Novel: Resonance of Petrichor ㉙
Chapter 29: Watching Over a Certain Loneliness ③
“What do you want to talk to me about, Kinkuma?”
Tatsujun asks, rising from the sofa.
“Tatsujun, Haruka passed away, you’re plagued by loneliness, and as a result, you now deeply realize the importance of human relationships and regret not having had net literacy, right?”
Tatsujun lets out a sigh through his nose.
“I don’t need your preaching.”
“But it’s being highlighted by the incident.”
“Having lost Haruka, Tatsujun, you’ve become a victim of the incident, and your support system is completely gone. Isn’t it time to turn your eyes back to the importance of family, friends, and neighborhood relationships in real life?”
“Kinkuma. I understand what you’re saying.
But the reality is that traditional, warm human relationships are disappearing due to the transformation of society.
Whether one gets caught up in an incident or nothing happens, I think many people are facing loneliness.
Who am I supposed to turn my eyes to?”
“That’s why, to me. Look at me.”
“Huh? At a hamster?”“That’s right.”
Tatsujun sneers.
He laughs, thinking it’s ridiculous.
My ears naturally tilt backward, and my upper and lower teeth make a clicking sound, chattering away.
“Tatsujun, you think, ‘I won’t be fooled again,’ right?
While talking about the incident, you sounded like it was someone else’s business.
But you know, because you’ve lost sight of the importance I mentioned earlier, you’ll be fooled again.”
“What are you talking about, you’re just a hamster.”
“Because you don’t think of me as family, your feeling that you have nothing to lose attracts strange people.
Tatsujun, if you thought of me as family, you wouldn’t do anything to make me sad.”
“That theory will get you caught in a ‘It’s me, it’s me’ scam.”
“People who get caught in ‘It’s me, it’s me’ scams, in their hearts, care more about appearances than their family.”
“That’s sophistry!”
“I’m not deceiving you. After all, you think, ‘My idiot son might have done it. Oh, what should I do if the neighbors find out?’
If you trusted your family, you wouldn’t trust a scam call, and you would confirm it with your idiot son.”
Tatsujun, looking blank, sulks and says,
“So in the end, I’m forming a bond with an animal instead of a human.
Ah, I’ve really fallen as far as I can go.”
You jerk!
Putting strength into my hind legs, I stand tall,
“Tatsujun, do you know about animal therapy?
It’s a form of mental care used in facilities for the elderly and the like.
As human relationships become increasingly thin, bonds with animals are becoming a new thread of salvation.”
The fur covering my entire body stands on end all at once.
I rush over to the sofa where Tatsujun is,
“I understand that Tatsujun is all alone.
But, Tatsujun and I have overcome hardships together. Haruka’s passing.
What happened at Aira’s hideout, the slander against the victims, the magazine interviews, the sympathy for Yumina-san.
Don’t forget the time we spent together!”
Tatsujun scoops me up with both hands and then sobs.
In the spring season, the human heart is easily swayed and wavers.
Even if they are in a good mood yesterday, today their expressions are dull.
It is painful for me that Tatsujun’s mood fluctuates,
and unless Tatsujun himself faces his loneliness, no matter how excellent a psychiatrist or counselor there is,
Tatsujun’s feelings will remain fallen from the cliff into the sea.
Watching Tatsujun, I felt that humans are confronting the difficulty of building human relationships and are deepening their loneliness.