KAEDE – missing scene, ep. 21
Just a small town girl
Livin'in a lonely world
She took the midnight train
Goin' anywhere
It was not the first time Kaede traveled out of Oriental Town and yet, her hands were cold, clammy, knuckles white from the force with which she held onto her backpack. The train looked so big and she, so small. The lights were too bright, the people, too tall, the noise, too loud. Her heart beat hard and fast at the sight of a police officer wandering around, apparently looking for something or someone: had she been discovered? Had grandma or uncle Muramasa panicked and called the police?
Hold on to Daddy, ok?
When Kaede was four, she had traveled to Sternbild to say goodbye to her mother. The only thing she could remember from that time was the feel of kissing a cold, unresponsive face and that her father had carried her on his shoulders in the crowded train station.
She had felt Daddy's spiky hair tickling her arms and his big hands holding her legs. She remembered that some people had looked at him with a strange expression, as though they were embarrassed.
She remembered touching Daddy's face and feeling tears running down.
Kaede shut her eyes tight for a moment, willing her own tears to stop. She couldn't cry now. She had to save her father.
I'm coming for you, Daddy.