Chapter 1

It's been five years since the explosion. Five years since we got our mountains back. But I've only spent two years in his arms, his protection. After looking after the family and keeping them together, I was more than happy to have him to help me. When we came back from the funeral/birthday party, the ride home on the train was filled with stories. He laughed when I told him I thought the plan would work, and that everyone believed he was my fiancé.

"That 'back story' wasn't even made up. It was clearly Wabisuke's!" He laughed. "But it would've worked if it was more original."

"Oh yeah?" I laughed. "What would you have said?"

"Runner-up in being Japan's representative for the math Olympics." He said calmly.

"So now you're bragging about it?"

His smile softened. "Well, after spending time with you all made me realize that some things are worth celebrating."

I gave him what was supposed to be a pat on the knee, but turned into a seductive squeeze. "It doesn't have to be the end." It was the sentence that really drove the wedge between us. It was the gesture that killed all chances at the time. He looked at me with confusion while I smiled like an idiot. The next hour and a half was quiet.

"I really had a nice time." Kenji told me when we got to my stop.

"Me too." I said. As if the first time wasn't bad enough, I squeezed his shoulder and leaned in for a goodbye kiss. When he didn't give it to me, I kissed his cheek anyway, said goodbye, and practically ran home.

As awkward as it sounded, it was the best feeling ever. Of all the guys I've dated, I've never had the adrenaline rush, the butterflies, or anything. It was all a big guessing game or a riddle I desperately wanted to know the answer to. So I waited. I waited until the day he asked me to be his girlfriend. I had to turn down a few guys in between, but I was sure it was worth it. I waited for the day he holds my hand. But that day didn't come until three years later.

We were in the main computer lab at Tokyo U. He was just finished printing up his homework when I was making copies. "I thought we'd never see each other again." I said.

"It's nice to see you." He agreed. "How are things out in the country?"

"I'm not sure." I smiled. The Jinnouchis haven't come together for years. "I hope we do soon. I never met Kazuma's sister yet."

He picked up his papers. "It's all yours."

"Thanks." I put my book in the scanner. "So what are you doing now?"

"Nothing." He shrugged. "I have a little free time to study."

"Do you want to get food?"

The moment I asked, he tensed up. Did I ask the wrong thing? It took a few seconds before he said "I'd love to." But I heard "I love you."

"What?" I blushed. I was even more embarrassed when he repeated himself. "Well, where should we go?"

We ended up spending more than lunch together. After class, we stayed in the library, talking about our hopes and dreams. "I don't really know what's left for me after this." He said. "A lot of people think I'm going to go into teaching, but I don't know."

"If you do, that'll be cool!" I said, touching his hand. "Then we can teach a class together."

"You're studying education too?"

"What can I say? I love kids." I laughed. "I actually started working at my old elementary school."

As time went on, we started going deeper into the conversation. We knew we were in too deep when he mentioned what happened three years ago. He said he wondered what it would be like if Sakuma went with me instead of him. I told him that Granny wouldn't have liked him as much.

"You're the one she saw potential in. Even if it was a lie, she still sees you as my awesome boyfriend."

He started blushing. "That means a lot." Then he actually took my hands and held them for a while. His mouth opened to say something but he closed it. He was about to retreat but then he said "Natsuki, I… I really…"

"What?" I asked.

He sighed and tried again. "It would be easier to keep my promise if I was your boyfriend. So…can I be your boyfriend?"

"Yes."

He moved one hand into my hair and rested it behind my head. He moved in and kissed me. His lips were tough as he smashed his face into mine: his first kiss.

"Let's try it like this." I brushed my lips on his and puckered slightly. It was the gentlest kiss. "Just relax."

He tried it for himself, and was surprisingly a quick learner. His hand caressed my thigh in the best way. When we pulled away, he asked "How was that?"

"Much better."

Summer break was finally here and we were going out to the countryside. Just like our trip last time, we met with Aunt Noriko and Aunt Yumi first. "We actually got to the train on time!" Yumi laughed. Last time they missed the bus in Ueda that they were supposed to be on, so they were coincidentally on the same bus we were on. This time, she was with Noriko, which was much better for them.

Instead of holding a baby, she held little Kyohei's hand. Next to him was Yuhei who stayed glued to his phone instead of his DS screen. Ryohei was actually with us unlike last time when he was on the baseball field. "It's been a while!" He said. "Kenji, I don't think we've met officially."

"It's nice to meet you." Kenji shook his hand.

"Natsuki!" Aunt Noriko called as Mao waved. Shingo, on the other hand, was taking pictures on his phone.

"Hey! Kenji's back!" Shingo took his picture. I was really shocked to hear his voice changing. But what did I expect from a twelve-year-old?

"It's nice to see you again." Kenji said.

