When I removed the dust jacket to check the title, I was met with a little surprise. Its secrets were guarded closely by a dust jacket from the bookshop near the hospital. Judging by its appearance, the book was an approximately 300-page thick paperback. Navigating through the spaces between patients, I arrived at the other end of the lobby and sat myself down on the sofa. My curiosity sparked by a love of books took control, and I began to walk over. I wondered by whom it had been abandoned, as well as of its contents. In the corner of the lobby, sitting on a lonely sofa, was a book that had been left behind. I was supposed to have shown up late to school, but long waiting times at the large hospital had sapped me of any remaining enthusiasm for learning, and I remained loitering in the hospital’s lobby. My frequent visits to the hospital for follow-up treatment were coming to an end. It was because of my appendectomy - not the surgery itself, but the removal of the stitches. That day, I had taken a break from school. That was why it couldn’t be blamed on anything else but her bad luck and the sudden turn of events that caused me, who should have only been a classmate, to find out about her illness. Regardless of my unnecessary thoughts, she had been once more fully enjoying the benefits of medical science. I thought that it was machine-like to be able to move despite suffering from such an illness, but something like my own impressions didn’t matter to someone who was actually afflicted with the sickness. Which is to say, humans had gained the ability to extend their human lifespans. But I didn’t know any details about it, and I wasn’t interested in finding out more either.Īll I could say was that at the very least, to medical science, it was progress to give an everyday life to a girl trapped in abnormality - a terminal condition that interfered with her life and would end it within a year. Medical science was advancing towards an unknown frontier. It all began in April, when the late-blooming sakura were still in bloom.

Kimi no suizou o tabetai