To My Sunflower - Chapter 70

Hinata and Rika entered a small village that was the foot of a mountain. Near the exit ramp of a main highway.

Hinata frowned when saw that a lot of military vehicles and trucks were parked before the local shrine and large minka. As they need the minka house, he could see it was a local inn. Rika parked the car around the back of the inn. And way from the army jeeps.

“Are you able to help me carry these into the inn?” She asked.

Hinata nodded and lifted a few sacks from the lorry. He followed her around the corner. His heart raced when they passed a group of men in army uniforms.

“Don’t make eye contact.” He chanted in his head.

The group watched them pass, sharing some chatter and snap observations. No one approached them.

Hinata expelled a sigh of relief when they entered the inn’s storage room where a worker was waiting for them.

He was suave in an Oxford brown suit and white doctor’s coat. A strange appearance for an innkeeper or worker.

“Saito-san! Thank god!” The man sighed with relief. “I don’t know how long these people can last without food.”

Hinata tilted his head to one side, perplexed.

“Do you work here?” He blurted.

The man peered at Hinata, formulating an assessment of him.

“Oh. You also need medical aid.” He concluded based on the mild scars of Hinata’s bruises and his poorly stance.

“That he does. Although, he’s almost healed on his own.”Rika answered for Hinata.

She commenced with introductions. “Chikafuji-san. Meet Kominato, Ryōsuke sensei. An army doctor.”

“Army doctor?” Hinata asked.

“I travel the country with wounded soldiers from my unit. Those who were able to return from war.” Ryōsuke soberly confirmed.

Hinata peered at the young debonair doctor who was too stylish for war. His wavy dark hair was smoothed back from his clean shaven singular face. And his western suit was of high quality despite discreet and faded blood stains near the cuffs and hems. His light almond eyes held a wisdom he suspected was a consequence of seeing too much war.  It made him wonder.

“Did you serve at Iwo Jima?” He timidly asked.

Ryōsuke sighed. “No. I served at the base in Kokura. My orders were to maintain the health of the returned solders back to their homes.  A lot of my unit served in Kadena, flown back when…”

His voice trailed off to another sigh.

“You’re not a soldier?” Ryōsuke asked.

Hinata didn’t carry the same war-torn expressions most of his patients did. Yet the man looked like he had suffered a similar fate.

“No.”

Rika brought their attention back to the food sacks, which Hinata continued to help her stack against a shelf that had a lot of medical supplies within reach.

He learned that the inn had been repurposed as a medical unit for the injured return soldiers and some refugees who had managed to escape attacks along the East Coast.

The owner was a lonely old man who had died of heart failure due to starvation. Beforehand, he had surrendered the inn to Riko’s shrine with a wish that it be a place of refuge for others. His last honourable act as a man.

The shrine’s priests realized the need for a makeshift hospital in the area when it became a regular stop point for a lot of travelling vehicles carrying weak and sick refugees. The closet medical facility was miles away.

“The military hasn’t confiscated the food?” Hinata asked Rika with a deep frown.

“They have.” Rika said with a hushed tone. “These are the sacks that some of the army veterans could knock-off the trucks bound for the big cities I was told.”

Hinata understood, realizing the risk her shrine was taking in stealing food for starving locals.

“We need to bring health back to the sick and old.” Rika added with a determined whispered. “Call it treason. I refuse to see people starve to death before me.”

Hinata smiled. He could see why Rocko was her friend. She was an admirable woman.

“Isn’t Kominato-sensei also breaking rules?”

“Guess. I feel he sees his duty as a doctor first.” Rika said matter-of-factually “He’s a good man. We’re lucky to have him while he’s here.”

“He’ll move on?”

“Yeah. He has other men to see to their homes.” Rika sighed with disappointment.

Hinata wondered if Ryōsuke himself had a home to return to. He nodded and focused on helping Rika and Ryōsuke administer of the food to people crammed around the inn.

It was late in the afternoon when Rika and Hinata resumed their journey to the place where Rika said his family would be according Rocko’s instructions.