Hoshino Aqua actually realized it ever since Hoshino Ai passed away.
His life was like a train roaring toward the northern country.
This train had no brakes.
And therefore could not stop.
The out-of-control train had only one mission.
To sprint madly toward the bitter, freezing lands until death, without stopping for even a single moment!
And this was also his punishment for failing to save Hoshino Ai.
Perhaps just as Yuji said, his vision had been completely blinded, and he had completely lost his way.
But he had long been unable to care about the scenery along this one-way road of life.
Because he was going to take revenge.
He must definitely take revenge!
No matter how much time and energy this action would cost him!
For this— —
“I have no other choice!!!
I must find the murderer who killed Ai!
I must find that guy!!!”
Hoshino Aqua spoke with a voice that sounded like he was about to vomit, only feeling his vision blur and distort.
The viscous, warm sensation of fresh blood reappeared on his fingertips.
Sweat also seeped out from his back.
This was a rather severe PTSD reaction.
Normally, a PTSD reaction shouldn’t be so easily triggered by just a few words from someone.
But Yuji’s words were simply too devastating to him.
It was like digging a knife right into his wounds, and the crucial part was that stabbing once wasn’t enough; he had to pull it out and stab it in again.
But— —
“So what?”
Hoshino Aqua raised his head, wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, and stood up unsteadily.
His small body was drenched in sweat, as if he had just been soaked in water.
Yet the gaze beneath his bangs was incomparably gloomy.
Coupled with his face twisted by extreme pain, let alone children, even adults would probably be frightened by this expression.
“When you tell me these things, are you trying to make a joke out of me?
Are you trying to say what I’m doing is wrong?”
That’s right.
The other party intentionally appeared before him and deliberately stirred up his emotions…
If they wanted to make him emotionally agitated.
Then even he had to admit that the other person had indeed succeeded, and a thorough success at that.
However— —
“No, I have no interest in stirring up your emotions, and likewise, I have no objections to the path you’ve chosen to avenge your mother.”
Even when facing him looking like a vicious ghost, Yuji’s expression in front of him remained calm, without the slightest change.
He simply used that steady tone to speak of matters that were taken for granted.
That voice, devoid of even a shred of falsehood, even left Hoshino Aqua, whose emotions were already somewhat out of control, stunned for a moment.
Because Yuji truly thought that way.
He was merely an outsider, unable to comprehend the pain of Hoshino Aqua losing a mother, and likewise, he could not understand Hoshino Aqua’s obsession with revenge.
Therefore, from the very beginning, he had no qualification to judge Hoshino Aqua’s choices.
However— —
“Although I lack the qualification to judge you, as a fellow adult, I still have to nag a bit about the consequences brought about by your choices.”
The reliable adult narrowed his eyes at this moment.
Yes.
Hoshino Aqua wanted revenge; it wasn’t his place to manage it, nor would he interfere.
Because that was Hoshino Aqua’s private business, and he wouldn’t be nosy enough to meddle in someone else’s personal matters.
But…
“Don’t let your actions affect Kyoko!
Do you know how worried she is about you!?”
Hoshino Aqua’s body trembled.
Exactly, this was Yuji’s objective.
To put it bluntly, even if Hoshino Aqua really committed murder in the end and dragged his father down with him, it actually had nothing to do with him.
But affecting Saitou Miyako, that was a huge deal!
He was not the same as the other guy!
Having managed to transfer from the Okinawa orphanage to Tokyo, throwing around all sorts of tactics to become a child actor, and just now seeing a glimmer of hope for making money, he definitely didn’t want Hoshino Aqua’s emotions to affect Saitou Miyako!
Because the things he carried on his whole body were by no means fewer than Hoshino Aqua’s!
They were even much heavier!
A total of forty-three children throughout the entire orphanage were waiting for him to earn money to repair the house and eat, and among them were several snotty little kids who obediently hugged his arms every day and called him Brother Yuji.
And [berries Pro] is just a small talent agency, currently in a state of disrepair awaiting revival.
Therefore, he had to say these words!
“Do you know how many days it has been since I transferred to [berries Pro]?
Only three days in total.”
Amidst Hoshino Aqua’s silence, his voice paused.
“Yet do you know how many times Miss Kyoko mentioned your name to me in these three days?”
Raising his eyes.
