Part 11
"Time's running out...?"
Sai slowly nodded. His face paled as the ghost that he once was.
"I was at the practice room, reading a magazine... when suddenly I heard voices... in my head..." Sai recalled, "It's telling me the time is running short. The tone of the voice was gentle. It was like a reminder more than a warning."
But it was a warning nonetheless.
"What else did you hear?"
"It said... 'Look into your past... and soon you will have to decide… you will have to choose, or the choice will be made for you'..." Sai continued, the words were clear in his mind, "And then, there was another voice. This one was ...far away, vague, and pained... It was like a wounded animal at the verge of dying... and though I could barely hear it, I knew it was screaming at me: 'I've got to see you again!'. It sounded like… no, it can't be." Sai shook his head.
"It sounded like someone you knew?" Hikaru asked, kneeling down in front of Sai.
Sai looked away. "Maybe... Maybe not… and at that point I felt a searing pain in my head. I panicked, you know. I wasn't used to hearing voices in my head. So I just... ran away..."
You used to be a ghost who spoke to me all the time; and now you were scared because you heard voices in your head? Hikaru would have said that if he wasn't so distracted with what Sai was telling him.
"Time's running out...? We have to figure out how to extend your time then." Hikaru clamed his fists tightly, "I won't let you just disappeared like last time!"
"Hikaru..." Sai looked at Hikaru with concern, seeing how much this information had upset the teenager. "It's ok. I'm not scared. Not anymore anyway. Before you found me, I was sitting on the bench here all alone and thinking... I have been luckier than most people. I have had 3 life times -- one as myself, Sai. The next one I shared with Torajiro, and then through you. Now I got a chance to live the life that I carelessly thrown away; I was given back my body, even if this was just for a week it was still good."
"Noooo..." Hikaru shook his head, "You are back and you're not to disappear again."
Sai didn't know what to say. So he merely gave Hikaru a hug, hoping to calm the other down.
"I'm not going anywhere, Hikaru." As long as I can help it. "Look, it's about to start raining. Let's go home."
X X X X X
Hikaru paced around the living room. He had been going on about it for hours. Sai was starting to get worried for his young friend.
"Maybe we should find a priest..." This was his 101st suggestion on how to fix Sai's problem.
The front door suddenly slammed opened, revealing a person who was soaking wet from head to toe.
"A… Akira?"
Water was dripping from Akira's hair and clothing but he made no attempt to dry himself. His stares were fixed on Hikaru.
"Err… Was it raining hard out there? Let me get you a towel…?"
"You. Never. Came."
Hikaru opened his mouth and closed it, like a goldfish out of air. He had totally forgotten about his date with Akira!
"Just as I thought. You forgot." Akira whispered bitterly.
"Look Akira, I'm sorry." Hikaru babbled to explain, "Waya told me Sai ran out of the Go Institute, so I went to look for him... I was running all around Tokyo this afternoon looking for him."
"Why? He is an adult, not a child, and he is from Tokyo. Just because he ran out of the Go Institute you have to spent your whole day searching for him?"
Hikaru bit down on his tongue. He wished there was an easy way to make Akira understand. But his own lies that he told Akira earlier came back to bite him in the face now. He couldn't possibly tell Akira how he had worried that Sai would just "evaporated" again.
"I see." When Akira received no answer, he merely came to a conclusion, "He is more important, isn't he?"
Akira shoved past Hikaru to walk towards his bedroom.
"Wait, Akira, listen to me... It wasn't like what you think..."
"Then WHAT is IT?" Akira finally lost his temper and yelled. "I waited for 4 hours. You never show up. There wasn't even a courtesy phone call telling me, 'hey Akira, I decided not to come because my precious Sai runs into a little problem.' Oh I remembered, the reason you didn't even call is because you totally forgot about it."
"Look, I'm sorry ok?" Hikaru wanted to apologize to Akira, but his worry for Sai and the frustration of his inability to solve Sai's problem had made him short tempered, and the apology did not come out the way he intended at all.
"Screw you." Akira slammed his bedroom door right at Hikaru's face.
X X X X X
"You looked tired. Rough week?" Ogata asked the man sitting in front of him casually.
Sai sighed. He never thought he would turn to Ogata for help.
