Colors and the Wrinkles of the Heart [Episode 11] Toward a Path of Mutual Support

*Read from the beginning of this story*

*Read Episode 10*

[Episode 11] Toward a Path of Mutual Support

Three months have passed since the farewell party.

Before I knew it, the new year had begun, and it was already February. Time passes by indifferently every day.

The last time I saw Akemi-san, also known as Rui-san, was on December 29th, the final business day of last year.
Since then, we haven't been able to meet again.

It is winter, and since there is no garden maintenance to be done, there was no reason for her to come.

According to rumors, she recently quit her job and has become unable to go outside.

I suspect she may be exhausted both mentally and physically, as I had been asking her to do so many things she had never experienced before.

But, I know something.

When you fail or stumble.
When things don't go well and you start to deny yourself.
When you feel distressed, don't want to see anyone, or don't want to go outside.

Immediately after that, it is better to rest properly in a place where you feel safe.
It is better to distance yourself from the things that are bothering you.

However, if that period lasts too long, it becomes difficult to take that first step forward.

I sincerely hope that she will breathe in the outside air, even if it's just in a place she enjoys, and even if she doesn't need to belong to society.

Could I find a way to trigger that?
I spent my days brooding over this thought.

At this time, I had begun to realize something.
That unless someone, somewhere, takes action, this story will never begin to move.

To find a way to trigger it, I visited Professor Taniguchi.
It was the first time I had seen the professor since the renewal opening day of [Cafe Colorful].

The professor must have been busy, but he made sure to set aside time for me.

After exchanging New Year's greetings and having a brief, casual chat, we immediately got to the main topic.

"If someone who has lived relying on a place of emotional support becomes bewildered by various changes and finds themselves unable to move... what should I do?"

Professor Taniguchi answered me like this:

"It's not about walking on eggshells, nor is it about forcing things out. It's just about living normally, trusting in the vitality that the person inherently possesses. Plants don't grow because someone pulls them up, do they? Believing that 'it will surely be okay' will eventually reach them as nourishment, and they will surely prepare to bloom once again."

"Other than that, just keep doing what you have been doing, calmly and steadily."

After leaving the laboratory, I ruminated on the professor's words in my mind.

Although no clear answer was given, perhaps it means that 'now is not the time for those buds to emerge.'

I stopped by a stationery store, bought just one notebook with a pale floral pattern, and headed home.

In the blink of an eye, it became March.

The city has started to see signs about preparing for new lives everywhere, and although the temperature is still cold, I can feel the arrival of spring from afar.

Around this time, a certain change occurred at the shop, and I had been increasing the frequency of my visits.

When there is a change, Ayame always contacts me.

"Coco-chan. Could you increase the days you come to the shop? I'm not feeling very well."

It was in late February that she confided this to me.
"A-chan, are you okay? Did something happen?"

She became serious and told me that she was pregnant.

It seems she had been trying her best to come to the shop on days when I was at my main job, but it had become difficult for her to even stand, and she found herself sitting down more often.

"Please don't push yourself. Let me think about it for a moment! I'm sorry to Ritsuki-san, but I need a little time. I'll be as quick as I can."

I told her that and hung up the phone.
After opening my planner and checking my schedule, I had a conversation with my own heart.

It had been a little less than a year since I started helping out at the cafe by chance.

At the cafe, I had interacted not only with regulars but with all sorts of people.
I realized that each of them had their own story and was looking for a place of emotional refuge.

Every day brings all sorts of things.
It is by no means all gentle things that happen, and there are times when one experiences things that wear down both body and soul.

As someone living in modern society, I was also looking for a place of emotional refuge.
That is precisely why I thought about what I could do to ensure that this place of refuge could continue.

I decided to step down from my main job starting in April.

That said, I didn't leave it entirely, but rather arranged to work fewer days.
Right now, I am helping out at the shop while using up my paid leave. I had been entering the shop as a volunteer.

Not only regulars, but people coming for lunch and those working while drinking coffee have started to visit.

For the shop, this is a happy thing.

However, I could imagine that this was also the reason why Rui-san was finding it harder to come to [Cafe Colorful].

For Rui-san, showing her face right now might be a difficult thing to do.
She might feel that she cannot show her face because she could not continue something she had been working so hard at.

Even while thinking that, I could not let go of the hope that one day Rui-san would remember this cafe and perhaps come by secretly to water the flowers.

In the notebook I bought after hearing the professor's story, I have been writing down greetings, the day's events, and my feelings.
For me, it is like a diary.

At the end, I always wrote that I would write again.

I had been secretly leaving messages for Rui-san in the shed.

I may not possess a light bright enough to illuminate anyone else.

Even if it is just for a fleeting moment in daily life.
I thought that if I could cast a warm light into their heart, it might help provide them with the hope to live.

To have even just one person who knows you are there and believes in you.
It is okay to be here.
To be someone who can acknowledge that and forgive oneself.

I have witnessed the process of how life changes through such an encounter.

I remembered in this cafe that I, too, was one of those who had experienced such a thing.

Perhaps one day it will be read.
I do not know when that time will come.

Though there are times I feel like giving up when I see the notebook placed in the same spot as yesterday, if holding onto a faint hope and continuing to believe can become a source of hope for me, for this shop, or for someone else,

then today, too, I will open the notebook and speak toward the future.

Episode 12 continues

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