"Hoe, Jun, Yousei!"
"Ah, Kojirou!" Jun started answering as he separated his lips from Yousei's for a while. "What brings you here?"
"Not much actually. Just wanted to say hi, check on your wardrobe... take some fanservice pictures and sell them 9in the black market..."
"Be our guest." Yousei answered, grabbing Jun's chin and kissing him once again. Kojirou got a camera from his purse and pretended to take a picture. The three boys smiled playfully.
***
He had to stand on all the way back home. Without much to think about, and sleepy as all hell, Kojirou leaned against the door and contemplated the city that rushed before his eyes.
"So fast... too fast maybe... what are we doing?" he whispered, his mind overflowing with thoughts about how mankind so desperately treasures its own mess.
He had never cared before. So far, in Kojirou's mind the world cold go anywhere it pleased, as long as he had his freedom to choose his own way. But that night, or rather that morning, beholding the rushing Tokyo, he felt some kind of connection to the whole world. And he felt sorry for it.
Maybe in that morning Kojirou had changed forever. Maybe he'd just forget it all as soon as he hit his bed. Either way was fine with him, actually.
***
Eiri leaned back in her leather chair and gingerly rubbed her tired eyes. Her new NAVI filled the black room with its electric light, a faint humming sound reverberating off the walls and filling the area. She had been there since she had arrived home over eleven hours ago. Eiri stretched her arms over her head, pulling her spaghetti-strap tank up to expose her now smoothly rounded stomach. Putting her arms down on the rests again, she leaned forward to read messages on the bright screen. Whilst doing so, she tugged on a stray curl that had fallen out of the messy ponytail that she had made from her now shorn- short hair. The curliness of her hair annoyed her now; when she was getting it cut, she did not realize that wavy hair such as hers would end up in soft ringlets when chopped to her shoulders. Bored with the random messages from the realm of the Wired, Eiri stood and slowly left the room, stretching all the way.
It was black as pitch outside, Eiri noted thankfully, and she walked to the kitchen. Adam had fallen asleep at the kitchen table and his University books [Eiri assumed] were spread across the table and under his head. She hadn't noticed that he even came home; he must have decided to leave her alone after the huge fight they had engaged in that morning. Eiri realized that she didn't even remember what the fight was over...
She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of an infusion that her Bali-born maid had brought. The taste was a bit bitter, but the mixture of lemon grass and ginger helped to quell her stomach. She poured the mixture over raspberry-leaf tea ice and took a sip. She continued the sipping whilst going over to Adam and mussing his hair before heading to her room.
---
Adam, sensing that Eiri had left the room, lifted his head and moved his hand from a note that he had received from a superior in France. He stared at it once again, trying to work out the mystery that the note had started.
/After looking at all family records, it seems that Eiri Tsugoyaki is an only child. There is no way that a 'sister' could have sent for you; she has no such sibling. Why she has insisted the existence of other family members is unknown, but calls for further investigation of the subject.../
For the first time, Adam looked around the room. There were pictures everywhere, but he noticed that Eiri and Caomei were the only people in the pictures. In early ones, Adam noticed with a start, Eiri was standing with her mother and father. The same mother that had died during Eiri's birth? Holding his head, Adam stood and quietly made his way to his own room...
---
Adam looked across the table at the pallid-faced Eiri as she sipped the tea that Nusa, the maid, had brought to her. She had taken a few bites from her muesli and had gnawed on a raspberry leaf or two, but she was still surprisingly pale and had a bit of a greenish tinge to her.
"Do you want me to call school and tell them that you won't be there today?"
She paused for a moment and then looked at him. "No, I want to see Kojirou. Besides, I don't want the teacher saying in front of the class again that my older brother called me in sick," she sipped at the tea again. "It's fucking embarrassing."
Silence took over the table once again. The only noise in the house for a few minutes was the occasional thump of a cat jumping from a table to the floor in the living room. Suddenly, Adam spoke.
"Do you have a picture of your sister? You talk about her all the time, but I've never seen what she looks like..."
"You've seen her. She was here one night. You were sitting on one couch and she on the other in the living room a while ago."
Adam stared at her, a confused look on his face. "What... no, I've never seen her before."
Eiri kept her head down, but Adam could see her eyes glaring up at him from under her hair. "You've seen her before," she said sternly. "Back in early December, she was here."
"No... no she wasn't, Eiri."
Eiri brought up her head quickly and screamed her words. "She was HERE! I came home from school, and she was here with YOU!"
Adam looked at her, a bit scared but hiding his emotion. "Eiri, when I came home one night on..." he paused. "9 December, I found you in the entry hall... you had apparently fainted..."
"I never faint. Never. I didn't faint, you are lying, making up a story..." she continued babbling whilst Adam kept speaking.
"If this is the same night, you imagined it, Eiri. Your sister was never here... do you have a picture?"
