Hiya Peeps!!
Okay here it is! The last part of 'Let Me Fall' and "Life's Brief Candle". I'm sorry that I took my time to post it. I was busy (exams and all). Anyway, I should've post this on July 31, (Miyagi's birthday) but since now it's August…oh well, Happy Belated Birthday Miyagi!
This is the final story, I called it "Miss You" taken from the song from Aaliyah.
'It's been too long and I'm lost without you,
So what am I gonna do, said I've been needing you wanting you,
Wonderin' if you're the same and who's been with you,
Is your heart still mine,
I wanna cry sometimes.
"…………… Now you're gone and I'm lost without you here now
But I know I gotta live and make it somehow"
*sobs* yep..I love this song. That's why I chose it.
Phew, now I am off writing angst story!! It's so not me. After this, I'll focus more on humour. Well…if you want me to...*look at readers*
Oh yes before I forgot, THANK YOU SO MUCH for those who reviewed my first two fics. *hugs readers* And a big thank you to Yelen too for beta-reading. *Hugs Yelen* You're the best!!
Okay. I'll disturb you no more. Go ahead and read. Enjoy and R&R. Please….!!
"Hey."
I turned around and was face to face with Kogure-sempai. I smiled at him. He returned the gesture.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"Visiting my friend's grave," he answered.
I nodded, and placed the flowers I brought with me on the tombstone in front of me.
"It has been 3 years already," I started. He nodded, and I continued, "And yet, I still miss him." My voice trailed off, and I struggled to hold back the tears that were threatening to flow down my cheeks.
"Of course you do, he was your husband, Ayako," he answered coolly.
I stared at the stone grave that stood in front of me. I still remember the day he went away and was buried six feet under. "So, what really brought you here?" I asked him.
Kogure-sempai raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
I smiled. "You're a busy guy, why would you waste your time coming to Tokyo just to visit a friend's grave two days in a row?" I asked him.
"Ah, so you already know I came here yesterday?" he asked.
"The flowers you left yesterday were lovely," I said to him, matter-of-factly. They truly were lovely. I looked at the bouquet of flowers that Kogure-sempai brought yesterday, lying next to mine on the grave.
I sighed. "You're curious about me?" He raised an eyebrow before nodding
"C'mon, let's go have breakfast together and then we'll talk. It will be my treat."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So, what really brought you back to Japan?" I started the conversation, as soon as we ordered our foods.
Ayako smiled. "Nothing really, I just felt like coming home, that's all."
I looked at her closely, trying to determine whether she was telling the truth or not. She stared back at me.
Silence ensued. Neither of us spoke.
"Okay, fine. I give up," Ayako surrendered. I smiled.
"Actually," she started, "after we were divorced, Ryota kept calling me and coaxing me to reconcile." She stopped and smiled before continuing her story, "I was pregnant at that time, with his child. He wanted a child so much. When we divorced, the both of us didn't know I was pregnant. Then a month later, when I was in the States with my family, I found out about it. My mom called his parents to tell him the news. I wasn't aware of it that time. When he found out I was pregnant, he started asking me for a second chance..."
"Where's your child? What's his or her name?" I asked her, curious.
"He's at home with his grandparents. His name is Ryuuchi, Ryuuchi Miyagi." I nodded as she smiled.
Ayako stopped talking as a waiter came to our table with our orders. I sipped my coffee and watched Ayako sipped hers. Then she continued.
"A month before his death, I decided to return to him. I loved him, even until now. My family encouraged me to do so as well. When I arrived here, I had no idea what he had to do, which –" She stopped.
What was she trying to say just now?
She looked at me as if she had let the cat out of the bag. "You were saying Ayako?" I asked her. Silence. She's afraid to tell me. I can see it in her eyes.
"Aya –" I began, but she interrupted me.
"Uh, never mind, forget what I just said. Forget it." She gave me a faint smile.
"Ayako, I've read the letter that Mitsui gave to me and the card that you wrote to him. As far as I known, you have the answer I'm searching for," I explained to her.
"A letter?" she asked. I nodded and took the letter from my pocket and showed it to her.
I chewed on my French toast as Ayako read the letter.
"Well?" I asked her as she folded the letter after reading it. She passed it back to me. She closed her eyes as she took another sip of her coffee.
