Chapter Two - Tears of Joy and Sorrow
Nobody was surprised when Yumi didn't eat breakfast that morning. Nobody was surprised when Odd ate her breakfast for her. Nobody was surprised to see Yumi's eyes still red from crying, and still kept her head down so nobody noticed. The rain feel down heavily outside, but not as heavy as the tears Yumi cried when she was alone. Aelita wasn't sure why Yumi's eyes were so red, being new to the world in all, and was about to question Yumi when Jeremie stopped her with an acute nudge.
Yumi looked up just in time to see her friend silence the pink haired girl. Pulling her hood over her face, Yumi stood up and shrugged her backpack on. "I'll walk you to class today, Aelita. I want to talk to you about something."
"But, Yumi, you're a year older than us and her class is on the other side of the campus from yours." Jeremie objected.
"Don't worry; I was planning on walking to her class anyways. Madame Emilie won't mind if I'm late, given the circumstances and all. Besides, I need to chat, girl-to-girl."
With a small smile touching her soft, rosy lips, Aelita donned on her pink raincoat, grabbed her bag, and followed Yumi out of the cafeteria.
The boys didn't see Yumi for the rest of the day, and none of them pestered Aelita about what they talked about.
School finally ended and Jeremie headed back to his dorm. In the middle of struggling through his Italian homework, he received a small knock on his door. On the other side, he saw Aelita who's were just as red as Yumi's; tears falling down her gentle face. Jeremie beckoned his friend into his room, clearing off space so she could sit on his bed. He sat next to her.
They sat in silence for a while before the pink haired girl finally spoke up.
"Jeremie, why are my eyes red like Yumi's, and what is this wet stuff on my face?"
"They're called tears; you get them when you're sad. And your eyes are red because you've been crying so much." Jeremie explained handing her a tissue.
"So Yumi's eyes are red and she has tears in her eyes, because…she lost her family?" Aelita asked wiping her tears away with the tissue.
"Exactly," Seeing how this conversation was making Aelita cry all over again, Jeremie quickly changed the subject. "Hey Aelita, don't you think we should shut down the supercomputer now?"
"I wouldn't want to wait for X.A.N.A. to send us an invitation." Aelita teased remembering that day last year when they discovered Aelita had a virus. Jeremie who, surprisingly, also thought it was funny, laugh with her as they went to gather the rest of the gang.
Odd was bouncing with joy when they told him it was time, Ulrich however said that he would meet them there and he would get Yumi for them. When Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita had left for the factory, Ulrich walked quietly downstairs to the girl's dormitory.
He softly knocked on Yumi's door and heard only a very quiet come in. Just as softly as he knocked, Ulrich opened the door to find his friend in the same position as last night. Instead of sitting on the bed like last night, he took a few steps forward into the room and laid a small box on her nightstand. Yumi didn't notice. After what felt like two hours of just standing there, Ulrich finally said something.
"Uh, we're going to shut down the super computer now, are you coming?"
"Of course, I don't really have a choice do I?" Yumi said, not bothering to face her friend.
"Well actually yes, I mean, no one is forcing you to go, we just thought you might want to be part of shutting down Lyoko for good."
"I guess I should go, even though I wish I could be in Lyoko when you shut it down."
"Stop saying that Yumi!" Ulrich raised his voice, irritation rising. "You know damn well that isn't true at all."
"How would you know? And besides, I actually have a full right to blame you for my parent's death!"
"WHAT?!" Ulrich practically yelled.
"You heard me." The young Japanese girl got off her bed to face her friend; brown eyes glowering. "If I hadn't have met you or Odd or Jeremie, we would have never found Lyoko or Aelita; I wouldn't have gotten radiation from the god damn scanners, and my parents would still be alive!" Yumi was panting so hard from hysterics that she collapsed on the floor sobbing.
Ulrich didn't know what to do; he was feeling so many emotions at once. One part of him wanted to hit Yumi for saying that, another part wanted him to run away and cry, and the final part of him wanted to sit next to Yumi and talk everything out. He did no of them. He just stood there; his mind as blank as his expression.
Finally, he spoke.
"Like I said earlier, no one is forcing you to go, but it would still be nice if you came." And with that, Ulrich walked out of the room and to the factory. His eyes too had become red and soon tears began to fall.
"Well it's about time you showed up Ulrich, or we would have started the party without ya!" Odd said to his friend. Ulrich kept if face down.
"Where's Yumi?" Aelita asked looking around.
"Not coming, are we going to shut down the supercomputer or not?" Ulrich asked impatiently.
"Uh yeah, right now, do you want to do the honors Aelita?" Jeremie asked.
"Why don't we all do it together? After all, you all found Lyoko and risked your lives to make me real; it wouldn't be fair if I did the best part." Aelita said.
"Princess right Einstein, why should she get to do the fun stuff?" Odd put is hand on the lever with Aelita, followed by Jeremie and then Ulrich.
"Ok, on three we shut down, ready? One, tw-"Jeremie began
"Wait," said Odd," Is it one, two, three go, or one two go?"
"It's uh, oh never mind, just pull the lever!" All four hands pulled down on the lever. The supercomputers lights flickered for a few moments before turning off completely. Aelita didn't faint or pass out; she just stood there like any normal human being. A few seconds after, everyone cheered; Odd danced around, Aelita hugged Jeremie, and Ulrich, who didn't have a humor side to him, just pressed his lips together and smiled meekly.
If Yumi had been there they probably would have hugged each other, but she was back in her dorm sulking and blaming Ulrich for all her parent's death.
After an hour or so of celebrating, Odd reminded them of tonight's dinner of spaghetti and meatballs; his favourite. Walked up to the cafeteria, everyone asked Ulrich where Yumi was and if she was planning on coming to dinner.
"No, she's not." Ulrich spoke in a very monotone voice. "She just needs some time alone." Those were the last words anyone got out of Ulrich for the rest of the night.
