And here we are once again with the next chapter of Scarlet Sunlight, thank you all for your patience and thank you, Rei, Aki, and Rider for being such amazing reviewers (and for being the only ones to review the previous chapter, I appreciate it a lot).
For this particular chapter, there is going to be a little bit of a twist… and I will let you faithful reviewers try and find out what that little twist is going to be~
A special thank you goes to my beta who did an amazing job as always.
Disclaimer's the same in that I do not own this franchise
Moca gulped as she slowly felt her resolve weaken and start to lean more towards one of the two options. Taking a deep breath to help calm herself down and wiping her hands on her pants to dry them from the sweat, tears, and blood, Moca allowed one final thought to pass through her mind before she made her choice.
'If she is here then that can only mean one thing…' Moca thought to herself silently as she looked at the hooded woman in front of her, watching her every move carefully to make sure that she would not be surprised by anything. Much to Moca's surprise, nothing extraordinary happened, and the two of them soon found themselves in the shadows cast by a fallen truck.
"Why did we stop here?" Moca asked as soon as she noticed that they wouldn't be leaving the place any time soon. When she did not get an answer right away, Moca nodded silently in understanding of the situation, "There's something going on, isn't there?"
"Yes, there is…" the other person said without turning to face Moca. After some time had passed without either of them making a move, Lisa let out a sigh before lowering her hood and looked at Moca, "I need to ask you a big favor, Moca."
"I mean, Moca-chan has asked you the request of a lifetime a few years ago… I don't really have much room to say 'no', now do I?" Moca shrugged with a playful smile. Turning serious as soon as she finished her sentence, Moca added, "So what do you need me to do, Lisa-san?"
"I need you to push Yukina to the point where she will reveal everything herself," Lisa said calmly, never once breaking eye contact as the words left her mouth. Moca, who understood the heaviness of the situation, motioned for Lisa to elaborate, "I am pretty sure that Yukina knows something about what happened to Ran three years ago, but I need your help to get the truth out of her."
"Why would you need Moca-chan for you? Isn't Lisa-san closer to Minato-san than Moca-chan is?" Moca asked as she looked at her senior with wide eyes; if there is one thing that she had expected to hear Lisa say, that was not it. Moca was about to say something else when Lisa had already opened her mouth again.
"It's because I am closer to Yukina that it cannot be me. She trusts me, but it is for that reason that she will have her guard up when I am around because I think she is on to me," Lisa explained to a still wary Moca. When Lisa saw this, she took a moment to think of the right words to say before she turned back to Moca, "As you asked me three years ago, I looked into what happened on that day… and everything seems to lead to Yukina. But because Yukina knows that I have been looking for something, she has been very careful not to accidentally let something slip by that would give her away."
"I see… and that is why you need me?" Moca asked as she started to understand Lisa's plight to which the brunette nodded in confirmation without a second thought. After giving the thought some time to process, Moca grinned, "Interesting… you got Moca-chan convinced, Lisa-san~ so, what does Moca-chan have to do?"
"I'm home~," Moca called out before she could help herself as soon as she closed her apartment's door behind her. Not paying too much attention at how the lights in the hallway were still on, Moca took off her shoes with a yawn before shuffling in the direction of the living room.
After everything that happened that day, Moca felt like the only thing that she wanted to do was plop down on her bed and let sleep consume her. Unfortunately for her, this would not be possible as another person chose that moment to make her presence known.
"AAAAAAH! What are you—?!"
"Welcome home, Moca-chan," Tsugumi said calmly as she looked up from her spot on the couch with a smile, either not hearing Moca's scream or choosing to ignore it altogether. Tsugumi casually placed the book that she was reading to the side before she turned back to Moca, "Sorry for entering unannounced, but there is something I wanted to talk about for a while."
"Sheesh, Tsugu, you almost gave poor Moca-chan a heart attack," Moca panted heavily while trying to support her weight on the nearby table. Breathing heavily as if just having run a marathon, Moca took a moment to calm her racing heart before giving her friend an appropriate response, "What do you need, Tsugu?"
