"COPY BOY" My Clone is an Elementary Schooler 33 (Penultimate) 【Goodbye...】

＜Winter, Chapter 33＞

“Yu-chan, are you awake?”

When I came to, Grandma was looking at me while crying.

Where is this...?
It smells like dry cleaning. Tightly pressed sheets.
Ah, it's this again. A hospital bed. When I looked, my right hand was holding hands with the little guy sleeping in the bed next to me.

“Huh, why...?”
“You shouldn't worry your grandmother right at the start of the New Year.”

Then, a sudden light.
“Mr. Yutaka, it’s going to be a little bright. Yes, please look at this finger.”
My eyeballs were illuminated by a penlight, and Neko-chan moved her thin, beautiful index finger left and right. I asked while following her finger with my eyes.
“What happened? I...”
Neko-chan explained while using a pump to send air into the pressure cuff of the pulse monitor wrapped around my arm.

She said that when I collapsed back then, she immediately gave me first aid and had me transported by ambulance to the Tama Institute of Genetic Engineering.

“Neko-chan, why were you there?”
“Thanks to the little one.”
The little guy is still lying down. It seems my poor physical condition is synchronized with his.
“Actually, I knew.”
“?”
“The little one had been feeling it all along.”

She said the little guy had known about my headaches for a long time. He accurately sensed the progression of symptoms that even I hadn't noticed myself.
For example, the lungs and kidneys. They say that when one of the two organs in the body, like twins, is in poor condition, the other reacts sensitively and works double to compensate for the function. My brain and the little guy's brain have the same structure. It seems his brain sensed the abnormality in my brain like a sensor to compensate for it.
“It’s mysterious. There are still so many things we don’t understand about clone medicine.”
The little guy had also sensed that “today was finally the day.” More clearly than I did. That’s why he had apparently warned Neko-chan, “Big Brother’s head is going to go ‘bang’ soon.” Hearing that,
“Come to think of it...” I remembered last night.

.........New Year's Eve night. The little guy whispering secretly to Neko-chan.
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s a... secret.” The two of them laughing.........

“Ah, so that’s why...”
“That’s right. So actually, today too...”
When the little guy and I went out, Neko-chan had secretly followed us. She had been watching from afar as we went through the alley to that redevelopment area.
“You two were moving so fast, I got stuck in the fence.”
She laughed lonely, hehehe.

“Why are we holding hands?”
“You don’t remember, Mr. Yutaka?”
She said that while I was being treated after being brought here, the little guy and I, lying in side-by-side beds, were reaching out to each other for some reason even though we were unconscious.
Grandma noticed, shouted “Yu-chan’s hand!”, and together with the doctors and nurses, moved the little guy’s bed closer to mine.

“I might have had a dream, actually...”

I was in a whirlpool flood in a giant water bath.
The little guy and I, as small as insects, were being washed away violently.
The little guy, wearing swimming goggles and a snorkel, reached out his hand to try and save me. But our hands couldn't reach. A little more... a little more... Pushing aside the violent splashes, our hands connected.
......I guess we had a dream together again.
Maybe in the dream, the little guy was holding me back from going away just like that.

“Neko-chan, please tell me. What will happen to me?”
“............”
Neko-chan hesitated to speak. Grandma turned her back.
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“That...”
“That’s how it is, isn’t it.”
“............Yes.”
She nodded slightly, looked into my eyes, and said,

“A shard of glass... pierced a blood vessel in your brain.”

Blood was flowing out from the torn area and pouring into the brain tissue in large quantities, and there was nothing more that could be done. Perhaps that was what the dream of the incoming flood meant.
Living with the little guy had indeed had an effect. The interaction between our two brains became more active, and the blood vessels in our brains worked more vigorously than usual. That caused the glass to move significantly. But it’s too late now. Even if I know the cause, there’s nothing I can do.
She said that soon I would start to feel abnormalities in my limbs, and eventually, I wouldn't be able to speak properly, and I would become delirious and lose consciousness.

“...Is that so.”
I took a deep breath of the air faintly smelling of chemicals and looked up at the white ceiling.


It’s only a matter of time now.
Man,
there was no need... to live apart after all.

