The next day, Kaito arrived once more at the silent and oppressive hospital room.
Manhattan Cafe remained the same, sitting silently by the window like a plant forgotten by time.
But today, Kaito was in no hurry to perform any kind of "treatment."
He walked directly toward the small table in the corner and picked up the sketchbook that the breeze had opened.
He did not leaf through it immediately; instead, he spoke softly to the girl in the corner:
"Excuse me, could I borrow this to look at it"
There was no response.
But he perceived a barely noticeable ripple in the girl's empty gaze.
He took her silence as permission.
He sat back down in the same spot as the day before and began to turn the pages, one by one, with extreme concentration.
The sketchbook was filled with various scenes; the drawing skill was not excellent, but it was saturated with intense emotions that almost spilled off the page.
And all the drawings shared a common theme: the protagonist was always a lonely Uma.
Sometimes, it was wrapped layer after layer in the sharp thorns he had seen today, unable to move.
Sometimes it ran on a fractured track full of cracks, looking as if it could collapse at any moment.
Sometimes, it sank into a deep, black, lightless sea, with countless dark and twisted shadows swimming around it.
Loneliness, despair, fear.
Was this her world?
Kaito felt the originally empty gaze from the corner settle upon him.
Manhattan Cafe watched him as he leafed through her most private inner world, her body slightly tense and her hands instinctively clutching the coffee cup in her lap.
But she did not look away immediately as she had yesterday.
She simply watched him in silence.
Kaito turned the sketchbook back to the drawing of the "Thorn Uma," extended a finger, and gently traced the outlines of the thorns without touching the paper.
He began to speak, apparently to the air, but also to the Uma in the drawing.
"I suppose... these thorns don't exist to prick others, do they"
His voice was soft and gentle, as if he were afraid of scaring something away.
"They are... there to protect him, right? Since he already suffered serious injuries and fears the outside world will hurt him again, he prefers to wrap himself in these sharp points. Even though it hurts him too, at least he feels a little safer"
The girl in the corner seemed to tremble imperceptibly.
Kaito did not stop.
He took paper and a pen from his pocket, objects he had brought specifically today.
He tore off a sheet of paper and, imitating the style of the sketchbook, drew a Uma entangled in thorns.
Beside the Uma, using the simplest lines, he drew a clumsy and silly-looking stick figure.
This stick figure held a pair of tiny scissors and, carefully and slowly, was clipping the outermost thorn from the Uma's body.
Its movements were awkward and it looked like it was going to prick its hand, but it didn't stop.
After finishing the drawing, Kaito gently pushed the paper toward the center of the room, directly under the single column of light, placing it in a spot where Manhattan Cafe could easily see it.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment.
For the first time, Manhattan Cafe's gaze slowly and hesitantly turned away from the curtain she had been staring at for three months.
It fell upon the drawing.
She looked at the Uma wrapped in thorns, which was identical to the one in her own drawing.
She looked at the stick figure beside it, which was drawn in an extremely childish, almost ridiculous way.
She simply looked for a long, long time.
So long that Kaito thought he would go home empty-handed again today.
Just as he was about to get up and leave...
The girl in the corner moved.
She slowly set down the coffee cup in her hands, picked up a pencil from the table and, like a frightened fawn, walked silently, step by step, toward the drawing.
She knelt down.
Then, under Kaito's incredulous and ecstatic gaze, she used the tip of the pencil to softly and tentatively draw a small... "?" over the head of the silly stick figure.
This was the first and only response she had given him since he had entered that hospital room.
Kaito's heart was instantly filled with immense joy!
The direction was correct!
He had taken the right path!
Just as he wanted to seize his advantage, say something, or take out something else...
"Bang!"
The hospital room door was pushed open by a rather discourteous force.
His three "guardians" —Gold City, TM Opera O, and Agnes Tachyon— appeared simultaneously at the door.
Gold City was carrying a steaming bowl of pork cutlet rice.
TM Opera O held an elegantly presented afternoon tea set.
Agnes Tachyon was balancing a plate of strange-colored capsules, supposedly a "nutritional supplement with a perfect ratio."
They looked at the girl crouching on the floor inside the room, apparently existing in the same world as Kaito, and their expressions instantly became very displeased.
...
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