I would also like to thank you all for the reviews so far. I do plan on responding to most of those reviews pretty soon, like at the end of this fic. ^_^ This story is also starting to wind down. I sense an ending soon. All we have left is the dance, and Mrs. Izumi having Koushirou's new brother or sister and this fic is done and then I can go back to the sequel of this.
Now, as always, I do not own any of these characters and/or places associated
with the game, manga, show, etc.*
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
"Hai, obachan, I am still out with Yamato-san and I may be a little late," Mimi told her aunt on her cell phone. "I promise to hurry home as soon as I can...yes ma'am...okay, g'bye."
Mimi hanged up her cell phone and put it away.
"Now everything is all ready to go," she said with a smile.
Yamato, who was still unsure of what was going through his younger friend's mind, spoke up.
"Mimi, where are we going!?!"
"To find Koushirou of course! I know where he is," she told Yamato, quite sure of herself. "He just has to be there! He just has to be!" the girl thought, hoping that she wasn't making a mistake and that her hunch was right.
The two were waiting around at the bus stop near the movie theatre awaiting the bus that would take them to nearly out of town.
"Mimi, will you please calm down and tell me where we are going!"
"I already told you, to find Koushirou!"
Yamato sighed to himself and tried his best to calm himself down. He was starting to grow slightly annoyed with Mimi's constant "To find Koushirou," comment.
"But why do we have to go to the outskirts of town just to do it? The only thing I can think of that's there is the beach and I know Koushirou wouldn't be at the beach."
"Because that's where he probably is, silly," the girl smiled playfully.
"If you say so, but I still don't understand why we have to go so far away to look for him in a place where he would more than likely not be."
The bus finally showed up and Mimi and Yamato hopped on, Mimi being
more determined than ever to find her redheaded friend…
****
Miyako had finally gotten an e-mail back from Koushirou.
He had pretty much said that he was glad that they could still be friends,
but he didn't mention much about where he could have been. He just
responded to everything Miyako mentioned in the e-mail, including the incident
in the computer lab that morning...
~*~*~*~
Miyako-kun,
I am glad that you are not mad at me for my rudeness. I am truly sorry about that. I also noticed that you sent me another e-mail as well.
Yes, it is true. I did not attend school today. I had a few things to do today. When I return, I do not know, but do not worry about me or where I am. I will return sooner or later. I just had to work some things out that neither you nor Mimi-san could help me with.
By the way, where is Mimi-san? I will try to get in touch with her later, but do you know where she could be as of the moment?
::lol@handcuffed man::
Yes, it probably was a sight, seeing a person handcuffed to a computer lab chair. I'm sure our Principal didn't find the incident amusing at all. I have no idea who the culprit was who could have handcuffed him to the chair. I am sure who ever did it is long gone by now, especially if the man who was handcuffed says he doesn't remember the person's name or their identity like you have stated...
~Koushirou~
~*~*~*~
"So, Jou-senpai was right," Miyako thought as she read through Koushirou's
e-mail. "He just wanted to be by himself."
The girl responded to the e-mail and explained how he should have let someone know what his plans for the day were, how he shouldn't have ran off, and also about Mimi's "date" with Yamato. She made sure not to mention that Mimi was looking for him currently, fearing that he may run off from where ever he was hiding out.
She immediately got a reply and started to read it…
~*~*~*~
Miyako-kun,
If I had told you or anybody else, you all would have probably tried to stop me from leaving for the day. I really needed this time to myself. Please, do not worry about me. I will return home soon. I have finally made my decision.
Mimi-san is out with Yamato-san? I thought their "date" wasn't supposed to be until tomorrow for the dance! That is quite odd if you ask me!
~Koushirou~
~*~*~*~
"His decision?" Miyako asked. "What decision is that? I
wonder what he is talking about…"
The girl shrugged and put her D-Terminal down and decided to stop e-mailing
Koushirou. He obviously wasn't going to let her in on why he had
disappeared for the day. She then changed her mind and e-mailed him
back....
