Epilogue
Ikeda sips his tea and asks Shizuyo, “Then things are going well?” He sets down his cup and takes off his glasses, rubbing his eyes. “Good,” he says. “That makes me very happy.” He glances through the window. Mrs. Kondo and Kazunori were on the porch. Mr. Kondo and the kids were scattered about in the front yard, tossing around a softball. Playful screams filter through the screen and into the living room.
“Naoyuki has his good days and his bad days,” Shizuyo says, thumbing through the photo album and putting new pictures into the plastic sheets. “There are still nights when he has bad dreams about the car accident, though they’re much less frequent than they used to be, and the flashbacks aren’t as severe. He still gets picked on a little in school. The medication he’s taking for the XLA is helping a lot, but he still doesn’t have much stamina.” She takes a sip of her tea, as well. “But, all things considered, he’s doing well.” She smiles. “I thank his friends for that,” she says.
“Why do you say that?” Ikeda inquires, putting his glasses back on.
“If it wasn’t for them,” she says, “I think Naoyuki would dwell on the bad things – the nightmares, his inability to go out for sports, like Hiroto wants... But because he has his stepbrother and Haruko and Kotaro and Taki, his mind isn’t on that track all the time. I’m grateful for that.” Shizuyo smiles again and drinks the last of her tea, then turns and stares out the window. “I’m so happy to see him smiling again.”
Outside, Taki chases down a long ball and hits the ground catching it. “I got it!” she calls triumphantly. She gets up and wipes the blades of grass from her jeans. “Aw, grass stains! My mom’s gonna kill me!” she cries.
“No one told you to slide under the ball, genius,” Ikuo snaps playfully.
“You jerk!” Taki yells, tossing the ball at him. Ikuo dodges in the nick of time.
“Hey, hey!” Kotaro cries. “This isn’t dodgeball!”
Naoyuki and Haruko laugh as Ikuo runs to retrieve the softball.
I’m Naoyuki Kondo, and these are my friends.
“All right, guys,” Kazunori calls, “why don’t we take a break for some drinks?”
“What’cha got?” Taki calls. The others follow as she jogs up to the porch and approaches Kazu and Mrs. Kondo.
And this? Well...this is normal for us.
