" Do you have to leave the job?" The senior doctor asks sadly. " To think I lose two of my most outstanding doctors all at once."
Takuya smiled wanly. " Goro needs a change of scenery. My mom left me a beach cabin by the ocean. I think Goro will be able to recuperate well there."
His elderly superior sighed unhappily but he knows that Takuya is right, and he does want to see Goro recover fully.
" Go then, young man. Goro is solely in your care now. Don't come back if you can't heal him!"
" Yes Sir!" Takuya smiled at him. If he is a softer man at heart, he would cry. The sympathetic nature of his boss isn't easy to ignore.
Takuya snaps back to reality just then. He could refrain from recalling the conversation that had occured the day before when he went to bid goodbye to his kindly boss. Now he and Goro is on the train heading for the most remote part of the country's shoreline. He turned and smiled with comfort upon seeing that Goro is fast asleep sitting next to him.
" He is just like a baby when he is asleep, totally defenseless and without animosity." Takuya mused with delight. He raised a finger to Goro's face and strokes his cheek wistfully. " You will recover and be your old self again ~ I promise!"
He will never understand what made his mother buy a beach cabin so far away from civilization! As he trudges up the mountain path, he is seriously doubting the state of her mind. What lies ahead really doesn't resemble the seaside, in fact they seem to be heading for the mountains. Turning back to check Goro's progress, he is relieved to see that he isclimbing steadily in total silence.
" Just a little more!" He shouts merrily back to him but Goro did not even raise his head to acknowledge. Takuya turned back to see his way up and his smile disappeared. " At least I hope it's a little more ~" He mutters.
When he reached the top of the tedious slope and he saw what is ahead of him, the bags in his hand dropped to his feet with muffled thuds. His jaw dropped open too in shock. When Goro finally caught up with him, he stood next to him panting lightly from the exercise.
" What a beautiful place." Goro mutters half heartedly. Takuya doesn't feel defeated by his tone of voice because eversince the incident, it is so hard to get Goro to converse. He nodded mutely simply because he has not gotten over the shock of his discovery.
Instead of seeing the roaring sea and a beach cabin, he is faced with a mountain cabin deep in the deep valley of the mountain with a large lake flanking the right side of the tiny cottage.
Laughing nervously to dispel the shock, Takuya turned to Goro. To his surprise, the latter is staring longingly at the tiny bit of sky peeping between the pinncles of the two mountain peaks that enclosed them from the outside world.
" I hear the sea ~" Goro mutters softly but his eyes gleaming with excitement. Takuya stiffens as he prick his ears but all he hears is silence customary of deep mountain valleys.
" Let's unpack and explore. Maybe we can find the seaside before nightfall!" Takuya suggests encouragingly. He knows he mustn't disputes Goro's weak mind now.
