A/N: This story sure has taken on an interesting twist. Will Rika finally
open up to Ryo and accept him as a friend? You'll find out soon in this
chapter.
Ryo: What are you talking about? Of course she will.
J16: Um, heh-heh, what did I say about spoiling the story.
*******************
September 27, 2003
Takato.
You saved me once again. First the D-reaper, then from Rika. I don't think I could ever tell you in words how much it makes me feel good to know that you are always here for me. I guess that's your job. I know this sounds a bit corny, but I love you and I can't stand to be alone like this without you-
"Nah, I can't write that. It's too revealing to Takato, even if he is my friend. It just doesn't sound right," Jeri sat in her hospital bed, pondering how to thank Takato in a formal way. 'It doesn't matter. I'll tell him soon.'
"Hey Jeri! Ready to go?" Takato entered her room, with a smile on his face, a smile that Jeri blissfully observed. Jeri also looked and saw her parents accompanying him.
She looked at her clock. "6:30? Don't you think that's a bit early?"
Takato grinned. "Aren't you sick of being here for a whole week?"
******************
The Katou van raced across town and to their home, where Takato and Jeri's family walked in. Jeri ran to her room and called Takato.
"Takato, come in here," she sweetly voiced. Takato shrugged, and followed her in, where she closed the door.
"Takato, do you know what happened to Rika?"
Being reminded of the girl made him cringe. "No, I don't even want to talk to her anymore," he responded.
Jeri's smile disappeared. "No, Takato, this is serious. She ran out crying, saying she 'didn't deserve to live.'"
Takato choked. "Huh?"
"Yeah. She asked for forgiveness, but then I remembered what you said about easy forgiveness before she came, so I rejected her offer. Then that's when she said, 'ok. I don't deserve to be your friend, nor Takato's. Nor do I even deserve to live.' Then she left."
Takato couldn't believe it. Rika's words came as a shock to him. She showed a sensitive side, a side that Takato had been blind to in the two and a half years he knew her. He knew that Rika would try to ask for forgiveness, but he thought it would be a "I'm sorry, forgive me" kind of thing. Now he suspected the inevitable.
"Let's go check her house and see if she's there. Like right now," he said. Jeri nodded and both of them ran out of the house.
"I'll be home later on!" She called to her parents.
*******************
Takato and Jeri raced over to Rika's house, which, of course, was empty.
"Rika? Are you there?" Takato called out. No one was home. After an hour of knocking on the door, Takato and Jeri left the empty house.
"This is not happening," Takato said. "Did she really kill herself?"
"Takato, look!" Jeri pointed out to a telephone pole with a piece of paper. Takato grabbed it from the pole and looked at it.
Have you seen this girl?
(Picture of Rika)
Rika Nonaka Missing since: September 26, 2003
If you have any idea where this sweet girl is, please call (530) 742-1501.
Jeri gasped. "Dear God."
Takato reacted the same. "It's all my fault."
*******************
Rika woke up to the pleasant smell of bacon, among other breakfast goodies. She lifted her head up.
"Wha."
"Good morning Rika! How would you like your eggs?" Ryo called from the kitchen.
"Scrambled," She replied. She looked at the clock: 9:30. "Sure smells good."
"Thanks. Feel free to grab the remote and watch some TV if you want." Rika looked around and procured the remote from the table. She flipped the television on. She flipped it to ESPN and watched some soccer.
"Japan is really taking it to Switzerland," she noticed. Japan was leading 2-0. "No, Tameshi, don't pass it into the crowd! You idiot!"
Ryo looked over at Rika and smiled. "She sure is funny when she is angry. Hey Rika," he called over, "your bacon and eggs are ready."
Rika looked over at the kitchen and walked in. She reached in the refrigerator and grabbed some orange juice.
"Yes, Rika, you may go in my fridge and grab my orange juice," Ryo said, laughing. She shrugged and grabbed a cup from his cabinet and poured a glass of the orange liquid. Sitting down on his table, she took her plate and started eating. Ryo grinned and sat down with his own food.
"You're not a half-bad cook," Rika said, complementing Ryo for once, which surprised him.
