Visiting Hours

“A real, genuine case of amnesia!” Doctor Kurou exclaimed as I tried not to blink from the flashlight he was shining into my eyes.

“You don’t have to be so excited about it,” his assistant muttered, “this is pretty serious!”

The doctor shrugged as he returned the flashlight into one of the deep pockets of his lab coat and motioned for me to sit upright, so that my legs dangled off the edge of the bed. Retrieving a small medical hammer, he started lightly tapping my knees while he mused absently, “I never thought I’d get to see it in person! Real cases of amnesia, or in your case, dissociative amnesia, are exceedingly rare. It only occurs in about one-percent of the general populace, but normally it’s associated with psychological trauma, not physical. That you’ve developed it due to a head injury is fascinating…” He trailed off as he realized we were all staring at him, with various looks of confusion. Or in his assistant’s case, disgust.

He stood and cleared his throat nervously. “It’s something of a personal interest of mine, if I’m honest. So don’t worry kid, you’re in good hands.” His confident grin and thumbs-up did little to reassure me of that, however.

The girl I had first met when I woke up had been shocked when I asked who she was, and had been silent since, until now, when she softly piped up, “So, how much can you remember? I get that you can’t recall anything from around the time of the accident, but you seriously don’t remember anything at all?”

I considered her words for a few moments, trying to dig through my foggy mind for something, anything, that might provide some clues. But my head began to throb even harder, and I quickly gave up and told her sadly, “I’m sorry. No matter how hard I try, everything’s just blank.”

She froze with her mouth half-open for a second, her expression entirely unidentifiable. Then she snapped her jaw shut and said in a consoling, if shaky, tone, “It’s okay, it isn’t your fault. It’s just kind of hard to wrap my head around, you know?”

Her words and her furrowed brow brought a smile to my lips. Whoever she was, it was clear that she really was worried about me, and that fact alone warmed my heart. Sensing the lull in our conversation, the doctor chipped in, “Yes, well. In that regard, let’s get some of the major details out of the way first, shall we? According to the file…” he paused as he flipped through the stack of papers on his clipboard, then read through them in a brisk monotone, “Takashi Miura, aged seventeen, attending Hokkaido Obihiro Nishi High School in Obihiro. Oh, so you’ll be graduating after next year, how exciting.” The way he said it belied any genuine enthusiasm on the matter.

Licking his thumb, he flipped to the next page and continued, “Emergency contacts, Mrs. Haruki Miura, listed as mother, and” – he pointed his pen towards the girl in the seat beside me – “Ms. Ruri Sumitomo, listed as –”

The girl, whom had now been identified as Ruri, spluttered loudly, frantically waving her hands in the air in an effort to cut him off. He paused and regarded her curiously for a few moments, until she stopped and blushed, lowering her outstretched hands into her lap. Pointedly not looking at me, she muttered, “Y-your girlfriend. Of almost two years.”

I offered her a blank stare as a bewildered, “Huh?” slipped from my lips. My girlfriend? Her? I could barely believe what I was hearing, but considering everything up until this point, I had to admit it made sense. Why else would she have been here, holding my hand while I slept?

She puffed out her cheeks at my unimpressed response, and snapped, “What? Is that really so hard to believe?”

“N-no, it’s just –” I stammered, trying and failing to quickly formulate a coherent response.

On my other side, the doctor’s assistant leaned close and cupped a hand over my ear, whispering, “Mr. Miura, she’s visited you every single day since you were admitted, often spending her entire evenings by your side. I can attest that she is telling the truth.”

“I see,” I breathed, glancing back towards Ruri. Someone as cute as her is really my girlfriend? That’s a bit hard to believe. After a few moments of me silently staring at her, she tilted her head to the side confusedly, and I told her, “It isn’t that I don’t believe you. It’s just a lot to take in, and I guess I hadn’t really considered things like that, yet. But even if I can’t remember anything about you, I’m still really glad you’re here. So…thanks.”

Hearing my words, her already flushed face turned bright red, and she whipped her wide eyes away in an attempt to hide it. “Of course,” she murmured, a smile creeping onto her lips.

Before anyone else could get a word in, there was a gasp from the doorway to the room, and we all looked in that direction to find a stout woman standing there, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a spotted handkerchief. Staring directly at me, she exclaimed, “Takashi! We came as fast as we could when Ms. Maruyama gave us the call!” She hurried over to me and without warning wrapped me in her arms, sobbing openly. Behind her, a tall man with short blonde hair followed, bowing respectfully to the doctor and nurse.

Doctor Kurou gave his assistant a questioning look, and she explained, “I called them right after I informed you that he had finally woken up. I didn’t think they’d be able to make it here so quickly.”

