I Need Your Smile
Third Chapter: Glimpse
On a sunny spring day, Aiko was walking through the streets of Kichijouji, the place where Ema lived before she left home seven years later. Wearing a lab coat, it was clear that she just came back from working at the hospital. Holding a package in her hand, she stopped in front of a mansion, known as the Sunrise Residence.
She had been there before, on many occasions. The first time, she was there to visit Iori, the boyfriend of her sister, the late Fuyuki Shiraishi. Then, she went back to meet Ema, who was dating Fuyuki, who died years ago. Now, it was her turn to meet with someone from that household.
As she rang the doorbell, she was wondering on which brother will show up. Then, after a minute or two, the door opened, revealing a person whom she'd never expect to see again.
"Aiko-nee-san?" a confused Iori was staring straight at her, while she looked at him with spite.
"Iori-san..." she said in contempt, not forgetting what she thought he did to both her younger siblings. "What are you, out of all people, doing here?" That was when she remembered what happened when she told Ema that she was marrying Masaomi. She completely forgot that he was Masaomi's brother and Ema's stepbrother.
"I live here..." he told her, confirming that he was, in fact, Masaomi's brother. "Now it's my turn to ask..."
"Don't talk to me like that! Why do I have to tell you?" she turned her back at Iori, letting her hair sway dramatically. "You haven't forgotten what you did you Fuyuka and Fuyuki, haven't you..."
"It wasn't my fault..." he said rather bluntly, even though he wanted her to hear him out. "I didn't kill them!"
"Stop it... I'll give this to him later..." she said as she began to walk out of the house. However, as she went past the gate, she noticed a tall man staring at her.
The man seemed to be a high schooler, as he was wearing the Bright Centair boys uniform, the same uniform her brother wore before he died. He had light brown hair that was tied into a small ponytail as well as a pair of large hazel eyes. Even though he looked rather handsome, there was a childish aura that was coming out from him.
"Who are you?" he asked questioningly, wondering why a mysterious young woman was standing in front of his house. Looking at him, she figured out that he was one of Masaomi's brothers.
"I believe you're Masaomi's brother!" she smiled at the teenager, who was raising his eyebrow. "I'm his fiancée, Aiko Shiraishi!" Wanting to make a good impression, she held out her hand, hoping he would shake it. However, she was surprised when he slapped her hand away.
"So you're the one who's been stealing Masa-nii away from me!" he screamed at her, pushing her to the ground with all his might, while she winced in pain. He and Masaomi used to be close to each other. In fact, they were practically inseparable until the day when their mother made him get married. That was when he became distant from him. "It's all your fault that he doesn't like me anymore!"
"What?" she asked until another man pulled her up. Realizing that it was Masaomi, she fell into his arms while he looked angrily at the high schooler.
"Wataru!" he scowled as Wataru showed a shocked look on his face. "What are you doing to Aiko! Do you hate my fiancée that much!"
"But she's ruining this family!" he tried to reason with Masaomi. "If it wasn't for her, we'd still be close!" He started kicking the gate while Masaomi focused his attention on Aiko.
"By the way, Aiko, why did you stop by?" he didn't know that Aiko was stopping by, so he wanted to know the reason. Looking at the package in her hand, she stood back up and held it in front of her.
"Well, the Asa-hime concert is coming up and Chiyoko-san gave me these tickets as well as these backstage passes!" she told Masaomi, as he remembered that she was able to obtain tickets for Asa-hime concerts as well as other stuff, as she was close to Chiyoko Asahina, one of the members. At that moment, Wataru turned around and faced the two.
"Really?" he said excitedly, while the two stared at him strangely. One minute, he was furious at Aiko and then the next minute, he was glad that she came. It was as if the tickets made him forget what happened minutes ago. After all, he was a big fan of said group. Taking the package in his hand, he walked towards the gate before stopping in his tracks, finally realizing what he was doing.
"Don't think that I'm warming up to you... I still hate you, Aiko-nee!" he wanted to clarify to her, still blaming her for stealing his older brother away. As Wataru walked inside the house, Masaomi and Aiko parted ways.
It was the day of the concert. People were surrounding the stage as Ayako, Michiko and Ema were singing to their fans. It was the last song of the concert and the audience was cheering them on, waving their glowsticks to the beat while the girls were dancing to their song.
