Chapter 4:

Mercy

Echoes of Regret


Akira to himself:

"Why do these things always happen to me? I want to enjoy life with my father and mother like everyone else, but fate keeps haunting me. Watching this... it makes me want to end everything and escape this hell."

Akira found his father collapsed on the ground. It looked like he had tried to get water, but had fallen. Akira rushed to him, gently slapped his face, and whispered,

"Father... Father... Are you okay?"

But there was no response. Panic hit Akira. He held his father, tried to lift him — but he was too heavy.

Desperate, Akira dragged his father toward the lift. At the entrance, he lost balance and both of them fell — Akira’s head smashed against the metal rack near the door. Blood began pouring from his forehead, covering the right side of his face and staining the mole under his eye red.

Without caring about the pain, Akira forced himself up, picked his father up again, and ran with bare feet. He bolted down the apartment stairs and sprinted to the nearest hospital, repeating in his mind:

"Why? Why is my life always dark? Why can't I ever live a normal, bright life like others?"

He remembered what his father once said:

"If something happens to me, don't rely on relatives. They’ll never help you."

But Akira had shouted back at the time:

"If anything happens, I’ll leave you and never come back!"

Now, running with his dying father in his arms, Akira regretted those words.

When he reached the local hospital, the security guard at the gate stopped him.

"Please, my father collapsed! Let us in!"

But the guard refused.

"It's after midnight. We don’t have emergency tools here. Go to another hospital."

He added,

"There’s another one north of here. Turn left at the next junction."

Akira ran, clutching his father. When he reached the second hospital, the security guard there also refused him.

"They must be gang members running from someone," the guard whispered. Seeing the blood on Akira, no one believed him.

Akira begged, dropping to his knees, crying,

"Please! Help my father!"

But the guard kicked him in the stomach.

"Get out or I’ll beat both of you!"

A small crowd formed, whispering:

"Maybe he tried to kill his father and now is pretending to be a hero."

Among the crowd, someone pointed and said,

"There’s a hospital near the signal! They might help!"

Akira didn’t wait. He ran as fast as he could. At the third hospital, they finally let him in. Doctors rushed his father into the operating room. Akira waited outside, his head spinning.

He closed his eyes... and saw himself as a child, lying in a hospital bed, his small hand held by both his parents.

He opened his eyes and now saw only his father's weak hand holding his.

A doctor came out and said,

"We can’t find your mother’s records. Sorry, Akira. Your father, Mr. Kurobara, is in a coma. His heart collapsed under too much pressure and depression. Do you have any money?"

Akira shook his head.

"I don’t."

The doctor replied,

"In that case, the only option is Mercy Killing. Keeping him alive costs over 1 million yen , and he’ll need daily medication and machines. Without money, we can’t do anything. After that, we may take his organs if you approve."

Akira was silent. Shaking, he stood up and walked slowly to his father’s room. He stared at the ventilator, watching his father’s chest rise and fall — barely breathing.