“Bokuchu” Us vs the Police: 700-Day War

Great Inoue-kun, Takaaki-kun, and Minako-san went straight to the hospital for treatment. The rest of us went to police headquarters to give testimonies before the day was up, so it was past 1AM when we got back.

The next day, I retraced all the things that went on the night before and spent the day in a daze.

But. That night, another big incident occurred.

As the clock went past 10:30 pm, a phone call came through. It was Takaaki-kun.

“S-Saijoh’s hospitalized!?”

“Yeah. I just got contacted by his friends.”
“Have you contacted the others?”
“No. You’re the only one who can move after 10.”

That’s right. At the time, the latest high schoolers could call was around 9 pm. Being out was even harsher. But my family was a little different.

“Anyways, I’m going to pick you up now! Let’s try to go to the hospital.”
“Ok. I’ll be waiting.”

I had a general guess as to the reason for his hospitalization.

I rode on the back of Takaaki-kun’s CB after he picked me up and headed straight for the hospital.

But.

“By the way. Is it ok to bring nothing? We’re going to the hospital.”
Takaaki-kun said.

“That’s true, too. How much do you have right now?”

“Me. 300 Yen.”
“I have 600 Yen.”
“Total of 900 Yen, huh. We’ve had a lot of expenditures lately. Let’s go buy a get-well gift.”
“That’s true. It’s not right to go without anything.”

But unlike now, it was a time before any convenience stores, so there were no stores open.

Then Takaaki-kun said
“I know a store of an acquaintance; I’ll go buy something there.”
With that, we changed our heading to the shopping district.

Eventually Takaaki-kun brought back some kind of package from the “store of an acquaintance.” He handed me the package.

Since I was worried about the way the package felt,
“Takaaki. What’s this?”

“Hm… Bo………ms”
Takaaki-kun said in a uncomfortable whisper.

“What was that?”

“It’s bo…rk…gr…ms”

“Um. It may just be me, but I thought I just heard boned pork…”

“Like I said… boned pork meat 900 grams.”

“You fool——!”

“It can’t be helped, right? It’s a butcher. Even then, he gave us 100 grams extra!”

“Why are you so proud of that!? What kind idiot brings ground pork as a get-well gift!?”

“But the butcher also said that it’s good fortune to bring meat as a get-well gift!”

You… You are absolutely being tricked!

“It’s better than nothing, right?”

“I, is it…?”
It felt like nothing might be better.

“But. He said to eat it as soon as possible. The expiration date is tomorrow or so.”

He’s been tricked after all…

I’ve never heard of anyone bringing boned pork meat with an expiration date as a get-well gift. I was already in the far off land of gloom while holding on at the back of the motorcycle.

After a little while, we arrived at the city hospital, but it was midnight. The front entrance wasn’t open. We quickly headed for the emergency entrance. With the boned pork.

As soon as we entered through the entrance, an older nurse appeared.

“Visitation hours has already past.”
“We know. There’s a guy named Saijoh…”
“Oh. Are you acquaintances of Saijoh-san?”
“Yes.”

After hearing this, the nurse made a very troubled expression.

“Well… it can’t be helped then. Come this way…”
And let us through.

“Is Saijoh in bad condition…?”
“Yes. He might not make it through the night… Sadly.”

“What!?”
Takaaki-kun and I were startled.

“He’s in an intensive care room right now. Please be quiet. His relatives are already assembled there…”

His relatives were assembled… We were frightened.

There were a lot of people who seem to be Saijoh-kun’s relatives assembled around the entrance of the intensive care room. The reason why we couldn’t see his mom was probably because she was inside.

Oh… no…

Finally from inside, one older lady came in front of us.

“I, I don’t know what to say about this…”
The lady responded to our greeting with a silent bow.

“This… isn’t anything special, but…”
Takaaki-kun handed the lady the package of boned pork. It really wasn’t anything special. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there could be nothing less as a get-well gift.

The lady.
“Thank you very much… By the way, are you… students at the calligraphy class?”

“… Calligraphy?”

“… Students?”

-> -> -> -> -> ->

We were once again on the motorcycle.

“Idiot——–! It’s the wrong city hospital!”

“Well. Now that I think about it, Saijoh lives in the next city.”

“Fool——! Because of it, we left the get-well gift there!!”

That’s right. We couldn’t ask them to return it now, so we left the get-well gift of boned pork meat there. On top of that, leaving boned pork that’s expiring tomorrow for someone who might be on the verge of death tomorrow, can only be thought of as harassment.

“But that nurse… We said his full name and all.”

“Yeah. Who is this Saijoh Zenbei?”

And so after making a serious mistake on the person, or I should say, after making a serious mistake on the hospital, we headed for the city hospital in the next city.

But the city hospital in the next city wouldn’t let us ordinary visitors through, and the guard bluntly sent us back.

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