"Hey John…da, da, da, we pulled through in conversation blah, blah, blah, hmm…yeah I miss you too guys." Staring up from the contained fire in his fire pit, John held the gift in his hand. "Thanks Jeffrey."
Shining the narrowly focused beam of light, he swayed his sight away completely from the fiery blaze and played around with it for a bit, testing it.
"OW! OW! OW! BRIGHT! BRIGHT! BRIGHT! OW! HELP! HELP!"
"Oh! OH MY G- FUKO?!"
"Yes! Yes, it's the great Fuko and she has arrived again! AND SHE'S BLIND! HER LIFE IS OVER!"
John had to confess to himself…this was funny as hell. This was like watching a really bad performance in the art of theatrics, while being unable to take an eye off of it since it's just that good.
"Okay, okay, just hold on," With his right hand open, he shifted out of his chair and walked forward to her when he put his flashlight down. "Just give it a few seconds. It'll come back."
"Wait…wait…" Fuko contemplated in mere seconds. "You are starting to look a lot less than a giant black shadow. The fire is finally less blurry now. THE SIGHT OF FUKO HAS RETURNED!"
"Okay, okay…" John held in his chuckling to the best of his ability, feeling his sides tickle.
"Mister Key! You DARE mock the great Fuko Ibuki in her presence?!" Fuko lashed out, acting infuriated.
"Never." John replied flamboyantly. "I think the great Fuko Ibuki would like to sit down by the fire. Would she like that?"
"Oh yes! Definitely!" Fuko replied with no hesitation.
Things started to appear less melodramatic and more lenient with the quiet atmosphere of the night sky. They both sat down, their minds at par with the melodic buzzing of the night bugs all around.
"I'm so sorry. I have been away for a little bit. Are you surviving alright?" Fuko wondered.
"You tell me if I look okay." John sarcastically blurted out.
"Hmm…" Fuko stood up from her chair, standing in front of him as her body seemed to block the view of the fire. "I can't see you. You're a shadow again."
"Maybe you should move over." John recommended.
"AH-HA!" Fuko triumphantly exclaimed. "NOW YOU'RE NICE AND ORANGE! I can see you! Let's see…you look okay. Better than before. What has been happening?"
"You're right. Things have gotten better." John nodded. "I just needed to have some sense knocked into me. It didn't take me a baseball bat, but it sure as hell was effective to just…just be gentle, in comfort. All I had to do was acknowledge my mistakes and relax myself."
"But what about your dad? Have you already moved on?" Fuko asked.
"No." John responded fiercely. "I won't forget that my dad's recovering right now. He'll get back on his feet eventually. Always does. Always has."
"Has he even been in a car crash before though?"
He growled in contemplation and embarrassment. "…No. This was a new one for him. A head-on collision with a bus was something he's never experienced before."
"How-"
The question was already obvious before she could say it. John was all ready to answer. "Some of the jobs he's had sometimes left him with broken bones and bloody marks, but he's always been pretty able to get back up. The only thing was though, every single time he got back up, he got back up to return to his job. Mom's gone and all I really had was my grandparents to take care of me. All of that is history."
"But I'm still…" Fuko trembled. "What happened with me…I'm scared. I don't want to be trapped in here forever. I am grateful for everything that has managed to happen and I am grateful my dear sister has managed to find happiness in her marriage, but I want to go back. I just want to walk with her again, smell the flowers, smell the air, live happily ever after!"
"Until that happens though…" John picked up a stick near the fire pit and started to fiddle around with the wood, ashes, and remaining fire. "You're stuck with me and everyone else as a...ghost. Sure, they don't remember you, but we're all still friends in this town and we're all still human. Right?" He put the stick down, seeing that the fire was soon ready to go out.
"…Right…" Fuko frowned in response. "Can we please talk about something else? Tell me how Kotomi is! When she was in the house, that sadness was just so strong. I'm starting to feel like things are right again."
This had actually come as surprise. "…Really?!" He gasped.
"I was there today." Fuko explained.
"Why would you ask how Kotomi was? I have to be honest, I'm missing some pieces."
"DO NOT QUESTION MY WISDOM OR MY LOGIC!" Fuko cried valiantly before explaining calmly. "I saw Okazaki, standing there with her. Everything looked right. She was happy to see him again and he remembered the friendship they shared when they were small…I think she's ready to go back to school."
"How'd the yard look?"
"FANTASTIC!" Fuko blurted out. John was thankful that her voice was only heard by him.
"So we're done…? Just in time for her birthday."
"Actually wait, there's one more thing I have to mention."
"Yes?"
"When she and Okazaki were speaking in her beautiful garden when the sun was setting earlier, they were talking about you as well. They were happy and they were grateful, but she started to cry for you."
