Uncle Hikigaya is Forever Young [4]

“Thank goodness! I just heard about what happened yesterday—it scared the hell outta me! Hey…of all the stupid things, why’d you go and try to end your life?! Life’s always like this! If you’d really died, what about your two kids? And that damned woman, Tōma Kasuza—she really threw everything aside, didn’t she? Ha ha!”

A middle-aged man around the same age as Hikigaya Ryōhei suddenly appeared from around the corner. Momentarily stunned, he rushed forward, grabbing Ryōhei tightly by the shoulders and babbling excitedly. His tone was half consoling, half scolding. Immediately after, he frantically checked Ryōhei’s body for injuries.

“Uh...actually, I’m mostly fine. Nothing too serious.” Ryōhei felt rather uncomfortable being touched by another grown man—after all, he wasn't some pretty teenage boy.

Wait a second. Since when did I try to commit suicide? Where the hell did he hear such nonsense?

Besides, he hadn’t inherited any memories from this body’s previous owner, so right now, he really wanted to blurt out, “Who the heck are you?”

But in the end, he didn’t say it. That would probably hurt the guy’s feelings. After all, the genuine concern in this man’s eyes clearly wasn't just politeness—it came straight from the heart.

Ah, the friendship of middle-aged men!

Ryōhei forced out a bitter smile. What to do? Should he claim he had amnesia? But although saying "I lost my memories" seemed convenient, one lie inevitably required countless more lies to sustain it. Besides, he didn’t have the faintest idea of how to convincingly fake memory loss anyway.

The newly arrived man gradually calmed down upon seeing Ryōhei’s bitter smile and silence. Standing together by a roadside bench under the setting sun, he patted Ryōhei on the shoulder heavily and sighed deeply.

The atmosphere subtly slipped into silence.

Right. Silence was good! After all, considering everything this Hikigaya Ryōhei had gone through recently, becoming more withdrawn and reserved would be entirely understandable. He’d just face people he knew like this from now on.

“Ryōhei, why didn’t you reach out to me earlier? I could’ve helped you! Did you not even think of me as your friend? I... ah, never mind. It’s too late to say all this now,” the middle-aged man said slowly, a note of reproach in his voice.

Ryōhei genuinely didn't know how to respond, so he kept silent, maintaining his stiff, slightly bitter smile like a zombie.

The middle-aged man shook his head, sighing quietly to himself. As his friend, he’d only recently learned just how miserable Hikigaya Ryōhei had become. In his eyes, all of it was because of that woman, Tōma Kazusa.

It really is crucial to marry a good woman, huh? Thankfully, his wife—the mother of his Yumiko—was pure-hearted and gentle.

“My friend, forget Kazusa. Maybe her leaving voluntarily isn’t entirely a bad thing. Didn’t I say it back when you got married? Not trying to sound wise after the fact, but back then, I honestly thought your conditions were way better than hers. But you just wouldn’t listen! Ugh, never mind. I shouldn’t say so much.”

Suddenly realizing that Ryōhei was in a sensitive state and what he really needed was encouragement, not reopening old wounds, the middle-aged man immediately regretted his words and stopped speaking.

“Yeah, yeah, thanks for your advice. Actually, I’ve already decided to find a job soon and just scrape by first. Ah, and…thanks for visiting me today.” Ryōhei cautiously responded, trying his best to sound calm and detached.

Never speaking at all would also seem weird. Ryōhei didn’t want others seeing him as strange, nor did he want to abandon the original "Hikigaya Ryōhei’s" interpersonal relationships.

“Haaah, that’s good then.”

The two men, each harboring completely different thoughts, simultaneously let out sighs. Hikigaya Ryōhei was already thirty-five this year—a textbook example of a middle-aged uncle. This newly arrived man seemed about the same age, and judging from his tone, they’d probably known each other for many years.

“Here. I took out a little cash for you. Just pay me back whenever you can afford it.” Without waiting, the man shoved an envelope into Ryōhei’s pocket. “Yumiko’s mom is still undergoing treatment, but you know how stubborn her illness is. A little more money won’t help much, a little less won't matter either. Anyway, I still have some savings and even got promoted recently.”

Firmly patting Ryōhei’s shoulder again, the middle-aged man turned around and quickly walked away. He still had to see his medication dealer to buy medicine for his wife.

In fact, his situation wasn't nearly as easy as he'd made it sound.

In these two years of treating his wife’s illness, he’d come to deeply understand just how crazily expensive medicines had become, forcing him to find ways to buy generic drugs instead. Due to high tariffs and multiple layers of middlemen domestically, original medicines often cost several times, or even dozens of times more than generics.

Hikigaya Ryōhei was an old friend he’d known since their school days. Seeing Ryōhei reduced to his current sorry state made his heart ache. From his perspective, everything was Tōma Kazusa’s fault. Back when Ryōhei first pursued her, he’d risked being misunderstood just to warn him... but Ryōhei stubbornly went ahead anyway.

Today, even though his friend seemed somewhat off, at least he saw a flicker of hope in his eyes. The middle-aged uncle named Miura Kōzō felt slightly relieved. He’d come check in again in a couple of days.

Feeling relieved that the prideful Hikigaya Ryōhei wasn’t chasing after him, Miura Kōzō finally let out a quiet sigh.

Although the current economy was turbulent, unemployment was rising, inflation was intensifying, and Yumiko’s mother’s illness was troublesome, there was at least a gene therapy available now that could control or even cure it—though it was expensive and needed monthly treatments.

Miura Kōzō felt his life was still manageable. Thus, he sincerely wanted to help Ryōhei out a bit.

The money wasn’t much, and honestly, he didn’t need Ryōhei to pay it back. As a very cautious man when it came to money, Miura Kōzō considered this money given to a friend as a gift from the start.

Watching the slightly exhausted figure of the middle-aged man walk away, Hikigaya Ryōhei held tightly onto the envelope given by the friend whose name he didn’t even know, feeling somewhat emotional.

He knew full well: Money, this thing, could really help you see clearly who people around you truly were.

Even though saying this was vulgar, extremely vulgar, unbearably vulgar.

Yet, the truth was exactly like that!

As the saying goes, "Lending money reveals character, repaying money reveals integrity."

It seemed this nameless friend was genuinely someone worth continuing to associate with. This poor "Hikigaya Ryōhei" had at least one true friend—things weren't completely hopeless after all.

Nobody’s money just fell out of the sky.

This friend hadn’t simply lent money; he’d also lent trust and encouragement.

Ryōhei tried once again to memorize the face of this middle-aged uncle clearly in his mind, deciding to check the photo albums once he got home. Hopefully, he could figure out his name soon—so the next meeting wouldn’t be quite so awkward.

“Hey!” Ryōhei suddenly shouted loudly after him, on behalf of the original “Hikigaya Ryōhei,” and also sincerely for himself. “Thanks!”

“You just keep living well,” replied the middle-aged man, who had wrapped himself tightly in his coat as he walked away, waving gently without turning back.

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This is a fan translation of 比企谷大叔永远年轻 by Stargazer All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!