~*~*~*~
Izumi-senpai,
Yes, oneesama is spending the entire evening with Yamato-san. They were going out to dinner and a movie! And yes, it is a date! Isn't that romantic of him! He asked her out this morning when she got to school. ^_^
Anyway, what was the decision that you had to make?
~Miyako~
~*~*~*~
She awaited her e-mail and got one back. She checked it quickly.
~*~*~*~
Miyako-kun,
What is so romantic about an outing between friends? I
am surprised that she is spending the evening with Yamato-san of all people.
He has never given her attention like this before! Why start now?
I figured that he would have had some kind of a band practice, like he
always does. Besides, he should already have a female companion since
every girl in the city of Odaiba would love to hang out with him and furthermore---
~*~*~*~
Miyako continued to read the e-mail as Koushirou rambled on and on.
~*~*~*~
I am sorry for rambling on. I must get going. It's almost
time for me to leave.
I will see you later.
~Koushirou~
~*~*~*~
The girl closed up her D-Terminal and frowned. He had managed
to do it yet again--make her envious of Mimi. He rambled on
so much about his obvious dislike for Mimi's spending the evening with
Yamato that she had grown annoyed.
She just didn't get Koushirou. First he acts like he has no outside interests, then he acts like a jealous boyfriend whenever it came to guys hanging around with Mimi, but never like this.
She got up and went to her room, slamming it shut behind her in frustration,
anger, and annoyance. She then plopped herself down on her bed, taking
out her diary so that she could record the events of another day which
involved Koushirou annoying her with the way he seemed to glorify Mimi
and ignore her, totally dismissing the fact that Koushirou hadn't answered
her second question or that he was planning on leaving wherever
it was he was e-mailing her from...
****
Round about the time Miyako got that last e-mail from Koushirou...
"Wake up, Mimi," Yamato said while shaking the girl awake.
"Huh?" Mimi yawned while stretching.
The girl had fallen asleep during the semi-long bus ride. She sat up and saw that Yamato was right. They were clear across town and very far away from home.
"Good, we're here!" she smiled happily.
During the bus ride, when Mimi had fallen asleep, Yamato had spent the majority of his time staring at her, trying to figure her out and why he had such an attraction towards her. "What was so special about Koushirou that made her so concerned for him?" was what he kept asking himself during the entire ride.
The two hopped off of the bus.
"It's about 8:20 now, the last bust to leave here, leaves here at exactly 8:45," Yamato said while reading the bus schedule he had picked up before getting on the bus back in Odaiba.
"I'm positive that he is," she said assuringly and confidently. "Now come on, let's go."
"Go where?" the boy asked, still slightly annoyed over their situation. "There is nothing here but beach!"
"Up there," she pointed.
The boy looked up to where Mimi had pointed. He saw a very big hill, and on this hilltop was a very large building that overlooked the beach.
"What is that place?"
"The Odaiba Research Observatory Lab."
"And you think Koushirou is here because..."
"Because I do!"
"You wouldn't mind adding more on to that, would you?"
The girl gave the boy a smile and started to explain why she thought Koushirou was there.
"Certainly, I don't mind explaining more," Mimi nodded. "*Koushirou likes to study star charts and constellations. For his school vacations, he tells me that he has always liked going to the Odaiba Observatory since they have better computer equipment and look at the constellations and map out start charts much better--extremely better--than what his two computers can do.
"I don't understand all of that technical stuff too much, but that's what he likes. The reason it's so secluded and private is so that the researchers here won't have to worry about being disturbed or bothered in any way. They still have visitors and tourists that come here, Koushirou being one of probably many."
She pointed towardst he top of the building
"That's where their super powerful telescope comes out," she explained. "Maybe Koushirou wants a comet named after him or something," she smiled, thinking of how cute the idea was.
"Let's hurry and find him so we can catch the bus back to town! We just spent almost 5 minutes discussing just now."
"Right, let's go!"
The two ran up the path, which lead up to the big isolated building.
