Nakanaide-hen

Chapter 4 Little you.

-"Akasaka-san! Akasaka-san!"

-"Daddy! Daddy!" He felt his eyelid flicker as he came around managing to see the hospital roof and two worried faces leaning over him.

-"Ah. Miyukie. Rika-chan." His voice sounded tired but he managed to smile.

-"You must lay still Akasaka-san." Rika almost pushed him back in the bed. Her voice had such a worried tone to it. Then Miyukie burst out in tears. Akasaka was about to move up to comfort her but Rika was quicker. "Don't worry Miyukie-chan." She hugged her and patted her head. He breathed out lying back down in the bed seeing that Rika held a somewhat control over the situation. He was actually lucky to have her. Things were allot easier and their apartment felt much more alive. He closed his eyes for a short moment. But a short moment was all it took for all the images of last nights event to return to him and he sat strait up in the hospital bed.

-"Rika-chan!!" But as he looked around he could see that the sun was setting, making the room seem to bath in orange; and he was alone. Apparently, that short moment had been several hours of sleep.

Well now the pain seemed to have left him enough for him to consider himself being well enough to go back home. What he had seen last night must have been some sort of hallucination. He shook his head letting his forehead rest in his hand. Yes, he simply must have been hallucinating. He took a deep breath to gather himself up and then called for the nurse to inform them that he was ready to leave.

¤¤¤

The lights in the kitchen were dim. Even though there was silence in the room, it was not a heavy silence. It was a silence caused by the feeling that the other one wanted silence. A lonely lamp was hanging at the roof giving of that single dim light. Even if there were more lamps in the apartment only that single one was lit as the rest of the apartment was lying in darkness.

-"Don't worry Miyukie-chan." Rika said as calm as she could manage while steering the soup around.

-"But, but Ri, Rika-oneechan." Miyukie hadn't fully stopped her sobbing and she kept sobbing for a short time until Rika was done with the soup and put it aside starting to pour it over in a bowl to each of them.

-"Yes?" She used her most comforting tone.

-"When will daddy come home?" Rika smiled softly trying to calm the child's fear.

-"It will go well. Don't worry Nipa!" Her face lit up and she got a smile from Miyukie.

-"Rika-oneechan. You'll stay with us won't you?"

What about the others tears? What about those you left behind? Those that need you?

-"..Miii…."

-"Rika-oneechan?"

-"Well, Miyukie-chan. You see I." (Why am I hesitating?... I am Oyashiro-samas priestess………Miyukie-chan……Akasaka-san……You make me feel like I belong. You make me feel that I've found happiness. I would want to spend all my days here with you……But.)

You can not fully escape it. Just because "escape" would be the wrong word. No matter what you wish and what you will. You. Furude Rika, is the priestess of Oyashiro-sama.

Thus you are the only one that can save Hinamizawa.

-(I have no wish to save a place that I know I can not find happiness in…..)

Then what about the ones that care about you. The ones that you care for?

-(I care for many people. I care for these people as well. What about their happiness? I know that I can give them happiness. I can feel it within my grasp.)

You should not escape your fate Furude Rika. You must clear up in Hinamizawa

-(But I don't want to………I love these people! I want to live with them!)

-"Rika-oneechan?"

¤¤¤

Akasaka set of in his car ones again to head home. He hadn't expected himself to be this late. How troublesome. Well all that he could do was to make it up for them somehow. He trusted Rika-chan to take care of Miyukie. Then he came to think of it, that in truth he had become dependant on Rika-chan do help him out. She surely had been helpful, and kind as well.

He smiled to himself, he had to admit it was like having a second daughter. He got out of the car.

He opened the door and started heading up the stairs. He tried to turn on the light but it seemed it was unwilling to cooperate with him. When he got p to the fourth floor he stopped. There was a feeling; a bad feeling. He unlocked the door and walked into the apartment. It was all dark save the flickering of a weak lamp in the living room.

-(Did they go outside?) "Miyukie-chan? Rika-chan?" He got of his shoes and tried turning on the light. It didn't work. "Miyukie-chan?! Rika-chan?!" There was no answer.

There is blood on the floor. But there are no cries of pain. There should never be cries to pain. You will find the body of your daughter on the floor, and there will be no life in her. I don't know what got into me at that moment. Maybe it was because I sincerely struggled against obeying; since I didn't want to leave.

This brief illusion of happiness was never meant to be. It was something I was never meant to have. There were people I wasn't allowed to leave and disappoint. I acted so selfish. I need to rewind time; to stop this from happening. To give you a peaceful life here, that's the least I should offer you.

Akasaka-san I love you. Not as the child that is the prison of my physical body; but as the woman that is my mind and heart. Sometimes to love is to let go. I should be happy that I got this moment of selfish desire, even if I will never have it again I will remember it. Store it in the back of my mind and try to remember when the time is the hardest. The footsteps no longer appear hostile to me. I will reach out my hand to try to give the happiness to those people who's happiness I was about to throw away. Maybe we will meet somewhere in the future Akasaka-san, but I doubt it.

So, let us go Hanyuu.

Fin.