"Tsubam… Tsubame? Are you alri…"
She wished she were. She really did. Perhaps she would be if she had not entered the dojo. She might have been if she had known earlier. She could even have been if…
"Tsubame?"
No. Not even his voice meant anything.
"Tsubame?"
Her cup betrayed her emotions, the fidgeting cup clasped between her trembling hands.
"TSUBAME!"
She felt his arms clutching her shoulders. She shut her eyes, refusing to meet his gaze. On impulse, she freed the cup, causing the tea to spill all over the floor. The cup spun around but finally rested, revealing the painted cherry blossoms on its side.
"Tsubame! Get a hold of yourself!" Yahiko pleaded with her.
Before he could persist his plea for her sanity, Yahiko felt his arms being shoved away. The sight of Tsubame only worsened his stunned face…
The sight of her tears.
The sight of her breaking down.
The sight of her grabbing the sides of her hair, tugging herself in torture.
The sight of her shattering cry as she scampered out of the room.
Yahiko stood, rooted to the ground, as Megumi gave chase to a wailing Tsubame.
"What am I doing?" He heard himself ask. Apparently, the question bore more significance-compared to the answer as he turned to Tae as a distraction.
"Let her calm herself down. If she needed you, she wouldn't have pushed you away." Tae said, her once beaming eyes now stripped of life.
"Yes, that was it." Yahiko comforted himself within, ignoring the guilt still lingering inside
"So…" Tae inquired awkwardly, "About the wake…"
Both sides were mutual regarding the lack of condolences. After all, they were no strangers to the concept of death.
Not now, anyway.
"Here. It will be held here."
Tae stared sorrowfully at the young man. For days on end, that was who he had been. Since he contracted it that was the man Yahiko had become. As his shell laid in the dojo, Yahiko's shell was standing right in front of her. Tae knew it was wrong, but she had always blamed him. Seeking redemption… had he not done enough for everyone else? Is he oblivious to the lives he had changed? One would think fighting endless battles against aggressors of peace would enable one to repent his sins. No… Not him. It was almost funny… The thought that the only mistake she was aware of that he had ever made was to be his greatest. As he had changed them before, he is doing so again… in spite of death…
"Leave the financial woes to me." Tae asserted. As much as Yahiko wished to decline, there was no other way.
"Thank you…" Yahiko managed to mumble.
"No… he should be thanking you instead…"