Monday early evening, November 3rd 2003 – The Fujibayashi residence
in the Frozen Hell Universe
Ryota had just put the Scout into motion when the astonished voices filled the vehicle's warm cabin.
"Ryou? Ryou, is it really you?" Kyou's strangely deeper voice came from the mostly familiar face.
"Kyou?" Ryou also asked the purple eyed person whose vitals she had been checking. Purple eyes and lavender hair, just like Onee-chan!
Isamu also noticed the pitch difference in the guest's voice and got himself turned around in his seat so he could get a better look at this kid. The uncanny hair and eyes checked out, but there was something different about the face as well as the voice. Something…
"I… I thought you were dead!" Kyou's eyes were tearing up and he was reaching for Ryou, but his whole body was suddenly thrust away from Ryou by a very strong arm.
"Boy, you lay a hand on Ryou-chan and I'll break your gahddam arm." Isamu growled."
Kyou looked from the dangerous looking man back to the lavender hair and blue eyes. As familiar as they were, there was a strange difference that simply couldn't be. A stunned Kyou asked, "Ryou… chan?"
"Kyou...kun?" an equally stunned Ryou asked back.
"WHAT!" both of them cried out. But a moment later, Kyou passed out while Ryou continued to study the face of her older sister…
No, that's not right… older brother?
No, that's not right either… younger brother? Yes, younger brother! With a puzzled expression, Ryou gasped, "He's my otouto!?"
"Ryou!" Isamu shouted to snap her out of her daze, "That's not important right now! Why is Kyou-kun unconscious? I swear I didn't hit him that hard."
"Oh, right!" Ryou began vigorously tearing at her little brother's clothes so she could better inspect his condition. Considering how thoroughly bundled up he was, she also needed to keep him from overheating in the warm cabin of the snowcat.
Isamu noticed that she was having a little difficulty undressing her… brother, due to the bouncing and shaking of the vehicle. Alarm bells went off in his head as he realized what that meant. Turning to Ryota he asked, "Hey, where are you going? We still have the kid in here with us."
"We can't leave him there. He'll freeze to death." Ryota replied while concentrating on driving the snowcat through the frozen streets, "Remember, we wrecked the door and he can't get back into his house."
"But..." Isamu was about to counter that they should at least try to find another way into the house when Ryou interrupted him.
"We have to take him back. Or at least… Dr. Sasashi needs to look at him." Ryou said urgently as she scanned Kyou-kun's arms and legs, "Pulse and breathing are not good, he has a fever, and there are lots of bruises on his skin. I don't see any other signs though."
"Ryou-sama, calm down. We'll do as you say, I promise." Isamu said calmly while watching Ryou's frantic examination.
"I…" Ryou was about to snap back at Isamu for his unwanted advice, but the moment passed and she realized that he was doing his best to help her. With slumped shoulders, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and calmly replied, "Thank you for looking after me, Isamu-san."
"What do you think it is?" Isamu asked after she had composed herself.
"I… I'm not sure. It could be blood poisoning or internal bleeding… or both." Ryou sighed while trying to hold back the feeling of helplessness, "Or, it could be something else. The symptoms are too vague. We won't know without tests."
"Tests huh?" Isamu said gruffly, then turned around to face forward in his seat. It was already dark outside and the headlights of the little snowcat were illuminating swarms of swirling snowflakes as they made their way through the frozen town. "All right Ryota, let's go to the park. If it's gonna take tests, then seeing Dr. Sasashi ain't gonna help."
"Yes, boss." Ryota replied automatically. He would normally have caught himself from giving the reply that he knew Isamu didn't like, but at the moment his complete concentration was devoted to driving a snowcat as quickly as he could, through streets made unfamiliar and dangerous with ice and snow.
Isamu knew the pressure that Ryota was putting on himself and refrained from his usual objection.
.
Wednesday afternoon, July 20th 2011 – The Park across from the Furukawa Bakery
Kobayashi Jun waited with Sakagami Tomoyo at the safety perimeter for the first of the returnees to appear in the middle of center field. All of the exploration teams would be coming back in stages since they had to arrive in groups of four or less, but the first group to return would be coming back much earlier than the others. The message had been received that Ryou was declaring a medical emergency and this first group would include a special guest.
Kobayashi glanced over at the tall platinum blond and smiled at her impatience. It wasn't like the cool Tomoyo to show this kind of nervousness, but this first group back also included her husband. It was well known that she cared for, and protected, all of the explorers… but no-one complained if she might show just a little more concern for a particular one of them.
Youhei joined the two, taking a spot at the safety barricade next to Tomoyo. He quickly noticed the mood and decided to do something about it. Without turning away from the recovery spot, he casually asked, "So, how is Isamu in bed?"
"WHAT?" Tomoyo rounded on Youhei, not quite believing what she had just heard. Sure, he had said and done some pretty idiotic things to her back in high school, but he hadn't been stupid like like that in a long, long time.
"Just trying to make conversation." Youhei still maintained a calm demeanor.
"Baka, do you want me to get arrested for assaulting a detective?" Tomoyo threatened.
"I don't know why you're getting so excited." Youhei turned and looked at the stunned blond as if she was the one saying irrational things, "I'm just inquiring about his quality of sleep. He has a very important and potentially dangerous job. Like a cop or a soldier, he has to make quick decisions that could mean the difference between life and death for him and the other guys with him. If he's not getting good sleep..."
"You… you don't have to tell me that. I know how dangerous his job is… more than anyone!" Tomoyo snapped.
"Yeah, you say that but… look at how you are now. You're a bundle of nerves. If he has to live with that all the time, I worry about his mental health." Youhei said as he turned back to center field.
"Ten seconds." a voice announced over the loudspeakers as well as in the earbuds they were wearing.
Young man, you are playing with fire. Kobayashi wanted to warn the young detective.
"…" Tomoyo glared at Youhei for a moment. She wanted to retort, but nothing he said was wrong. To calm herself down before she instinctively kicked Youhei into the street, she took a deep breath. The trick worked and she guiltily realized that she was getting upset with Youhei when he was expressing real concern for the man that she loved.
"You really need to learn how to calm down when he is off exploring." Youhei asked, "You're not like this around him are you?"
"No… well, to a lesser degree I am like this just before he leaves. I used to have trouble sleeping the night before one of their missions, but…" Tomoyo cut herself off when she realized what she was about to discuss openly.
"Hmm? But what?" Youhei prompted. He hadn't seen the blush since he was watching the light orbs dancing around center field. Even in the bright sunlight, the chaotic orbs were visible – when he wore the special glasses.
"None of your business." Tomoyo huffed. She wasn't usually the type to react emotionally, but when someone pressed her buttons she had to struggle to restrain her violent responses. However, the light baubles had jetted up into the sky and Isamu was safely back – so beating Youhei until he was unrecognizable as a human could wait until another day.
Sadly, the euphoric rush from seeing her husband return evaporated when she saw all three of the returnees slump to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut.
.
Wednesday late evening, July 20th 2011 – Hikarizaka City Hospital
"Little sensei?"