"I got a present for you." Mao said, reaching into her backpack. "It's for your birthday." She handed me a simple chain necklace with a charm of a water droplet. It was so vivid and blue.

"I love it! Thank you." I put it on right away.

We stepped on the train and took our seats in the back. "Should we be going back?" Ryohei asked. "It's not the same without Granny."

"Aunt Mariko still lives there." I said. "And it's nice to gather and meet up like old times. It's what Granny would've wanted."

"Besides," Aunt Noriko added, "the place is looking great now that all the repairs have been fixed."

Of course no one knows that I'm the one who planned everything. No, it's not nice to lie and manipulate your family. In a way, the good reason cancels out the bad method. It's been five years since we met up and no one was going to make plans otherwise.

The whole trip, Ryohei and Yumi have been going on and on, catching us up with everything that we missed. He told us about his championship, the camp councilor years at baseball camp, his internship at so many companies, and his business degree at Tokyo U. She told us about the kids' school, how Yuhei was now a teenager, her new found love for crochet and parents night, and her favorite shows. The two literally did most if not all the talking on our two hour trip.

The only thing to break their streak was meeting up with Nana. She held Kana's hand with one and had the other scooped under her stomach. "Long time, no see!" She waved.

"Nana!" I exclaimed. "Nice to see you!" I didn't know how to address the obvious pregnancy, so I just said "Congratulations!"

"Thanks." She said. "We finally did it. We've been trying for years."

Inside, Kazuma and his sister, Matsuyo, were in the TV room. Matsuyo was watching the Ueda baseball championships while Kazuma was battling someone on Oz, probably not giving the opponent mercy. "Is he winning?" She asked, pointing to the pitcher.

"No." He answered after a quick glance.

"Him?"

"No, that team is losing."

"This is boring." She pouted. "Can I play that?"

Kazuma didn't answer.

The little girl went up to his ear and asked louder. "Can I play?"

"Matsuyo!" Kazuma pushed her down and kept battling.

"Mean!" She jumped in place.

Kazuma typed a bit before slamming his hands down. "No, what's mean is distracting me and making me lose my game."

She shrugged. "Too bad. Can I play now?"

He placed the laptop on the table. Then, he grabbed her arms and wrestled her to the ground. His sister laughed the whole time so she wasn't in any danger.

"Hi guys!" I waved causing Kazuma to stop.

"Hey." He greeted with his deep voice. When he stood up, my chin went from being next to my chest to up towards the ceiling. I immediately felt how old I was.

"Wow…" Kenji commented. "You're even taller than me!" He chuckled.

"Yeah…" He flipped his long hair with just a flick of the neck. "It happened over night." Something was definitely different about him besides the physical appearance. He was still his too-cool-for-school self but he had this subtle glow to him. He smiled a bit more in the few minutes than I've ever seen.

"All the girls at school must love the change." I joked. I was really taking a shot in the dark, but instantly, a tiny smirk sprouted as he looked away. "Oh my gosh! Really?"

"So I see Kenji's back." He changed the subject. "How are you?"

"Great." He answered. "It's nice to see you all again." He looked down at Matsuyo who was looking away the whole time. She made sure not to even look in our direction. "Is that your sister?"

"Yeah." He turned towards her. "Matsuyo, say hi."

"Hi." She said quickly, not moving.

"This is your cousin, Natsuki, remember?" He asked.

She glanced at me and back at what she was doing.

"So where's everyone else?" I finally asked.

"The dinner table doesn't look the same without the whole family." Mariko said as they all sat to dinner.

"Let's not think that way." Riichi said. "In a way, we're all here."

With that, everyone felt relaxed enough to catch each other up. But once someone mentioned Wabisuke, I got quiet. I know I invited him. He even said he got the message, but he wasn't here with us.

"I wonder what he's up to." Mansuke said.

"Who cares?" Naomi scoffed. "I'm just glad he helped clean up his miss."

"Yeah, now you can do all of your Oz dating!" Kiyomi laughed.

"Well yeah." She crossed her arms. "I met someone there." His name was Ryo: head of some major corporation and he has one teenaged son. He was very rich and, from his picture, very good looking.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon." Aunt Mariko said, referring to Wabisuke.

"He probably won't show up for another ten years." Rika shook her head.

"So you're saying that he was actually here?" Ryohei gasped. "Is there anything else I've missed?" He shot a look at Yumi, but she just rolled her eyes. Apparently with all the catching up, Yumi neglected to tell him the whole truth of what happened five years ago.

"He doesn't know about Lovemachine?" Kenji asked.

"Like the song?"

"Hey, I don't know that much about it. How would I explain it to him?" Yumi defended.

"He was an AI that ate other avatars and tried to kill us all." Yuhei said.