"What makes you think that he would be here now?" Yamaot asked while running up the path.
"The best time to come is at night when all of the stars are out and are a bit easier to see when not using the telescope and the computers and just observing by eye, I guess. He has told me that he likes to come here during the summer nights since he is off then. He is pretty good friends with the research guys that work here. According to him, he has been coming to this place ever since he was very young."
The two made it to the big door of the observatory. Mimi knocked, the sound of the knock echoing all throughout the big, empty building. There seemed to be no one around to answer, but she decided to knock again.
"I hope somebody hurries up and answers," Yamato grumbled, growing a tad bit impatient. He then looked at his watch. "We don't have much time left."
The girl got a worried look. She really hoped that she was right about Koushirou's being there. She would hate it if she were wrong and wasted her and Yamato's time.
The two were about to give up, until they heard the big creaky door being opened. A tall man who looked to be in his mid 40s answered it.
"The Observatory tours are now over, children, sorry," the man said as if it were routined.
"No, wait!" Mimi called before the man could close the door. "We don't want a tour, Mr. um…um…"
*"Nagare..."
"Professor Nagare, we are looking for someone, a friend of ours," Mimi explained to him.
"Sure, who are you looking for?" the professor asked. "If you are looking for my fellow researchers, they have all left for the day. I'm the only one still here, but I plan on leaving in a bit."
"Have you seen an Izumi Koushirou by chance?"
"As a matter of fact, I have. He spent the entire day here. That's a first for him for this time of the year. He said he was exempt from going to school today since he had passed all of his exams with high marks or something like that." He gave both Mimi and Yamato a questioning look. "Who are you and what do you want with him?"
"We are classmates of his," Yamato started, glancing over at Mimi. "We had a feeling that he would be here."
"Well, he left a very good while ago," the man told them. "A short while before you two got here, actually."
"Damnit, we missed him!" Yamato cursed. "All of that trouble and we end up missing him!"
"I offered to drive him back home to the city, but he said not to bother but I know him better than that," the man smiled. "I always end up taking him back home or either to my place. He is pretty good friends with my two Pocket Monster loving daughters, *Sutaa and *Mi. They don't go to school in Odaiba. We live in another district, but if you guys didn't see him, then he must have taken the last bus out."
"But the last bus doesn't leave until 8:45," Mimi said.
"Then he must still be around here someplace, just as I predicted. I doubt he ran all the way to Odaiba. I bet he wants to ride back with me."
"But where else could he be?" Yamato asked.
"He's on at the beach, probably. He hangs out down there a lot too whenever he visits here and helps us out with all of our research with the research he does back at home on his own."
The two were surprised to hear that Koushirou was probably down on the beach but decided to give it a shot anyway. The two ran down to the beach and surprisingly, saw a young redheaded boy sitting there, staring up at the sky, taking in the nice, gentle breeze from the dark ocean waters.
"Koushirou!"
"I can't believe it! He is actually here on the beach!" Yamato whispered in amazement. He then turned to Mimi, feeling a bit silly. "I'm sorry I was starting to doubt your knowing where Koushirou was."
"That's okay," Mimi smiled. She then laughed shortly, "I was starting to doubt myself too."
"Well, let's go get him!"
Yamato was about to run over to Koushirou to get him to hurry up and come along with them, but Mimi stopped him.
"We've found him, now let's get him home!" Yamato anxiously told Mimi. "Why are you keeping me from going to get him?"
"Because something is wrong."
"I don't mean to sound selfish or anything, but I don't want to miss our only ride back home. We are running out of time!"
"Wait, let me talk with him first and then we'll leave."
"Yeah, whether Koushirou wants to or not!"
"No, if he chooses not to come along, then we should respect that and let him stay. It's his choice."
"What!?!" the boy asked in disbelief. "That doesn't make much sense!"
The girl gave him a look.
"Okay, that does sound like something I would say, but I don't think that should apply to this situation…"
"Never mind that, just stay right here."