"Well, when my dad's gone all the time, you have to learn to fend for yourself," Ryo explained.
Rika smiled. "Pass me the ketchup."
*****************
10 minutes later, Rika finished her breakfast, followed quickly by Ryo. She felt a bit groggy.
"I need to take a shower."
"Sure. First door on the left upstairs. Your clothes are washed and are over there on the couch. There should be some towels in the bathroom." He looked at her. "Don't worry, I don't have surveillance cameras.
Rika laughed. He said this as though he had forever to plan it. "We'll see about that." She grabbed her clothes off the couch and walked upstairs. "First door on the left," She said to herself. She located the door and walked in.
Rika checked the door handle. There was no lock. She began to get pretty suspicious about the whole thing, so she looked for something to block the door. She tried a broken towel rack, but it was no use. After looking for a few minutes, she gave up and trusted Ryo.
She pulled her clothes off and turned the shower on. Stepping in, she felt the warmth of the water heal her in different ways. While in there, she thought about what she had tried to do yesterday.
'I let a simple situation cause me to nearly kill myself. Thank God for Ryo. I guess he really does care about me. Well, we'll really see for sure today.'
Speaking of Ryo, Rika checked the door after every little sound to see if he happened to be spying on her. 'C'mon Rika,' she said to herself, 'even Ryo wouldn't do that.' She shrugged and continued her shower.
*****************
Ryo was clearing the table when he heard the water turn on. He had a funny feeling in the fact that here he was, a beautiful girl spending the night at his house, and then taking a shower in his bathroom. He quickly shrugged those thoughts away. 'What I did was the right thing. I don't need to think about her like this. I'm sure she feels very insecure about herself so I'm not going to ask her out-yet,' he decided.
*****************
Rika stepped out of the shower, feeling very refreshed and woken up. Her trust in Ryo has paid off, and she felt he was becoming a better person every second. Plus the shower felt very good to her spirits. She put her clothes on and looked at herself in the mirror. She opened the cabinet under the sink, and to her surprise, there was some hair spray. She looked at it, approved, and sprayed some on her strawberry hair. There were a couple toothbrushes hanging around also, but she didn't want to use it without asking Ryo.
"Hey, can I use a toothbrush?" she called downstairs.
"Yeah, use the red one," Ryo responded.
She looked at the two toothbrushes and picked up the red one. She put some toothpaste on the brush and applied the tool to her mouth.
**************
Ryo decided to take a shower once Rika was done. He saw Rika walk downstairs. She wore the regular attire, with the exception of her beautiful hair, which was missing a ponytail. It was down, and Ryo admitted that she looked a lot better that way.
"I'm going to take a shower now, and when I'm done, I'll walk you home."
"No that's okay," she replied. "I'll go on my own."
"No you won't. You don't even know where I live. Just hold on and I'll take you home."
Rika grumbled, but nodded at Ryo as she went to watch more TV. "I won't be long," he said as he went upstairs.
As soon as he was gone, Rika turned off the TV and went to work. She grabbed a notepad and a pen. She went upstairs and silently and covertly walked into the bathroom, where Ryo was singing his lungs out. She almost laughed, but remained undetected as she searched his pants for his wallet. She located it and grabbed 10 dollars out of it.
Going downstairs, she wrote down the following on the paper:
Ryo,
Thank you for your hospitality. I must leave on my own. You're not as bad as I thought. Meet me at the park at 12:00 because I owe you 10 dollars. I also have something to tell you.(
Love, Rika
She put the note right on the table, and looking back at his house, she walked out. "Thank you Ryo."
Rika walked about a block away and saw a taxi nearby. She called for it, and the vehicle picked her up.
***************
Ryo got out of the shower all refreshed. 'Boy it was great to get to know Rika like this. She sure seemed a bit scared though-'
"Where'd she go?" He asked himself while looking around. She was nowhere to be found.
After searching, he located a piece of paper on his table and looked at it. Smiling, fifteen-year-old Ryo Akiyama got his jacket and went off to find the beautiful girl.
****************
It was an unusually long 20-minute ride to her house. 'Guess Ryo was right about location.' She shrugged. 'Dammit, I dunno if 10 dollars will do it.' She paid the taxi driver the 10 dollars.
