Summary: Chapter 16

Renny is recovering from his heart attack in the hospital. Doc Hata offers words of comfort to Liv, who says that despite not having a degree, he truly is a doctor. Doc Hata thinks Anne would have attested to this, even though he hadn’t done anything for her.

The previous day, he went to the cemetery to watch Anne’s burial. He kept himself hidden so James wouldn’t see him, but when James suddenly hurried away from the ceremony, he caught sight of Doc Hata, causing him to slip and fracture his shin bone. Doc Hata followed the ambulance to the hospital and insisted on paying for James’s medical bills.

Doc Hata feels he can no longer bear to witness the suffering of others. He imagines that he’s “at the vortex of bad happenings,” and that he should raise a black flag over his house to warn everyone to stay away—especially Sunny and Tommy.

Sunny surprises Doc Hata at the hospital with lunch. She remembers that the orphanage where she stayed in Japan was like a hospital, which is why she never like being in Doc Hata’s medical supply store. Doc Hata says she probably wishes she never came to live with him, and she says she doesn’t feel that way anymore. She explains that it had seemed to her like he was the one who wished she hadn’t come.

Sunny says that when she went to check in on Renny, he asked her what it was like growing up with Doc Hata as a father. Thinking these questions must have felt awkward, Doc Hata tells Sunny she doesn’t have to tell him what she said. Sunny replies that that she could have told Renny about little problems, but none of them would have been damning. But Doc Hata responds that there was one thing he wishes never happened. Sunny knows what he means but doesn’t want to talk about it.

On his way home, Doc Hata recalls when Sunny returned home after a year away. She called to tell him she was pregnant and needed his help. He set up an appointment with a physician he trusted, Dr. Anastasia, to discuss terminating the pregnancy. But when she arrived, Doc Hata saw that Sunny’s pregnancy was nearly full term.