A voice seemed to be calling from far away. Ryou wondered what this unpleasant noise could be about. Couldn't it just be quiet and let her sleep just a little bit longer. There were a few other background noises as well, but they didn't sound as urgent or as disturbing.
"Ryou-mama?" Ushio's youthful voice cut through the fog of sleep in a way that nothing else had been able to.
"Ushio?" Ryou's eyes opened and she reached for the sound of the little girl's voice.
"Ryou-mama!" Ushio's warmth and weight covered Ryou's chest and her little arms wrapped around the neck and shoulders of the lavender haired girl.
"Wha..." Ryou recognized the ceiling above her and knew that she was in a hospital room.
"Oh Ryou, I'm so glad you're awake!" Nagisa sounded happy and tearful at the same time.
"Whuf!" Ryou had been about to sit up when Nagisa joined her daughter in the hugging assault. Ryou was truly pinned to the mattress, but… being trapped underneath Ushio and Nagisa's warm bodies wasn't a terrible thing after all. Instead of trying to get up against their combined weight, she got one arm around Ushio to pull her in close, and patted Nagisa's head with her other hand.
"The medical doctors tell me that the recovery was more difficult this time." Kobayashi Jun explained to the person underneath the pile of worried family, "Dr. Sasashi also required hospitalization. Everyone else took longer than usual to recover but they left the park on their own feet… eventually."
"Everyone else? Kyou… what about Kyou-kun?" Ryou asked. She doubted he had been able to walk away on his own power given the condition he had been in.
"Ah yes. The situation of your… little brother." Kobayashi's voice took on a more serious tone.
"Hakase, please tell me he's okay!" Ryou held on tight to the two people dearest to her as she prepared to hear the worst.
"He is still in intensive care…" Kobayashi began.
"What! Intensive care, why? Did he go into septic shock?" Ryou panicked.
"No. Nothing like that. As far as the blood poisoning is concerned, the doctors tell me that he received treatment in time and will make a full recovery. The intensive care is mostly due to the complications from being frozen while his body was weakened." Kobayashi considered not telling her something that might be terribly upsetting to someone who had only just regained consciousness, but there was a certain urgency to the issue. "Ryou-chan, may I ask… how is your relationship with your parents now?"
"Huh? It's okay I guess." Ryou had an uneasy feeling – especially when Nagisa seemed to stiffen up when Fujibayashi had asked his question.
Nagisa pushed herself up from the hospital bed and looked sorrowfully down at Ryou, "Kobayashi-hakase needs to talk to you about some things that are pretty personal… between you and your family. I can step out with Ushio for a while if you want..."
"No," Ryou seized Nagisa's hand and held onto her, "Whether the Japanese government accepts it or not, you're just as much family to me as my parents are. Anything he has to say to me, he can say in front of you."
"Ryou..." Nagisa felt like she might cry from the wonderful way those words made her feel. While Ryou turned to face Kobayashi, Nagisa continued to gaze at her beloved's pretty face, lavender hair, blue eyes, rosy lips, and a little lower… a heart of gold.
"I… don't know how I should preface this." Kobayashi was happy that Ryou was getting such splendid support, so the last thing he wanted to do was tell her something unpleasant.
"Give it to me straight, hakase." Ryou said bravely.
"Your parents… well, your father mostly – they are demanding custody of Kyou-kun."
.
Wednesday late evening, July 20th 2011 – The Nonagon Hotel on Yakushima Island
Near the southern tip of the island Tomoya and Kyou found a luxurious onsen hotel that rose four stories high from the top of the cliff where it was built. From afar, it looked like a giant round column, but it was actually a nine-sided structure with rooms that had a marvelous view no matter where they were. The suites most in demand were the ones that faced east, west, or south, and had a lovely view of the ocean. However, Kyou had just come from a beach-house that opened up on the Pacific Ocean, so getting a room that faced north toward the island's mountainous interior, was fine with her.
"Ohhhh, I can't wait to ride tomorrow!" Kyou beamed while leaning on the balcony railing and gazing at the silhouette of the mountains against the background of stars. The gibbous moon was just above the horizon and giving a faint glow to a few wispy clouds in the distance.
"Hah, I knew you would like the bikes." Tomoya feigned a pout while adding, "But I'm starting to think you like riding the bikes more than me?"
Kyou's hand snapped to her face but it couldn't stop her sudden laughter from snorting through her fingers.
"What?" Tomoya asked with honest innocence. He could see her body trembling and could tell that she was laughing… probably at him.
"Tomoya, think… think about what you just said!" Kyou was tickled even more that the sometimes crass former delinquent still hadn't figured it out.
But I'm starting to think you like riding the bikes more than me?
Tomoya huffed when he figured out the meaning she had taken from his comment. "So, former class president and elementary school teacher Kyou is unexpectedly lewd, isn't she?"
"What?" Kyou's laughter was suddenly squelched with the abrupt accusation.
"I guess it shouldn't have come as a surprise. You and Ryou-chan are twins but you couldn't be more different. So, since she is so pure… you must be the lewd one." Tomoya said it as a statement of fact.
"Oh?" Kyou put her hands on her hips and sagely asked, "What makes you think my little sister is so pure?"
"Are you saying she isn't?" Tomoya approached his wife until their faces were mere centimeters apart, "Are you, the great onee-chan, defender and protector of her imouto… are you really going to say something bad about sweet, innocent, Ryou?"
"…" Kyou was backed into a corner and she knew it. She could reveal a thing or two about her little sister that would give her a decisive victory in this little contest with her husband. But Tomoya knew her weakness and sealed that avenue of defense quite effectively. He was teasing her mercilessly and loving it. But Kyou knew of a tactic to make his victory crumble away. Instead of putting up a fight, she pouted and said, "I… I thought you liked lewd."
"Huh?" Tomoya's gloating died a quick and painless death. His thoughts were instantly marshalling around the recent memories of things they had done in the shallow water of the private beach, and on the balcony of Kobayashi's house on the cliff, and on the deck of the ferry, and… "Yeah, I do like the lewd Kyou after all."
.
Thursday morning, July 21st 2011 – The Perimeter Highway on Yakushima Island
The deep resonance of the two Vulcan motorcycles sang out with gusto as Kyou and Tomoya took the winding road up from the coastal cliffs and into the foothills on the west side of the island. As Tomoya had warned, this island didn't have much in the way of beaches, but that wasn't why they were here.
Kyou felt her spirit soar when she went into the curves that negotiated the hills and valleys that ran right out to the cliffs above the water. Sometimes the road was covered in trees so tall and full of leaf, it was like being in a tunnel. Then the road would break out of the foliage and reveal a splendid view of the ocean, or a river valley, or the higher mountains off in the distance toward the center of the island.
Always, on this path, the water would be to their left and the higher elevations on the right while they drove on the winding road that ran all the way around the roughly circular island.
