What, Failure to Transition!? Volume 1 Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Chapter 4 - Message

“Yes?”

The young woman’s voice coming from the intercom sounded a bit tired. She must be Todou’s wife.

“Um, is this Yoichi Todou’s home address?”

“Eh……ah, yes.”

“My condolences, Miss Todou. My apologies, too, for barging in unexpectedly. I couldn’t make it to the funeral in time, so I thought I’d drop by to offer some incense for your husband.”

“……please wait a moment.”

After waiting for a while, the front door opened, and a woman who was probably Todou’s wife appeared, still in mourning clothes.

“……Please, come in.”

“Thank you very much.”

The woman led Yoichi into the living room.

Unlike what he was expecting, there was no household Buddhist altar inside Todou’s house, only a simple stand with a portrait of the deceased, his memorial tablet, his ashes, a brand-new incense burner, and a bell.[1]

The young man smiling in the frame was exactly the same Todou that Yoichi had met on that day.

Yoichi placed the incense stick on the holder and lit them.

After that, he lightly tapped the bell and bowed.

The procedure was a bit vague, but it wasn’t particularly rude either.

Yoichi then turns to the woman, only to see that she was looking at him with a blank expression and slightly unfocused eyes.

Witnessing her state, he decided to speak up first.

“Actually, I was the one who was involved in the accident with your husband...” With those words, something has begun to lit up in the woman’s eyes.

“Oh, really?”

Yoichi then briefly explained the circumstances of the accident. Or course, things about the administrator were omitted for them not to question his sanity.

(Well, I’m sure they have been briefed by the police and others about what happened anyway. But it won’t hurt to listen to another perspective, right?)

After it was over, the woman smiled at Yoichi with a hint of self-mockery.

“You were able to help other people, even in your last moments. I’m so, so proud of you.”

Yoichi was not sure what he should say to Todou’s wife, who has begun her soliloquy while rubbing her stomach with a tired voice, but he mustered up his courage to tell her what he needed to tell her, even if it was just a simple message.

“To tell you the truth, after the accident, I managed to have a little talk with your husband before he passed away.”

“Eh?”

Todou’s wife’s expression stiffened.

Yoichi noticed the change, but he pretended not to and continued talking.

“Well, you see, how do I start this……First of all, he said that he recently applied a life insurance. He told me he hasn’t told you about it yet, and he was worried about it. He said that he was solicited by a salesman who came to his workplace and that his colleagues at work might know the details.”

“Oh, I see. Thank you for taking the trouble.”

“……In addition, the “ta(タ)” in “Shinta(シンタ)” should be “big(太)” rather than “thick(大).”

When he spoke those words, tears began to spill from the corners of Todou’s wife’s eyes.

“Uuu……”

It was then followed by her face contorting in anguish. Then with a loud cry,

“Uaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

(Now that I’ve told her what you need to know, it’s time for me to go……)

“Whyyyyyyyyy!?”

But all of a sudden, Todou’s wife screamed and pounced on him with a face of a demon. She grabbed him by the neck and pressed him down with a force one wouldn’t believe it was coming from a frail-looking woman.

“Why!? Why is it him!? Why is it not you instead! Whyyyyy!”

Yoichi is single and has no particular regrets about leaving this world.

If he could take his place, he would have already done it himself.

However, fate is just that cruel, and even the administrator they met at that time couldn’t topple that decision.

Either way, saying these things won’t change anything and won’t help Todou’s wife be at ease. Yoichi had no choice but to remain silent.

“But what the hell are you thinking, doing like that! How about our future! How about our child! Uuu, uwaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Yoichi’s wife continued wailing in front of him, but he knew those words were not directed at him. In time, the power holding down Yoichi weakened down, but Todou’s wife just continued to cry like a child.

It was then that the sound of the front door being opened was heard.

A middle-aged couple emerged from inside the house and witnessed an unknown man getting strangled by the woman familiar to them.

“Yasue!? What happened!?”

“You! What are you doing to my daughter!?”

The man came running at Yoichi with a face like a demon.

A demon that has a bit of resemblance to Yoichi’s wife.

Just after Yoichi became aware of their presence, a right hook was already approaching in front of his face.

〇●〇●

“I’m so sorry!”

The man who had hit Yoichi earlier, Yasue’s father, rubbed his head on the floor in a dogeza as an apology for what he had done.

“Ah, no. It’s Okay.”

“I’m truly sorry for the terrible misunderstanding.”

“No, it’s really okay.”

The mother soothed as she applied an ice pack to Yoichi’s cheek.

