PART NINE

Too good to be true

"Okay! Okay! We're coming already!" Fuuko shouted through the window of her room the next night. Outside, Recca and Domon were standing beside a taxi parked outside the apartment, waving for Yanagi and her to hurry up.

"Hayaku!" Recca shouted back. "If we miss the train, we won't reach the Great Wall by dawn!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Fuuko yelled back irritably and stuck her head back from the windowsill, hopping down from the trunk she was tiptoeing on. She ran across her room to the side of her bed and frantically looked around for any last minute stuff she might've wanted to pack.

From the other side of the bed, Yanagi spoke, "Is the taxi there yet?" She shoved a scarf into her backpack and lifted it, standing up from the bed.

"You bet," Fuuko decided she'd packed enough and zipped her bag. "And the guys are hurrying like there's no tomorrow. If you ask me, I think they're taking this got-to-get-to-the-station-on-time-or-die thing way too seriously."

"Well, we did book a room in the hotel there for two nights, and if we don't reach the Great Wall tonight before dawn, we won't be able to use the first night," Yanagi commented, just as the car horn outside honked again. "So let's not argue with them while they're still all hyper and just go down now, okay?"

Fuuko shrugged and the two of them walked out of their room. They dashed down the hallway and down the elevator to the lobby, where Fuuko spotted Tokiya at once, standing obliviously by the doorway with his bag slung over his shoulder, and one hand in his pocket.

The moment he saw her, he turned around and walked out the door to where Hanabishi and Domon were standing. Fuuko and Yanagi rushed out behind him.

"Finally!" Recca commented. "We were starting to think your head got stuck in your bag," he frowned at Fuuko.

"See if you can tell Yanagi that," she stuck her tongue out at him and hopped into the cab's backseat, leaving him blushing. Domon was already inside, and he grinned broadly as Fuuko squeezed in beside him, but scowled angrily as Tokiya followed her inside and shut the door. As Tokiya had told Fuuko the other night, they hadn't told anyone the real story, so Domon was still pretty much pissed off at him. And obviously it was going to be a problem now that they were all going to the Great Wall together.

But then again, Tokiya hated him all the same. At least the feeling was mutual.

"I think we oughta switch seats, Fuu-chan," Domon commented out loud, still staring narrowly at Tokiya. "Better make sure you don't get harassed or hurt by someone who obviously needs serious help, and fast."

"The only thing that needs serious help here is your brain, Domon," Tokiya kept his glare out the window, as if even a glance of Domon would actually make him pull out his Ensui by instinct and freeze the whole country.  "And the only thing that's getting hurt is your freakin' ass if you don't mind your own damn business."

Domon's cheeks swelled like a pincushion. "What the hell did you just—"

"Domon, please," Fuuko grabbed his shoulder. "Just don't mind what he said, okay?"

"Damn it," Domon cursed, breathing heavily. "One more word from that punk and I swear I'll send his butt flying towards Japan and—"

Tokiya snorted and was just about to say something when Fuuko clapped her hand to his mouth. "You shut up, too!" She glared at him in frustration. "Please. Both of you," she looked at the two of her friends back and forth. "Try making it through this whole trip without ripping out each other's throats, okay…?"

Tokiya slapped her hand away from his mouth and stared out the window again, while Domon sighed and started mumbling incoherent words to himself. Only when Recca and Yanagi got on the cab in the front seat did the driver start the engine.

Fuuko sighed. It was going to be a really hard responsibility to keep the peace up.

For a whole day and two nights.

***

It's not your fault.

It never was.

You had a wonderful life ahead of you…

I knew that…because I once did…

But then I had to take your future away from you…

And make mine as miserable as losing something precious that you've tried so hard to earn for me.

You earned me my life…but ruined yours…and now…

I've ruined mine, too.

I could've died.

I should've died.

And now I'm sitting here wasting your earnings on me…looking at your ambition for me at a distance…

Funny why it doesn't seem like an ambition anymore.

You're not here to see me fulfill it for you , anyway…

So what the heck…

What…the…

Heck.

Tokiya shut his eyes and rubbed his temples, his elbows propped on his knees. He dropped Mifuyu's picture on the floor.  He wished he could just let her go like that…just drop it and let go…let go of all the pain and memories that ruined his chances of ever living life again…

He raised his head and looked out the open window, into the cold night sky…at the Great Wall that stood a distance from the hotel room he was in.

How he wished he were one of the men who'd died building it. Then we wouldn't have to suffer any more than he was suffering now…

"Just grab it and run like the wind!"

Tokiya rolled his eyes as his friends burst the door open, barging into the room like jocks that just won a championship match.

A match at the snack bar.

Hanabishi burst out laughing. "You were right, Fuuko! Kicking that chocolate machine sure gave us a whole lot more bars than all our pennies combined!" He dumped all the chocolate bars invading his hands on the bed Tokiya was sitting on the edge of. "We oughta do that more often!"

"Yeah!" Domon sided. "Imagine having to eat more than we can actually afford, without anyone catching us!"

"Not to mention having to break more teeth than how many you actually have," Yanagi frowned disapprovingly. "You should all give that back. You didn't pay for them."