The young girl walked farther down the beach to meet up with Koushirou. Yamato stayed behind and just watched her. He wasn't sure what to think of Mimi's unusual fondness of Koushirou.
Koushirou didn't notice that someone was walking up behind him nor did he sense it. He just sighed, remaining in deep thought.
"It sure is nice out tonight, isn't it?" a voice giggled.
The boy, startled by the voice, turned around to see...
"Mimi-san?!?"
The girl smiled and sat down beside him.
"I just love going to the beach," the girl said while inhaling the salty sea air. "It's the best place to go for a vacation and to get away from everyone too. You can run away from your problems instead of facing them that way."
"I---"
"Don't you think?" she interrupted.
"Why are you here?" he asked, turning his head away from her. "I told Miyako-kun not to worry about me or to bother looking for me."
"Well, that is her, this is I. Do you know how worried you have made everyone today!?!"
The boy shook his head.
"A lot…"
"I didn't realize that my not being around would cause such a tumult…"
"Tumult?"
"Commotion."
"Well, yes, you have caused quite a 'tumult.' Everyone was worried about you today; even those in our school that aren't in our class and year. Koushirou, what is wrong? If something is bothering you, you should find someone to talk to, not keep it to yourself and run away. All of Odaiba is looking for you!"
"I just had to think about some things." He then sighed and quietly said, "I'm not sure I even want to go home after the way I acted towards my parents."
"What happened?"
He lowered his head.
"Nothing that concerns you, but lately I have been having my fair share of problems with them, arguments and disagreements. I'm just not used of it. I said some things I didn't really mean and I now know that they hate me and would probably want to disown me. I have brought shame unto the Izumi family name and I don't deserve to be an Izumi, it's just official now."
"That's not true," Mimi said while shaking her head. "We all have arguments with our parents and end up saying things we don't necessarily mean. You think you're the only one who doesn't have problems with your parents? It's normal, very normal in fact."
The boy sat there and didn't say anything.
"What exactly was your argument about?"
"Nothing much, really. I broke curfew and snuck out of the house the other night to look for something."
"What were you looking for?"
"I misplaced my article on my biological parents," he frowned, staring down at the sand on the beach.
"Oh, that reminds me," the girl started while taking something from out of her purse, "I meant to give you this today when you came to school, but you never showed up."
Koushirou took the piece of paper and inspected it.
"My article!" he exclaimed, recognizing the item. He then looked over at her. "How did you get it!"
Before Mimi answered him, she moved the hair from her face since the winds were kind of high for that particular night.
"After I stormed out on you yesterday, I came back, but you weren't there. I found this on the floor and picked it up. I would have given this back to you sooner, but I had a little research to do and kept the article."
The boy lowered his head again and stared at the article.
"You went to Odaiba Elementary…didn't you?" he asked quietly, his eyes still fixed on the news article.
The girl nodded and continued.
"Just because you were too stubborn to go, didn't mean that I was! I want a good grade on this and you deserve to know more about your mother."
Koushirou didn't know what to say.
"Oh, I have something else for you too..."
The girl took out a couple of small sheets of paper and handed them to Koushirou.
"This is my father with a woman and a baby!" he said, looking over the photo. "Is this...no, it couldn't be...could it really be..."
The girl nodded and smiled.
"I found someone that was a close friend of your biological mother."
"This is my...my mother?" Koushirou asked, still shocked at what he was seeing. "And the person she is holding is...is me?"
"Yeah, that's your mother holding a baby you," she smiled. "It is your family portrait."
The boy studied the photo and did something he hadn't in a good while...smile. This was the first time he had ever seen his biological mother and he was extremely happy about it. He even felt like crying a little, but he didn't, of course, mainly because it wasn't his nature to.
"Wow, my mother," he chuckled a bit in disbelief to keep himself from crying. "I can't believe it! My mother! You got this from a person who knew my real mother?!?" He stared down at the photo again, nearly speechless and shook his head. "Wow!"
He then looked at the other photo. It was a photo of Ms. Hanada and Miki. They looked as if they were in their early 20s. Mimi noticed Koushirou looking at that particular photo and spoke up.
