Colors and Heart's Compromise [Episode 9] A Sudden Farewell and a Small Yet Great Resolve

*Read from the beginning of this story*

*Read Episode 8 *

[Episode 9] A Sudden Farewell and a Small Yet Great Resolve

It was November, and it had started to get a little cold.

I had adjusted my work schedule to increase the number of days I came to help at the shop.

"Rui-san hasn't been coming by lately, has she?"

Ayame muttered, looking worried.

At first, I thought she might have caught a cold since winter was approaching. However, the period during which we hadn't seen her had become longer than I had expected.

During lunch, customers would come in and it would be reasonably busy, but it felt lonely not seeing our regular customers.

It was just past 1:00 PM. The Haga couple had left, and the people who came for the weekday lunch had also returned to work, so the shop was in a brief lull.

Just as I was about to take a breather, the door opened.

"Hello there! Oh, is the lady not here today either? I really wanted to see her."

It was Souta-kun who had entered the shop energetically.

Recently, Souta-kun had started going to school for two hours in the morning. He had started meeting his good friends and talking to his teacher before coming home, and it seemed like his mom had gained a little bit of free time as well.

"That's right. Rui-san isn't here today either. You really want to see her, don't you? What did you do today, Souta-kun?"

"Today, I did my workbook!"
he replied with a smug look, showing me the results of his studies.

There was one incident that came to mind, making me wonder, "Could that be why Rui-san stopped coming?"

In fact, my grandmother has been unwell and hospitalized since late October.

I haven't told Rui-san or any of the other customers about it.

However, I'm sure some people have guessed why my grandmother, who used to come by about once a week, stopped appearing at the shop.

Looking back now, I feel like Rui-san stopped coming to the shop around the time my grandmother's health began to decline.

"I just hope nothing has happened to her..."

Since this is a coffee shop, I don't have Rui-san's contact information.
I had no choice but to simply wait.

The sun sets much earlier now.
My steps on the way home after helping at the shop tend to feel heavy in the darkness.

In the city, the gift-buying season has already begun in anticipation of Christmas, which is a month away.

As I was walking home along the night streets glowing with illuminations, I received a message from my father, which was rare.

I couldn't hide my surprise at the content, and I stopped walking.

"Grandmother's condition has suddenly worsened. She has been moved to the intensive care unit, and we don't know what might happen at any moment. Can you come to Sakura Hospital right now?"

Immediately after seeing this message, I received a call from Ayame.

Since she was closer than I expected, we got into a taxi together and headed to the hospital.

Inside the taxi, sighs escaped from both of us without either of us saying a word.

Regardless, right now, I was anxious, worried, and couldn't help but feel helpless.

When we arrived at the hospital, my parents were there.
They guided us, and we heard about the treatment progress from the attending physician.

I was so shaken that nothing really sank in, but from everyone's demeanor, I understood at least that the situation was critical.

It seems that even my father, who is Grandma's biological son, didn't know the details, but it appears the real reason Grandma took over the shop was due to poor health.

Specifically, colon cancer (with metastasis).

Because of her age, she had only been under observation, and it seems she kept it to herself and spent her days in silence without telling the family.

Grandma was always energetic whenever I saw her, so this was a completely unexpected situation.

Perhaps it is just like Grandma to do something like that.

We went to the hospital room and approached Grandma.
For some reason, she suddenly looked so frail.

I pressed my palms together just like that day.
Her wrinkled hands. The warmth was still there, but she didn't seem to have the strength to squeeze back.

Ayame was on Grandma's right side, and I was on her left.
Although Grandma didn't speak a word, I felt as if she had entrusted something to us.
The scene where the three of us looked at each other radiated a warmth unlike anything else.

We were told that this night would be the turning point, but after seeing that she had held on, Ayame and I both headed off to work.

When I left the hospital, I felt a strong reluctance to leave.

As if to drown out my intense anxiety, I threw myself into my work.

It was as if she had been waiting to see that her grandchildren had finished their day's work without incident, for Grandma departed for heaven right at the time we were finishing our shifts that day.

The two weeks that followed were filled with such severe emotional distress that I was in no state to work or run the cafe, so I decided to take some time off.

With the cafe's reopening just ten days away, I still couldn't find the motivation.

"Kokona, could you help me clear out the things in Grandma's room?"

Doing as my mother asked, I went to my parents' house and began tidying up my grandmother's study when a certain box caught my eye.

The box was actually a tin, covered in pieces of origami paper.
Because the paper was peeling off in places, I could tell it was a repurposed cookie tin.

This box. I feel like I've seen it before.

It's the tin I used to keep my origami in back when I would stay home from school and be left at the shop.

When I opened it with trepidation, I found a diary and letters inside that appeared to have been written by Grandma.

The diary contained accounts of her battle with illness, as well as the time she spent with Rui-san.
Looking back through the past, it also detailed the struggles she faced before deciding on the shop's style.

There were customers who came as a source of emotional support, and others who had wanted to keep coming but couldn't due to various circumstances. The circumstances mentioned here were largely financial.

If only I could have treated them to even a single cup of coffee...

Although it was filled with many 'what-if' stories, it seemed that, unusually for someone of that age, she truly wanted to empathize with the difficulties in living that each person carried.

It seems that my reluctance to go to school was the catalyst for that.

Why didn't I want to go?
Why was I crying so hard?

It was written that she had so many things she wanted to ask, but didn't know if it was okay to ask.

However, it was also written that when she saw me playing with Karina-chan, she felt, 'Perhaps this child has her own pace and her own emotional capacity.'

Since there were school days on Saturdays back then, she adopted a style of being open Monday through Saturday and closed on Sundays.

There were letters written to each family member, as well as letters addressed to the regular customers.

'Perhaps this is a mission entrusted to me by Grandma.'

I hurried to the empty shop.
The garden, which should have been neglected, remained as beautiful as it was that day.

'Could it be...'

I contacted Ayame and asked if we could plan an event at the shop.

In particular, I wanted to ensure that the regular customers—the people Grandma cherished—could participate, so I decided to announce invitations starting from the shop's reopening date.

Assuming there might be people who couldn't come during business hours, I decided to post a flyer with the information in a place where they would be sure to see it.

Continued in Episode 10

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