why do it again?"

"That..."

Hiroki turned his back, ready to leave. "Settle this thing with that guy you couldn't forget. He's right behind you."

Ritsu stared at the broad back of his doctor leaving. The crunching of some dried leaves that had gathered filled the sudden tense atmosphere. He just fixed his green eyes at an empty playground after minutes of silence.