・・・ xcviii ・・・
Leo stopped seeing Ao after that.
He never visited him in the hospital again.
There were no more text messages. No more annoying conversations.
Leo pretended that Ao didn't exist.
Like that, their friendship was easily reduced to nothing.
Ao was seven years old again.
All because of something that he did, everyone he loved was gone.
Instead of his mother, it was Ame this time.
Instead of his father, it was Leo.
Only this time, Ao had no one to turn to.
It hurt.
It hurt him a lot.
Leo was at Ame's funeral.
But even then, they didn't speak.
That was the last time Ao saw him.
Days after that, Leo moved away to America with his mother.
He... simply left.
And Ao was left behind.
No.
—There was a better word.
Ao had been abandoned.
・・・ xcix ・・・
On the day he was discharged from the hospital, Ao went home to his room.
On the desk, there was a wrapped box.
It looked like it had been there for some time.
Ao read the card taped to it.
Written in a painfully familiar handwriting, there was a short message.
Happy Birthday Ao!
It's my favorite one. I'm giving it to you. Tell me what you think later!
He closed his eyes.
Carefully, Ao ripped off the wrappings.
He stared at it in his hand.
It was a book.
The same one that Ame kept on reading.
The one with the shepherd and the raven.
... Ah.
In that second, the last remaining piece of Fujiwara Ao finally broke.
・・・ c ・・・
It
was
real.
Ame
was
gone.
Ame
was
dead.
She
would
never
come
back.
Ao
had
killed
her.
・・・ ci ・・・
It was all his fault.
It was all his fault.
It was all his fault.
It was all his fault.
It was all his fault.
It's all my fault she died.
It's all my fault she's gone.
It's all my fault she took away her life.
By simply existing, people around me are unhappy.
All I ever do is hurt everyone.
I don't deserve happiness.
Would it have been better... If I wasn't born?
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Everything is all my fault.
"—That's right.
Everything is all your fault."