the cherry blossoms that we saw (forgetting spring was not the answer)
summary: she comes back after so many years. she might have forgotten, but they certainly haven't.
A/N: This is the first chapter of my newest Shugo Chara work. It will be slightly dark, but don't worry about that. Dark chapters will be hinted at in the author's notes, and fluffy one's will be indicated as well. I do not own Shugo Chara!
In what remained of her spring vacation, she receives the bad news during an optional class trip to a resort.
Dear Rima,
It is not after heavy consideration and decisions that we have decided to give you this news. Your mother, despite the many years of marriage that we have been blessed with, and having you, which was certainly the brightest spot in our union, watching you grow up, and being by your side, has decided that she would like to divorce me. Her name will now be Junko Mishima, and mine will be Hideaki Mashiro. I do not desire you to immediately make a decision on whose last name you would like to take, but I do hope that you will remember the times that we spent together, and relinquish any bitterness, as it was a mutual decision for the benefit of both of our persons, and for your benefit as well.
If you do decide to live with me, we will be moving to a quaint city that I have found. It is very nice, and rather small, and I am certain that you will rather enjoy living here. I have already found a house for us there, and I have enclosed a picture of your bedroom - it was the nicest I could find on such a short notice, and I wish for you to join me here. Of course, you do have the choice to live with your mother if you so desire. If you do decide to live here, then you will be transferring to a private academy called Seiyo Academy. I have checked all the credentials, and it is an excellent place, perhaps even better than your current school.
Rima, I implore you not to take fault in this separation, as none of this is your fault. It was simply both of us deciding that we could no longer be a couple without sacrificing both our personal happiness, and without sacrificing a happy and joyous environment for you to live in, as these constant fights affect you more than we had realized, and we both take the blame for that, for being such callous and ignorant parents as to let you suffer without any relief.
Furthermore, I have enclosed train tickets to both Tokyo, where your mother is moving, and to the new city that I am moving. These will expire in five months time. You also have another choice - you may live with your Aunt Youko and stay at your current school, or you may live with one of your parents.
I hope to receive a letter from you soon, my lovely and wonderful daughter.
Sincerely, Hideaki Mashiro.
Sasaki peers over her shoulder at the letter, and upon glancing at the word "divorce", says sympathetically, "I'm sure it'll all be all right, Mashiro-san. After all, divorces aren't always that bad."
She snorts, more unladylike than she had intended and shakes her head.
"I'll be obliged to live with Father, of course. Mother will not have the resources to take care of me without his income, and I do not wish to impose on her and make life difficult."
With a flick of her wrist, she sent the letter flying onto the bed in the room that she's sharing with Sasaki.
It isn't all that bad. Sasaki is what is known as the motherly type, and is constantly flitting around, trying to comfort people and help out with things that they are having trouble with.
She is what is known as the cool type, and tries not to let anybody in. However, Sasaki has a warm aura around her that almost radiates empathy and trust. Also, she makes very good brownies.
Mostly, she makes very good brownies, of which she never hesitates to offer to the blonde girl.
She turns her head away, preferring not to let her roommate see her cry. She prefers not to let anyone cry. The only person she has allowed to see her cry is her erstwhile friend, Amu Hinamori, who moved away not long ago.
It was hard to determine an emotion to describe Amu's departure. Mainly because that was four months ago, and she has the attention span of the fluffy pillow she is holding.
Watery, definitely. So many tears that they could have drowned the whole world. And melancholy, since Amu wouldn't let her write, saying, "Rima-chan, if you write I'm afraid my father will intercept them."
Yes, Amu's parents are extremely controlling. They were the ones who made her move in the first place, in order to get a better education, and they refuse to let her talk more than five minutes on the telephone.
So she must rely on phone calls every month, which stopped after the first one, because Amu changed her number, and so did she.
Well, she changed her number because of that idiot stalker, Taro, who got her phone number off an acquaintance in love with him. She doesn't know why her bubblegum friend has a different phone number.
The day that she got it changed, she tried calling Amu's number to let her know.
It didn't work.
She can't sleep now, memories of past days and happiness flooding into her brain. The dam she built to keep them back has crumbled with a mere thought.
Reaching up to rub her eyes, she yawns and switches on the lamp.
Sasaki is fast asleep, muttering something about babysitting and a Yuuki.
Rima does not know a Yuuki. Rima, therefore, also does not care.
She pulls out the suitcase under the bed, and rifles through its contents to try and retrieve her box of pocky.
It's no use. There is nothing there.
Since she knows she didn't eat it, since she only bought it a few hours ago, she wonders where it could have gone.
Sneaking out of her bed silently, she switches off the lamp, and pushes the door open.
She's still clad in only her pajamas, a tank top and a pair of shorts.
Reflecting on how she should've grabbed a jacket only makes her colder.
However, she can't risk going back now, since Sasaki is still sleeping, and the door creaks upon opening.
