Chapter Twenty Five: First Summer, Second Best and Final Resort
"At last!" Romina chimed as she heard the closing remarks for the last day of school—the start of summer.
"Vacation!" Rednaxela joined the other student's cheer, looking relief.
"Summer here we come!" Crein made a hand to hand contact with Red and danced around with excitement. It was unusual but it made Eagle looked lively. "You're also excited huh, buddy?" he anchored his arm on his shoulder. Eagle made a smirk. "Of course you are! Who doesn't? Summer means vacation and vacation means concert and concert means…" there's an impending chorus. "Hikari!" They hollered in unison, it widens Eagle's smile. "And this is the first summer with Hamiru!" Crein's energy never sag, Red confirmed and rejoice about hanging-out with her more.
"Come on, let's look at the ranking." Said Eagle, talking about the result of their exams on how well they done.
Crein's eyes darted up. "Guys look!" he pointed at the highest point. "Wow! Hamiru got first rank!"
Their cheering joined the rest as Crein and Rednaxela each gave a pat on the back on how they maintain their standing and show an exceptional greeting on how Eagle raised his rank by two—he's now the third highest ranking out of the whole second year. In the pool of students clattered at the announcement board posted beside the Student council office, some were disappointed, looked relief, jumped with exaltation at their results, some arrogantly boast how and some… without the three guys noticing, a girl in utter shock to see a dropped of ranking. –Romina.
"It's alright…" Romina heard Eagle behind. "You can't always be number one." She felt his large hand patting her head for a job well done, her face lit. It was unusual for Eagle to give words of encouragement. "I know what you feel, Romi… how come she got first rank though she's a delay transfer student who barely went to school." Romina looked at Eagle's serenity which it was truly uncharacteristic of him. "But… being second best isn't so bad, right?"
There was something… no, really odd about Eagle. He's unusually kind since the start of exam… he even talks longer and he's nonchalance was somewhat less. Romina spend more space for him, forgetting about being pulled down on the second rank by less than fifty points. It was trivial now—Eagle's impression was overwhelming her. She hoped that his warm hand linger longer on her head. I love you Eagle, she wanted to convey but Crein's voice overpowered her trail of thoughts and snapped back to reality— His Grand Vacation Scheme.
Before heading home, Eagle went to the infirmary to get a medicine for his headache—an excuse, it was purposely for sending the news about Kei's cousin who made the top rank out of the whole sophomore. The door was slightly ajar and saw Kei holding a mobile phone, looking like he was reading a message. It was a suspiciously familiar iphone and Eagle for the sake of curiosity silently opened his own mobile and composed a text. After sending, he heard a message tone– from the cell which Kei held. Coincidence? Not always, Eagle's mobile screen popped the notification note—message sent to Anemic girl. Therefore, he opened the door, with the usual composure at hand.
"Kei-sensei." He called. The young doctor's eyes widen in surprised panic.
"Oh, I thought you gone home with the rest after the closing ceremony." He said tone light, good at recovering the falter. "What can I do for you?" he quickly regained the flow of his composure.
Eagle mentally grimaced, he isn't admitting? This is tough. "I just want to say that your cousin ranked first."
"Really? That's great news!" Eagle want to snort, he didn't seem to look like it since he already got the message. But he's face has more. "It'll make Ham happy…" that earned an attention. "She'll have more confidence in herself since she's always the second choice." He murmured but Eagle's sharp sense heard it.
"What do you mean about second choice, sensei?" More or less curiously suspicious.
"Oh…" Kei was taken aback, he shouldn't have said that. "Excuse my big mouth." He shook his head in seeing the kid isn't going to let it go of the subject. "You see, Eagle… We both grew-up in a close environment with only a handful of people to interact with, but Hamiru's life was harder compared to mine because her movements were limited and closely watched." They were waiting for the other to response and thus, the telltale continues. "My cousin led a very harsh and competitive style ever since she was born." Kei grew somber, he neither wants to stop nor to recall but he needs to share it to someone he can trust—yes, to Eagle. "She was educated with a strict personal tutors and trainers at home with hectic schedule and by that, she was pressured to do her best. A single mistake is punishment."
There was a pregnant pause, Kei weighs and think about what he'll doing to say next but Eagle kept listening, digesting and understanding. It does make sense though, on why she became aloof and distanced. Sympathy walked at a pit stop of pity but it doesn't change how Eagle feels for her, the urge of wanting to know everything grew more solid.
"And for more than fifteen years, she was always second best." Kei didn't need to elaborate. That sends a period.
The succinctness made Eagle patched the things he just heard from Kei which resulted in a quick conclusion.
"You ran away from home."
Kei delayed a nod. "Yes…" he confirmed. "We ran away from home."
Later that evening, a drama series weren't exactly the one which kept Eagle's mind preoccupied—it was Hamiru, and the things he found out from Kei. He couldn't imagine the severity of her life, including the recent accident she experienced that cause of her delay of schooling by a month.
Wait. The small voice called his attention making him focused on the bright lit television where a car jumped off a cliff with sound effects. Eagle watched without blinking: every detail of the scene and every movement of the vehicle until it landed on a rocky ground, disfiguring the front bumper. The driver's head leaned on the steering wheel knocking him unconscious as the passenger's blood gusted down to her chin while making an effort to get a hold on herself.
A moment of stupor gave Eagle space for deep thoughts, recalling and pulling out bits from his long-term memory bank.—"The reason why she was late a month it's because of an accident the night before the entrance examination." Teacher Kansai told them, followed by saying she's with her brother. "Their car crashed on the tree near the low cliff just outside of town and her brother shielded her from the crash according to the medical staff yesterday."
Car Accident, his mind held longer on the words, rewinding the movie on a car crashing. Her brother shielded her from the crash, her wounds, Eagle's mind analyzed the descriptions, picturing Hamiru's purpled bruises, faint scars and old healed scrapes on her right shoulder, the use of her left hand while writing. He imagined her in the passenger seat, from there, he reconstructed the puzzle pieces. On and on the imagery of trees and shrubbery finally came to view, he mentally illustrated just like a director seizing his ideal scene in a movie. Finally, he flung out of his daze, comparing Hamiru with the lady passenger with tailed skepticism. Some things weren't clear and the rest weren't connecting at all and there are new questions emerging.
"Where the hell is that's tardy anemic girl's brother?" Eagle loudly asked the million yen question.
From the day Hamiru transferred until now she was always with Kei... well, he blindly added the guy from last time—might be her brother or might be just some human male. He venomously bet at the meaning of male, finally admitting his feelings for the glasses girl molded some wanted and unwanted precautions—first, towards Crein who also has eyes for her and secondly with the Guy in designer clothes while having a goose chase with the aforementioned tardy anemic girl. Yup, the unwanted precautions of his feelings have been brought to life in Eagle's system. To mention his feelings, it meant both the attraction and suspicion towards the girl. Both positive and negative vibes drove Eagle into the surface of curiosity. He was both afraid and eager to know what lies behind the girl whom introvertly makes his heart thump.
With unusual vigor, he decided to give his suspicion a chance—to step on Hamiru's personal territory, to search for chunks of answers for every thing he speculated, thus, to start his own investigation—this is Eagle's Final Resort.