A day later than usual isn't too bad =D I feel pleased with myself. Anyway, on with the chapter.


"Mama! We brought a friend to play!" Renge called out as soon as she opened the door and we stepped into the house. She and her sister slipped off their shoes, and Shizuka went to do the same.

"Shizuka, wait a moment." I told her, remaining by the door. She frowned at me, but did as I asked.

"Mama, come to meet her!" Tsubaki yelled up excitedly.

"Hold on a moment, I'm changing Ayame!" a woman's voice called from up the stairs.

"Okay, but be quick!" Tsubaki replied. Renge pulled an annoyed face and then looked over at us.

"Ayame's our other sister. She's just a baby." She explained. So, they're all flowers, I noted to myself as I nodded at her.

We waited a few moments, Shizuka bouncing in excitement, Renge and Tsubaki staring up the stairs in anticipation, and Masashi and I just standing there. Eventually though, we could hear the sounds of someone leaving a room upstairs, and sure enough, a few moments later a woman carrying a baby appeared, and started to make her way down the stairs. She looked about thirty, tall and thin with straight dark hair twisted up into a haphazard bun. She was dressed in a striped, somewhat faded looking t-shirt and a red skirt. Her eyes were the same shade of violet as Renge's, and overall her face was angular and serious. Yet, there seemed to be something…familiar about her. Not in the sense of having seen her before someplace else, but all the same, I got a sense of something that I could only call familiarity.

"Which friend is it?" she asked her two older daughters before she glanced over and looked at us. She blinked, eyes widening slightly.

"Oh, hello. I don't think we've met before."

"Ah…sorry for intruding. My daughter met yours at the park, and they sort of invited her over. "I apologised, deciding not to dwell on this strange familiarity.

"Ah, yep. That sounds like them." She smiled at her daughters, the expression softening her features.

"Mama, tell Shizuka-Chan's Mama that they can stay!" Tsubaki said.

"Ah, your name's Shizuka, is it?" their mother asked. Shizuka blushed, but nodded to confirm this.

"Good to meet you, Shizuka-Chan." The woman said. "Do you want to go and play upstairs with Renge and Tsubaki?"

"Yes please." Shizuka nodded, before looking to me. I sighed, but then smiled and nodded.

"Go ahead."

Shizuka beamed, and pulled off her shoes, dropping them next to Renge's. Just at that moment, the baby-Ayame- let out a long stream of babbly syllables and stretched her arms out towards her sisters.

"Renge, take Ayame with you, please." Their mother sighed, bending down to let Ayame down. Renge grinned and held her arms out to her youngest sister, who toddled right over and allowed herself to be carried.

"C'mon, let's go!" Renge commanded Tsubaki and Shizuka. And soon enough, they had all disappeared upstairs, the sounds of laughter drifting down moments later.

"Well," their mother said, turning to us. "I don't think I introduced myself, sorry. I'm Sakura Higuchi, it's good to meet you."

"Chieko Akamine, Shizuka's mother. Pleased to meet you as well."

"I'm Masashi Kita. I'm a friend of the family." Masashi spoke up afterwards. "I went to the same high-school as Akamine-tan."

Friend of the family, huh? I considered this, and decided it was correct. After all, Shizuka had described him as a friend to Renge and Tsubaki. Sakura frowned as she regarded Masashi.

"Your face seems familiar, actually." She stated after a moment. "Do you live near here?"

"Yes, I am local." Masashi replied.

"Hmm…oh, no, wait, I know. You drive buses, don't you?" Sakura realised eventually. Masashi spluttered, but managed to remain fairly composed as he nodded.

"Yes, that's right."

"Right. I'll remember you next time. But anyway, what are we doing here? Come, let's go to the kitchen and talk."

"Ah, we didn't want to intru-"before I could finish, Sakura waved off my concerns.

"It's no intrusion, I'm at home all day anyway. Now, come."

With that, she turned and headed to what I presumed was the kitchen. I exchanged a look with Masashi, and then we followed her.

"Do you want anything to drink at all? Tea, juice, water?" Sakura asked as we sat down at the large kitchen table, set with four normal chairs and one high chair.

"No, I'm alright for now." I said.

"Juice would be good-I'm cool with whatever." Masashi replied.

"Alright."