Silently, she shuts the door. And sits outside, her head buried in her hands.
Then, she gets up and decides that perhaps sitting outside the door will make people question what she is doing there when they wake up in the morning.
So she slowly walks towards the doors, and thrusts them open.
Sitting in the pale moonlight, bathed in radiance, only makes her feel lonelier.
Somehow, the night doesn't satisfy her like it used to.
She is a well-known night owl, able to stay up far past the normal person.
"If only I brought a jacket," she mumbles, stumbling up a pile of rocks and sitting on the top.
Looking onto the horizon, she sees the lake in front of her, lapping peacefully, and the shoreline pearl dust in the glow of the moon.
Time goes on without her, not noticing her suffering.
There is no use in mourning or wasting time.
She will make a decision now, and there is only one to make.
She must go with her father to Seiyo Academy.
Her mother lacks resources, and her Aunt Youko hates children.
Frowning, she watches the water, which is more peaceful than her.
She might as well leave as soon as tomorrow. She has the train tickets in her possession, and then she would want to get acquainted with the new town as soon as possible.
"Today was not my day," she mutters, pushing back her bangs from her face so she can feel the breeze.
For some reason, she wishes that she could stay here, forever.
She doesn't really want to leave, but she has no choice.
Hopping off of the rocks with ease, she goes back to her room.
It's a six-hour trip. It will be easy to get there right now.
There are midnight trains.
Tiptoeing through the corridor, and very slowly, very slowly opening her room door (it creaks just a little; Sasaki stiffens, but doesn't do anything) and taking her suitcase, she throws the letter into the first compartment she can find, and takes out the ticket she needs.
Rolling her suitcase out of the room and shutting the door quietly, she scribbles a note of withdrawal to Sasaki, and quickly tapes it to the door.
She's almost there.
She just needs to call a taxi to pick her up.
Sighing, she digs out her wallet from her suitcase and takes out the money she needs, plus a little tip.
The driver pulls up, and she climbs in, taking her suitcase with her.
Kagami does not ask questions, which is what she needs right now.
"Seirin Train Station," she mumbles, and he nods, taking off right at that moment.
Clutching the ticket to herself, she exhales and inhales.
She's done it.
There's no going back now.
"Miss Rima, you want to be dropped off here, right?"
They're already here, and she stares in surprise.
It looks so lonely.
She checks the ticket.
She has anywhere from now to a few months.
Tapping her bracelet irritably, she checks the schedule on the board for new passengers.
There is a train to the place she wants to go in twenty-five minutes.
She is alone right now.
"Are you really old enough to be riding a train alone?"
There is a hint of arrogance in his voice, and she frowns at him.
She shows her face.
He looks surprised.
Despite her small stature, she does indeed have a mature face, which her father defines as, "older than she looks, wiser."
Her mother says, "large cheeks and a petite nose."
"I'm Fujisaki Nagihiko," he says, in the place of an introduction.
She has to stand on tiptoes to reach his nose.
"I'm Mashiro Rima."
They sit in companionable silence for a few moments, before he asks, "Where are you going?"
She shows him her ticket.
"Strange. I'm going there as well. Will you be attending Seiyo Academy?"
She nods.
He chuckles. "Good, because it's pretty much the only school around those parts. Make what you will of that."
The ease with which he carries conversation is both surprising and expected.
He has a kind, yet slightly arrogant face. There is pride in his golden eyes, and he has violet hair down to his waist, which is kind of girly.
She remembers her voice. "Do you know Hinamori Amu?"
He nods, surprised that she knows a name that he does as well. "Yes, she goes to Seiyo Academy as well. She's one of my good friends."
She resists the urge to wink and ask, "How good?"
She doubts that Amu would be dating someone like him. Last time she checked, it was with a boy, who Amu had described as, "slender and lithe, and independent, just like an adorable cat!"
Nagihiko is slender, but he is not lithe. He has a rather feminine build, and he doesn't look very independent.
She supposes he might be just another rich, privileged person like she is, and decides that she has no right to judge.
The train arrives, in a flash of light that gives her eyes migraines.
"Thank you for choosing..." She doesn't care about the long speech about customer care and quality trips.
She just wants to get there, for heaven's sake, and find a place to belong.
She sits on the cold, hard plastic and wonders how her life got to this point.
Looking down at her hands, which are rather small and soft, she sometimes wishes that she was born working-class like her mother.
At least she had a large family so she wouldn't ever be alone.
Nobody could be as alone as she is now.
Even though she's in a country with millions, she still feels like nobody will understand her.
Amu had come close, but stopped short with her move.
Her parents? Her mother knew her the best, but still kept her away with fits of madness and despair, in which she ruined expensive vases.
Darkly, she thought that now there was a divorce, there wouldn't be any more expensive stuff to break.
Wrapping her arms around her knees, she hugged herself, a gesture that she had become accustomed to whenever she was drowning in self-pity, or even when she was just cold.
