Chapter 3

"NO WAY!"

I turned to face Takeshi Sakami. Although a close friend of mine throughout grade school, he had a tendency to rather easily infuriate me. Regardless, he still had a keen interest in having conversations with me at least once a day. His hair was a dark black, and his eyes were a pale blue color. Sometimes, however, his eyes grew darker if he was in a heated mood.

Unlike me, he was not at all hesitant in being a slacker. He didn't feel he had a duty to study, much less try his best to get into college. He'd probably grow up to be one of those guys who lived in a cheap apartment while working as a garbage man. At least, that's what I assumed.

Overall though, Takeshi was a pretty nice guy, if anything, someone I knew would never abandon me. He was an easy guy to pal around with, except when I mentioned Kotomi. Then he started to get irritatingly pensive.

"You seriously went to that girl's house two days in a row, hugged her, and told me about it?"
"What's wrong with that? I felt a strange feeling I'd never felt before, so I figured I'd tell you."
"Man, that's SO sappy. I mean, girls give you all sorts of creepy things, like cooties and stuff."
"Cooties don't exist!"
"No, you're just doubting their existence because you like her. I bet if you had decided not to be friends with this girl in the first place, you'd agree with me."

"I'm a realist at heart! You know, you have a mother, so by your logic, you have cooties from her."
"She's a woman, not a girl," he said gruffly, relaxing his back on the back of his seat. First hour class would begin soon, and both of us were ready to take our snoozing period.
I grinned, and looked towards him. "Cooties leave them when they become women, but before that, they're filled with dangerous diseases? I bet you really like girls, don'cha?"
"What the heck makes you say that?!"
"You're just hiding it so your reputation won't be ruined! Knowing you, you'll be one of those big name actor types with fan girls trying to break into your house every night just to catch a glimpse of you."

"Don't be ridiculous. Besides, even if you're right about all that, the people breaking into my house would be women, not girls." he smiled slyly. "Were you not paying attention?" he tapped me on the head. "Why do you have to act so stupid sometimes?"
"You're the one who's stupid," I said, leaning on my desk.

"What's so great about this girl, anyways?"

"She's very smart, and reads lots of really hard books. I don't understand a lot of what she's saying, but she's actually very nice. Of course, you're so dumb; you wouldn't understand why that makes her a girl people should be friends with anyways." I heard him huff as I shifted back towards the window. I'd studied hard for the tests I'd have to take in the next three hours, and I hoped it would pay off. Which meant getting a 'C', of course, but I felt I had an obligation not only to my parents, but especially to Kotomi as well to at least keep my grades at a passing level.

The sky looked especially beautiful today, the sun shining brightly through the window. In response, I squinted my eyes, forcing my eyes away from the light.

I planned on visiting Kotomi that day after school, so I was anticipating the end of classes more than I usually did.

"You look like you're thinking about something." Takeshi asked, curiously. "You doing okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking that's all."
"Mmmhmm… You do that a lot. Still thinking about her?"
"Stop it, man. She's my friend; that's all there is to it."
"Okay, okay," he said, leaning back. "But I warn ya, if some the other guys find out, they'd make sure you'd never forget it." He pointed towards himself. "Imagine my reaction to your 'friendship' with that girl, only multiply it by ten. Stinks pretty bad, huh?"
"Of course. But you wouldn't tell anyone, would you?"
"No, of course not." He chuckled. "I may enjoy teasing you, but I'm not a jerk head,"

"Maybe not, but you're still…" I noticed a girl walk up to Takeshi. She was smiling, but not in a very inviting manner. I tuned out, pretending I had something else to do.

"Hey Sakami-san," she said.

"What's up," he grouched. "I stopped teasing you behind your back already. What else do you want?" Behind her back, I noticed her holding a small bucket of water. Suddenly, she flung it over her head, splashing the water onto Takeshi's head. As sadistic as it may have been, I laughed.

"Now, we're even." She said, taking her seat on the other side of the classroom.

"She, she can't do that! I gotta tell somebody."
"If you do, the teachers will definitely hear about the bad stuff you've been doing." I warned him, narrowly keeping myself from laughing; because he was a friend of mine, I had to give him some grace after all.

"You better not start laughing."
"I'm sorry, it's just I realized you are the most popular guy in school, for both good, and bad reasons, and that if any of the other guys found out about that, you'd probably get kicked off the baseball team."
"Hey, cut it out, Okazaki, that's not funny… Hey, you, stop laughing!" He yelled the last part at another student.
"Hey, let it go," I said. "I'll calm down. Still, it looks like we're even now."
"Shut up before I slam your head on my desk." That's when I started chuckling. After taking a minute to relax my composure, I noticed the rest of the students entering class. I took out my school book, and prepared for the harrowing day ahead.