"Very well. But keep this confidential, I don't want the whole world knowing what my late husband did," she said.
"You have my word," I assured her. "But before that, I want you to know something."
She looked quizzically at me. "What?"
"Besides me, there is one more person who knows about our meeting. He was the one that helped me find you here. He will definitely ask for the details of this meeting when I get back to Kanagawa."
"Who is he?" Ayako asked.
"Saguru Hakuba, Mitsui's lawyer," I answered.
She nodded. "Heh, don't worry, you can tell that detective about Ryota," Ayako said.
I nodded. Then something struck me. "Wait, how did you know he was a detective?"
"I'm his second cousin, though we haven't met for quite a while".
Second cousin? Hold on, Saguru haven't told me about this when I asked him to help me find Ayako.
"Wait, did he call you and ask you himself? I mean you two are cousins."
"Unfortunately, he doesn't remember any of his second cousins; he probably won't even know if the person he had a date with is his own aunt!" she said sarcastically. "And he calls himself 'Sherlock Holmes', bah!" Ayako rolled her eyes.
I let out a small laugh. "Okay, then, can you tell me about what Miyagi did?" I asked, trying to get to the topic. Ayako chewed her bacon quietly before answering my question.
I waited patiently.
"Ryota had a sister, Ryuko. Miyagi Ryuko," Ayako finally spoke. "She was working in a medicine institute in the US."
"I remembered her! She was the one that always drove Miyagi nuts, when she entered Shohoku after I left." After I left high school, I used to go to the gym to see the team's improvements when I had free time, and sometimes, I ran into Miyagi's sister, who was always fighting with both Rukawa and Sakuragi and driving Miyagi up the wall.
"Yeah, she's the 'troublemaker Miyagi no.2'" Ayako smiled. Then her face went serious. She continued, "And she was one of those smart scientists trying to find remedies for diseases." She looked at me.
AYAKO'S POV
I stared hard at Kogure-sempai. Then I continued. "In that institute, there was this one guy, he is also Japanese and he used to be Ryuko's ex-classmate in Junior High."
Kogure nodded.
"They were quite close, and they shared their personal info with each other. As 3 years went by, they were still close. But then –" I stopped.
I couldn't go on. I felt like I had swallowed a handful of sand. There was this feeling inside of me that I couldn't describe, and the past memories just kept coming back, almost making me choke on them.
Kogure-sempai saw this and he said, "Look, if you don't want to talk about it, it's ok..."
But I interrupted him.
"No, I want to share this. I've been keeping it inside for so long. I need to let it all out," I told him.
"Ryuko's friend created a— a medicine that was supposed to help those with heart problems," I said, remembering the story Ryota once told me during dinner, a week after I left America and arrived at Japan.
Kogure-sempai nodded, understanding my story so far.
I continued. "But then, when they tested the formula, they found out that the medicine doesn't help the heart, but stops it instead." My throat was quite dry; so I took another sip from my coffee. "They decided to exile the portions. They did, even threw the formula papers down the recycle bin. But they didn't realize that he still kept a copy of the formula and secretly created and improvised the same thing again."
"Ryuko somehow found out about this, and decided to break the news to the board of directors. Unluckily, he found out her plan before she could even open her mouth. He threatened her."
"How does Miyagi fit into this?" Kogure-sempai asked. I could sense in his tone that he was becoming impatient.
"I was just about to get to that part. Ryota and I were to visit her for the 6th time that week, after our visit to my parents' house. She was supposed to pick us up at the airport. We waited for about an hour for her to come but she never showed up. So we took a cab to her house, thinking that she had an important meeting or something.
"When we got there, we knocked on her door, but no one answered. Then Ryota took out a spare key that she left under the doormat for special occasions. Only we knew about this," I smiled, remembering when we first arrived, and Ryuko wasn't there to greet us. We waited for her at the airport for 2 hours. She finally came to pick us, exhausted from a long meeting. Then she told us, if we visited her again, and she couldn't be there pick us up, take a cab to her house and use the spare key under the doormat to get inside.
"When we got inside, Ryota suddenly went to her study room. Then he left the house, saying he had to go to a workshop to take Ryuko's car and then pick up Ryuko at her institute, since her car was being repaired from an accident that happened two weeks before. That was all he told me.
