Tokyo: Who would still fall in love after being spoiled?

Chapter 79 If it’s family, have a fight and then make up.

"Did Xiaoqi ask you to take care of me?" Takeda's mother peeled the tangerine peel and chatted with him.

He sat down aside and peeled the orange in his hand.

"It doesn't count."

"It'll be fine soon." Takeda's mother tried to direct her leg, which was wrapped in plaster and gauze, and make some kind of statement to him. "Besides, isn't it said that you have a prosthetic limb? If all else fails, you can use that."

She tried to prove one thing to him, that she would not trouble Takeda too much because of this.

"No matter how sophisticated a prosthetic limb is, it's not as good as your own leg," he said, trying to be gentle. "I still hope you can get better soon."

"Yes, yes!" Takeda's mother said hurriedly, then smiled, "You're a good child, Inoue."

"where……"

"A few days ago, Xiaoqi said she moved out of the boarding house and shared a room with a classmate, which saved her a lot of trouble. She's also sharing the room with Inoue-kun, right?"

"I'm the one who should be taken care of." He smiled politely, putting some distance between him and Takeda.

"This and this..."

Then they quietly peeled the oranges.

Takeda's mother picked the orange peels very cleanly, and he didn't want to put them directly into his mouth, so he picked the orange peels along with her.

Watching the intricate white lines being slowly pulled out from the surface of the orange peel, it seems as if my heart can slowly calm down.

He occasionally looked up at Takeda's mother, observing her movements as she picked the orange peels, the skin on her cheeks, and the expression on her eyebrows and eyes.

There were no wrinkles on her face, no sadness between her eyes and brows, and her figure was well-proportioned and plump, neither fat nor too thin.

In addition to one leg, there were also slightly lighter injuries on the elbow and cheek.

But looking at her expression, it seemed as if she was not sad at all.

The old man in the bed next to him suddenly started coughing. The nurse came rushing down the corridor with clattering footsteps, handed him a spittoon, patted his back to soothe his breathing, chatted with him for a few words, and then walked out again with clattering footsteps.

Not long after, Takeda came back and saw him in the ward. He frowned and pulled him outside.

"Didn't you say you can only come at noon?" Takeda asked him in an unhappy tone as they walked from the ward across the corridor to the lobby.

"I have nothing to do there. Are you not welcome?" he said.

“…” Takeda fell silent again.

Silence is extremely rare for Takeda. The few moments of silence that occurred during the days I spent with him were almost all concentrated today.

"To be honest, you are not welcome." She finally said when she arrived at the slightly noisy hall.

"Well..." They sat side by side on the benches in the hall, listening to the various noisy discussions in the hall.

What are the results of so-and-so's urine test? How much did someone's father's hospitalization cost? The daily cost of the caregiver has become more expensive... No matter what, what you hear in the hospital will never be good news.

Either it is related to illness or it is related to expenses.

This kind of noise was completely different from the clamor of places like summer festivals. Sitting surrounded by such noise, there was only an overwhelming sense of oppression coming from all directions.

"I'd rather you go talk to the piano teacher," said Takeda.

"How's the situation? Your mother's leg injury." After hearing what Takeda said, he didn't say anything and brought up the topic as if he had turned a deaf ear.

"...Not really." Takeda hesitated before speaking, but he still said, "The driver hasn't been found yet... The police department always says 'we're trying'. If there was any progress, they would have told me earlier."

"Car accident?"

"At a crosswalk, a mother tried to save a child from being hit... How foolish! The child's parents only made a token phone call to offer their condolences. What about her child? What about me?"

He remained silent and listened to Takeda.

"Hey, Inoue." She calmed down a little, called him and asked, "Do you know what I'm thinking about now?"

"How could I know..." As he finished speaking, he realized how he had become "Sakurai," but now was not the time to joke, so he didn't change his words. "I want to have a big fight with you," Takeda said.

There is an electronic screen in the hall that displays news reports, informing which patient has something to do or what report needs to be collected.

Takeda's gaze was always fixed on the electronic screen, so that he could only see the side of his face, with the long eyelashes above his eyes curling upwards stubbornly.

"quarrel?"

"Even though it's not your fault, there's no need for you to argue with me. Understanding the truth and dealing with emotions are two different things, and I'm already overwhelmed by the desire to argue with you. Ultimately, it's all my fault."

"What exactly are you arguing about?"

"Why did you ask me to do the main role? And why did you come here today?"

"If you don't like it, then don't do it. Meeting you today was purely a coincidence."

"It's just a coincidence that makes me angry..." Takeda looked away from the broadcast screen and cast her gaze at him, wrinkling her nose. "Just to go see a teacher I've never even met, you're willing to spend a whole day and buy oranges and grapes that aren't on sale at the fruit store."

"Just some fruit," he said.

"Just some fruit..." she repeated word by word with emphasis.

"Hey, Inoue."

He is listening.

"Do you know that the price of that bag of fruit is enough to hire a nurse for a whole day in this hospital?"

"Have you been taking care of your mother these past two days?"

"What else can I do if I don't come?" Takeda was still angry, his usual, seemingly inexhaustible energy now waning. "My father is away on a business trip in a place like Hokkaido, and I'm the only child at home."

"Did you have breakfast today?" he asked.

"I ate it. I ate it while I was packing breakfast for Mom." Takeda was unhappy with the frequent interruptions and said angrily, "Now we're talking about the content of the argument."

"Isn't it over yet?"

"It's not over yet!" she said. "I want to argue again. Why didn't you ask me what I was busy with for two days?"

“Everyone always has privacy.”

"I have to get up early every morning to bring breakfast to my mother and take her for walks. My free time is limited to practicing scripts in the small courtyard of this hospital. I go to the training center in the afternoon, and work at the grocery store in the evening..." Takeda confided in him, ignoring what he said, and declared seriously, "I don't feel tired! No matter how tired I am, I can persevere."

She was probably really tired.

"But you paint every day, play the piano, and had dinner and chatted with friends the night before. Today, you were willing to take time out just to visit a teacher you've never met..."

Takeda's eyes were slightly red, as if he was really arguing with him, and he continued to speak -

"My mother's leg is badly broken and in a cast. She'll probably be in a wheelchair until she dies, and yet you're going to visit some teacher who's about to be discharged from the hospital just to get a free meal!

"Although I don't blame you, no one is wrong, but...

"But I still am!"

"Then let's quarrel." He saw Takeda blinking stubbornly, taking a deep breath, suppressing his emotions, and said softly, "As long as you don't punch, kick, or pull my ears, I'm ready to accompany you anytime."

"I want to argue with you about this too." Takeda said with a sullen face.

"What are we having for lunch?" he asked, wanting to put the quarrel aside.

"...the hospital cafeteria," she said. "It's far from the training center, and I don't have time to go anywhere else."

"Do you have any menu recommendations? I'll go with you."

There was no other ulterior motive, he just wanted to do something for Takeda.

Do as much as possible without interfering with her life.

(End of this chapter)