7 Years From Now

Chapter 4:- The Murderer's Path

" ..."
Riku: " forget it.. I'm sorry."

Riku had a weird expression on his face. I didn't understand anything. Strangely I had no tears. I couldn't think of anything... She died? I really couldn't believe it. But the thing is, since I had no memories of her ,I didn't understand the importance of her at the first place.

"Are you gonna come again tomorrow? " he asked me.
" yes , umm.. yea I would be.."
" cool, same time then?"
" yes"
We left the hospital.
I was disappointed by his words..' who exactly are u?' , this voice echoed all over my head. I came back home and I was exhausted. Not because I worked but because my mind had so many thoughts that I can't even figure out what to do . Now that she isn't there. What about the promise?. ... Thinking all these I fell asleep....

31 March, Wednesday

While going towards the hospital, i remembered that I had to visit Dr Ichiri's clinic. Since it was on the way, I decided to visit him first and then meet Riku.
As I went in , the staff asked me.
" Umm, you are the kid from before."
" y-yea , but I'm not here because I'm unhealthy. Can I just visit him?"
"Ohh . Well.. actually sorry . He is busy treating his patients. Can you wait for few hours?"
" ohh ...naah , nevermind, I'll come again later."

I went towards the hospital. On the way I had the gravy fried rice that Riku was talking about when we were young. I took the bill just to show him that I had them on the way.
I reached the hospital and saw him waiting for me in the main building.
Riku said..
"You're late..."
"yea ..umm actually, I had some errands to run on the way. And I also had this"
I showed him the bill. There was a moment of silence, and suddenly Riku bust out of laughter.
" Man , you remember this? Hahaha. Were you that much hungry?"
" Y-yea .." I gave a smile too.
" Well ... I'm sorry about what I said yesterday"
" Nah don't worry about it Riku. Just Understand that my memories are really lost. But time to time , I'm getting flashbacks. So I'll be fine"
" yes yes. I understand. Well .. do you remember what we were talking about yesterday?"
" oh yes , the incident that took place 7 years ago."
" yes , after that incident there were many staffs that were disbanded from the hospital. Have you noticed?"
"True... I haven't found any staff who worked before that incident."
" yes. It's because after the incident, the place became an advanced medical institute. And people with skilled minds and best at these profession joined here."
"Ohhh! I see."
"Yes but except for one head doctor at Kakeru's floor. Do you know why?"
" Umm maybe because he was a specialist or something?"
" yes. That's what I thought too. But it's just not that. There was a trainee whose name was Dr. Shintani, he was kind and he talked to me pretty much like a friend. He was passionate too. He often complained about how waking up was tough and how hard his training was. But then .."
" yea?"
" two months later. I overheard Dr. Shintani arguing with the main doctor."
"What did u hear?"
" He asked the main doctor about why he was letting the patients die and why the doctor didn't show any documents from a certain room and why was he hiding it from him?"
" ohhh!"
"Yes. And guess what?.. Dr Shintani disappeared the next day.."
"What??"
"Haruto. Don't you think there is a reason behind the head doctor still working here?"
" Yea.. I mean it can't be a coincidence that Dr. Shintani just disappeared the next day. But didn't you tell this to your parents or someone?"
"Yes.. i did . But nothing happened. See.. the Tokitsu group who runs this hospital has a great influence. It's not that we are complaining about bad quality of food in a restaurant."
" See Riku. I don't want to doubt you but, it's possible that Dr. Shintani was not talking about kakeru "
" No . He was definitely talking about him too. Although there were some parts that I didn't understand. But kakeru and other LMD patients are just left to let them die, is what it implied."
" Ohh.."
" And that's not it"
"huh?"
" After a while I was able to track down Dr. Shintani. I wanted to ask him about it. But guess what he said when he saw me?"
" what?"
...

" he didn't remember me at all. He just said ' who are you'...."

To be continued...