Sakura took a carton from her fridge and went to pour Masashi his juice, and I found myself staring at the fridge door. It was covered in colourful magnets that were being used to hold up childish crayon drawings and family photographs. One was of a man about Sakura's age, and it seemed clear he was the girls' father-his eyes were the same sky blue as Tsubaki's, and though his hair was a different, much lighter colour to the two older girls own, they had inherited its' curliness. And of course, he appeared in many of the other pictures. But the solo picture I had specifically noticed had been placed fairly carefully in the middle of the fridge, and I wondered why. Where he was.

"Is something wrong?" Masashi whispered in my ear. I turned and shook my head slightly.

"Just looking."

Sakura came over with the glass and set it down in front of Masashi. She gave me a look, as if indicating she had noticed me staring at the fridge, but she didn't seem particularly annoyed, or defensive about it. Indeed, she seemed pretty relaxed about us randomly pitching up on her doorstep, and almost pleased to have the company. She went to a cupboard near the fridge and pulled out a biscuit tin and a few saucers, and returned to the table, putting these things down in the middle, and then sitting down on the chair opposite us, next to the high chair.

"Help yourselves." She said simply, pointing to the biscuits. We both thanked her, and then, after a small awkward pause, we-or rather, Sakura and I- attempted to make small talk. I explained that I had come from Yokohama, that I hadn't visited Towa in a long time, and that it was Shizuka's first time in the town, which seemed to interest her, as she'd apparently spent her entire life in Towa. She mentioned that she was a high school maths teacher, and I told her that I was studying to become an elementary school teacher, though not for any particular subject. We talked a little about the children, too. It turned out that Tsubaki was also a first-grader like Shizuka, Renge was 10 (the same age as Shunsuke, I observed), but younger as she was still in fourth grade, and little Ayame was 15 months old. It was all very neutral, stilted, but not necessarily uncomfortable, as such, most probably because of this sense of familiarity I was feeling. Which niggled at me-what is it? Why?

After a while, there was a pause that stretched out. I looked at Sakura, then away at the fridge again, before eventually snagging a saucer and taking a biscuit. But rather than eat the biscuit straight away, I put it down on the saucer, and waited.

"This is probably a bit forward, considering we just met, but may I ask you a question?" Sakura asked eventually.

"A question?" I echoed dumbly. Sakura nodded.

"Yes. Well, actually, it's more than one question…"

"Go on…." I encouraged warily, confused and curious.

Sakura looked at me, then glanced at Masashi, who had been silent throughout our conversation so far. I felt a little sorry for him, he was probably feeling left out and out of his depth. Eventually, Sakura closed her eyes and let out a breath, before meeting my gaze head-on.

"Are you that Chieko Akamine? And that Masashi Kita, for that matter?"

Eh?

It was a simple question, with a very simple answer. After all, there wasn't anything else the two of us could be well known for. But I couldn't open my mouth to form the answer. Help.

"What does it matter to you?" Masashi retorted brusquely. Sakura winced.

"You're right, it isn't any of my business. It's just curiosity. You see, my brother-in-law, he's a policeman, and back when…when everything was happening, he was put into a department that liaised with the Future Foundation. Every day, going right into the thick of the riots and….well, it's a very personal curiosity, but all the same."

"I….is he alright? Your brother-in-law?" I murmured, finally remembering how to speak. Sakura gawped at me for a second.

"Yes, he is. He moved to the other side of the country though, so I'm not sure exactly how he is. But generally speaking."

"Well, to answer your personal curiosity, yes." Masashi spat. "We'd rather not answer any more of your questions if they're going to be like this."

Kita-kun….

"No, that's fine. I wasn't going to ask anything else about what happened there. Though….I'm sorry, so sorry, that you had to go through all that. "

"I…."

"It's appreciated." Masashi muttered, a little calmer. Determinedly, he grabbed a few biscuits, and started to eat one.

"You okay, Akamine-tan?" he asked me after a mouthful. I managed a smile, appreciative of the check-in.

"I am, thanks."

Sakura watched us carefully, in particular regarding me with a similar look to when she'd recognised Masashi as a bus driver. I wondered what new conclusions she was drawing about us.

"Akamine-san, may I ask my other question?" the words were a lot softer this time, so much so that I almost didn't hear her. I nodded hesitantly.