Standing within the crowd were a large group of guys, ages ranging from seventeen years to thirty-eight years old. Believe it or not, they were all brothers who, with only one exception, shared the same mother. Who were they, exactly?
Well, they were none other than the Asahina brothers, minus one. Fuuto, who was working as an idol/actor, said that he was too busy to attend, even though he left out that he didn't want to waste his time watching "a bunch of amateurs".
Wataru was standing beside Masaomi, who was holding his fiancée's hand. While Wataru was the most enthusiastic when it came to attending the concert, he was also trying to compete with Aiko for his older brother's attention.
As they were going into the last chorus, Ema was looking around, wanting to see the happy faces of her fans. It always brought her joy whenever she saw that everyone was having a good time in her concerts. However, while scanning the audience, she managed to catch a glimpse of her brothers. Instantly looking away, she sung the last note as she bowed gracefully in front of the cheering audience.
"What are they doing here? Did Aiko-nee invite them?" she nervously thought as the group made their way towards the backstage.
A couple of hours later, after all of the people with backstage passes left, Ema was waiting in her dressing room, wondering why were her brothers there. As she thought nervously, she wanted to know whether or not they were suspicious of her identity.
After thinking about it a bit more, she decided to grab a hair tie from the table. Tying her hair that was dyed black into a ponytail on the side, she looked into the mirror, realizing that she pretty much looked the same as before. Smiling at the mirror, she heard a knock on the door.
"Chiyoko-san," she heard Aiko yell from outside. "Can you come outside for a moment?" Listening to her, she heard a bunch of guys talking to each other.
Opening the door, she saw Aiko smiling at her, grabbing her hand so that she could take her to the group of people she was hanging out with at the concert. However, Ema practically froze when she saw that the group of people she was talking about were her own stepbrothers. If that didn't make the situation worse, she noticed Juli, her former pet squirrel, looking at her from Louis' shoulder, looking surprised.
At that moment, she realized that she was wearing her ponytail as if she was herself from seven years ago. As a result, she yanked the hair tie from her hair as fast as she could while Aiko got her brothers to come over to her.
"Aiko-nee, what are you doing?" Ema nervously whispered to Aiko, taking her away from the brothers to have a private tallk. As one could tell, she was afraid that her secret was going to get exposed right there and then.
"Just do this for me..." Aiko whispered back, begging her to play along. She really wanted to get on the good side of Masaomi's brothers, including Wataru, who hated her with a passion, so she decided to bring them backstage to meet "Chiyoko Asahina". Noticing the pleading look in her eyes, she reluctantly agreed.
Walking back to the group with Aiko, she noticed the suspicious look on some of their faces. She knew that some of them would know who she really was, so she left it to her acting skills to throw them off. Smiling nervously, she politely bowed towards them.
"H-Hello..." she quietly greeted to the brothers, who were still staring at her. "I'm Chiyoko Asahina... Nice to meet you..." as she trailed off, she desperately wanted to get away from this, seeing as those few seconds felt like hours. Unfortunately, seeing as Aiko wanted her to do this so that she could get on her future brother-in-laws' good sides, she had no choice but to endure it.
Then, at that exact moment, Wataru jumped on her and pulled her into a hug. Seeing as he was a big fan of hers, this was expected. "I'm so glad to meet you, Chiyoko-chan!" Looking at her little brother, she smiled at the fact that he was still the same, despite growing into a tall, handsome teenager. However, the fact that she had to keep her identity a secret from him pained her.
Looking around at all the other brothers, she started to have a pained look on her face as she saw how they were like seven years after her apparent death.
Masaomi, Ukyo and Azusa were smiling at how Wataru was still rather childish after those seven years. Kaname was staring at Ema lustfully, just like how he would do with other girls, while Louis was too busy taking care of Juli, who was looking at her very suspiciously.
At the same time, some of the others, namely Tsubaki, Natsume, Subaru, Iori and Yusuke had pained looks on their faces, as seeing "Chiyoko Asahina" reminded them of their "dead" little sister. Meanwhile, Hikaru was smirking at the sight of her. After running into her at the airport, he was certain that this was the little sister his brothers were longing to be with for more than seven years.
