Chapter 6: Disclosure

Sora tried to understand what she had done wrong. Her father seemed to be enjoying himself earlier, she was sure of it. When they talked about her aunt, it didn't seem to be too painful for him. Maybe she had misunderstood it all. It was possible that Haruhiko had been hurt since the bus ride and had kept it to himself. He had told Sora those stories because he noticed she wanted to hear them; he faked happiness for her sake while he was crumbling on the inside. Sora should've noticed it. She should've stopped him. How could she let him feed on his misery until he reached a breaking point?

"Sora, where did your Dad go?" Taichi's voice came from behind her. She didn't want to turn around and just remained silent. Then, Taichi sat by her side on the bench. "Did he have to go to the restroom or...?"

"He wanted to go home by himself," Sora explained. "He wasn't well..."

"Was he sick?" Koushiro asked, standing by her side.

"No, he was just sad about something," Sora said.

"He was sad and then just ditched you?" Taichi sounded perplexed. "Who does something like that?"

"Don't criticize him!" Sora interjected, annoyed at her friend's insensitivity. "You don't know what he's been through!"

"He didn't mean to offend your father, Sora-san," Koushiro defended the other boy in a gentle tone. "Taichi-san might've expressed himself badly, but he was just concerned about you. He cares a lot about his friends!"

Taichi smiled at that statement

"You're right..." Sora said, feeling self-conscious. "I think I was taking out my frustration on you, Taichi. Sorry about that."

"Don't apologize, that was my fault," Taichi told her."I should've thought more before speaking..."

"I believe I'm the one who owes an apology to you and your father, Sora-san..." Koushiro said, suddenly.

"Eh?" Taichi was confused.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked, also trying to understand.

Koushiro looked down.

"He was bothered by my presence, I could tell..." he said. "Your father looked at me in a strange way when I arrived, as if he had seen a ghost. Then, it was like he was trying really hard not to look at me..."

"You're just imagining things, Koushiro!" Taichi dismissed, with a laugh. "Mr. Takenouchi had never met you before today! What reason would he have to dislike you?"

"Maybe I've offended him somehow! Or perhaps something about my appearance bothered him!" Koushiro theorized.

"You were polite and delightful the whole time!" Taichi protested. "And what are you even saying about your appearance? You look amazing!"

Koushiro's face turned bright red at the comment. Taichi blushed slightly after a couple of seconds. Sora giggled. Her friends could be adorable around each other sometimes. She wondered if they knew the reason behind that.

"Taichi is right, Koushiro-kun," she said. "You're definitely not the reason why my father was sad. I was the reason..."

Sora could feel her friends' gazes on her. It wasn't easy to talk about it, but she didn't want them to misunderstand the situation and blame themselves for something that had been her fault.

"My father used to have a little sister... she died in a car crash a long time ago," she began to narrate. "Her death was devastating to my father... he doesn't keep pictures of her nor does he usually talk about her... until today, when it was raining... her name was Ame, you know..."

Koushiro raised his eyebrows when he heard that name.

"I see... she was named 'Rain' so rain reminds him of her..." Taichi commented. "I'm so sorry that happened, Sora. To lose a little sister is so..."

Taichi had a pained expression. Sora guessed that he was probably remembering the time when he almost lost his own sister and felt bad for making her friend sad.

"Do you... know anything about your aunt, besides her name?" Koushiro asked in a hesitant voice.

"My father told me things about her today, for the first time," Sora replied. "I didn't ask him to do it... but I didn't stop him. I should've stopped him! I should've known it was going to make him suffer!"

"Sora, it was his choice to tell you things about her!" Taichi told her. "You're not responsible for other people's decisions!"

"But I should've been more thoughtful!" Sora insisted. "I got carried away hearing about how she was a scientist who worked in Tokyo U and how she fell in love with a Math professor and my Mom organized their wedding... it just... it all sounded so cute! And Dad looked so happy telling that story... he was smiling and all... but he wasn't happy... he was just putting up a front for my sake!"

Sora broke down in tears. Taichi didn't know what to tell her or how to comfort her. He looked at Koushiro, silently asking for help, but the other boy didn't seem to be paying attention to his surroundings. Koushiro's face was pale and covered in sweat. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were trembling. Taichi could tell that there was something off about him.

"It's not Sora-san's fault..." Koushiro murmured, suddenly.

"Of course it is!" Sora protested. "He was sad because..."

"He only thought about his own feelings..." Koushiro continued, looking down. His tone of voice got darker as he went on. "He didn't consider how his actions would affect you... how you'd feel after being..." the boy clenched his fists, "...he didn't think about you at all..."

Those words hit Sora deeply. Koushiro had a point. During her life, Sora barely had the chance to spend time with her father. When he came for an extended visit, she went through the trouble of planning activities for an entire day for the two of them. She had been looking forward to that day for so long and then her father simply ditched her after their first stop! Even if he was sad, he didn't take into account her feelings at all! Sora was sure that most parents wouldn't do such a thing. Her mother definitely wouldn't!"

"Hey, Koushiro, don't say such awful things to her now! Sora is already sad enough!" Taichi scolded him.

"No! Koushiro-kun is right!" Sora stated, getting up. "Why am I defending Dad this much when he was the one who abandoned me in the Mall during the father-daughter day I had planned for months? We didn't even get to go to the movies or the park... we didn't even get the ice-cream! He just left me here and went home without giving me an explanation!"

"Wow, you're mad... I haven't seen you mad in a really long time..." Taichi commented, shocked.

Sora took a deep breath.

"I need to have a serious talk with my Dad!" Sora announced, walking away. "Thank you, Koushiro-kun!"