Eiri stopped and stood, knocking her glass off of the table and not even twitching as the glass smashed on the tile floor. She glared at Adam then placed her left hand on her sizable stomach before storming out of the room, murmuring something about her sister not liking pictures. Adam closed his eyes as the slamming of the front door resounded through the house.
"Have a nice day, dear..." he murmured sarcastically before moving to clean the smashed glass off of the floor. This job was beginning to become deeper than he could previously imagine.
---
Eiri walked into class, late once again. She didn't even bother with an excuse; everyone knew. She sat at her desk quietly, stealing a glance at Kojirou as she sat. He raised an eyebrow and got his NAVI ready. Typing quickly, he sent her a message.
___
You're later than me... that's a first...
___
She glanced down, staring at her blinking NAVI.
___
I don't feel well x.x.
___
Just sick, or something else?
___
Many things...
___
Anything you wanna tell me about?
___
She drew with her finger on the desk, staring at the NAVI.
___
no.
___
She laid her head in her hand and looked absent-mindedly at the board.
If it were anyone else, Kojirou probably wouldn't have bothered to answer the latest message. But this time he was worried.
___
Meet me at lunchtime, alright?
___
Sounds good...
___
She met his eyes and smiled lopsidedly at him. Kojirou had a worried look. He tried to smile, but it was useless. So the kid just started looking at the dreaded blackboard, hoping for lunchtime to come soon. Eiri continued half-note taking, but really paid no attention to the class.
***
Kojirou chose his favorite spot, the top of the building, and took Eiri there, holding her hand strongly all the way. When they were away from anyone else, Kojirou managed a smile and asked.
"So, what's wrong, dear?"
"Truthfully..." she said quietly. "I don't know. Something just seems so... very off."
She looked out at the skyline, grabbing the chain link of the fence, letting the wind pull her hair up in loose curls. Kojirou reached out to fondle Eiri's hair. He got closer to her, embracing his friend softly. "Off, how?" he asked, a hint at a "big brother" tone in his voice.
She paused. "I don't know... something Adam said this morning... it's... thrown me off."
"Something to do with your baby?"
"No... something about my family."
By then the boy had an idea of who it concerned. Kojirou gritted his teeth as he remembered Eiri's description of Natsumi. Swallowing his building up anger, he waited for Eiri to continue.
"He mentioned that I have no pictures of my sister... and I realize... I don't. He says that he's never met her... but I've seen them together." she tightened her grip on the fence. "And it confuses me..."
Kojirou was at a loss for words. "Maybe she..." he shook his head. "No, forget it."
***
"I'm just asking cause you're the one I know with the most knowledge of the Wired."
"Sorry, but I can't help you."
"It is possible, isn't it?"
"Maybe..."
"Come on, Reine..."
"It is, yes, possible." as to demonstrate her point, Lain's form vanished right before Kojirou's eyes, leaving him alone with the glowing walls. A moment later, she reappeared, wearing nothing but wires wrapping her body. "This girl may be haunting you from the Wired, or she might as well be indeed a ghost." Kissing Kojirou's pale lips, Lain vanished again, and he knew she wasn't coming back.
***
She turned to look at him. "What?"
"Maybe... ... ... well..." he looked away from Eiri. "... maybe she's... just... ..."
Eiri looked at him, her eyes showing her confusion. "She's what, Kojirou?"
Kojirou's voice got low, barely audible. "...maybe she's a ghost... haunting you."
She narrowed her eyes, trying to understand the situation... "Kojirou..." she paused. "That's... ludicrous... how could someone haunt me since I was born?"
"Yeaown... I'm sorry. It's just that I heard the same about Yumi."
Eiri glanced down at best she could at her feet, then gave up and looked out at the skyline once more.
"But suppose..." Kojirou started. "Suppose she IS haunting you... no, forget it. This can't be true. Both with Yumi or Natsumi."
"It's far too odd..." she said, almost silently.
"It is... but..." Kojirou took his time with a little theory. "Maybe she's a part of you. The part of you who didn't want to get an abortion, the part of you who doesn't want to be with Adam... a big sister is in her place to interfere, so..."
"Still, Kojirou, I don't see how I could imagine an older sister... or have an entire story of her life in my head if she doesn't exist."
"Maybe she does, but only for you."
She gripped the fence until her fingers caught and were cut by the cold metal. She pulled her hands away quickly, then looked back at Kojirou with cloudy eyes. "My sister is real." Her tone was serious. After sticking her fingers in her mouth, she walked over to a bench on the roof and sat, moping.
"Wait, Eiri..." when Kojirou said that she was already away. He walked over to the bench where she was and sat down beside her. Gently pulling her, Kojirou made her lay her head on his lap. "I'm not saying she's not real. I'm just being lead by what Lain told me, sorry."
