Chapter Six

There was a small street in the town.

Notorious for the dark, spooky atmosphere that haunted it day and night, the street was called the 'dark alley'.

No sunlight could ever penetrate to the ground below.

Contrary to the brightly lit, joyful shopping district just across it, the 'dark alley' was totally a nightmare. No people in their right mind would go there.

The buildings there were old. Filthy. Some were even completely ruined as if a big fire happened there last night. It was a living hell.

Unfortunately, our heroine, Hiiragi Kagami had no choice but to enter this street.

Like the ramshackle structures there, her life was totally devastated.

Kagami embraced herself as she braved through the darkness of the street. She tried her best not to dirty the clothes she had put on. It was the most expensive dress she ever had.

Kagami held her 'very important' business card tightly in her trembling left hand. Should she lose it, it would mean the end for her.

She looked left and right, hoping to find the one building that she was searching for.

Kagami could sense a few pairs of eyes ogling at her. Probably they were the thugs that the 'dark alley' was so infamous of.

Though scared, she continued to walk along, as she did not want to back away from a 'great' opportunity like this.

At the very end of the lane was the silhouette of a fancily dressed man. He waved his hand at Kagami, as if he was welcoming her.

Fearfully, Kagami muttered, 'I… Is t… this Mr. P?'

'Correct,' the man smiled ambiguously, revealing the row of golden teeth in his mouth. 'I can see that you are a bit cold, Miss Hiiragi.'

He took off his black coat and placed it gentlemanly on Kagami's trembling shoulders.

'T… Thank you.'

'Come, Miss Hiiragi… My client is waiting for you, just inside here…' Mr. P opened the black door behind him. 'He said he would be very happy to give you a "treat" for the night, my dear.'

'Hiiragi Kagami, you really are, a sore loser…' Kagami thought to herself, tears starting to flow out of her eyes. 'You finally have to do this… For just some money…'

'Hello, Miss Hiiragi? Are you alright? You can choose not to take up this job if you regret.'

'Yes, I'm alright…' Kagami did not hesitate and immediately stepped into the three-storey building.

Ring. Ring.

'H… Hello?' Konata took a big yawn. She had just woken up from her sweet dreams.

'Konata! You have to stop!' shouted the voice from the other side.

'W… What?' Konata was still unaware of what she had done. She was still very much obsessed with her recent victories in the manga industry.

'Konata!' cried the voice.

'Wait, w… who are you? Oh right, it's Patricia. Long time no see, pal,' Konata replied lazily. She thought her friend was joking to her.

'No, I mean it, Konata! You're going to be in deep trouble if you continue to do like this!'

'Do… what?'

'Copying other people's works!' Patricia screamed. 'It's wrong, you know!'

'Cop… what?' Konata was still clearly ignorant of her actions.

Ding. Dong.

'Oh wait, the postman's here. See you later,' Konata ignored Patricia's complains and put down the phone.

'Good morning,' she greeted as she opened the door for the postman.

'Good morning. Is this Miss Izumi?' asked the postman.

'Yes.'

'Then please sign on here,' the postman said, handling to her a form. Konata took out her favorite pen from her pocket and signed on it.

'Thank you,' replied the postman. 'Please accept this,' he gave to Konata a big brown envelope.

'Oh my, what would it be…? A congratulatory letter from a big mangaka? An invitation to a lavish party from the publisher? I'm so excited!' she couldn't wait to open the envelope.

She turned her head to look at her left and her right, made sure that nobody was there, and slammed her door shut.

Jumping and dancing, Konata hurried to her room.

'Now then…' she said as she cut open the envelope neatly. '…What would it be?'

She took out several pieces of typewritten papers from the envelope. 'Is this the contract from Kadokawa Shoten? Will my manga be published finally?'

She read the first few lines of the cover page. 'Hmm… So it's the competition organizers. Let's see…'

'Dear Miss Izumi Konata, your work, xxx, which is awarded the first prize in the Summer Manga Festival Award, has been found of…'

Konata froze at the next word she read. 'Hmm… there must be something wrong with that.' She rubbed her eyes.

