Chapter Title: Lessons in Crying
Word/Page Count: 1,519/6
Author's Notes: Don't kill me! I know I took ages to write this. Gomen! However, I'm rewarding all you people awesome enough to have stuck by this by giving you an awesome chapter. I'm serious. I usually hate my own writing, but I love this chapter. Hozumi's quickly turning into one of my favorite characters. I really like the direction this fic has been taking. It's turning more into it's own story with a few PoT characters rather than a PoT fic. The song this time is Tsukiakari by Rie fu. Absolutely beautiful song. Sigh.
Summary: A minor character shows how Hozumi has changed; Hozumi gets some surprise guests; some hints about what really happened.
Dear Diary,
It's the third anniversary today. I thought people would stop talking about it by now, but no. I've gotten used to it, mostly.
But only mostly.
It's the first year anniversary of the other one, too. I wonder why two bad things had to happen to me on the same date.
Only three more days until the other anniversary. You thought I'd forget, didn't you? But I didn't. It's pretty hard to forget, isn't it?
I'm surprised you thought I'd forget.
---
Hikari punched her pillow. Her knuckles came back wet.
She sighed. This wasn't supposed to happen, she couldn't help think. At least, not now. Not for another couple of years.
The rain had spread for Kanagawa to Tokyo, and outside it was wet, wet, wet.
---
Hozumi though she was used to the whispers. On a small level, maybe. But now the whispers had escalated far above her control. Far above anything she could ever handle. However, it's harder than one might think to shut up a school of gossipers. Almost as hard as it was to shut up Hozumi.
"Nomuri-san." It was said flatly, like someone emceeing a concert with no enthusiasm. Hozumi turned, coming face-to-face with Anakizawa Motoko.
Motoko was the type of girl who tried to be cute but ended up being enticing. She was pretty, her thick brown hard bleached from the sun into a muddy color and a slight under bite that made her look like she was constantly sneering. Or maybe she was; it was hard to tell.
"What the hell have you done to Kikumaru and Satou?"
Hozumi looked her straight in the eyes. "None of your business, Anakizawa. Tell them I said hi- you're in their class, right?"
Hozumi glanced down at her loafers, then at Motoko's.
She stepped on her foot. Hard. Then she ran away to her class, a small book bag bouncing against her back, a quick, steady motion.
Aoi aoi sora ni tsuki no hikari no tomosuAmaku awaku omoi sonna mono ni torawerete
---
Motoko looked visibly shaken during class. It was startling, almost slightly disturbing. Motoko was one of those girls who was constantly cool and collected, who held her head high above the rest as if she was simply so much better.
Well, she was.
As the leader of the Gaggle, her little posse of girls crowded around her nervously. "Motoko," they were saying nervously. "What's wrong?" And she'd brush them off.
Anakizawa Motoko was never shaken.
There was something about the coolness in her eyes that she'd never seen before, even as a simple acquaintance. Nomuri Hozumi was known for having warm eyes, but that warmth had frozen over the second Motoko looked at them.
Hozumi was gone.
---
Hozumi hit her arm.
"DAMMIT. DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMMIT!" She hit it again; a bruise was already forming. "WHY-" punch- "CAN'T-" punch- "I-" punch- "FORGET?"
She looked down at her arm but didn't feel anything. It was almost impossible to feel pain anymore, emotional or physical. Because sometimes, one little thing can break down a barrier ten feet tall, and sometimes, it can build it right back up.
Kono tsukiakari no shita hitori shirezuKimi no namae dake o yonde ita
Itsu made mo mirai o sagashiteta
Kono hikari no naka ni…
---
Takahito looked down at his paper, about to start. But something stopped him.
Hanako smiled, looking at him gently with an unsettling sadness in her eyes. Nomuri Hanako- there was something almost comical about that name. Almost the same, but not quite. Even though Nomuri was her husband's- well, used to be, anyway- name, it fit her like a glove.
"It's been three years now, hasn't it?" She gave a little sigh. "God, it seems like yesterday-"
"Kaa-chan, I don't need a reminder. I don't think anyone needs a reminder. No one at all."
---
Satou Nomura looked down at her calender thoughtfully.
What a coincidence, she couldn't help think. I think this every year, but it never fails to remind me.
Their deaths were never reported, were they? She smiled. Hmm. What a strange, strange coincidence.
