That evening, inside the vast white hospital, where patients, doctors, and nurses bustled through every corner, Nagisa sat with his mother outside the operating room, trembling as if he were a washing machine in motion.
His hands were tightly clasped together, and he was so tense that he couldn't even speak.
They were difficult moments… moments in which he knew that his wife was inside, struggling and in pain, while he sat outside like an old flower vase tucked away in the corner of a guest room.
His mother sat beside him, gently rubbing his back, trying to soothe him with all the tenderness she could muster.
From time to time, she whispered to him, hoping it would ease his rising tension — a tension that had started to seep into her as well.
"My dear… you need to calm down. Nyoko isn't the first woman to give birth, and she won't be the last. The doctors are professionals — they'll be able to carry out the operation successfully."
Though she was worried about Nyoko, her greater concern was for her son, who was trembling to the point of shaking.
She was a woman herself — she understood what childbirth meant, the pain of it, the difficulty.
But she also knew that Nagisa had to be strong… not just for himself, but for his wife and the child who was about to arrive in this world and take his first breath.
Nagisa let out a loud sigh, the weight of helplessness wearing down his heart. He ran his trembling fingers through his sweaty hair and spoke with a voice that choked in his throat.
"How am I supposed to calm down? Knowing that my wife is inside, in pain… and I'm out here, useless, worthless!
I can't be by her side, I can't take her pain away, not even hold her hand to tell her I'm here…"
Time stopped when the operating room was suddenly filled with the cries of a newborn baby.
Nagisa sprang to his feet, and without waiting for anyone to come out or give him permission, he rushed inside, his heart pounding like war drums in his ears.
He pushed the door open, and the scene he saw was enough to shatter every shred of tension rooted deep inside him.
There, on the operating bed, Nyoko sat holding their newborn in her arms, swaddled like a little sandwich in his tiny blanket.
Nyoko's face was pale from the ordeal of childbirth, but her smile lit up the entire room in Nagisa's eyes. His knees felt weak, and he moved toward her with slow, heavy steps until he stood beside her.
He couldn't speak. Silence fell between them, the kind of silence that hugged the heart more than words could — even the baby had quieted in his mother's arms.
But the silence didn't last long. Nyoko looked up and said.
"Look how beautiful he is… He looks exactly like me!"
She smiled playfully and stuck out her tongue at her husband, who was quite certain that a few strands of his hair had turned gray from the sheer stress he'd gone through for her.
And now, here she was — showing him that radiant face that erased everything he'd felt, and finally made him laugh.
He reached out and pinched her cheek gently.
"You're never going to grow up, are you? Even now that you're a mom!"
"Oh… oh… oh!"
Nyoko feigned protest at his affectionate attack, but their sweet, joyful moment was soon interrupted by the entrance of a nurse through the main door.
The couple turned toward her. She stood there in her pink uniform — indicating she worked in the infant care unit.
And then, the couple knew it was time to say goodbye to their baby… for a little while.
Nyoko hugged the child tightly and planted a kiss on his forehead, as if missing him already, though he hadn't even left her arms.
She whispered softly in his ear.
"Goodbye… Haruki."
Nagisa's eyes widened when he heard the name, and a wide smile spread across his face; Haruki had always been one of his favorite names — for the beautiful meaning it carried.
He sat beside her and kissed Haruki's forehead too, then whispered with a tender voice.
"Goodbye, little man."
Nagisa's voice held a deep love for the baby boy, especially as he already bore such a striking resemblance to Nyoko: her face, her hair color — even when he first opened his eyes to see the strange world around him, their color perfectly matched his mother's.
Nyoko handed the baby to the nurse with extreme care, as if handing over a piece of her soul.
"Thank you."
Nyoko said quietly.
"No need to thank me."
When the nurse replied, Nagisa felt that her voice was strangely familiar… but he couldn't recall where he had heard it before.
Still, he quickly pushed the thought aside and focused his attention on Nyoko . He wrapped his arms around her in a loose embrace, careful not to cause her any pain.
"You're going to be the best mother humanity has ever seen."
Nagisa whispered these words into Nyoko's ear, then buried his face in her neck, drowning in a moment of indescribable love.
But the couple didn't get to bask in their joy for long—only a few seconds passed before the doctor overseeing Neoko's condition entered the room.
He was an elderly man, thin, with white hair, wearing medical glasses. He held a stack of papers in one hand, and a blue ink pen stuck out from his coat pocket. He politely asked for permission to speak, his face serious and professional, then said in a low voice.
"Mr. Nagisa, I need you in my office. It's urgent."
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Thank you for reading! If this moment touched you even a little , please consider adding it to your library.💐