I was thinking of my dad as a good-for-nothing.

You see, he was a drunkard, a gambler and played around with other women, despite having wife and son at home. Really, my mother wept and wept, going through hardship after hardship. Out of this reason I regarded him as my enemy and despised him, avoiding any direct contact and we even had fights sometimes.

And this dad said, earnestly, to me:

"Soon, you too, will find a girl you'll like. Listen up. Take good care of her!"

"Are you dumb? That's not what you're doing, is it?!", I thought.

I guess he realized my feelings on this.　After having made an awkward expression, he seemed like having changed his mind,　next formed an angry face and eventually again a strange mien for some reason.

He said

"You see, in the olden days even I was ready to give up my life for your mother. No, that hasn't changed since then. Yeah, even now."

"Persuasive power = zero", I thought, "I can't see a bit of you being like this!".

By the way, this event happened in deep midsummer.　It was a record-breaking summer with the sun roasting us at 30C for several days. And since my dad was sensitive to heat, he walked around in a single pair of pants. The pants were striped white and blue. Looking at this appearance I couldn't help but to feel no persuasive power from him.

Well, thinking now, his speech might have lacked persuasive power. But considering it was him, it might as well have been his honest thoughts. Yes, at that time his eyes --- although they had become dirty (perhaps by the years of his debauchery) --- they were glimmering faintly.　They were exactly glimmering in the same manner, like when he was betting on a horse. So without doubt, these were serious eyes.

Some important person once left the adage

"The ones that tell the truth are morons"

behind. It's really like this.

Now I'm fully aware of it.

My dad's words were right.

Right---

Now I can comprehend them.

Although having gone through some quite painful experiences.

With "painful experiences" I'm by the way referring to the following.

It was pure coincidence that I threw a magazine in Rika's face. Since I discovered an interesting manga, I took the magazine that contained that manga full of goodwill from the lobby to her room. That is, because I wanted to comfort her, no matter how non significant, since she wasn't feeling well lately. I could cry of my own tenderness. Just like a little puppy that wags its tail in front of its owner.

But her reaction wasn't

"Thank you"

and it wasn't

"Thanks!"

nor was it

"Yuuichi, you're so kind.".

An orange attack

was it. [Anime: E1; 11:50]

If I had to explain what happened... the moment I entered her hospital room, an orange came flying from above. She had put one of the oranges she received from her visitors above the door, so that it'd fall on my head when I entered the room.

Something like this often appears in old dramas as

"The blackboard sponge that falls on the head of the teacher"

Her trap was similar to this.

The blockhead I am, I fell for this age-old trick and was shocked by that sudden attack, so that I let go of the magazine I was holding. That's how it hit the face of the girl that was sitting on her bed in front of me.

I affirm: it wasn't on purpose.

It was rather her fault for setting an inevitable trap, I'd say...

Of course Rika wasn't the same opinion.

"Hwath are you doing?!"

Holding her now fire-red nose, she started throwing one orange after the other with her face taut with anger. One, two, three --- oranges came flying in succession. While yelling out "Uwawawawa", I caught one after the other. But the fourth one filled up all space I had in my hands, so the fifth one hit me right in the face.

"Uwaaah---!"

While crying out, I broke down.

Rika laughed out loud watching me like this.

"Oh yeah! That should have been a lesson to you!"

Gosh, isn't that cruel? But even if something like this happens, I won't give up. Sure, it's discouraging and it makes me angry, but I won't give up.

It's such times when I remember the words of my dad.

Let me make one thing clear.

This is a trivial, ordinary story.

Just a story of a boy and a girl that meet.

There's nothing to add to this.

Well, of course many things happen, but these things can probably not compare to really serious events that happen all over the world (e.g. hundreds of people that starve to death, a war started by an idiotic and brutal dictator, or a big financial crisis).

Right, a simple and ordinary story.

Of course it was something special for us.

No, that doesn't feel quite correct....

For us, it was something really, really, special.