2.1

It all began in April, when the late-blooming sakura were still in bloom.

Medical science was advancing towards an unknown frontier. But I didn't know any details about it, and I wasn't interested in finding out more either.

All I could say was that at the very least, to medical science, it was progress to give an everyday life to a girl trapped in abnormality - a terminal condition that interfered with her life and would end it within a year.

Which is to say, humans had gained the ability to extend their hunan lifespans.

I thought that it was machine-like to be able to move despite suffering from such an illness, but something like my own impressions didn't matter to someone who was actually afflicted with the sickness.

Regardless of my unnecessary thoughts, she had been once more fully enjoying the benefits of medical science.

That was why it couldn't be blamed on anything else but her bad luck and the sudden turn of events that caused me, who should have only been a classmate, to find out about her illness.

That day, I had taken a break from school. It was because of my appendectomy - not the surgery itself, but the removal of the stitches.

My frequent visits to the hospital for follow-up treatment were coming to an end. I was supposed to have shown up late to school, but long waiting times at the large hospital had sapped me of any remaining enthusiasm for learning, and I remained loitering in the hospital's lobby.

It was a trivial feeling. In the comer of the lobby, sitting on a lonely sofa, was a book that had been left behind.

I wondered by whom it had been abandoned, as well as of its contents.

My curiosity sparked by a love of books took control, and I began to walk over.

Navigating through the spaces between patients, I arrived at the other end of the lobby and sat myself down on the sofa. Judging by its appearance, the book was an approximately 300-page thick paperback. Its secrets were guarded closely by a dust jacket from the bookshop near the hospital.

When I removed the dust jacket to check the title, I was met with a little surprise. Beneath it was not the original cover that should have been wrapped around the book - inscribed upon it instead were the words Disease Coexistence Journal' handwritten with a thick magic marker.

Of course, I'd never heard of the title or the publisher.

I wondered just what it could be, but since I couldn't think of a suitable answer no matter how much I thought about it, I flipped to the first page.

The words I saw on the very first page were not printed in a typeface that I was accustomed to. They had instead been carefully handwritten with a ballpoint pen - which meant that this article had been written by a person.

23rd November 20XX

My everyday thoughts and activities in Japan - I plan on writing them down in this disease coexistence journal. No one other than my family knows about it, but I am going to die in a few years. Having accepted this fact, I am writing for the sake of living with my illness.

To start things off, pancreatic diseases like what I've been diagnosed with a little earlier are the kings of sudden deaths. Even today, my symptoms have been mostly unnoticeable.

"Pancreas. Die..

Without thinking, words that weren't uttered on a daily basis spilt out of y mouth.

I see, evidently, it seemed like this belonged to someone whose lifespan had been determined a disease confrontation diary, no, a disease coexistence diary. It wasn't really something that I should have looked at.

Having come to that realisation, I closed the book.

Still seated down, I heard a voice from above my head.

"Erm.. I lifted my head in response to the voice, my shock not showing on my face. To my surprise, I recognised the face of the voice's owner. I kept my emotions hidden, assuming that she had approached me for something unrelated to the book.

With that said, even someone like me may have been in denial of the possibility that my classmate was shouldering the fate of having her life cut short.

Having been approached by a classmate, I put o an attentive look, quietly anticipating her reply. She extended an arm to me, looking as though she were snickering at my response.

"That belongs to me. Plain-Looking-Classmate-kun, why did you Connie to the hospital?"

Incidentally, I didn't know anything about my classmate except that she possessed a bright perkiness that was the antithesis to my usual silence.

Which was why I was taken aback that she could flash a brave smile in this situation, wherein a mere acquaintance like me had found out that she was suffering from a major illness.

Even so, I decided that I would pretend I didn't know about anything to the best of my ability. I believed that for both her and me, that would have been the best choice.

"I had an appendectomy a while back, but I still have to go lor treatment."

"Ah, I see. I had a check-up for my pancreas. Otherwise I'll die."

Why would she say something like that? In no tine at all, without noticing, she had crushed my consideration into pieces.

I observed her expressions, trying to no avail to read her true intentions. Her smile deepened as she sat down beside me.

"Are you surprised? You read it, didn't you? The Disease Coexistence Journal'."

Seemingly unbothered, the girl talked as though she were recommending a novel to me. Which was why I even thought that she had been playing a prank and it just so happened that I, an acquaintance, had fallen for it. See, Ive exposed the bluff.

"I was surprised. I thought that I'd lost it, so I came here searching for it in a huge panic, but it turns out that it was just with Plain-Looking-Classmate-kun."

hat does it mean? This.

"What does this mean? That's my 'Disease Coexistence Journal. Haven't you read it? It's like a diary that I've been writing since I found out about my pancreatic disease."

.You're joking, right?"

Even though she was inside a hospital, without any hesitation, she roared with laughter.

Just how tasteless of a person do you think I am? I wouldn't nake that kind of dark joke, you know? Everything that's written down is true - I can't use my pancreas and Im going to die soon, yup."

..Ah, I see."

"Eh! That's all? Don't you have anything else to say?"

Her voice trembled with shock.....No, but what should I say after being told that my classmate is going to die soon?

"Hmm, if it were me, I guess I'd be at a loss for words."

"Exactly. And if I didn't go silent, ľ'd want to assess the situation."

She started to giggle as she said,

“I guess that's true."

I didn't know what she found so amusing Immediately after that, she took the book, got up, waved her hand at me and headed deeper into the hospital.

"No one else knows about this, so don't tell the class okay?"

She said as she left. Thinking that I surely wouldn't be having any more exchanges with her after this, I felt a little relieved.

Contrary to my expectations however, she called out to me on the very next morning, just as we passed each other by in the school corridor.

Incidentally, the distribution of duties was decided freely by each class, and as a result, I was the only one to put my name up for the vacancy in the library committee. Though I didn't understand the motives behind her actions, as someone who tended to get lost in the flow of things, I continued to quietly think about the work that would be assigned to the new library committee members.

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