"Sorry, but it's all I have," Rika said.
"Sorry, but you'll need more," the taxi driver replied.
"And I say sorry, but it's all I have! Look, I've had a really shitty couple of days. I lose both my friends in fights, I try to kill myself, and to top it all off, I have a really really bad headache, so I suggest you back off!" She immediately got out of the car and ran home.
She opened the door and saw that no one was home. 'Mom's working, I'll bet grandma's shopping,' she thought. She walked in. It was unusually quiet. Of course, it was obviously quiet since no one else occupied the house, but there was a strange absence of sound. She walked outside to the courtyard and looked up.
She had things to take care of. Things had to be mended with her friends, especially Takato and Jeri. After thinking things over, she decided to do the job the next day at school. As for Ryo, well, she made a promise, and decided to keep it. She grabbed her wallet and headed to the park.
**************
Rika walked down to the Shinjuku park and looked around. This was the place that it could have ended, and thanks to a certain someone, that was not the case. In fact, here was that someone.
"Hey Rika."
Rika turned around and saw Ryo. "Hey," She smiled.
There was a pause, a pause that made both Rika and Ryo uncomfortable, until she broke the silence. "Um. I have some money to give you."
"Oh that?" Ryo laughed. "Don't worry about it. You had to use that money. It's not like you used it to buy something you wanted."
"Ok," Rika shrugged. 'Time to get serious,' she told herself.
"Ryo, I know you like me."
"Huh?"
"You know that. I just wanted to say, that.er.I guess I kinda like you too," Rika was sort of lying in this statement. She didn't really like Ryo like that, but he did save her life, and fulfilling his desires was the least she could do for her.
"I'm sorry, Rika."
"What's that?"
"I said I'm sorry." Ryo told her. "I'm glad you think of me like that. In fact I'm overjoyed, because I love you also. But don't you think you have enough things to worry about? Like your friends, your family, your grades? What about what just happened to you? Trust me, Rika, if this were later on I'd accept it. But, I think you just need one less thing to do, and having me around as a boyfriend isn't going to help the cause at all.
Rika looked right into his eyes. "Ryo, that was the sweetest thing that has ever come out of your mouth." She went up to him and gave him a tight hug.
"Rika, you're everything to me. It almost stabbed me to think that you would do something like try to kill yourself."
"I'm sorry," Rika said. "I promise it will never happen again."
Ryo smiled. He may have lost his only chance to be with Rika, but he knew that this was better for her. "You'd better go home and see your family."
**************
Grandma was the first one to get home. "Oh sweetie!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're home safe!" She gave Rika a tight hug. Rika smiled. "I'm sorry, Grandma. I won't run away again."
Soon afterward her mother came home. "Mom, I have an appointment tomorrow at 10:00. Have there been any messages concerning." She looked at her mother, then at the girl next to her-
"Oh, Rika!" She said, embracing her into a hug. "Oh, mom. I'm going to be all hugged out." Rika responding, smiling.
After the hug, Rika looked at the two ladies. "Um." she started, "I'm very sorry about what just happened. I guess I let two silly things hurt me too much. Now, I promise to be stronger in my feelings. I won't let anything like this happen ever again."
***************
September 27, 2003
Wow. What a past few days. I need a psychiatrist, I think.
Ryo has truly become one of my friends now. He rejected me, knowing it was for the better. I don't know anyone who was rejected and felt better because of it.
As for things with Takato, I can only hope for the best. I know things will work with Jeri, however. I wonder how Kenta and Kazu will react. I don't even know if they know about the whole thing. Henry's going to kill me for even attempting such a thing.
I'm going to bed. I think it will be nice getting some sleep knowing that everything is going ok, I guess.
Rika Nonaka, signing off.
*****************
A/N: Wow, nothing went on in this chapter. I guess that's just how some things go. (falls anime-style) The next chapter will be about the next day at school, then I'm moving up to December events. It will be interesting then.
It's 1:00 in the freakin' morning, I'm watching a World Cup game between U.S. and Mexico (U.S. is winning, hell yeah), my dad's sleeping on the couch, and I'm going to bed.
