the box１

I and Koharu, my best friend,
grew up in the same orphanage.

I called her my best friend,
but for me, calling her my sister is
more comfortable.

However, there is no
blood connection between us.

So when I was asked about
our relationship, I wondered if
I would call her "best friend."

We were always together,
like the twin sisters.

We entered the facility
at about the same time.

Although Koharu's birthday is
earlier than mine,
we are same grade at the school.

Of course, we play and do
our homework together.

Our body shape were almost the same,
so we even lent our clothes each other.

We always share the room together.

Koharu calls me Saki
which is my last name.

Koharu has a men-phobia.

Koharu was almost killed by her father
when she was in elementary school.

Koharu's father strangled her neck and
tried to kill her.

He tried to conduct the family suicide
but it failed.

Koharu didn't have to die
because of the debt collector.

At that time,
debt collection was not managed
as severe as it is now.

It seems that the person
who collected it came directly to
the room of koharu's family
in the apartment.

While the collector came at the day ,
Koharu's father has
creepy calm appearance.

Thus, the collector thought that
Koharu's father was planning
a flight by night.

Therefore, that night,
the collector in charge was
watching over the apartment room.

However, Koharu's father planned
not to flight by night,
but to conduct the family suicide.

Then, at midnight,
koharu's father was trying to
put his heart into action at the room.

He didn't think
the room was being watched
by the collector.

When Koharu was asleep,
she was ridden by her father
and strangled her neck
with his both hands.

Koharu woke up, but no lights
were on in the room.

At that time, she wondered
if she was strangled by a robber
who had entered the room,
or by a ghost of a man.

She tried to yell at her parents for help.

However, the adult man's power
strangled her so much that
she couldn't make any voice.

She couldn't look at her parents
who were sleeping right next to her.

Koharu thought,
"I'm going to be really killed...".

Koharu suddenly grabbed
the legs of the steel rack
at the bedside and pulled it.

It seems that there is no idea,
but she did it without consciousness.

Through the pain of being strangled
and the fear of dying,

she did it within the panic.

The cheap legs of steel rack
easily slipped out.

The leaning rack was leaning
against Koharu's father.

Still, Koharu's father did not loosen
his hands and kept struggling
Koharu's neck.

However, there was a person
who was listening to the noise

caused by the tumbling telephone or
pen stand down which were
riding on the leaned rack.

It is a person who collects the debt.

It seems that the collector thought that
Koharu and his family would flee at night.

Thus, he moved to stop the night escape.

The collector put his hand on
kitchen window facing the corridor.

The lock was not locked.

He opened the window vigorously
and broken into the room
with the flashlight he had.

He saw Koharu's father
sitting astride koharu
and strangling her neck.

It seems that the collector was upset.

If Koharu's father kills Koharu,
it's going to be a big deal.

If Koharu's father would be put in a jail,
the money that collector lent
might be statutory
while the imprisonment.

“Hey,” he threatened koharu's father
with loudy voice.

Due to the voice,
Koharu's father finally loose his hands
and put off Koharu's neck.

However,
Koharu was already unconscious.

Koharu's father jumped out of the window
toward the opposite side of the front door.

The collector followed it.

Koharu's father headed for the
national highway near the apartment.

He was trying to jump into a
running car and commit suicide.

Because of the turmoil, residents in the neighborhood called the police.

Koharu was carried in
an ambulance called by the police.

She was injured enough to be hospitalized,
but Koharu's life was saved.

It's ironic, but the person
who gathered up his father was
the one who saved Koharu's life.

However, Koharu's mother had been killed
by her father before Koharu was strangled.

Koharu's father was directly
arrested by the police.

He was sentenced to prison
in the court.

The collector was unaware that
Koharu's mother had already
been passed away.

I also lost my mother
when I was in elementary school.

Thus, maybe this is the reason why
I could have communicated with Koharu.

I don't know if tke limit of
Koharu's father's borrowed money
has expired.

At least, Koharu didn't have to take over.

Koharu confided this story to me
little by little.

When she was talking about this story,
Koharu got sick and had to stop.

This story seems to be
a combination of Koharu's memory
and the story she heard later.

She seemed painful.

At the hospital where she was hospitalized,
Koharu regained her consciousness.

Because of her neck injury,
she could make a hoarse voice.

She also had bleeding from her throat.