“Big Brother...”
The little guy woke up.
“Oh, little guy.”
I tried a mundane greeting, as if we had just passed each other in a school hallway.

“Thanks for everything.”
“Yeah.”
“I wanted to play more.”
“Yeah, more. We’ll play, right?”
“I’d like to, but...”
The little guy stared into my eyes.

“.........”
“.........”

That was when the same thought flashed into the little guy’s head and mine at the same time, and we both shouted.

“Neko-chan!”
“Neko-chan!”

Because we suddenly shouted in sync, Neko-chan was startled, “Whoa!”, and dropped the oxygen concentration meter.
When I asked, “Excuse me, could you bring me a sheet?”, she made a puzzled face, “A sheet...? Why...”

“And a rope, too!”
“And a rope, too!”

“A sheet and a rope...? I feel like I’ve seen that somewhere...”
Eventually, Neko-chan’s eyes sparkled.
“!”
With her usual smile, she saluted and winked, saying, “Yes! Captain Little One.”

Before long, a large sheet was hung from the ceiling over my bed, covering us softly like a tent. It gently wrapped around our beds like a large cradle.

Yes, that “secret base.”

I had them specially open the windows of the treatment room. Then, a soft breeze shook the sheet, and the whole area was dyed in the orange of a sunset so beautiful it made me want to cry.

The little guy crawled into my bed.
“Big Brother...”
“Captain Little One, it’s cramped.”
“Vice-Captain Big Brother, play a song.”

I played my father’s lullaby... Holst’s “Jupiter” with a faint, whispering whistle.
A sweet melody echoing in the secret base of the hospital room.

The little guy listened to it the whole time by my side with a happy expression.
I could hear Grandma and Neko-chan sniffling.
“You’re noisy.”
When I teased them,
“Excuse me, Vice-Captain,”
Neko-chan saluted while crying.

“Neko-chan, thank you.”

Thank you. Even though it was just a moment in my life,
I was happy to have a woman who would cry like this for me.
If only I had a little more life left...

"...Um"
"...Um"

Neko-chan and I spoke at the same time.

"We synchronized, didn't we?"
"We synchronized, didn't we?"

We both burst out laughing.
"Even though we aren't clones."
I felt a bit more at ease.
I want to say something to Neko-chan. But what should I say?
After all, we don't have any time left to nurture anything.

"Um... well..."

"He says he likes you."

"Huh!?"

I was so surprised I almost fell off the bed. Neko-chan's eyes behind her glasses went wide, too.

It's Chibi.

"Big Bro says he likes you, Neko-chan. I know what's in Big Bro's head."

"No, um... no... well..."
It's hard to deny it... I can feel my face flushing red. "Yes. I'm sorry. At a time like this."
When I timidly peeked at Neko-chan's face,
large tears were overflowing from her eyes behind her round glasses,

"Yes!"

Every time she blinked her long eyelashes, sparkling droplets danced in the air, and she gave me a beautiful smile I had never seen before.
"Thank you for everything until now. Please take care of Chibi."
"Ye...s..."
I was sobbing so hard I couldn't hear my own reply.

Grandma is crying too.
"Thank you, Grandma."
"Yu-chan, hang in there. Open your eyes. Be strong."
She patted the back of my hand with her wrinkled hands.
"I'm sorry for being a bad grandson."
"Don't say such stupid things. You shouldn't get the order wrong. I'll go in your place."
I try to wipe away my tears with a hand towel, but I can't keep up.
"We don't have to live apart anymore, do we?"
"You big dummy!" She patted me, then said, "Doctor, can't you do something? Please let me go in his place." She pulled on the doctor's white coat sleeve and swung it around.
"Grandma, you have to stay healthy. Please take care of Chibi."
"No, hang in there. Yu-chan, no..."
She pressed her forehead against my hand,
and sobbed, "Ohhh..."

Ah, things are getting blurry...
Is it almost time?


"Chibi"

"What?"

He opens his eyes wide with anxiety.
"Big Bro, it seems I'm running out of time."
"For what?"
"I have to go soon."
"Don't go."
"I have to catch the bus. I have to go beyond the sky. I'm going to go see beyond the universe."
"...No, Big Bro..."
Chibi cried. He clung to me and cried. "Use my body. I'm fine. As long as Big Bro lives, that's all that matters."
He cried, his face a mess of tears and snot.
"I'm a fake of Big Bro, so use my body!"
He clung to my chest.