But the word still remained the same.

She rubbed her eyes again. There was no wrong. The word remained there.

'This can't be…' Konata repeatedly rubbed her eyes to see if it had been typed wrongly. But the word did not change at all.

'No…' Konata tossed away the papers and buried her face in her hands. She could not believe what she had just read.

'How… come… I?'

Clearly printed on the papers were the words, 'your work, xxx, has been found of plagiarism…'

'There you go, Jean and Jane. They have been good kids,' said Mrs. Takane with a big smile, as she handed the two infants over to Miyuki.

Miyuki bowed to the kind old lady. 'Thank you, Mrs. Takane. I've been busy…'

'I already knew that,' interrupted her neighbor. 'You have been finding a job for the whole of today, right?'

'Yes,' replied Miyuki, retaining that grin she forced herself to put on her face.

'How's it going?' asked a concerned Mrs. Takane. 'It must be hard, you know, during this time…'

'It's not a problem,' assured Miyuki. 'If I can't do it today, I'll try again tomorrow.'

She took a deep breath and brought her two kids back into her house.

Miyuki put down the babies in their bedroom and started to make her own dinner. It was already nine at night and she hadn't eaten anything yet.

As she was boiling some water to cook her noodles, Miyuki recalled her unsuccessful attempts for today.

'Maybe I should forget about taking up office jobs,' she thought. 'The economy's doing so bad now… I shouldn't be picky. I didn't have a university degree to start off anyway…'

She dropped out of the medical university she was attending during her third year to get married. It was a wrong decision at the end.

Miyuki added the bag of instant noodles into the hot water and stirred. 'I have to do something quick. Before my kids go hungry…'

'I shouldn't be too dependant on Mrs. Takane too…' Miyuki put in the egg and stirred. She sighed. 'When will it be the last time my children have something to eat for dinner? If I do not hurry now, it will be all too late…'

She suddenly thought of her former friends in high school. 'How's the other people doing? I hope you are all doing well…'

'Mrs. Hiiragi…' began the doctor. The mother of four wiped away the perspiration on her forehead. '…When was the last time your daughter shows this kind of symptoms?'

'I don't know. But as her colleagues mentioned, she has been kind of stressed out lately…' she replied accordingly.

The doctor did not say anything. He scribbled something on his files, looking quite solemn.

'Doctor!' Mrs. Hiiragi suddenly cried. She knelt down on the floor and held on to the doctor's hand tightly. 'What kind of sickness does Tsukasa have? Doctor, please tell me!'

'I understand, Mrs. Hiiragi. Please calm down…' The doctor put away her hand and invited her to sit on her chair.

He cleared his throat and continued, 'from the brain scans, it seems that your daughter has suffered from…'

Mrs. Hiiragi's eyes widened as lips of the doctor moved to pronounce his last word. She hanged her mouth open, totally shocked at what the doctor was saying.

'I… Is this true?' she muttered.

'I'm really, really sorry, Mrs. Hiiragi,' apologized the doctor.

'D… Does this mean s… she can't work anymore?'

'Not really. Normally, patients like her will be able to return to their work after they have recovered,' explained the doctor.

'When will she recover?' cried the mother. 'Doctor! When?'

'Calm down, Mrs. Hiiragi…' consoled the young man. 'Umm… At the very least, it would take up to a year…'

'W… What if she doesn't recover at all?'

'Don't worry, Mrs. Hiiragi. I'll make sure she gets cured of her sickness as soon as possible.'

But how could she not get worried? It was her daughter! Her daughter could not work for at least a year! She would be strapped to the bed all day and subjected to all sorts of medicines and treatments that she did not like at all since very young. Her smallest daughter, Tsukasa!

Mrs. Hiiragi started to weep. She understood that it would be a tough time for her little child and herself. But what could she do? She could not change anything. Especially not the fact that her daughter had a mental illness. Everything was already predicted by fate.