The Color of the Sky I saw that Day was also Blue

Chapter 22:
The Truth of Shirakisawa Honoka

…Shirakisawa Honoka.

How could I have forgotten her name?! From behind him, he could hear Mafuyu’s shouts, but Osakabe charged into the guest house without responding.

Tearing off his shoes and receiving his key from the desk, he climbed up the stairs and dashed into his room.

Yanking his travel bag from the corner of the room wrenching it open, he pulled out the scrapbook crammed into the very bottom of his bag.

Stored inside were the details of the accident that had made his name infamous across the country. He had clipped out and collected articles from newspapers and magazines published at the time. These were the memories he must never forget, but these were not records he wished to dwell on.

And yet now, he had to be sure.

With trembling fingers, he carefully flipped through the pages.

The tourist bus, carrying a large number of ski resort visitors, was unable to make the sharp curve in the road and careened off the side, falling twenty meters below the cliff. Eight of the passengers died, and 24 were injured.

No, not that.

Of the 24 injured, one passenger, Shirakisawa Honoka (19) remains in critical condition, and has yet to regain consciousness…

His heart jolted.

“What are you after? Sex? Or money?”

“If you came for pictures, I know a spot with an even more amazing view. Do you want to check it out?”

“Our existence rejoices for love that lasts a single summer. But no matter how much we fall for each other, we will inevitably part ways. Thus, we must not fall for each other. This is a warning.”

“Life is not just an endless stream of good things. Sometimes the wind and the waves rock the boat, and getting along with others is the same. Not everyone close to you is on your side. You might hear people whispering negative things behind your back. But still you must persevere, to continue moving forward with your life.”

“…that’s how I know. You’ve got something on your chest, some burden that worries you, maybe.”

“Osakabe-san, I like you.”

“Please, make me happy. My future dream is to become a bride. It’s silly, right? I sound like an elementary school girl. But—at least this humble dream could come true, right?”

“Okay, I’ll wait for you. Until then, we’ll be close friends, right? You’ll really come back for me? I’ll do my best to stay alive for two years, so… promise. You’ll keep that promise, right?”

“Then I have a request for a close friend. I want you to hold me. And… will you be my first?”

Shirakisawa Honoka. He ruminated on the name, surprised at the gleam it held in his mind.

He put up the scrapbook and flipped through the journal he had begun on the first day of his stay in Miyako City. The fragments of memory stuck in the corners of his mind broke free one after the other, and he began to connect the dots between the scattered pieces of information.

That’s right. How could I have forgotten?!

Only one girl had yet to recover from her injuries in the bus accident I caused—Shirakisawa Honoka.

The girl who, every morning without fail, greeted me as she got off the city bus.

The mysterious girl I met at a bus stop in Jodogohama.

The girl with whom I enjoyed fireworks and spent a night in a hotel.

The girl I kissed as the sunset danced on the ocean.

The girl who confessed her love to my pathetic self!

How? How the hell could I forget her? What’s wrong with you, Osakabe Kengo!!

And if that all really happened… Where did she go?! That’s right, it was in this room, on this bed where we lay together and whispered promises of love… So where did she disappear to?

Where is the real Shirakisawa Honoka right now?

“Ah… Honoka…”

The corners of his eyes burned. His nose was stuffed up. All these heartbreaking feelings for the girl he’d forgotten welled up and filled the hole in his heart that had opened up. But those warm feelings chilled almost immediately as he realized that Honoka was already lost to him.

His chest felt as if it was being squeezed painfully. His knees tremored. He cursed his weak legs and tried to stand, and once more ran out of the room and down the stairs.

Though his legs threatened to give out under him, he slipped on his shoes and went outside. Thank God. He gave a sigh of relief. She was still there.

“So back at last. You know, you—”

He interrupted Shirakisawa Mafuyu and grabbed her by the hand. “Your twin sister, Shirakisawa Honoka, was hospitalized at Morioka Medical University Hospital in a state of unconsciousness, and there is currently no prospect of when she’ll wake from her vegetative state. Is that… correct?”

At that, she glared at him before averting her gaze, pained. “Correct. And you were acting like you didn’t remember earlier…”

Confirming that much, all sorts of memories came back to him, flashing before his eyes like a reel of film. And then he understood. That’s right. Honoka hadn’t just suddenly disappeared this morning.

Honoka was never here from the beginning. Not at the bus stop. Not in my room. And of course, never in Miyako City. She had never even existed.

A vegetative state.

That was the state a person entered after receiving severe brain damage, where they only retained certain functions like breathing and circulation—in other words, a persistent vegetative state. Although the nervous system operated relatively normally, it was not just a movement and sensory disorder—they lacked any kind of mental activity. It was possible to acquire sustenance through a liquid diet, and they would excrete waste as well. Because of that, patients could not be accepted at medical facilities that did not have a proper level of care.

Most people in that state only lived on average for another three years. While some may be revived through treatment methods where the spinal cord and brain were stimulated by  electrical signals, Honoka had remained in that state for more than a year now with no change. In other words, there was likely no hope that she would regain consciousness.

“How could this happen…”

Understanding everything, Osakabe Kengo fell to the ground in tears.