"Wait!" Taichi called her, but Sora didn't turn back. "Koushiro!" Taichi said, getting up and facing the other boy. "What was that all about? What you told her wasn't like you at all! You got Sora all fired up! What are you going to do if she has an argument with her Dad?"

Koushiro didn't lift his head to look at Taichi.

"I need to go home now, Taichi-san," he said, turning around.

Taichi held him by the wrist.

"What's the matter with you?" Taichi questioned. "Why are you acting weird? What happened?!"

Koushiro forcibly freed his wrist from Taichi's grip. In a cold tone that the other boy had never heard, he said:

"Nothing happened, Taichi-san! I'm fine!"

Those words froze Taichi at his tracks. He watched, silently, as Koushiro left him.

Once Sora arrived at her apartment, she found both her parents waiting for her in the living room. They were sitting side by side on pillows behind the short table. Haruhiko had a guilty expression. Toshiko seemed apprehensive.

Sora took off her shoes and went to the living room, where she sat across from her parents. Her anger had already cooled down by the time she got into the apartment, but her determination didn't falter.

"Your father told me how he behaved today and I reprehended him," Toshiko let her daughter know. "But just doing that is not enough to compensate for what he did."

"I want to understand what happened," Sora said. "You caused a scene there, Dad! Koushiro-kun even thought he had done something wrong!"

Haruhiko flinched after hearing that name.

"I had agreed to keep that secret but I can't do it anymore. Not after today," Toshiko said, giving Sora a guilty look.

"Please, Toshiko-san..." Haruhiko pleaded.

"No. I'm done with pampering you, Haruhiko-san! Sora has the right to know!"

"Know what?" Sora asked, getting anxious.

Toshiko took a few seconds before answering:

"Ame-san and her husband had a son... a baby that survived..."

"A baby...?" Sora murmured. "Wait... I have a cousin? And you're only telling me this now? Where is he?"

"He was raised by Shunsui-san's relatives... his cousin and his wife adopted the baby."

"Her husband's cousin? B-But Dad was her brother!" Sora interjected. "Why wouldn't he be asked first to-"

"Haruhiko-san was asked first." Toshiko clarified. "He refused to take care of the child."

Sora felt horror filling her heart.

Her father had abandoned her cousin? He had refused to take care of his own nephew? Sora couldn't understand how he could've done such a horrible thing. That was inconceivable!

"I... I just couldn't bear to be around him... he reminded me too much of her..." Haruhiko tried to defend himself. "If I had taken that child in, I'm sure I would've lost my sanity... I mean... just think about what happened today... just from being in his presence... to look at him, to hear his voice... it was too much for me!"

"What are you... talking about...?" Sora asked, afraid of putting the pieces together. She remembered a comment Koushiro had made but shot that thought down immediately. It couldn't be that! She knew Koushiro's parents! The boy had never said anything about being...

"After the adoption, I didn't see Shunsui-san's relatives for almost ten years," Toshiko began to talk again. "We met again in the most unlikely situation... Masami-san almost begged me not to tell you kids anything. He didn't want his son to know what Haruhiko-san had done... he didn't want Koushiro-kun to suffer."

The lingering fear Sora had tried to ignore proved to be true.

"When I saw Koushiro today, all grown-up... that red hair, that smile... everything about him..." Haruhiko murmured as tears filled his eyes. "I couldn't face him... I just couldn't..."

Feeling overwhelmed, Sora stood up quickly and nearly turned the table over.

"Sora, are you alright?" Toshiko asked, worried.

Sora couldn't answer that question. She rushed to her room and locked herself inside. Then, she slid against the door until she was sitting on the floor. Her heart was beating so fast... the air felt so heavy... she thought she was going to pass out...

Suddenly, her cellphone began to ring. She tried to decline the call, but answered it instead, by accident.

"Sora! It's Yamato! Taichi called me and told me what happened. Is everything okay? How are you?"

Something about Yamato's voice had the power to bring her comfort. Sora was sure that, if there was someone who could help her to make sense of her feelings, that person was Yamato.

Among sobs, she told him everything.

Yoshie was watching television in the living room when she heard the door open.

"Is that you, Koushiro?" She asked. "You're home early! I thought you and Taichi-kun were going to spend the day together!"

Getting worried about the lack of answer, she got up and went to the door where she found her son still holding the knob. He hadn't even taken off his shoes yet.

"Sora-san was in the ice-cream shop..." Koushiro muttered.

"Oh... is that so?" As she always did when Sora was brought up in a conversation, Yoshie tried to act naturally.

"She told us a story about her aunt Ame, who was a scientist and married a Math professor..." Koushiro said in a weak voice, still not turning around to face his mother. "Her aunt Ame worked in Tokyo University and died in a car crash... those things aren't just coincidences, are they?"

Yoshie trembled as she realized that her son had figured out the truth.

"Ever since I found out that Sora-chan was your cousin, I wanted to tell you! I wanted to tell you so badly!" Yoshie had an apologetic tone.

"But I didn't let you. I didn't want to know." Koushiro's voice was low and almost not audible.

"Koushiro, I'm so sorry!" Yoshie apologized.

"Please, don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault." Koushiro assured.

"But to find out like this... you must be feeling terrible!" Yoshie said.

"I'm not feeling terrible. I'm fine!" Koushiro stated, turning around and showing his mother a reassuring smile that was clearly being forced. "Everything is fine! There's nothing to worry about!"

The boy went to his bedroom without saying anything else.

Just say something... Yoshie pleaded in her thoughts, feeling her heart breaking. Say anything... don't just keep it to yourself! Please!