S by Koji Suzuki

Author:Koji Suzuki
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kodansha USA
Published: 2017-12-19T05:00:00+00:00

3

It was only about ten seconds or so, judging by the second hand of the clock. Yet as Takanori stared and waited, time seemed to stretch forever.

Even if a person’s heart stopped beating, if proper treatment could be administered within eight minutes or so, it was possible for the patient to be resuscitated. A few cases had been reported around the world where dead people had come back to life. But in Takanori’s case, the span had been two years. It was beyond anything that medical science could explain.

With his left hand on his chin, Mitsuo Ando was looking down at the family register, lost in thought, as Takanori watched him and wondered how he was going to explain this as a doctor and a father. Placed atop his desk in the director’s office, the register arrested Mitsuo’s movement like the muzzle of a gun that was pointed at him.

Takanori had thought it best not to call his father in advance and tell him the reason for his visit. Knowing his father, if he’d known why Takanori was coming, he would have made up some elaborate, convincing explanation beforehand and created a smokescreen to conceal the truth.

There was no way to extract it from him without taking him by surprise.

Mitsuo kept looking down because he didn’t want Takanori to see how agitated he was.

Surely Mitsuo was deeply regretful that he hadn’t dealt with this problem sooner. He hadn’t even considered that his son would decide to marry so soon, without consulting his parents at all. If he’d known, there might have been some other way to handle this matter. Or perhaps he hadn’t known that the matter of Takanori’s death had remained in the family register as a past record. It was hard to believe that Mitsuo, always so prudent and prepared for everything, had forgotten about that. He’d simply been too busy to check the content in the family register.

When exactly twenty seconds had passed, Mitsuo raised his face.

“By the way, why did you need to get the family register?” he asked.

He tried to pretend to be calm, but his eyes were wandering. In the first place, it was not an answer to the question Takanori had asked: How are you going to explain the fact that I was dead for two years?

“Because I’m getting married, dad.”

“Oh, married, eh? When I got married, I was the same age as you are now. So, whom do you want to marry?”

“Akane Maruyama.”

As her name permeated his mind, many memories came flooding back. Seeing his father’s expression become a bit more cheerful, Takanori assumed that he had a good impression of Akane.

“Oh, that girl. She was the one who truly proved how valuable Fureai was for society.”

Since Akane Maruyama had entered the foster home Fureai at the same time that it was founded, Mitsuo had known about her since she was little.

“I agree,” Takanori said.

“She was a nice girl. I admit it. But why have you chosen her as your marriage partner?”

“Because we’re alike.

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