"That's her friend," she explained. "They were the best of friends and I also found out a lot of other things, but it's getting late. Yamato-san is waiting for us."
The boy jerked his head up at the mentioning of Yamato's name. He remembered what Miyako had told him about Mimi being out with Yamato on a "date" and his wondering why she would spend the evening with him.
"Yamato-san is here?"
The girl smiled and pointed behind her. Koushirou looked back to see Yamato standing where Mimi had left him with his arms crossed.
"He didn't want me to go looking for you all by myself."
"That was very nice of him."
"Won't you come home with us to stop everyone from worrying so much? If you won't come back home for me or the rest of your friends won't you please come home for your parents at least, for your mother's sake?"
The boy sat there. He was always planning on coming home, just not right away like he had told Miyako in the e-mail he had sent her.
"I suppose I should be leaving how. Nagare-hakase has probably already left too just like Boshi-hakase and if I miss the bus, then I would be stuck here."
"Oh great," the girl smiled gratefully. "I'm so glad you decided to come back on your own."
The boy smiled a bit, still staring at the two photos.
"I can't believe she did this for me, I never would have imagined it," Koushirou thought, grateful for having a friend like Mimi. "I guess she's more serious than I thought when it came to this project."
Yamato waved to Mimi, who was pretty much urging them to hurry up. Mimi got the hint and stood up, brushing the sand from off of her skirt. She then looked down at Koushirou and smiled.
"Well, let's get going."
He nodded as Yamato ran down to the two, extending his hand out to Koushirou to help him up.
"Glad to see you're okay, pal," Yamato greeted.
"A-ri-ga-to, Ya-ma-to-san," Koushirou responded slowly, accepting his offer to help him up.
The older boy smiled at Koushirou.
"Sure, no problem. That's what friends are for."
The boy looked down at his watch and then over at Mimi and Koushirou.
"C'mon you two, we have to get going! The bus is about to leave."
The two nodded and started to run back towards where the bus stop was. Mimi was the fastest of the three since she played Volleyball. She was glad that she got her exercise and had fun at the same time while playing a sport she actually enjoyed.
For the upcoming school year, Mimi was planning on joining the Swim Club. She always enjoyed swimming. The girl was now thinking ahead since she wanted to have a good transcript for when she entered High School and being in clubs always looked good on transcripts going into High School; especially cultural type clubs, like Chorus, which she excelled in.
The three finally made it to the stop. Yamato looked at his watch. It read, 8:43.
"Wow, we made it!" Yamato said while trying to catch his breath.
"Yeah, I would hate to miss the only bus back to town."
Koushirou was quiet as he looked at the photos Mimi had given him, still in deep thought. He still couldn't believe what had happened and what Mimi had done for him.
"Does she care about my well being that much?"
Before he could answer himself, the bus showed up, 8:45 on the dot,
and the three teens boarded...
****
Back at the Izumi home, only much later than when Koushirou, Yamato,
and Mimi left the Odaiba Observatory...
"I'm sorry, sir, ma'am, but we haven't found your son," the policeman told the two parents.
This wasn't the news Mrs. Izumi wanted to hear and she made sure to get that point across.
"You have to find him! He has never been gone away from home this long except for school excursion trips!"
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Izumi, but we have searched all over Odaiba at every teen hangout possible. There's no place left here in this entire city!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir. We have tried everywhere. We are planning on ceasing our search and commencing it by morning if he doesn't come back by tonight on his own."
"I can't sleep knowing that my son is out there by himself!" Mrs. Izumi sobbed.
"Please, we will do everything possible to get your son back." The policeman then smiled proudly. "He is a great asset to our city, you know! A grand hero!"
The two gave the policeman a look, wondering what he was talking about.
"Our son, a hero?" Mr. Izumi asked in bewilderment.
The policeman laughed a bit, thinking the two were joking.
