Fractured Hearts: Chapter 1

Reaching for the Stars, Yet Never Reaching to Get It- Her Story

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.

~Joseph Campbell

"Kaori~chan!" a voice called out.

She turned around and searched for the one who projected this voice. Recognizing the person, she clapped her hands together and exclaimed, "Ah~ Shuuya~kun!"

Kano Shuuya nodded and tilted his head with is hands clasped together on his back. "Mhm! Kaori~chan, do you want to walk back home with me today?"

She blushed red at his proposal and immediately became flusters. "A~ah! Um, um um, ANO… Uhh…" She half shouted half mumbled as she tried rearranging the papers she had been working on. Kano giggled at his "Kaori~chan" getting all flustered. Trying to think of a legitimate excuse, she quickly said, "A-ah! I have to finish these papers today! Please go on without me, Shuuya~kun! S-sorry…" She mumbled that last part.

Arissa Kaori cursed to herself that she wasn't able to admit that she wanted to go with Kano.

Narrator: AHH~ MOU! SHE IS SUCH A TSUN-

Arissa Kaori: NO I AM NOT! GET AWAY FROM ME ANO BAKA!

Narrator: … Kowaii… (Scary…)

Arissa Kaori: S-SUMIMASEN! I d-didn't mean to scare you like that... I-it's just that…

Narrator: *whispers* Tsunshun. Mildly tsundere and hostile to the people around them, but then later they feel depressed after being so hostile.

Arissa Kaori: Huh?

Narrator: NOTHING~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A hint of disappointment crossed Kano Shuuya's face, but quickly vanished. He did have that power after all. And she knew. Even though she didn't have any sort of power like that, she was fairly close to the Mekakushi Dan.

"Ah~. That's okay, Kaori~chan! Let's just walk home together tomorrow! I'll just walk with Kido today, then." Kano reasoned out.

Kaori immediately nodded her head, not wanting to lose this chance of being together with Shuuya. They barely ever walked home after all. Kaori was always so busy, being their class representative and all that.

Kano walked out after that with his hands behind his head, as if he had no such care in the world at all. Kaori giggled at this sight and wished to herself, "Ah, ~ if only everyone could have a carefree life."

Of course at this time, she wasn't talking about herself. After all, that incident hadn't happened yet. She had a pretty satisfying life, being friends with the Mekakushi Dan and all that. Actually, she might have even loved Kano, and mentioned to Kido once before, "I-I think I really like Kano…" blushing.

Back then, she didn't notice how Kido shuffled in her seat a bit, annoyed. She didn't notice at all how Kido seemed to blush madly on that pale white skin of hers.

From being tracked in her thoughts, Kaori realized she finished her work sooner than she thought she would have. She shuffled her papers into a neat stack before putting it on the teacher's desk.

"Maybe I can still catch up to Shuuya~kun," she thought. She slightly jogged to the front door gates of the school.

Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat. Splash.

She turned her head a little to the side and saw that it was sprinkling a bit. She took out her clear umbrella that she always carried around and opened it when she was outside.

"Oh yeah… Today's August 11… The weather forecast said it would rain today."

Kaori jogged the path that Kano always took when he headed back "home," or the Mekakushi Dan.

Before long, she saw two middle school figures huddled together under one umbrella. Her heart constricted a bit when she realized it was Kano and Kido trying to stay dry.

She forced a little smile and started waving her hand, "Tsubom-…" she almost shouted out loud.

But no.

She looked at the two of them desperately as Kano kissed Kido on the lips.

She wanted to call out the two of their names and make them stop kissing.

But she wasn't as selfish to do that. No. Way. It was until now that she noticed that shuffle that Kido did uncomfortably back then when she confessed about Kano to Kido. She noticed how Kido was blushing back then. She now noticed why Tsubomi~chan did all that stuff.

Because she too, loved Kano.

In surprise, she had dropped her umbrella and stepped back a bit.

"S-sh*t!" she cursed as her umbrella noisily fell to the floor. She prayed to the heavens that they couldn't notice her, but her prayers, were

DENIED.

The two figures swung their heads to look at Kaori. Kido, stepped back a bit. But Kano, for one, asked, "Kaori~chan, weren't you going to finish your work?"

His tone was completely casual. As if nothing had happened at all.

"I-I-I finished a lot early than I expected…" she reasoned a bit quietly. She then snapped her head up and reached her hand out a bit, and asked, "W-what were you two… Doing?"

"Nothing, Kaori~chan!" Kano exclaimed.

However, Kaori knew that this was a bit more than nothing. She struggled to hold on to her smile, and her knees grew week, falling to the concrete floor, splashing into a puddle as the rain grew worse. "Ha… ha…" she weakly laughed.

"KAORI~CHAN!" the two voices shouted and ran up to her.

"K-Kaori~chan, w-what's wrong?!" Kano shook her. He tried to get a better look of the girl but could not, as her bangs were covering her mysterious eyes.

"N-nothing…" she whispered as a tremendous amount of tears fell through her eyes.

