The next morning, around 7:15, after getting dressed and preparing breakfast, I heard my cell phone ring. I had received a notification. At first I thought it was a notification from some app or social network, but I was wrong. It was a message notification.

It was strange. I had few contacts saved in my phonebook: my family and the Nakagawa family who lived next door. Since we would see each other in a matter of minutes, it certainly wasn't a message from Yuto-kun. Besides, knowing him, he was probably still sleeping at that hour. He usually woke up at the last minute to get ready.

Curious, I opened the message and read the content:

-Come out, I'm outside. I need to talk to you.-

A rather strange message in itself. At first I thought it was really my friend, then my eye fell on the sender's contact and I noticed it was unknown. That started to make me suspicious, so I went behind the front door to look through the peephole. I was stunned. Waiting for me in front of the door was Harada-san. I hadn't expected a request from her, or rather, I hadn't expected it so soon. I had suspected that sooner or later the two of us would have a confrontation, but the timing had exceeded my expectations. I wondered what she wanted to tell me. Did she want to talk to me about Yuto-kun? And more importantly, how had she gotten my number?

Maybe she had really said something strange to the two siblings. Even though I was trembling, I decided to go out and listen to what she wanted to tell me. I saw this as an opportunity to improve myself. My hand was shaking and I struggled to grip the door handle. Once I grabbed it, I took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Goo... good morning." The words came out with difficulty.

"Morning," she replied with a calm and serious air. The tension was palpable; we stood for a few moments without saying anything. I struggled to look her in the face and, from time to time, averted my gaze.

She, on the other hand, was very self-confident; our meeting didn't seem to have disturbed her in the slightest. She stared at me like an animal watching its prey. I'm sure if she were a forest creature, she would have already pounced on me to tear me apart.

"Let's talk for a moment," she said.

"About... what exactly?"

"Let's get straight to the point. I don't feel like beating around the bush. Do you hate me?" The question caught me off guard.

What was I supposed to answer to a question like that?

I analyzed the alternatives: if I said yes, there could be friction between the two of us and Yuto-kun. Maybe once, after everything I'd been through, I would have answered that way, but now I didn't want to create unnecessary arguments.

"I don't hate you, but I certainly don't have a positive feeling toward you."

"Good, the feeling is mutual. So I'm kindly asking you to stay away from my cousin."

I involuntarily flinched. That sentence, spoken out loud, not only made me feel bad, but also made me reflect. The fact that someone was telling me not to see him made me realize how much, actually, his presence in my life was important. I had already understood this when he was hospitalized, but Euiko's words reminded me of it.

"I hope you understand that..." she, ignoring my expression, continued speaking.

"Calm down..." I interrupted her abruptly. Her personal reasons didn't interest me, so I exploded. "...I have no intention of complying. Why should I stay away from him? Just because you don't like me? I don't think you have that much decision-making power."

"Come on, I know you. I can imagine your school situation. I don't want him to be dragged down by your problems," she said with an air of superiority.

"Like what happened to us? You know what the funny thing is? He's completely different from you. He knows how much I suffered at school and yet he stayed with me anyway. If he really wants me to stay away, he has to tell me himself."

Euiko tried to maintain a calm demeanor, but it was evident how she was trying to hide her face full of disapproval. More than my negative answer about staying away from him, she focused on the fact that he knew about me.

"So he knows everything about your past?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," I said firmly.

"And... does he also know... about me?" now she had assumed a slightly hesitant tone.

"What do you mean? Yesterday we pretended not to know each other."

"Nothing, never mind. Anyway, know that I intend to change schools and transfer to your class soon."

"Wh...what? Do you... intend to torture me at school?" I asked incredulously while a surge of years-old fear made me tremble.

"If you think I planned a transfer because of you, you're completely off track. I intend to watch over Yuto-kun, at least until things are sorted out for the surgery."

"I'm worried about him too. We're almost always together. If something happened, I'd act immediately."

"Sorry, but I'd prefer that strangers stay out of it. Maybe you don't really understand the situation. This is real life, not a fantasy where a happy ending is guaranteed." She said, bringing a hand to her throat, almost as if she was short of breath.

"Just looking at all the medicine he takes to survive reminds me of what's at stake. And you, who's just his classmate, do you think what you feel is comparable to what his family and I feel?" By now I couldn't interrupt her. Euiko was talking nonstop. I couldn't tell if she was talking for my benefit or simply venting everything she had inside.

"Since you know everything, I imagine you know about the risky surgery. Even if he gets through it, it's not certain that afterward he can resume his life without complications. The result could miraculously allow him to enjoy life like a normal person, or it could leave him disabled, cause permanent brain damage or cognitive delays, all the way to losing sensation throughout his entire body. Even the idea of becoming a vegetable falls into the category of 'best-case scenarios' compared to dy..."

"ENOUGH!" I said, raising my voice. I covered my ears with my hands to stop listening to what she was saying.

"What's wrong? Are you only realizing it now?" she retorted with a bitter voice.

Right after that question, an awkward silence fell. I said nothing.

"Soon they'll both wake up in the house. I'd appreciate it if our conversation remained a secret; I don't want this to upset Yuto any further. With that, I'll say goodbye." Turning her back to me, she opened the Nakagawas' front door and went back inside.

I stood still on the landing, staring at the door that Euiko had just closed behind her. That conversation destroyed me; it created a void inside me. What Harada-san had said was all true; I wasn't taking this seriously enough. Even though I was aware of the real dangers, I didn't dwell on them enough.

I considered myself her friend, but how could I call myself that if I was failing at something so simple?

If it's true that you can tell how a day will go from the morning, then this one had the potential to be a terrible day...