Smile and make of this a better world.

A couple of days passed, and the world sped up again.

Run, Isayama! Run for what matters most to you!

Terrified, I ran frantically through the streets of District 4, heading toward the place I always tried to forget: Jiguroka Hospital.

“Isayama!”

Panicked and breathless, I raced through its halls, finding Tatsumi waiting for me at the building’s entrance.

“I’m sorry, Isayama. I don’t know what happened in the past forty-eight hours!” My friend ran beside me.

Damn it…

“Sorry for the rush, Tatsumi...” We entered one of the elevators together, gasping for extra oxygen. “Do you have gloves and a mask on you?”

“Y-yeah, here…” He pulled a pair from his coat pocket. “But Isa, there’s something you need to know before you go in…”

He said as we suited up and the elevator ascended.

“What you’re about to find behind that door… it’s shocking.”

“Yeah, I know that…”

“No, I mean it—” The elevator doors slid open.

“Don’t worry, Tatsumi. It’s sad to say, but I’ve spent days preparing myself for this moment…”

Together, we rushed down the hall to Hikaru Tore’s room.

Gasping, I entered the room, struggling not to crumble at the horrific sight.

“H-hey, Dad, I’m here now…” I walked up to him, still catching my breath. “I couldn’t bring you chocolates this time…”

I noticed the box from last time, still unopened.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

Weak, pale, my father breathed with difficulty as his gaze wandered aimlessly, following the specks of dust suspended in the morning sunlight.

You’re so thin… You must have been suffering terribly…

He didn’t even seem to realize I’d arrived.

“Dad, good morning. I came to see you.” I took his hand, colder than ever.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi stood awkwardly at the door, not knowing what to say.

“Huh?” My father finally exhaled weakly, turning his eyes to me.

“Hey, Mr Hikaru Tore...”

“W-who…”

At least I made it in time to say goodbye…

“W-who are you?” my father asked.

That question hit my chest like an earthquake, freezing me as if a shard of ice had pierced my heart.

For a moment, I doubted my very own existence.

“A-again? It’s me, Isayama. Your son.”

“M-my son?” His dry eyes returned to the ceiling. “I… have a son?”

Here we go again… How can he say that in his condition?

“Of course you have a son… Come on, enough with the jokes…” My pulse quickened as Hikaru released my hand.

“W-who are you?” he asked again, his voice weary.

“Hey, hey, Dad! Look at me!” His eyes began to drift into emptiness, and his limbs started trembling.

“I don’t remember…”

“Dad! Can you see me?!” I tried desperately to pull him back as he slowly slipped away.

“H-having a son…”

“Don’t forget me, Dad! Please, don’t forget me!”

As my despair grew, so did the beeping of the machine at his side.

“Dad!”

“I can’t… I can’t feel my body…” He struggled to cry, but his body was so frail it had no tears to give. “Where did my body go…?”

“What are you talking about?! Your body’s right here! Look at me, Hikaru!”

“I can’t feel anything…” he began to mumble, drooling. “Where am I?”

“Mr. Tore!” Suddenly, a group of doctors rushed in, called by Tatsumi.

“W-where am I?” he repeated.

“Step aside!” They pushed me back as they swarmed around my father.

“Everything is black… Am I floating?”

“Isayama Tore, let us do our job!”

“Damn it!”

“Step back!”

“Just a moment, please!”

“Hey, Isayama…”

“Huh?” I heard his voice through the chaos of white coats and metallic beeping.

It was as if the world slowed down. As if, for the first time that day, his words were truly meant for me.

Dad…

“If you really are my son… smile, and make this world a better place…”

It all happened so fast.

Smile.

In seconds, I was forced out of the room.

Smile.

Pulled away by Tatsumi and the rest of the doctors.

Smile.

That glorious spring morning, Hikaru Tore exhaled his final breath.

…

Smile.

Minutes later, I hid away like a coward.

Smile, Isayama!

Tatsumi had made a mistake. I hadn’t changed at all.

Smile, damn it! It’s his dying wish!

I locked myself in a bathroom of that cursed hospital, trying to escape the world I lived in.

Fighting to suppress my emotions, I neither cried nor lashed out; I simply stared at the water running from the faucet. My face still wet.

“Did my father really forget me?” I spoke quietly, careful not to disturb the silence. “How could he forget me?”

Exhausted, I raised my eyes to the mirror, searching for the man I wasn’t.

“Dad was always a great man…” I struggled to smile at my reflection, against every muscle in my face. “Even on his deathbed, his only wish was for his son to make the world a better place…”

I took a deep breath, trying to regain some perspective.

“Alright…” I slapped my cheeks to snap out of it, smiling a bit more convincingly at the mirror. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what I’ll do…”

I made sure my hair, clothes, and face were presentable before going outside again.

“I’ll smile and make this world better.” I walked to the door. “You know, Hikaru, you’d be surprised to meet my new colleagues. Honestly, they’re amazing people…”

I stepped back into the light and greenery of the hospital’s hallways, perhaps smiling more than one should after losing their father.

I was only trying to fulfill his wish…

Here I go, Dad… to make this world a little better…

Feeling somewhat calmer, I descended to the ground floor and crossed the lobby to one of the massive automatic doors. I was sprayed down again before stepping outside.

To my surprise, Tatsumi was waiting for me, unsure of what to say or how to look at me.

“See you around, Tatsumi. Hope to catch you soon.” I patted his back before walking away.

“Wait, Isa!” he shouted through the crowd.

Despite the bustling traffic of people entering and leaving the building, I stepped aside.

“I’m fine, really. To be honest, it wasn’t all that sudden… You know, we should grab a drink sometime. I went to a bar with live music the other day with my coworker. I think you’d love it…”

“I know you’re fine, but I need to tell you something else…”

“Huh? What is it?”

“This has to stay between us—it’s too soon to draw conclusions. But I need to talk to you about your father’s symptoms and how they progressed over the days.”

My father’s symptoms?

“What do you mean?”

Tatsumi hesitated for a few seconds before speaking.

“Isa, I’m 99% sure the illness that killed your father wasn’t the S-Flu…”

“W-what?”

Tatsumi leaned in closer, not wanting to cause a panic among the crowd.

“Based on his symptoms, whatever killed your father wasn’t the S-Flu. At least, not as we know it…”

“W-wait, Tatsumi, are you saying…”

“What if the S-Flu has evolved again, Isa?”

We both fell silent, accompanied only by the murmur of the crowd and the whisper of the wind.

“A-are you really that sure, T-Tatsumi?”

“I need time to investigate, but Yamaguchi-sensei agrees, this could change everything…”

“B-but…”

“Including your father, there are now seventeen cases with similar symptoms… It’s too early to draw a conclusion, but if it’s true, society isn’t ready to face an evolved S-Flu…”