"Do you need this?"
A green-haired boy seemingly materialized in front of her, offering her a jacket.
She blinked.
It looked normal.
Why was he offering it to her?
Then she remembered she was still in her pajamas.
"Do you usually offer jackets to random people?"
He responds truthfully, seemingly ignorant of her biting comment, and says, "Only those who look cold due to attiring in a way not befitting the weather."
The way that he talks is formal, yet also frank and honest.
She finds it refreshing after being in the city for too long, surrounded with shady business deals and covert assassination attempts.
"What's your name?"
He looks away, embarrassed.
"...Kairi Sanjou."
She admits that he's kind of attractive.
Maybe if he didn't have glasses he'd be better, but they're sleek and modern-looking, so it doesn't really hurt his face.
His blue eyes are sapphires hidden behind a wall of glass, and his hair is neat.
He looks like the opposite of Fujisaki.
A presence appears above her shoulder - goddamn those tall people - which is Fujisaki Nagihiko.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
Or speak of the grape, and he shall appear out of nowhere.
Either way, it was downright strange how people seemed to randomly appear on this train.
She wondered if it was ghosts or insane ninja skills.
Probably the latter.
His gaze was cool on Kairi's face.
"I see you've met Kairi, Rima-chan."
He bows his head modestly. "The pleasure was mine. Mashiro-san seems like a fine acquaintance to make."
In spite of herself, she smiles.
"Kairi," she says, "where are you coming from?"
He shifts in his seat uncomfortably.
"Actually, I came back from the city. I was helping my sister Yukari, since she's this singer's manager, to edit albums and the like. But mostly I created commercials for her and made new websites and designed ads."
She's aware that maybe she shouldn't have called him by his first name, without a honorific, the first time that they've met.
But it's fine, right?
"Springtime is a good time to visit Seiyo," says Nagihiko thoughtfully, chewing on a piece of pocky - her eye twitches when she remembers her missing box, and swears revenge on its captor - "since nature is flowering right now."
Kairi nods, adjusting his glasses. "The amount of people visiting our club right now is astronomical."
"Club?" she asks, poking his shoulder. He flushes a little. "What kind of club?"
The bespectacled boy answers before his pocky-eating companion can. "It's...a thing. They elect members of the "royal court," which is basically the student council of our school, except that it's also in charge of generating revenue for all the school events. So we act as if we are our roles to please our fellow students. For example, Nagihiko and I are both Jacks, which means that we basically are well-dressed servants."
She is taken aback at the matter-of-fact tone Kairi is using. "Servitude, huh," she mutters, twirling her hair.
"We serve the King and the Queen. The King is Tadase Hotori...you'll like him, he has good intentions, but sometimes gets caught up in his zeal for power, which is actually quite amusing. The Queen spot is open after Nagihiko's twin sister, Nadeshiko, went to study abroad."
Something about Kairi's tone is different when he mentions Nadeshiko, but she dismisses it as nothing.
"We also have the Ace, which is Yaya Yuiki. She's hyperactive, and rather childish, but she gets the job done. She acts as the jack-of-all-trades. She can sing, do ballet, arrange flowers...you get the point. Finally, we have the Joker, who is Amu Hinamori. She basically acts like a klutz the whole time, but her skimpy outfit often draws hordes of males."
She can hear the disapproving tone, and she offhandedly wonders if maybe Kairi has some sort of affection for Amu.
Probably. She remembers Amu as clumsy, extremely pretty, a bit selfish, and an airhead who puts on a cover in order to maintain popularity and image.
They continue on in silence for a while, until Nagihiko mentions, "You could be the Queen."
She looks at him in a way that tells him she'll do so when penguins figure out how to fly.
As the hours pass, and they near Seiyo, she hears Nagihiko's voice again.
"Springtime is very special here, and I hope that you can enjoy it as much as we do. There's a special meaning behind this town, and how it was founded, that resolves around spring. If you are able to figure it out, I will be very impressed."
That's all she hears from the two boys, as they depart the station while she takes out her phone and calls her father.
"Father, I made the decision to come to Seiyo Academy. I am here, at the station."
"Wonderful, Rima! I knew you would make the right choice. I shall arrive to bring you to the mansion as soon as possible."
Wait, mansion?
She gets the feeling that her father has gone overboard in his zeal to create the perfect living space for his daughter.
Namely, purchasing a house much larger than they will need.
Sighing yet again, she sits on the bench to pass the time.
*UNKNOWN LOCATION, UNKNOWN SPEAKER*
The station clock strikes the hour, and Rima takes no notice of it.
Poor, poor, Rima.
The doors to Seiyo have shut, and they won't be able to open again until next spring.
Yes, springtime is special here.
Freedom will not be hers until she can figure out the riddle set before her.
It is a rather impossible task, but I daresay she will be helped by those that came to greet her on the train.
They knew she was coming, of course.
After all, nothing escapes my notice.