Till next time.
Ryo: What are you talking about? Of course she will.
J16: Um, heh-heh, what did I say about spoiling the story.
*******************
September 27, 2003
Takato.
You saved me once again. First the D-reaper, then from Rika. I don't think I could ever tell you in words how much it makes me feel good to know that you are always here for me. I guess that's your job. I know this sounds a bit corny, but I love you and I can't stand to be alone like this without you-
"Nah, I can't write that. It's too revealing to Takato, even if he is my friend. It just doesn't sound right," Jeri sat in her hospital bed, pondering how to thank Takato in a formal way. 'It doesn't matter. I'll tell him soon.'
"Hey Jeri! Ready to go?" Takato entered her room, with a smile on his face, a smile that Jeri blissfully observed. Jeri also looked and saw her parents accompanying him.
She looked at her clock. "6:30? Don't you think that's a bit early?"
Takato grinned. "Aren't you sick of being here for a whole week?"
******************
The Katou van raced across town and to their home, where Takato and Jeri's family walked in. Jeri ran to her room and called Takato.
"Takato, come in here," she sweetly voiced. Takato shrugged, and followed her in, where she closed the door.
"Takato, do you know what happened to Rika?"
Being reminded of the girl made him cringe. "No, I don't even want to talk to her anymore," he responded.
Jeri's smile disappeared. "No, Takato, this is serious. She ran out crying, saying she 'didn't deserve to live.'"
Takato choked. "Huh?"
"Yeah. She asked for forgiveness, but then I remembered what you said about easy forgiveness before she came, so I rejected her offer. Then that's when she said, 'ok. I don't deserve to be your friend, nor Takato's. Nor do I even deserve to live.' Then she left."
Takato couldn't believe it. Rika's words came as a shock to him. She showed a sensitive side, a side that Takato had been blind to in the two and a half years he knew her. He knew that Rika would try to ask for forgiveness, but he thought it would be a "I'm sorry, forgive me" kind of thing. Now he suspected the inevitable.
"Let's go check her house and see if she's there. Like right now," he said. Jeri nodded and both of them ran out of the house.
"I'll be home later on!" She called to her parents.
*******************
Takato and Jeri raced over to Rika's house, which, of course, was empty.
"Rika? Are you there?" Takato called out. No one was home. After an hour of knocking on the door, Takato and Jeri left the empty house.
"This is not happening," Takato said. "Did she really kill herself?"
"Takato, look!" Jeri pointed out to a telephone pole with a piece of paper. Takato grabbed it from the pole and looked at it.
Have you seen this girl?
(Picture of Rika)
Rika Nonaka Missing since: September 26, 2003
If you have any idea where this sweet girl is, please call (530) 742-1501.
Jeri gasped. "Dear God."
Takato reacted the same. "It's all my fault."
*******************
Rika woke up to the pleasant smell of bacon, among other breakfast goodies. She lifted her head up.
"Wha."
"Good morning Rika! How would you like your eggs?" Ryo called from the kitchen.
"Scrambled," She replied. She looked at the clock: 9:30. "Sure smells good."
"Thanks. Feel free to grab the remote and watch some TV if you want." Rika looked around and procured the remote from the table. She flipped the television on. She flipped it to ESPN and watched some soccer.
"Japan is really taking it to Switzerland," she noticed. Japan was leading 2-0. "No, Tameshi, don't pass it into the crowd! You idiot!"
Ryo looked over at Rika and smiled. "She sure is funny when she is angry. Hey Rika," he called over, "your bacon and eggs are ready."
Rika looked over at the kitchen and walked in. She reached in the refrigerator and grabbed some orange juice.
"Yes, Rika, you may go in my fridge and grab my orange juice," Ryo said, laughing. She shrugged and grabbed a cup from his cabinet and poured a glass of the orange liquid. Sitting down on his table, she took her plate and started eating. Ryo grinned and sat down with his own food.
"You're not a half-bad cook," Rika said, complementing Ryo for once, which surprised him.
"Well, when my dad's gone all the time, you have to learn to fend for yourself," Ryo explained.