Occasionally there were small towns in the wider valleys. Many of them weren't big enough for a traffic light, but they all had a vending machine near the road. Some of the machines looked archaic, but every one that the two intrepid travelers tried, delivered a nice cold drink. They didn't stop often, despite the incredible vistas. It wasn't that they were in a hurry, more like – it was just too hot with all the protective motorcycle gear on, if they weren't in motion.
From the southern end of the island where they started at the Nonagon Hotel to the northern end, almost back to the port town where the ferry would be, it had been just a little over fifty kilometers. Yet, with all the twists and turns, and the few stops that they took, it had been almost three hours since they had set out.
Several times, they had passed touristy placed like fish hatcheries, rivers with rapids, or nature trails. Tomoya had been willing to see some of these sideshows, but each time Kyou gave the same response. There wasn't much that thrilled her more that having a good bike on an open road, so she declined every diversion that would take her away from her motorcycle. And yet, she wasn't completely inattentive to her surroundings.
"Did you notice how many elementary schools we passed?" Kyou asked while they waited for their lunch. Although not the port town where the ferry stopped, they were in one of the many fishing villages and ready to try the island's famed fried flying fish.
"Elementary schools? No… I don't think I noticed any." Tomoya replied while taking in the delicious aroma of fried fish in the cozy room.
"Jeez Tomoya, there were at least six. Weren't you paying attention to anything on that ride?" Kyou taunted.
"Sure I was." Tomoya replied with an air of certainty.
"Oh really?" Kyou frowned and sounded dubious.
"Yeah… you." Tomoya said casually while watching the server lady put the platter of fried flying fish and side dishes on the table.
"Eh?" Kyou's exasperated look cracked a little. A bit of blush appeared just under her eyes.
"You looked really good on that bike. The way you looked when you took the bike into the corners was really hot. I really wish I had been able to capture that look with a camera." Tomoya added while selecting some fish and side dishes from the platter. Because he was concentrating on his food, he didn't notice that Kyou's little blush had blossomed across her face and even colored the tips of her ears.
"Tomoya..." Kyou sounded exasperated. In truth, she was barely clinging to her self control. She wanted to yell, you can't say things like that to me in public! Baka! Do you have any idea what it does to me when you say such things? Baka, baka, BAKA!
With a supreme effort, Tomoya avoided eye contact and kept the smirk off his face while his wife stewed in her anxiety and frustration, across the table from him. Unable to appear innocently distracted any longer, he casually looked up and prompted her, "You were saying something about the elementary schools on this island?"
"Well, not specifically this island." Kyou pulled herself together around a topic she could embrace without fear of her erotic imagination leading her astray. "I was just thinking of the distribution of elementary schools to middle schools to high schools. You know how I'm planning to grow my program, right?"
"Yeah?" Tomoya responded before stuffing another piece of fish in his mouth.
"I'm trying to decide whether it would be better to create a series of elementary programs before moving on to the middle schools, and eventually getting to the high schools… or if I should go straight to an escalator program now." Kyou bit her thumb while she once again considered the pros and cons of both options.
"What do you want to do?" Tomoya asked before taking another bite of the fried fish from the platter in the middle of the table.
"I do like the idea of having a solid elementary program before moving on to the next stage, but I also want to get started on the middle school and high school programs..." Kyou thought about the older students in her current program and realized there was another element in her quandary. "Besides… it wouldn't be fair to the kids in their last year in the elementary program if I didn't have a place for them to go."
"What do you mean?" Tomoya asked between bites.
"They are in my program because they didn't do well in the normal classes. If I don't start up the middle school program next year, they'll have to go back to the normal classes where they didn't do well… and all their hard work would be lost." Kyou lamented.
"That's not really your responsibility." Tomoya offered the comment as support. Technically, the government was responsible to meet the educational needs of it's children, but he knew it was a weak argument for someone like Kyou.
"I just don't want to let them down." Kyou said with both apology and determination.
"I can see that." Tomoya chuckled before he followed up, "Kotomi was right about you. You are a really strong protector of the children."
"I… I just want to do what's right." Kyou looked away to hide her sudden blush. Tomoya's comment reminded her of many strange conversation's she had with Kotomi. Conversations where the girl genius had revealed just how Kyou fit into her vision of a complete family… and why.
"You know what you want to do." Tomoya advised, "Don't worry about other plans and how they compare to what you want to do. Just judge the plan that has your strongest conviction on it's own merits. Sure, there will be those people that will ask why you didn't do it some other way. Just give them the answer they can't argue with."
"What is that?" Kyou asked.
"At the time, the choice was made based on what was perceived to be best for the children." Tomoya sounded as if he were already using that argument in a courtroom.
"You really do sound like a lawyer." Kyou chided.
"Ouch!" Tomoya feigned an arrow to the chest.
Kyou stared down at the decimated platter in the middle of the table. Her lips twisted in annoyance when she realized what he had done while she had been talking, "You sound like a lawyer… and you ate all the fish."
"I..." Tomoya had planned to make light of it and laugh it off as a little prank, but Kyou's eyes had already started turning red and the dark aura was starting to build around her head of lavender hair. Swallowing hard, he stood up and signaled the waitress, "Excuse me, miss! We need another platter of fish over here!"
"My deepest apologies guest-sama, but the kitchen is now closed. We will be open for dinner and will have more of our delicious flying fish to offer you then." the girl with the serving platter offered.
"You're kidding." Tomoya's face fell when he realized how terribly wrong his little joke had gone.
"Forget it." Kyou was still angry that Tomoya had pulled a prank like that on her, but she could see how this unexpected turn of events had crushed him. So it is just a little joke that has spun out of control. I'm not the kid I used to be… I can just let this go. Besides, he looks so cute right now.
"Kyou..." Tomoya could only watch as his wife got up from the table and headed for the rack where her motorcycle gear was stored. Such was his shock at the food situation, and the embarrassment of his discourtesy, that he misread Kyou turning her back on him as justifiable anger.
"It's okay. I just want to go. We're not too far from the ferry port, right? Let's get a few more klicks on the bikes here, then get the next ferry back to Tanegashima." Kyou said while putting her riding boots back on.
"I… don't like it… that I made you angry." Tomoya felt even more like dirt when he thought of how much this vacation was supposed to be for Kyou's sake.
"Hey, you're going to ride up into those mountains with me before we head back to the ferry, right?" Kyou asked.
"Yeah." Tomoya agreed. He had originally planned to head straight back to the ferry from here, but Kyou's desire sounded fun too. And besides, it's not like we're on any kind of deadlines here.
"Then you should understand me well enough to know that I will have forgotten all about it after ten minutes of riding up into those hills." Kyou said with a sly smile.
"Yeah," Tomoya replied with a smile that looked more like a grimace. Knowing how much she liked to ride, he knew that she probably would forgive him that easily. But he also knew that the guilt of his little joke gone wrong, would not be so easy to dispel. Tomoya gazed about the little restaurant's entry and noticed several touristy packages. There were many bottles, cans, and paper boxes with colorful labels that had a handmade look to them. One of them was labeled Flying Fish Tsukemono, a specialty of Yakushima Island. He held up the largish bottle with the dark blue label and offered, "At least, let me get you this."