"Ah, Kojirou!" Jun started answering as he separated his lips from Yousei's for a while. "What brings you here?"
"Not much actually. Just wanted to say hi, check on your wardrobe... take some fanservice pictures and sell them 9in the black market..."
"Be our guest." Yousei answered, grabbing Jun's chin and kissing him once again. Kojirou got a camera from his purse and pretended to take a picture. The three boys smiled playfully.
***
He had to stand on all the way back home. Without much to think about, and sleepy as all hell, Kojirou leaned against the door and contemplated the city that rushed before his eyes.
"So fast... too fast maybe... what are we doing?" he whispered, his mind overflowing with thoughts about how mankind so desperately treasures its own mess.
He had never cared before. So far, in Kojirou's mind the world cold go anywhere it pleased, as long as he had his freedom to choose his own way. But that night, or rather that morning, beholding the rushing Tokyo, he felt some kind of connection to the whole world. And he felt sorry for it.
Maybe in that morning Kojirou had changed forever. Maybe he'd just forget it all as soon as he hit his bed. Either way was fine with him, actually.
***
Eiri leaned back in her leather chair and gingerly rubbed her tired eyes. Her new NAVI filled the black room with its electric light, a faint humming sound reverberating off the walls and filling the area. She had been there since she had arrived home over eleven hours ago. Eiri stretched her arms over her head, pulling her spaghetti-strap tank up to expose her now smoothly rounded stomach. Putting her arms down on the rests again, she leaned forward to read messages on the bright screen. Whilst doing so, she tugged on a stray curl that had fallen out of the messy ponytail that she had made from her now shorn- short hair. The curliness of her hair annoyed her now; when she was getting it cut, she did not realize that wavy hair such as hers would end up in soft ringlets when chopped to her shoulders. Bored with the random messages from the realm of the Wired, Eiri stood and slowly left the room, stretching all the way.
It was black as pitch outside, Eiri noted thankfully, and she walked to the kitchen. Adam had fallen asleep at the kitchen table and his University books [Eiri assumed] were spread across the table and under his head. She hadn't noticed that he even came home; he must have decided to leave her alone after the huge fight they had engaged in that morning. Eiri realized that she didn't even remember what the fight was over...
She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of an infusion that her Bali-born maid had brought. The taste was a bit bitter, but the mixture of lemon grass and ginger helped to quell her stomach. She poured the mixture over raspberry-leaf tea ice and took a sip. She continued the sipping whilst going over to Adam and mussing his hair before heading to her room.
---
Adam, sensing that Eiri had left the room, lifted his head and moved his hand from a note that he had received from a superior in France. He stared at it once again, trying to work out the mystery that the note had started.
/After looking at all family records, it seems that Eiri Tsugoyaki is an only child. There is no way that a 'sister' could have sent for you; she has no such sibling. Why she has insisted the existence of other family members is unknown, but calls for further investigation of the subject.../
For the first time, Adam looked around the room. There were pictures everywhere, but he noticed that Eiri and Caomei were the only people in the pictures. In early ones, Adam noticed with a start, Eiri was standing with her mother and father. The same mother that had died during Eiri's birth? Holding his head, Adam stood and quietly made his way to his own room...
---
Adam looked across the table at the pallid-faced Eiri as she sipped the tea that Nusa, the maid, had brought to her. She had taken a few bites from her muesli and had gnawed on a raspberry leaf or two, but she was still surprisingly pale and had a bit of a greenish tinge to her.
"Do you want me to call school and tell them that you won't be there today?"
She paused for a moment and then looked at him. "No, I want to see Kojirou. Besides, I don't want the teacher saying in front of the class again that my older brother called me in sick," she sipped at the tea again. "It's fucking embarrassing."
Silence took over the table once again. The only noise in the house for a few minutes was the occasional thump of a cat jumping from a table to the floor in the living room. Suddenly, Adam spoke.
"Do you have a picture of your sister? You talk about her all the time, but I've never seen what she looks like..."
"You've seen her. She was here one night. You were sitting on one couch and she on the other in the living room a while ago."
Adam stared at her, a confused look on his face. "What... no, I've never seen her before."
Eiri kept her head down, but Adam could see her eyes glaring up at him from under her hair. "You've seen her before," she said sternly. "Back in early December, she was here."
"No... no she wasn't, Eiri."
Eiri brought up her head quickly and screamed her words. "She was HERE! I came home from school, and she was here with YOU!"
Adam looked at her, a bit scared but hiding his emotion. "Eiri, when I came home one night on..." he paused. "9 December, I found you in the entry hall... you had apparently fainted..."
"I never faint. Never. I didn't faint, you are lying, making up a story..." she continued babbling whilst Adam kept speaking.
"If this is the same night, you imagined it, Eiri. Your sister was never here... do you have a picture?"
