Dear Junpei,
Leaving this note for you may not be the best idea, it's certainly risky, but if you're reading this, then I must have been right in trusting Nurse Ikura to give it to you "if I had to leave suddenly".
I wanted to thank you, for everything. You were the best thing about this place, and always much kinder to me than I deserved. I'm sorry I was so horrible to you, but I couldn't get too close to anyone here, because I came to Ebisu General to finish something, and now that I have, I need to leave. I can't tell you anything more than that, but chances are it'll be all over the news soon anyway. I had a reason to do what I did, and I don't regret it. I wish I could explain more, but I can't, so I guess if you find me unforgivable when you hear about it, there's nothing I can do.
There's one more thing I need to tell you. This is a totally unfair thing to do, when I'll never see you again, but I've wanted to tell you for almost thirteen years now, and now that it's too late to do either of us any good, I will.
I love you, Junpei. As more than an old friend, I mean. I wish I could have told you sooner, but it can't be helped. Once again, I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you.
MC
Junpei folded the letter slowly, and then just stood there for a minute. So she had… Left? Again? That couldn't be true. There had to be another reason she hadn't been at the hospital today. Another reason that, when he had asked Nurse Ikura about it, she had only shoved the envelope containing the letter into his hand before fleeing down the hallway. Another reason… For all of this. After twelve years, she had come back. She couldn't be gone!
He read the letter again. This time, it was the last paragraph that seemed to stick in his mind. "I love you...but it can't be helped."
"I could have helped you." He said aloud, as if somehow, he expected her to hear. "If you love me, come back. Please, MC. I can help you." He collapsed onto his bed, dropping the letter to the floor.
"When you came back, I thought...I thought it was a second chance."
"At this time, make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position and that your seat belt is correctly fastened as we prepare for takeoff…"
If any of the other passengers had noticed the way the young woman in seat B31 had her hands clenched, white-knuckled, in her lap throughout the preparations for takeoff, they probably would have assumed it was a fear of flying. But the thoughts running through her head had nothing to do with the plane's structural safety.
I have to leave. I have to, and I can't come back, no matter how much I already miss him. Unwillingly, she remembered the day, less than a week ago, when he had kissed her in the rain, just as she had daydreamed about since she was sixteen. The woman forced herself to replace the mental image with an even more recent one: the stretcher she'd seen being wheeled out of the director's office only two days ago. As the wheels of the plane left the ground, and she left Tokyo behind her for good, she reminded herself: that's why I had to leave. I got my revenge, just as I swore I would all those years ago, and I would have been discovered and arrested if I stayed. Maybe I can start a new life in England. Maybe I could even earn my medical license back under a new name and be a doctor again. But hopeful thoughts failed her, and she found herself brushing away tears as she watched the glittering lights of the city fall away from her. The thrum of the plane's engines covered her voice, so no one noticed as she whispered, almost soundlessly, "When I came back, when I saw you again… It should have been for a second chance."
Author's Note: Well, I've never published anything on here before, so I apologize for any problems with the formatting. Or, for that matter, with the quality of my writing. If you want to leave a review, I would be absolutely thrilled to hear your opinions on the story, and thanks for taking the time to read it!