"He left me for quite a long time. He arrived back home just when I prepared dinner especially for the three of us. He had this pale, sad face and Ryuko wasn't there with him. When I asked him what's wrong, he just shook his head. Then he said to me that we have to get back to Japan first thing in the morning.
"I was confused, but didn't say anything. When we arrived at Japan, Ryota still didn't talk to me about what happened. He still had the pale, sad face on him. And he always got scared when the phone rings. This happened for three months. Finally I just couldn't take it anymore. I thought that husband and wife should always share problems with each other. That was when we fought, and then we decided divorce was the only solution that the both of us could live with."
I stopped. I felt that my brain needed a break. I continued sipping my coffee. Kogure-sempai looked at me as if he wanted to know more but decided to let me have a rest.
After a minute or two had passed, I decided to continue. "That time, I didn't know the real story behind it. After the divorce, when he asked me to return to him, he took me to dinner and told me everything. The whole truth."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Listen, Aya," Miyagi began.
Ayako looked up from her soup. "What is it?"
Miyagi looked at her, straight in the eyes. "Remember the last time we fought?" he asked. "And I was acting weird before that?"
Ayako nodded. "Actually," he started, and then stopped to look around him, before continuing, "I want to tell you the real story tonight."
Ayako hearts beat faster than normal. Miyagi continued, "And I hope you won't run away after I'm finished with telling you the story. I want you to understand my point of view, okay?" he ended softly.
"Okay," Ayako simply answered.
Miyagi took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "When I took Ryuko's house key under the mat, I found a note. It wrote that "If I'm not home by the time you've arrived, go inside my study room, take my car key and drive to the institute. I may be in danger.
"That's why I lied to you saying I'm picking up Ryuko. I have a feeling she's in danger, and I don't want you to get involve." Miyagi looked at Ayako, who had no intention of replying, so he continued.
"When I got to the institute, I went to her room and found a note for me."
"A note?" Ayako asked.
Miyagi nodded. "It was from Ryuko's friend. It wrote, 'If you want your sister back, do as I say. Go back to Japan with your wife, and wait for my call. Your sister's life may be in danger if you tell the cops.' I thought it was just a silly joke. I was about to get out from her room when I spotted something on the floor under the couch.
"At first I thought it was just rubbish, but I'd picked it up anyway and to my surprise, it was another letter, from my sister:
'To whomever is reading this, if I am not in the institute (without any particular reason) by the time you're reading this, please tell this story to the head director...'"
"What story?" Ayako asked.
Miyagi took another deep breath. "Ryuko's friend created a drug that will stop the heart and shut down every vital organ inside the body within minutes after the person consumes the drug."
Ayako frowned. "Are you joking with me, Ryota?"
Miyagi shook his head no. "No, Aya. I'm telling the truth, believe me."
Ayako sighed in resignation. "Continue."
Aya, I am telling the truth, even if you don't believe it. "Ryuko found out about this. She decided to tell on him. But he– he took her first. When we got back to Japan, he called me to meet him.
"He brought Ryuko with him, that bloody bastard. He even smiled at me, saying how nice it is to meet me. He told me, he was in this 'so-called-group'. Their purpose is to kill politicians with the drug he created. He also told me, if I tell anybody else, even you, they will kill that person."
"Then he said if I wanted Ryuko back, I had to do him a favour. I told him I'd do anything to get her back. He answered me by saying, 'Wait for another call from me, I'll tell you what you'll have to do.'"
"Why are you telling me? Are you not afraid that they kill me now?" Ayako asked.
"Aya, I know what I'm doing, this is my only chance to tell you. Besides, I have done what they wanted me to do. I'm out of their business." He smiled, but Ayako stared at him.
He tried again. "Aya believe me, I didn't tell you what happened because I didn't want you to get hurt. I'm sorry if I had made you worry for the past months."
Ayako gazed into the emerald eyes of the person in front of her. Somewhere in his eyes, she knew that he was telling the truth. "What happened after that?" she asked.
"The second time he called me was after our divorce. He wanted me to meet him at our first meeting place. When I arrived there, he gave me a sample of the medicine he made. He wanted me to give it to—" Miyagi took a breath before ending his sentence. "Anzai-sensei."
