He tried to save the fallen girls, but they came after him instead.

Page 350

Akita walked into a hospital room, while Shirakawa peeked out from the doorway.

An elderly man with wrinkled white hair, dressed in a hospital gown, sat on a hospital bed receiving an IV drip. Beside him was a young female nurse who was constantly adjusting the IV bottle for him.

"Dad, you scared me to death!" Akita said reproachfully as soon as he entered the house, but his eyes were already wet.

"I'm perfectly fine," the old man said with a carefree laugh. "You're just too nervous, Yuzuru."

"You're already in the hospital, and you still don't take care of yourself. You're so heartless."

"This illness...I can't control it..."

When the nurse saw the elderly man's family arrive, she quickly stepped forward and took Akita away.

The two walked outside.

Shirakawa hid in a secluded corner and eavesdropped on their conversation in the corridor.

"Miss Akita, your father's condition is not optimistic." The nurse looked quite regretful.

"What's so worrying? Isn't it just chronic heart disease?" Akita asked, puzzled.

"Based on this examination, the elderly person's chronic heart disease has progressed to chronic heart failure..."

"Huh?" Akita refused to accept the fact. "We spent so much money on hospitalization and treatment, how could it have gotten worse?"

"With the current level of medical care, this disease cannot be effectively cured. Hospitalization can only stabilize the condition, delay death, and prolong survival..." The nurse bowed deeply. "I'm so sorry."

"Oh no, how could this happen?" Akita returned to the ward in a daze, tears welling up in his eyes.

Judging from Akita's expression, the old man roughly understood that his condition was gradually deteriorating.

“Why don’t we go home? This illness is incurable anyway, and staying here is just a waste of time,” Akita’s father said. “It’s better to die peacefully at home, surrounded by family…”

"Pah, pah, pah! Dad, stop saying such unlucky things," Akita said.

"Yuzuru, Dad knows it's not easy for you to earn money, and these old bones of mine have had enough of living..."

"No!" Akita-sensei was almost in tears.

Seeing this, Akita's father stopped trying to persuade him and changed the subject.

"By the way, have you found that anonymous donor yet?"

Donor?

Shirakawa remembered that he had told Miike to anonymously donate money to Akita.

"Not yet... Don't worry, Dad, I will definitely find him."

"We must thank him properly when we find him; he helped us so much... We should always be grateful."

"I understand." Akita wiped away her tears, took an apple from the bedside table, and then started peeling it with a knife.

It seems there are no unexpected situations...

Shirakawa breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave.

Suddenly, Akita's father said from inside the room, "Yuzuru, I suddenly have a craving for melon."

"You're making me run errands as soon as I arrive?" Ms. Akita complained, but she also stood up. "Okay, I'll go buy it right away."

Akita walked out of the ward, and Shirakawa hurriedly "faced the wall to reflect on his mistakes." Fortunately, people were coming and going in the corridor, and Akita did not notice Shirakawa.

After Akita-sensei left, Akita's father shouted towards the door, "Come in!"

Discovered?

With no other option, Shirakawa entered the ward.

"You are..."

"Ah, Uncle, I'm Akita-sensei's student, Shirakawa Akira. I saw him rushing this way and unconsciously followed him," Shirakawa said with an awkward smile.

"So you're Yuzuru's student! Please, have a seat." Akita's father beamed with joy.

I was so tired of being in the ward, it was nice to finally see a new face.

Shirakawa was flattered; he hadn't expected Akita's father to be so kind and approachable.

Akita's father looked Shirakawa up and down, nodding approvingly: "Are all young people these days so handsome? They're truly a force to be reckoned with."

"No, no, Uncle." Shirakawa blushed from the praise.

The two started chatting, one after the other.

Akita's father was a very optimistic person, without any airs of an elder, and had a very good conversation with Shirakawa.

"What kind of teacher is Yuzuru at school?" Akita's father asked curiously.

"She teaches very seriously and cares about her students. She is a responsible and good teacher, and the students all like her very much."

"That's it..."

"Here, Shirakawa-kun, have some fruit."

"No need, thank you uncle. Um, I have something to do, I'll go now."

"Let's stay a little longer... Yuzuru will be back soon..."

"No, no." Shirakawa was clearly a little nervous. "Uncle, please don't tell Akita-sensei that I've been here."

In Akita's eyes, he's now an utterly despicable scumbag, so it's best to keep his visit a secret from her.

Akita's father was very puzzled: "Why?"

"I have some... I have some issues with Ms. Akita. I always talk back to her during class."

To talk back to her?

Akita re-examined the boy; the aura he exuded suggested he wasn't the kind of child who would break classroom rules or be misbehaving...

"Hey, wait a minute, Shirakawa-kun." Akita's father suddenly called out to Shirakawa.

"uncle?"

"I promise to keep your visit here a secret, but I also hope that Shirakawa-kun will come here to keep me company more often when he has time," Akita's father "threatened."

"Huh? I..."

“I stay in this ward every day. Apart from my wife and daughter, there’s no one to talk to. Sigh… I really want to talk to someone.” Akita’s father shook his head and sighed.

"Okay, alright, I'll come when I have time," Shirakawa had no choice but to agree.

Having done that to his daughter, chatting with his uncle was a form of atonement.

"Then, goodbye, Shirakawa-kun."

"Goodbye uncle."

---

"I am back."

Akita carried a few slices of melon back to the ward and placed them on the bedside table.

But she saw her father smiling slightly, and he seemed to be in a much better mood.

Somewhat strange.

"Yuzuru, do you have any feelings for boys younger than you?"

"A young boy? He's alright, what's wrong? Why are you suddenly asking this?"

"I was just asking if you had any criteria, hoping to help you find a blind date."

"Dad, what kind of people did you and Mom introduce me to before...? These things can't be rushed." Akita was quite rebellious when it came to blind dates and dating.

"As a father, my greatest wish is for my daughter to get married. You're already so old; it's too hard for a young woman to struggle alone in society. As your father, I sincerely hope you find a good family... After I'm gone..."

"Stop saying such discouraging things. Don't say them!" Akita said angrily.

"Okay, okay, I'm not going to say anymore."

Akita's father recalled the visit he had just made to Shirakawa.

I feel like the two of them are quite a good match.

Akita is still young, only in her twenties, and the age gap isn't that big.

But is it really okay for a teacher and student to be in a romantic relationship...?

If Akita's blind dates hadn't gone badly, and if her father hadn't been so desperate, he wouldn't have even bothered with her young students.

Looking at his obedient and filial daughter, he sighed silently in his heart.

What should we do?

287. Preparing for Photography

Shirakawa walked out of the hospital, went to Miike's car, opened the door, and sat in the passenger seat.

"How is Akita?" asked Miike, who was sitting in the driver's seat.

"It's nothing, just chatting with her father." Shirakawa fastened his seatbelt. "I might have to come here often in the future."