Chapter 2 - Rain in the Waiting Room
By late morning, a storm swept through the city like a sigh no one asked for. Rain lashed the windows of Hukitaske Pharmacy, streaking across the glass like trembling brushstrokes. Outside, Tokyo's rhythm slowed under the downpour—umbrellas turned inside out, cars hissed along wet asphalt, and hurried footsteps softened into puddle-splashing beats.
Inside, Akio adjusted a display of throat lozenges for the third time that morning. The silence was heavy, pierced only by the steady hum of the heater and the rhythmic tapping of rain. Then, the door burst open with a gasp and a gust of cold air.
A kid stumbled in, soaked from head to toe. Rain dripped from her hair, pooling on the floor beneath her shoes. She clutched a crumpled plastic bag like it was a lifeline.
"I—Is this the pharmacy?" she stammered, shivering.
Akio stepped forward without hesitation. "Yes. Come in. Sit down—you're drenched."
She collapsed into a waiting room chair, water spreading beneath her like a halo of distress. Her fingers were stiff and red from the cold. She didn't look up.
"I missed school," she muttered, voice breaking. "Didn't want to come out. But my little brother... he's burning up. I didn't know what else to do."
Akio gently took the wet bag from her hands. Inside were cough drops, a menthol patch, some vitamins, and the wrong kind of fever meds. The kind that could complicate things for a child's sickness with headaches.
"This isn't quite right," he said softly. "Wait here. I'll get what you need."
She gave a weak nod, shoulders trembling. Akio disappeared behind the counter and returned with a warm towel, a small insulated bottle of electrolyte solution, and the correct medicine—doses calculated carefully for a child her brother's age.
He knelt before her, drying her hands with the towel.
"You did the right thing coming here," he said. "He's lucky to have you."
That broke her. She covered her face with her hands and cried—shoulders hitching with every sob. Not loud, not dramatic. Just quiet heartbreak, leaking through the cracks of everything she had tried to hold together.
Akio didn't interrupt. He just sat on the floor beside her. Letting the rain talk for them both.
They didn't speak again until she stood to leave. She bowed deeply, clutching the properly prepared medicine bag.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much."
When she left, the bell above the door jingled softly. The rain hadn't let up.
But something inside the pharmacy had changed.
That day, the waiting room wasn't just a room for customers.
It was a shelter.
A shelter from weather, yes—but also from loneliness, fear, and helplessness.
And Akio? He didn't just sell medicine that day.
He reminded someone what it meant to be seen.
And in that moment, for the first time in a long time, he felt it too.
He wasn't just reliving life.
He was living it better.
[Next: Chapter 3 — Stormlight Hours]