Eiri stopped and stood, knocking her glass off of the table and not even twitching as the glass smashed on the tile floor. She glared at Adam then placed her left hand on her sizable stomach before storming out of the room, murmuring something about her sister not liking pictures. Adam closed his eyes as the slamming of the front door resounded through the house.
"Have a nice day, dear..." he murmured sarcastically before moving to clean the smashed glass off of the floor. This job was beginning to become deeper than he could previously imagine.
---
Eiri walked into class, late once again. She didn't even bother with an excuse; everyone knew. She sat at her desk quietly, stealing a glance at Kojirou as she sat. He raised an eyebrow and got his NAVI ready. Typing quickly, he sent her a message.
___
You're later than me... that's a first...
___
She glanced down, staring at her blinking NAVI.
___
I don't feel well x.x.
___
Just sick, or something else?
___
Many things...
___
Anything you wanna tell me about?
___
She drew with her finger on the desk, staring at the NAVI.
___
no.
___
She laid her head in her hand and looked absent-mindedly at the board.
If it were anyone else, Kojirou probably wouldn't have bothered to answer the latest message. But this time he was worried.
___
Meet me at lunchtime, alright?
___
Sounds good...
___
She met his eyes and smiled lopsidedly at him. Kojirou had a worried look. He tried to smile, but it was useless. So the kid just started looking at the dreaded blackboard, hoping for lunchtime to come soon. Eiri continued half-note taking, but really paid no attention to the class.
***
Kojirou chose his favorite spot, the top of the building, and took Eiri there, holding her hand strongly all the way. When they were away from anyone else, Kojirou managed a smile and asked.
"So, what's wrong, dear?"
"Truthfully..." she said quietly. "I don't know. Something just seems so... very off."
She looked out at the skyline, grabbing the chain link of the fence, letting the wind pull her hair up in loose curls. Kojirou reached out to fondle Eiri's hair. He got closer to her, embracing his friend softly. "Off, how?" he asked, a hint at a "big brother" tone in his voice.
She paused. "I don't know... something Adam said this morning... it's... thrown me off."
"Something to do with your baby?"
"No... something about my family."
By then the boy had an idea of who it concerned. Kojirou gritted his teeth as he remembered Eiri's description of Natsumi. Swallowing his building up anger, he waited for Eiri to continue.
"He mentioned that I have no pictures of my sister... and I realize... I don't. He says that he's never met her... but I've seen them together." she tightened her grip on the fence. "And it confuses me..."
Kojirou was at a loss for words. "Maybe she..." he shook his head. "No, forget it."
***
"I'm just asking cause you're the one I know with the most knowledge of the Wired."
"Sorry, but I can't help you."
"It is possible, isn't it?"
"Maybe..."
"Come on, Reine..."
"It is, yes, possible." as to demonstrate her point, Lain's form vanished right before Kojirou's eyes, leaving him alone with the glowing walls. A moment later, she reappeared, wearing nothing but wires wrapping her body. "This girl may be haunting you from the Wired, or she might as well be indeed a ghost." Kissing Kojirou's pale lips, Lain vanished again, and he knew she wasn't coming back.
***
She turned to look at him. "What?"
"Maybe... ... ... well..." he looked away from Eiri. "... maybe she's... just... ..."
Eiri looked at him, her eyes showing her confusion. "She's what, Kojirou?"
Kojirou's voice got low, barely audible. "...maybe she's a ghost... haunting you."
She narrowed her eyes, trying to understand the situation... "Kojirou..." she paused. "That's... ludicrous... how could someone haunt me since I was born?"
"Yeaown... I'm sorry. It's just that I heard the same about Yumi."
Eiri glanced down at best she could at her feet, then gave up and looked out at the skyline once more.
"But suppose..." Kojirou started. "Suppose she IS haunting you... no, forget it. This can't be true. Both with Yumi or Natsumi."
"It's far too odd..." she said, almost silently.
"It is... but..." Kojirou took his time with a little theory. "Maybe she's a part of you. The part of you who didn't want to get an abortion, the part of you who doesn't want to be with Adam... a big sister is in her place to interfere, so..."
"Still, Kojirou, I don't see how I could imagine an older sister... or have an entire story of her life in my head if she doesn't exist."
"Maybe she does, but only for you."
She gripped the fence until her fingers caught and were cut by the cold metal. She pulled her hands away quickly, then looked back at Kojirou with cloudy eyes. "My sister is real." Her tone was serious. After sticking her fingers in her mouth, she walked over to a bench on the roof and sat, moping.
"Wait, Eiri..." when Kojirou said that she was already away. He walked over to the bench where she was and sat down beside her. Gently pulling her, Kojirou made her lay her head on his lap. "I'm not saying she's not real. I'm just being lead by what Lain told me, sorry."