desiderata877

Chapter 25: Reconciliation

Grandpa: Sumire, it’s just me visiting you this year. She seems to be really busy these days… Can you see her, Sumire? She’s grown into a fine young lady.

*tap tap tap*

Jeremy: …Oh, there's already a visitor here. I heard that today was the anniversary of Sumire’s death

Grandpa: Jeremy…!? What are you doing here…!

Jeremy: I heard from your granddaughter. Allow me to pay my respects since I came all the way to Japan.

Grandpa: O-of course, please do. Sumire, Jeremy is here.

Jeremy: …So this is Sumire’s grave. It’s a nice place. I… didn’t come here today just to visit Sumire, but also because I wanted to talk to you.

Grandpa: To me?

Jeremy: I came to apologize. For everything I’ve done, I’m sorry. Without realizing my mistakes, I was wrong in thinking that you had betrayed me when all this time you had been looking for me. I continued to hate you… I even forced your granddaughter into some dangerous situations. I don’t care what it takes for you to forget about this. You can hit me, swear at me, do as you’d like.

Grandpa: …You are an important friend to Sumire and me. I could never bring myself to do such a thing.

Jeremy: …You’re a good person, just like you’ve always been. Nothing about you has changed in the past 50 years.

Grandpa: People don’t change so easily.

Jeremy: You’re right. Have I always had such a cynical disposition for the past 50 plus years? I guess I can’t change so easily either.

Grandpa: Hmhm, isn’t that a good thing? After all, that’s what makes you, you.

Jeremy: …I suppose you’re right. You were such a good researcher who came all the way from Japan, and I was a lonely scholar… Perhaps, I will embrace this solitude, and continue living alone.

Grandpa: You’re not alone. You’ve got Old Pal and everyone else, right? And you have me. You have Sumire… Jeremy, this is for you.

Jeremy: A letter…from Sumire…?

Grandpa: Yes, she wrote it a few days before her passing. She thought she wouldn’t ever see you again in this lifetime, so she was always, always worried about you. Until the day she died.

Jeremy: …I should have come to see you sooner. Both you… and Sumire…

Grandpa: Jeremy… It’s alright. Sumire understands. She understands everything.

Salty Dog: Is Jeremy crying? Were they not able to make up…!?

Old Pal: I don’t think that’s it. He’s crying because he’s touched. Those are tears coming from the decades of memories inside him.

Manhattan: Even though I’m just like him, I’m weak… It’s such a great thing, the friendship between men… I’m touched by it…

Tom Collins: The two of them really did get along. Time allowed them to be together…They were like family.

Moulin Rouge: In the beginning, Master only thought about his own feelings. And Jeremy was blunt about it.

Kiss in the Dark: He probably didn’t understand what to do. Until now, he’s never connected with other people the way he does with Master.

Old Pal: Jeremy was all alone in the laboratory, and he was always scowling. He wouldn’t even look at us. I was so happy when the two of them got along! Tell us stories about what they were like from time to time, okay?

Gin Fizz: They’ve been here and there. But about half of us complained about planning on going to yours during the next holiday.

Tom Collins: Well they’re not so obedient, so that’s easier said than done, but it must have been really fun for the three of them to go out together.

Alaska: After Jeremy opened up to them, he became more relaxed. I…really liked him then.

Blue Moon: That Jeremy will come back soon.

Alexander: They’re so strange, these beings we call ‘humans.’ Do their personalities change with just one emotion? She deserves credit for making all this happen.