I sighed as I finished writing down my next batch of notes in my book. Even though I'd been sent to one of the most difficult schools in the country, sometimes I felt there was more I could learn that was being kept from me. My parents' death was still nagging on me, and I found it extremely difficult to get warped into my studies; something I normally did very easily. No matter what I did, my mind couldn't get off what had happened the previous day.

I had cried myself to sleep last night. There was no one to cheer me up. Even after years of her being here, I didn't feel comfortable talking to the housekeeper, and the only reason I wasn't terrified of my guardian was because of that letter.

Earlier that day, I wasn't sure I wanted to go to school. My guardian said it was alright if I stayed, but ultimately honor demanded I live up to my parents' reputation. I needed to become as intelligent as I possibly could if I could ever become worthy of their family name. My guardian concurred with my incentive, quoting a popular phrase about the positives of honor.

Stuffing my notebook back in my backpack, I had just finished taking out another book from my bag when Kanna, a girl in my class, walked in, and sat in her assigned seat next to me.

After getting to know Tomoya well, he had suggested I try to make some new friends at school. For me this was a chore. Spending most of my free time in books, I felt lost and disconnected from most other people. Luckily for me Kanna was a very friendly, if a slightly overbearing, girl, sometimes to the point of boisterousness. At the drop of a hat, she could become incredibly ecstatic at anything she found interesting; her neatly combed dark brown hair, and hazel eyes brimming with excitement. Conversely, she could show friendly sarcasm and humorous exasperation at anything she found unbelievable, or in some cases irritating. I didn't, however, feel we were close enough to call each other 'friends' per-say. At least, that's how I saw it. I honestly had no idea what Kanna thought of the whole matter. Which is why I was thankful she spoke her constantly active mind so often.

"Did you just finish writing your second set of notes just now?"
I stayed silent. My mind was on things other than my impending schoolwork. I didn't even answer her with a small nod. I just stood still.
"…I'm sorry about your parents, Kotomi-chan."

"It's okay; there's nothing you could have done."
"Well," she said, standing up from her seat. "If you wanna talk about it, I can try and cheer you up."

"I understand, Kanna-san."

"Good," she smiled, as she jumped into her seat again. "So, did you see that Tomoya boy yesterday?"
"Actually, he kinda met with me."
"Do you think he likes you?" Kanna said, abruptly causing me to blush.

"Well… I mean, we do like each other. He's really nice to me, I mean."
"Well, that's good." She smiled. "He's lucky to be friends with someone as cute as you."
"Thanks, I guess," I said, not fully invested in the conversation.

"Of course, if he wasn't being nice to you, I'd have to smack him every so often." She smirked. "But, what is it about him exactly that makes you like him so much?"

"Well, he's kind, honest, and does everything he can to cheer me up." I sighed, and felt tears coming into my eyes again. "But even Tomoya-kun isn't a miracle worker." Kanna gave me a quick hug.

"It's okay, Kotomi-chan; everything's going to be okay." Memories instantly flooded my mind, recalling the pinky swear I made with Tomoya just the other day. I smiled.

"You're right." I said. "I have to try my best to be positive."
"Definitely," she smirked. "So, did you say you were going to study during lunch period again?"
"Yes," I said. "I'm studying some work that may give me extra credit for high school if I am able to get good enough grades."
"Whew," she whistled. "Wow, I just can't understand it. I've never met anyone who was such a genius. Studying for high school, I was under the impression there was still stuff in elementary school you had to learn."
"I'm sure there has to be," I replied. "There has to be a plethora of information that I haven't learned yet."
"You see, that's my point." She grabbed a deep breath, her face revealing that she had no idea of what the word 'plethora' meant. "I'd say I get mostly good grades in school, in fact, the teacher tells me I get the third best grades of the students in our class, but I couldn't even touch high school level material." She stretched her feet out. "Well, at least, you really love learning, so it isn't exactly a chore for you."
"Well, it's never easy, but I definitely do enjoy it a lot. I don't even notice how much work I do."

"If that's the case, I'm just glad you're happy with it." She returned to sitting regularly in her seat. Slowly, students began piling into the room as class began. My mind started to wander to yesterday, when my guardian came home late after completing his 'errand' for the day.

While I sat at the table, slowly eating a rice cake, he came back.

He looked the same. Besides his trench coat, which was wet from the rain that had fallen earlier the same day, his expression was still the same.

Solemn, distant, and nearly impossible to read.

Before I could ask how his errand went, he spoke first. "We took a long time investigating the evidence, but we finally figured out what happened. The plane had an internal malfunction of sorts, and completely fell apart. I'm afraid to say it seems no one survived." he paused, apparently wondering how the plane could have fallen into such disrepair.

