The Story of Us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by summerdragonfly
Chapter XIV
"A Heart...Broken"
A/N: Soooo sorry I haven't updated in a long time! I DO have a life you know. =^_^= I actually went
to see a couple of movies...but that's not the point. To be honest, I went on a bit of a writer's block(yet again).
But here it is, finished. Hope you like!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rika groaned. She lifted her head up and rubbed her eye sleepily. She sat up and saw that she was
in the living room of the house she had grown up in, and that she had been sleeping on the sofa.
*Wow.* Rika thought. *What a dream! I can't believe I dreamt that Grandma was dead...and that
Ryo couldn't be found...*
"Rika!" Jeri came in the room. "You're up...hey guys...she's awake!"
"Huh?" Rika turned around and saw that all her friends were around her. "Hey guys...what happened?
I feel like I was hit by a bus..."
They were silent. Henry turned toward Takato. "Doesn't she remember ANYTHING?" he whispered.
"Dunno." Takato replied. "Hey, Rika."
"Yeah?"
"Um...you don't remember anything about last night? Not at all?"
"Why? What happened?"
"Uh---"
"I just had this crazy dream---" Rika felt her forehead. "That my grandmother died and that you
guys told me that Ryo was gone. Weird, huh?"
"Well, funny you should mention that---" Jeri said.
"Guys...? What are you talking about...??"
"Oh dear..." Jeri went to sit down next to Rika. "I'm afraid that what you think you dreamed wasn't
a dream at all..."
"Nani?!" Rika became more alert. "What do you mean?!"
It took a while to explain everything, having to stop in between breaths to calm Rika down, who
was becoming quite hysterical.
"...and within five minutes of hearing about Ryo, I guess you became so distressed that you...
well...kinda passed out." Jeri finished.
"And then we thought it'd be best to bring you back here." Henry said. "...and let you get some
rest."
Rika was silent. She nodded. "So...it wasn't a dream."
"No." Jeri said quietly. "Gomen nasai. I know this has been hard."
"You guys should go." Rika said, staring blankly ahead.
"No, we're going to stay here and see to you and---"
"I'll be fine, Jeri." Rika said plainly. "Really, you've done enough."
"But---" Jeri started to argue, but then Takato put his hand on her shoulder, and a wordless agreement
passed between them. She turned to look at her friend. "Are you sure about this?"
"Very." Rika's eyes still didn't move from the one exact spot. "Arigatou."
"No problem..." Jeri stood up and left with the others.
Rika heard the door close behind them. Her eyes welled up with tears and they coursed down her cheeks.
She buried her face in her pillow.
* * *
In Kobe, miles and miles away from Tokyo, awoke Ray. He sat up and looked out at the window. The
sun was shining, the sky was blue...you couldn't ask for a better day.
Yet somehow, he was deeply disturbed by what he had seen during his sleep. A girl...she was
undoubtedly very pretty, but her face was oddly familiar...he wondered whether or not he knew
this girl. Who she was...her name...her relationship to him...all a blank. The only thing he
could get was her face, and the fact that she was very sad.
Mrs. Yoshida broke through his reverie. "Good morning, my dear."
Ray jumped. He bowed politely. "Good morning."
It turned out that Mrs. Yoshida and her husband didn't have any children and have always longed for
a son. They rarely got any visitors and she was thrilled to have a guest in their home. She treated
him with great hospitality.
"You're so polite." Mrs. Yoshida smiled. "Would you like some breakfast?"
"May I wash up first?" Ray asked.
"Of course!" Mrs. Yoshida said. "The bathroom's down the hall, to the left. Let me get you some
fresh towels and clothes from the guest wardrobe."
"Thank you very much for your hospitality. I can't ever repay you."
"Oh stop with the formality, already." Mrs. Yoshida grinned again. "We're happy to have you. Stay
as long as you like."
"Ariga---"
"Ah ah!" she stopped him there. "No thank yous necessary. Just glad to do my part."
Twenty minutes later, Ray emerged nervously into the kitchen. "Hello."
Mrs. Yoshida beamed at the sight of him. "Oh, just look at you! Aren't you handsome."
"Um...thanks?"
"Doesn't he look handsome?" Mrs. Yoshida asked her husband.
"I'll say." Mr. Yoshida said. "How old are you? 17? 18?"
"21." Ray said.
"Oh! So you can still remember your age. Most curious." Mrs. Yoshida said.
"Hmm. 21. Perfect."
"Perfect?"
"Oh no!" Mrs. Yoshida glared at her husband. "You're NOT going to ask him---I forbid you!"
"Ask me what?"
"It's nothing, dear, my husband just likes to---"
"I don't see the harm." Mr. Yoshida said. "He's the right age, it'll be great---"
"He doesn't need to be in that rathole! The poor darling; lost in a strange city, no memory---"
Mrs. Yoshida looked at Ray sympathetically.
"Which is why he needs some stability! For his new life!"
"But---"
"With all due respect, Mrs.Yoshida..." Ray said. "I want to hear what Mr. Yoshida has to say."
"See?" Mr. Yoshida said triumphantly.
"Oh, all right...but he still has a choice." Mrs. Yoshida pouted.
Mr. Yoshida ignored her. "How would you like to get a job, Ray my boy?"
"A job? An occupation?"
"Yes! It'll help you get places here!"
"May I ask what the job is?"
"You see, I own a bar-club type of place downtown. A real nice stop too---"
"Hmph! Nice my foot!" Mrs. Yoshida said indignantly.
"He'll decide that for himself!" Mr. Yoshida said. "Anyway, it's a good club, gets tons of people
every night; and the point is that...we're in need of some help. The last bartender just resigned,
and well---how would you like to be my new bartender?"
