Nobu
I've lied to Hachi. In the exact same way Takumi lies to her. It doesn't matter if it was for her benefit. I'm despicable.
Shin has Hachi deep in conversation, and I think it's for my benefit. I have had about as much as I can take, watching Hachi in the bed. So weak and fragile. I turn and head for the door. I waited so long in that hospital room to see her, yet I don't stay even 10 minutes.
When I'm in the doorway, she calls for me, but I pretend I can't hear her. She shouldn't need me. She has her precious Takumi.
All I could wonder is if the baby was actually mine. I had to know.
I found my way to the NICU. I was nervous that a nurse would tell me I wasn't allowed here, but nobody bothered me.
My heart stopped when I took in the baby incubators. All the tubes and IVs that were attached to the tiny babies within them. The heart monitors beeping away. It looked like some sick science experiment.
Ichinose, Ren. I didn't need to look at his nameplate to recognize him. He looked exactly like me when I was a baby.
He was hooked up to a breathing tube, and had an IV dripping into his tiny pale arm. If it wasn't for his chest moving weakly up and down, I couldn't have been sure he was alive.
I checked his name again. Ichinose, Ren. This couldn't be him. There had to be another one.
"Nurse?" I asked. She was working on a baby a row rows away from me.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Is there another Ichinose Ren?" I asked.
"No. There's only one." She said.
So this was my- Takumi's- Hachi's baby.
The baby barely had hair to speak of, but what little he had was light. I couldn't tell the exact colour. He could've inherited Hachi's hair. Or my hair.
But it didn't matter if Ren is mine or not. He'll always belong to Takumi.
Why does Trapnest have to take away everything I love?
Nana O:
"Misato." I called from my room.
I heard the worn couch squeak. Her footsteps grew closer, and she opened the door a crack.
"Yes, Nana?"
"I need another pack of cigarettes."
"Er… okay."
"Not Seven Stars."
"What brand then?" She asked.
"Anything else is fine."
Misato shut the door, and I was left alone again in the dark.
What was I supposed to do? Nobu was the one who got me all upset. Ren was mine. He couldn't belong to anyone else.
A surge of anger rushed through me. What the hell was Ren's deal, anyway? Why did that bastard have to go and die? What was he meeting Reira for anyway? It was my birthday, and he was my fiance. She had no business being with him.
I sat up. I need a cup of coffee.
I left my bedroom and turned on the kettle in the kitchen. I started out the window until the kettle started whistling.
Nobu was an asshole, trying to take Ren for himself. Ren's mine. He's always been mine. I'll arrange for my grave to be next to his. He'll be mine forever. Nobu can go die in a hole.
I take out the instant coffee, and dump a spoonful into a mug. I reach for the kettle. The steam slowly rising out of it. It was so hot. If I were to pour it on my skin, my skin would blister and boil…
Don't be stupid. I poured the water into the mug and let it sit.
Ren and I used to have that pact… I made him swear that if I died, he'd have to follow me. I made the same pact. I thought I didn't want to follow him anymore… but would I? I told him directly I wouldn't follow him anymore, but I only said that to make him… I don't know, angry? Why did I do that? I know in my heart, I'd follow him in a heartbeat. Even if that meant following him into death.
I walk over to the window, and step up onto the table. The windows open, but there are bars to prevent jumping. I look at the screws to keep the bars in place, and they're pretty thin. A screwdriver would easily remove them. Hell, if I kicked the bars hard enough over and over, eventually the screws would probably fall out themselves. But I need elegance in my death. I'll buy a screwdriver.
I then looked at the ground below me. I'm not a doctor, but nobody could survive a fall from 7 levels, could they?
7 stories tall, apartment 707, 7 stars, Nana.
The apartment door opens, and Misato had returned. I was barely aware.
"Nana!" Misato screeches, dropping the convenience store bag, and ran to the table. She grabs hold onto my leg.
The earth stands still for a minute.
"Bring me the cigarettes." I say.
Misato doesn't take her eyes off me as she backs up, retrieves the cigarettes, and brings me the bag.
"Don't you know cigarettes kill?! What the hell!" I throw the cigarettes out the window, "And how the hell did you buy those anyway? You're a minor!"
Misato looks flustered, "I met up with Yasu, and he bought them for me."
"Yasu. Baldy's gonna die if he doesn't quit that disgusting habit." I collapse onto the table, and cry into my knees.
"Nana…" Misato says, and she holds me close, but I couldn't feel her warmth.