Chapter 23: Can't He See?

Monday morning at 10 AM, Igawa Akemi was wearing a light blue suspender dress and walking toward the direction outside the school.

After talking to Akiwara Yuto the day before yesterday, she learned that Akiwara Yuto was a detective novelist who had already debuted and was serializing in "New Novel" which went on sale every Monday.

She was skeptical, and the other party didn't give further explanation, just left his email and phone number, letting her contact him after confirming.

She thought about it and decided to go see for herself; after all, this stage play matter was of great importance and could not be sloppy. So she specifically asked for a leave and prepared to go to a nearby bookstore—she was alone; if she didn't find this book, she would be mocked by her friends.

20 minutes later, she reached her destination and walked in directly.

The bookstore she was looking for was called Takasago Bookstore, a medium-sized bookstore, divided into several sections such as manga section, literature section, and science and education section; she was not familiar with it and searched for a little while before finding the literature section she wanted to go to.

After seeing a clerk in uniform, she immediately asked politely: "May I ask if there is a magazine called 'New Novel' for sale here?"

The other party was organizing books; after hearing the inquiry, she immediately put down the work in her hand, then gestured to her with her hand to a book display table, bowed slightly, and said politely: "Guest, the book you are looking for is in the top right corner of this display table."

Igawa Akemi nodded to express her gratitude, then walked to the display table and found that there was a girl next to her also looking at this magazine, occasionally showing inexplicable expressions, a bit like fear, and a bit like being moved.

She was a bit curious, but it was not good to disturb others, so she just reached out and took the "New Novel" from the display table herself.

She looked at it; the cover of this book was printed with the three big characters "New Novel," and a police officer investigating a case was drawn on it, and a line of slightly smaller characters was written below: "The Footsteps of Searching," Kadowaki Yuzhen.

In addition to this, there were 3 much smaller headlines on the bottom left of the cover, and under one of the headlines written "Sofar," "Akiwara Yuto" was written.

She was a little surprised; didn't expect what the other party said was true? He looked about the same age as her, but he had already debuted to write novels? It was really incredible.

Her actions attracted the attention of the girl who was reading next to her; the other party put down the book and asked curiously: "This student, are you also a fan of Mr. Akiwara?"

"Fan?" Igawa Akemi was a bit puzzled.

The girl smiled and said: "Yes, a book review was written in the newspaper before, about the story "Little Ornament and Yoko" he wrote, and then I bought this magazine because of this book review."

She hesitated and continued: "How should I put it, although this story is a bit cruel, there is a feeling of hope behind the cruelty; in addition, the "Sofar" he wrote this time is the same."

Igawa Akemi didn't understand what she was talking about, but felt it was very powerful; so she expressed her gratitude: "Thank you for the recommendation; I will read it carefully after I go back."

The girl was a bit happy, feeling that she had found another book friend to recommend to; she turned around, pulled a book from the bookshelf, and handed it to Igawa Akemi. Igawa Akemi looked down and found that it was the previous issue of "New Novel."

Her heart was even more surprised; didn't expect this fan lady to be so respectful of Akiwara-san's articles, which made her also curious about the content in the book.

She expressed her gratitude to the other party again, took the two books and walked directly to the checkout counter, paid, left the bookstore, and walked toward the direction of where she lived.

After returning to her residence, she put down the things in her hand, took out the latest issue, and started reading the story called "Sofar."

As she read, she was immersed in it...

The story happened to a little boy who lived in a happy family, and his parents loved him very much. But gradually, he found that his parents' quarrels became more and more frequent, and the relationship between the two became colder and colder.

One night, his parents drove out, and he was watching TV alone at home. At this time, the TV reported an emergency news that a rear-end accident occurred on the road, two people died and three were injured, which made him very worried.

However, in the evening, the two returned home safely. At this time, his father said to him: "Let's go eat today." The little boy ran over, but found his mother standing behind him without moving. The latter looked at the little boy with confusion, as if asking "Where are you going."

At this time, his father closed the door, seemingly not noticing his mother at all.