Ayako's eyes widened. She looked very pale at that moment. She remembered when she was in the States; Akagi-sempai had called her about Anzai-sensei's death. She couldn't be there at the funeral because her brother was getting married on the same day. "You mean you had something to do with Anzai-sensei's death?" she nearly screamed.
Miyagi looked down; his eyes were moving rapidly. "Aya, I killed him."
Ayako was shocked. The person in front of her, her ex-husband, the father of the child she's carrying was a killer. "You what!?" She stood up angrily. "I can't believe you!" Ayako shouted. Many people, who were eating in the restaurant, looked up to see what the shouting was about. Miyagi's tanned face turned pale as Ayako stood up, ready to leave.
Miyagi grabbed Ayako's arm tightly. Ayako tried to free her hand, but he was stronger than her. "Aya, listen to me. Try to understand it from my point of view! Please Aya, I'm not finished yet. Please!" Miyagi pleaded.
Ayako's heart refused to listen any longer, but her brain was saying otherwise. She sighed, before sitting back down. Miyagi smiled wanly and whispered softly, "Thank you."
"Like I was saying," he went on. "I didn't do it on purpose. He wanted me to give the drug to Anzai-sensei because he thought that Anzai-sensei was responsible for his brother's death."
"His brother?"
Miyagi nodded. "His brother was Anzai-sensei's pupil in university. His brother went to America to get the ultimate basketball training that he thought Anzai-sensei robbed him of. When he was in the States, his fate wasn't as lucky as he had hoped. After 5 years in USA, he died in a car crash.
"Ryuko's friend blamed Anzai-sensei for his death. He wanted me to make Anzai-sensei as a test to his new medication. That asshole, he said if I don't kill him, he will kill Ryuko and me." Miyagi stopped. His eyes were watery. "Anzai-sensei treated me kindly the night I visited his house. And I— I had the nerve to put the drug inside his tea without him noticing and killed him.
"That bloody drug was a success, Aya," Miyagi said. Ayako closed her eyes. Stop! I don't to hear anymore! Her heart screamed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kogure-sempai stared hard at me.
"You are kidding right?" he asked me. He had this look on his face that showed that he didn't believe a thing I'd just said. If it were possible, but… I shook my head no.
"Oh." He simply answered. "But, if Anzai-sensei passed away because of the drug, didn't the doctors realized that he had drank the drug?"
I shrugged. "As far as I know, the doctors thought that he had died because of a heart attack. I think the drug caused that — somehow it had created another reason for the person who drank it to die. It's like another sickness was covering the real source; the drug, which killed the person who drank it."
Kogure-sempai nodded. "Where does Mitsui fit in this story?"
I cleared my throat. "He, Mitsui-san told me this. Ryota met him the day before I knew about this."
"They were in a bar right?" Kogure asked.
I nodded. "But it's actually a trick."
"Huh?"
I smiled. "He was pretending he was drunk. Even if one of the 'so-called-group' was spying on him, that person would think he was drunk. Even Mitsui-san was fooled by the act." I took another deep breath. "Ryota told Mitsui-san that he was the one who caused Anzai-sensei's death. It brought anger inside Mitsui-san. That was what Ryota wanted."
"What I was really mad at Ryota about was that he didn't tell Mitsui-san that he was forced to kill Anzai-sensei. Ryota told him that he was a part of the 'so-called-group'. And I think that was Mitsui-san's motive for killing Ryota."
"What did Mitsui do when he found out about the 'so-called-group'?" Kogure-sempai asked.
"What do you think? He eliminated it before he killed Ryota."
Kogure-sempai was shocked to hear this. "All by himself?"
"Not really. He had connection. Tokyo's private investigators helped him."
"Hold on. Let me get this straight," Kogure-sempai said. "Mitsui asked for the private investigators' help? Did they take it on?"
I nodded. "Every member of the group. Including the head of the group. Lucky there were no branches or that'd take forever."
"Mitsui asked them to keep the story covered. Even the lower-ranking policemen didn't have a clue about it."
"Wait; if the detectives knew about this, then they'd understand why he killed Miyagi right?"