"Nothing, really… I just wanted to talk with you. We're friends, right?" Tsugumi asked the last bit in a rather unsure voice even by Tsugumi's standards. That, coupled by her unusual fidgeting and lack of eye contact, caused alarm bells to ring in Moca's head; Moca knew that there was only one appropriate reaction. As soon as Moca nodded, Tsugumi smiled a wry smile, "Thank you, Moca-chan. It's about Ran-chan…"
That did it. What little light that had remained in Moca's eyes died out completely, leaving only an empty void behind in its place. Moca's figure slumped down considerably as well, slouching over and losing its presence in the room despite the fact that Tsugumi was the one who was sitting.
But as fast as the shift occurred it disappeared just as quickly, if not quicker. Taking a deep breath, Moca, whose voice was still noticeably trembling when she spoke, turned to face her closest friend before uttering a reply, "What do you want to talk about?"
"It's just… I can be honest with you, right?" Tsugumi was quick to backtrack and ask for confirmation. A small nod and the resounding sound of an eighteen-year-old plopping down on the seat across from Tsugumi later and the brunette picked up where she had left off, "I know that losing Ran-chan has hurt Moca-chan more than me, but it has been more than three years by now… don't you think that it is time to try and move on?"
"That is such a Tsugu thing to say, Moca-chan really should have seen that coming…" Moca trailed off with a playful shrug, avoiding eye contact with Tsugumi as the words left her mouth. Tsugumi, ever the good friend, remained quiet as she watched her friend keep up the façade which she knew could not last for much longer.
Tsugumi's patience was eventually rewarded when Moca turned to look at her after what could very well have been hours, "I'm sorry, Tsugu. I know you want the best for me but I don't think that I am ready yet…"
"But going on like this will continue to hurt you—" Tsugumi cried out in desperation, jumping on her feet before she realized what she was doing as she looked at her friend. Stopping herself from making any other mistake, Tsugumi cleared her throat awkwardly before trying again, "I'm sorry, Moca-chan… I just don't understand why you—"
"Because if I were to move on and put Ran behind me, I will be doing a disservice to her and to the bond that we have," Moca said without looking in Tsugumi's direction; even so, the brunette knew exactly what kind of expression was on Moca's voice. Taking a deep breath, Moca allowed herself to calm down before trying to speak again.
"Ran fought so hard and did not deserve what happened to her, and if I back away from this I won't be keeping her memory alive," Moca breathed out through gritted teeth as her hands balled into fists, stubbornly ignoring the stinging pain that started to spread from her palms. With a defeated sigh, Moca added, "There's no other way…"
As the words left Moca's mouth, she started to remember the time when she last smiled a genuine smile: the times she lost. The last time that she had spent with her closest friend who was well beyond her reach at this point. The final time when she—
"That's where you're wrong, Moca-chan."
Tsugumi's voice broke Moca out of her inner world as she turned to look at Tsugumi with a blank look on her face. As the memories of times long past and the view of her present mixed into a blur for her, Moca managed to softly mutter a single word in response.
"Because, Moca-chan… imagine what it would be like if Moca-chan switched places with Ran-chan and Ran-chan is doing what Moca-chan is doing right now," Tsugumi said in what was a surprisingly calm voice, even for Tsugumi. Realizing that Moca had noticed this, Tsugumi quickly tried to shake the thought of by continuing where she had left off, "And imagine that Moca-chan could know what Ran-chan was doing… how would Moca-chan feel?"
"Like Ran is wasting her life away and should live on?" Moca responded as she tilted her head slightly. Blinking a few times and not receiving a response like she might have expected to receive, Moca added, "Tsugu, why are you bringing this up, anyway?"
