thefictionvixens Page 124
Page 124
Please, let me catch up.
Please, you must wait for me.
……
In the ward, Yuto Itsuka's breathing had become so weak that it was almost imperceptible.
With his last ounce of strength, he typed out that final blessing on the keyboard.
The moment he pressed the send button, he seemed to hear the gears of fate making their final soft "click."
One last time, he brought up the interface that had accompanied him through the ages.
The image shows Nanami Aoyama's apartment.
She was kneeling on the floor, surrounded by a pile of old things, her face filled with shock and panic.
Then, as if she suddenly understood something, she rushed out of the house like a madwoman.
Where is she going?
Has she finally found out?
Yeah.
He slowly closed his eyes.
Before his vision was plunged into eternal darkness, he seemed to see the figure from three years ago, crying and loudly practicing standard Mandarin on the rooftop.
so good……
Your dream has finally come true.
I... I guess I did not fail in my mission.
On the monitor, the curve representing vital signs, after a few slight fluctuations, finally turned into a straight horizontal line.
……
The taxi braked suddenly in front of the hospital, the tires screeching against the ground.
Aoyama Nanami pushed open the car door almost before the car had come to a complete stop, stuffed a few crumpled banknotes into the driver's hand, and rushed into the hospital lobby without looking back.
The smell of disinfectant hit her face. She looked around and saw people coming and going in the hall, each with an expression of either anxiety or numbness.
Like a drowning person, she desperately searched for a lifeline and finally stumbled to the nurses' station.
"Excuse me!" Her voice was breathless and choked with sobs from running, "Excuse me, which ward is Yuto Itsuka from Suimei Arts School in?"
The nurse on duty was a middle-aged woman. She looked up and saw that the girl in front of her was pale, with red eyes, and even her shoes were on the wrong feet. The doubt in her eyes was quickly replaced by a knowing sympathy.
She opened her mouth, seemingly choosing her words carefully; that hesitation slowly cut into Nanami's already taut nerves.
"Yuto Itsuka is in room 3207, but..." the nurse's voice was low and full of regret, "...he..."
"How is he?!" Nanami practically screamed, slamming her hands on the edge of the information desk. "Please, tell me!"
The nurse was startled by her reaction, then sighed, lowered her gaze, and avoided looking into her pleading eyes.
"Little girl, you're late."
"He just passed away not long ago."
boom--
In that instant, the world lost all sound and color.
Nanami couldn't hear a single word the nurse said after that.
All she could hear was a sharp buzzing sound.
The ground beneath his feet seemed to turn into quicksand. His body lost all support, and he staggered backward, crashing heavily into the wall behind him.
He passed away...
how come?
How could this be?
She didn't even... she didn't even have a chance to say "thank you" to him.
"No..." she murmured, as if trying to convince herself it was just a nightmare, "It can't be... You've made a mistake... You must have made a mistake!"
She pushed away the nurses who tried to help her and rushed into the depths of the corridor like a madwoman.
She bumped into someone and heard screams and complaints, but there was nothing she could do about it.
Finally, she found the ward with the sign "3207".
The door is not locked.
With trembling hands, she pushed open the door.
The blankets on the hospital bed were folded neatly, as if no one had ever lain on it.
The bedside table was empty, and the instruments next to it were turned off, their screens completely black.
The curtains were half-drawn, and the evening sun shone in without reservation, illuminating the dust in the air clearly. The golden light, however, seemed incredibly cruel and cold at this moment.
There is nothing here.
Without that sickly boy, there would be no "Mr. X" who silently protected her.
All that remained was an endless, suffocating emptiness.
Nanami stood at the door, all her strength drained away.
She wanted to cry, but found that her tears had already frozen in her eyes and wouldn't fall.
My mind went blank, with only that cruel truth echoing repeatedly.
he's gone.
He really is gone.
"Um..." came the nurse's soft voice from behind.
She followed, holding an umbrella and a brown paper envelope. "This is a keepsake left by Itsuka. He instructed that if a classmate named Aoyama Nanami came looking for him, give this to her."
