I don't own anything.
Starless Nights
"MISAKI!" Hinata exclaimed with a fearful tone. "Is it true that you are actually married and you didn't know and and and your forgotten husband came and and you have a sister and and…"
"HINATA!" Misaki slapped the textbook hard on the speech desk in front of her, which created a loud sound and startled everyone. "I'm teaching a class right now."
Hinata rushed into Misaki's classroom once he heard about the news that Misaki's forgotten was here last night to bring Misaki home. It shocked Hinata, really badly. Without caring much, he rushed into Misaki's class.
"Go back to work." Miskai pointed at the door of her classroom, cueing Hinata to leave at once. "Now."
Hinata did as what Misaki said, since he wasn't supposed to be in this room either.
"Ms. Misaki~" One of the students raised their hands after Hinata left. "What type of person is your husband?"
Misaki's forgotten husband has become the new gossip of the town; every single person knows it, including Misaki's students. They are all curious about this mysterious man who had the guts to marry such a scary woman; however they didn't dare to ask any question when Hinata was still in the room since they all knew Hinata has something for Misaki.
"Then why don't you answer this question on the board first?" Misaki asked. "Equivalent exchange, if you answer my question then I'll answer your question."
"EHHHH~~" All the students whined, since almost all of the questions Misaki gave her students are questions that extend their level.
"Come on." Misaki raised her eyebrows. "If you have time to listen to gossip then you must had time to finish the homework I gave you guys right?"
Every single student started to sweat, since none of them did the homework. Children are still children after all, every time when the weekend comes they never have the heart and time to sit down and study.
"Just forgive them this time." Someone popped out from the window of the classroom. It was Usui.
"U-U-Usui?" Miskai was shocked when she saw Usui standing outside the classroom window.
"Yo." Usui greeted.
Unlike yesterday, today he wasn't wearing any formal clothing, just a simple shirt with some simple pants. However, who knows how much those two pieces of simple clothing cost. Maybe it's made out of the highest quality cotton or sewed by the best tailor of the nation.
"Why are you here?" Misaki asked.
"Just interested about your job and so on." Usui nodded and replied.
"Ms. Misaki, is that your forgotten husband?" One of the students asked.
"He looks so attractive~" A female student dazed off as she looked at Usui.
"I feel so sad for Hinata.." One male student murmured. "He can never win this man."
"Focus!" Misaki slapped her book on the speech desk again. "Mr. Takumi U. Walker, may you please return to…. whatever you are supposed to be doing."
"Just treat me like one of your students." Usui climbed in from the window at sat on the free chair at the corner of the room. "Or just like air."
"I prefer if you don't disturb my students." Misaki suggested.
"No~ we are not!" All the students replied, none of them wanted to miss this chance of a close observation of the rumored husband.
"Seems like you have extremely generous." Usui nodded and commented.
"…" Misaki didn't know what to say, since she didn't want to make a fuzz and inform other people about Usui disturbing her class. "Only if you guys keep this as a secret."
"Understood!" All the students replied.
"Let's continue." Misaki turned to the black board and continued her lecture.
Misaki's lecture voice filled up the classroom once again. The sound of the scribble pencil as student took down their notes. Usui sat at the corner, watching Misaki doing her lecture. Usui sat silently at the corner watching Misaki, to him this scene was familiar yet strange. It has been seven years since he last seen Misaki. Seven years is indeed long yet not that long, but not long enough to let Usui forget about Misaki. Misaki's lecture reminded of the time when he and Misaki were still together. Usui silently closed his eyes and started to think back to the past.
"That's it for today." Misaki announced to the class as the bell rang and class ended. All the students happily ran out of the class. "Don't forget to do your homework!"
"Bye Mr. Walker." All of the students waved goodbye to Usui before the exited the classroom. "See you tomorrow, Ms. Misaki!"
"Geez, these kids just have so much energy." Misaki commented as she started to pack up her things.
"Are you going home?" Usui asked.
"I have to go pick up Umi first." Misaki answered.
"I'll go with you." Usui stood up from his chair and walked towards the door. "Let's go."
"By the way, isn't the school time too short?" Usui asked.
"It's not exactly the semester right now; right now summer and these kids are taking summer course." Misaki explained. "So they only attend class until noon."
"I see." Usui nodded in reply. "So what does my son do in the morning?"
"Your son…" Misaki was still not quite used to this. "Umi would often swim near the beach of the cottage or go to the library."
"Does Umi read a lot?" Usui asked.
"Indeed, he reads too much in fact." Misaki answered back. "Sometimes I just hope that he spends more time with the kids his age."
"So reading is part of inheritance…" Usui nodded. "I read a lot as a child too."
"Is that so?" Misaki thought for a bit. "So interest may be part of inheritance…"
"By any chance, does Umi prefer non fiction over fiction?" Usui asked.
"Indeed, especially history." Misaki nodded while she stared at Usui with a fascinated expression. "You too?"
"Hmmm…." Usui nodded. "Like father like son.."
"Mom!" A really loud voice came from behind Misaki and Usui. They both turned around and saw Umi and Suzuna walking together.
"Umi! Aren't you supposed to be in the library?" Misaki stopped walking and waited for her son to catch up."
"I went to find Umi this morning, and decided to ask him to bring me around the place." Suzuna explained. "This town is indeed a great place, especially the living price; really cheap."
"So… what's the plan now?" Umi asked.
"Lunch." Misaki replied.
"I'll make lunch as my gratitude for Umi showing me the town." Suzuna said.
"It's you okay." Misaki said. "You don't have to."
"I insist." Suzuna smiled.