(No, actually. I’m already fine……)

When Yoichi was hit, it obviously hurt him a bit; his mouth was cut, and his cheek was swollen, but now, the wound had already closed, the swelling had already gone down. So much to say that the pain was totally gone as well.

(This seems to be the effect of [Healthy Body+].)

So right now, you could say that he’s just using the ice pack to hide his abnormal healing.

“I see. Then, allow me to thank you instead.”

“No, I didn’t really do anything much.”

“That girl……she hasn’t shed a tear since the day he died. I really couldn’t help but worry. But thanks to his husband’s last words that you conveyed to us; she finally got the chance to exhaust it all……”

Following the father’s gaze which was now directed to the living room, Yoichi caught the sight of Yasue, still with tears in her eyes, but unlike the demon face she was having earlier, she is now having a peaceful one as she slept like a child on her mother’s lap.

“I just happened to be there……”

“Still, thank you for coming all this way.” The father bowed his head deeply.

“By the way, what about his family?”

“That……you see, the man has a very thin relationship with his family. We managed to get them to show up at the wedding, but this time, they only sent a telegram of condolence and an incense that was paid by wire transfer.”

The father just laughed with slight sorrow, but even Yoichi could feel the disgust in his eyes.

(I guess everyone has their own story, huh.)

“Well, I’d better get going.”

“This early? Well, it can’t be helped. Can you give me your contact info? I want to apologize again for my daughter’s behavior……”

Yoichi didn’t really need an additional apology, but he knows that it wouldn’t be good for the other side.

“Here, take this.”

To save face, Yoichi took out his business card from his wallet and handed it to the father.

Although he is a factory worker and despite working like he’s on a part-time job, he was registered as a sole proprietor, so he had to make these kinds of things somehow.

He only made ten cards on his printer at home, though.

While he never had an opportunity to give it to anyone, he didn’t expect that its first use would be in this situation.

“Again, I’m really sorry. See you again at a later date.”

“Ah yes, see you again, mister.”

〇●〇●

After leaving Todou’s house, Yoichi remembered something important.

To be precise, it was before he was about to leave, as it was when he saw his own business card.

He remembered that he hadn’t contacted his workplace yet, and he had been absent without notice for two days.

He called the factory hotline in a hurry, but no one answered, so he called the cell phone of Tamura, the regular employee of the company.

“Hello?”

“Tamura, it’s Todou.”

“Oh, Todou! You’ve been absent for two days? Oh, I’m free right now, so go on and chat.”

“You see, that……”

Yoichi explained to Tamura the recent happenings, from the accident to his examination and discharge from the hospital.

“Oof, that was tough. Still, it was a good thing you weren’t harmed. You got a decent excuse anyway, so why don’t you get yourself some rest for the rest of the week? No, even until next week!”

Yoichi looked at his phone. It was Saturday now, which means he could have more than a whole week off.

And considering the overall situation, he might as well take the opportunity to have that much time off, or even more if he made “recovering from mental trauma” as a reason for his absence.

“Come on, don’t be shy! You can take more time off if you want, hahaha!”

“Then I’m going to take your word for it and go rest for the rest of the month. Can I contact you again if I decided to come early?”

“Sure, sure. Just don’t overdo it, bro.”

This year has just begun, and there are still more than two weeks to go before it reaches the end of this month.

Yoichi thought that if he were able to put his newly acquired skills well, he might as well give it a try to earn some money, then altogether resign in his current business.

(Since I got a lot of time now, let’s think about it slowly.)

For the time being, he decided to go home.

But while walking through the now-dimly lighted residential area, Yoichi felt a little regret that he had also forgotten to set his home point at his small apartment.

It seems that his [Healthy Body+] doesn’t cover his forgetfulness, even though it had cured him of his trauma, his back pain, and the father’s punch.

Translator Notes:

[1]. Yoichi was expecting a butsudan, a household Buddhist altar in which any Japanese houses or apartments that have a traditional Japanese style room (washitsu) have.

They usually contain bells, ashes of the deceased, their portraits, and their memorial tablets (ihai) relative to the household’s family.

This is the Ihai (memorial tablet). Kinda like the epitaphs in the west.

Butsudan are usually used in two ways:

1. As a small household temple to enshrine Buddhist statues.

2. As a household altar—a place where you pay respects to family members who have died and ask for protection for the living family.

It is the duty of the eldest son to care for the ancestors. The eldest son is expected to pray and give offerings regularly at the butsudan (this often becomes the eldest son’s wife’s job).

There is still a strange fact about them, though. Even though it was a complete Buddhist tradition, Japanese Christians also do this because it was deeply ingrained in their culture as Japanese. Not that the Christian community minds, though. (I mean, it’s a way of respecting the dead. Of course, they won’t mind.)

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