Chapter Three :: Kaname Takishima

The days following the announcement were the hardest days that the blonde had ever had to face. He didn't know what to do, the source of all his happiness had been taken away from him. His favorite things, his favorite person, favorite food, favorite smile he couldn't have them anymore. For two weeks he hadn't been able to return to that school, he hadn't been able to concentrate on work or eat. He had let the battery on his phone die and didn't recharge it, if there wasn't any chance that she would call him then he didn't want to talk to anyone. Most of the time he lay in bed just staring at his arm, he couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat in fact the whole ordeal had affected him so much that he couldn't find the motivation to do anything anymore.

Hearing the approach of someone at the doorway he blinked up with his tired eyes expecting to see his father looking in on him. Either him, Sui or one of the other S.A members trying to see how he was doing. Instead of seeing a face that could provide any sort of comfort he blinked up at his grandfather. He didn't want to see him anymore, he didn't want to hear the man say that he was better off without Hikari. He never wanted to hear those words.

"What are you doing Kei? I've heard that no one from the company has seen you for two weeks, that is completely unacceptable especially for you. You are the promising future of the company and I hope you haven't for---" as he said those words Kei sat up to show just how much of a mess he was. His hair was ruffled up and he looked sicker, thinner, paler. "I want you to prepare yourself for the meeting this afternoon."

Kei just sat there blinking, he didn't know what to do exactly. It was as if he really was a robot and this time he had malfunctioned and broken, his hardware had become corrupted and he couldn't perform reliably. Forcing his eyes to make contact with his grandfather's, he nodded. "I'll make sure," he said weakly blinking. As he sat there he noticed that the room was spinning, his head felt worse than ever and he couldn't concentrate. All he knew was that he had to follow this man's orders.

"I've started to set up meetings with a few of the most fitting young girls and you will have to pick one to become engaged to. This isn't something that I'm willing to negotiate on. You will do this and you will forget about that girl. It's better to be without someone that selfish, someone who would plan their own death."

Kei shivered this time before bowing his head, "Hikari didn't kill herself! I won't accept you telling me that because it's not like her. She didn't kill herself."

"Get yourself ready for the meeting this afternoon and I'm telling you that you need to apologize to our shareholders," with that the man left his shaken up grandson.

Kei kept his head bowed and closed his eyes, "She didn't kill herself. It's not possible, she would never choose to die."

Kei kept his head bowed as he saved the document he was working on. He had a lot of work to do prior to the business meeting in two days time. Yesterday things had not gone to plan, first there was his portrayal of weakness near the Hanazono house with that damn spy watching him. Second he had been called away to a meeting without knowing the identity of the stalker and finally an argument with Celine. Apparently she had realized that she could not replace Hikari and so was trying even harder to be "his kind of woman". A topic Tadashi loved to discuss.

As he closed the document he had been working on, he reached towards his now vibrating phone. Picking it up he read Aoi's name, finally a return on the call he had made. He picked it up and spoke in his dull manner "Moshi Moshi."

"Kei-sama," Aoi spoke in a somewhat pleased manner although it shifted a little after hearing the blonde's response. "I wanted to return the call you left me last night and this was the soonest that I've been able to respond. You told me that you had some questions you needed to ask."

Kei put a hand over his eyes, he felt tired already and wanted to revert to that dead-like position on his bed, hidden under the covers with no force pushing against him. "It's to do with Hikari" he spoke softly as he sat in the study room of the elite university, "My grandfather once told me that the company did a background search on those connected to me. He told me that Hi—Hikari committed suicide..." he turned silent reaching that line. His walls crashed again and he wanted to cry, he would do anything to bring her back even if it was only to say goodbye.

"There has been evidence that Hikari-san did plan to die," Aoi responded as Kei curled himself up into a ball, trying his hardest to deny what he was hearing. "Gomen Kei-sama but there is hard evidence. She agreed to it...I can tell you no more than that."

Kei sat still, putting a hand on his forehead to fight the upcoming migrane that he was expecting. He felt sick already but he knew there was some mistake, Hikari wasn't the type of person to give up. He replayed what Aoi had said inside his head before his eyes widened. She agreed to it. What did that even mean? She had agreed to kill herself, had someone forced her to make that decision? If that was it then...he let his mind slip again as he asked the twenty two year old his next question. "What evidence was collected?"

"Kei-sama, I can't give you the evidence. It's strictly confidential, it might be best to forget all about Hikari-san." With that said Kei hung the phone up and shivered in the chair unable to do any more about this. It looked strange to see this academy's top ranking student, curled up in a chair, shaking heavily.

As he stayed there he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Akira standing behind him. He froze unsure of what to say to her and just let his head rest on his arm, "Don't tell anyone that you found me in this state?" he half asked, half ordered and the girl nodded taking a seat beside him.

