Chapter 3 - The Child With No Birthday
The Scarlet Helix was gone.
Reduced to smoldering fragments beneath Kyoto's streets, the research labyrinth that once represented the heart of corruption and grief now existed only in scattered memories and court records. Akio Hukitaske had emerged from the wreckage broken in places—but whole in others. He had confronted his past. He had stood beside his brother-in-arms, Hikata. He had exposed the truth.
And for the first time in years, he stood in silence without the weight of secrecy suffocating his lungs.
But peace didn't rush to greet him. It hesitated, lingering in the alleys and corners of the life he had reclaimed. There was one thing left. One decision he had put off far too long.
Something more personal than any lab, any enemy, or any confession.
He had to see her again.
Scene 1: Unsent Letters
The pharmacy returned to its rhythm. Patients shuffled in with their prescriptions, children brought hand-drawn thank-you cards, and elders spoke of "the brave doctor who fought the world and came back stronger."
But Akio's thoughts weren't fully there. Not even when brewing teas or diagnosing symptoms. Not even when Rumane teased him for burning another pot of herbal cough paste.
Because tucked inside his coat pocket was a letter—one that had arrived years ago.
From her.
Kaede.
His ex-wife.
The wife he had once thought he'd grow old with. The wife who had been by his side when their daughter when they had lost her. They had drifted, pulled apart by trauma, by silence, by things neither of them knew how to name.
And then Akio had vanished.
Not literally—but emotionally, ethically, existentially.
He had taken the syringe. The "Relife Serum" that rewound his biology and rerouted his life.
And in doing so, he'd shut the door on Kaede.
The letter she had sent, years ago, had been kind. Graceful. Wistful.
"I'm glad to hear you're doing better. Truly. I hope this new path brings you peace. I've remarried. I have a good life now. But I still think about you. I hope, someday, you'll write back. Even if just to say hello."
He never had.
Until now.
Scene 2: A Promise Reopened
That evening, Akio stood on the pharmacy's roof under the stars.
Hikata appeared beside him, holding two cups of warm barley tea.
"You keep spacing out like that and people will start calling you a philosopher," Hikata joked.
Akio gave a faint smile. "I've been thinking."
"About her?"
A slow nod.
"She wrote to me years ago. After the serum, after I started rebuilding my life. I never wrote back. I kept telling myself it was because I didn't want to confuse things... because she had moved on. But that's not the truth."
"Then what is?"
Akio took a breath. "I was ashamed. Of what I became. Of how I disappeared. And... of what I did to her. I thought the best thing I could do was stay away after the divorce."
"Akio, she's not your enemy."
"I know that. And that's why I need to see her. Not to change anything. She's remarried. She has a life now. I don't want to disrupt that. But I want to apologize. To her. To our daughter."
Hikata placed a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder. "Then go. Don't wait until you regret it."
Scene 3: The House by the River
Kaede lived in a quiet suburb outside the city, where cherry blossoms fell like snow and the wind carried the scent of warm rice and afternoon tea.
Akio didn't wear his lab coat. Just a soft grey sweater. Something human. Something honest.
When she opened the door, they stared at each other for a long moment.
Her hair was shorter now. More silver threaded through the black.
She smiled first.
"You finally came."
He nodded. "Is now a good time?"
"I think it's the only time that matters."
They sat across from each other in the living room. Her husband wasn't home, and Akio was thankful for that. Not because he wanted to intrude, but because this moment needed no other witness.
"I owe you a lot of apologies," he said.
"You don't owe me anything."
"I do," Akio said quietly. "I vanished. I made choices without explaining them. I shut you out. I never came back. And when you wrote to me... I left your words unopened for years."
Kaede looked down at her teacup. "You were grieving. I was too. We were just... different in how we carried it."
"I let our daughter's memory become something I ran from."
Kaede looked up. Her eyes were glassy.
Akio's voice trembled. "This weekend is the day. Her funeral day. I haven't visited her grave with you since everything began. I let excuses pile up. The lab. The serum. The pharmacy. The chaos. But none of that justifies what I let myself forget."
Kaede's voice was soft. "You didn't forget. You were surviving."
"I want to come. This weekend. With you. I want to bring flowers. I want to tell her I'm sorry. For not being there. For not being her father the way I promised."
Kaede reached across the table. Took his hand.
"We both broke, Akio. But we can still share her memory. We don't have to be strangers."
"Is it okay... if we're friends?" he asked.
She smiled through tears. "We always were. We just forgot."
Scene 4: The Grave Beneath the Willows
The cemetery rested at the edge of the city, where a single willow tree stood watch over dozens of small headstones. It was peaceful. Clean. Serene.
Akio brought lilies. Her favorite.
Kaede brought a small notebook filled with poems.
They stood in silence for a while, letting the wind speak for them.
Akio knelt before the headstone and traced his fingers across the name.
"I've been gone a long time," he whispered. "I came back. And I'm still trying to do better. But I never forgot you. Even when I was wrong. Even when I disappeared. I never forgot."
Kaede knelt beside him.
Together, they lit a single candle and placed it between the flowers.
"We'll always love you," she said.
Akio didn't cry. Not because he didn't want to. But because for the first time in so long, his heart felt full.
He had come back to the place he feared most.
And it welcomed him home.
Scene 5: Ashes and Apologies
They walked back to her home without speaking much. Sometimes words aren't necessary.
Before they parted, Kaede said, "I saw your broadcast. The world knows who you are now. Not the Pharmacist they accused you of being. But the one you chose to become."
"I still make mistakes," he replied.
"Then keep making them. But never stop returning to fix what you can."
He smiled.
And then she said something he didn't expect.
"You're always welcome to visit. Not just for her. But for us. As a friend."
He bowed, deeply. "Thank you. That means everything."
Scene 6: Return to the Pharmacy
By the time Akio returned, the sun was setting over the city. The pharmacy's warm lights glowed through the windows.
Rumane was waiting at the counter, arms crossed. "Took you long enough."
Akio chuckled. "Sorry. Had a few years to catch up on."
She handed him a mug of tea. "So... feel better?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I think... I finally understand what this second life is for. It's not to correct the past. It's to make peace with it."
He looked at the photo on the wall—of his daughter, of the old team, of what they had built.
And for the first time, his reflection didn't look like a ghost.
[Next: Volume 4, Chapter 4 — Sickly Tommorow]