Dumbfounded and uncertain as to how to react, or even imagine Kotomi at that moment, he could resort to resting his head on his palm. The recollection of the brief sighting of Kotomi's breakdown felt excruciating as his head throbbed with pain. It did not take long for recovery to settle in.
"I'll just try and ask her tomorrow. There's still a lot more to be done and I feel like this won't be over any time soon."
"What isn't over?" Fuko asked.
"Let me show you something."
This was a pill that was difficult for Fuko to swallow. What Fuko was seeing on the face of John's computer screen, along with listening to his own forte on the situation, she was left dumbfounded by it all. Everything was all about Kotomi's parents.
In her blood, the philosophy and the description of this other world made her simmer with excitement. For a mere moment, she could feel a level of thought that stretched beyond her initial 'young-like' motives, beyond her love for starfish. She could feel that artistic sense of value that her dear sister, Kouko, would have felt in this situation.
"This explanation is so elegant, so refined…" Fuko swirled in her words. "The fabrics of the universe, we are not but tiny fragments limited to the confines of our flesh, but we are stretched out into the great beyond, the gates of our reflective world waiting to reveal themselves to us." She turned to John and giggled in a smile. "Did I do good?"
"That was EXCELLENT." John exclaimed. "I really do like that view of these vague little notes."
"But why would the boss of your dad leave this with you? Eh…! Not saying you can't handle it…" Fuko shyly wondered.
"I have to be honest, I haven't got a single clue." John said, scratching his scalp. "All I really know is, Okazaki knew her when she was a young girl and her parents have been gone since-"
"They're dead."
"I knew it…!" John snarled. "Now it's starting to come together!" From his chair, he shot himself up and grasped his forehead with his fingers. "I did NOT realise this until now! But…WHY SEND ME THIS VAGUE INFO? What did Dad get himself into? Hell, how come Okazaki didn't tell me? Did he even know?!"
"You always got tomorrow to clean things up right?" Fuko asked.
"Yeah…" John sighed. "I do. Okay Fuko," He leaned forward to turn off the monitor and computer. "Before you disappear again, thanks for coming."
"Always a pleasure!" Fuko squealed as she shook his hand.
In the morning, it did not take long right after a rather peculiar encounter in his rest at night. John sat awake on his bed, rubbing his eye lids and pressing the edge of his palm against his forehead. His first instinct was not to rush to his usual routine of cleansing and clothing, but instead he only rushed to something he had not payed much attention to for a small while.
A Doll and her Robot
"This world has come to an end."
In contemplation, he stared at the sketch of the two figures that he swore he had encountered before within his sleep.
"You…!" John snarled. "I remember you."
This time was no different. Again, in an empty, infinite appearing world were those two. He continued to think about it when he started to carry out his morning routine.
In his shower, adjusting the knob and feeling the instantaneous rush of cold water flow out the shower head, his mind flashed. He remembered the unbound land he was in. The cold water, though intolerable and made him as cool as ice, made him feel the same way as he was in that place when he was met with the snow and wind.
Such an unbarring feeling would have soon come to pass, though he had been raised in the warmth without any local experience of living with the Winter temperature back home. Similarly with the sensation of the warmth, it too was just as new as feeling the cold.
That girl in the white dress…the robot…the other woman…
That's who he thought of when the warm water was starting to settle in. This warmth was stretching to the reaches of his nostalgia, something before he had come to the town, but why? He only could only think about why in comparison to thinking about the 'how.'
A question of 'how' still remained reminiscent in his head…a question that could only wonder about the true logic behind the forgery of their existence.
So now that the warm water had stopped and any water remaining flowed down the drain, John asked himself as he stared into the fogged up mirror, thinking long and hard about the possibilities.
"Does this relate to anything to the Ichinoses?"
Well there was no time to fathom about. Time to go.
It took much to step out of the comforts of her home but after slow paced strides, taking it one step at a time, Kotomi walked up the hill to her school with all her might and all her bravery, the wind bristling her hair and colliding against her skin as it seemed to surround her with a sense of peace.
She was happy to return into the long awaited embrace of her friends, though she had seen Tomoya first before all of them. Ryou, Kyou, Nagisa…but no John? Her eyes scurried. Where could he have been? Kotomi wanted to know if he had been at full pace at recovery like her, if he was even happy to see her well. Maybe he was too nervous to see her?
No…that couldn't be it.
"KOTOMI!"
Nothing much she could have been able to do…at least they were there, welcoming her with open arms and warm smiles that stretched beyond a simple 'good morning.' This was a pleasant time for her friends to openly acknowledge the scheduled event of her birthday. Though it was not much for them to show, they still gave her the item necessary to receive the very violin that she had fallen in love with before, in which they would explain later of the 'incident.'
She held the certificate in her hands, remaining thankful all throughout, but she started to slightly when her eyes averted away from it and towards the groups of friends, in which John still remained absent.