"That all happened during my championship? And I'm just finding out about it now?"

"Would you rather us tell you in the middle of your game?" Katsuhiko asked.

He shrugged. "I guess not. But there were five years in between then and now!"

"And it was cool when King Kazma went and punched him out!" Shingo exclaimed.

"Really?" Ryohei smiled at Kazuma. "You saved the world?"

"Boy did he!" Mansuke stood up. This time we welcomed the war story since we've never heard it retold.

"Uncle, we missed you at dinner tonight." I called. "So I was just wondering if you got in alright. Call me back. Bye!" I took a deep breath, waiting for his call.

"Is he coming?" Kenji asked.

"I don't know." I sighed. "He never called."

"Maybe he's been busy."

"Too busy to see his family?" He was silent. "Alright then." I tried calling again but it went straight to voicemail. "He's probably on the plane right now and he can't call anyone."

"Yeah."

"I just hope he comes back. He left so quickly when it was all over." I told him. Before I could say anything else, my phone rang. "Hello? Uncle?"

"Natsuki…" He said. He sounded like he was in distress. "I might be a little late…"

"You're already late. What's going on?"

There was a pause with some ruffling noises in the background. "I'll tell you later. I missed my bus, so I'm going to rent a car. Well, first I need to find a place that would rent out to me this late. I'll be there soon."

It turns out that he was getting a lot of negativity. From the moment he got on the plane, all of the Japanese natives were giving him strange looks. He was barely given any service even if he asked. He was avoided at all cost. It was until he stepped foot in the country when someone finally said something. "He's the one." He hurried out immediately to the nearest bus stop. But it didn't stop there.

Uncle Wabisuke got on and went to the back. Passengers got on, gave evil stares, and began whispering. He ended up getting off at the next stop and waiting for the next bus to take him into the countryside.

"Hey! That's the guy who made Lovemachine!" A guy yelled. "We all could've died because of you!"

"No, you don't understand…" He said, but they didn't listen.

"My aunt passed out from pure exhaustion and the ambulance was too tied up to take care of her!" One woman shouted. "And they were busy with nothing!" Wabisuke backed away and decided to stay out of the public eye.

"Natsuki, I'm back." Uncle Wabisuke said. It was in the middle of the evening when everything was winding down.

"Uncle, you made it!" I hugged him. "How was your trip?"

"It…could've been better."

The rest of the family approached slowly. Aunt Mariko was the first to speak up after a long stream of silence. "You finally decided to show up." She said. It was hard to tell if it was a good thing or a bad one. "We thought we'd never see you for another five years." Then she smiled. "Have you eaten yet?"

Uncle Wabisuke looked at the others for signs of approval. We all looked at Aunt Mariko as she insisted that he sit down. "Thank you." He said.

Kiyomi was the first to hand him a plate and rice. Nana gave him some water and sake. He said his thanks and got to eating. Naomi and Rika left abruptly one after the other. I slipped away as everyone started to converse. I ended up following them to the other side of the house. Naomi had already lit a cigarette as Rika was complaining loudly.

"I can't believe we're just going to accept him like that." Rika said. "It's like everything we went through in the past fifteen years has nothing to do with anything!"

"I know. It's not like he won't do it again." Naomi took a puff. "And he thinks it's a good idea to come back here?"

I took a deep breath and stepped outside. "He's changed, Aunt Naomi." Right after I said it, I wanted to take it back.

"I know you'd say that now, but you don't know him the way we do." She said. I wanted to say something against it, but she kept going. "He's always been so secretive, and the minute he gets caught, he gets all evasive and pretends that he's the victim, that nothing's his fault."

"It really is the same thing every time." Rika said. "We practically grew up together. I can guarantee that nothing is going to change with that man."

"Maybe, but after all that happened, who can say?" I shrugged. "He could be trying to clear the air."

Meanwhile, Shota was drinking a bottle of beer as he walked around outside. Once he saw Kenji, he called out "Hey, Math Nerd!"

He looked around, waiting to see if it was a good idea to go out. When he did, Shota welcomed him and asked if he wanted a drink. He took it with pleasure. "So what are you doing here out here?"

"There's not much else to do." He took a gulp. "So…you're Natsuki's fiancé for real?"

"Fiancé? No! We're just…going out." He smiled.

"Figures." The both were quiet as they enjoyed their beer. "Granny really saw potential in you. Do you feel the pressure?"

"Probably as much pressure as defeating Lovemachine!" They laughed. "But it's something I'm proud of."

He nodded. "Granny's eyes never lie."

They were silent again. "I think about her a lot." Kenji admitted. "There aren't a lot of people in my life who tell me that they believe in me. At least they don't do it the way she does. The night before she passed, we played Hanafuda. Our wager was that if she won, I'd have to take care of Natsuki. Of course, she won very quickly! Even if I said I might not be able to do it, she believed in me anyways."