"Of course your son, Izumi Koushirou! Thanks to his quick thinking on Sunday, he helped to protect a young girl from being sexually assaulted and killed! A pretty good friend of his. I can't think of her name right off..."
"Sunday?" Mr. Izumi asked himself.
Mr. Izumi looked over at his wife and figured that she was thinking the same thing he was. The two were starting to put two and two together. The policeman noticed the looks that the Izumis had on their faces; looks of confusion.
"You two act as if you didn't know."
"Oh, of course, of course," Mr. Izumi said nervously. "We were just thinking of how tragic the situation could've become if it weren't for our son helping out."
Mrs. Izumi nodded in agreement.
"Well, I have to get going. If you need anything else, just give us a call. You know the number. An officer will be by tomorrow morning to check up on you all as well." The man then tipped his hat to them. "G'night."
The officer left the Izumi home to get back to the station to perform his next assigned task.
"Masami, did you hear that?" the woman asked, still crying a bit. "He said Sunday!"
The man sat down on the couch and ran his hand through his short hair.
"Mimi...he was covering for her..." the man realized.
The woman sat down right next to him and sighed.
"I read about some assault in the paper and heard about it on the news."
"So did I," Mr. Izumi said, still surprised at what had actually happened that past Sunday.
"It makes sense. Koushirou didn't go to the Yagami's to study because he was with Mimi."
"But that assault occurred over near Odaiba University...why would he be there?"
The woman shook her head. Right now, she was still worried about Koushirou, but was more curious as to what he had been doing these past few days.
"Maybe there is a connection to his breaking into his Junior High School and Odaiba University."
"We ran him off with our questions," Mrs. Izumi said, lowering her head, shedding tears.
"No, don't say that."
"He hates us now!"
"That's not true."
"You heard him! We are liars to him and we have been lying to him for his entire life! What else could he mean by that! He didn't sound as if he were happy with us at the time!"
"I am still wondering what he meant by that," the man responded calmly. "If we do not get any answers from out of him, I feel we deserve knowing what it is exactly that we are lying to him about. I want to get this all out and on the table and then maybe we can start off as a family again."
"I hope so," the woman said, wiping her tears away with a tissue.
Right at that moment, a certain red head was waiting on the outside of the apartment door. He was still hesitant on whether or not to enter the home that he felt he had broken or not. Mimi insisted that Koushirou go straight home. He offered to walk her home, but Yamato said that he would get her home. Mimi agreed to it, of course. She felt that the more time Koushirou had with his parents to work things out, the better.
"It's now or never! I have to go in and I have to apologize," he told himself. "I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to really disown me after this," he muttered under his breath.
The boy took in a deep breath and stuck the key into the door's lock. After the lock clicked, the boy slowly turned the knob, still hesitant on entering. He then decided to accept whatever his fate was going to be. He just hoped that it would be a fast, painless death.
Mrs. Izumi heard the lock click on the front door and jerked her head up.
"What is it?" Mr. Izumi asked, noticing the alert look on his wife's face.
"I heard something..."
The woman stood up and went to where she heard the sound.
"Oh please be him! Please be him!"
She went all the way to the front door of the apartment to greet...
"Koushirou!!!"
The woman ran up to the boy and hugged him tightly and smothered him in kisses.
"Oh my god! You are back! Thank god you are back!" The woman hugged him a bit tighter. "I was so afraid I would never see you again!!"
Mr. Izumi heard the commotion and walked up to the door.
"Please, don't run off again Koushirou!" Mrs. Izumi told him, still holding on to him tightly.
"We were so worried about you!" Mr. Izumi added, glad to see his only son had returned.
The boy, who was currently lacking air from the tight hug, couldn't say anything to respond. He was actually a bit surprised that they were happy to see him. He figured that they would have been ready to kill him for what he had done. Well, not literally, but he was expecting some yelling from them.
"I think he knows that you are glad to see him," Mr. Izumi said while pulling his wife away. "He is starting to turn blue."
"Gomen," the woman apologized with a sweat drop.
"That's okay," Koushirou quietly responded while trying to catch his breath.