"Chibi, you aren't a fake. You are the real Yutaka."
"Big Bro, are you going to die? Big Bro, don't die."
The doctor tries to pull him away, but he grabs the sheets and won't let go.
"Hey, Big Bro, don't die. Please, wake up."
He clings to the bed, sobbing.
"Use my body! My body is the same as Big Bro's. You can use it. Hey, use my blood or whatever you need!"
His face is a mess of snot and tears. He flails his arms and legs, crying so hard that even an adult's strength can't peel him away.
"Big Bro and I are the same. If you attach them, we'll become one. Please. Don't let Big Bro die! Please! Please!"
I loved Chibi so much it made me want to scream from the bottom of my heart. Tears overflowed from the emotions welling up inside me.
"Hey! Please! Use it!" Chibi struggles.

"I'm sorry, Chibi. I'm sorry. This is the right thing to do. This is fine. To protect Chibi's future..."

I want to say that, but I can't make a sound anymore.
I want to talk... but I can't.
God, just a little longer... There's something I want to say.

"Chibi, look into my eyes. They're blurry with tears, but look closely.
They're my eyes. Yes, that's it. I want you to read my eyes. Now, this is our final synchronization of hearts."

" Do you understand? What I want to say... " I ask in my heart.

"Yeah! I understand, Big Bro! I understand!"
I hear Chibi's voice raised, faint and far away.

"Chibi, can I tell you what I'm honestly thinking? You'll figure it out anyway."

"Yeah, what is it?"

”...I'm scared, Chibi.”

I'm scared to pass away. I'm going to disappear from this world, after all. It's going to be pitch black soon. I won't even be able to think with my head like this anymore soon.
It's hard to imagine my own consciousness becoming 'nothingness.' It's like the question, 'What's on the other side of the universe?' No one knows what's beyond that. If there is something beyond that, what's beyond that? It's like it exists, but it doesn't. That's why, after all, I'm scared.

But you know.

Having you here has made me feel at ease.
I might be disappearing, but you are here.
Just imagining the future you are about to face makes me excited.

I wish I could have seen you, Chibi, when you turned twenty.
It would be interesting to stand next to me then. We'd probably look exactly alike.
In the future, you might get married and have children. A child with single eyelids and a shy personality, just like us. A boy... or a girl...? I'd love to meet your child. Would it be okay if I thought of them a little bit as my own child?

To think that you exist as proof that I lived in this world is such a support. I'm so happy that I passed my life on to you. Even if my body perishes, the things I passed on to you, and many other things, will remain. Just being able to think that is a salvation.

Tears overflow from Chibi's eyes.

If I had been all alone, how anxious I would have been.
I ran this far, and I would have died thinking there was no one to pass the baton to.
Now, I am truly happy that you are here for me to pass the baton to.
Everyone in the world is participating in a relay race of life. It doesn't matter if you have children or not. It doesn't matter whose child it is; we all raise them together. By working together to create a better world, humanity passes on life.
We are all one species together.

The sun is about to set.

Ah... it's almost time, isn't it?
I know. It's almost time. I have that feeling.

Our hearts have become one now, so you understand, right?
Chibi, don't forget what I taught you.

“Yeah, I understand. Big Brother.”
Chibi sobs.

There might be many things that happen from here on out.
Please, in my place, experience them without fear.
I want you to be proud of yourself.
A self that no one else can imitate.
Love yourself.

Thank you so much. For being born.
Thank you so much. Please take care of our future.

Oh no. I can't stop the tears. Chibi's face is blurring and fading.
For an instant... just for a fleeting instant, I felt like I saw Chibi's face grown into an adult.
That figure looked exactly like me.

“Ah... ah... ah...”

The tears flowed even more. Was it my final dream?
My consciousness is fading away.
It's time... the bus is departing. I'm closing my eyes.
Everyone, thank you.




Good... bye...





And then...

“I” closed the curtain on my life.

Yes, we “Yutaka” are one.
I have truly become one.

(To be continued) Next time, the final episode...

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