Chuuii- i don't own chiaki and nodame

Chapter 9 A very long night

The room was definitely something you would never expect Professor would stay. It was way too simple and old for his taste. "Why does he have to stay here when he has a huge mansion just around?" Chiaki wondered.

Some parts of the wall paper were already sticking out. The single bed placed near the window was too shabby while the covers were too old that you barely can describe the prints. In addition, the heater seemed to be broken because he was still shivering. The only good thing about the room was it has a little kitchen so Professor could sill cook.

Chiaki continued scanning the room while waiting for the Professor to return. The Professor left him for a while as he needed to talk to Lizzie regarding his appearance. Of course, he had too. But why? Why is he doing this? Several questions just popped on his head one by one.

It has been almost 30 minutes and there was still no sign of the professor or Lizzie. Have I really disturbed them that they had to talk this long? Chiaki was about to stand from his seat when the professor and Lindsay finally went out of the kitchen.

"I'll handle this. You don't have to worry," professor spoke to Lizzie.

Lizzie fetched her coat then looked at Chiaki first before she stared back to the professor, "I hope you'll tell him all. After everything he had been through." Then she slowly walked towards Chiaki and held his both hands. "Please listen to him carefully and don't misjudge us. You're a good person Chiaki and I'm glad I was able to know you better." She bid them farewell and went out.

With Lizzie gone, the atmosphere even got denser. Chiaki decided to return to his seat. He took a deep breath, looked up to the ceiling and then gazed back at the professor who seemed to be busy preparing some coffee.

"Professor..." Chiaki muttered. The professor seemed to disregard him and continued what he was doing so Chiaki decided to wait until he was finished.

After a few minutes, the professor finally walked towards him with 2 cups of coffee on his hands. "Nice to meet you again, Chiaki. How have you been? How's the rehearsal going on? Are they good? I can't-"

"Who is she?" Chiaki cut. "Who is Chriseis and why are you here?"

"You've always been so straight forward that you haven't even tried the coffee I made" the professor sighed.

"Professor, I'm..."

"That's why I've always admire you. You're not fake." The professor continued.

Chiaki raised his cup and took a sip of the coffee that was surprisingly good. "Thank you."

The professor slowly sat in front of Chiaki and stared at him for a while. "Chriseis. You're asking who is Chriseis? What do you think?"

"Why are you returning my question?"

"Do you believe she's Megumi?"

Chiaki gawked, "How did…"

"Chiaki, I know a lot of things about you. That's why I trust you so much"

Chiaki simply looked at him and uttered nothing.

"She's Megumi." professor stared at him directly "But she's also Chriseis."

"What?" Chiaki confusedly asked. "I don't understand."

"You want to know the truth and I just did. She's your Megumi but she's also my Chriseis."

Chiaki looked at the professor directly in his eyes, searching. Searching if he was telling a lie or if what he said was true. To his surprise, he was telling the truth.

"Is she… sick?" he asked.

Professor took a deep breath then started playing with the spoon on his coffee. "Yeah… you can say that"

Chiaki sighed, "I knew it. I can't find any reason why she would just simply forget me. But…"

"But what…?"

Chiaki looked back to the professor, "The girl in the video? She's your daughter right? Did she… die? Is that why you kept Nodame? Because she looks like Chriseis?"

The Professor put down his coffee then fixed his seat, "Let me ask you one thing Chiaki,. Are you ready to know the whole story even if it will probably hurt you?"

Chiaki bewilderedly gazed at the professor, "What do you mean?"

"Just answer me first…"

Chiaki simply nodded, "Okay, I'm ready"

"Yes, indeed Megumi is sick but it's not what you think," the professor firmly continued. "Megumi hasn't forgotten you. However, she is trying to forget you."

Chiaki gawked, "What? But..."

"She never had amnesia and I never asked her to play as my daughter. She did that on her own and the reason why you are here is because I want to return her to you before she makes another mistake."

Chiaki felt like a knife was stabbed on his chest. It was too painful, hearing everything all at once. But why would she do it? Why? I'm sure she was aware that I looked for her for so long. Why would she decide to leave? To forget me?

