One Day, My Dad Disappeared - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 3
I bowed my head once more to Aidan, who looked down at me while sweeping back his neatly arranged red hair.
“……Yes, I’m sorry.”
“Is sorry all you can say?”
“…….”
“Tsk, now you won’t even open your mouth.”
He clicked his tongue and turned away. Only then did I exhale the breath I’d been holding. Right—I couldn’t keep burdening others like this. I headed straight to the Hospital after work.
The Doctor, his hair streaked with premature silver, did nothing but spin his pen between his fingers as he listened to my account.
“You think I’m insane too, don’t you?”
The Doctor didn’t answer my self-deprecating question. Instead, he offered a gentle smile.
“Don’t worry too much. People who acknowledge their own symptoms like this tend to have a better prognosis.”
“……I see.”
So even the Doctor saw me as a delusional patient. I fidgeted with my fingers on my lap, my head hanging low.
“I see people like you from time to time.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Not long ago, a woman who desperately wanted a child came in with her husband, insisting that she’d had a child who was kidnapped.”
The Doctor scribbled out a prescription as he spoke.
“Don’t you think your parents wanted a child very badly? You said you attended the Academy, didn’t you?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Didn’t you have classmates whose families were unusually close? You envied them, didn’t you? Thinking ‘I wish I had family too, then they’d be this kind to me.’ Some people have particularly vivid fantasies like that. The more they imagine, the more they come to believe in the fantasy.”
The Doctor handed me the prescription.
“Let’s start with the medications listed here. I’ve kept the dosage minimal, so you shouldn’t experience major side effects in your daily life, but if you feel unusually drowsy or experience any hallucinations, come back to the hospital immediately.”
Right, even the expert said I have Delusional Disorder. Father never existed.
I took the medication packet, tore open one dose right there, and stepped outside.
I needed some fresh air. These past few days, I’d been rushing around looking for Father without any sense of reason.
“Ha……haha.”
Laughter escaped me.
I’d been top of my class at the Academy, and my professors had hoped I’d continue my studies.
But I’d abandoned research and chosen a position in the Imperial Palace Civil Service instead, all to secure employment quickly.
I’d wanted to take out a stable loan and support Father, but now they say Father never existed in the first place—so what else was there to do but laugh?
“Oh, I’ve walked all the way to the Academy.”
Apparently I’d just gone straight without thinking. To get home, I should have gone in the opposite direction.
When was I going to turn back? Nothing was going right anyway.
It’d been like this every day since Father disappeared. The result was only natural given my condition.
“Oh, isn’t that Synthia?”
Someone called to me cheerfully just as I was turning to leave.
“Hello, how have you been?”
It was the Bakery Owner I’d bought snacks from often during my time at the Academy. As I stepped into the Bakery, the rich scent of freshly baked bread tickled my nose pleasantly.
“I heard you became an Imperial Palace civil servant—what brings you out this way?”
“I just ended up walking in this direction, I suppose.”
“You’re something else, haha. Here, take this with you.”
It was a sandwich loaded with the potato salad I’d often bought.
“That’s five silver, right?”
“Forget it. You came to our shop so many times while you were at the Academy. It’s nothing much, but think of it as my employment congratulations gift.”
“Sir…….”
I felt awkward about simply accepting. I glanced around and pointed at the Chocolate.
“Then let me buy this. Give me the rest of it.”
“You don’t even like sweets that much.”
“That’s true, but I want to give it as gifts to my colleagues.”
They’d put up with so much because of me.
“Look at you, already knowing how to conduct yourself in society. You’ve really grown up.”
The Bakery Owner smiled and neatly packaged the Chocolate into the paper bag along with the sandwich.
“The Imperial Palace is in the opposite direction from here, but you should visit sometimes.”
“I will. I’m sure I’ll come back often just to miss your bread.”
“You’ve got such a way with words.”
The hearty laughter had just begun to fade.
Rumble—
“My, it looks like rain’s coming?”
A loud clap of thunder sounded, and raindrops began to patter down on the ground.
“Goodness, it’s picking up quite a bit.”
