Would you like a cup of tea? || Shigeo Kageyama

Mob Finds Out the Truth

Hotaru's aunt walked towards the cafe in her formal black outfit, her eyes puffy. At this time and day, she would have been brewing tea with Hotaru and talking with Mob. When she was close to the riverbank near the cafe, she spotted a familiar figure sitting at the edge.

It was Hope - or as Hotaru put it, Shigeo Kageyama.

"Hope." She called out to him. Mob immediately stood up and turned with a smile before freezing in place. He noticed how exhausted she seemed and that she was wearing clothes that were meant for funerals.

"Aun...tie...?" He hesitantly asked.

She walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. Her eyes flickered of guilt and profound despair. "Hope, I'm sorry."

"What?"

"The truth is... Taru... My niece... She passed away, due to her illness."

Mob took a step back from shock. "But I thought it was psychological? But wait, you never confirmed... I just assumed..." He looked at the ground in a daze.

"I know that I should have told you the truth about her illness. In fact, I should have done it early on, but I was scared that Taru would have despaired if I did." She then shook her head roughly. "No, I should have brought you to the hospital, but...she couldn't be left alone since her parents weren't there..." Conflicting emotions appeared on her face. "I... I really have nothing to say." She smiled painfully at him. "I should have brought you to the hospital and told you the truth. That is what I should have done. I'm really sorry, Hope."

He looked up at her with wide eyes as if he still couldn't believe that Taru died.

"Hope, today is my niece's funeral. Would you like to come visit her?" She asked him in a hoarse voice. He meekly nodded, clearly still in shock.

By the time they reached the funeral location, he shakily walked in and entered a wide room that was filled with the smell of incense and flowers. In the middle of the pile of flowers, he saw a single photo - of Hotaru.

That was when he realized the reality of the truth.

Hotaru had really passed away.

There would no longer be tea time. There would no longer be happy music, bright sunny skies, Hotaru's welcoming smiles, her encouragement, her pouts, her pranks, and the deep beautiful world from the eyes of Hotaru.

She was no longer going to be there in that cafe, waiting for him and his stories.

She was no longer going to excitedly tell him about the different teas around the world.

She was no longer going to hug him and worry about him.

She...

By the time he snapped out of it, he had already fallen to his knees, staring at her warm smile in the photo.

Her aunt whispered. "Hotaru... My niece..."

That was when he realized that he never knew her real name - never had the chance to call her by her real name. "Ho...taru..." His voice cracked.

"She wanted to see you become the person that you wanted to be." Her aunt did her best to stay strong. "She regrets not being able to see that." She then went over to her bag and pulled out the letter.

"Hope, this is a letter to you from her." Her aunt gently handed the letter into his hands. She helped him stand back up and led him out of the funeral. When they reached the entrance, she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Get some rest. And... You don't need to come back to the cafe anymore since I'm going to move away from the city to recover after the funeral is over."

He blankly nodded at her words.

The cafe, the place where he met her, was going to disappear.

The cafe, his other safe haven, was going to cease to exist.

Where was he to go now?

But there was nothing he could do anymore...

"Hope, thank you for being Hotaru's friend. You made her really happy and that, to me and most likely her, is the biggest thing that anyone could have done for her. So thank you." She bowed low to him before sadly watching him heavily walk away with the letter in his hand.

By the time he snapped out of it, he realized that he was back at the same place as before - the riverbank near the cafe. The only difference was that it was night now. However, that did not stop him from sitting at the edge of the riverbank.

"...I..." He stared at the water flowing by. A small sigh escaped from him as he held the letter in front of him gently. "...Hotaru..."

It was time - time for him to read her letter...