"My wife was judge on the piano concert she joined. The moment she heard her play completely mesmerized her and told me that she'd probably go home late because she wanted to invite her for a dinner"

"Unfortunately, the earthquake happened and my wife's body was found near her. My wife survived the earthquake because…. Megumi covered her."

Chiaki raised his right hand to stop the professor, "Wait! Please let me absorb this whole thing one by one. It's confusing me…."

Professor stared at him and paused for a while. After 10 minutes, he looked back at Chiaki who seemed to be still confused. "Do you want me to continue this some other day?"

Chiaki took a deep breath, "No"

"Alright, so where did I end? Oh yeah, on the earthquake part."

"Yes."

"When the rescue team found my wife, she was under Megumi. My wife woke up after 3 days with minor bruises. However, Megumi was severely hurt."

"Why didn't you contact us? Her family? We should have been informed!" Chiaki raised his voice a little. I looked for her for months, years! Why didn't you tell us that she was with you all a long!

"Because I was busy at that time," the professor murmured.

"Busy?" Chiaki sarcastically stated. "Do you have any idea how much I suffered?! Do you have-"

"My daughter was almost at her time that moment," the professor abruptly explained. "A few months after, my wife got ill and later on died," he strongly stated as he stared at him with pain in his eyes.

"Professor…I'm…"

"I understand how you feel. However, during those times I was lost. I didn't know what to do. I even forgot Megumi who was sleeping for almost a year. Then one day, I found myself visiting Megumi on the hospital. When I saw her, I saw my daughter and my wife whom she saved. So from that day on I decided that I will take care of her until she wakes up."

Chiaki couldn't even find a word to say. He felt the professor's pain as he uttered each word. Seeing how he trembled as he looked back to those painful moments.

"A few months after, she finally woke up but she had to do some rehabilitation. When she woke up, the first person she looked for was you. Of course, that time, I didn't know that the Shinichi she was talking about is the famous Maestro Chiaki. I asked her if she wants me to bring you to her but she told me that it would be better if she finished her rehabilitation first."

"Instead of bringing her back to Japan, I decided to bring her family here. However, after their visit, she started acting strange." professor sighed. "She stopped talking about you and started talking about my family particularly about Chriseis."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't understand at first. When her rehabilitation was over, she asked me if she could go to London to watch your concert. But when she returned….." the professor glanced at Chiaki, "She asked me if she could stay here and keep her existence a secret. She decided not to go back to you."

"That…. That's i-impossible…" Chiaki stuttered. "Nodame would never… would never say that…"

"Chiaki, I told you that the truth will hurt you but that's the truth. I don't know what happened in London that made her decide like that. But from then on, she has completely changed. I bet you have noticed that. In addition, she asked me if she could be Chriseis as a token of her gratitude when I helped her. Well, you see, I was still having difficulties in accepting the fact that my family is gone. I can't refuse her offer because I've always treated her as a daughter and she has been the reason why I am still alive. Furthermore, it wouldn't be a problem because nobody knows that Chriseis is gone except for Lizzie. I have always kept my daughter away from the glaring eyes of the public."

"Then why?"

"Why? What do you mean Chiaki?"

"Why are you returning her now to me?" Chiaki asked. "What made you decide to return her to me?"

"Because I know she's not happy and that she's making another huge mistake"

Chiaki looked at him, "What mistake?"

"When I heard her decision, I asked her if she's happy but she simply nodded. As a father, I only want one thing for her and that's her happiness. I knew she was lying and so I decided to search for you. You have no idea about the surprise I had when I figured out that it was you."

"I thought by being with you she'd changed her mind so I planned everything. From the concert to being stuck on the house. Everything was my plan."

"You… planned everything…?" Chiaki gawked.

"Yes, Chiaki. I wanted to know how far you'll go to get her again. I wanted to know if you're worth giving up Megumi," the professor smiled. "And I'm glad you passed. However, that still didn't change her mind."

"What?"

"You see Chiaki, you're almost out of time," the professor paused for a while. "Because she's soon getting married."

chuuii- thanks for waiting. hope you enjoyed this chapter. wasn't able to proofread so i apologize for the errors.