#nana56b
Synopsis
There was always a certain loneliness in the way
Kazuma carried himself.
I first met him in a place that felt like a
backwater of the city. He’d been abandoned by his
parents when he was a child, and even in the homes
where he was placed, he was shunned as a
“freeloader” and lived amid violence and abuse.
The countless bruises etched into his body were
proof of just how cold a world he’d lived in.
“I don’t have any parents. There’s not a single
thing I can trust,”
Kazuma would often say with a wry smile as he
exhaled cigarette smoke. Behind his piercing gaze,
there was a fragility—as if he were always on edge.
We hung out together, getting into trouble and
glaring down at adults, desperately trying to hold
onto our place in the world.
One day, Kazuma met a girl. Her name was Yuki, and
she had a smile as bright as a sunflower.
He started to change after he began dating Yuki.
Kazuma, who had been so rough around the edges,
started talking about nothing but her every time he
saw me.
“Hey, listen to this. Yuki made me a bento today.
It looked a little messy, but it was the best thing
I’ve ever tasted.”
Kazuma’s face, as he scratched his head shyly, no
longer looked like that of a “rowdy delinquent.”
It was the face of a man who had experienced, for
the first time, the joy of being unconditionally
accepted and loved by someone. To him, Yuki wasn’t
just a girlfriend. She was the place he could call
home—the first one he’d ever had—and the only
“light” he could trust in his life.
He was working two part-time jobs he wasn’t used
to, all to buy a ring for their one-year anniversary,
and he looked truly happy.
But fate was far too cruel.
One day, a year into their relationship, Yuki was
taken from us in a sudden car accident.
From that day on, all contact with Kazuma ceased.
I called him countless times and visited his
apartment, but there was no answer. Just imagining
how desperate he must be made my chest tighten.
Five days later, when I finally got through to him,
Kazuma’s voice on the other end of the line was
hoarse, like that of a dead man.
“…Where are you? Everyone’s worried about you.”
“……”
“Hey, where are you?”
“…I just want to die.”
After a brief silence, the merciless dial tone rang
out.
My friends and I rushed over to his run-down
apartment. We pounded on the door over and over,
almost breaking it down.
“Kazuma! Open up! It’s me!”
There was no answer. But right on the other side of
the door, I could hear the sound of someone
sniffling. Shaky breaths and sobs.
And then, a faint, soul-wrenching whisper seeped
through.
“There’s… no one… left…”
The moment I heard those words, my breath caught in
my throat.
Even though we were right there in front of him.
Even though we were here, pounding on the door
desperately and calling his name. In his heart,
because Yuki was gone, it was as if every single
…