After seeing how they were doing, she sincerely wished them happiness, even if some of them were the ones who were responsible for the death of her "one and only love", Fuyuki. Then, out of nowhere, she suddenly felt some weight on her right shoulder. Turning her head to see said shoulder, her eyes widened when she saw an angry Juli staring at her.
"Chiiiiiiiiiii!" he squeaked while Ema was starting to get scared inside. She could feel the beating of her heart get faster as sweat started to drip down the side of her head. "What's the meaning of this! Why did you have to leave me behind with those wolves!"
"Juli... don't do this..." she was crying on the inside as she heard her pet squirrel yell at her.
"I missed you so much, Chi, haven't you known that?" Juli screamed desperately, wanting so badly for her to hear. "I felt like such a failure for preventing your suicide, and yet you're here! Haven't you seen the hell I've been through! Chi, listen to me!"
While Ema was feeling tears pooling into her eyes, she noticed that Louis was looking at her strangely. This made her realize that she needed to do something that would cause his suspicion to cease. After a bit of thinking, she thought of something that she could do, although it was something that would put her acting skills to the test.
"Juli... Forgive me... I really am sorry..."
That was when she faked a terrible cough, catching the attention of everyone, including Juli, who let go of her shoulder when she "fell" due to her cough. Coughing violently to her elbow, Tsubaki suddenly ran towards her, shocking the girl. Seeing as this was the person who killed Fuyuki, she was afraid, but she still had to pretend that she was sick.
"What's going on, Chiyoko-san?" Aiko asked as Tsubaki carried her on her back, causing Hikaru to smile at the sight.
"I-I'm..." she let out another round of fake coughs before continuing. "I-I'm allergic to squirrels! I have to go before it g-gets worse!" After seeing how "sick" she was, Tsubaki carried her towards the dressing room while Hikaru looked at them, smiling at how her acting skills could be better than Fuuto's.
Meanwhile, Louis quickly took Juli into his hands, while the latter was trying to squirm his way out of his hands. However, he just told the others that he's going to go home, wanting to get Juli away from Chiyoko, who was "really allergic to squirrels". As they left, Hikaru, already satisfied for that day's drama, decided to catch up with his younger brother.
At the same time, Ema jumped off of Tsubaki's back and ran to get a glass of water to wash her nervousness away. However, as the water went into her mouth, she instantly spat it out when she realized that Tsubaki was still there.
"What are you still doing here? You should be gone by now..." Ema nervously asked Tsubaki who only sat down on one of the couches. She wouldn't have been fine if it was another brother was in the room, but since it was Tsubaki, whom she couldn't manage to forgive, it made the situation worse.
Tsubaki turned to face Ema, not uttering a single word. Ema looked rather nervous when she looked at him, but when he showed a sad look on his face, her facial expression changed and she began to wonder why.
"You really remind me of her..." Tsubaki sighed as a tear managed to escape from his eyes. While Ema started to look at him with pity, she quickly looked away after realizing that she was feeling bad for someone she hated. At that moment, Ayako swiftly slammed the door open as she skipped merrily into the room. After noticing Tsubaki, who was looking down on the floor sadly, she stopped and stared at him.
"Why so glum?" Ayako asked somewhat innocently as she walked towards Tsubaki. At this point, Ema really wanted him to leave her alone, thinking that he deserved to feel this way, but she stopped after she heard Tsubaki talk to Ayako.
"Let me tell you a story..." Tsubaki quietly told Ayako, who became quiet after hearing the sadness in his voice. Meanwhile, Ema decided to let them talk to each other, since she wanted to hear what Tsubaki was going to say.
"Seven years ago, I was madly in love with someone... Whenever another guy approached her, I would become so jealous that I would do anything to tear them apart, just as long as she would be with me in the end... One day, she managed to find herself a boyfriend. As usual, I was super jealous, seeing as he was a threat..."
Hearing what he said so far caused tears to fall from her eyes. After all, it reminded her so much of Fuyuki. She remembered how he smiled, how he laughed, how he cried, and especially, how he died. However, she furiously wiped them all away. She told herself that she wasn't going to cry right there and then, especially not in front of the person she hated with a passion.