"KAORI~CHAN!" the two cried out.

She smiled a bit at Kido and murmured, "I hope you're happy, Tsubomi~chan…"

It meant to be an encouraging sentence, not one that would bring Kido guilt inside her heart. Because little did Arissa Kaori know, that the next day, Kido decided to tell Kano to break her ties with him. Kido told him everything, from the fact that Kaori really liked Kano, to how she was faking all along. That was August 12.

From the moment Kaori saw the two not speaking to each other, she would ask, "What's wrong?" to the both of them.

They just simply nodded and said, "Nothing, Arissa-chan!"

She stepped back in surprise when they had both used her last name. Their voices no longer had any ring to it like it used to.

"Kaori~chan~!" she remembered.

Each day, she would ask them what was wrong. Each simply nodded and replied the same answer, every,

Single,

Day.

For the first time in her life, she truly felt the feeling of:

Loneliness.

The Mekakushi Dan grew a part from her as Kano and Kido began ignoring her. They were her only friends, and yet, now, they were all gone. Now she, was the one suffering. Now she, was the monster.

August 15, was the day she decided to confess everything to Kano, Kano Shuuya, about how lonely she was.

She reached her hand out and lightly tapped Kano on the shoulder. Something flickered and flashed as she saw a happy Kano staring back at her. "Arissa-chan?"

"Y-yea…" she mumbled. "Listen, Shuuya—"

Before she could say the rest, Kano interrupted, "Please don't call me that name, Arissa-chan."

She withdrew her hand and dared to ask, "W-why?"

She shook him a bit by the shoulder and continued to ask the same question over and over again. "Why?"

At last, Kano broke.

But not in the way Kaori wanted him to.

"BECAUSE I CAN'T BE WITH KIDO ANYMORE!" he suddenly outburst.

She stepped back in surprise.

"SHE ASKED ME TO CUT MY TIES WITH HER! SHE ASKED ME TO STOP TALKING TO HER! EVEN THOUGH I LOVED HER!"

Kaori stepped back even more. "He… Loved her…" she thought. Tears were on the brink of her eyes, threatening to spill out. But she wasn't about to let it them fall.

"Shuu-… K-kano! … I-I'm really sorr—"

"DON'T SAY THAT YOU'RE SORRY! YOU RUINED MY RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GIRL I LOVED!" he shouted.

She stepped back once again, for she really didn't know Kano's story. His mask was now gone, and it looked like he was really suffering. She…

Hated it.

"PLEASE! JUST LEAVE, JUST DISAPPEAR!"

Small trails of tears spilled out of her eyes that she had tried so desperately to hold back. It was her feelings that ruined this relationship. "IT'D JUST BE BETTER IF I COULD CONTROL ALL MY FEELINGS!" she shouted in her mind.

But first…

Kaori smiled a bit and patted Kano's head in a forced way. "Your wish, has been heard, Shuuya~kun!"

Kano looked back in surprise at how cheerful her voice could be, but found that he was looking at the opposite.

The girl he had unknowingly had at least SOME feelings for, romantically, was crying as she ruffled his hair with a forced smile on her lips. His eyes widened.

"K-Kao—"

But by the time he had realized, she was already gone. He looked to the side where Kido was standing ever so quietly near the slightly opened door, crying.

Kano stood up from his fetal position and began his meaningless search for his "Kaori~chan."

He ran, and ran, in search of the girl he wanted to see oh, so frantically.

Finally, he reached a bridge that a girl was standing on, on the edges.

"KAORI~CHAN!" he screamed, as the girl fell from the bridge.

The girl smiled and blinked away a few tears, "Shuuya~kun, ya know? It would have been really fun, if we all just restarted! And…"

A few words were mouthed that Kano couldn't hear. But of course, understood perfectly.

"I'm sorry."

That was the August 15th where Arissa Kaori~san died. But yes, before she really did, she woke up from a nightmare. A nightmare where she dreamt of snakes eating her.

A nightmare where she found the courage to say, "I always dreamt of reaching for the stars. The stars were the things that kept me going. They were my courage. Of course, Kano was my star back then. But the thing is, this star that kept me wanting to stay on the surface of the Earth, also kept me wanting to end it. Because all along, I knew I could never reach such a magnificent being. Because I was reaching for the stars, but was never reaching, to get it."

~Arissa Kaori

"But even so, I wish I could just start over…"

And suddenly, a girl that had long black hair appeared, and morphed into a snake, at least in Kaori's eyes.

"Your wish, has been heard."

A/N: I'M SORRY IT WAS REALLY BAD... But I just had to upload it anyway. XP Anyway... Since my OC is inside this fanfiction, I shall not be following the manga for it has proven too hard for me to do so.

But yeah, review, comment, and whatnot.

This will be posted on Quotev, Wattpad, and , under the name RenMikase, or Ren Mikase. Yeah, yeah, same thing. XD If anyone tries to copy and post this on another website, then please, notify me. I'm sorry I don't know much about Kagerou Daze/Mekaku City Actors, so tell me if I get anything wrong.