Ms. Gojo thought she was dating an ordinary person's boyfriend.

After that day, the two tacitly avoided talking about holding hands again, but continued to get along as usual, and also made an appointment for the next time to go look at cars.

Everything seems the same, but something seems to have changed.

But before the next car-viewing day arrived, the hospital received an unexpected visitor.

In the afternoon, Sumi Kichikawa had just come out of the clinic and was about to go to the nurses' station to get a record when she saw Nurse Kobayashi walking quickly towards her from the other end of the corridor.

"Dr. Kikawa," Kobayashi said in a low voice, "there's a middle school student loitering around the steps outside the main entrance. When I asked him if he was feeling unwell, he didn't say anything. He doesn't seem to be here to register."

A pale face flashed through Sumire Kikkawa's mind.

He closed the medical record: "I'll go take a look."

The afternoon sun was lovely, and people were coming and going outside the hospital's main entrance.

Kikawa Sumi pushed open the glass door and immediately saw the black-haired boy standing on the side of the steps.

He was wearing a school uniform, clutching a business card that was already creased in his hand. He took a step forward, then hesitated and stepped back.

"Yoshino-kun."

Upon hearing the sound, the boy suddenly looked up.

It's Yoshino Junpei.

His complexion was slightly better than when we first met in the alley, but the bluish-black discoloration under his eyes was still quite noticeable.

When he saw Susumu Kikkawa come out, he instinctively tried to hide his business card.

Kikawa Sumi didn't look at the business card, her expression gentle: "Are you here to see me?"

Shunpei opened his mouth: "...No."

Once the words were out, he felt that the denial was too weak, so he awkwardly pursed his lips.

Kikawa Sumi didn't expose the boy's pride, but simply stepped aside to make way for him: "It's windy outside. Come in and sit for a while."

Shunping stood still.

Kikawa Sumi looked at him, her tone softening slightly: "It's okay if you don't register. Doctors need to drink water and rest occasionally too. I happen to have ten minutes free right now."

Shunping looked down at the crumpled business card in his hand. After a few seconds, he finally nodded.

"...Sorry to bother you."

"do not bother."

Sumire Kawakawa led Junpei Yoshino to a small meeting room next to the clinic area, which was usually used to talk to family members.

The room was small and simply furnished.

Kikawa Sumi poured two cups of warm water, pushed one of them to the front of the table, and did not rush to get to the point.

He casually gathered the few leftover animal stickers from playing with the children on the table into a box before speaking: "Did you take the afternoon off? Did you get the sugar stains off your clothes last time?"

Shunping held the paper cup in both hands, looking down somewhat awkwardly: "I washed it off. If Mom asks, I'll say I spilled it by accident."

"She believed it?"

Shunping was silent for a moment: "Probably not."

Occasionally, the faint sound of a nurse pushing an IV stand could be heard from outside the corridor.

Kikawa Sumi didn't urge him. It wasn't until Junpei lowered his head and took a sip of water that he asked slowly, "Did you see a movie? The horror movie that was on the poster outside the movie theater last time."

Shunping's tense expression finally relaxed a little: "I saw it. It's a re-release of an old movie. The beginning was okay, but the ending was a bit boring. The monster just suddenly rushed out, like it was trying to scare people for the sake of scaring them."

When discussing areas of interest, his speech quickened considerably.

"If a horror movie is just about scaring people, then it's not very interesting."

"So what do you find interesting?"

Shunping looked down at the ripples in the water in his cup: "People are more interesting."

As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to belatedly realize that his words sounded a bit strange, and he explained somewhat awkwardly, "That's not what I meant..."

"I know," Sumire Kikawa gently interrupted his hesitation. "Humans are complex by nature. Monsters are mostly straightforward, but humans aren't."

Shunping looked at him for a while, then his back slumped slightly.

Seeing that he had calmed down, Sumire Kichikawa asked softly, "Did something happen at school?"

The meeting room fell silent again.

The clock on the wall ticked away, and after a long while, Yoshino Junpei finally spoke: "They haven't done anything blatantly anymore. But they'll deliberately bump into me in the hallway, throw trash in my shoe locker, and take my textbooks and put them back, with bugs stuck in them."

His voice trembled slightly, and the cardboard cup was crumpled in his hand.

Kikawa Sumi reached out and subtly pushed her untouched cup of warm water over to him, taking the paper cup that was about to be crushed from his hand.

"How do you plan to handle this?"