"How…how do you do it? Looking after Shizuka-Chan alone?"

"I…." How do I answer this one? "I just do it, I suppose. It's always been this way. But I do have family around me. We live with my father, Shizuka's grandmother is next door, my own grandma and my older sister help out when they can too. I've got a family friend on the other side of town who helps out a great deal as well. "

"No magic answer, huh?" Sakura laughed softly, bitterly. Again, the sense of familiarity. I looked over at the photographs on the fridge, and just as I imagined Sakura was making deductions about me based on what little she knew, I was making my own, and starting to clue into why that might be.

"No, there isn't. If there is, I'm still looking for it, in all truth and honesty. And, you know, it is hard. Even with the help."

Sakura nodded, pursing her lips, her eyes shining slightly. Masashi elbowed me softly and pulled a what's-going-on face at me when I looked over. I shook my head at him, then looked back at Sakura.

From the way the two Future Foundation members- Munakata and Saka-something, I thought-were looking at me every so often, I knew what the doctor was telling them about me. Staring down at my still-flat stomach, I could understand why they seemed so disbelieving. I wondered, though, what they were thinking.

"So, we'll send someone here, instead." Saka-something's voice was suddenly audible. "Right, Munakata?"

"Yes, that makes sense. See if you can find-"at this point, they became inaudible again as they walked away, and the doctor came back in.

"They're aware of your condition, but they will still have to question you about what happened in there, so they're going to send someone else over to do that."

"Hmmm." I nodded, and looked down at my hands. The doctor shuffled and eventually took a seat in the corner of the room. I wondered why, but couldn't find the energy to question it. Instead, I leaned back against the pillows, getting comfortable again, and stared out of the window.

I could feel the time pass sluggishly, lazily, but I had no sense of how much, and couldn't be bothered to look at the clock, but eventually, there was a knock on the door. The doctor went to answer it, and I heard a high, light feminine voice, occasionally joined by a deep and quiet male voice. Then, the owners of the two voices entered the room, and knowing it was expected of me, I turned to look at them.

"Hello, Akamine-san." The man, who was tall and imposing in his long red coat, nodded at me, heavily outlined eyes softening ever so slightly as he grabbed a chair for himself and his companion, a pink-haired woman dressed in pink shades-her own coat had more fur around the neck than I had ever seen on an item of clothing, ever. For some reason, she was also wearing a hat indoors. When she started speaking, I noticed she referred to herself in third person.

"Hello, Akamine-Chan-it is alright if I call you that, right? I'm Ruruka Andou, and that's Sonosuke Izayoi. We're from the Future Foundation, and so I'm pretty sure you know why we're here."

"Questions." I murmured. Andou beamed and nodded.

"That's right. It's okay though, there's no pressure! We'll go at your own pace. But, first…."

Andou riffled through a handbag she'd set down, and pulled out a small plastic bag filled with something colourful, which she then handed to me. I stared at it, realising that the colourful things were macarons.

"Here, have these. I've made some for all your friends, but since I've come here, you get the first lot. Great, huh?"

I managed to nod, and Ruruka grinned.

"Alright, then. So, we'll keep it open ended today. Just tell us things-anything that you can about what happened. "

"Chronological order would be best, but don't push yourself too hard to be precise. " Izayoi put in at this point. I noticed that he had a notebook and a pen on his lap.

I stared at them both. Chronological order? Of what? And where? Hadn't we just learnt that actually, we'd somehow lost an entire year?

"Are you okay, Akamine-Chan? Would you prefer for someone to come back tomorrow?" Andou asked in concern.

"What's….what's the beginning?" I whispered, strained. Andou frowned at that, and considered it for a moment.

"Don't worry about whether the dates or anything are correct or not-there'll be other interviews, you know, so you'll get a chance to straighten out your account, such as it were. Just tell us what you remember. Maybe from…what happened in the moments before you found out you were trapped?"

Andou waited, encouraging smile on her face. Izayoi's face was serious, betraying nothing, but there was something about the way he sat that, combined with how friendly Andou was, made me think that I could, and should, at least try. So I took a deep breath and…

"Koutarou's birthday."

"Ah, that's Ueda-kun, isn't it?"

"Hmmm. It was the morning of his birthday that day…."