They were now sitting at Ogata's favorite restaurant; a high class, expensive place on the top floor of a 5-star hotel located in the Ginza area. The place was quiet and formal. As this was the afternoon tea hours, there were only a few guests around. The number of waiters standing by was more than guests'. Sai felt extremely uncomfortable dressed in his shirt and jeans at a place like this. He was certain the waiter had wanted to turn him away, but was only making an exception since Ogata seemed to be their frequent guest.
Ogata on the other hand, appeared to be quite at ease at this formal dining restaurant. Yeah, of course, dressed in his expensive suit. Sai thought, though he knew it was more than just the suit. Ogata seemed to be incredibly used to the settings of high society. Sai briefly wondered about Ogata's background, but he couldn't recall if any of the articles ever mention anything about it.
"Sai?"
"Oh, yeah. I supposed. Pretty rough." Sai replied, "How about you? I didn't see you around the Go Institute for the past 2 weeks."
"Were you looking for me?" There was a gleam beneath Ogata's glasses.
Sai didn't answer.
"Well, I was out of town. I went to do a little 'research'. You know, I like to find my own answers when something confuses me. I just got back yesterday." Ogata said.
"Oh, so was the research fruitful?" Sai idly stirred his tea.
"I would say so, although there were still a few facts that need some further research. No big deal. It will clear up soon enough." Ogata shrugged, "Let's talk about you. What is your purpose of asking me out today?"
"It's about Hikaru and Akira."
"Hm… Those two…" Ogata took a small sip of his black coffee, "What is wrong?"
Sai fumbled with the fine china in front of him. He didn't know why he had thought of asking Ogata for help. Maybe it was because Ogata really did take care of him the first few days and he felt he could rely on him somewhat…
"You know about their… err… feelings?" Sai said carefully.
"I have watched them interact, and I'm an experienced man myself."
Trust you to be VERY experienced… Sai felt a tinge of anger, but quickly pushed it aside.
"It was like they kept fighting with each other yet one can't live without the other. A weird form of love, isn't it? Quite amusing to watch though." Ogata continued.
"Well, the two of them were no longer fighting. Not the way you described anyway. Now this was like they treated the other as nonexistence and tried to shut each other out of the other's life. In fact, Akira had left about a week ago, if you don't already know. I think he moved back to his parents' empty house. Hikaru won't admit he was upset but it was eating him. When they did see each other in the Institute, the tension was so high I don't know what to do. And I felt responsible for the situation."
"You want me to be the mediator between them?" Ogata asked.
"Maybe you can talk to Akira. You are quite close to him, aren't you?"
"I was. Things had changed somewhat after he becomes professional." Ogata answered, "But I will help. I definitely want to get those two together. It won't do to have Hikaru lurking after someone other than Akira instead… And vice versa…" Ogata pointed Sai a meaningful glance. "I will come up with a plan."
X X X X X
"Sai, where did you go?" Hikaru rubbed his eyes. "And close the blind please. It's too bright…"
Sai looked at the clock. It's 5p.m. in the afternoon, and Hikaru was still in his pajamas. Apparently the boy hadn't even left the house for the whole day.
"Didn't you have a game today?"
Hikaru shrugged. "I wasn't feeling well. I called in sick."
Sai looked at Hikaru, the teenager was a mess. He knew Hikaru hadn't sleep or eat properly for the past weeks, and it was reflected clearly on the tired features. He needed to help Hikaru out.
"Listen, Hikaru…"
XXXXX
"Where are we going?" Akira asked. Ogata was driving his red Ferrari at dangerous speed as usual.
"Tonight was Gackt's last concert in Tokyo. I got 2 tickets, and I know you're a fan of his, so I decided to give you a treat, since you seemed to have a pretty hard time last week…"
"Oh…" Normally Akira would have been thrilled to watch the concert, but now it only served to remind him of that night where Hikaru stood him up. "Ogata-sensei, I'm kind of busy tonight."
"Really? But I checked your schedule, I don't think you are doing anything."
"It's just that I don't feel very well…"
"Well, you don't want me to waste the tickets, do you? Why don't we just go and if you really don't want to stay, we can leave, ok?"
Akira nodded mutely.