"A fish in a bottle?" Kyou asked. She couldn't read the label from where she was, but she could see the drawing of a flying fish clearly.
"It's pickled." Tomoya told her.
Kyou was exasperated at Tomoya's lame attempt to make up with her. The displeasure she felt, leaked into her voice as she told him, "Tomoya, I don't want a pickle."
"You just want to ride your motorcycle." Tomoya resignedly put the jar down and started gearing up as well.
.
Saturday morning, July 23rd 2011 – Hikarizaka City Hospital
Kyou-kun woke up from the feeling of his body being moved. When his eyes opened, he immediately figured out that he was in a hospital and didn't recognize anyone around him. "What… what's going on?"
"Hush for now." one of the older nurses told him, "We're sneaking you out of the hospital for the little sensei."
"Little sensei?" Kyou-kun didn't know anyone with that title. There was a history teacher at his high school that was rather short, but nobody called him that.
"Your sister." the nurse explained.
"I… I don't have a sister." Kyou-kun felt even more confused from what was supposed to be an explanation.
"You do now." the nurse said very matter-of-factly as she helped him into a wheelchair.
"I have a little sister?" Kyou-kun asked in a very confused voice, "How is that even possible? My parents…"
"You have an older sister." the younger nurse told him.
"Huh?" Kyou looked at that nurse in disbelief.
"Two actually." the older nurse corrected.
"Huh?" Kyou-kun repeated a little more panicky while turning to face the old nurse.
"Put this blanket over your head. We need to hide that hair of yours." the younger nurse covered Kyou-kun's head and started to push the wheelchair out of the room, but another voice stepped in.
"I'll take it from here." the voice said quietly but firmly.
"Who are you?" Kyou-kun wanted to take the blanket off his head and look at this new person whose voice sounded familiar.
"Do you remember someone named Sunohara Youhei?" Youhei asked quietly while pushing the wheelchair as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself.
"You…" Kyou-kun was about to decry this person as a delinquent and a bad influence on his little brother, but that was impossible. Youhei couldn't possibly be here now.
"I can't say your name aloud now… not while we are making our escape. So, I'll just call you ClassRep. You were a classroom representative, weren't you?" Youhei proposed.
"You know I was. I busted you for trying to sneak out of the school building when we were in lockdown."
"Okay, I do remember getting busted by you a couple of times, but I don't remember anything about a lockdown. That must be something unique to your universe." Youhei guessed.
"My universe? What are you talking about?" Kyou-kun's frustration was mounting and he wanted some straight answers, "Why are the nurses working with a delinquent, and why was I in the hospital?"
"Calm down. We're almost out of here." Youhei promised, "Soon, all your questions will be answered."
"Screw that. You're pissing me off. If you don't start answering some questions now, I'm going to pull this blanket off my head and start screaming that I'm being kidnapped."
"All right, fine. Take this." Youhei handed his cell phone to the blanket covered boy.
"What is…" Kyou-kun started to ask about the heavy black rectangle when the screen suddenly lit up.
"It's called a smartphone. It's called an Xperia. It's last year's model but I bet you've never seen anything like it, right?" Youhei asked.
"… No." Kyou-kun was again startled. The image on the gigantic display had suddenly changed when his finger stroked the big smooth screen.
"I'm letting you look at that to prove a point. The last you can remember, it was November of 2003, right?"
"Um… yeah." Kyou-kun agreed.
"Look at the date on that smartphone." Youhei instructed.
"It's… it's July? How is that possible? Are you trying to say that I was asleep for nearly a year?" Kyou-kun sounded incredulous.
"Not quite. Tap the date so it tells you the full date and the weather for today." Youhei said.
July 23, 2011. Hi 27C (81F), Lo 25C (77F)
Kyou-kun couldn't speak. Either this was an extremely elaborate joke, or the reality he was familiar with was terribly broken. Aside from the ridiculous date, those temperatures are impossible. It hasn't been as warm as 25 Celsius in years. Really, for a successful gag, there has to be something believable about it. Just then, Kyou-kun felt the wheelchair slow down and automatic doors opened up. He was about to remind this Youhei impostor that he wasn't dressed appropriately for going out into the snow and ice. But there was an unexpected blast of warm air that hit him after the doors swung aside.
Warm air, the chirping of birds, and the singing of cicadas.
"What?" he desperately wanted to yank the blanket off and see the world beyond this annoying blanket. But, before he could react, his body was lifted and swiftly moved into a seat in a vehicle. When it quickly pulled away, Kyou-kun wondered if he really was being kidnapped. Not knowing how he might be outnumbered in this vehicle, he cautiously asked, "Can I take the blanket off now?"
"In a minute. First I want to tell you what to expect. I don't want you freaking out and going into shock. It will scare the kids." the Youhei voice said calmly.
"Kids?" Kyou-kun wondered why there might be kids along on a kidnapping… but then, maybe they are being kidnapped too?
"Have you ever read a manga with an isekai theme?" Youhei asked.
"No… but I've heard of them." Kyou-kun wondered where this strange conversation was going.
"So you know the drill, right? A guy… or girl, gets whisked away or reborn into another world and they usually have some kind of insane cheat power." Youhei summed up the genre.
"Yeah." Kyou-kun agreed that was what he knew of those kinds of stories.
"Okay, this is the truth. You have been taken from your universe to one that is very similar. The differences are that it is eight years later, people that you know may be here but they will likely be different. This world never went into the ice age that yours did. In fact, we are having an issue with global warming. And finally, you didn't get any awesome cheat powers, so you're just a kid."
Bullshit! Kyou-kun wanted to shout, but he remembered about the kids and didn't want to say anything too crass in front of children.
"You can take off the blanket now." an eerily familiar voice said softly.
The voice was like his brother's but… strangely different. He started to pull the blanket down and wondered if he should prepare himself for an attack… but whatever he had been in the hospital for had seriously weakened him and he realized that he wouldn't be able to fend off an attack from a five year old. With resignation, he pulled the blanket off and found himself looking into the eyes of… a five year old girl. "Huh?"
"Hello, my name is Ushio. Mama says you are Kyou-kun." the little girl said cheerfully.
But the cheerfulness of a little girl wasn't the only thing that was surprising. They were in a mini-bus of some kind and hurling down a road that was bordered with trees full of green leaves. The sun blasted down through the windows and warmed his skin where the sunlight touched him. But none of that caught his eyes like the lavender haired person sitting in the seat next to Ushio.
"Ryou?" Kyou-kun asked. There were a few things different about the person sitting across from him, but the hair and eyes were unmistakably those of his dear brother. This person looked strange and yet… Kyou-kun felt like they may have met before.
"Kyou-kun?" Ryou replied, "From your reaction, I'm guessing you don't remember our first meeting?"
"We've met before?" Kyou-kun thought he should be more surprised but a shrouded memory of meeting this strange Ryou was beginning to come back.
"Only briefly, and you were very ill. We didn't get a chance to talk then. I'm sure this must be quite shocking for you so, do you have any questions for me?" Ryou asked.
