Tokyo: Who would still fall in love after being spoiled?

Chapter 78 Two Wards, Two Oranges

The first person he saw when he stepped into the hospital was Takeda.

Although his view was blocked by gardening shrubs, Takeda's long hair and the light brown T-shirt he had just seen that morning were still easy for him to recognize at a glance.

Takeda didn't notice him and was slowly pushing a wheelchair with a woman who was much older than him. The two of them were walking in the hospital yard, talking and laughing.

"You go first and tell me the location of the ward. If you have time, rush there." He greeted the four girls and said.

"Something?" Sakurai asked curiously.

He said this while looking at Amano, who just nodded slightly at him and said nothing.

"It's an urgent matter." He responded to Sakurai, carrying oranges and grapes, and hurried in the direction where he had just seen Takeda.

The weather on this day was not a sunny day with clear skies. There were still quite a few clouds floating in the sky. At this moment, the sunlight was pouring down through the gaps between the clouds, and would soon disappear behind the clouds again.

Takeda probably took advantage of this time to go for a walk with the woman in the wheelchair.

He rushed over and waved to Takeda from a distance, saying hello.

The woman sitting in the wheelchair had one leg wrapped in thick plaster and gauze. She looked somewhat similar to Takeda. She noticed him first and looked up and said something to Takeda.

In response, Takeda looked over at him, was stunned for a moment, responded to the woman in the wheelchair, and then waved to him to come over.

"Good morning, Qi." He greeted Takeda, calling her by her first name, "And Aunt Takeda."

"...Good morning." Takeda stared at him for a few seconds, looking unhappy.

On the other hand, the woman in the wheelchair looked slightly pleased and looked him up and down.

"I bought some oranges and grapes." He raised the shopping bag in his hand, picked out a red orange from it, leaned over and handed it to the woman.

"Thank you, thank you - Xiaoqi's friend?" The woman took the orange, held it in both hands, and asked him with a smile.

"Classmates from the same school," he said.

"Not bad." The woman exclaimed, not knowing what she was praising.

"Mother doesn't like grapes." Takeda said suddenly.

"You can eat it."

"Sorry, sorry, I'll be more careful next time!" He immediately promised solemnly.

Then Takeda fell silent, letting his mother chat with him, asking him his name, where he lived, whether he had a girlfriend, and what his hobbies were...

Clouds floated over and the light dimmed. Takeda pushed his mother and walked back to the inpatient department.

It was a four-bed ward with windows facing the sun. The bed next to mine was occupied by a woman with graying hair. She had a waist injury and had difficulty getting out of bed, so she was being cared for by a nurse.

"Look, my situation is already good." Takeda's mother said this. She must have said it to Takeda, and she said it again to him in the same way, with a hint of apology on her face and a lot of fatigue hidden between her eyebrows.

There was a vase made from a Pocari Sweat bottle on the bedside table, containing two roses, both in good condition. Next to the vase was the iron lunch box that Takeda had taken away that morning, still containing some uneaten rice.

"It will be fine." This was a bit irresponsible, but he couldn't think of anything else to say at the moment, so he could only say this.

"Okay, we're done walking. It's time for you two." Taking a stroll, Takeda's mother smiled as she sat back on the hospital bed from her wheelchair, urging them to leave. "You can't waste all your time here with me."

"How can it be a waste?" Takeda looked at him coldly from an angle where his mother couldn't see.

"Mom is sleepy—" Takeda's mother drawled out the words, "You guys should go and have a rest too."

"I'll peel an orange for you." Takeda didn't want to leave and wanted him to leave.

"Mom doesn't want to eat now--"

"Where are the grapes?"

"Mom doesn't like grapes." "Would you like to hear a lullaby? I'll sing it to you."

"Xiao Qi!"

"..."

So he and Takeda were driven out together. They both walked in silence from the inpatient building to the hospital courtyard, their steps sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

The sun shone briefly through the gaps in the clouds again, like some kind of opportunity, forcing them to break their silence.

"The fruit is not bought for my mother, right?" Takeda asked him in a calm and restrained voice.

"The piano club teacher was discharged today." He spoke truthfully. He had already received the ward location sent by Amano on his mobile phone.

"Why don't you go?"

"I've never even seen the teacher's face. She was already in the hospital on the first day I joined the piano club."

"Then why did you come to the hospital? And buy fruit?" Takeda asked again.

"I'm helping out with piano lessons, and someone wants to take this opportunity to treat me." He summarized it simply. "Even though I'm just here for a free meal, I can't not bring some souvenirs."

"What about now?" she kindly reminded him - he was empty-handed again.

"No," he said.

"I'm more important?" Takeda suddenly smiled, a smile that lacked much joy and seemed forced. His gaze drifted off, his thoughts unsettled.

"I suddenly don't want to go." He didn't comment.

"You have to go and see it. If you have a dinner party tonight, just come and see me at noon," said Takeda.

The conversation ended there. After being driven away by Takeda's mother in the ward, he was driven away by Takeda in the courtyard.

He had no idea about Takeda's mother's leg injury before, and when he saw her today, he didn't ask a single question.

He temporarily left the hospital and went to buy some oranges and grapes. When he arrived at Igarashi's ward, several people were gathered around the bed, playing a recording of Kimura's performance of the F-sharp minor Polonaise on their phones.

This is a single ward with good lighting. The window is open at this moment, and the hospital's uniform white window screens sway slightly in the breeze.

He remained quiet, closed the door quietly, placed the fruit next to the bouquet of calla lilies, and listened to the recording with them.

Sitting on the hospital bed was a woman with short hair. There were some wrinkles on her face, but her skin was well maintained. Her actual age was probably older than Takeda's mother.

"Not bad! I didn't expect..." The woman looked at Amano, who was standing at the farthest position, and asked with admiration, "Did Miss Amano teach you too?"

"No." Kimura answered quickly and made room for him who was standing behind him.

"Ah - thank you so much!" Teacher Igarashi finally noticed him and said sincerely.

"I didn't do anything either."

"No... Even if I were to teach Kimura-san, I wouldn't necessarily be able to help her get such a high ranking."

"It's just a hypothetical thing, maybe I could get first place." He didn't want to take credit for it and wanted to finish it as soon as possible. His mind was still mostly on Takeda's mother.

"Well... I'm sorry to bother you guys after all..." Igarashi wanted to praise him more, but he didn't say it out loud, as if he was concerned about Kimura and Kato still being there.

Then Sakurai suggested playing the ensemble recording of the welfare home. During this time, the nurse came once to remind Igarashi of the time for the last check-up before discharge.

They were not allowed to eat before the examination, so Igarashi took out oranges from the handbag and distributed them to them.

He took the tangerine that he had bought and was given to him, walked out of the ward, and went back to Takeda's mother.

Takeda was away for the time being, and his mother was slowly peeling the white tangerine peel from the tangerine.

(End of this chapter)