X X X X X
Akira sat on the seat waiting for the concert to start. Ogata had asked him to go in first, as he needed to find a spot for his car.
I'm probably the saddest person here… Akira thought as he watched the place filled with excited fans. He decided he would just have to tell Ogata he wanted to leave as soon as Ogata came in. There was no way he could sit through the concert, kept thinking about what Hikaru had done to him.
The lights in the concert hall suddenly went out, and everyone stood up and began screaming as the singer appeared on stage. A figure squeezed his way through to the seat next to Akira.
"Ogata-sensei, I think I'm not well. I would like to…" Akira didn't finish his sentence as he realized it wasn't Ogata who held the ticket to the seat next to his.
It was Hikaru.
Akira stared at Hikaru, stunned for a minute. Then without hesitation, he turned and pushed his way through. Someone cursed him for being so rude, but he didn't care. He pushed the door open and left the blazing music and cheering crowd behind him. He ran down the empty corridor leading to the exit, and slammed the exit open, until he was in the open air and staring at the night sky.
Pausing for breath, he looked back and saw Hikaru standing a few steps behind him.
"This changed nothing, you know. I don't know what you are thinking, but things don't work like this." Akira shook his head.
"Sai was a ghost."
Akira looked at the teenager standing behind him.
"I promised I would tell you the story someday. Would you like to listen to it now?"
X X X X X
Across the street from the concert hall, there was a red Ferrari parked at the side of the road. Two men sitting in the car watched intensely at the two teenagers talking in front of the building.
"You think this will work?" Sai asked a little uncertainly.
"It will." Ogata pulled up a cigarette and lighted it. He took a deep puff and then blew up slowly, "Remind Hikaru to pay me 100,000 yen tomorrow. That concert was totally sold out and I had to pay 50000 yen for each of the ticket. You pay a high price when you stood up on your date."
"Ah, is that speaking from experience as well?" Sai smiled.
"Maybe, maybe not…" Ogata grinned, "Now, are you ok?"
Sai nodded. "Yeah, just a bit… lost. I guess it's like a father sending his daughter off walking down the isle."
"Father, huh?" Ogata mused, "I sure hope it's only fatherly love and nothing else…"
Sai didn't reply.
Ogata started the engine of the car. "Let's go before we were discovered… by the police for illegal parking!"
The two men enjoyed a quiet drive on the freeway.
"Ogata, where are you taking me?" Sai finally asked when Ogata parked the car in front of a building that's clearly not the apartment Sai was currently staying at.
"My house." Ogata got out of the car, "Come in, please."
X X X X X
For a man who enjoyed driving a red Ferrari and wearing white expensive suit, Ogata's house was almost too plain. The place was very neat for a single man, and it was considered spacious for a home in Tokyo. It even had a separate guest room and office besides the master bedroom.
"Please have a sit, Sai. Make yourself at home." Ogata handed Sai a glass of wine.
Sai took a little sip and whined; he didn't care for red wine. He much preferred sake.
Ogata smiled at Sai's obvious distaste for the drink, and took a sip of his own drink.
"Sai, remember last time when I told you that I was gone for two weeks doing some research?" Ogata opened the conversation normally.
"Yeah, you said there were still a few points that needed clarification?"
"Yeah, today I received all the information I needed…" Ogata pointed at a folder that stamped "CONFIDENTIAL" on a table nearby. "The finding was rather interesting, you know… Sai Fujiwara, who are you really?"
"What do you mean?" Sai put down the wine as alarm went off in his head. Had he been too trustful of Ogata? Letting the man take him home…?
"There were no records of departure or entry into Japan or US of you. There were no records of you, Sai Fujiwara, receiving treatments at any of the hospitals in Japan or US. Let's see, what else… Yes, there were no records of Sai Fujiwara that matched your appearance in any legal documents whatsoever. Interesting, isn't it?"
"How… did…"
"I happened to have very good connections." Ogata smiled, "Family background with political influence is so convenience sometimes."
Silence.
"Just curious, if we were stopped by a police tonight, and he asked you for some 'proper documentation', will you be able to provide it?"
"What would you like to do? Have me deported?" Sai answered with a question.
"No, I merely wanted to know the truth." The smile was wiped from Ogata's face, replaced with all seriousness.
To be continued…