It was difficult for her
to swallow solid foods,
so she couldn't eat ordinary food.

The nutrition was supplemented
with drip and liquid food.

Fortunately, the aftereffects of
the cervical spine injury
were eliminated.

Then, how the wound of the mind
was heavy became clear.

When she met the first doctor who was a middle-aged man, she was frightened
and could not be prescribed by him.

Even if Koharu replaced the male doctor
to a female doctor, she couldn't let
the female doctor close her hands
to the neck so as to palpate
the affected area.

When Koharu woke up, she was said that
she had a cervical collar around her neck
to protect the affected area.

Koharu didn't like the oppressive feeling.

Since she tried to remove it roughly,
healing might be slowed down, and
she seemed to get it off
on condition of rest.

Koharu said that
the discolored neck had
a clear hand prints
due to internal bleeding.

The doctor's initial view was that
these psychological symptoms were
temporary because of the
painful experiences.

Then, her voice returned to normal, and
she was able to eat normally.

Besides, her pain and the hand prints
have been alliviated.

Koharu's body has been getting healed.

However, Koharu's emotional wounds
cannot be healed.

Still, the day of discharge has came.

Koharu, who had no parents to lean on
except her parents, entered an orphanage.

Hence, Koharu and I meet
for the first time there.

I and Koharu entered a orphanage
called group home.

It seems that the group home was
institutionalized the year
before we entered.

The concept was to provide the care
through the environment closer to home.

The place we entered was
a two-story house.

Our group home consisted of
6 girls and female staff members
living together.

Some staff members were
resident and the other was commuters.

There was a group home for boys
in the immediate vicinity, and
there was a male staff member there.

Men's staff were readily available for
emergencies in girl's group homes.

The phobia of Koharu was handed over
from the hospital to the staff of the facility
and dealt with by them.

Although there were limits,
she could only contact with female staff
as much as possible.

Koharu tended to quit the school
because of the fear,
but when she was in good shape,
she attended to the school.

When she went to the school,
she often stayed in the health center,
but she had no choice.

It was easy for men to scare Koharu,
even if he doesn't mean to.

Koharu will be solidified if
a man, who looks like
the same age as her father,
just comes close to her.

And the cold sweat won't be stop.

As an elementary school student,
I didn't know about male phobia, but
when I was looking at Koharu nearby,
it seemed really painful.

Although it was difficult,
she did not give up
going to the school.

Koharu wasn't reckless.

Koharu's study was taught by
the staff of the facility and it was
what I learned at the school that day.

Koharu did a lot of self-study and
did the same homework as I did.

When I was in elementary school,
she sometimes did her own test
which I got back to her
from the school.

The next day,
since I bring it to my teacher,
Koharu's test was evaluated.

Speaking of elementary school,
there was once a terrible thing.

On that day, Koharu was in good shape,
and she was attending to the school
with a school group including myself.

However, Koharu's condition
suddenly got worse, and I had
stopped on the way to the school.

The other members of the group
went ahead and I was
taking care of Koharu.

After a while, there was a man
who seemed to be a office worker
and tried to worry about us.

Then he asked, "Are you okay?"

"Thank you. But it's normal,
so it's okay."

I told the man

But the men didn't withdraw.

"Is it really okay?"

He pushed me away
with his back of the hand
and tried to see Koharu.

I was upset.

"I'm sorry. It's really okay."

While saying so, I stood again
between the man and Koharu.

For a moment, the man looked
disgusting.

Perhaps it made him think that
I spoiled his good intention.

Then the man became a muscular man,
grabbed my arm and
tried to get angry again.

So I hurriedly explained about Koharu.

"This girl gets sick
when a man approaches her," I said.

Then the man looked at me
with suspicious eyes.

Then, silently, he pulled me
forcibly and struck me.

The power of the man at that time was
overwhelmingly strong, and I was afraid.

The man crouched next to Koharu.

Furthermore, he was rubbing
Koharu's back and asked, "Is it okay?"

Koharu already had a panic attack
while listening to the interaction
between me and the man.

She was stuck at all.

Moreover, a man touched her,
and Koharu had fainted in the seizure.

Seeing Koharu's faint,
fainting appearance of the death,
the man turned pale
and called for an ambulance.

I could be called by the paramedics.

Since then, Koharu has been refused to
attend to the school.

That night, I remember crying in the futon
before going to sleep.

I was struck by my helplessness.

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