"I see…"
"However, we did find this." He pulled a paper out of his coat pocket, and gave it to me. The paper looked damaged, a piece of it having been torn off, but seemed to have escaped the crash mostly intact. "We found this in the crash site. After a taking a close examination of the paper, we discovered that this letter was probably stored in some type of briefcase. However, we didn't find the briefcase anywhere near the crash site." As I read the paper, the man sighed, placed his hat on a coat hanger, and slowly walked up the stairs. I quickly skimmed through what the note said,

"….give this to my daughter. She is the sweetest, kindest little girl in the whole world, and I hope she receives this…"

There may have been one or two more words on that letter. But I didn't care. At that point, I was sobbing.

The memory fresh in my memory, my parents' death continued to hit me hard. The rest of the day, I found myself have to reserve time to cry about the revelation throughout the day.

I didn't see it as breaking the promise I made with Tomoya. The promise wasn't saying we were supposed to become ice-cold. Instead, I felt I was merely mourning my parents' death, the same as how anyone else would in my position.

The following day, I received encouragement from several other classmates, although none as strong as Tomoya, or even Kanna's attempts to bring me out of my depressing state. Regardless, every single word of encouragement I received made me feel that there were still many people in my life who cared about me.

When I came home, my guardian was there. For a second, I thought he might say something, but instead, he remained silent. I was glad. Although I was slightly more comfortable with his presence thanks to the letter, I definitely didn't feel like he should be living in my house. He was cooking a dinner again; while I knew it could never be as good as my mom's cooking, I was sure the taste would be a satisfying alternative to Hasegawa-sama, who had trouble with heating pre-made fishsticks.

I walked up to my room, jumping on my bed as my mind started to fill with memories of me spending time with my parents. Every single image seemed to cause more and more internal pain with each reminder it brought back to mind. Desperately trying to focus my thoughts on something other than their deaths, I grabbed the letter from my parents out of my pocket, and re-read it.

Even though the letter upset me in one way, in another, it relieved me. Despite how spoiled I'd acted, despite how hateful I'd been, they still loved me, and always would have no matter what I did. The thought brought tears to my eyes.

But this time, they were happy ones.

I decided to re-read the letter one more time, each word bringing more of those tears into my eyes. As I read the last line, something in the way that the letter was written suddenly struck me as odd. After quickly re-reading the letter a few times, my mind stuck on these words.

"give this to my daughter"

Or, how my mind completed the line;

"If you get this letter, give it to my daughter."

Immediately, I realized the connection I'd made had subtle implications. In haste, I started questioning myself on the way I'd completed the letter's first sentence.

"But, in that case, the letter's written as if for some reason, they wouldn't be able to give me the letter themselves…"
I stood up, and began pacing the room. "It doesn't make sense; but if fits in with the way the rest of the letter is written. That has to be the way it's written. They're talking to the supposed reader. But, why wouldn't that reader be me? They didn't act like they weren't coming back when they said they had urgent business to attend to. Just that they'd miss my birthday party… Then again, if they knew they were going to die, they definitely wouldn't want to tell me that."

My pacing slowly seemed to exasperate the shock this revelation was bringing to my mind. "But that doesn't make any sense! My guardian said the plane crash was an accident; something that happened because of internal malfunctions, I thought the whole thing was a mistake. But… I can't deny the fact that this letter definitely isn't addressing me. It's addressing whoever may find the letter after their deaths. My guardian didn't sound like he was lying at all. Still, there are some people who are very straight faced liars…" At that moment, I determined immediately that my guardian was hiding something from. I knew that here was no way I could trust him now. "But, how would they know about their deaths? Did they notice the mechanical issues of the plane, tried but failed to tell the pilot, and then wrote the letter? No…. They couldn't have written this entire letter in such a short time…. Does that mean someone planned their deaths?" The horrifying epiphany caused me to suddenly hit my back against the wall. After a few seconds of hyperventilating, I sat back on the bed. "Yes…. Someone must have planned the plane crash, in such a way that it would seem like an accident. But who, and why would they do such a thing?"

The fear I had started feeling towards my guardian grew exponentially. "If he is part of whatever this is, I may be in grave danger. But, in that case, what am I supposed to…?"

"No, he's probably not responsible. He seems oddly solemn, but he' definitely not someone who would have killed my parents. Besides, didn't my parents say I could trust him…?" These thoughts continued to swirl around in my brain, rushing through my head to the point that I started clasping my head in annoyance. After a few minutes of intensive pondering on the subject, I finally came to a conclusion.

"Whether my guardian's to blame or not, I know one thing for sure. Somebody killed my parents,"

"and I need to find out why."