“…An unfamiliar ceiling.”
In a vague, half-asleep state as if he had just woken from a nice dream, Masanojo opened his eyes.
He sat up in bed and looked around.
Realizing this was not his own bedroom but a hospital room, he remembered that he had been hospitalized.
“Oh, right.
I was in the hospital.”
Masanojo woke up in the same way as before.
It had a sense of déjà vu, but the situation was decisively different from last time, so he blinked in surprise.
“Eh?
Eh?”
He saw a woman sleeping with her upper body resting on the bed and his mind momentarily stopped.
But it only lasted a short while.
When he realized who the woman was, Masanojo called out to her.
“Mom?”
“Nn… nnn…”
Reacting to Masanojo’s voice, the woman slowly sat up.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes, then froze like a statue the moment she saw him.
“…”
“M-Mom…?”
“…Masano… chan…?”
“Y-Yeah…?”
“…Masano-chaaaaaan!!!!”
His mother suddenly raised her voice, then the next moment threw herself at him in a fierce hug.
“W-Wait, Mom!?”
“Masano-chan!
Masano-chan!!
Masano-chaaan!!!”
Masanojo was completely bewildered as his mother clung to him, crying and shouting at the top of her lungs.
“What’s going on!?”
People rushed into the room after hearing the commotion, but his mother was still sobbing loudly and hugging him tightly.
Both Masanojo and the people who entered could only stand there in confusion.
It took about an hour for Masanojo’s mother to calm down and for the situation to settle.
――――――――――――――――――――
A heavy atmosphere now filled the hospital room.
A patient waking up from a coma should normally be a joyous occasion.
However, the air in the room was the complete opposite — the worst possible mood.
One reason for this was the people present in the room.
Masanojo glanced over.
There stood a woman in a suit with a stern expression.
Behind her was another woman in a suit, and even further back was a woman dressed as a police officer.
But that wasn’t all.
Several police officers stood guard outside the room, and through the window, countless patrol cars were parked outside the hospital. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
What exactly was this situation?
It made no sense.
Did something happen while he was asleep?
Masanojo thought this but couldn’t casually ask because of the heavy atmosphere in the room.
He was also confused about another factor that was making the mood even worse.
The cause of his confusion was his mother, Emika.
Her eyes were badly swollen from crying, and they were bloodshot.
But those eyes contained such intense anger that it made Masanojo shrink back.
Her gaze was directed at the hospital staff.
“We are truly sorry.”
The hospital staff bowed their heads and apologized to Emika and Masanojo.
Masanojo was utterly confused.
He couldn’t understand why these people were apologizing to them.
He also couldn’t understand why his mother Emika was showing such open anger.
“Um…”
As Masanojo stood there in confusion, Emika looked sad for a moment, then gave him a gentle smile.
“It’s okay, Masano-chan.
I won’t let you go through anything like that ever again.
Mom will protect you no matter what.”
She gripped his hand tightly as she made the declaration.
Masanojo’s mind grew even more confused by his mother’s behavior.
“Eh, protect?
Eh?
What?”
Protect from what exactly?
Was she talking about the bear?
Masanojo had indeed been attacked by a brown bear and ended up hospitalized, but that was just an unfortunate accident.
Even if Emika had been there, she wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
She wasn’t particularly large — in fact, she was smaller than the average woman.
She was definitely not someone who could fight a bear.
While Masanojo was still confused, the woman in the suit standing nearby spoke to him.
“Excuse me, may I have a moment?”
“Eh?
Ah, um, what is it?”
“Thank you.
I am Hayami from the Central Police Station of the Special District.”
The woman in the suit took out a police badge from her pocket and showed it to Masanojo.
“Ah, eh, a detective?”
“Yes.”
The sudden appearance of a detective confused Masanojo even more.
The detective named Hayami continued speaking.
“Stop it!”
Emika raised her voice at Detective Hayami.
“Masano-chan is still injured!
Can’t you understand that!?”
Emika shouted angrily at the detective, but Hayami didn’t back down at all.
She spoke to Emika in a calm, slow tone.
“What you say is reasonable, Mrs.
Kasumi.
However, the early stages of an investigation are extremely important.
We need Masanojo’s testimony to solve this case as quickly as possible.”
“I know that!
But does that mean you have to put a burden on him right now!!
Masano-chan… he went through… something so… so terrible…”
As she spoke, Emika gradually choked up, then finally broke down into sobs.
“Ugh… uuu… uehh… hic… hick…”
Seeing his mother suddenly burst into tears again, Masanojo fell into yet another round of confusion.
“Eh, M-Mom?
Hey, what’s wrong?”
“How could I not… hic… Masano-chan… was… fueee…”
Emika covered her face with her hands and cried uncontrollably.
Seeing a grown woman break down without caring about appearances, Masanojo didn’t know what to do.
But he couldn’t just stay silent, so he put his arm around her back, gently rubbed it like one would comfort a child, and spoke softly.
“Don’t cry, Mom.
I’m fine, okay?
So cheer up?
It makes me sad when you cry.
I want to see you smiling.”
Masanojo spoke to her gently.
In response, Emika cried even harder.
“Fueeeeee——”
“H-Hey, Mom!!”
Masanojo gently hugged his mother until she finally stopped crying.
Once Emika had calmed down and the situation settled, Detective Hayami tried speaking to Masanojo again.
“Masanojo, I know this is very painful for you, but please cooperate with the investigation.”
“Um, I’ll help if I can, but… what exactly do you want to ask me?”
“Yes, about that.”
After a short pause, Detective Hayami told him:
“It’s regarding a sexual assault case.”
Upon hearing those words, Masanojo’s face turned deathly pale in an instant.