"Did you have anything to eat today? I can cook you something right quick! If you want I could---"
"Calm down, Yoshie."
"I'm sorry, I was just so worried about him."
"Son, will you please sit down for a moment," the man asked, a serious tone in his voice.
The boy nodded, but first took off his jacket and hanged it up. When he did this, his article and two photos fell out, but Koushirou didn't notice. He sat down with his father while Mrs. Izumi left to get Koushirou a snack. She couldn't help it, he was her baby and to her, still was.
"I'm not hungry, mom."
"Well, you should at least have yourself a drink," she called from the kitchen. "I'll be back in a moment."
The boy didn't disobey and said, "okay." Mr. Izumi just sat there waiting for his wife to return, which didn't take her too long. She brought Koushirou a glass of her famous lemonade, which the boy accepted gratefully. After he finished drinking it, Mr. Izumi spoke up.
"So, do you have anything that you want to tell us, son?"
Koushirou lowered his head. He knew that he shouldn't lie to them anymore, even if they were keeping secrets from him. Two wrongs don't make a right.
"Well, son?"
The boy was about to speak until he saw his mother get up and go by the front door. She saw the papers on the floor and she was clean, tidy type and could always spot such things. He ignored his mother's usual cleaning habits and put his attention back on his father.
"Well...you see...Mimi-san and myself, well, we---"
"Were in search of someone," a quiet voice interrupted.
Koushirou and Mr. Izumi looked towards the woman who was staring down at the news article.
"What are you talking about?" Mr. Izumi asked.
The woman handed her husband the articles of paper she had found on the floor--the photos and the article. She took a seat on the other side of Koushirou. He could tell that she had been crying. He hated to make his mother cry in any way and that made him feel even worse.
"Is that what you accused us of lying to you about?" Mrs. Izumi asked, still speaking quietly. "Your adoption?"
The boy nodded slowly.
"How long have you known?" she asked.
The boy kept his head lowered and spoke up, just as quiet as she was.
"Since I was about seven or eight..."
"That long?" Mr. Izumi asked in surprise. "You have known about our not being your real parents for the past eight years or so? Why didn't you come to us?"
The boy couldn't believe the question that was just asked of him. He was surprised that they, themselves, hadn't already figured it out.
"Why didn't you ever come to me with this information!" Koushirou asked, speaking up. "It is your job to let me know these things, not mine! It made me feel as if you were embarassed of such a thing!"
"You are right," Mrs. Izumi said, trying to calm Koushirou down a bit. "We should have been more honest about your origin and past, but that still does not explain why you would want to keep such a secret from us. If we would have known that you had known, we would have explained more about it. The reason we never told you of your being adopted was because we felt that it wasn't the right time to tell you, not because we were embarassed over such a situation."
"No, Yoshie, don't take up for me." The man turned his attention away from his wife and back to Koushirou. "It was my idea to keep this away from you, but like she said, it wasn't because we felt you were an embarassment to us. Your mother wanted to tell you about your adoption a long time ago, but I told her that the time wasn't right and she stood by me and my decision. I felt that if we told you of your adoption that we would lose you and I don't want to lose another one. You were a blessing to us and it was meant to be, our adopting you!"
"Lose me?"
The man nodded.
"We were afraid that you would end up doing what you have been doing for the past few days now," he explained. "We were afraid that you just may find someone and...leave us."
"We were just being selfish. We didn't mean to, we just didn't want you to leave us."
"When were you planning on telling me?"
"When you became an adult where we wouldn't have any say in what you do in reference to your being adopted," the woman told him, wiping away another one of her tears with her tissue.
"Don't cry, mom!" the boy said apologetically.
The woman apologized.
"No, don't apologize."
He stood up and sighed and stared out of the window.
"I am the one who should be apologizing to you. I should have figured that you kept that secret for a reason and I shouldn't have made such a big deal over my being adopted. I felt that I didn't belong since I'm not a real Izumi, which has been bothering me for years, but I shouldn't hold that against you for not telling me about my adoption. You felt that it was best that I didn't know, but at least I know that you were planning on telling me."