"I can only do so much for you, Moca-chan…" Tsugumi trailed off before she dug through her purse to find her phone. Taking a moment to fumble around with it, the brunette nodded to herself before returning back to her still-confused childhood friend, "Moca-chan, please follow me. We're heading out now."
"Now? Isn't it a bit late for us to be heading out?" Moca asked as she looked outside where, sure enough, the sun was already starting to set in the horizon. Trying to suppress a different but still very vivid memory from resurfacing, Moca turned away to instead look at the wall.
"Moca-chan, please… if you're my friend then you will follow me right now," Tsugumi said, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible as she moved to stand in front of Moca. Offering her hand to her friend, Tsugumi added, "So what will it be, Moca-chan?"
Moca took a moment to look at Tsugumi who was towering above her, then to look at the hand that was offered to her, and then back to Tsugumi. Some time passed as the two old friends did nothing more than stare at the other until one of them finally made a move.
"That's unfair, Tsugu…" Moca chuckled as she moved her hand up, not to accept the one that Tsugumi was offering her but to tuck some stray strands of hair behind her ear. Taking a deep breath, Moca finally decided to give her friend a proper response, "All right, you got me… where are we going?"
"It will be faster if I just brought you there and showed you, Moca-chan," Tsugumi smiled, grabbing hold of Moca's surprisingly cold hand and helping her to her feet. Tsugumi then shuffled a bit uneasily on her spot, something she knew did not go unnoticed by Moca, so Tsugumi said what was on her mind, "Even though bringing you there might make you hate me more than you already do."
"What are you talking about, Tsugu? Nobody can possibly hate you!" Moca said quickly in an effort to try and cheer her friend up. These words appeared to resonate with Tsugumi to an extent as the brunette was smiling a soft smile soon after, so Moca took a chance and tried again, "Let's get going then! Lead the way, Tsugu~!"
"…Are you serious?"
"I told you that you probably didn't want to come here, but I had to bring you here no matter what. Please understand, Moca-chan."
"Tsugu…"
After leaving Moca's place and walking through the streets, with Tsugumi leading the way, the two of them found themselves in a very familiar place: the very same floristry that Moca and Tsugumi ran across on their way to the Silver Harp Café a week ago. As soon as Moca saw what Tsugumi was trying to do she tried to make a beeline for it, but the shorter of the two was surprisingly strong.
Moca now found herself standing in front of the floristry with a Tsugumi holding on to her tightly to prevent her from running away again. And Moca hated the unsightly sight of the flowers. She hated how the flora all had different shades, from blue to red to green to purple, this floristry seemed to have it all. But what Moca hated more than anything was the fact that she could identify each and every one of those flowers without even looking at their labels.
"Why did we come here to begin with?" Moca grumbled but did not try to struggle out of Tsugumi's grip on her. Instead, Moca allowed herself to be dragged inside the floristry by who she once called her best friend; even if Moca did try her hardest to show her disdain towards the place she was in.
"Because, Moca-chan, you need to learn to get over it and this is the best way to do that," Tsugumi tried to explain using a tone that a sleep-deprived adult would use to try and explain why one plus one would equate to two to a kindergartner. Taking a deep breath so she was certain that she would not end up saying something she would regret later, Tsugumi turned to Moca and said, "Do you think I can leave you here alone for a few minutes as I go and ask a worker here a question?"
"I dunno, depends on whether or not you call 'having a mental breakdown because her supposed best friend brought her to the worst place imaginable' as 'being able to be left behind here'," Moca said with a deadpan but shook her head with hints of a smile, "Go ahead, I'll live."
"All right… if you need me then just call out to me," Tsugumi said, making it clear that she wouldn't leave her friend's side before getting confirmation. When Moca finally nodded in confirmation, albeit somewhat hesitantly so, Tsugumi smiled and left Moca's side in search of a worker at the shop.
This left Moca alone in the floristry, at least for the time being as Tsugumi was off doing whatever she had been planning to do. To keep herself occupied, and in a desperate attempt to try and maintain her composure, Moca decided to stroll around a bit through the aisles until she suddenly stopped.