"Why… why do you have boobs?" Kyou asked about the most obvious difference between the Ryou-chan he saw in front of him and the Ryou-kun he remembered growing up with.
"Because I am a girl. It is normal for girls to have boobs, Kyou-kun." Ryou replied slowly as if talking to a child.
"I see… so you're a girl. When did that happen?" Kyou-kun asked.
"I've been a girl all my life." Ryou replied.
Kyou-kun was obviously having a hard time with this, but tenaciously pressing on. "All your life… you say."
"Yes, Kyou-kun."
"I see. So, why are you calling me Kyou-kun?" Kyou-kun asked.
"It helps me to differentiate you from my sister, who I call Kyou or onee-chan." Ryou answered with a smile.
If you call her onee-chan, why don't you call me onii-chan?" Kyou asked.
"Is that what your little brother called you?" Ryou asked.
"Yes." Kyou-kun answered despite the sudden flood of sadness at the mention of his brother.
"Well you see, you are my younger brother here." Ryou told him.
"Eh?" Kyou-kun felt his world rocked with one surprise after another.
"In your world, you are in your last year of high school and you just turned eighteen, right?" Ryou asked.
"Yes." again, the painful sadness hit with the memory of spending his last birthday alone, for the first time ever.
"In this universe, the year is 2011 and I am coming up on my twenty-sixth birthday. I have already finished high school and college, and I am in my last year of medical school." Ryou tried to just give the facts, but she couldn't help but feel a little pride at how much she had accomplished since she had been his age.
"Twenty… six?" Kyou-kun gasped. He looked around at the others in the small bus. The little girl called Ushio wasn't the only child with them. Of the adults in the vehicle, a few of them looked familiar… sort of. He was pretty sure that the lady on the other side of Ushio was Furukawa Nagisa. This Nagisa didn't look nearly as sickly as the one he knew, but there was no mistaking those goofy hair antennae of hers. Youhei looked odd with dark hair, and the responsible adult way he was dressed was far from the sloppy boy that he had known in school… but it was certainly his face and his voice. After that, there were two more women in the bus that looked to be the right age that he might have known them in school. One had tanned skin with red hair while the other had a more normal Japanese appearance… except for her blue eyes. Then she saw the old man. "Koumura sensei?"
"Kyou-kun," the wrinkled old man smiled, "it is a pleasure to meet you."
"A pleasure to meet me… so, you really don't know me?" Kyou-kun asked sadly.
"That is a difficult question to answer." Koumura said carefully, "You see, I certainly remember Kyou-chan and Ryou-chan from their time at the high school. It was a delight to watch them grow into the wonderful young people that they are now. From what I have learned from everyone involved in the Ichinose experiments, you are very much like the Kyou-chan that I know. Your biology is close, though obviously a little different. Your personalities are likely to be similar and you probably have many similar memories and experiences. So, in some regards, I know you."
"Aha." Kyou-kun looked down at his hands and shuddered. This didn't feel like a dream, and yet it was all too fantastical to be real. "So, this is what it feels like to go insane."
"Kyou-kun?" Ryou asked.
"Nothing." Kyou-kun glanced up, then looked around but couldn't find the person he was looking for. "So, there is a girl version of me in this world?"
"Yes, but onee-chan is away now and won't be back for another week." Ryou told her little brother.
"Oh? Why is that? Will the two of us being in the same place cause some sort of time paradox or something?" Kyou-kun asked.
"No, nothing like that." Koumura explained since he had been around many of these conversations before, "You are not here as a result of time travel."
"Then… where am… I?" Kyou-kun asked, intending to find out where this other version of himself was.
"You are right here." the blue eyed girl sitting next to Youhei said with a mysterious half smile. "Do not confuse yourself with the Kyou of this world. There may be some similarities between the two of you, but there are many differences. In the end, it will be those differences that will define you as a distinctly different person from the Kyou-chan of this world."
"I'm sorry but… I don't recognize you." Kyou replied to the lady.
"It's not surprising. I was a year behind you at Hikarizaka. My name was Miyazawa Yukine back then. I am married to Sunohara Youhei now. This is our son, Yoichi." Yukine patted her swollen belly and happily announced, "And this will soon be little Yoichi's little brother or sister."
"Con… congratulations." Kyou-kun was astonished. He hadn't heard of anyone getting permission to have children in years. Then again… this world isn't as dead as mine. Maybe they don't have the resource problems we had. Returning to his initial curiosity, he asked, "So, where is Kyou-chan then? Does she not want to meet me?"
"Kyou-chan is away with her husband Tomoya." Ryou swept her eyes around at all the children in the small bus, then said, "They are on a vacation now."
"They're on a honeymoon." Shuichi said boldly, causing several of the adults to blush nervously.
"They're gonna make us a little brother or sister." Shuji said happily. It was obvious that the two boys were looking forward to having another younger sibling.
"Tomoya… Okazaki Tomoya?" Kyou-kun gaped.
"Yes." Ryou replied sincerely.
"I married the school's biggest delinquent!" Kyou-kun gasped in shock. The shock intensified when Ryou immediately slapped him across the face. "What!"
"The Kyou that I know would not insult someone behind their back, and certainly not right in front of their friends and children!" Ryou said tersely.
"I…" Kyou-kun's anger was blown away at Ryou's rebuke. Intense shame washed through Kyou-kun's body when he realized what he had done. Even for a teenager, such behavior was inexcusable. Bowing as low as he could without taking off his seat-belt, he was about to beg forgiveness.
"It's okay," the cherubic, little boy's voice almost laughed, "we know our Papa was a delinquent when he was in high school."
"But he worked real hard and he's nothing like that now." replied the little girl sitting between the tanned red headed woman and one of the two boys.
"Oh, and what is he now?" Kyou-kun tried to keep the disgust out of his voice but he couldn't imagine that piece of filth ever amounting to anything useful.
"He finished college and law school, and he is now an interim representative in the National Diet." Sugisaka told the rude boy. She had detected his disgust and wanted to add an angry 'so there!' to the end of her reply. Sugisaka didn't like this boy, even if he was another version of her mistress.
"Ah… I see." Kyou-kun's eyes fell. He looked as though his heart had been overburdened and there was no escape from the pain inside him. "What… what is it that you want from me?"
"Not much really." Ryou answered this time, "When you feel ready, I would like you to tell me all about yourself. You don't have to do it now. Just let me know when you are ready to talk and I will listen."
"Then… you'll send me back?" Kyou-kun asked.
"It is… possible… to send you back." Ryou sounded a little deflated from the unexpected question, "Do you really want to go back to that place?"
"Not really, but… won't I just be in the way around here? You already have a Fujibayashi Kyou." he asked.
"Okazaki Kyou." Sugisaka said through clenched teeth.
"You won't be in the way. In fact, I had already started the paperwork to have you attend Hikarizaka High School as a transfer student as soon as the summer break is over." Ryou proposed.
"But I'm already… oh yeah." Kyou-kun felt the edge of despair again. All of the other student's that he had known would be long graduated and he would be in a class with strangers. It would indeed be the transfer student experience.