Shota was quiet. Kenji told me that he could hear his breath getting heavier. "I wonder if she knew."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. She told you that the night before she died, she wrote that letter, and what if she asked Wabisuke to come back?" He took a long swig. "It's just not fair…"

Kenji didn't reply. He wouldn't know how to. Instead, he shrugged and took a drink.

"I'll be honest with you. I didn't like you coming over at first."

He let out a breath in laughter. "Really?"

"Well, you know!" He nudged his shoulder. "I thought you were just after one thing, but you proved that you could be a real good addition to the family."

He smiled. "So that means I finally get your blessings to date your cousin?"

"I mean I wouldn't want just some weirdo doing it!" They laughed. "But really, you're alright, Kenji."

It was probably the only time he'd hear it from Shota, so Kenji didn't say anything in fear of ruining it.

The night was winding down. Everyone was getting ready for bed except for Shingo, Mao, and Yuhei, who were all up and battling on Oz. The women just finished cleaning the kitchen, while the men were turning off the TV and getting returning to their rooms. I was about to go to sleep, but then I noticed Uncle Wabisuke on the phone.

"I did not sign off on it." He said through gritted teeth. "No, it is not my responsibility anymore. Don't call this number again." He hung up and chucked it down the hill.

"Uncle?" I stepped outside. He turned around, startled. "Is everything okay?"

He shook his head with a small smirk on his face. "Lovemachine was brought up at a wrong time. It wasn't ready to be out in Oz."

I sat down on the ledge of the house, looking out to where I can see the city lights. They were always so beautiful from up here. "Everyone's mad at you because of Lovemachine?"

"They're blaming the wrong person." He sighed.

"What? Why" I asked, bringing my knees closer to me. "It's not like you told it what to do."

He slowly nodded "That's right." His fists clinched. "Things haven't been easy these last few years. I had to testify on several occasions, I constantly had to defend myself, I mostly treated like a criminal even though I keep saying that I'm innocent. Then I come here and things are just as bad." He sat down next to me. "It seems like you're the only one that understands."

We both looked at the lights. Some of them went off and some came on. One of us saw the beauty in the city. The other saw how scary it could be.

It was the middle of the night when we heard the noise. I didn't think it was anything important, so I tried to go back to sleep. But Kenji shot up quickly. He stepped outside the room and looked around. "Natsuki, wake up." He said in an urgent whisper. "Natsuki."

I got up as quickly as I could and went out with him. "What's going on?"

"I saw your Uncle Wabisuke head out this way." He said. We followed him out of the house. When we finally caught up to Wabisuke, he was taking something out of Shota's police car.

"What is it?" I asked Kenji.

Uncle closed the door and walked down the steps. We were going to follow him until I stopped to notice that the glove box was wide open. "He…took his gun!"

"What?" Kenji turned around and saw for himself.

"Shota usually has it locked in there in case of emergencies." We watched Uncle Wabisuke go deeper into the trees. "Hurry!"

"Natsuki, it might not be a good idea to…"

"He might be in trouble!" I raced off after my uncle whether or not Kenji went with me. "Uncle Wabisuke!" I called after him. But he never stopped going into the woods.

"Stop!" Kenji shouted.

Wabisuke stood still. He took the gun a brought it closer to his mouth. "NO!" I screamed and grabbed the nearest rock, throwing it hard and quick to his ear.

"Ow! Dammit!" He dropped the gun. "Natsuki, what are you doing here?"

Kenji stood in front of me with his arms out. "We can ask you the same thing."

"Please, Uncle, don't do it." I cried.

He was still. I couldn't tell if he was thinking of doing it anyways or if he was actually listening.

"I know things are rough now, but we will help you."

"You shouldn't have come out here." He told us. "You should've just left me alone. Didn't you see that I want to be left alone?"

"Why are you talking like that?" I started crying.

Kenji pushed me further back. "Wabisuke, you have to let us in so we can help. What can we do?" He asked.

"Nothing."

"Then we'll have to work harder to find a solution."

Wabisuke frowned. He definitely wasn't himself. "You say that like it's simple."

"Defeating Lovemachine wasn't that simple…"

"Don't you ever say that name again!" He pointed the gun towards my boyfriend.

Kenji raised his hands in a pleading motion. "Okay. I get it. But we can move passed it. We'll think of a plan. We all will."

He shook his head and lowered the gun. "I can't believe my life is in the hands of a couple of kids."

We didn't say anything.

"I should've never come back here. Every time I do, there's nothing but trouble." He said more towards me.

"But Uncle…"

He dropped the gun at our feet and went back into the house. I stayed with Kenji, crying into his shoulder.