After this, the little boy learned a shocking fact: his father couldn't see his mother, and his mother was the same.

When watching TV, his father was clearly sitting on a stool, but his mother said there was no one here. At dinner, his mother only made meals for two people, and his father only bought bento for two people.

It was as if the two of them lived in two different worlds, and only he could see them both at the same time.

The little boy was full of doubts and decided to pursue the question; as a result, his mother said that she encountered a car accident when she went out with his father, and only she survived.

He went to ask his father again, and his father's side was the same statement.

In short, both sides held their own words, only admitting that only they survived.

Until one day, a turning point occurred.

On this day, his mother couldn't find the scissors for a long time; the little boy went directly to ask his father, learned that the scissors were in the kitchen drawer, he immediately told his mother, and told the other party that it was what his father said.

Such things happened a few more times, and the little boy finally made his father and mother believe that he could see the other person; he said to the two separately: "If there is anything you want to tell the other person, I can help tell him (her)."

Just like that, he acted as a messenger between the two.

But the good times didn't last long; after building a dialogue between his father and mother through the little boy, the conflict between his father and mother broke out again, and they began to quarrel constantly. After a quarrel, his father learned from the little boy that his mother had left the living room, and he immediately asked the little boy to convey a sentence "It's great that you are not here."

The little boy heard this and blankly conveyed this sentence to his mother.

After his mother finished listening, she shed tears sadly, and then also said a hurtful sentence for the little boy to pass back; sure enough, his father was furious and said another vicious sentence for the little boy to convey.

Just like that, the little boy acted as a mouthpiece for the quarrels between the two; after such back and forth, he finally couldn't bear the pain of the quarrels between his parents, collapsed, and fainted on the living room floor.

After waking up, he found his mother accompanying him by his side; he said he wanted to drink juice, and his mother got up to help him get it in the kitchen. But as soon as his mother left, he found his father sitting on the sofa beside him; his father saw his reaction, frowned, and said: "Called you several times just now, but you didn't look at me."

His father was silent for a while and asked the little boy to ask his mother about tomorrow's arrangements; he nodded and walked into the kitchen, but unexpectedly found that he didn't see his mother; he looked back and found that the person sitting on the sofa had become his mother, but his father had disappeared.

He looked again suspiciously and found that the person sitting on the sofa had changed back to his father; in anxiety, he realized the seriousness of the matter; he could no longer see his father and mother at the same time—when his father was there, his mother would disappear, and when his mother was there, he couldn't see his father...

He had to make a choice between the two.

After painful struggle, the little boy apologized to his father in his heart; he finally chose to live with his mother.

After this, he could never see his father again.

A few days later, his mother took the little boy to the hospital for a checkup; the doctor asked the little boy: "Did your father really die in the car accident? Then who is this person standing behind you?"

The little boy turned around; his father was behind him, but he couldn't see anything.

His mother and father looked at each other; his mother told the doctor that the little boy seemed unable to see his father, and even when his father hugged him, he felt nothing.

It turned out that his father and mother didn't have a car accident at all; because of the endless quarrels between the two, both sides decided to pretend not to see each other, and the little boy was also forced to live such a life, but didn't expect it to affect the little boy...

Some time passed again; this day his mother was watering flowers in the yard, and his father was repairing a bicycle on the side; his father tried to wave at the little boy, but the little boy had no reaction.

His mother looked at his lonely father and sympathized with him a bit; his father also looked back and saw his mother, and the two looked at each other and smiled.

When they didn't notice, the little boy looked at this scene and quietly hooked the corners of his mouth; he looked at his mother's smile and knew that his parents had reconciled.

It's a pity that he still couldn't see his father.

After finishing this piece, Igawa Akemi's eyes couldn't help but turn red; she was a very emotional person and it was hard not to be moved by this kind of story.

In the end, she couldn't help but feel sorry for this little boy.

Why couldn't a perfect ending be arranged?

Having said that, this story is really moving... ===== CHAPTER 24 =====