Relics...
Nanami slowly turned around, staring blankly at the envelope.
Her hand reached out uncontrollably, and the moment her fingertips touched the envelope, she felt a chilling coldness.
She took it; the envelope was thin, yet it felt incredibly heavy.
She knew that the whole truth was contained within it.
It also carries her regrets.
Her fingers trembled so badly that it took her a lot of effort to tear open the seal on the envelope.
Inside, there was only a folded piece of paper.
Unfolding the letter, one is greeted by familiar, slightly messy handwriting.
The handwriting was much weaker and feeble than she remembered, as if the person who wrote it had exhausted all their life force.
Hi, Aoyama-kun.
When you see this letter, I think you should already have guessed who I am.
That's right, Mr. X is me, Yuto Itsuka.
I'm sorry to introduce myself in this way; isn't it a bit too dramatic?
There's nothing I can do about it; I used to be a novelist, so I'm bound to have some occupational hazard.
Please don't be surprised or sad.
Actually, I knew from the very beginning that this day would come.
I was just thinking that before this short and somewhat ridiculous journey of my life came to an end, I might be able to do something that was even slightly meaningful.
Then, I 'saw' you.
I saw you on the rooftop, practicing standard Mandarin over and over again in front of the setting sun. You were so tired you could barely stand, but your eyes were more determined than anyone else's.
I saw you at the end of the month, because you had no money for food, you could only buy the cheapest bottled water at the convenience store to fill your stomach.
I saw you hide in your apartment and break down crying after failing the audition, but the next day you wiped away your tears and picked up the script again.
I saw your struggle, your unwillingness to accept defeat, and your talent that shines like a diamond.
So, I made a decision on my own: I wanted to be the one who could clear away even the smallest obstacles for you.
The things I sent you and the emails I sent you were all just small gestures.
What truly brought you to where you are today is yourself, your unwavering passion and dedication to your dreams that no one can take away.
So please don't feel guilty, and don't stop for my sake.
I'm just a minor extra who made a cameo appearance in a few episodes of your life's script.
Now my scenes are finished, but for you, Aoyama Nanami, your story has just begun.
Go win more awards, voice more memorable characters, and become the best voice actor who can move countless people with his voice.
That's the scenery I most want to see.
Finally, it's so good to have met you.
It's wonderful to witness a dream come true.
goodbye.】
The letter ended without a signature.
But every word was like a scalding knife, deeply etched into Nanami's heart.
The guardian she thought was all-knowing and all-powerful turned out to be just a boy like her, who could feel pain and loneliness, and whose life was even more fragile.
He burned away all his remaining light and heat to illuminate her path, and then silently turned to ashes in the darkness.
But she knew nothing about it.
She never even looked at him seriously.
She never thanked him in person, never gave him a hug, and never told him how important and irreplaceable he was to her.
"Ah... Ahhhhhh—!"
The grief, suppressed to the extreme, finally broke through the dam of reason at this moment.
Heart-wrenching cries echoed in the empty hospital room.
Nanami could no longer hold on, her knees buckled, and she collapsed to her knees on the floor.
She clutched the letter tightly, as if grasping the last warmth he left in this world.
Tears streamed down her face, burning her cheeks and blurring her vision.
Irreversible regrets and heart-wrenching self-blame overwhelmed her like a tidal wave.
He was that star, the star that shone brightly for her alone in her darkest night sky.
But she forever lost the chance to say "thank you" to him in person.
……
Volume 1: Chapter 128: Five Years Later, "Voice of the Stars"
Five years later.
Tokyo.
"Okay, thank you for your hard work! This take by Aoyama-sensei is perfect!"
The sound supervisor pressed the call button, his tone filled with undisguised satisfaction.
Outside the control room, separated by thick soundproof glass, a woman with neat short hair and dressed in simple business attire took off her monitoring headphones and bowed slightly towards the control room.
"Thank you everyone, you've worked hard."
Her voice was clear and melodious, with a unique quality.