Go-Toubun no Hanayome √AE

Chapter 48:Colors of a White Stone End

A number of weeks later. Isanari was looking over to a jar at the corner of his room.

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{Isanari:"Please, let me keep her ashes...Please..."}

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Isanari:"I'm so pathetic..."

Isanari had taken up drinking, in an attempt to drown out the pain.

Isanari:"It's my fault...It's my fault...It's my fault..."

These were the words he would constantly say, something that Fuutarou would hear often...Every day, he would stay in his room or off wandering randomly. The store that had been brimming with life before was now empty, as Isanari was unable to bring himself to open for business. The leftover bread, the flour and the milk had all begun to rot. The silverware that once lifted the freshly made bread was now stained. Despite the lack of money, Isanari would still take out loans in an attempt to pay the house. Somewhere in his heart, he didn't want to say goodbye to the house he had so many wonderful memories in...even if it pained him to just live there. Isanari made no attempts to make any food, just anything that was edible was good enough to give to his children. There was a part of him that regretted giving them such inadequate meals, he wanted to apologize...but he couldn't bring himself to do even that. The man who was so willing to work alongside his wife to make people happy was dead.

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The police investigation was still going, but it had been 4 years with no change. The police would contact Isanari whenever they could, but as time went on, Isanari would slowly pick up fewer and fewer calls. Fuutarou was now 10, he had changed his hair color with some trial and error. He had begun to be more rebellious, with his grades constantly staying low. Although, during the middle of Elementary school, his grades slowly started to go up, even if he was still on the verge of failing. Something about Fuutarou finding friends in his school. Raiha was now almost ready to go to school. Despite Isanari's lack of will to do anything, he still made sure to sign her up. He was trying to take after what Kotoha would have done.

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Suddenly, a year later, the police came back to Isanari's front door. The man who had taken part in scamming him had been arrested, but all the money he lost was long gone. This did not surprise Isanari, too much time had passed. He was given the option to see the man, who was currently in jail. Despite the option being available for many weeks, he only went when he got lost on one of his walks. He decided he had nothing to lose. As he saw the man, who's real name was still being investigated as he had been in the business of scamming others for so long, almost no trace of his real name remained, Isanari felt nothing. Through the allotted time, no matter how smug, sad or angry the man was, Isanari simply looked at him with blank eyes. The time to see the man was almost over, but the man had something to say at the very end, something that he had been saving up to say at the perfect moment.

"Say, Uesugi-san. It's a good thing your son helped me so much in avoiding the law. Him opening his mouth really saved me."

This line was what shocked Isanari the most and it was was stuck with him by the end. What did he mean by that? There was no way he could actively help him, he was too young. Despite his rebel ways, he still came home on time, to see that Raiha was safe, as he couldn't trust Isanari with doing such a basic task. He asked the school feverishly for anyone that worked there that looked like the man or any of his colleagues, but no one fit the description. Everyone that was there had their backgrounds checked, and while some had family members that had experienced or were experiencing crime, those charges were filed years back. In this investigation, no one was ever accused of anything. After some time, Isanari stopped finding a reason. Despite no evidence, no real reason to believe the man as he had already lied to him so much before, in this moment of pure desperation, he simply wanted someone to blame, Isanari had begun to blame Fuutarou...for something that he may or may have not done...This changed Isanari's mentality...