Summer Vacation Arc: 66 Heart and Bewilderment

Summer Vacation Arc
66 Heart and Bewilderment

It was a day approaching the middle of summer vacation.

Meru was in the waiting room for the orthopaedic department of the biggest hospital in the city.
After some time had passed, the examination room’s door opened and Kei, on crutches, came out.

“Meru-nee, I’m really sorry.”

Meru smiled wryly at Kei apologizing as soon as he came out.

“I dunno what you’re talking about. How’d you come out?”

Meru stood and ran over to Kei’s side. He’d injured his right leg during a soccer practice match. Even though he was a first year, Kei was a major part of the team’s strength, so the coach referred him to this hospital and Meru came along to escort him.

“It looks like I fractured my ankle. The doctor told me to rest it for a while.”

Kei told her bitterly. “If I can’t play soccer for a month or whatever, my intuition’ll dull,” he grumbled disappointedly.

“Well, it’s good that it wasn’t worse. You have to hurry and heal up.”
“Yeah. I’ll cause trouble for the team.”
“When I called dad a bit ago, it happened to be his lunch break, so he said he’d leave the office and pick us up.”
“Really? Lucky~”

Meru matched her pace to Kei’s as he moved on the crutches and they slowly walked down the hospital’s hallways.
As they did, they saw a familiar figure at the spacious entrance’s reception area.

“Oh? Laila-chan.”

Following Meru’s line of sight, one could see Laila who had just entered the hospital. She had her golden hair on. She was instantly and unmistakably recognizable.

“I wonder what’s wrong?”

Looking at Meru who murmured that a little worriedly, Kei smiled.

“You can go over there. I’ll let dad know.”

Kei said and went out the hospital’s entrance alone.

Accepting Kei’s offer, Meru headed over toward Laila.

“Laila-chan.”

Meru called out to Laila as she moved at a semi-jog. Seemingly not having noticed Meru, Laila’s shoulders jumped.

“Wah!! Ah…eh, Ruu-chan?”

When Laila identified Meru, she was even more surprised. Meeting at a place like this was certainly surprising.

“Ruu-chan, are you alright?”
“Yeah. Kei injured his leg, so I came along with him. What about you, though?”

Meru tilted her head, looking worried, and Laila smiled wryly.

“Don’t make that face. I’m fine. My mom is hospitalized here, so I came to visit her.”
“Hospitalized… Is she okay?”

Laila just smiled and didn’t answer that question. Then, seemingly thinking about something, she dropped her eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled at Meru.

“Ruu-chan.”

Laila called Meru’s name in a voice that seemed a little lonely.

“Would you mind visiting my mom with me?”

Laila brought Meru along as they climbed up the stairs to the hospital ward, continuing down the hallway.
And then Laila stopped in front of a private room.
[Hiiragi Kaoruko] was written on the nameplate.

“Is it really okay for me to be here?”
“Yeah. Or rather, I think my mom will also be happier that way.”

Laila said with a smile, and without thinking any further, Meru entered the room.

Entering the room, they were greeted by the scent of roses. Even though it was a room in the hospital, this room had a very feminine feel.

Laila’s mother, Kaoruko, was sitting up on the bed and gazing at the scenery outside the window.
Meru’s eyes were drawn to her long, black hair that was tinged with purple like Laila’s natural hair.

“Mama.”

When Laila greeted her in a sweet voice, Kaoruko turned to look at them with an amiable smile on her face.

“Laila, you came today as well. Oh my, is that girl your friend?”

Laila nodded, causing Kaoruko to smile happily as she looked at Meru. Her smile bore a strong resemblance to Laila’s.

“I’m Kusuhara Meru. Laila-chan is always taking care of me.”
“I’m Laila’s mother. I’m sorry, greeting you in this state.”
“No, no, not at all… I should be the one to apologize, suddenly coming here.”

Meru waved her hands in a panic and bowed.

“Laila, if you had a cute girl like this as your friend, you should have introduced her to me earlier.”

“Fufufu. Sorry, Mama.”

Seeing Laila and Kaoruko together, Meru immediately felt that they were a parent and child who got along well.

From there, Meru spent a while enjoying a conversation with Laila and Kaoruko.

Looking at Kaoruko, her complexion wasn’t bad, and she was energetic. She probably didn’t have a serious illness.

It was at the very moment Meru thought that.

“Laila, I was worried because you only had male friends. I wondered if you didn’t have any friends of your same gender…”

Kaoruko spoke with an earnest expression.
Meru was bewildered for a moment. Surely, she had misspoken. Or so Meru thought, but her next words wiped out that idea.

“There are certain things that you can only talk about with other girls, right? Meru-chan, please take care of Laila.”
“Eh…ah…”
“Sorry, Mama. Ruu-chan and I both have errands after this. Papa said he’ll come visit you after he finishes work. We’ll head back soon.”

To cover for Meru who couldn’t conceal her confusion, Laila bid farewell to Kaoruko with a smile.

“Oh, really? I’ll be released from the hospital soon, so next time, come spend more time at our house, Meru-chan.”
“Ah…yes. Thank you very much. Get well soon.”

Meru smiled and said goodbye before leaving the room together with Laila.

