Even so, we are living in the present

Chapter 3 – The scenery he saw

Nitta General Hospital.

Kyosuke was being driven to this place by a teacher from the dance school that Yuu attended. Saiki was on board with him as well. He figured it would be safer to stay with the distraught Kyosuke.

The teacher was a young woman with dyed peach-colored hair that she wore in twin tails at a high level. Although she made no comment, her face and clothes were stained with soot in many spots, and her hair was disheveled.

Unable to ask what on earth had occurred, they arrived at the hospital in silence.

After getting out of the car, he thanked her briefly, sped to the after-hours entrance, and then vanished into the hospital. Saiki hastily followed after him.

The vehicle that had picked up Kyosuke made a U-turn and proceeded back the way it had come to take the students of the dance school home.

​───────

『Emergency Room』

Yuu was transported there and lost consciousness on the bed while the nurses were actively engaged in a flurry of movement.

When his father’s car, which was stopped at the red light, was rear-ended from behind by a large truck, Yuu was taking lessons at a dance school.

After eating his bento provided by his mother, he was beginning to resume his lesson after a break, when───

Boom! Snap, snap​───!

Crash! Crash!

From outside the schoolroom, the noise of a violent crash could be heard over and over again, accompanied by the screeching of car brakes.

At the same time, a shiver shot down Yuu’s spine.

Somehow, an inexplicable feeling of uneasiness and foreboding washed over him.

“Sonohara!”

Without hearing his teacher yell, Yuu had dashed out of the schoolroom.

The normally busy intersection was in a severe state of disorder.

There were two vehicles whose front and direction of travel were messed up, and a large truck whose front was also crushed and overhanging the intersection.

And in the center of it all, there was a familiar minivan. It had been rear-ended from various directions, and the frame was crushed and overturned.

As he rushed over to the vehicle, which had been reduced to a mere lump of iron, the sight of the devastation visible through the tilted windshield drained the blood from his face.

The bloodied, limp, and motionless figures of his family were lying there.

Until a few hours ago, his mother, father, and sister had been living their regular lives, yet here they were; his beloved family became dead and cold.

“… Mom! Dad! Yuri!”

Yuu climbed up on the car, which was lying on its side. He then attempted to open the driver’s door, but it was cracked and stuck.

“Get up! What the hell are you doing!?”

He formed a fist with his right hand and pummeled at the window. Despite striking it over and over again, the high-strength glass didn’t falter under Yuu’s effort.

Even when his skin scraped off and blood soaked the surface, he didn’t relent in his blows.

“Damn it…”

Driven by frustration, he climbed down from the car and struck the windshield repeatedly.

But it didn’t budge. It was impossible. Although it was clear to him that such a thing was to be expected, the sight of the horrendous scene had rendered Yuu incapable of passing a rational judgment.

Not a single spectator around him dared to approach. Some were even pulling out their smartphones. It would have been a different story if they were calling for an ambulance but…

“Sonohara! It’s dangerous!”

The one who came rushing up to him while shouting that was the teacher from the dance school.

Not minding that her peach-colored twin-tails were in disarray, she forcefully tried to pull Yuu away from the body of the car with a nelson hold.

“Let go of me!”

“Don’t you get it!? I can smell the gasoline!!”

“!!”

He was about to say, “But,” when the terror of a possible gasoline leak made him cower, weakening him faintly.

“No way…”

Seizing this as an opportunity, the teacher used all her strength to pull Yuu back from the spot.

A moment later, a fire burst from the car.

It blazed up dramatically and began to light up the darkness of the night. Simultaneously, black smoke rose high into the sky in the form of a cylindrical shape.

“… Ah… Ah…”

Everything was going up in flames.

His family was engulfed in the ruthless flames.

It was around this time that the sirens of emergency vehicles began to sound.

Although he couldn’t be reassured by the ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars that finally arrived, he was loosened up by the fact that rescue had shown up. However, the tragedy was not over.

​───Bang!

“Kyaaaah!”

After a great, piercing, heart-rending burst of noise and the teacher’s scream as she separated Yuu from the car, he felt an intense sensation of pain in his left eye and fell backwards from the blast.

The teacher was able to catch herself, but Yuu was helpless to do anything.

He was not blown away, nor was the blast that strong, but the mental shock of witnessing the devastation coupled with the blast was intolerable for Yuu.

Furthermore, the shock of slamming the side of his head into the concrete as he collapsed resulted in a concussion, and his consciousness was cut off there.

T/N:

24 years old / 167cm
A teacher at the dance school that Yuu attends.
At the time of the accident, she is the only brave woman who saved Yuu.
No name is given due to the author’s laziness. (The author truly wrote this, I didn’t make this up)
She is married. For some reason, she has no children.