“That would be right.”
The way the rain kept falling suggested it wasn’t about to let up anytime soon. As I gazed up at the sky with a troubled expression, an arrogant voice struck against my ear.
“You’re blocking the entrance. Customers can’t get in.”
His tone was irritable. When I looked ahead, there stood Aidan, holding a black umbrella just like mine.
“Oh, if it isn’t Aidan. Here for your usual purchase, I suppose? The Cute Animal Farm Cookie Set!”
The Cute Animal Farm Cookie Set? That adorably decorated set of cookies shaped like cute characters?
The one loaded with chocolate chips, so sweet just to look at? Aidan was actually buying that?
The same Aidan who buttoned his uniform all the way to his collar even in the sweltering summer?
“What… what are you talking about?”
“Ha, you come in all the time, don’t you? Just the other day you bought seventeen sets at once.”
“Ahem!”
Aidan coughed and folded his umbrella as he stepped inside.
“I was just here to buy a sandwich, that’s all.”
I had a feeling that wasn’t quite the truth, but I let it pass.
“What are you doing here?”
“As you can see, the rain started, so I was waiting for it to stop. But it doesn’t look like it will, so I suppose I’ll just have to brave it.”
I reached for the door, but a large hand caught my forearm.
“Are you mad? If you go out in this and catch a cold, what then?”
Aidan grumbled and lifted his own umbrella.
“I’ll take you.”
“Pardon?”
Perhaps because I’d reacted with such alarm, one of his eyebrows furrowed.
“If you catch a cold, it’ll interfere with work, won’t it? You can’t even focus properly as it is. If you start sniffling and sneezing, you’ll just be a distraction to everyone around you.”
Of course. It wouldn’t be concern for me. But sharing a single umbrella on the way back would be awkward.
“You’re still not very honest with yourself, are you?”
The Bakery Owner tucked the Cute Animal Farm Cookie Set into the paper bag with the sandwich, speaking casually.
“By the way, Synthia! Now that I think of it, there should be a lost umbrella somewhere. Wait just a moment.”
The Bakery Owner pulled out a large basket and rummaged through it. He produced all sorts of items—a coin purse the size of a palm, a pencil case, a textbook. Then, finally, he drew out a blue umbrella with a shout.
“Found it!”
That was when it happened. A worn bag strap that had gotten caught on the umbrella cord tumbled out, and my heart began to race. Inscribed faintly on the black bag strap were the initials “A.V.” in crooked lettering. Those very initials I had carved myself, long ago, when the mercenaries said they all had the same bag and kept mixing them up.
“Where did this bag come from?”
“Hmm? Oh, that. Why—do you know who it belongs to?”
The Bakery Owner took out the bag and handed it to me.
“I found it on the day of the Academy graduation ceremony. It was just lying there, and no one came to claim it, so I brought it here for safekeeping.”
“May I take a look?”
Initials could coincide by chance. How many similar names existed in the world?
“Go ahead.”
But this bag bore the unmistakable marks of my father’s handiwork—needle and thread mending the seams multiple times, even after I’d urged him to buy a new one, insisting this one was perfectly comfortable and good.
Was this coincidence? Had my delusion grown worse?
With trembling hands, I opened the bag.
“This is…”
A notebook with my father’s initials written inside. I opened it as though possessed.

[Tomorrow is Synthia’s graduation ceremony.]

My father’s handwriting. The familiar script blurred my vision. Slowly, I traced the letters with my fingertip, afraid they might vanish before my eyes.

[I can hardly believe how quickly time has passed. That tiny infant who could barely grasp my finger has grown into a fine young woman, working as a civil servant at the Imperial Palace. I don’t know how grateful I am for that.]

There were places where the ink had pooled heavily, as though he had paused with his pen for a long while.

[I hope Synthia’s life will be filled with happiness from this day forward.]

The line beneath was written over several times and couldn’t be read clearly, but one thing was certain nonetheless.
My father had existed. I was not delusional.
Imperial Record 3
Imperial Calendar Year 542, Month X
A large Gate Suppression Corps was organized in the Imperial Capital. An attempt was made to strike down its leader, but the corps was completely annihilated. Following the council meeting, this leader was designated as a Headron.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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