Eternal Melody

When he brought the kids to her, she kissed the twins several times and turned to Huan. “My precious baby, come here.”

Huan walked over, and Sumire picked him up before hugging him tightly. “Oh my precious Huan. Mom is sad; hug me.”

“Mom, I’m right here.” Huan hugged Sumire.

“You’re such a good boy. I love you so much.”

‘She is sad, huh?’ Hino catches Sumire looking at him, and she laughs weakly. It seems like when she is around her children, she is more honest. It should bother him, but he understood. These kids remind her of the two people she loves deeply.

‘I can never interfere in that.’

After Sumire made sure Huan was asleep, she turned to him.

“Say, Hino, do you think Ru would want to see Huan?”

Hino blinked, surprised at her question. “Why wouldn’t he?”

“It’s because he never really spoke about our future together when we were dating.” Sumire trails off. “I know it’s stupid; we are only teenagers. Just because we are dating, there is no guarantee of ‘forever.’ But it’s just with his personality. I thought he would think our relationship would be forever.”

“It must be because of his illness.” Hino guessed.

“About his illness, I want you to look more into that for me. I don’t know what he had. The doctors kept it confidential from me.”

“But Tsueno had no relatives. I know a girlfriend isn’t a formal title, but they should have at least informed you.”

“It was so weird, they kept it a tightly guarded secret from me. It was almost like somebody higher up interfered.” Sumire muttered.

Somebody in the medical field would interfere and prevent Sumire from knowing that information. Tsueno probably didn’t want her to know the truth and asked somebody for a favor. It could be anybody, and yet hearing the words cover-up. The first person that came to mind was Sano.

‘Surely not. But, it was because of Sano that Tsueno even managed to get admitted into that new hospital.’

It wouldn’t surprise him if they kept in touch more than they let on. He supposes all he can do is ask Sano.

“Do you think it was San?” Sumire suddenly voiced his thoughts out loud.

At those words, Hino looked at her, startled. Huh? Did he accidentally mutter his thoughts out loud?

“I have been thinking about it since I realized Sano was changing. Perhaps he helped me more than I thought.”

“It doesn’t change that he hurt you. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was him. It seems like those two kept in touch. Did you know that?”

“Before I dated Ru, he said a few odd things that led me to suspect that he was still speaking to Sano. So, I took his phone off him and saw the messages. But after that time, he was cautious. So I’m not sure how long they stayed in touch.” Sumire exclaimed.

According to what Sano said, not even he knew the details of Tsueno and Sumire’s accident.

‘I gave Lucifers subordinates instructions that were given to me. I didn’t know who the targets were.’

Perhaps Tsueno stopped contacting Sano when he started dating Sumire? But no, then his hospital admission wouldn’t make sense. There is something he is missing here.

“I don’t think we will work this out ourselves; we must talk to Ru.”

“Yeah.” Hino glanced over and saw her flushed face, and he gently pushed her down onto the bed. Sumire immediately brought Huan close to her, hugging the boy tightly.

“You need sleep Sumire.”

“Mm, I’m tired. But we need to go investigating.”

“Later, I will wake you up. So get some rest first.”

“Okay.”

Hino carefully pulled the blanket around Sumire and Huan, it was almost like a switch. The moment he did that, the two fell asleep. He left the room and walked down the hallway before dialing a number.

He hears mumbling. “Nngh? My lovely wife?”

Hino sighed. “Even half asleep, you’re still flirting?”

“Hino?”

“Yeah.”

Yuhi mumbled something about going back to sleep, but he quickly interjected.

“Do you know what Tsueno’s illness was?”

“On record, it was tuberculosis. But I suspect it was something else. I only heard about this just recently. However, according to what Hyou4’s captain told me, there is a chance that the cause was drugs.”

“Huh? You actually-” Hino couldn’t believe it. He knew Yuhi didn’t like that man, but now Yuhi was telling him that he spoke to him voluntarily.

“I wanted more information on why Mamoru was siding with Lucifer, so of course, I had no choice but to turn to Hyou4. After all, Aki wouldn’t tell me even if I begged. But I knew that guy would tell me if I asked.”

Yuhi makes a point there, so even he knows how to compromise?

“It was during one of the first few missions Aki gave Sumire, and she ended up getting kidnapped, and Mamoru went to save her. Granted, this was before I became Sumire’s partner, so she was doing missions alone. All the other kidnapped individuals had been drugged heavily, but before they could get to Sumire, Mamoru saved her. But, it seems he only did so successfully because he administrated the drugs into himself.”

“Huh? Why couldn’t he escape with her?” Hino said, confused.

“The conditions to leave the room were to have somebody digest those drugs. So, although Mamoru could get inside, they wouldn’t be able to leave without somebody taking those drugs. So, the idiot decided to sacrifice himself. Sumire was already in bad condition. It seemed like she tried to shield the others before they got put in separate rooms. If she had taken those drugs, she would have been on the verge of death.”

“If it’s a drug-related medical problem that changes things.” Hino trailed off. “Drugs and evolved genes do not go well together. I can see now why he became sick.”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t tell Sumire any of this, did you?” Yuhi asked.

Hino hears a frustrated sigh at the other end.

“How could I tell her? I learned this information during new year, and she told me during the shrine visit about her regrets towards her other relationships. Each time I listened to her speak, I noticed a familiar pattern. She blames herself for everything, all her regrets towards her past relationships. It all ends up with her blaming herself. So, how could I possibly tell her the truth? That Mamoru took those drugs and became severely sick because he went to rescue her?”

Hearing Yuhi’s pained tone, Hino didn’t know what to say.