"Yeah, the detectives knew. They wanted to reveal the motive of the murder, but Mitsui-san refused. He didn't want to let Kanagawa's police know about this. He said to them that he was responsible of killing a man, and he would take the punishment. I met him once when he was in jail. I was furious with him for murdering my husband. He told me the story that Ryota told him. And that was when I realized that he didn't know the real story, so I told him."
I sighed. "I guess I was the cause of his suicide. The night he committed suicide, I received a letter from him on the same day. I didn't even know how he had my address. Maybe Ryota told him, I don't know." I smiled. "The letter, it wrote that he apologized for killing Ryota. And he wrote that he had destroyed the 'so-called-group'. And he said, if I don't believe him, he said I could ask Tokyo's head police chief about it. What he wrote was true." I sighed again. "That was where the get well card came in. Now you understand?"
KOGURE'S P.O.V.
I nodded.
"Good. Anymore questions?" Ayako asked, smiling.
"Just one. What am I supposed to do now?"
"Well, for one, you can take your lazy butt out of this diner and give me a ride home. Then I'll introduce you to my parents and my Ryuu-chan," Ayako said with a smile.
I smiled. "Meet your parents? Sure I'd love to, but that's not what I meant. About the story you told me. What should I do now?"
"Well, you can keep the story locked deep inside you. Though I'm sure Saguru wants to hear about it, then you can tell him. But make sure he keeps his lips sealed. Both of you," Ayako told me.
"Yes ma'am," I joked. Then I remembered something or someone. "Wait, one more question. What happened to Ryuko?"
Ayako smiled. "She's fine. After Ryota completed his 'task', they returned Ryuko to Ryota. First, Ryota kept her hidden from the outside world. But when Mitsui-san destroyed the 'group', Ryuko gave him a hand. She was the one who told me about Ryota's 'drunken trick'," Ayako smiled. "She's living with me now. You can meet her too."
"So she's not mad at Mitsui for killing her brother?" I asked. Ayako shrugged. "I don't think so. She understood why Mitsui-san did it, and she also told me that it was the best way for Ryota, to forget about his guilt and his terrible nightmare."
I nodded. I was about to say something else when my cell phone rang. "Excuse me," I said to Ayako as I answered the call. Ayako nodded, and as I answered the call, she paid for the bill.
"Yeah?— Really?— That's great!— I'd be there soon. Bye."
I closed my cell phone and looked at Ayako who stared back at me. "What's up?" she asked.
"The hospital called me." I answered her. "Hey Ayako, do you mind if I meet your family later? And would you accompany me back to Kanagawa?" I asked her. She'd be surprised.
"You can visit my family anytime. But going back to Kanagawa? Why?"
"Hakuba called me. He said Mitsui has just waked up from his coma yesterday night."
"So you're going back to visit Mitsui-san, and you're asking me to follow you?" Ayako asked.
I nodded "Why? Don't you want to see Mitsui?"
"Are you kidding? I'd love to! Besides, I want to see my idiotic second cousin," she told me, standing up as she took her handbag, ready to leave the diner.
I shook my head, also ready to leave the diner. "It'd be a special family reunion," I mumbled under my breath. It's too bad that Miyagi isn't here to see the reunion and Mitsui's recovery. But I'm sure you're watching us from above. I'm sure you're happy to see your son and wife in good condition. I'll promise you I'll look after the both of them. Ayako is my friend and this is all I can do to support her.
I looked up to the sky. You don't mind, do you Miyagi?
-end-
(The real ending. No more sequel!)
A/N:
1) Okay..first the medicine, I made it up. I don't think you could find that kind of drug anywhere on this land we called Earth.
2) Yay!! Mitsui's still alive!! Aren't you happy?
3) Ayako's son and Miyagi's sister are made up characters. They're my OCs. (Of course you know that, don't ya?) *stares at two girls whose 'name' and 'bf's' name were mentioned* Wait..girls..don't chase me..*runs as fast as the wind*
4) Bye bye guys!! Now I'm off to the humours!! Wait, I just wanna know your opinion.... do you think I'm good at writing angst? Please tell me. Flame or no flame..I wanna know!!
5) Let's see…hm…oh yeah! You know that button down there, the one with the words "Go". You know you want to click it…. Now, just click it man!!! Okay?