'Why did I—?' Moca thought to herself in a panic, looking around her frantically and with a cold sweat running down her back. As her bones froze up and she could feel the familiar feeling of terror seep through her skin, Moca's body finally started to cooperate again.
That moment had to come when a woman in her thirties was right behind Moca.
"I am so sorry!" Moca apologized profusely, looking over the fallen woman to make sure that there were no signs of injury. Much to Moca's relief, there didn't seem like there was, and the woman allowed herself to be pulled back to her feet by the eighteen-year-old.
"I'm all right, please don't worry about that," the woman said, trying to subtly wave off Moca's doubts as she focused on dusting herself off. As she did this, Moca couldn't help herself from staring at the woman, her dark salmon-colored hair reached well beyond her shoulders and was Moca's point of interest for the majority of the time.
"Mama!"
A high-pitched cry brought both Moca and the older woman out of what they were doing, and as the two of them turned in the direction of the voice they saw a small girl run towards them. Looking identical to the older woman, the young girl could not have been much older than five or six.
"Mama! Mama! Haru found another pretty flower!" the girl blurted out as soon as she reached her mother, grabbing on to her hand and doing her best to pull her away. She wasn't very strong, however, and only managed to elicit a sympathetic smile from her mother as Moca watched this interaction silently from the sidelines.
"What is it, Haru?" Haru's mother asked as she bent through her knees so she could look at Haru one eye-level. As soon as she knew that she had her daughter's attention, she added, "Why don't you show mama what the pretty flower looks like?"
Unfortunately for her, it would seem that something else had caught Haru's attention. Letting go of her mother's hand, Haru ran around both her mother and Moca to stand in front of a set of potted flowers several shelves further. The plant that Haru was looking at was that of a set of plants that seemed like they were trying to climb to the shelf above them.
"Look out!" Moca called out before she could stop herself from doing so. Although somewhat embarrassed, her voice did succeed in stopping Haru from going any closer as she turned to look at Moca with a curious look on her face. Moca knew that she couldn't keep the little one waiting patiently for much longer, so she raked her brain to find the right words to say what she wanted to say, "That plant… it's called a Hirugao and it is set aside from the other plants for a reason."
"It's poisonous, isn't it?" Haru's mother asked in a surprisingly calm voice, to which Moca nodded in confirmation. When she saw this, Haru's mother walked up to Haru and picked Haru up in her arms before turning back to Moca, "Thank you."
"I mean, there aren't that many cases of plants being fatal to us, but we wouldn't want to add to that small number," Moca said with a slight shrug, trying in vain to try and lighten the mood. Understanding quickly that this was not working, Moca shifted gears and addressed Haru this time, "The Hirugao is still a pretty flower, isn't it?"
"Mhm! Haru likes pretty flowers a lot!" Haru said with a bright smile before she looked at the plant longingly, "But why do people put that pretty flower for sale if it is so bad? Haru does not understand…"
"Because that plant represents human bonds. Umm…" Moca trailed off when she realized that Haru was not following her. Taking a moment to try and think of the right way to say what she was about to say, "It's like… everybody that Haru knows is someone who has a bond with Haru. And that plant is a symbol of those bonds."
"Everyone?" Haru repeated with wide eyes to which Moca nodded with a smile, happy that Haru understood her. Haru's eyes lit up almost immediately after as she turned back to look at the plant she had been trying to get close to earlier, "That is amazing! Wow!"
"Other people might also just want it because they think it looks nice," Moca continued her explanation when she saw how invested little Haru was in this, "Or because they don't understand how bad the plant is to other—"
"And how about that one? What does that one mean?" Haru interrupted Moca's sentence by jabbing a finger to a plant behind Moca. When Moca turned around, slightly grumpy at being interrupted but trying to hide it to humor the young girl, she saw that Haru had been pointing at white-colored flowers. Flowers that Moca recognized only all too well.