“At least forty or fifty times!”
Yuji slowly closed his eyes.
He still remembered the expression Saitou Miyako wore when she was worried about the taciturn Hoshino Aqua even while driving.
“Do you think Aqua would like this?
Yuji-kun?”
“You’re both kids, Aqua should be able to chat quite openly with you, right?
Yuji-kun?”
“Sigh, maybe I’m a bit nagging, but that child is different from Ruby-chan at home; his personality is very gloomy, and whenever my eyes are off him, I inexplicably worry about him.”
“…”
And thinking of these things.
Seeing Hoshino Aqua’s weak and painful face in front of him, looking as if he were the most miserable person in the entire world.
Even the reliable adult instantly felt his anger flare up.
Bang!!!
A fair palm violently slammed against the nearby wall.
With terrifying force, even the dust on the wall vibrated down.
Yuji’s eyes opened.
“Get some backbone!
Don’t always wear that gloomy face, completely closing off your heart as if you’re the only victim in the entire world!
Do you really think that after Hoshino Ai died, you’re the only one who is in pain?!”
Everyone.
In the original plot, almost everyone was accommodating Hoshino Aqua after Hoshino Ai’s death!
Not wanting to touch upon his wounds.
Then, were those people not in pain over Hoshino Ai’s death?
How could that be possible?
Reaching out his palm, he unhesitatingly grabbed Hoshino Aqua’s collar, lifting the other person up with just one hand!
Those normally calm and steady black eyes gazed at the sea-blue eyes in front of him that dared not meet his gaze, for the first time churning with storm-like emotions.
“In your past life, you were somewhat of an adult, weren’t you!
At least show me some responsibility and accountability that an adult should have!”
That’s right.
If Hoshino Aqua’s mentality were like Hoshino Ruby’s, an ordinary child at most in their teens, Yuji probably wouldn’t have said much.
Yet he happened to be an adult.
An adult who couldn’t even manage himself!
“What do you know?”
No matter how well someone could control their emotions, under the circumstance of having their scars repeatedly exposed right to their face like this, they probably wouldn’t be able to remain calm.
Hoshino Aqua’s originally sea-blue eyes no longer dodged.
Even though Yuji’s presence was overpowering, he still clenched his teeth and let out a voice that was near-hysterical.
“Ai is dead!”
“She died!
Right in front of me!
Holding me gently like that!
And then she died!
But I couldn’t do anything!
Can you understand how I felt back then?”
He had witnessed it with his own eyes, the color of the light of life in a loved one’s eyes gradually dissipating…
At the same time Hoshino Aqua uttered these words.
Those blue eyes, which had never displayed any emotion again after Hoshino Ai’s death, for the first time welled up with something.
Tears gradually blurred his eye sockets.
Yet even so, he still widened his eyes, glaring angrily at Yuji in front of him, as if relying on this questioning to make the other’s aggressive momentum soften.
Yes, what did Yuji, who had never experienced these things, understand about him?
However— —
“Yeah, you’re right.
I really don’t understand anything.”
Yuji nodded expressionlessly, acknowledging Hoshino Aqua’s statement.
However— —
A crisp sound rang out as forehead collided against forehead!
Bang!
“But I just want to say a sentence that you’ve been blocking your ears against and never wanted to hear!”
Yuji’s palm loosened.
Pain came from his forehead, and Hoshino Aqua tumbled to the ground.
Listening to the black-haired child actor’s subsequent words, he showed an incredulous expression for the first time.
Because Yuji, looking down from above, stared at him and spoke words he hadn’t expected at all.
“You’ve done enough.”
“It’s been two years, you should forgive yourself by now.”
“Aqua.”
In his voice, at this instant, there was not a shred of the previous aggressiveness.
All that remained was a dense…
gentleness, just like right before Hoshino Ai passed away…
as if it wanted to wrap around his entire being.
You’ve done enough…
Ever since Hoshino Ai passed away, Hoshino Aqua, who had given up on opening his heart to anyone and had never forgiven himself, suddenly felt the scenery before him become somewhat hazy.
He seemed to sense it.
The train in his heart that kept roaring and heading all the way towards the bitter cold lands of the north seemed to have completely stopped at this moment.
He subconsciously looked back.
Before his eyes was entirely the warm scenery of the south…