Uncle Hikigaya is Forever Young [63]

Miura Kōzō carefully explained the matter of buying medicine to Ryōhei.

This medicine really wasn't easy to get!

Since the official imported medicine had become utterly unaffordable, Kōzō had resorted to purchasing somewhat less-than-legitimate imports.

As he complained bitterly to Ryōhei, he also laid out the calculations clearly.

This anti-cancer drug cost over 300,000 yen per bottle if bought through official channels.

Previously, when Fusako started treatment, health insurance covered it, and he only paid around 60,000 to 70,000 yen per bottle.

Back then, it wasn’t too much of a problem!

But this year, the family's insurance had reached its limit, making it impossible to buy at the reduced price—and he couldn’t bear to let his wife stop taking the medicine.

If purchased at full price, 12 bottles a year meant over 3.6 million yen.

In previous good years, he earned over 5 million yen annually, but with the ongoing global economic crisis, his income had drastically declined.

Moreover, her treatment didn’t rely solely on this drug—it was just the bare minimum!

Every month, he also took his wife for highly effective gene therapy.

And there were essential daily expenses and loan repayments too!

Buying the medicine at full price meant the whole family would soon be living on air!

Hence, he had found a way, buying a less-than-legitimate import every month. The medicine itself wasn’t problematic—just the source.

“So, how much does this kind cost per bottle?” Ryōhei asked gravely.

Kōzō held up a single finger.

“100,000 yen?” Ryōhei said to himself. Still not cheap, but significantly lower than the original price.

“It's 15,000 yen per bottle! There's no way I could handle 100,000 yen right now!” Kōzō replied helplessly.

“That cheap!? There's issues with it, right?”

After asking this, Ryōhei suddenly realized the origins of this medicine, recalling certain events from his previous life.

These had to be those smuggled generics!

In his past life, Ryōhei had clearly learned about this. The common explanation was that the average R&D cost for these highly effective anti-cancer drugs was in the billions of dollars.

Reportedly, the production cost of each pill was actually quite low—the real cost was in the development.

Generics skipped this entire process, hence their low price.

“There shouldn't be any problems, I guess… Ah...” Kōzō sighed, lacking some confidence, but he truly had no choice.

Without money, he was out of options.

Not treating her meant death!

Wanting his wife to live—was there anything wrong with that?

If breaking the law was necessary, then so be it!

He'd already been buying generics secretly for a few months. To avoid worrying Fusako, he hadn’t even told her the insurance had reached its limit. He even replaced the bottles after buying them.

“So, does Fusako-san know now?”

“Yeah... I told her yesterday. Couldn’t hide it anymore.”

Indeed, Kōzō had figured that Yumiko's mother had probably discovered the insurance had run dry as early as last month.

Assuming the medicine was extremely expensive, she'd secretly reduced her dosage.

“That foolish woman! Why’d she get smart at exactly the wrong time? I hid it from her precisely so she wouldn’t overthink things! Now I had no choice but to tell her. Hmph, I married her precisely because she was foolish.”

“But isn’t this exactly the kind of thing you should’ve been upfront about from the beginning?” Ryōhei considered for a moment before speaking.

“By the way, never mind selling it—even buying this medicine is illegal, although usually no one really bothers. Still, you'd better be careful. This drug dealer is very cautious, never slipped up even once.”

“Mhm, got it, no worries.” Ryōhei agreed immediately; at his age, he wouldn’t be scared off so easily.

“Heh, that's exactly why I came to you! Not to brag, but with just the two of us, even if we ran into the police, nothing would happen.”

Ryōhei was briefly startled, but before he could respond, Kōzō had already started giving him detailed instructions.

...

Several minutes later, Kōzō and Ryōhei finished discussing the main business.

As if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and noticing the stack of books near Ryōhei’s feet, Kōzō casually picked one up.

“Eh? Isn't this your yearbook—the one that got ruined? You're still keeping it around?”

Miura Kōzō seemed to recall something amusing, a strange smile appearing on his tired face, a unique expression one would wear only when remembering distant days.

“Yeah. Had some time, so I took a look.”

Inside, Ryōhei anxiously prayed please don't start talking about high school memories.

He knew Miura Kōzō had grown up with the original "Hikigaya Ryōhei," attended school together, fought side-by-side—and what else exactly happened between them, he wasn’t very clear on.

“Speaking of which, I’ve always wanted to ask—hey, do you ever regret not marrying into the Yukinoshita family?”

Miura lowered his voice mischievously.

Then, pretending to sigh dramatically, he added, “Sure, your pride might’ve taken a temporary hit, but it’d save at least thirty years of struggle, right? Probably even more! Back then, I’d already made up my mind—if you joined the Yukinoshita clan, I'd’ve stuck with you for life, haha!”

“Marrying in? How could something like that ever happen?” Ryōhei laughed awkwardly, rapidly processing this information internally.

There really is some history here, huh?

But why specifically marry into her family?

Yukinoshita Saori?

Yukinoshita!

He suddenly recalled—the Yukinoshita family was known as the biggest yakuza-connected family in Chiba. Could it be…?

“Of course, I know. You’d never agree to marry into their family! Still, I’m genuinely curious—what would’ve happened if you did?” Miura laughed, rocking back and forth in his chair.

“Oh yeah, last month I ran into Hayama Takashi outside Chiba Station. That guy seems to be doing pretty well for himself. He didn't marry into their family, either, but he's apparently a dedicated lawyer at one of Yukinoshita Corp’s companies. He even opened his own office under their umbrella, pulling shady business. Bastard pretended not to recognize me, though.”

“Ohh!” Hearing Miura’s words, Ryōhei finally remembered seeing that name in the graduation photo.

And indeed, the lawyer he'd encountered during Hachiman’s accident was named Hayama.

Was it the same person?

He actually knew him yet pretended not to?

What Miura had just said carried enormous implications!!

“Think about it—if you’d agreed back then, I'd probably be at Hayama Takashi’s level right now, wouldn’t I? No, better yet—there wouldn't even be room for him. I could've become a lawyer too, y’know?”

Miura Kōzō leaned back dramatically in his chair, gazing up at the sky at a 45-degree angle.

It was clear—though he verbally dismissed his high school classmate Hayama Takashi, who’d become a "dog" for the Yukinoshita family, deep down he still envied that “path not chosen.”

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A/N: Actually, this chapter is very important for later developments.

This is a fan translation of 比企谷大叔永远年轻 by Stargazer All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!