"A Moment in Spring" Ch. 10
Rieko was taken home by her father, he yelled at her for the whole drive. Her ears were ringing from the constant screeching, she had felt a headache come upon her. "I don't want you around them! I have told you many times before that I don't like them! That bitch of a daughter gets fucked by some guy and then her failure of a father gets murdered! What kind of stupid family is that?! Why do you like hanging around that bullshit?!" Rieko begins to cry. "Oh don't give me that, grow up already!" Rieko stays silent with tears flowing from her eyes. They arrive at their house, her father says to Rieko, "I want you to go to your room and don't come out for the rest of the day, I don't want to see your face!"
They enter the house and Rieko runs to her room, her mother asks him, "Kondo, what happened? Why is she crying?" Kondo says, "Well Oshiro, it's a long story." He then explains the situation. "So then I tried to make her feel better, I might have hit something sensitive 'cause she started to cry." Oshiro replied, "Hm, well at least you are there for her and I'm happy that you are trying."
Rieko runs into her room and finds Ozawa sleeping in the crib. She slowly walked towards him, picking him up and hugs him tight. "I am grown up. I am the only one raising you. My precious baby brother, stupid Kondo doesn't think I am mature, all he does is beat me and when I cry, he hits me some more. My mother has no clue, she hasn't seen the bruises and cuts he has done to me. I am trying so hard to be there for you Ozawa, I love you so much, and Nikki too." She then starts crying as she lays in bed holding Ozawa close to her heart. "As far as I know, you are my baby and I won't let anybody take you away."
In the middle of the night, she is awoken by crying. Rieko jumps up and searches for Ozawa, and she says in her mind, "Where is Oza-?!" She is struck in the head and blacks out. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a pitch black room tied to a chair, "Wha-? Where am I?" There was silence, only the sound of footsteps echoing around her, each step getting louder and louder. A mysterious man begins to choke Rieko from behind, she squirms around trying her hardest to break free but nothing was working. She started thinking about Ozawa and how she has no clue where he is, Rieko begins to cry and she begs not to die. "Please.." She coughs. '...I have a baby to take care of." The man releases his grip and Rieko gasps for air, coughing, taking deep breaths. The man speaks, "That baby is no more."
Rieko screams, "NO NO NO NO! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! IT CAN'T BE TRUE!" She begins crying in rage. She screams as she breaks her wrists out of the ties, she begins to run away into the darkness. She hits a wall and falls to the floor, "There is no escape." The man said as the sound of a knife grazing against metal is heard. He charges after her but she kicks him in the knees, breaking both of them. "Argh! You bitch!" He falls to the floor, screaming in pain. The knife slides to Rieko as she quickly grabs it. "It's your turn to die!" Rieko screams as she plunges it into his face, blood squirting everywhere as the facial bones were cracked and the brain was pierced. He became motionless as the blood gushed from his face.
Rieko quickly gets up grunting in pain, "Agh man, my wrists hurt..." Rieko searches around the walls and finds a switch, she flicks it and the lights come on. She finds out she was in the garage, and to her horror, it was Kondo she had murdered. "He was trying to kill me? ...HE MURDERED MY BABY!" Rieko runs out of the garage and towards her room. She slowly opens the door and walks in, scared to see what is in the crib. She finds a sleeping Ozawa with a bottle next to him. "Who took care of him?" Oshiro comes into the room and finds Rieko covered in blood. "What happened to you? Why do you have a knife?! Are you going to kill him?!" Rieko quickly says, "Of course not!" She drops the knife, "Let me explain everything." Rieko tells her everything and Oshiro begins to cry. "I had no clue, oh my poor baby, why didn't you tell me sooner?!" Rieko shrugged, "I just wanted to prove that I can be mature. I had no clue he was going to snap either." Oshiro sighed, "Well, we have to call the police and explain everything." Rieko agreed as they began to dial the number.
When the police had arrived, they had asked a lot of questions, took photos, written reports and took the body away. They were asked if they would like to move, and the girls agreed instantly. They had called the Hidaka family, "We need a place to stay, can we come over for a while?" Kammie shocked with this news, "O-oh! Um, sure of course you can!" Oshiro packed up the necessary supplies while Rieko packed the clothes. They fit everything into the car, Rieko picked up Ozawa and strapped him into the carseat. They got into the car and left towards the Hidaka household, never looking back again.