"I won't," Akira replied before taking another breath in, "Kei, I can't tell you about who that stalker is but I can assure you that they're not a threat. They don't want to take anything away from you and...they're safe, that's all I can say to you."

Kei stared at her before getting himself seated, his blonde strands of hair getting in his eyes, "Akira? Do you think it was because of me? I keep replaying our time together and I don't understand where I went wrong. If I hadn't hurt her or gone too far or acted insensitive to her, do you think she'd still be here?"

"I didn't think that she would have killed herself Kei," Akira replied softly, "And definitely not over you. Hikari loved you, you should know that." As she said that Kei started to pack up his belongings and looked at her, keeping the same sadness in his eyes as he had carried ever since the announcement.

"I'm going to take a walk to clear my head, you don't have to come with me but..." his eyes travelled away from her, why did he suddenly feel an insecurity come from being alone. Before Hikari became his girlfriend he had always done things by himself, why couldn't he just go back to that? Wasn't he able to?

"I'll come," Akira whispered as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder and watched him brave a smile. This guy's world had come crumbling down as soon as the words 'Hikari Hanazono has been announced dead' hit his ears. Hikari was his world and without her, it was more painful than anything. She could still remember his face, that total silence around him as he stayed there like a frightened child. The next moment he had frantically run around the academy searching for her unable to accept what his mind was telling him.

"Did she hate me?" he whispered keeping his head bowed as Akira snapped into reality once again, "Did she dislike me? Was I imagining the things that she said to me, that she loved me. Why? Why was I even with her? I'm worthless compared to her."

Akira felt her stomach churn listening to him. The guy seemed confused about everything these days but she couldn't go back on Hikari's trust. "She loved you," Akira repeated softly watching the boy want to break down again. Much to the disappointment of the Takishima company, Kei had been put on medication a year ago for manic depression, he never took it and so things remained hard for him. Harder for him than for anyone else. "Kei, listen to me."

The blonde stared up at her, giving the wavy haired student his full attention and blinked as he heard Akira's words. "You were Hikari's prince perhaps even more than she was your princess. She wouldn't choose to kill herself to hurt you but...there might have been other reasons for doing what she did."

"Then why didn't she come to me!!" Kei snapped regretting doing so after he heard those words come out, he hadn't meant to yell but when this subject was on the table his emotions escaped, he yelled to stop the pain from pressing against his heart even more than it already did. "She could have told me anything!! I would have helped her so why would she!?"

"Kei-kun," came a very familiar voice from behind the two of them, "I've managed to find something that would be of some interest to you." The two childhood friends turned and looked to see the third member of their elementary school party. Kei blinked as he stood ready to listen to what Yahiro had to say. "Have you heard the rumor that President Kaname Takishima keeps a private record of all of his business meetings so that he can be sure to keep everything inside the right lines. So that no one cuts him short or disrupts an important engagement he's planned."

Kei looked at Yahiro not understanding what he was talking about or his reasons for mentioning this, "I've heard that he does. Most of the files are on his laptop where they can't be reached."

"Except if you are able to hack into the system," Yahiro commented raising an eyebrow, "It took me a long time to find this information and I'm not that sure what to make of it but you might be rather interested in it." Kei turned away, he didn't want to deal with the family business anymore. He wanted to think about Hikari, to remember her voice and try to imagine her beside him once again. The girl who was prettier than any seashell he had come across. "It's a meeting between your grandfather and Hik---"

"Hikari!?" Kei asked bringing himself to full alert behavior. "Information about Hikari?"

"It's recorded the evening of the day before she passed away," Yahiro explained now taking a solemn approach and handed Kei the headphones and mp3 device. The blonde immediately put them in his ears, tears filling his eyes as he heard her voice again.

"So you'll do it?" his grandfather asked in a rather expectant manner as the girl cried. Hearing her tears Kei felt the demon creep up within him, his hand forming into a fist and anger filling his eyes mixed with the tears.

"I'll do it. If I do this then Takishima, Kei-kun will be alright? That's the deal isn't it?" Hikari whispered shivering. She sounded so drained by this decision and she realized just how much she could hurt the one she loved by keeping him to herself. "If Kei-kun remains safe then I'll do it. I'll "kill myself" if that's what you want."

"That's what I need from you" the man replied, "It will indeed save Kei, that's what you want most isn't it to save him. After all the trouble he's caused for the company it's only right to keep him there so tomorrow morning, would that be too soon to make the announcements. To make the preparations?"

"I'll "kill myself" tomorrow morning and he'll never see me again," Hikari whispered softly. "If I "die" I can save him so okay I'll...I'll do it."

Kei started to listen to his grandfather's cold voice but stopped the device, he couldn't take anymore of this. He stared down at the ground starting to laugh in a manic type manner. "He murdered her!!" he yelled the angriest he had ever been, "He killed her and for that...for that." He took another look at Akira before grinning coldly, "I think I'll go to London."

END CHAPTER THREE
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