Kono tsukiakari no shita hitori shirezuKimi no namae dake o yonde ita
Itsu made mo mirai o sagashiteta
Kono hikari no naka ni…
The Rikkaidai AngleMarui was going back to Tokyo, and nothing was going to stop him. Well, except for one thing: Niou.
Who happened to be sitting right next to him.
Marui glared at him. "Why are you here again."
Niou grinned cheekily. "To see Ho-Zu-Mi," he said cheerfully, giving a little wave of his finger. "I want to see if she got over their deaths yet."
"That was three years ago," Marui said stiffly. And besides, she's my ex."
"Yeah, but I've known her longer."
"Three months doesn't count for much."
"Yes it does."
Marui stayed quiet.
"No wonder she broke up with you," Niou said quietly. "You don't know anything about her, do you?"
"Yes, I do!" Marui said hotly. "I know that her dad and sister died three years ago. I know that she's not the type of person who'll get over those deaths so quickly. And I know that the anniversary of their deaths is coming up."
"And that's all you know," Niou couldn't help but mutter.
Marui stared at him. "Since when did you become so concerned with this kind of stuff?
"Since my mom and dad died, you idiot," he snarled.
"Oh."
It goes without saying that the rest of the ride to Tokyo was silent, punctuated only Mt. Fuji appearing in the distance.
Dual AngleThe door bell rang.
There were a couple of things wrong with this. First it was two in the morning, and second, no one had come to the Nomuri's house in a long, long time.
Hozumi grumbled for a minute, then went in to Takahito's room, sitting on his bed.
"Nii, there's someone at the door. Go get it."
"You're already up. Go get it," he muttered almost incoherently.
Hozumi sighed and walked to the door.
Niou and Marui were standing outside, soaked.
"Just when the rain in Kanagawa stops, it has to start here," Niou was muttering. "What's your name?"
"Hozumi," she said quietly. "Bunta, 'Haru- what the heck are you doing here?"
"According to Sugar Freak, we're here to help," Niou said nonchalantly. "Do you have sweets?"
"Pocky in the second drawer on the left," she answered, facing Marui dead on, like a mirror.
You aren't supposed to be here, her eyes seemed to say.
Well, I'm here anyway, his eyes answered.
"I'm going to get Takahito if you don't go back to Kanagawa right now," she said a little too loudly.
Marui kept staring.
"Don't get that weirdo," Niou said coolly. "It's not like we're gonna hurt you or anything."
"Nii's already awake," she said, a little quieter. "I woke him up a few minutes ago."
Marui stiffened; Niou slinked.
"So? It's not like he's going to get us out of here."
"Yes he will."
"Not with that arm."
Suddenly, Hozumi's breathing started to get quicker and shallower; she closed her eyes.
"See, now look what you did! She's gonna cry now!" Marui yelled.
"If she cries, she'll change her name," Niou replied. "Even she's not dumb enough to change her name the day of the anniversary. She's not going to cry."
Marui stared for a second. "You haven't changed your name for three years, have you?"
Hozumi shook her head, her eyes screwed up painfully. "No! I was waiting for Hikari to catch up, but she never did!"
Hikari. The word resonated in Marui's head, but this wasn't the time or place to think about it. He went over to comfort her, but Niou was already there, an arm around her, sitting down.
"Cry," he said quietly.
Hozumi stared up at him.
"You don't have to change your name every time you cry. Crying isn't always a bad thing, you know."
"Yes it is!" she yelled. "Crying's always a bad thing! There's nothing good about crying! It shows you're week and it leaves your cheeks all streaky and your eyes read and you feel so sick afterwards, like you have a cold and-"
"There's nothing wrong with crying," he repeated. "But there is something wrong with changing your name."
Hozumi stared up at him, dazed. "There's nothing wrong with changing your name," she said, burying her head in his shoulder.
Thousands of tears came pouring out, more than she'd known existed.
Marui sat there, still staring. Two different things pulled at him. His head pulled him to Kanagawa, where it was safe, where he'd never heard of Nomura Hozumi. But his heart stayed here, in Tokyo, planted where he knew so many people needed help.
His heart and his head kept doing that, pushing and pulling, until finally his heart won and he stood there, staring at Hozumi, as she just kept crying and crying.
Kono tsukiakari no shita hitori shirezuKimi no namae dake o yonde ita
Itsu made mo mirai o sagashiteta
Kono hikari no naka ni…
