"Rena! She... she's dead!"
The sudden news struck Teiichi's heart like a fierce bolt of lightning. He instantly froze in place as though electrocuted, as if time itself had stopped. His eyes widened and his lips parted slightly, as though he wanted to say something, only to be overwhelmed by the enormous shock.
It took a long time for Teiichi to recover from his profound shock. He swallowed with difficulty and asked hoarsely:
"How could she... how could she just be gone like that?"
His voice was full of disbelief and grief.
Manager Yamamoto sighed, shook his head, and said:
"I couldn't believe it either. I was actually the first to discover that Rena had died. By the way, roughly when did you leave?"
"Me? I traveled for three days, then stayed here for another three. That should make six days altogether." After saying this, Teiichi looked at Manager Yamamoto and asked in confusion:
"Why? Does that have anything to do with Rena's death?"
Manager Yamamoto shook his head and began explaining why he had been the first to discover that Rena had died.
"No."
"You used to meet outside my shop, didn't you? When you stopped coming on the fourth day, I thought you'd changed your meeting place and didn't think much of it. Another week passed-about four days after you left the area-and Rena still hadn't come to work."
At this point, Manager Yamamoto paused, glanced at Teiichi, and continued:
"At the time, I wondered whether you'd done something to her. I was worried, so I went to her house to look for her."
"When I got there and knocked, all I heard from inside was her father's anxious voice. I hurried to find a locksmith to open the door. By the time I went inside, Rena was already lying quietly in her room."
"After that, I called the police and followed their investigation all the way through. In the end, they found that Rena had died of an illness."
Hearing that Rena had died of an illness, Teiichi knitted his brows, his eyes filled with disbelief. He asked in shock:
"She was already pretty sick by the time she finished working as my guide, but it was still only at the level of a cold. Later, I went to see her before I left. Although she'd gotten worse by then, I took her to a clinic and got her medicine. Her illness should have improved!"
After hearing what Teiichi said, Manager Yamamoto replied:
"I also heard the police mention that Rena had taken medicine. They investigated that too and found it was just ordinary medicine. Afterward, they sent Rena for an examination, and the hospital's conclusion was that she'd died of an illness."
At this point, Manager Yamamoto sighed and offered his own guess:
"Maybe she caught some very serious disease! And those medicines could only ease her symptoms, not cure it. So in the end, Rena still died."
"Ah!"
Hearing that even the hospital had reached that conclusion, Teiichi had no choice but to trust science, though deep down he was still somewhat unwilling to accept it.
After a moment of silence, Teiichi slowly spoke, a trace of heaviness in his voice:
"Then what about her father?"
Hearing this question, Manager Yamamoto lifted his head slightly and looked at Teiichi with a hint of complicated emotion in his eyes before answering softly:
"Her father passed away too."
"What? Her father also... passed away?" Teiichi was so shocked he nearly jumped up. In disbelief, he pressed, "Did her father catch that disease too?"
Manager Yamamoto shook his head, his voice low. "No. Mr. Yoshida chose euthanasia."
"Euthanasia?" Teiichi repeated the word, his face full of incomprehension and confusion.
"Yes, euthanasia!" Seemingly sensing Teiichi's confusion, Manager Yamamoto explained:
"Mr. Yoshida had a hard life too! His wife ran off when he was young, and later he was struck by something at work and left paralyzed. He finally had a daughter who could support the family, only for her to die of an illness!"
"He told me that when he'd been struck and paralyzed, he'd thought about taking his own life. But when he thought of how his daughter still needed him, he gritted his teeth and held on. Now that his daughter had gone before him, he felt that his heart had died too."
As Manager Yamamoto spoke, his eyes gradually reddened, and his voice grew choked.
"You have no idea how desperate he sounded when he told me he wanted euthanasia! Even though the hospital's examination concluded that she'd died of an illness, he still felt she'd worked herself to death because she'd had to support the family and take care of him at such a young age."
Hearing this, Teiichi felt a powerful surge of sorrow. He remained silent for a long time, as though trying to digest this heavy news.
A long while passed.
Teiichi slowly spoke, his voice low but firm:
"Where are their graves? I'd like to pay my respects."
Hearing that Teiichi wanted to pay his respects, Manager Yamamoto tried to dissuade him:
"Mr. Teiichi, you'd only known them for a few days. You don't have to go."
Teiichi forced a smile onto his face and insisted:
"It's fine. I'm just paying my respects. It's hardly any trouble. Besides, without Rena showing me around those few days, I wouldn't have been able to get to know Aomori City properly."
Manager Yamamoto looked at Teiichi's determined gaze and hesitated, but ultimately nodded. He took a sheet of paper and a pen from the counter behind him and began drawing a route on it, explaining in detail how to reach the cemetery.
Teiichi set out alone to find the graves of Rena and her father, tightly clutching the somewhat abstract map Manager Yamamoto had drawn by hand. The mountain road twisted and turned, and the unfamiliar woodland paths forced him to stop frequently to carefully work out his bearings, or quicken his pace, trying to reach his destination before the sun set completely.
Time seemed to grow slow and heavy during the long trek. After two or three hours of difficult searching, Teiichi finally found the gravestones of Rena and her father in a secluded cemetery.
By now, only a last trace of the setting sun remained on the horizon, staining the entire sky blood-red. Its lingering glow fell gently over the gravestones, lending the cold stone a touch of warmth and life.
Teiichi gently placed the fresh flowers and fruit he had bought along the way before the father and daughter's gravestones. He bowed deeply, then stood silently before them, letting his thoughts drift.
He recalled Rena, that stubborn yet kindhearted girl. The sight of her insisting on paying him back seemed to be right before his eyes. He could not help giving a wry smile as he murmured to himself:
"You silly girl, how are you going to pay me back now that you're dead..."
Despite his words, his heart was full of longing for Rena and reluctance to let her go.
He had only spent three days with the girl, so by rights their relationship should not have been particularly close, but Teiichi had spent most of his time cultivating since transmigrating here.
Those three days with her had already been enough for the girl to leave a mark on Teiichi's life in this world.
Night gradually fell, and silence enveloped the cemetery. Only a gentle breeze blew past, bringing a faint chill.
After a long while, Teiichi came back to his senses and looked up at the bright moon in the sky, an inexplicable wave of emotion rising within him. He sighed softly:
"The rope really does snap at its thinnest point, and misfortune always seeks out those with the hardest lives!"