Shunpei was stunned, seemingly because no one had ever given him the choice before. He stared blankly at the table: "...I don't know."

"Then let me rephrase the question," Kikawa Sumi coaxed gently, "What kind of solution do you not want to take?"

This question is obviously much easier to answer.

"I don't want the teacher to hypocritically tell the whole class that everyone should get along well, I don't want my mother to go to school and be looked at strangely, and I don't want to hear their apologies."

Shunping bit her lower lip hard. "They never think they're wrong."

"Some apologies are just a formality and don't necessarily reflect remorse." Sumire looked at him, her tone calm yet firm. "So, you don't have to accept it."

Shunpei looked up abruptly, his eyes wide with surprise: "...Is that alright?"

Sumire Kawakawa nodded: "Of course."

Shunping was conflicted: "But adults usually say that we should be tolerant and forgiving."

Forgiveness is your own decision; no one can make that decision for you.

Kikawa Sumi's gaze was gentle.

Just because someone says sorry doesn't mean you have to say it's okay. The pain you feel won't disappear just because of those three words.

Shunping remained silent for a long time.

After a long silence, he suddenly asked in a very low voice, "What if... I wanted them to suffer too?"

After asking that question, he instinctively shrank back, as if afraid of being treated as an outsider.

Kikawa Sumi looked at him with an inclusive gaze: "Being hurt and developing malice doesn't mean you're a bad person; it just means you're in a lot of pain."

Shunping's lips trembled, and his eyes unexpectedly reddened.

"But if you really turn that wound into a knife to stab others, it will be very difficult to take it back in the end." Sumi Kichikawa handed over a tissue.

"It's easy to harbor malice, but difficult to control it."

Shunping lowered his head, stubbornly refusing to shed tears, and remained motionless for a long time.

Kikawa Sumi got up, took a small bag of cookies with a bear pattern printed on it from the cabinet next to her, and placed it in front of him.

"This is all the hospital has left."

Shunping looked at the colorful bag of snacks and muttered, "This is for kids, isn't it?"

"It can also be given to teenagers who need to replenish their sugar levels." Sumi Kikawa sat down again.

"You can take your time to think it over; there's no rush to make a decision today. You can also try to hint to your mother that she's already worried about you. There are some things you haven't said, which is just making her unsure how to get closer to you."

Shunping looked at the colorful bag of snacks, her fingers gently tracing the edge of the packaging: "I don't want her to think I'm a nuisance..."

"You're not a problem," Sumi Kikawa said quickly, but her voice remained gentle. "The person who encounters bad things is never a problem; the person who creates bad things is."

Shunping chuckled softly, suppressing the tears welling in his eyes: "Teacher would never say such a thing."

"Teachers have their perspectives, and I'm just a doctor." Kikawa Sumi took out her phone and handed it over.

"Leave me your contact information. This is my personal number; feel free to message me if you need anything."

Shunping was flattered and took the phone, carefully entering his number.

His bangs fell down, covering half of his face, but he was in much better shape than when he first arrived.

"Can I really send this? If it's just some...not very important stuff."

"Sure. People don't only need to talk when things are really serious." Kikawa Sumi put her phone away.

"Adults always say to just bear with it or that everyone does it this way, but not everything they say becomes correct just because the speaker is old. Of course, the same goes for what I'm saying. You can choose to listen, or you can choose not to listen."

Shunping stared at him blankly, her shoulders completely relaxing.

"Dr. Kikawa... is really strange."

"Yes, people often say that." Sumire Kikawa smiled and escorted him to the bottom of the hospital steps.

"Try to eat something when you get home today. If you can't sleep tonight, find a slow-paced movie. You don't have to finish it, just watch it with some sound."

Shunpei took two steps forward, then turned back: "Dr. Kikawa. If I ever don't know what to do again, can I still ask you?"

"Can."

"Would you find it troublesome?"

Sumire Kichikawa said, "You ask first. As for whether it's troublesome or not, I'll decide."

Shunping looked at him, nodded solemnly, and turned to walk towards the station.

Kikawa Sumi stood at the door, watching the boy's back as he walked away.

He was about to turn back to the hospital when he paused for a moment.

My gaze swept across the street and landed on a row of vending machines across the street.

There was a dark-colored sedan parked there, its windows covered with extremely dark reflective film, making it impossible to see the people inside.

Kikawa Sumire stared quietly for a few seconds until he heard Nurse Kobayashi calling from inside the door. Only then did he turn away, walk through the automatic door, and leave.