"Does that frighten you?" Ryou asked.
"No… I just realized that I would really be starting over." Kyou-kun gazed out the window at the lush scenery zooming by. They were out in the countryside and moving down a highway at great speed. Of course, it would seem like great speed to me. Their roads are still intact and clear. They don't know what it's like to crawl slowly down the road because you can't see where it is all cracked under the covering of ice and snow. This world is so different, so… like the world of my childhood. Can I really live in a place like this again? The greenery outside the windows was something that everyone in his world longed for, but it's presence didn't give him the happiness that he thought it would. A sign over the highway said to exit for the Shinkansen station. Wondering if the mythic bullet-trains were still used in this world, he asked, "Where are we going?"
"Forget about all your troubles for now." old Koumura said with an assuring smile, "You will be joining us on our vacation for a few weeks. We are going to the Okazaki farm in Hokkaido. You will be able to relax there."
"Hokkaido! But..." Kyou-kun was about to warn them of the dangers of going to that frozen dead-man's land… but this is a different world. People may still be alive on the Hokkaido of this world. I… I need to remember that.
"You can't go back now anyway." Ryou told him in case he was thinking about trying to beg off the trip, "You are under my care and I won't allow it since you are still recovering from blood poisoning. Once you are fully recovered, if you still want to go back, I won't stop you."
Kyou-kun kept looking out the window, his mind unable to keep up with all the impossible and unreasonable things that were happening around him. The world was renewed with life. People that were dead were alive again. His younger brother was now his older sister. The air was so warm and the world was filled with so much green. "So much green…"
Ryou watched her little brother closely. There were signs that he might be going into shock. Not the septic shock that he was headed for back on his world, but the kind that devastates you mentally and emotionally when there is too much change too quickly. Ushio had been very young when she made the transition and had embraced her new environment with almost no trauma. But Kyou-kun was a high school student…
Already eighteen years old, Kyou-kun had lived through many more years that had formalized and fixed into his mind what the reality of the world should be. Although the people of his universe and the one he found himself in now were fundamentally the same, there were some staggering environmental differences that were shaking his established common sense. "So much green. Ryou… Ryou loved the green grass. He… loved to go to the park and play for hours."
The children didn't react much to Kyou-kun's soft spoken words, but the adults understood the meaning. They had already suspected from the reported conversation in the back seat of the snowcat, just before Kyou-kun passed out.
Ryou? Ryou, is it really you? I… I thought you were dead!
"You loved your brother very much, didn't you?" Ryou asked quietly.
"Yes. I… I always said I would protect him. But… I failed." Kyou-kun kept his face to the window, but the others could see his shoulders shaking and knew that he was sobbing from the cruel memory of loss. The knuckles on his clenched fists were white as rage infused the sadness he was feeling. But his quiet voice only repeated, "I failed."
"I know what you mean, Kyou-kun. My onee-chan is just like that. All while we were growing up, she always tried to protect me. Sometimes it was annoying, but I miss those days a little." Ryou tried to sympathize, and didn't expect the cold reaction.
"So," Kyou-kun hissed as he glared at the feminine version of his brother, "your Kyou succeeded where I failed. Ouch!"
"Baka!" Youhei rapped the spiteful boy on the head with a rolled up magazine and admonished, "The Kyou that I know is smart enough to realize the environmental difference. Growing up here is nowhere near as dangerous as the place where you came from. Now apologize to your nee-san."
"Who do you think you are that you can…" Kyou-kun had stood up, spun around and confronted the guy that he remembered as a class clown, a delinquent, and a troublemaker. But his words died in his throat when he saw what was hanging from the inside of Youhei's coat.
Youhei didn't give an audible response to Kyou-kun's outburst, but he did flip his sport-coat open to reveal the badge hanging from the inside pocket.
"You… you're a cop?" Kyou-kun couldn't help but be stunned. It wasn't something he would have imagined in Youhei's future. Never in a thousand years did he think Youhei would end up on that side of the law.
"Kyou-kun, you are being disrespectful to an adult." Ryou said crisply.
"But Youhei…" Kyou-kun started to argue, but the Ryou in this universe was more forceful than his little brother had ever been.
"You are setting a bad example in front of impressionable children." Ryou's voice, and the cold glare that accompanied it, struck Kyou-kun in a way that his little brother brother never had.
The rebuke was one thing, but the effects of those words struck him far more deeply and more painfully than just the admonishment. Unlike his timid little brother, Kyou-kun had grown up strong and somewhat aggressive. He doubted the Kyou-chan of this universe was like that since she was a girl, but it was something he had started to loathe about himself. Weaker students, both boys and girls, avoided him. Parents shepherded their young children away when they saw him coming. He tried to explain that he was an honor student and the class president, but a person's image was hard to change. To prove that he wasn't a dangerous person, he had set a goal to become an elementary school teacher someday. And now… Ryou-chan was chastising him for being a bad example to children.
Nooooooooooooo! How can this be that I have to apologize to the likes of Sunohara? What kind of hell have I fallen into? All of these people seem respectable and they are on his side. Even my brother… er… sister is on his side! But then, he was always willing to give the delinquents a chance, wasn't he? And now, that despicable little shit is a cop. Maybe Ryou was right all along. His shoulders slumping in resignation, Kyou-kun lowered his head and begged, "Please forgive me, Sunohara-san. I have no excuse for my disrespect to you."
"Sure you do," Sunohara chuckled, "I don't think anyone could blame you for being confused with what you are going through now. But, just so you know where things stand, in this universe I am pretty good friends with Okazaki Kyou."
"Seriously?" Kyou-kun asked with apparent skepticism.
"Yup. In fact, she and I have worked together on a number of things since she returned to Japan." Youhei boasted.
"My apologies but… that's just so hard to believe." Kyou-kun said in utter amazement. But then, something the detective said peaked his interest, "Returned to Japan? What do you mean by that?"
"Well well, we have quite the journey to Hokkaido, so how about I regale you with the fantastical stories of your… elder sisters?" Youhei said slyly.
"Youhei!" Ryou gasped. She wasn't sure that the young Kyou-kun was ready to hear some of the things that she and her sister had done in the last eight years.
"What a wonderful idea!" Yukine chimed in, "And the rest of us should help out to make sure young Kyou-kun gets the whole story.
"Yukine!" Ryou's face blushed when she heard her friend insist on telling the whole story.
"Ooooh, I want to hear this!" Shuji said excitedly.
"Me too!" Shuichi said as he leaned forward attentively.
There was a sudden correction in the atmosphere when all the adults in the bus realized that they would be telling Kyou and Ryou's story in front of young children. Ryou, especially, felt a great sense of relief.
"Where should we begin?" Yukine asked the others.
"I guess… it really all starts with Tomoya-kun." Nagisa proposed. There was quiet in the bus for a few minutes, until everyone seemed to nod with agreement.
