#case 12

We start where we left off, Onodera has opened the door for Shizuma at the hospital. Minato, still in the car, looks over and reads Shizuma’s lips. He notices he is talking to his director (Onodera) who is completely different to what he imagained she’d be like. She seems uninterested in Shizuma, so Minato doesn’t see her as a threat.

Shizuma apologises to Onodera for coming back to late and asks her if he could go in to collect some “belongings” he’s forgotten. Lo and behold, Onodera understands what he’s said and brings out his boxers from her pocket!

Shizuma, very visibly flustered, asks why she has it, while Minato is also looking on from the car with wide eyes. She flatly says his boxers were dry and they would’ve been a bother if she’d just left them for other staff members to see. Shizuma goes to collect his boxers now that he understands her reasoning.

Onodera holds onto the boxers for a bit, while Shizuma is confused. She then lets go, saying it was merely a joke. Again, Shizuma is flustered and just cannot understand her. She then calls Shizuma by his actual name (Ikushima-sensei) and proceeds to tell him to collect his scrub pants tomorrow since they’re still drying. He notices that she called him by his actual name, so she politely reminds him that he’s the one who told her that she should remember his name properly. She also tells him not to quit so easily since she’s finally remembered the name of a new comer to her hospital who could potentially leave them at a moment’s notice.

Shizuma smiles at her comment, and very happily says he will do his best. Unbeknownst to Shizuma, Minato has seen him give her a stupidly happy grin. After all that, Shizuma returns to the car, telling Minato that his business at the hospital is over, but Minato is not in the car! 

Fast forward to the next day, and we see the nurses are looking into the surgical room Onodera and Shizuma are in. They overhear Onodera calling Shizuma by his actual name--the second person to have this honour after Nakajou-sensei, apparently--and notice they have gotten closer. One nurse also curses that she’s been called the wrong name for 10 years now. They ponder at what could’ve happened that day when Shizuma worked on his day off. Tatsumi sees the nurses, then approaches Shizuma about it in the men’s change room.

Before Tatsumi gets some answers out of Shizuma, we see Shizuma gloomy and ask Tatsumi’s opinion about a text he received from Minato that says: “I went home first. I’m not mad or anything. Just leave me alone for a while.”

Tatsumi is slightly annoyed that Minato is on Shizuma’s mind at a time like this! Shizuma goes on saying that he’ll leave Minato alone since that’s what he wrote in the message and they’ll start messaging each other again once his mood improves. Then he ponders how Minato misunderstood the situation with the director and blames the boxers as the cause. Tatsumi is confused and asks Shizuma to clarify what’s going on. But Shizuma just keeps going on a tangent and talks to himself about his situation with Minato, which is freaking Tatsumi out a little.

Tatsumi doesn’t think Shizuma is the type of person to cheat on anyone (since he was cheated on himself!). Shizuma then comes to his senses and tells Tatsumi that he’ll explain this whole thing about him and the director to him another time. He then adds on that compared to Minato she is cute and isn’t difficult at all, with dark bags under his eyes. Tatsumi is still confused, as he believes everything Shizuma is saying has a deeper meaning to it.

Just then, Onodera opens the door and asks if Shizuma is around. She simply asks Shizuma to get some bread since the ones in the fridge have gone off. He says he will while telling her to knock on the door since she surprised Tatsumi. Shizuma excuses himself and leaves first, leaving Onodera in the room, looking over at a nervous Tatsumi.

We change locations to Minato, who has just arrived home. As he dismounts his motorbike, Shizuma welcomes him back, leaning casually on a wall with a flat face and a slight frown. Minato continues to walk to his apartment and reminds Shizuma that he asked to be left alone, ignoring the fact that Shizuma is trying to clear up the misunderstandings. Shizuma kabe-dons him (i.e. slams his hand on the wall and stops Minato from walking further) and asks him directly why he ran away and why he’s angry.

With his helmet still on, Minato lifts the face shield visor on his helmet, and with wide, scary, glaring eyes, he once again reminds Shizuma that he said he did not run away nor is he angry. Shizuma is visibly confused as Minato’s words and his expressions don’t match up.

Minato then asks Shizuma why he didn’t tell him about his director sooner. Shizuma says he had every intention to tell Minato about his director since Minato was worried about it ever since the drinking party (the one with the nurses, probably) but he couldn’t since Minato was really busy and he didn’t want to ramble to Minato about how he and Onodera didn’t get along well at the beginning. He felt that it was just boring complaints so he avoided it altogether.