…
Back at Umi and Misaki's cottage, Suzuna was in the kitchen busily doing whatever she was doing. Umi was also in the kitchen but he was simply watching Suzuna cook. He was highly interested with the food Suzuna was making. Misaki was sitting on the wooden floor of the porch with the doors of her porch wide open, allowing the ocean breeze to enter the house. The strong breeze caused the pages of her book to flip through crazily.
"Tea?" Usui took a seat right beside Misaki as he passed a cup of cold tea.
"Thank you." Misaki received the tea from Usui.
"What are you reading?" Usui asked.
"A novel." Misaki replied. "From the Kingdom of Walker."
"That's cool, who's the author?" Usui asked.
"Sotaro Kanou…." Misaki read the author's name.
"Did you know that he was a friend of yours?" Usui chuckled as he took a sip of the tea.
"Eh?!" Misaki looked at the book. "This author was my friend."
"Yep." Usui nodded.
"This is kind of shocking." Misaki rubbed her forehead. "Does this person happen to be a sadist."
"Why?" Usui asked.
"The plot of this book is just… I don't know…" Misaki couldn't find the perfect phrase for description. "The plot really tortures the heroine."
"What about the plot?" Usui asked.
"So basically the heroine is a young maid who falls in love with the son of the master of the family and later they eventually get married. However, she is constantly bullied by the people of the family. In the end her husband couldn't deny the social difference between them and abandoned the heroine. Due to depression the heroine chose to end her life." Misaki summarized the whole novel.
For a moment, Usui stayed silent. He spaced out for a moment, and then he finally spoke. "So what is attractive about this book?"
"The writing style and the psychological analysis." Misaki answered. "Though the plot indeed makes me sad and even heart aches, but the writing style and psychological analysis makes this book extremely interesting."
"Well he's a hypnotist." Usui pointed out.
"That's really cool, if I go to the Kingdom of Walker one day I would like to meet this guy." Misaki smiled.
"You can anytime." Usui's low voice filled up the space between him and Misaki.
Suddenly, everything seemed to be silent. It felt like everything had paused. Misaki could hear the soft sound of her breathing, and the silent sea waves rolling on the burning white sand. She stared at Usui as the breeze slowly moved his blonde hair. Usui was also staring back at Misaki, with his deep emerald eyes.
"The one and only reason I came to this town is to bring you and Umi back to the Kingdom of Walker." Through Usui's eyes, it was visible that he was pleading for the answer he wanted.
"I…." Since the moment Usui arrived to this town and appeared in front of her, she knew that he was here to bring Umi and her away. However, she was still not ready to leave this little town. She still doesn't have the courage to face her past.
"I won't force you to make a decision fast, I know that everything is happening so fast and so suddenly." Usui smiled gently, he didn't want to give Misaki any pressure. If Misaki will leave this town, then it must be voluntarily.
"Sorry, I still…." Misaki felt a sudden pain in her chest, a throbbing pain.
"Lunch is ready." Umi suddenly appeared at the small space between Misaki and Usui.
"Oh…ok!" Misaki stood up. "I'll go prepare the table ware."
Misaki got up and went to get the table ware, while Usui and Umi were still at the porch. For a moment Umi and Usui were just staring at each other.
"I still don't like you." Umi suddenly spoke.
"I can tell." Usui replied.
"I don't want to go to your country." Umi said with a glare.
"I won't force you guys." Usui stood up and held onto Umi's hand. "But I believe that a family should be together. Your mom and Suzuna are waiting."
Misaki and Suzuna were already sitting at the dining table. On the table were a series of homemade cuisine that Suzuna has made.
"This is really good." Misaki complimented while everyone was enjoying the food.
"Which one is your favorite?" Suzuna asked.
"This one." Misaki pointed at a pot of vegetable stew. "I don't know why but this taste really matches my tongue."
"Not a surprise." Usui calmly said.
"This was your favorite dish since you were a child." Suzuna pointed out.
"Well I guess the body does remember some things." Usui commented.
"Oh….wow…" Misaki was fascinated.
"How was my mom's cooking back then?" Umi asked.
"…" Both Suzuna and Usui paused.
"I think it's better if we don't talk about it." Suzuna suggested.
After lunch, Umi decided to go to the library then for a little swim in the ocean. Suzuna wanted to spent more 'sister time' with Misaki, so Usui decided to do some work he brought with him. Time past smoothly, and within a blink of an eye it was already evening. Suzuna, Misaki, and Umi had a pleasant dinner together then Suzuna also went back to her hotel. Then their day ended like the other ordinary days, after putting Umi to sleep Misaki went back to her own room.
Misaki closed her eyes and slowly drifted into her light dreams….
Tip! Tap! Tip! Tap! The rain drops were pouring lightly on the roof. Within the room, someone was sitting on a large chair facing the window. There was a girl standing behind the chair.
"How long do you think this rain will last?" A voice asked.
"15 minutes I guess." The young girl replied.
"I hope it will last forever." The voice replied.
"That would probably cause some flooding and a bad harvest for the season." The girl commented.
"As long as it rains, I get to stay here with you." The person sitting on the chair looked back at the girl standing behind him. That person sitting on the chair was Usui, but he looked a lot younger and a lot… happier.
"WAH!" Misaki woke up from her dream, she was shocked to have such a realistic dream. That dream to her was just like reality.
Suddenly Misaki felt something warm on her face, she reached her hands to touch it. Those were hot warm tears on her face. Then her hands shifted to her chest, and strong throbbing ache was there.
"W-Why am I crying?" Misaki asked herself, but the only reply was the crisp dark night.