Of course, this was a completely different situation. But from where I was sitting, it seemed like now I was in Andou's position. I wondered if I could live up to it. But even if I couldn't, I had to at least try, didn't I?

"How long ago, Higuchi-san?" I asked. I didn't elaborate, and from the way Sakura looked at me, it was clear I didn't need to.

"Eighteen months ago." She whispered. I had a sense that she was going to end up saying more, so I waited.

"We were high school sweethearts, Seiji and I. Married straight out of high school-I swear, everyone thought we were mad, but we weren't. We'd thought about it properly, decided that this was what was best for us. And we were right. And we were happy. "

At that point, she stopped. There was no more she wanted to say. Or possibly, she couldn't say it, even if she wanted to. I knew how that felt, I wouldn't push it.

"Koutarou lived next door to me," I found myself saying instead. "He and his mother moved there when he was little, and I was so happy at the prospect of a new friend, I was determined to make it happen. We went to the same elementary school, middle school, high school-we were best friends…and we were happy."

"So we're the same, huh?" Sakura mused. "A couple of struggling widows."

I blinked, taken aback at the comparison.

"Oh, that's-"

"Oh, I know, it's not technically correct to call you a widow as well. But we're the same anyway, I think. Don't you?"

I checked my reflection to be sure that I'd buttoned my shirt up correctly, and then adjusted the neck ribbon before running a hand through my messy hair. But before I could even turn to go get my hairbrush, I saw Koutarou in the mirror, approaching me. I spun around, and he held out my hairbrush, not quite meeting my eyes. Blinking, I stared a moment, before I reached out and took it.

"Thanks." I said, not quite able to meet his eyes, either. I turned back to the mirror, which showed that I was blushing slightly, and concentrated on combing my hair and tying it into its usual ponytail. As I did, I noticed Koutarou-in-the-reflection go back to the bed and sit on the corner, watching me quietly. I watched him in return, and eventually, when he next looked up, my eyes and his reflected ones met, and I smiled.

After a moment, he gave a small smile back.

"Yes." I answered.

Sakura smiled at me, and reached for a biscuit herself. There were a few moments of silence, but this time around, they did not feel so awkward.

"So, how much longer will you be around for?" Sakura asked.

"The next week." I replied. "Why?"

"Because, I'm thinking that this high school reunion you're on, there's going to be some things you're not going to want Shizuka-Chan to see or hear, am I right?"

"I…well, yes."

"If you don't think you'll be able to work around it, bring her over here. For lunch, dinner, whatever. It wouldn't be any trouble at all-I know for a fact that my girls are going to be pestering me about when she'll come again the moment you leave. And in any case, focusing on the children helps."

"Yeah, it does." I agreed. "Are you sure, though? I wouldn't want to impose."

"I'm sure. " Sakura stated, with such quiet determination that any polite protests of no-really-it's-fine wouldn't fly here. And in any case, there was no need for that.

We understood each other too well for that, now.

"Then, I'll accept that offer."

We left soon after that, after exchanging contact details. None of the girls were too happy about it, but it was easy to appease them once we told them that they would get to play with each other another day. Indeed, as we started to walk back, Shizuka happily babbled about the games they would play the next time they met up. I half listened, and looked at Masashi, who'd been pretty quiet.

"Hey, Kita-kun, sorry about that." I said to him quietly. He startled and looked over at me.

"For what?"

"Well, we basically ignored you the entire time, which was pretty poor of me."

"Nah, I understood why." Masashi grinned, then pulled a face. "I mean, it was pretty awkward, yeah, but I understood."

"You….you did?"

"Yeah. Well, I got the general idea anyway. Besides, it's you. If anyone could do something like that, it'd be you."

"Uh….." I gawped at him. "That's not…."

"Yes, it is." Masashi said firmly. "I've seen it happen before."

The silence was deafening, overwhelming, and I could see an all-too-human scorn in Monobear's eyes. But I couldn't turn away. I wouldn't. I wanted to give up, turn away, go back and sleep for a million years. But something was stirring in me, and it wouldn't let me do that. And in truth, I wasn't sure I wanted to.

Because this needed to end. I knew that much.

"Upupu, well…." Monobear laughed. "You surprise me, Akamine-san, really you do. This is quite the unexpected development so…alright then. Let's change things up a little."