"Thanks guys…" Kotomi smiled. "Um…"
"Oh…where's John?" Tomoya only seemed to know where her confusion was suddenly coming from.
"Yeah…" Kotomi nodded in a gloomy fashion. "I had seen everything that had happened. I am most certain that he too, is finding ease with whatever he is dealing with."
"Don't worry! He's fine!" Kyou said with pristine confidence.
"He himself said for you not to worry too much about him." Nagisa added. "He said just for you to 'be happy for yourself, rejoice for you have been blessed by that of your own, the greatest gift of all.'"
"He also told to say what he meant. He meant for you to be proud of yourself, to be happy on your own birthday." Ryou chimed in.
"Such an interesting and mysterious choice of words…" Kotomi commented in an astonished matter. "Very melodic…!"
"Yeah he's pretty good isn't he?" Tomoya smirked.
Kotomi lightly giggled back in response.
"Okay, I THINK we're trailing off a tad bit much towards him!" Kyou exclaimed. "Let's go back to Kotomi. JUST Kotomi."
Through continued patience and anticipation, there was one last stepping stone that Kotomi had to shift upon before truly finding pure closure. Informed by one of her concerning advisors, she had been informed that the man, her legal guardian, she had always dubbed "The Bad Man" throughout the years would come by to pay her a visit.
There was something that she needed to see, it was something that could only be believed if seen. It was all going to go down in the wondrous room that housed the Drama Club.
Low-radiant, orange light peered through the school hallways as she walked with nervousness and curiosity that her other four friends had shared as well in the moment. Curiously however, muffled bits of voices came from behind the door of the Drama Club.
"I look forward to our continued collaboration. I will make sure that I will provide the guidance needed for both you and your father."
"Thank you sir."
"A pleasure. Whenever you require assistance in relation to your father's case, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time."
"Okay…they're here. Let's just focus on Kotomi for now, and close this off once and for all!"
Sliding the door wide open, they are greeted with the sight of Kotomi's guardian sealing some form of truce with John in the simplicity of a firm handshake and a stare into the eye without hesitation, though one of them still had their shades covering them.
"Why hello Kotomi." The man greeted, taking his glasses off and hanging them on his jacket.
"Hello everyone." John waved. "…Kotomi. Uh…take it away." He gestured towards her guardian, remaining dead focused as he blocked out Kotomi's nervous shivers. He was also noticing some curiosity sparked amongst the other four.
"Alright." He nodded.
"Fair warning this is might get a tad bit nostalgic." John advised. "So I ask you now Kotomi Ichinose. Are you ready?"
With sincerity in her eyes, she nodded as she exhaled
With no time to haste and with full intention of relieving any knot of anticipation, Kotomi's guardian placed a gray colored, metal briefcase a top the desk.
"…Father's briefcase…" Kotomi gasped.
No doubt in her mind, this was it. For Kotomi personally, she could still feel the remnants of her father's aura wash over her, bringing chills to the bones, but relief nevertheless as her guardian provided the clarification needed about where the case has been all these years from the plane crash that took her parents to the present day. But then it happened, and things finally began to change.
"Open it."
Inside was…
"This is…" Kotomi looked in awe, hugging the stuffed toy bear that she held. It's not what she had been expecting. "Huh…?" She put the bear down, seeing something that caught her eye when it fell from the briefcase.
"If you find this suitcase…take it to our daughter…K & M…?" John murmured to himself in English, as he caught eye of the small envelope Kotomi held. "It's gotta be them."
Before Kotomi could read what he just read, the rest seemed to have trouble making out what had been written in English.
"Let's see…" Ryou spoke to herself, trying to test her own understanding of the English writing. "If you find this suitcase…"
"Please take it to our daughter. Signed K & M." Kotomi finished.
"Koutarou and Mizue Ichinose." The man said.
"Yes…" Kotomi confirmed. "My parents had always co-signed any thesis they made together in their research."
"And speaking of research." John stepped in, remaining calm and preserved. "I have been informed that all those years ago, you burned an envelope you originally thought was a copy of your parent's thesis."
"…What…?!" Kotomi jumped in surprise. "So what happened to my parent's thesis? Wasn't there another copy? What did I burn?"
"In reality." The man took over, thanking John in a light nod. "It was a long list of the types of bears they were trying to select to give to you on your birthday. They just needed to make sure that they selected just the right bear for you. As I've said before, this case and this bear had come a long way and the thesis that you are looking for is in your hands. Take a look."
"Dear Kotomi…" She read the message that was contained within the envelope aloud. "Though your life may be filled with tears and sorrow, this world is still a beautiful place. Mother and father's handwriting…"
Alas, all that could have remained for her parent's to express their wisdom and love to her, was the very last thing that she needed to finally come to terms with what had happened in the past. At last, after all these years, her parents had finally come home.
All her pain, all her sadness, it was all over now…