Family

After my visit with my mother, I'd drifted off to sleep, and Houzawa-san came to wake me.

Evening visiting hours were about to begin.

"Shouya-san, how are you feeling? Do you think you're up for visitors?"

After checking the equipment readings, Houzawa-san leaned in to peer at my face and gauge my condition.

Those two big, round eyes fixed on mine made me a little embarrassed, but I nodded to cover it.

"If there's even the slightest change in how you're feeling, please tell me! You've only just recovered, after all!"

Houzawa-san leaned in close, as if to drive the point home.

When I met her gaze and held it, her face went beet red right in front of me.

"S-sorry! I got too close, didn't I! My apologies!"

For getting her face a little close to mine, she was apologizing an awful lot. She'd flushed apple-red, but Houzawa-san was pretty, and honestly I hadn't minded.

"You don't have to apologize so much, really. I don't mind."

"Shouya-san, you're so kind!"

This time she seemed downright impressed.

"Th-that's right! More importantly! Your family is already here. Is it all right if I show them in?"

"Y-yes, please do."

My tension rose as I braced for a visit with family members other than my mother.

While I was wrestling with my nerves again, people filed into the room.

Five of them. One was, of course, my mother.

"Um, hello…"

I figured I'd start with a greeting, but the other four didn't reply.

Instead, all I heard was the four of them weeping.

I couldn't tell whether they were tears of joy that I was alive or tears of sorrow that their family member had lost his memories, but either way it was clear I'd been raised with a great deal of love.

"Come on! Stop crying already and introduce yourselves to Taku-chan!"

My mother's bright voice cut through the heavy atmosphere.

"Okay, I'll go first."

The one who spoke up was a girl with long deep-purple hair.

"My name is Masami. I'm the eldest, a second-year in high school."

"Me next. I'm Karen. I'm your big sister, one year older than you, Tak-kun."

The next to introduce herself was a girl with curled, strawberry-pink hair: an energetic, headstrong gyaru-type onee-san.

"I'm Kaede. I'm your twin sister."

The next girl's introduction was rather startling. Boy-girl twins had to be pretty rare odds, didn't they?

She had black hair that shimmered red when the light caught it, and big, round eyes. I hadn't seen my own face in a mirror yet, but maybe I looked similar.

"Last is Sakura! Onii-chan's little sister, Sakura!"

The last to introduce herself, hand raised with cheerful energy, was a girl with cherry-blossom-colored hair tied up in twin-tails, just as her name suggested.

It seemed the me of this world had three older sisters and one younger sister.

"I'm your brother, Shouya. It's nice to meet you all."

They all already knew who I was, but it felt only polite to give my name in return after introductions, so I went through the motions anyway.

"I'm so glad you woke up, Shouya."

As she said it, Masami-san took my hand.

"I'm sorry for worrying you…"

Feeling the emotion in her grip, I was hit with a pang of guilt and apologized on impulse.

"Hey, Tak-kun? Aren't you being kind of distant?"

The one who asked that was Karen-san.

She probably found it strange that I was speaking in formal language. It was true; talking to family in keigo wasn't exactly natural.

But no matter what, the impression of [Beautiful Women I'm Meeting for the First Time] was just too strong.

"Is it because you're worried about not having your memories?"

"Um…"

Hit with such a sharp question from black-haired Kaede-san, I faltered. She had me dead to rights.

"From my side, you all feel like complete strangers I'm meeting for the first time… and someone like me, with no memories, doesn't really have the right to be welcomed as family…"

What scared me was that, as the gap between the me in their memories and the me of now grew clearer, they'd be disappointed and reject me.

'That's not the Shouya I know as my family.'

If I was going to be rejected later anyway, it'd hurt less to get it out now. That's what made me speak my mind.

"That's not true."

The one who firmly rejected my words was my mother, who'd been quietly watching over us until now.

"When I talked with you a little this afternoon, Taku-chan, I understood. Taku-chan hasn't gone anywhere at all. Of course it's a shame that the memories are gone, but I could feel that the kind, gentle Taku-chan is still alive in there."

As she spoke, she came over and gently stroked my head.

"As for memories, let's just make lots of new ones together once you're better, okay? So please don't say you don't deserve it."

"O-okay…"

My mother's words left no room for argument, yet they were so gentle that warmth spread through my chest.

"Hey, Shouya. How about you drop the keigo too? We're family, after all."

Kaede-san took my hand too, pleading earnestly.

"O-oka… okay…"

"Mhm, mhm, very good ♡"

When I dropped the keigo, my mother stroked my head and praised me again. Like this, I almost felt as if something like an awareness of being a son was starting to well up inside me.

While I was enjoying that warm moment…

"It's not fair that only Onee-chans get to have him! I want to talk to Onii-chan too!"

A protest came in from Sakura-san.

Come to think of it, aside from the introductions, I hadn't actually spoken to her yet.

"Um, Sakura… chan? Sorry for leaving you out. Let's be good friends from now on, okay?"

Hoping she'd want to get along with me as family from here on, I extended my uninjured left hand. Was suddenly adding "-chan" closing the distance too fast? I had absolutely no idea how to gauge the right distance with a little sister.

"Mhm! Let's get along from now on! Onii-chan! But I want you to call me just Sakura, not Sakura-chan, okay? ♡"

After taking my hand in both of hers and nodding with a beaming smile, she gazed up at me with pleading eyes, asking to be called without an honorific. With those big round eyes the same color as her hair, refusing was impossible.

"Got it, Sakura."

When I called her by name as requested, she gave me that full-bloom smile again.

Then Masami-san and the others jumped in too, asking me to call them "Masami-onee-chan," "Karen-onee-chan," and "Kaede," and I answered each in turn.

As we got caught up in our first conversation as family, the sound of someone sniffling drifted through the hospital room.

When we all turned toward the source, Houzawa-san was crying.

Nakano-san, beside her, was rubbing her back and chiding her with "Why are you the one crying, Akari-chan?" but her own eyes were misty too.

"B'cause, it's just so touchhhing…"

At the sight of Houzawa-san shedding even more tears, the whole family chuckled together.