That must make her Ms. Maruyama then, I thought absently as the woman clinging to me peeled herself away and shot a piercing glare towards the man who had followed her in. “I swear, Satoru nearly got us both killed on the way here!” Seeing the confused look on my face, she asked, “What’s wrong, dear?”

It was the doctor who answered. “Well, Mrs. Miura, there seem to have been some minor complications –”

She cut him off before he could finish his explanation, breaking down yet again into a hysterical bout of tears. Grabbing my face with both her hands, she tilted my head in an attempt to make her own examination of whatever might have gone wrong. “What’s happened? Is he sick? Is he paralyzed from the waist down? Oh, Doctor, just tell it to me straight, is my little boy going to die?”

It was Ruri who laid a comforting hand on the woman’s shoulder and told her, “Mrs. Miura, Takashi’s fine. He’s just having trouble remembering some things, that’s all.”

The woman sniffled as she gave Ruri a blank stare, and loudly blew her nose into her handkerchief. “Oh, Ruri. My apologies, I was so worried about Takashi that I didn’t even see you there, dear!” A look of relief washed across her face, and she even smiled at the girl.

Watching the interaction, I was suddenly overwhelmed by an intense sensation of familiarity that welled up within me, and I gasped as a spike of pain shot through my head. A bright white light blossomed behind my eyes, and along with it came countless memories that flooded back into my mind. They were fragmented, vivid images covering bits and pieces of years of my life. However, the recurring theme between them all was this woman; my mother, Haruki Miura.

The ache in my head now threatened to split my skull in two, and ignoring everyone else, I pressed the palms of my hands into my eyes and took a few moments to let the pain subside. My thoughts were jumbled and even more confused than they had been before the memories returned, but thankfully the throbbing in my head slowly eased back to a bearable level, and removing my hands, I realized that the others were all staring at me with concerned looks on their faces.

All at once, my mother, Ruri, and Doctor Kurou voiced their concerns.

“Takashi?”

“TK!”

“Mr. Miura, are you okay?”

I smiled wearily at my mother and told her, as I blinked the dancing spots of light out of my eyes, “I’m alright, other than a splitting headache. I just had some memories come back, is all.”

While my mother beamed at my words, the doctor quickly jotted some notes on his clipboard and muttered, “Interesting. So familiarity does seem to facilitate a spontaneous recall of past experiences…”

The other man, who had entered with my mother, pushed his way into my field of view, pointing to his face and grinning. “What about me, Takashi? You remember me too, right?”

I squinted as I tried to recall anything about the strange man. From his short blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, the five o’clock shadow coating his cheeks, to the way he spoke…it all seemed vaguely familiar, but nothing came to mind. After a while I gave up and shook my head, admitting, “Sorry, I can’t seem to remember anything. But I guess you’re probably my dad, right?”

My words seemed to utterly crush his otherwise high spirits as his face went pale and his jaw fell slack. Then, he turned around and slinked over to a corner, where he squatted down facing the wall and muttered dejectedly to himself, “It’s my own fault. I’ve always been so busy with work, of course my own son wouldn’t even remember me.”

I gave an awkward chuckle as I shared a look with Ruri and my mother, who comforted, “Relax, dear. He’s bound to remember you eventually.”

He turned his head and sniffed, a bit of his former energy returning as he replied, “Y-you’re right. I just need to jog his memory a bit, that’s all! Surely, he’ll remember his own pops!”

Just then, the doctor’s assistant, Ms. Maruyama, interjected, tapping the watch she wore around her slim wrist, “I’m afraid no one will be doing any more jogging tonight. I apologize for kicking you out so soon after you arrived, but visiting hours are almost over, and what your son needs the most right now is some quality rest.”

Doctor Kurou nodded in agreement, and to me, said, “Yes, that’s true. We’ll get you some painkillers and try to get that headache under control. It’s possible that by tomorrow, you’ll be right as rain.”

My mother frowned at being asked to leave, but made no objections, merely patting me on the head and assuring me, “Don’t worry, Takashi. Your father and I are staying the night nearby, and we’ll be back tomorrow. Sleep well, dear.”

I nodded that I would, and as the nurse began to usher everyone out, Ruri leaned in close and whispered, “I’m really glad to finally have you back, TK. See you tomorrow!” She winked and giggled, waving farewell as she closed the door behind her.

For the first time since I’d awoken, I was left entirely alone, the room silent other than the hum of electricity running through the walls. I wish they could have stayed a bit longer, I sighed, my hand rising to lightly touch my chest, where a dull ache had suddenly set in.