"Some of this may seem familiar since you came from a similar universe, but it should start to diverge pretty quickly." Ryou cautioned before she continued, "In our second year of high school, onee-chan had a crush on Tomoya-kun..."
Kyou-kun winced. Obviously, their lives diverged from the very beginning of the story.
.
Sunday morning, July 31st 2011 - Tanegashima Airport
Two weeks of wonderful leisure were drawing to a close for Tomoya and Kyou. Playing in the sandy surf, motorcycling around the twisty park roads and villages, and visiting the different museums on the island had been fun, but they were both ready to go home.
"Looks like you two really enjoyed the island life while you were here." the agent from the vehicle leasing company commented as they approached. Both Tomoya and Kyou were well tanned from all the outdoor fun they had been having. The agent remembered how pale they were when they arrived and smiled at the evidence of the fun times they had on the island.
"It was fun, and the motorcycles were very nice." Tomoya said while handing over the keys and signing the receipt for everything that was being turned back in.
"Glad to hear it." the agent handed Tomoya an envelope and bade them farewell, "I hope the memories you have made on our island give you cheer for years to come."
"Thank you, bye!" Kyou waved as they parted. After all of their motorcycle gear came off and went into a shipping crate, Kyou was dressed in a light billowy shirt and wearing a big brimmed sun hat. The dark sunglasses she was wearing made her look like she was a famous person trying to look inconspicuous… which of course drew many curious stares.
Tomoya reached into the envelope to pull the tickets out but found an unexpected note there as well. He read the note and wondered what was going on.
Change of plans. Instead of coming immediately home, you're going to your grandmother's place in Hokkaido. - Kobayashi Jun
"Do you know what this is about?" Tomoya asked as he handed the note over to Kyou. While she was reading the note, he checked the tickets in the envelope and saw that they were indeed destined for Hokkaido.
"Not a clue, but I don't mind." Kyou smiled, "I enjoy going to Obāsan Okazaki's place. It's always so relaxing."
"Haven't you had enough relaxing?" Tomoya taunted.
"Hah, even if I start to think that, I remember how much work is in store for me when the next semester starts and I realize I could handle a little more relaxing." Kyou tried to sound lighthearted with her answer, but the dread of what was in store for her in September really did worry her.
"All right, then we're off to see my grandmother. There shouldn't be any stress or surprise in Hokkaido, right?" Tomoya said cheerfully.
"Right!" Kyou took Tomoya's arm and walked with him into the airport terminal.
.
Monday morning, August 1st 2011 – New Chitose Airport Hotel in Sapporo
Despite Japan being a rather small country, the flights from any one place to another are not always convenient. After spending a good part of the previous day in airplanes and airports, it wasn't surprising for Tomoya and Kyou to stay the night in a hotel near the last airport, before driving half-way across Hokkaido to get to his grandmother's place.
"They still don't have the train working?" Kyou asked while she sipped her coffee and waited for their breakfast to come to the table.
"No, and it doesn't look like they will." Tomoya said sorrowfully. He was reading one of the local newspapers and the little railway that ran along Hokkaido's southern coast was prominently in the news.
"Why not?" Kyou's disappointment mirrored Tomoya's sad tone, "It was such a wonderful train ride. It ran along the coast with such lovely views."
"Apparently, it took a lot of damage from the tsunami… and it never had that many riders." Tomoya summarized what the article was saying, "So, there just aren't any funds to rebuild it."
"Then… how do we get there?" Kyou asked in a tone that suddenly sounded happier. But it wasn't the topic of conversation that enlivened her. The servers had just arrived with their breakfast, and it looked delicious.
"Well… they have a bus or… never-mind." Tomoya put the paper down and turned to the spread of dishes being laid out for him on the table.
"Never-mind what?" Kyou pressed.
"Well, they have a motorcycle rental place near here but I'm sure you had enough of that in Tanegashima, right?" Tomoya asked… a little too innocently.
"I guess not." Kyou responded slyly, "If we did motorcycles again, I would want to get just one this time. But you probably don't want me pressing myself up against your back, wrapping my arms around you, and squeezing you between my thighs."
Tomoya dropped the crab-cake from his chopsticks into his lap and the two women serving their table blushed as they looked at Kyou with wide eyes.
"Motorcycle it is." Tomoya barely managed to reply in a calm voice as he retrieved the crab-cake.
.
Two hours later, they were putting their luggage into the back of a rental car. It turned out that all their motorcycle gear had been shipped home and the rental place didn't provide or rent the safety gear. Sure, they could have repurchased everything they needed, but both of them thought that would be troublesome and far too wasteful. So, not being able to ride motorcycles around Hokkaido was a little disappointing, but not too much. After all, they had just spent two weeks motoring around two islands in the south of Japan, and there would be 150 kilometers of slow roads and small towns to cross before they got to their destination. At least, that was what Tomoya told himself.
"You drive, I want to look at the scenery." Kyou pouted. Well… maybe she was a little disappointed after all.
"Fine, fine. But you call your sister and let her know that we're in Hokkaido." Tomoya said as he started up the rental car.
"Okay, so… how long until we get there?" Kyou asked while she listened to her phone ringing.
"Four or five hours, probably." Tomoya guessed.
"Why so long?" Kyou asked aghast.
"There is no fast highway that goes straight there. We're going to go through a lot of small towns." Tomoya shrugged.
"Ugh, now I really wish they had the train running again." Kyou groaned.
.
Monday evening, August 1st 2011 – The Okazaki home in Hokkaido
The sky was still brightly lit, but the sun had already gone down beyond the ridge of mountains off to the west. Clouds had moved in through the afternoon, but nothing as depressing as an overcast sky. Indeed, if it had been earlier in the day, they would have looked like puffy cotton balls floating in a cobalt blue sky. But the day was about done and the light hit the scattered clouds from the side, giving them a bright golden edge on the side that faced the sun and casting the rest of the cloud into deep purple shadows.
Kyou-kun sat on the porch steps and watched the slow moving clouds glowing brightly against the darkening sky. His wandering observations were disturbed when he felt the presence of someone sitting down next to him. At first, he thought it was Ryou-chan, but the person moved more slowly and carefully. He wondered if it might be one of the ruffians that had accompanied Sakagami Tomoyo.
It had been quite a shock when the rough looking gang came walking up from the road, right up to the house. However, no-one seemed to be surprised to see them. On the contrary, they had all seemed delighted… even the children. He wanted to ask what kind of relationship was in play that would allow such disparate groups to be such close friends. It actually seemed that the more different they were, the closer their friendship was. The ruffians seemed to be especially cordial with Youhei-the-detective and his wife. But they were treated like returning family even by the old man and woman who lived in this place.
Several times, he had come close to asking all of them to explain themselves… But to do so when he wasn't yet ready to talk about his own past would be… inexcusable. So, he had left the busy interior of the big house to be alone, and watch the clouds pass by overhead. That had worked out for a while, but someone had found him. Apparently, someone who couldn't leave him alone. He considered asking whoever it was to let him have his space when he felt a very old hand settle gently onto his arm.
"It is beautiful, isn't it?" the old woman asked softly.
