Chapter 179 – Forgiven

Ichinose, with tears in her apricot eyes, looked at the blurry figure of Yukio through the shimmering tears. She didn't understand what Yukio meant by saying she had already been forgiven. She clearly hadn't received any forgiveness.

Yukio, confident in Ichinose, took out his external phone and dialed a number, putting it on speaker.

"?!" Even though her vision was blurred by tears, Ichinose could still distinguish between a school phone and an external phone.

Why did Yukio have a phone from the outside? Didn't everyone have to go through an electronic scan before enrolling?

Before she could dwell on her confusion for long, the call connected, and a middle-aged woman's puzzled voice came through: "Hello, who is this?"

Ichinose's mind went blank. Even after more than half a year, she could still recall the voice of the store manager from the girl's accessory shop.

There was no mistake; she had memorized this voice deeply when her mother took her there to apologize.

"Hello." Yukio didn't give Ichinose a chance to voice her confusion, but instead quickly "introduced himself": "We are from the Monday Radio Show. Is this Mrs. Kobayashi?"

Mrs. Kobayashi, possibly recognizing the famous show, immediately sounded enthusiastic: "Yes, it's me. Are you looking to conduct an interview for a broadcast?"

"That's right." Yukio showed no sign of worry, nor did he marvel at Mrs. Kobayashi's quick understanding, as if he had a script in hand: "We were gathering content."

"We received a listener's letter mentioning that last summer, a woman brought her daughter to your store to apologize on their knees. Do you remember that, Mrs. Kobayashi?"

Ichinose seemed to understand what Yukio was trying to do. She closed her eyes tightly, straining to listen to the voice coming through the speaker.

At the same time, she silently clasped her hands together, like a devout believer praying.

"Oh, yes, I remember," Mrs. Kobayashi's voice came through with a burst of recollection: "Of course I remember. It was that girl who stole a small hairpin from our store to give her sister a birthday present."

"The item wasn't worth much, but her mother was so gentle and kind. Despite being ill, she insisted on dragging her daughter over to apologize."

"Honestly, at first, I was quite shocked. That child has a really good mother."

Hearing this, the guilt on Ichinose's face deepened, and she looked even more reverent.

Yukio didn't stop there: "I see. So, Mrs. Kobayashi, did you forgive them at that time?" As soon as he finished speaking, Ichinose's eyes flew open, and she stared at the phone with intense nervousness, hope glimmering in her eyes.

"Of course, I forgave them," Mrs. Kobayashi answered immediately, not leaving Ichinose in suspense. "It wasn't a big deal, just a hairpin worth ten thousand yen. No one would have even noticed if it was missing."

"Plus, the mother returned the item intact, apologized, and paid the ten thousand yen later. Who would hold a grudge over that?"

Ichinose felt a moment of daze. Mom paid the money afterward?

"Alright, thank you for sharing your story. We'll send you a postcard from our broadcast as a token of our appreciation for your patience and support," Yukio concluded appropriately without further discussion.

"No problem, no problem," Mrs. Kobayashi replied nervously, then hung up and turned to the several men in black suits in her store: "I did as you said."

If it weren't for these intimidating men, she wouldn't have answered a stranger's call and responded so obediently.

"Thank you for your cooperation," one of the men in black handed her a check for 200,000 yen before they quickly left the store. Mrs. Kobayashi sighed in relief, hurriedly closing the door and thinking she should let her employees handle the night shift in the future.

Back in Ichinose's dorm, she was still staring at the now-disconnected phone, unable to believe that the mistake she had agonized over for so long had already been forgiven. Had her mother already made amends for her?

"It's not over yet," Yukio said, picking up the phone again and entering a number that Ichinose knew very well—she could recite it by heart. It was her home phone number.

Yukio dialed the number and placed the phone in front of Ichinose: "According to what you said earlier, your mother should still be at work, so only your sister will be home."

Ichinose understood Yukio's intention. If she wanted to know whether her sister had forgiven her, she needed to make the call herself.

Putting aside everything else, being in the closed environment of Advanced Nurturing High School for three years without seeing her family, and suddenly having a way to contact home, Ichinose would definitely make the call.

But, could she really talk to her sister now? She hesitated.

Ever since that time in the third year of middle school, after being angrily scolded by her sister, Ichinose hadn't spoken a word to her. Even during the six months Ichinose was shut in at home, her sister never spoke to her because she hated having a thief for a sister.

This made Ichinose, who missed her sister dearly, somewhat fearful. All it took was a simple press of a button to talk to her sister, yet she couldn't muster the courage.

What if her sister hadn't forgiven her bad sister yet? What if she dialed the number only to be scolded again?

"Don't worry." Yukio stepped forward just in time, gently hugging Ichinose, sharing his warmth and courage.

Ichinose was silent for a moment, her head resting on Yukio, recalling his earlier words. If she could rely on someone, she would certainly rely on Yukio-kun, right?

With Yukio-kun by her side, there was nothing to fear. It seemed a simple hug could indeed transmit Yukio's courage to her.

Ichinose felt a surge of emotions overwhelming her, drowning out her fears. Her eyes gradually brightened, and she pressed the call button on the phone.

After the simplest "beep beep" connecting sound, a relatively young girl's voice answered: "Moshi moshi, who is this...?"

Yukio didn't immediately ask about forgiveness, like he had with Mrs. Kobayashi.

He had arranged everything with Mrs. Kobayashi in advance, so he could ask directly, but with Ichinose's mother and sister, there had been no such arrangements.

However, after an investigation, they discovered that Ichinose's mother and sister still missed her a lot, which reassured Yukio enough to let Ichinose make the call herself.

Ichinose's reaction was far from perfect. Hearing her sister's sweet voice made her happy, but then she became nervous and anxious, facing the phone as if it were a bomb, her expression particularly conflicted.

Finally, she looked at Yukio, as if drawing more courage from him, and spoke: "It... it's me, Kosaki."

"..." There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, followed by a sudden raised voice: "Sis? Sister?"

***

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