He turned back to them.
"I said some things the other night that I didn't mean and I would like to apologize for that."
The two smiled at Koushirou as he continued.
"I wasn't thinking straight and I was just overwhelmed and a bit upset that you mentioned Sunday."
Mrs. Izumi stood up and walked up beside her now slightly taller son.
"Don't say any thing else about Sunday if you do not want to."
"It's okay?"
"We already know what happened," Mr. Izumi told him.
"You do?"
"We know that you were trying to keep the identity of Mimi a secret," Mrs. Izumi told him. "We know of her assault and how you helped her."
"I'm sorry about that. I lied about where I was supposed to go and---"
"Stop apologizing!" Mrs. Izumi interrupted. "We forgive you, partially, for what you have been doing."
"But why were you at Odaiba University?"
"My biological father was an instructor there. I was trying to obtain information about him."
"You mean, you spent all of Sunday at Odaiba University with Mimi?"
The boy shook his head at his father and decided that it was time to tell them everything, which he did.
"Hikarigaoka! You went way out there!"
The boy nodded to his mother and continued his story about how he had met Ms. Mitsuishi, how he went to Tokyo U, met a student named Keisuke, the way Anje had treated him and Mimi, and how Mimi had found him and persuaded him to actually come home, and how he had gotten the photos.
"So you now know that we are family, but only through marriage," Mr. Izumi stated.
"That's okay. I still see you and mom as my mother and father, even if you aren't by blood. You are all I know and over the years, you have taken care of me as if I were your very own."
His mom started to cry. Those were the best words she had ever heard from Koushirou. She, of course, strangled the boy with a big hug.
After the hug, Koushirou and his adoptive parents talked for the majority of the night, getting everything that they had been keeping secret from one another, out in the open. This included why the Izumis fostered so many children before adopting him. He was surprised to hear that this mom had had another child before him, but then understood why she made such a big deal over her pregnancy.
This was making the boy feel much better and he had Mimi to thank for
it. Before they left him, Mimi pretty much threatened him, but in
an "I'm your friend and I care about you" way. She said that he should
tell his parents about everything he had been doing for the past few days.
He thought about it a lot and did. That was a good thing, actually.
Now that he had done just that, he had a new and better perspective of
the Izumis...
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
Note 1: This is the info I was looking up pretty much. Remember in the beginning of Togemon in Toyland, each kid was talking about what they enjoyed doing most back home?
Taichi: Relaxing after a game.
Sora: Singing while doing chores.
Yamato: Grilling steaks.
Takeru: Playing video games.
Mimi: Vacationing.
Jou: Doing homework and studying.
Koushirou's was the only one I couldn't remember. Koushirou's
was looking at Sattelite pics of stars on his computer. I'm just
adding more to it. ^^
***
Note 2: "Nagare" is a bad pun everyone. The word, "nagare" means,
"shooting star." Nagareboshi is another way of saying it and at first,
I was going to have him introduce himself as "Nagare Boshi," splitting
the word up.
My mind was a blank on names and I wanted something "star" related for
his name. My other choice was Kenkyuuinno Hoshi. Kenkyuuin
means researcher and "hoshi" is another way of saying star. Now,
I just changed it to kenkyuuinno to make it possesive. The Hiragana
character "no" makes words possesive and plural like the 's and s does
for words in English. I was trying to say "Researcher of Stars,"
but who knows if I actually did that right, which is why I didn't bother
using it. Oh, and I also decided not to use it because I'm
already planning on using the name "Hoshi" for the sequel to this fic.
Hope you all decide to read it.
***
Note 3: Okay, you guys try to figure out the pun for that one.
It's a Pokemon one. Sound it out guys. Sutaa + Mi. I'll
help you out a bit with the pronunciation. The 'i' in "Mi" has a
long 'e' sound. I'll let you know if you guys guess it right later,
like in the next part. :-p