"Yes, it is." surprised at who the visitor had turned out to be, Kyou-kun turned to face the great-grandmother. "Thank you for allowing me to visit your lovely home, Obāsama."
"You are very polite. Of course… I knew you would be." Okazaki Shino smiled.
"You… mustn't assume that I am a good person just because the Kyou in this world is." Kyou-kun said while his gaze fell to the ground. It hurt to say these words, but he felt that he had to. From the moment he arrived on this paradise world, he felt like he was being terribly misunderstood. These people had a Kyou in their world who had accomplished wonderful things. But Kyou-kun's heart was heavy with the knowledge that he was nowhere near as saintly as the Kyou of this world must be. He didn't want anyone to ever find out about the darkness in his past, but at the same time, there was an overpowering urge to confess. "I'm not like the Kyou that you know. Our worlds are too different."
"I'll bet you're like enough." the old woman dismissed his warning. "And even if you're not, that doesn't mean you're a bad person. It just means you're different."
"It might." Kyou-kun protested while hanging his head from the weight of the shame that was welling up from his soul.
"Well, that's something we can worry about when you're ready." Shino smiled broadly as she asked, "Have you thought about what you want to do now?"
"I should… probably go back to my world." Kyou-kun said.
"Eh, and break this old woman's heart?" she said while her hand gave his arm a compassionate squeeze.
"Obāsama, I…"
"Let me ask you something, and I promise not to pry to much. Is that okay?" Shino asked when she could tell that the young man was struggling with what he wanted to say.
"Yes." Kyou-kun answered simply. Part of him hoped that she did ask questions about his past so that he could be done with these feelings of guilt.
"How many of the people that you've met so far, were people that you knew before?" Shino asked.
"Hmm..." Kyou-kun thought about all the people he had met since he woke up in this strange world, "I never knew Sugisaka-san or Yukine-san, and I never heard of this Kotomi-san everyone keeps talking about. I knew Ryou… although he was my younger brother where I came from. I knew Sunohara and Okazaki, of course. Sakagami-san was our student council president, and I knew of Furukawa-san."
"From the drama club?" Shino asked.
"Huh?" Kyou-kun didn't get the reference.
"Did you know Furukawa-san from the drama club?" Shino asked.
"No, she was in the choir club. Okazaki said she had a really good voice too." Kyou-kun said wistfully.
"So, did you know my grandson well?" Shino asked.
"Not really. In my world, he was… a troublemaker." Kyou felt bad to say that in front of the old woman, even if she wasn't the actual grandmother of the Tomoya that he knew. To soften the affront, he added, "He was good friends with my brother though."
"Then, I guess you never heard any stories about his father?" Shino asked.
"No, but we didn't talk much." Kyou-kun suddenly wished that he had.
"His father, Naoyuki, lives with me now, but he had a hard life for a long time." Shino smiled at the young man and checked to see if his body language said that he was willing to hear more. Deciding that he was, she continued, "Naoyuki was expelled from the family for choosing to marry a woman that the family did not approve of. He loved his wife very much, but she was killed in an accident when Tomoya was still very young. Naoyuki did his best to raise Tomoya on his own, but he had dropped out of high school when he ran off, so life was very difficult for him. His body started to fail him and he turned to alcohol to dull the pain."
"That… does sound hard." Kyou-kun had to wonder if he would be able to last under the seemingly constant stream of misfortunes that had ravaged Tomoya's father.
"Tell me Kyou-kun, do you know how Tomoya got into Hikarizaka Private High School?" Shino asked while her eyes were on the slow moving clouds of the far off horizon.
"No… I never really thought about it." Kyou-kun did wonder now. The school wasn't cheap and the old woman hadn't described a background of wealth for Okazaki.
"It was a sports scholarship. He was a very talented basketball player. I never saw any of his games, but I did see lots of pictures that his father took of all his middle school games. Tomoya loved to play basketball and Naoyuki loved to see his son enjoying himself so thoroughly." Shino said with a mixture of pride and sadness in her voice.
"But… Okazaki never played basketball in high school." Kyou-kun responded with confusion.
"No, he didn't." Shino's eyes fell from the horizon as she revealed some of her own guilt, "My son was struggling all the more because he had no help. His alcoholism worsened as his pain increased. He started getting violent. His relationship with his son started falling apart. Eventually, Naoyuki broke his son's arm in a drunken rage. The injured shoulder never healed right and Tomoya never got to play a single game for his high school."
"I… I never knew." Kyou-kun gaped.
"I would not have expected you to. Tomoya doesn't talk about it much… except to his closest friends. To those he trusts absolutely." Shino smiled and asked, "Do you think your brother might have known?"
"…" Kyou-kun couldn't answer. His little brother had tried to talk to him about Okazaki a lot at first, even when Kyou-kun said he didn't want to hear any more about that delinquent. But then, Ryou suddenly stopped talking about Tomoya any more. Kyou-kun had thought that he had finally gotten through to his brother, but now… maybe… "I think he may have."
Both of them looked toward the horizon and watched as a car turned off the main road and started up the long drive towards them.
"Tomoya hated Naoyuki for quite a while." Shino said grimly, "There was no love or trust left for his father. In fact, there was little love or trust left for anything."
"Did he get better?" Kyou-kun asked while he watched the car pull onto the final drive that would bring it up to the porch.
"Yes. I appealed to Tomoya to understand his father, but I have to admit that it was the friendship and love from all the people he met in that high school, that really made the difference. Without the love of those girls, I don't believe he ever would have forgiven my son… or me."
The car came to a stop on the crushed gravel in front of the porch and the doors opened up as Shino finished telling her tale.
"Those girls?" Kyou-kun asked.
"Kotomi-chan and Kyou-chan, of course." Shino said as she leaned forward and stood up to greet the newly arrived guests.
"Obāsama?" Kyou-chan asked when she heard the old woman say her name.
"Tomoya-kun, Kyou-chan…" Shino smiled while she gestured at the young man sitting on the porch steps looking very surprised, "I would like you to meet Fujibayashi Kyou-kun. I believe you will have a lot to talk about."
.
.
Glossary
Escalator program: Some Japanese schools go from Kindergarten to High School. For students in these program from the beginning, they are automatically promoted to the next school without having to test for it. The students that have to test to get in (climbing the stairs), believe that the program students have it easy (taking the escalator).
Nee-san: older sister, but not eldest.
Obāsama, Obāsan: grandmother (very formal, normal-formal). Okazaki Shino is the mother of Naoyuki, grandmother of Tomoya, and great-grandmother of Shuichi, Shuji, and Michiko.
Onee-sama, Onee-san, Onee-chan: eldest sister (very formal, normal-formal, familiar)
Otouto: little brother. In this chapter, Kyou-kun discovers that he is the younger brother of twin sisters Kyou (onee-chan) and Ryou (nee-chan)
Xperia: A smartphone made by Sony Ericsson. The X10 model with a 10.15cm (4") screen came out in early 2010. Pedestrian by today's standards, it would have seemed like science fiction to someone from 2003.