"That wasn't me." I sighed at Masashi. "It was chance, that she'd even listen to any of us. And it's not like I came up with the idea. I just told her we weren't doing this anymore."

"That was you!" Masashi insisted. "It was a, whaddya call it, a chain reaction. If you hadn't said any of that, if you hadn't been so unexpectedly brave like that, none of the rest would have happened. It was you."

Masashi's eyes were wide, bright, wild with his conviction as he stared at me. Shizuka remained oblivious to the tension as I stared back at him, stunned. He really believes it. I still didn't think I'd done anything special, because I hadn't. I was barely functioning by then, how could I have? But, he believes it. And that had to count for something, didn't it.

So I dropped my gaze slightly, and smiled at him genuinely.

"Well, thank you."

Tyson

Just as I got to the end of the chapter in the book I was reading, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and I pulled it out. To my surprise, it was Haruhi Kisaragi, so I accepted the call and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey, I'm not disturbing you guys, am I? You're not doing anything in particular as a group or anything?"

"No, no, we're all just relaxing right now."

"Perfect! There's something I'd like to tell you all…think you could gather the others and put me on loudspeaker?"

"That should be fine…give me a few moments."

I got up and left my room, and went down the stairs. I knew most of the others would probably be gathered in the living room, so I went there first.

"Yo, got bored of the book?" Masashi asked, being the first to look up from where he was sitting on the floor, drawing with Shizuka.

"No, not yet. Could I have all of your attention for a moment? Haruhi's on the phone." I held it up in demonstration.

"Haruhi-san is? Why?" Chieko asked, watching me carefully.

"I'm not sure yet." I admitted.

"Oh, I'll get Ho-Chi and Noriko-Chan from the kitchen, then." Wakana offered, jumping up. "Hold on."

As Wakana left the room, Chieko got off the sofa and bent down to quietly tell Shizuka to take her things upstairs and put them away, and then to stay there and play until dinner was ready. She pouted and mock-protested, but gathered up her drawing items (and Yosa) and went away. Soon after, Noriko and Hokuto arrived and took a seat, so I held the phone to my ear again.

"Alright, everyone's here, I'll put you on loudspeaker now." I told her, proceeding to do just that, before putting it down on the coffee table.

"Hey there, guys! Sorry to randomly call out of the blue like this."

"Hi there, Haruhi-Chan!" Hokuto called out, overshadowing the others simple hellos.

"It's not a problem," Akira replied. "Is there something wrong? With Tsukishima-san, maybe?"

"Oh, no, no. Well, yes to this being about Tsukishima-san, but nothing's wrong. In fact, I'd say that something's right."

There was a pause at this point.

"Well, are you going to bloody tell us or not?" Masashi huffed.

"Ah, yes, right. So…the painting of Yacchi-it's up in his office now. He put it up himself the very next morning-I was in early that day, and he's always early anyway, so I went to see if he wanted any coffee or whatever, and I walk in on him hammering a nail into a wall, the painting sitting on his desk. He didn't really seem to be getting anywhere with it-you can imagine that Tsukishima-san isn't really one for hanging up pictures." Haruhi broke off to laugh a little at that.

"So instead of starting the day with caffeine, I started it by doing a little decorating. Doesn't have the same kick to it, I can tell you. But it's there now, on the wall right behind him. It's the first thing you see when you walk into his office. It's so weird, seeing Yacchi stare at me every time I go there, but the picture looks a lot better up there than stuffed in some cupboard and what-have-you. Oh, but that's not all! He had a meeting pretty much a few hours after that, some big fancy one which needs tea, so after clearing up I went straight back into unofficial-secretary mode, and led people through and got tea for everyone. There were a few guys, they'd been here before, so they definitely noticed the painting, and one of them asked Tsukishima-san, but luckily I was there, so I was just quickly like 'oh, that's his daughter. It's a tragic story, so he doesn't like to talk about it, and I hope you'll respect that'. And it worked, miraculously. The best thing though-after that meeting, before sending me back to do the stuff that's in my actual job description, Tsukishima-san held me back and thanked me for that, which was just so weird because I didn't think he'd heard as he'd gone to talk to another guy by then, but….well, yeah. There was kind of a look on his face like 'oh, I should've thought of that', so while I don't think he's ever going to be happy when people ask about her, I'm hoping that now he's not going to have the entire workforce quaking in their boots about what might happen if someone did. Well, kind of."

