Chapter 13

During the most crucial time of their senior year, Ryohei was conspicuously absent. Nick showed no signs of change, remaining the same as before.

Nick extended his hand to Akito, saying, "Akito, come back." Akito's heart shrank, but he didn't evade. He learned that Ryohei was injured, but no one knew the reason. He found out the hospital where Ryohei was staying.

Akito arrived but didn't know how to push open that door. He sat on a chair in the corridor, just sitting there. By evening, the corridor was empty, and the weather was cold. All the doors and windows of the wards were closed.

Akito stood up abruptly, facing a ward, and then slowly, very slowly, knelt down. He said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Tears dropped onto the cold floor, leaving dark circles.

The doors and windows remained closed, no one heard.

In the following days, Ryohei still didn't appear. When it was time to fill out college applications, Ryohei's mother came. She wore clothes that seemed to have been washed for years, with deep wrinkles etched on her face like knife marks.

Akito's hand clenched and then relaxed. In the end, Akito barely managed to get into a second-tier university, one of the lowest-ranking ones, majoring in economics. Ryohei got into a first-tier university in small city.

When Akito went to pick up his acceptance letter, he heard the teacher sigh, "What a pity, what a pity." Nick got into the same university as Akito, under a sports scholarship.

Akito lived in a dormitory for six people, and he overheard others commenting on him: wooden. Nick, not long after, changed dormitories, still inseparable from Akito. He washed Akito's bedsheets, bought his favorite braised pork, and told him the funniest jokes.

In the dormitory, away from outsiders, he climbed onto Akito's bed, his movements tender and precious. If Akito made the slightest sound of discomfort, Nick would comfort him in every possible way.

Nick exhausted all his tenderness on Akito, yet in public, he wore a cold, lifeless face. Nick did well in university, a gesture from him gathered a group of people to fight or have fun.

Nick had many close friends, and in front of them, he would pull Akito over, plant a kiss on his cheek, and shout, "This is my wife!" Akito just dryly laughed along.