Rika smiled. "Pass me the ketchup."
*****************
10 minutes later, Rika finished her breakfast, followed quickly by Ryo. She felt a bit groggy.
"I need to take a shower."
"Sure. First door on the left upstairs. Your clothes are washed and are over there on the couch. There should be some towels in the bathroom." He looked at her. "Don't worry, I don't have surveillance cameras.
Rika laughed. He said this as though he had forever to plan it. "We'll see about that." She grabbed her clothes off the couch and walked upstairs. "First door on the left," She said to herself. She located the door and walked in.
Rika checked the door handle. There was no lock. She began to get pretty suspicious about the whole thing, so she looked for something to block the door. She tried a broken towel rack, but it was no use. After looking for a few minutes, she gave up and trusted Ryo.
She pulled her clothes off and turned the shower on. Stepping in, she felt the warmth of the water heal her in different ways. While in there, she thought about what she had tried to do yesterday.
'I let a simple situation cause me to nearly kill myself. Thank God for Ryo. I guess he really does care about me. Well, we'll really see for sure today.'
Speaking of Ryo, Rika checked the door after every little sound to see if he happened to be spying on her. 'C'mon Rika,' she said to herself, 'even Ryo wouldn't do that.' She shrugged and continued her shower.
*****************
Ryo was clearing the table when he heard the water turn on. He had a funny feeling in the fact that here he was, a beautiful girl spending the night at his house, and then taking a shower in his bathroom. He quickly shrugged those thoughts away. 'What I did was the right thing. I don't need to think about her like this. I'm sure she feels very insecure about herself so I'm not going to ask her out-yet,' he decided.
*****************
Rika stepped out of the shower, feeling very refreshed and woken up. Her trust in Ryo has paid off, and she felt he was becoming a better person every second. Plus the shower felt very good to her spirits. She put her clothes on and looked at herself in the mirror. She opened the cabinet under the sink, and to her surprise, there was some hair spray. She looked at it, approved, and sprayed some on her strawberry hair. There were a couple toothbrushes hanging around also, but she didn't want to use it without asking Ryo.
"Hey, can I use a toothbrush?" she called downstairs.
"Yeah, use the red one," Ryo responded.
She looked at the two toothbrushes and picked up the red one. She put some toothpaste on the brush and applied the tool to her mouth.
**************
Ryo decided to take a shower once Rika was done. He saw Rika walk downstairs. She wore the regular attire, with the exception of her beautiful hair, which was missing a ponytail. It was down, and Ryo admitted that she looked a lot better that way.
"I'm going to take a shower now, and when I'm done, I'll walk you home."
"No that's okay," she replied. "I'll go on my own."
"No you won't. You don't even know where I live. Just hold on and I'll take you home."
Rika grumbled, but nodded at Ryo as she went to watch more TV. "I won't be long," he said as he went upstairs.
As soon as he was gone, Rika turned off the TV and went to work. She grabbed a notepad and a pen. She went upstairs and silently and covertly walked into the bathroom, where Ryo was singing his lungs out. She almost laughed, but remained undetected as she searched his pants for his wallet. She located it and grabbed 10 dollars out of it.
Going downstairs, she wrote down the following on the paper:
Ryo,
Thank you for your hospitality. I must leave on my own. You're not as bad as I thought. Meet me at the park at 12:00 because I owe you 10 dollars. I also have something to tell you.(
Love, Rika
She put the note right on the table, and looking back at his house, she walked out. "Thank you Ryo."
Rika walked about a block away and saw a taxi nearby. She called for it, and the vehicle picked her up.
***************
Ryo got out of the shower all refreshed. 'Boy it was great to get to know Rika like this. She sure seemed a bit scared though-'
"Where'd she go?" He asked himself while looking around. She was nowhere to be found.
After searching, he located a piece of paper on his table and looked at it. Smiling, fifteen-year-old Ryo Akiyama got his jacket and went off to find the beautiful girl.
****************
It was an unusually long 20-minute ride to her house. 'Guess Ryo was right about location.' She shrugged. 'Dammit, I dunno if 10 dollars will do it.' She paid the taxi driver the 10 dollars.