"On Christmas Eve, I decided to follow them on their date... However, I couldn't take it anymore, so I drank until I couldn't drink anymore. Then, when I was going to drive home, I carelessly ran over the poor guy, killing him..."
"Really?" Ayako asked Tsubaki, wondering what happened next. Meanwhile, Ema was trying to muffle her sobs with her jacket as she heard the rest.
"If that didn't make the situation worse, I snapped right in front of her, saying that I would never apologize for what I did... Then, she screamed, 'I hate you!'. That night, I felt bad for what I did to her, so I told myself that I would apologize the next day..." Tsubaki took a deep breath as he was going to say the hard part. "However, the next day didn't come... She killed herself, only leaving a suicide letter behind..."
Ema couldn't take it anymore. She ran outside the dressing room, going where her feet took her. It reminded her too much of her dark past and how she wished it was all just a hellish nightmare. No words could describe how much she wanted to just wake up in Fuyuki's arms to be told that it was just a bad dream. Sadly, this was reality.
Running into the bathroom, she washed her face and looked at herself in the mirror. Seeing her eyes red from all the tears, she had one thing on her mind.
"Is that how Tsubaki-san really feels or is he just making up excuses? He seemed as if he didn't have any regrets when he ran over Fuyuki, but now, I'm not so sure..."
Moments earlier, when Louis took Juli away from Ema, he walked towards the train station while his pet squirrel was squirming in his hands, trying to break free. He heard everything that Juli screamed, since he could also undertand what he was trying to say while the others could only hear a bunch of squeaks come from his mouth.
"Louis!" Juli screamed, trying to wrestle away from him. "Why did you take me away! She's really Chi, I'm telling you!" As he screamed louder and louder, Louis just had to endure his seemingly endless squeaking.
"That can't be..." Louis pointed out, remembering that Chiyoko started having a coughing fit when Juli started questioning her. "She's allergic to squirrels, isn't she? You saw her cough badly when you were asking her those questions..."
"I've got it!" Juli interrupted Louis, who just stared at the squirrel, staying quiet. "She's pretending to be allergic to me because she doesn't want those wolves harassing her! That has to be it, but I have to talk to her, still!"
While Louis was still holding Juli in the palm of his hands, Hikaru suddenly ran up to his younger brother, giving him a faint smile. As he smiled back, another thing came up in his mind.
"Hikaru-nii..."
"What is it, Louis?"
"I heard that one of your novels is being adapted into a drama, isn't that right?" Louis brought up as Hikaru stopped walking. Turning around, he continued. "The one about her, right? I think it was called 'My Sister, My Love', am I right?"
Hikaru nodded his head at his younger brother. Just a while after Ema's "suicide", he became really sad, so he decided to write a novel about her story, from when she first moved into the house until her death. When it was published, it became rather popular, though many people wondered why he started writing a romance novel.
Years later, a TV network asked him if they could adapt it into a drama. They even told him that he could be a part in selecting the characters. Of course, he agreed, even though he couldn't think of a perfect match for Ema's character... until he found Chiyoko Asahina at the airport one fateful day.
"Hikaru-nii..." Louis asked his older brother, who turned around to face him. He, like the other brothers, knew about the drama and that he was a part of choosing who will play which character. "So... have you thought about which actress will play her?"
Hikaru only told him mysteriously, "I know which actress I hope would play her, and I've already made a request to the production team..."
That was when he saw Ema run past him. Just a moment ago, she was dropped off at her dressing room by Tsubaki, who ended up telling Ayako his side of the story. When he turned to look at her, he gave a sinister smile as he stared at her running figure.
Author's Note:
Well, that was longer than I had originally planned, but whatever... So how was it? Remember, I'm not an expert when it comes to show business and that kind of stuff, so I just made it up as I went.
Originally, I was going to make Tsubaki keep the same personality from "I Need Your Heart", which was pretty much being a possessive bastard, since at the time I was planning the series, the anime was at the part where Tsubaki was acting that way. However, after seeing him mature as the series went on, I decided to let him mature throughout the seven years and do an alternate route instead... (Still, there will be possessive bastards in this series as well. It's just that Tsubaki won't be one of them...)
As for the poll, I said that it will end when Chapter 6 is posted, so if you haven't already, vote. The ending is in your hands...
I hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review, follow and/or favourite! Bye bye!