"Aw, c'mon, Yanagi-chan! How many times can you eat chocolate candies that actually come from China? Live a little, will you?" Fuuko grinned. Everyone else flopped on the bed and started munching the chocolate bars like crazed rhinoceroses.

Way to greet Tokiya's moody night.

"Awfully quiet," Fuuko managed to say between mouthfuls of chocolate invading her mouth (and spraying the bed). She offered a candy bar to him. "Want some?"

"No," Tokiya snapped, looking narrowly at her. "I can live without losing all my teeth, thank you very much," he stood up and grabbed two of the many sheets neatly folded on the bed. He walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Fuuko asked curiously.

"To sleep." He laid the sheet on the floor near the door. "And in case someone's acting stupid enough to worry about my so-called ability to harass another girl (Domon immediately turned red and stopped glaring at Tokiya), I'm not sleeping anywhere near the two beds in this room." And he lay down, pulling the second sheet over him, without another word.

Fuuko stopped eating at once and shoved all the chocolate particles off the bed, shooing off her friends as well. "We better get to sleep, minna. Party's over."

Recca grunted. "Alright, alright," and he and Domon went over to the other bed across the room.

Fuuko walked over to the side of her bed facing the door, where Tokiya was sleeping with his back to them. And just when she was about to lie down, she spotted something on the floor. It was a photograph.

Of Mifuyu.

She picked it up and stared. Mifuyu's golden brown locks were swaying in the wind, and she had on a lovely smile beneath her soulful sparkling eyes. And underneath her arm was another…a small boy of about nine…wearing a look of pure joy that Fuuko had never seen on Tokiya's face all her life…

Not even during the period of time that they were both dating.

And Fuuko realized that even though Tokiya had smiled exclusively for her all those years…she was never really anyone who could compare to the laughter that Mifuyu could bring him.

She stroked Tokiya's face on the picture with her finger slowly. Mi-chan…

"Fuu-chan? Doushtano…?" Yanagi looked skeptically at her from the other side of the bed. "You were the one who told us to hit the sack, you know. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Fuuko smiled weakly at her, tucking the picture underneath her pillow. "I was just trying to make someone happy."

***

12:00 noon

The whole morning at the Great Wall, and it was finally lunchtime. The gang spends about thirty minutes complaining on blisters, thirty minutes remarking on how magnificent the Great Wall had been up close, ten minutes on choosing what to eat, twenty minutes on actually eating, and thirty minutes on arguing about where to go next. Tokiya, however, spends ten minutes eating, and the rest of the time either snapping witty comebacks at Domon or staring out into space.

2:00 pm

Everyone decides to go to all the places that each of them wants to visit. The first stop was Fuuko's choice: the amusement park.

2:30 pm

Fuuko drags Tokiya to the Devils' Train after riding for about four times in the roller coaster. Hanabishi tries to win Yanagi a teddy bear at one of the shooting booths…and fails. Domon buys cotton candy.

2:45 pm

Fuuko drags Tokiya to the Spin-N-Puke after riding for about three times in the Devil's Train. Hanabishi tries to win Yanagi a stuffed toy at one of the darting games…and fails. Domon buys popcorn.

3:30 pm

Fuuko enjoys the Spin-N-Puke so much and tries to convince Tokiya for their twelfth encore performance on it, but Tokiya gladly declines and rushes to the bathroom. Hanabishi has played every single game in every single booth at the park, but still hasn't won Yanagi anything. Domon buys barbeque, and around the bench where he is sitting is a litter of sticks of cotton candy, empty boxes of popcorn, four used cans of Coke, sticks of buttered corn, three hotdog buns, five empty plates of fries, and two crushed boxes of Nerds.

4:00 pm

The gang leaves the amusement park: Fuuko whooping for joy, Tokiya's head spinning, Hanabishi's long-gone luck still going away, Yanagi trying to convince him that it was okay if they were leaving empty handed even after two whole hours of trying to win something, and Domon waddling his way, groaning at his aching stomach.

4:10 pm

Yanagi gets her request: the mall.

4:30 pm

As a shopping expert, Yanagi gets a lovely hat, a light blue spaghetti-strapped blouse with a see-through overcoat of the same color, a cute denim skirt with flowers embroidered on it, and a pair of chunky sandals in approximately twenty minutes.

4:45 pm

Fuuko gets the hang of it, getting for herself another sleeveless blouse, and a pair of black elephant pants.

5:00 pm

Yanagi and Fuuko, beaming, leave the mall with three dying guys, totally tired of walking and carrying the girls' shopping bags, completely humiliated of walking from store to store with two hyperactive shopping specialists, and totally drained of their self-esteem.

6:00 pm

Hanabishi and Domon feast themselves inside a joke shop for an hour, buying everything within a five-mile radius. Yanagi and Tokiya are not happy about it. Actually, Tokiya isn't happy about anything, anyway.

