Water Eggplant and a Kitchen Knife (6)

 

     Nagisa’s grandfather, Gen’ichi, went into hospital at the end of May, more than half and a month had passed, there was no sign that he would leave the hospital.

     It must have been a lie to relieve Nagisa that he had gone into hospital to have an examination.  She idly imagined so and rode a bicycle to the station.  Koyoshi’s words at the sweets shop the other day worried her.  The shopkeeper wondered how many years she could keep the shop.  Those words drove Nagisa, who had ignored the reality by avoiding visiting the hospital.

     After changing trains a couple of times, Nagisa arrived at the hospital early in the afternoon.

     When she arrived at the hospital, it was a little too air-conditioned.  Her sweat was chilled, and she cringed in the cold.

     She had taken notes of the sickroom number of her grandpa.  With the note in her hand, she walked toward the elevators.  Unexpectedly, over the lobby, she found Sebumi, who she met in front of Koyoshi’s sweets shop the other day.  Nagisa wondered if she should talk to Sebumi, but she didn’t, after having second thoughts about it.  They talked to each other just for several minutes.  Nobody would feel comfortable if someone else spoke to them in a hospital.  Nagisa thought she wasn’t close enough, but also imagined Kotaro or her mother, Haruko, would have spoken to her.

     Her grandfather, Gen’ichi, was on the 8th floor and in a private room.

     Nagisa knocked lightly on the sliding door, and opened it.  Gen’ichi slept in such a small private room that it was occupied with his single bed.

     His shoulders and arms became so thin that Nagisa vaguely wondered if he would be able to sharpen knives once he left the hospital.  From her early childhood, Nagisa had seen grandfather’s crooked back, but his body had piled years of hard work in it like an old tree that had survived years of wind and snow.

     His body reminded Nagisa of Koyoshi’s words.  How many years?

     Nagisa was afraid that he was dead.  No sooner than she had approached him…..

     “I tell you, he is just taking a nap.”

     “!”

     Nagisa was spoken to so abruptly that she gave out a silent cry.

     “Long time no see, Nagisa.”

     “Mom, don’t surprise me.”

     “You were surprised as you pleased.”

     Haruko gave an abrupt reply to Nagisa’s words.  Haruko was as usual as if more than a month hadn’t passed.

     “Anyway, are you doing neatly?”

     “I’m doing so-so in my own way.”

     She has sharpened what knives she could sharpen, and as many knives as she could.  She could clothe herself and eat somehow with Kotaro’s help.

     She’d gotten an idea to talk about Kotaro but didn’t.  For some reason, she thought she shouldn’t.

     Haruko would be angry.

     Gen’ichi would be displeased if he were awake.  Even when she was still little, he wasn’t happy to see Nagisa and Kotaro, who was the heir to Tsukitsugu, a long-established knife store, playing together.  He felt uncomfortable when she talked about Kotaro.  As Gen’ichi was strict and rigid, if he was to hear that Nagisa was looked after by Kotaro, she would be apparently asking for trouble.

     Nagisa looked for a subject to talk with Haruko, but realized she had nothing.  She was doing so-so everyday.  That’s it.  She had an idea to ask about Gen’ichi’s condition.  But if it was serious?  The thought prevented her from asking.

     Understanding what Nagisa was wondering, Haruko banged Nagisa’s back.

     “Grandpa takes a long time to recover but it’s nothing serious.  Don’t worry about it.”

     So said Haruko.  Nagisa worried if anything happened.  The worry threw a dark shadow over her mind.

     Will Grandpa close the Takaochi Knife Factory?  Won’t he have the factory succeeded by me because I’m a poor sharpener?  Won’t he have the factory succeeded by me, to begin with, because I’m a woman?  She felt like demanding him.

     She, on the other hand, found it too harsh to ask a patient such questions.

     Nagisa was afraid she would pour out harsh questions on him once she talked with her grandfather, and  she left the room without saying anything to him.