"Those are… Iceland poppies…" Moca said through gritted teeth as a dark veil started to surround her. Before the two other people near Moca could bring this up, however, this negative energy radiating from Moca disappeared and she smiled a shaky smile as she continued, "These flowers symbolize comfort and consolidation when you give them to someone. Usually, they are given when something bad happened to you."
A short period of silence followed which was only broken when Haru's mother lowered Haru back to the ground and said in a soft voice, "Haru, can you go and see if papa needs any help?"
"Okay, mama!" Haru saluted sloppily but energetically and was about to run off when she remembered something. Tugging at Moca's pants, Haru grinned as soon as Moca turned to look at her, "When Haru grows big, Haru wants to be just like you!"
And with that, Haru turned around and hurried off in her quest to find her father. This left her mother behind with a Moca who watched the little girl run off while not knowing how to react to the situation she found herself in.
Haru's mother walked up to Moca's side the moment that Haru was no longer within hearing distance and said, "Thank you for helping Haru, it really means a lot to her. And also, I wanted to say that I am sorry for your loss."
"How did you—?!" Moca exclaimed in shock, jerking around to face the older woman with wide eyes. Much to Moca's surprise, she saw that her companion was laughing, which prompted Moca to ask the first question that popped up in her head, "What is so funny?"
"I am sorry, but it really was not very difficult to determine that when I saw how you looked at the poppies," Haru's mother said with a gentle smile as she looked at the aforementioned flowers herself, silently urging Moca to do the same. After some time had passed where the two of them could stare at the flowers in question, each of them for their own reasons, Haru's mother spoke again, "It really is a beautiful thing…"
Moca remained silent, however, as she had to use all her willpower not to break down again upon being reminded of her friend. But that was when she started to realize something: it didn't hurt as much as it usually did. As a matter of fact, it felt completely different than it usually felt like.
The familiar feeling of someone ripping her heart out of her chest and squeezing the life out of it was still there, but it felt gentler somehow. As if the feeling was no longer there to suffocate her, but to edge her forward.
'So this is what Tsugu…' Moca thought to herself as she placed one hand against her chest and allowed this revelation to wash over her. With a deep, slow breath, Moca made up her mind and picked up one of the poppies.
"You know… I should probably thank you for explaining all that stuff to Haru," Haru's mother said, shaking Moca back to reality as she slowly turned to face her. When Moca did, she saw, much to Moca's shock, that the older woman was digging around in her purse to find her wallet and hand Moca some money, "There, that should be more than enough to get you those flowers. And whatever is left you can get something else for yourself, okay?"
"But—," Moca began, looking at the offered money and trying to think of a way to politely turn down the money. She never had the chance, however, as Haru's mother effectively pushed the money into Moca's hand with a smile.
"Look at it as a little thank-you for spending some time with my little Haru. Besides…" Haru's mother trailed off with a sly smirk as she looked at Moca with a knowing glint in her eyes, "You look like you need to let go of the past and start growing towards the future. I hope everything will work your well, and if you would excuse me… I need to make sure that Haru did not get lost."
Without giving Moca the time to mutter a response, Haru's mother turned around and walked off in the direction that her daughter had run off to. Moca was now entirely alone with the flower in one hand, some money in the other, and all the thoughts swirling around in her mind.
Resigning herself to the fact that she was about to do what she feared she would one day be doing, Moca was about to head to the cashier to pay for the flower when she heard her name being called. Turning around to see who had called her, Moca saw that Tsugumi was running towards Moca with a slightly reddened face. The brunette almost knocked down three different pots of plants due to her wild movements in an effort to get to Moca faster.
"Sorry to… keep you waiting… Moca-chan…" Tsugumi panted, doubling over in an effort to try and calm down her breathing. The brunette needed a few moments to do just that, but once she did she tried to look at her friend as fast as she could. That was when Tsugumi noticed the flower in Moca's hand and she couldn't help but smile, "I see that coming here was not a waste of time, but it is a shame that this means that what I prepared won't be used anymore. Oh well, what matters is that this place ended up helping you after all."