6:05 pm

They pass by a jewelry store and Fuuko falls in love with a beautiful, diamond ring--miraculously. Yanagi fancies a silver necklace as well. Recca and Domon, having spent their pocket money in the joke shop, turn to Tokiya, who hasn't spent a single cent, save for his lunch. He frowns stubbornly and backs away. Recca tries to convince him to at least get Fuuko the ring she wants, but Tokiya states that Fuuko could buy herself a ring back in Japan anytime she wants.

6:30 pm

After hours of so-called hell, it's finally Tokiya's turn to get what he wants—to head back to the hotel.

7:00 pm

Everyone flops into his or her beds, and Tokiya heads for the bathroom to take a shower, thankful that his heck of a day is finally over.

***

Squeak.

Tokiya turned the knob on the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He ran a careless hand through his long damp hair, trying to shake some of the water out of it. Then he opened the bathroom door and stepped out of it.

And a loud blaring noise met him.

His four friends were gathered in a circle on the carpeted floor, blabbering and talking out loud. Everyone was acting really rowdy, and it was obvious that none of them really knew whatever the hell it was they were talking about.

Baka, Tokiya snorted as he caught sight of the empty bottles of sake scattered all over the floor around his friends. He took a step towards the divider of the dresser, but no sooner did an incredibly drunk Domon stop him.

"Nee-chan!" Domon, totally red in the face, called out to him. He got up and swaggered towards him. "Whassa pretty babe like ya doin 'ere? Why don'ya dump 'ol dose clothes of yers and joinnus?" He burst out laughing.

No, it wasn't the first time anyone had ever mistaken Tokiya as a girl. And now that his hair wasn't bound by his ponytail…

Domon swung his hand over Tokiya's shoulder, making him stumble backwards a bit. "C'mon, I can guarantee ya one helluva night!" Hanabishi hooted in the background and whistled at what Domon said.

Not wanting to hurt Domon just because he wasn't in the right state of mind, Tokiya snapped Domon's arm away and continued making his way towards the dresser. But when he felt Domon's fingers tug on his towel even for just a bit…

Domon was seen flying across the room with a blink of an eye.

Hands off, damn you, Tokiya closed his eyes and got to the dresser. On the other side of the divider, he could hear Hanabishi scrambling to his feet to help Domon up. Miraculously, the two girls didn't care at all. Even the two of them were so dead drunk.

Idiots.

As soon as he was fully dressed, he emerged from the dresser and headed straight for the balcony of the room, not wanting to deal with any more drunk people. He leaned on the railings and looked up at the millions of stars in the clear night sky. Obviously it wasn't going to rain anytime soon.

"Let's get the hell out of these outfits!" Recca screamed in the background.

Tokiya smirked. Hanabishi sure hadn't changed for the past year. Still as wild, still as reckless…still as green-minded. The guy surely wouldn't say no to hiring a geisha, if he ever was that desperate. Of course, Recca'd never do that, considering how Yanagi always kept him tied up. Still, Tokiya knew that Hanabishi had always wanted to see Yanagi get naked some time.

 "BWAHAHAHAHA!!! OOOOHHH YEAH!!!"

Domon. The idiotic loud-mouthed, thick-headed, nose-ringed wannabe gorilla boy who wouldn't know how to stop snickering if it were the last day of his life. The only reason he was always laughing was because his brain wasn't working well enough for him to string two words together. Baka.

"A-ano…chotto matte yo…d-dame!!!"

He had always thought Yanagi was really conservative, and completely in control of all her actions. Of course, referring to her as his long-lost sister, he would always attribute everything good and perfect in this world to her. There could be no negative aspect of this world that could smear her with impurity…and if it weren't for Hanabishi already serving as her "ninja", he would've taken a vow to protect her all his life, too.

"Bring it on, then!!!"

Tokiya blinked. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach, a feeling he always had whenever he would hear that voice. Naturally, Fuuko was one to say that line, considering she was always very confident and would dare to face anything that would come her way. At least, that was how he'd known her to be. But owing to their recent conversations, she sure seemed to have changed now…

Funny how he could determine who was saying what by just listening to their voices, and predict what they were doing with just their words. Did he really know his friends that much? Had he really spent that much time with them, all these years, to more or less know and predict what they would say or do next in a particular situation? Was he really that close to them? Had they really bonded that much? So much, that in every pain that each of them would undertake, he would deeply feel it within him as well? So much, that knowing if they were hurt would shoot up a fire of anger in his heart? And so much, that he would fight to the death with them…just like he had at the Uroubatousatsoujin…?

Was his sister taken away from him, so that he would have a greater need for care? For friendship? For love?

Was he made to live alone and empty, for so many years, so that if he were to find his true friends, he'd forever cherish the joy they would bring him…?

Tokiya shook his head and smirked at his own sensitivity. It was weird for him to keep on reminiscing about things like friendship. He was never one to make friends anyway. So what was there to think about?

He sighed. Things have changed. Nowadays he would always stare out into space in a trance and reflect on whatever pops first into his mind. Years ago he wouldn't even have the time to stare out into space; he'd be too busy torturing himself in his own world.

But somehow, some kind of ray of light, though small, came through to make him see other brighter sides of his world…

Yes, things have changed, he sighed, looking up at the stars again. Things sure have changed…