Only, my eyes on you.
"There came to me a Man one summer night,
When all the world lay silent in the stars,
And moonlight crossed my room with ghostly bars."
- Forbidden Magic, Robert Ervin Howard
- The next station is Higashi-Omiya, Higashi-Omiya. The door on the right side will ope…
- What's this? [trembles]
Have you ever seen someone suffering neuropathy? Nerve disease is by no means a joke. From shakes to paralysis, it is as if you aren't the body's owner anymore.
- Take it easy, Syan! It had to happen sooner or later, Mizu didn't ask him details due to being something unusual, she hasn't understood how it came to be in the first place.
- It will come to pass, there's nothing we can do. He loses his stamina and just wants to drop there on the wagon's floor – Ask... for hel. - No! they can't help us. She had been through Syan's pain, even though she received first-class aid, when the sudden inexplicable onset came the doctors weren't any help. While feeling the weight of his clothes he powers up his legs and follows her guidance, making their way, meanwhile he winces in desperation, to a bench in the station platform. – Arg… thanks for… the bag. Mizu, as she hold him up, didn't leave it behind.
.
He gulps down a Matcha tea that Mizu got him from the vending machine. Later, the local transportation car makes quck work and picks them up at the service bay of Saitama's station:
- Koko, massugu onegai shimasu … Hai! In front of the cram school… Doumo. She took charge of minor affairs while he recovers little by little.
– Have a good night, you two. Finally, they arrive. the shadow of what once was a lively young man gets to admire the Burūra household: a large garden with a terrace and over it the second floor's balcony. If the gratefulness that fills his chest didn't impede his actions, he would of have whistle in mocking admiration.
- By the look in your eyes, you appear to be "brimming" with health once again. Honestly, making me do hard work is beyond repaying. She returns the heavy bag to its owner while taking in someone's else pettiness. Syan didn't bother with her provocations as he pretty much today has learnt a lot about Mizu's demeanor. She gestures him to go inside and as they pass the front gate, she tells him:
- Uggh I have something to admit, so I better say it now before making a mess. - uh-huh well, say it then. After both skip a beat she adds:
- Actually, this is my parents'. – uh… Oh… he may have forgotten how to handle extraordinary occasions, but this raises a red flag too big to ignore. – I can't bring myself to leave you outside and the situation kind of turned out like this, you're old enough to behave. Right? Her doubts don't reach Syan's attention span.
It takes a lot of willpower just to maintain an appearance in social situations and visiting a woman parents isn't an easy situation, in any context, by any definition. His only hope is that she may offer suppo… - *Kyuukyuusha o yonde, hayaku! He beams out with all his strength, and then it came the obnoxious sigh:
- You don't need one ugh, stop with the drama. We just came for my stuff. He, surely, will arrive behind schedule to Ouchi-juku but right now he thinks it's more important to not ditch Mizu's invitation, the more if it comes to face danger, and not to mention the incognita that raises from the out-of-place advice she told him, as they got out of the train in the mid of that 'panic attack', he believes.
- (Inaudible) - Huh what'd you say? – Alright Mizu… let's go inside. "It shall come to pass" he chants it so much that he adjusts to this mantra just before she opens the front door. They leave the shoes on the genkan but Syan notices there is *no slippers adjacent to it 'oh shit… he is coming to a good start as he walks with on socks. Mizu gets comfortable and leads him further to the living room. Now she gets the faint idea that her parents might not be at home due to just the front street lights being illuminated while all the rooms, in both floors, lay in darkness. She quickly makes her way to the light switches on every room and leaves none off.
.
.
After making the hurried detour in every room she comes back to find Syan on a phone call- All this trepidation for nothing phew, my parents are most likely outside. Come here I will get you something to eat. He just nods at the words and says his goodbyes to the other end of the line, Mizu is a tad curious but decides against questioning him 'Maybe another time.
The kitchen is a place of utmost importance for the household integrity, about how this custom goes, it is the place where a family's bond is hold in unison. The Burūra's had its dining room and the kitchen divided by an exquisite black marble countertop that shows the family's wellbeing and a prudent elegance. The interiors were well decorated with renown postmodern pieces of art, that were recreated with the local silk handywork of Japan best artisans – Do you have bento? – Sure! How do you like it, with shrimp or better with beef?... When it comes to it, all material possessions lack in comparison with the things that make us stick together around the dining table.
- Say… with who did you talk over the phone – Oh? I was talking with my parents, that "unfortunately" I'll be arriving in the early morning. It's a drag for us as they were planning to send someone to pick us up in Kuroiso, now we must make it there ourselves. – Is it necessary to go? I mean, if you could come up with a really good excuse, your family would come to understand… - Look Mizu, it isn't my reputation that is on the line here, it's theirs and they are the hand that feeds me. Mizu couldn't help it and had to laugh out loudat that serious determination. Syan just shrugs it off, condescended his hurt feelings with belittling the city girl's partial views. After finishing their dinner, Mizu guesses she will need a helping hand on deciding what to take to Ouchi-juku, she hasn't gone too far out of Saitama to begin with.
While making their way upstairs, the house front gates slide open…
End of chapter four
says: call an ambulance, quickly
2. No slippers: If you don't use slippers inside someone else house means you're very informal and have a trusting relationship with that family. It's what I gathered on the internet :/
Aclaration: Saitama is a whole new town, it took them lilke 30 minutes to arrive on train from Tokyo. It's a strecth to say that the train was ultra packed, so let's say it was a special day. The thing that happened to syan on the train ain't neuropathy, I just made an analogy to more or less give an example.