flstandardbreds Chapter 284: Past Events (Part )
Chapter 284: Past Events (Part )
On the way to the temple, Natsume Takashi fell into complete silence.
His thoughts gradually returned to the midsummer six years ago, that sad past.
My father and Sister Lily's father are distant relatives. The two families live in the same town and are very close neighbors.
Uncle Suzuki and Aunt Suzuki run a pub together. Their business is very good and people in the town love to go there to eat and drink.
They had only one daughter, and they poured all their love into her. They had no plans to have a second child.
But Sister Lily seems to really want a younger brother or sister.
My mother told me that after I was born, Sister Lily was very happy. She would often run home to visit me, holding her inseparable baby in her arms, and would rock the cradle to coax me to sleep.
When Sister Lily was twelve years old, Aunt Suzuki was struck down by a sudden illness and passed away soon after.
Uncle Suzuki entrusted her to his parents and then ran away from home without any news.
However, even so, she did not show any resentment.
She lived with her parents in the cottage next door and officially became her big sister.
She would take Natsume to the wild, scratch the head of the old yellow cow in the countryside, and sit on its back and be carried by it.
She would buy a bunch of delicious candies and stuff them all into his arms, saying that these were her favorite flavors and Natsume would definitely like them.
She would take him around on her bike and say hello to everyone she knew in town.
She did not show any disgust or rejection towards the fact that he could see monsters.
"Will Natsume be able to meet a Totoro holding an umbrella on a rainy day?" Lily's eyes lit up as she asked, "I've always wanted to ride on a cute bus like that and fly up into the sky."
"Or a big, soft cat with a super big belly that I can roll around on."
"If I ever meet you, I'll be the first to tell you." That's how the young Natsume answered, "I'll definitely be the first one."
"Or maybe." She suddenly became more excited and said, "You can write about your experience of encountering these monsters. Others are called Spirited Away, and you can call it Natsume's Bizarre Adventure, how about that?"
"Our Natsume will definitely become a great writer in the future, the kind that will earn enough money to circle the island ten times."
Natsume: “…” You’re obsessed with money, Lily-sister.
Also, I feel like this name was copied from a comic...
Of course, Natsume Takashi knew that she didn't believe that she could see monsters. She just looked at herself like a child with a rich imagination.
Even so, when Natsume saw Sister Lily listening to him carefully and patiently, talking about the distress and anger of encountering monsters, and claiming that if he encountered monsters again, she would help drive them away, he still felt a sense of happiness of being respected and understood.
Everyone thought this was the beginning of a good life, including himself.
Children always have an innocent fantasy that happy times will continue for no reason.
Until - the arrival of 2018.
That year, Sister Lily was 19 years old. After three years of hard study, she was finally admitted to a top-ranked university in China.
The moment she received the news was just before her birthday.
The whole family was happy for her, so they suggested holding a birthday party to celebrate both events at the same time.
However, that night...that night, the whole house was engulfed in flames, starting from the backyard and continuing to spread into the house.
The flames shot up into the sky and illuminated the entire sky. He woke up from his sleep and heard the voices of people in the town outside.
Shouting, running, screaming, crying, and continuous honking of horns.
The flames opened their bloody mouth like a giant python, greedily devouring everything around them. The thick smoke choked him so much that he could hardly breathe.
Sister Lily was wrapped in a wet sheet, holding the young boy in her arms, and walking through the flames with her back bent.
He struggled to look back, but all he saw was the spreading flames, the closed door and the fallen beams.
"Don't look." She covered his eyes, her hoarse voice full of pain, "Don't look back, don't look at anything."
When they finally rushed out of the fire, Natsume was held tightly in her arms, with his mouth and nose covered with a wet towel, so he did not suffer much damage.
Sister Lily was sent to the hospital because she inhaled too much smoke.
The medical level in the small place was not enough to provide treatment, so they had to go to a large hospital in Tokyo... The fire that burned overnight was finally put out, but it soaked their entire lives.
The arsonist was finally found. He said that he had no grudge against anyone in the town, but he just didn't want to live anymore, so he wanted to drag his entire family down with him.
He happened to pass by on the street that day and saw Lily holding the admission letter, passing by him and running home happily. Such a happy look made him jealous, so he sneaked into her house and set it on fire.
Surprisingly, just for this reason.
This person's behavior and motives aroused public outrage, and soon the court sentenced him to death, to be executed within six months.
It was only at this time that he felt afraid and cried and begged, saying that he knew he was wrong and hoped that the judge would forgive him.
However, all those appeals were rejected mercilessly.
However, bad news continued to come one after another.
First, a notice came from the Metropolitan Police Department saying that the body of Lily's father had been found and she needed to go and claim it.
Then, her best friend since childhood was killed in a traffic accident on the way to Tokyo to visit her.
.........Natsume then moved around to various relatives' homes, but was soon adopted by Uncle Fujiwara and Aunt Toko.
In the summer of 2018, all his peers who received admission letters were immersed in the joy of embarking on college life, but his sister Lily spent that time in the hospital.
She slept for a long time. The doctor said that she ran away by herself and no one knew where she went.
After waking up, she forgot a lot of things that had happened.
She regarded Uncle Fujiwara and Aunt Tachiko who came to visit her as her own parents, forgot the fact that Uncle Suzuki had died, and even started talking to the air...
"It's okay." Natsume Takashi hugged the cat tightly in his arms, as if he was talking to it, or to himself, "As long as Sister Lily is willing, I can always... accompany her to play this scene."
Just like what he said to Sister Lily who came back to her hometown to visit him.
"If, if you encounter something unhappy, escaping is allowed. There is nothing shameful about running away."