"Sorry, but it's all I have," Rika said.
"Sorry, but you'll need more," the taxi driver replied.
"And I say sorry, but it's all I have! Look, I've had a really shitty couple of days. I lose both my friends in fights, I try to kill myself, and to top it all off, I have a really really bad headache, so I suggest you back off!" She immediately got out of the car and ran home.
She opened the door and saw that no one was home. 'Mom's working, I'll bet grandma's shopping,' she thought. She walked in. It was unusually quiet. Of course, it was obviously quiet since no one else occupied the house, but there was a strange absence of sound. She walked outside to the courtyard and looked up.
She had things to take care of. Things had to be mended with her friends, especially Takato and Jeri. After thinking things over, she decided to do the job the next day at school. As for Ryo, well, she made a promise, and decided to keep it. She grabbed her wallet and headed to the park.
**************
Rika walked down to the Shinjuku park and looked around. This was the place that it could have ended, and thanks to a certain someone, that was not the case. In fact, here was that someone.
"Hey Rika."
Rika turned around and saw Ryo. "Hey," She smiled.
There was a pause, a pause that made both Rika and Ryo uncomfortable, until she broke the silence. "Um. I have some money to give you."
"Oh that?" Ryo laughed. "Don't worry about it. You had to use that money. It's not like you used it to buy something you wanted."
"Ok," Rika shrugged. 'Time to get serious,' she told herself.
"Ryo, I know you like me."
"Huh?"
"You know that. I just wanted to say, that.er.I guess I kinda like you too," Rika was sort of lying in this statement. She didn't really like Ryo like that, but he did save her life, and fulfilling his desires was the least she could do for her.
"I'm sorry, Rika."
"What's that?"
"I said I'm sorry." Ryo told her. "I'm glad you think of me like that. In fact I'm overjoyed, because I love you also. But don't you think you have enough things to worry about? Like your friends, your family, your grades? What about what just happened to you? Trust me, Rika, if this were later on I'd accept it. But, I think you just need one less thing to do, and having me around as a boyfriend isn't going to help the cause at all.
Rika looked right into his eyes. "Ryo, that was the sweetest thing that has ever come out of your mouth." She went up to him and gave him a tight hug.
"Rika, you're everything to me. It almost stabbed me to think that you would do something like try to kill yourself."
"I'm sorry," Rika said. "I promise it will never happen again."
Ryo smiled. He may have lost his only chance to be with Rika, but he knew that this was better for her. "You'd better go home and see your family."
**************
Grandma was the first one to get home. "Oh sweetie!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're home safe!" She gave Rika a tight hug. Rika smiled. "I'm sorry, Grandma. I won't run away again."
Soon afterward her mother came home. "Mom, I have an appointment tomorrow at 10:00. Have there been any messages concerning." She looked at her mother, then at the girl next to her-
"Oh, Rika!" She said, embracing her into a hug. "Oh, mom. I'm going to be all hugged out." Rika responding, smiling.
After the hug, Rika looked at the two ladies. "Um." she started, "I'm very sorry about what just happened. I guess I let two silly things hurt me too much. Now, I promise to be stronger in my feelings. I won't let anything like this happen ever again."
***************
September 27, 2003
Wow. What a past few days. I need a psychiatrist, I think.
Ryo has truly become one of my friends now. He rejected me, knowing it was for the better. I don't know anyone who was rejected and felt better because of it.
As for things with Takato, I can only hope for the best. I know things will work with Jeri, however. I wonder how Kenta and Kazu will react. I don't even know if they know about the whole thing. Henry's going to kill me for even attempting such a thing.
I'm going to bed. I think it will be nice getting some sleep knowing that everything is going ok, I guess.
Rika Nonaka, signing off.
*****************
A/N: Wow, nothing went on in this chapter. I guess that's just how some things go. (falls anime-style) The next chapter will be about the next day at school, then I'm moving up to December events. It will be interesting then.
It's 1:00 in the freakin' morning, I'm watching a World Cup game between U.S. and Mexico (U.S. is winning, hell yeah), my dad's sleeping on the couch, and I'm going to bed.
Till next time.