After they left the room, silence fell between the two of them for a while.
Laila asked if Meru had some time, and she nodded. They didn’t make any real conversation as they left the hospital and sat on a bench in a nearby park.

Even though she should say something, Meru couldn’t come up with any words.

As if she could sense Meru’s dilemma, Laila smiled wryly.

“Ruu-chan. Thank you. That was the first time in a while I was able to see my mom’s happy expression.”
“I didn’t do anything…”

Laila shook her head.

“She was so lively today because of you, Ruu-chan.”

Laila was truly grateful. Despite the fact that she knew Meru would be confused, she thought her mom would be happy, so she brought Meru along.

“Laila-chan… Um, your mom thinks…you are…”

Meru chose her words carefully. Knowing what Meru wanted to say, Laila smiled and began to speak.

“You were surprised, right? My mom really thinks that I’m a girl. Though it’s more accurate to say that she’s convinced I’m a girl.”

Laila’s smile was unusually lonely. It wasn’t her usual cute, pleasant smile.

“I think you got it, but…my mom has a mental disorder.”

Laila spoke quietly while looking up at the sky. “She’s been like that from a long time ago…” she said and continued to speak.

“My mom always wanted a girl. But it seems that she had a difficult childbirth with me…and she can no longer have any children. That’s why she absolutely didn’t recognize me as a boy.”

Laila spoke as though she were telling a fairytale.

“But I was still young… I of course dressed like a boy and acted like a boy…and as a result, every time my mom saw me, she would wail and collapse, gradually becoming worse.”

Laila said as though it was a trifling matter. However, Meru didn’t believe that was the case. If one ignored Laila’s mom’s last remarks, she was really a normal, good mother. It was obvious that she really loved Laila.

“And so…I made a promise with my dad when I was young to become a girl. But I am a boy after all, so by straddling two different worlds… I couldn’t make any friends, male or female. As I withdrew, I became a mechanics freak.”

Laila said that she attended Reiryuu Academy from junior high, and Hayate and the others reached out to her for the first time in her life.
Her circumstances were similar to Shoutarou’s. Laila said that, and Meru agreed.

“This time’s hospitalization as well. She just happened to catch me coming out of the bath in my true form and collapsed.”

Laila cast her eyes downward.
She was recalling Kaoruko’s expression as she encountered her true form for the first time in a while.

“…You asked me at the beach, right? Why I don’t grow my hair out.”

Laila looked at Meru. Meru gave a small nod.

“That is my absolute bottom line. I am, after all, a guy.”

He wanted to be able to take hold of his freedom to be his true self as a male when no one was around at the very least.
For that reason, Laila continued to cut his hair.

Meru looked down and tightly clenched her fists on her knees.

“…I’m sorry, making you talk about something unpleasant…”
“Not at all. I should be the one apologizing for making you listen to this kind of story. Just that, even though it’s kind of late, I had something I wanted to tell you. I also wanted to talk about this.”

Meru asked, “Wanted to tell me?” and tilted her head. Laila smiled gently.

“Even my parents don’t recognize me as me when I look like a boy. Even the executives didn’t realize it was me the first time they saw me. But you immediately knew it was me the first time you saw me like that, right?”
“…Yeah. But, I mean…it’s because you are you.”

She knew Laila was Laila. Meru felt that that was obvious. But for Laila, that was extraordinary, and even her words now were extraordinary.

“The first time we spoke, you said it, right? That gender is irrelevant. Maybe those were normal words for you, but… I was really happy.”

Meru organized her memories a little. She really had said those words. Laila cherished those words she had spoken without any thought.

“Thank you, Ruu-chan. Please take care of me from now on as well…is what I wanted to tell you.”

Laila said shyly, holding out his hand to Meru.

“I didn’t do anything worthy of thanks, though. I should be the one thanking you for everything, Laila-chan.”

Meru took Laila’s hand and smiled.
Laila was content just seeing that smile.

“Are you hungry? Let’s go eat something.”

Laila stood up from the bench and began to walk quickly past Meru.
Meru hurriedly caught up to Laila’s side.

“Laila-chan.”
“What’s up?”
“Um… I can’t do anything, but…”

Meru stared at Laila with a serious expression.

“You don’t have to push yourself in front of me. Just be yourself.”

That was all that Meru could say right now.
Laila’s eyes widened, and in the next moment, he chuckled.

“I’ll take advantage of those words.”

Laila’s smile was his usual cute, pleasant one.

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<TLN>
You probably noticed that I shifted toward using he/him pronouns with Laila after he confirms that he sees himself as a male. Up until now, the author kinda flipped and flopped and was unclear (probably to avoid spoiling the reveal), and that’s why I’m leaving the pronouns up until that point as she/her in this chapter. From now on, I will be fully using he/him!

But also wow, got another backstory. The summer vacation arc is full of ‘em! Hope you enjoyed~

Happy New Year!! I know when this releases, it won’t be the new year for some of you, but it’s being released in 2021 y’all! Here’s to hoping it’s a better one. I hope you all are/were able to enjoy the rollover safely. ❤ 19 chapters left in the summer vacation arc!

19 chapters left in the summer vacation arc!