Minato tells Shizuma that he would’ve listened to it, even if he was just complaining, and reminds Shizuma to rely on him more. Shizuma looks over softly at Minato and takes his hand, agreeing with everything he said. He places his forehead on Minato’s and promises to next time.

He then asks Minato to take off his helmet since he wants to see him properly, to which Minato says it’s too late for him to be acting all spoilt* (the word here is 甘える which can be used to mean “to spoil” or “to depend on”. Depends on the context).

Shizuma then tells Minato that it’s because of his words that Shizuma was able to overcome the troubles he had at work and gain the opportunities to continue forward. Minato then understands that Shizuma’s relationship with Onodera improved because of him, and scowls. Before Shizuma can clarify what he said, Minato sarcastically says he’s glad he could give good advice without he himself knowing he had. Shizuma calls Minato’s name, and Minato then tells Shizuma that he doesn’t understand why Minato is upset/worried. Angrily scowling at Shizuma once more, Minato slams his front door in front of Shizuma, yelling: “Don’t think that you’re always being deceived!”

Shizuma drives home, tired from the fact he made Minato unnecessarily angry. He realises that this might be the first time since they’ve started dating that Minato’s been mad at him, but can’t get over how adorable his angry “get away from me” face is.

Just as he is walking to his house, he sees Mito-san drop off Shouhei and the good night kisses they exchange. 

Shouhei is all giddy from that but is then surprised by Shizuma’s sudden appearance. Shizuma tells Shouhei to not pick such a conspicious place if he’s going to get all embarrased.

Inside the Ikushima residence, Shouehi tells Shizuma that Mito-san dropped him off since they don’t have many chances of doing that again--Mito-san and Shouhei are moving in together! Shouhei is all excited again, outlining what he has to do in the lead-up to his moving out. Shizuma is surprised that Shouhei is moving out to live with Mito-san. Shouhei then proceeds to blab on about how he’s the first to move out with his lover and that he’s surprised he’ll be moving out before Shizuma, but reminds Shizuma to ask him whenever he and Minato want to move out together... all the while unknowning that Shizuma and Minato have been working on that all along!

Shizuma then comments on how nice it is that Mito-san and Shouhei get along well. When Shouhei reminds him that he’s got Minato, Shizuma then tells him that they’re not talking at the moment. Shizuma then continues to think about what it could be that is upsetting/making Minato worry but draws a big blank. Shouhei, seeing his brother all contemplative, just reassures him to keep apologising to Minato since he’ll forgive him for it anyway, to which Shizuma says: “Would be nice if that were the case...” We then see Minato smoking on his balcony, looking out into the dark night sky.

The next day, Shizuma goes to Minato’s place, but is surprised when no one answers the doorbell. He calls Shouhei, who tells him that Minato isn’t at work but has a day off and rejected Shouhei’s invitation to play games with him. He then mentions that Minato might be busy with his other job--the photography project.

Shizuma then calls Mama at the bar, and Mama says Minato is not there either since it’s his day off and is probably using this free time to complain about the costuming work for the photoshoot. One of the ladies from the bar comments that he might have run away (from Mama?) and Mama tells her to keep quiet.

Shizuma then visits Mito-san, who also tells him that Minato is not with him. He says Minato should be at home if he isn’t at work or doing photography, but suggests that he might be with his friends.

Shizuma then calls Minato’s friends (the ones who wants the foursome) and calls them while they’re having some “rough play”. They say he isn’t with them and might be at some random guy’s house. They then remind Shizuma about their wanting a foursome, and Shizuma just hangs up the phone.

We end the chapter with Shizuma standing in front of Trois Lapin, wondering where Minato is.

And that’s it for this chapter! Another cliffhanger! Ahhhhh! I too am finding myself thinking where Minato could be? Is he back at his childhood home? Or is he off somewhere planning some sort of surprise? I DON’T KNOW! Ahah 😅😭

Again, THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR! 💜 📢  As always, please support Hinohara-sensei by purchasing her books and CDs! 📢

There won’t be a chapter in the next issue of Dear+ so I assume we might get the next chapter in 2 months’ time! I’ll see you guys again for our next set of takeaways! I may or may not work on something in the meantime~ 😉😍