"Moca-chan would show you what Moca-chan felt when Moca-chan knew that Tsugu dragged little old Moca-chan here of all places, but you lucked out," Moca said as she glanced at the money in her hand and thought of the nice woman she met only moments ago… as well as another familiar face popping up in her mind. Moca quickly shook her head to get rid of the memories and turned to her friend, "I'll go and buy this and then we can head back."
"Actually, about that… remember when I said that I would be talking with a worker here?" Tsugumi asked slowly, scratching her cheek with her index finger and looking away from the taller of the two as the words left her mouth. Gulping softly, Tsugumi tried to put on a bright expression before she continued, "I asked for a favor and she said she could help me out, but she also asked for us both to come to her for it. It's important that Moca-chan comes, too, so let's go. It shouldn't take too long… I hope."
"What could possibly be so important?" Moca asked, but she never would get an answer from her friend. Tsugumi had already run ahead of her and leaving Moca behind in the aisle. Moca wanted to follow suit after her friend when she felt dizziness overtake her. Her mind emptied itself of all thoughts and before Moca knew herself what was happening she had already fallen on the ground, her consciousness lost before her body touched the soil.
"… M… ca… Mo… Moca… -chan…!"
"Tsu…gu…?" Moca groaned softly as she held her forehead to try and stifle the throbbing headache that she was feeling. Ignoring the cry of relief that originated from her childhood friend, Moca pushed herself up into a seated position in what she then realized was a mattress on the floor in a seemingly empty room that she did not recognize, "Where… am I? What happened?"
"We're still in the floristry, the back of it to be precise. And it's only been a few minutes since you lost consciousness there…" Tsugumi tried to explain while fighting the mental battle of whether to hug her friend or push her back down as she still needed her rest. Tsugumi eventually ended up deciding on a little bit of both as she pushed Moca back on her back in an embrace, "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have run off ahead like that…"
"That's all right, don't worry about it, Tsugu…" Moca said breathlessly, struggling slightly under the extra weight of Tsugumi and not trying to hide her desire of wanting Tsugumi off of her. Tsugumi took the hint and quickly took a step or two back, much to Moca's relief, "But why are we still here? Couldn't we have, like… called Tomato-chin for a ride or something?"
"It's… not as simple as that, Moca-chan…" Tsugumi said sheepishly as she shuffled around a bit, clearly nervous for some reason. When Moca brought that up worriedly, Tsugumi simply laughed Moca's concerns off, "You see… remember that worker I was telling you about…?"
"I have told the managers that selling such plants are dangerous for the customers, so I will apologize in their name for you losing consciousness like that. That said, I am surprised you did not know not to get close to them," another voice said from a different part of the room. A familiar voice that made Moca's blood freeze upon hearing it.
"Moca-chan… Please allow me to introduce the person who I have been in contact with for a while now…"
Moca did not need the introduction that Tsugumi was giving to know who the third person in the room was. It had been more than three years since she last heard that voice, but even so, Moca would recognize that voice from anywhere. The very same voice that belonged to the person who walked into view.
The owner of the voice was a young woman of Moca's age wearing a black-colored hoodie and jeans. Her jet-black hair had grown to reach all the way down to the middle of her back, with the bangs in the front falling down to just below her eyes. Even with the hair trying to hide them, however, those eyes would not be forgotten by someone like Moca. The third girl in the room looked up at Moca, and the instant that the two locked eyes they both knew that Moca had recognized her without any doubt.
Mitake Ran then turned to look to the side as she muttered the next few words in Moca's direction.
"It's… been a while… hasn't it, Moca?"
And there we have it! The end of another chapter is upon us and that means one thing: thank you for reading this story and keeping up with the slower update schedule. I hope that you enjoyed today's chapter, please leave a review telling me what you thought and until next time! Take care!