I could practically imagine Haruhi pulling a face as she said this.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, he fired someone today, this guy he's been business partners with for years-"

"He what?!" Masashi, Hokuto and Noriko all squawked, nowhere near in-unison. Haruhi's sigh crackled slightly.

"Yeah. There's a sort-of good reason for it though. So, basically, another thing that happened is, Tsukishima-san invited me over to his house for dinner-his house, for dinner, and also to help him sort out…well, he asked me to sort out Yacchi's stuff. He'd shoved it all into this cardboard box and basically shoved it into his basement, it was the dustiest thing you'd ever seen and…well, it was kinda nostalgic, except that neither of us actually mentioned the thing we were reminiscing about except when it was completely necessary. But anyway, De Guerre-san, you were right about Yacchi's secret being with her stuff."

"I….was?" I asked.

"Oh, really? How weird, why would she keep it?" Hokuto wondered.

"I've been wondering that myself." Haruhi muttered darkly. "It doesn't matter though, I guess. Tsukishima-san delivered some sort of justice for Yacchi, firing the guy I just mentioned. "

"I….this person did something to her?" I asked tentatively.

"Tried to. The wording was kinda ambiguous, but from the sounds of it Yacchi managed to escape that scumbag. And he is a scumbag, just for trying. And we're both probably still beating ourselves up a little for being completely oblivious. "

"That's…horrible. But it isn't your fault." Wakana said.

"No, no, it isn't. But strangely enough, going through her things and finding that out…I think it helped. It's still early days, mind you, but somethings definitely different. He didn't say as much, but when he fired that guy-who doesn't know the real reason, by the way-there was something kinda brighter about him, you know? And he got me coffee this morning. I have a feeling I'm still going to have to phone his office to make sure he's still not in there right now, but there's definitely steps in the right direction."

Brighter, huh? That made sense-here, after all, an opportunity had been presented for him to be able to do something for her, and I couldn't imagine him passing that up.

"So, yeah, it's kind of been this wild ride of emotions, this past few days. But it's all been good-I mean, he put the picture up, I had a meal with him, he gave me coffee, he's not so quick to go cold when Yacchi is mentioned. And I can't even begin to describe what a good thing this all is. And you know what? None of it would have happened, none of it, if De-Guerre-san hadn't painted that picture, and if you hadn't all come to deliver it, so I needed to tell you about it all and…just, thank you. Thank you."

On the last 'thank you', Haruhi's voice grew thicker. The room was almost completely silent, and we all looked at each other.

"You're welcome, Haruhi." I replied, eventually.

"Ah, yeah, sure. Well, I'll leave you all to enjoy your evening. Bye, now."

"Bye!" Hokuto called out cheerily just before Haruhi hung up. I picked up my phone, and stared at it.

Tsukishima…I had not expected to ever hear about them again, not about Yashiro. I thought that after the painting, after talking with them, that would be that. I'd probably contact Haruhi if I needed website work done, years and years later, but the rest would be left behind us and no longer spoken of-that's what I'd assumed. I certainly hadn't imagined that I be given an update without prompting, like a gift.

"Those poor people." Wakana murmured after a moment.

"Poor?" Noriko asked. "Sounds like they're getting closure, what's sad about that?"

"Well, I guess so. But it still remains, doesn't it? The reason you needed closure in the first place." Wakana replied.

"Well, yeah, but…" Noriko opened and closed her mouth repeatedly a few times. Wakana smiled at her.

"You're right though. It's good, that they're moving in the direction that they're moving."

"They needed it. That." I spoke up. "They needed it."

At this, everyone fell silent and stared at me. I blinked and stared back, feeling awkward when nobody really reacted.

"What?" I asked after a moment.

"De Guerre-Chan, you're crying." Wakana said.

"I what?" I reached up and touched the corner of my eye. "Oh."

Quickly, I wiped away the tears, and took a breath before looking back at my friends. They were all watching me, looking slightly concerned. I was touched by the concern, but even though my mind was reeling after Haruhi's update, I wasn't upset by it, not in the way one might expect. Because:

"I think I needed that too."