chapter 1 – when it all falls apart

When Yoshioka Futaba experienced her first 'episode', it was only a few days after her 18th birthday and the cicadas had already begun to sing in full harmony to celebrate the arrival of summer. It was only a month away from her last ever summer holiday, and yet she was buried underneath piles and piles of work required for the preparation of her third-year midterms that were beginning the following Monday. In addition to that, she also needed prepare for her upcoming university-entrance examinations that were scheduled before the school year ended. Her guidance counsellor had suggested she pursue a future in chemical engineering or pharmaceuticals due to her passion for chemistry. She was interested in the idea, but decided to hold off choosing a career pathway for later, and see what grades she could pull off when she tried her best.

Futaba was doing her English revision while sitting cross-legged on the plush carpet of her bedroom floor, munching on her favourite Garbo Balls. English never came naturally to her - she was always a lot better at memorising characters instead of remembering which phonic went with which syllable.

She was right in the middle of learning the definition for the word 'ostentatious' - that one was a killer - when she felt her lungs constrict and her heart speed up at an alarming rate. Her head began to throb, as if someone had thrown a fifty-kilogram weight in her direction. She lost control of her movements, and it felt as if someone looped invisible strings around her torso and limbs and pulled hard in every direction. The bag of Garbo Balls sitting innocently on her table were swept onto the floor, it's contents spilling everywhere. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and then, her surroundings were thrust into darkness.

Outside, the cicadas continued to sing.

.

Twenty-seven minutes later, Yoshioka Kyoko was beginning to feel quite irritated. The chicken karage that she had so painstakingly deep fried (and endured burns) for tonight was getting colder by the minute, and her husband was being kept late at work for the third time that week. She selfishly wished those international visitors at his company would just leave already so that her husband would be able to come home on time for dinner. She'd called for her daughter to come help her set up the cutlery for dinner twice in the last five minutes, but did not get a response.

"Futaba-chan! Take off your headphones and come help set the table!" her mother called up the stairs. "You better not have ruined your appetite by eating so many snacks, you hear me?"

She placed a damp hand on her hip and waited for Futaba to answer. Honestly, that girl had to stop listening to her music turned on so loudly, unless she wanted to develop hearing problems

Still, Futaba did not respond.

Concerned, her mother climbed the stairs to her bedroom door, and knocked twice. "Futaba-chan?"

Opening the door, she found her daughter lying face-down in that carpet of hers, with her breathing shallow, her heart rate faint and her sleeping shorts wet and tinged with the colour of lemonade. Kyoko's world came crashing down in that instant.

"Futaba!"

.

Yoshioka Shuuhei was having a long day. Scratch that, he was having a long week. It was hard being one of the only managers in his department to know how to speak English fluently. For the entire week, the poor man had been relied upon to act as the unofficial interpreter slash translator slash tour guide for those obnoxious British executives visiting the company's Japanese branch. He honestly wasn't getting paid enough for this. He was grateful that he passed by the opportunity of having dinner with people he didn't even like when the tantalising smell of his wife's chicken karage flooded his senses. It was his childhood favourite and his stomach growled in response.

He was just stepping into the threshold of his living room after closing the front door behind him when he heard his wife shrieking his daughter's name. Immediately, without even bothering to kick off his leather shoes, he sprinted through his house and up the staircase to his daughter's bedroom - to find his wife kneeling beside the limp body of their daughter, lying askew on the floor. His wife's beautiful eyes were wide and glassy, and her teeth clenched tightly as she stared down at their daughter's pale and gaunt face.

"Honey!" he cried. "What happened?!"

"I-I..." his wife stammered, clearly in shock.

"Snap out of it, Kyoko!" Shuuhei demanded, shaking his wife's shoulders. She jolted out of her shock and her distress was immediately evident as she returned to her attention to her unconscious daughter. "Tell me what happened to Futaba."

"I have no idea!" his wife said exasperatedly as she checked on Futaba's breathing and pulse. "I tried calling her down to start dinner without you but she didn't respond. I was worried so I came up to check on her and found her on the floor like this!"

The crease in the middle of Shuuhei's eyebrows deepened. After a quick check on Futaba, he found that there wasn't much wrong with her physically but she was out cold, not responding to them when they touched her or spoke to her. Kyoko left the room and promptly returned with a cold compress and towel, placing it on Futaba's forehead and cleaning up her mess.

Their daughter was breathing regularly, and her pulse was strong. After Shuuhei laid her on her bed and propped her feet up with some pillows, Kyoko brushed Futaba's bangs off her face and noticed that the colour was returning to her cheeks. Shuuhei breathed a small sigh of relief, and his legs gave way under him as the adrenaline wore off. His wife collapsed against his shoulder, cheeks streaked with panic-induced tears. "Thank goodness you came home," she whispered. "If you weren't here, I would have been too shocked to be able to do anything for her."

He smiled weakly in response and rubbed her arm soothingly. "This has never happened before," he muttered. "What on earth could have caused her to pass out like this?"

Before his wife could answer, she noticed Futaba shift on her bed and her eyes opened ever so slowly. Both parents were by her side in an instant.

.

For two minutes after Futaba roused from unconsciousness, she was unable to remember her own name. She could not recall where she was, nor did she recognise the panic-stricken faces of her doting parents.

If you had asked her about it afterwards, she would have close to no recollection of it - except for the fact that it felt like she was slipping away, and that she had an overwhelming need to hurry to her family and friends to let them know that she'd loved them. That was exactly what she did when she finally recognised her mother and father's faces.

Her father insisted they see the family doctor immediately, but Futaba was adamant that she needed to study for her midterms in two days. "We'll make an appointment after my exams are over, okay?" she said, after she had chugged down pain meds and took a hot shower. "It's important that I get them done well, I'm in my last year of high school after all. Besides, what just happened is probably a one-off thing. Don't worry about it!"

Her parents looked at each other, very concerned. Somehow, they found it difficult to believe their only daughter.

.

A/N:

Hi guys, I'm back with a multi-chap super dramatic Korean drama-like AU fic. I'm writing this for purely selfish reasons (like wanting Kou to experience some inner turmoil and a lot of angst) and also because I want to challenge myself as a writer. Now gee, I wonder what's wrong with Futaba?

The title of this fic is from one of my favourite MIKA songs, "Good Gone Girl". Also I apologize for naming Futaba's parents, it had to be done. I do hope we get to learn what their real names are in future chapters of the manga, though!

Also, I haven't abandoned "Wondering", if you were wondering (eheheh ^^"). I have ten more chapters planned/half-written for that, so not to worry. See you guys in the next instalment.