"Uh---" Ray was confused. "What's a bartender?"
"Oh, real simple job really, just make drinks and give 'em out! Of course you have to charge them---
nothing's for free these days and---"
"You don't have to take it, Ray, darling." Mrs. Yoshida intervened. "You don't have to work at
such a shady place."
"Now, none of that! After Dusk is the biggest thing right now!"
"After Dusk?"
"Yeah, that's the name of the place, it's a dance club and---you'll get the full details. That is,
if you're willing."
"I don't know---I should get a job since I can't stay here forever---" Ray felt guilty.
"You don't have to decide right now. We can go and take a tour today. See how you like it."
"Well, I guess that's OK." Ray smiled. "I'm for it."
"Good!" Mr. Yoshida said.
"I don't want to keep you from pursuing your goals, Ray." Mrs. Yoshida said. "And if your goal
is to make a new life for yourself here...who am I to stop it?" she smiled. "Go ahead. I guess
After Dusk isn't that bad a place. And if you like it---take the job. It'll be good for you."
"Thank you." Ray smiled. "I'll do my best."
"Great! That's a good guy. How about that tour, huh?"
* * *
Everyone was tense at the police station. Henry was pacing up and down, Jeri sat nervously, biting
her nails. Kenta half-heartedly sipped a can of grape soda. Kazu kept jumping up and down, not
knowing how to react.
He looked around. Everyone seemed sad.
"Hey Kenta," Kazu nudged Kenta's shoulder.
"What?" Kenta threw his soda can into a nearby trash can.
"Want to hear a joke?"
"What's the use? You and me both know that it's just going to end in a pun." Kenta sighed.
"Well if that's the way you're going to be, I really don't want to tell you the joke anymore!"
Kazu said, but he was really joking.
Kenta didn't do anything. Defeated, Kazu slumped back in his chair and fell silent.
Takato looked nervously over in Rika's direction. The poor girl; she looked so sad ever since a
week ago; when her grandmother died and she learned of Ryo.
He couldn't help but feel guilty for what he did. He should've helped Ryo out of the sticky mess,
but instead he ran for it. *I'm such a coward.*
*Better be an honest coward than just a coward.* Takato took a deep breath and opened his mouth,
but no words came out. *How can I break this to her? Without making her go off the deep end?*
A couple more times he tried talking. Rika seemed to take no notice of him. Her eyes were fixed
on one spot, as it had been for the last hour that they were there.
*Don't chicken out, Matsuki. You already failed once, don't do it again.* He turned to look at
Rika again. "Uh...Rika-chan?"
"Yes?" Rika said without moving.
"Can---can I talk to you for a minute?"
For the first time in an hour, Rika's eyes tore away from one place. She turned toward him. "All
right."
Once they were outside, Rika looked at the sky and surroundings like she was in a dream. This
alarmed Takato a little bit, she was looking so lost and melancholy it scared him.
"Rika?"
She looked at him curiously. "What is it, Takato?"
"Um...I know we're going to find Ryo, we will, but uh...hypothetically speaking, HYPOTHETICALLY
SPEAKING, if we didn't...."
"If we didn't...?" She still had a possessed look on her sad face.
"I just want to say....gomen nasai."
"Arigatou. I appreciate it." Rika forced a little smile.
"No...not just a normal apology..."
Now she was really curious. "What are you talking about?"
"Rika..." He sat down on the edge of the water fountain. "I was there with Ryo before...before he
went missing."
"What?" She sat down next to him.
"I was there with him moments before he was gone."
Rika gulped. "What...what happened?"
He had hesitated to tell anyone this before, not even the police. And now he had to tell the love
of Ryo's life. "Um..."
"You can tell me, Takato. I'll be all right, really." It seemed like she was out of her trance.
"Well...the enemy had just spit out some really weird stuff...it was really sticky and---Ryo got
caught in it."
"Uh-huh..." Rika nodded. Part of her wanted to know, yet the other half didn't want to hear the
horrid details.
"...I'm not sure if I should be telling you this..."
"Please. I have to know."
"Um..." Takato's own mind wouldn't let him remember.
flashback
"It's complete!" Yamaki shouted. "The upload is completed!"
They all rushed to get out as the D-Army blob roared some more.
"Ryo!" Takato shouted, running over and trying to pull Ryo out.
The D-Army was now literally blowing up from the inside, as if bombs were going off inside it.
"Takato! Go! I'll be fine!" Ryo shouted, trying to wrench his foot out of the sticky substance.
"But--"
"Now!"
Takato decided it would be best not to argue. He went off in the opposite direction.
Just then, a huge explosion occured.
end flashback
"Takato. Takato." Rika shook him. "Takato!"
Takato snapped back to reality. "Oh! Sorry..."
"You were saying?"
* * *
"So that's what happened." Takato said, his head down.
"Oh." she shrugged. "I see."
"That's why I feel so guilty now, you know?"
"Why?" Rika looked at him.
"Because...I...I left, and I should've stayed there to help him."
She smiled. "That's OK. You did what you had to."
"No, I didn't. And---"
"Look, why are you beating yourself up about this, anyway? If I'm not obesessing over this, then
you shouldn't be either." Rika said. "Just let it go." She started to walk back in.
"Hey," Takato called after her.
She turned around.
"We will find him."
Rika stared at him. "Yeah."
* * *
And so it happened all too quickly. On the surface, Rika looked fine and strong. On the inside,
she was filled with a bittersweet sadness. Even she wasn't aware of how fragile her psyche was.
Yet through it all---her grandmother's funeral and reassuring her mother that everything was going
to be OK---she didn't break down. She didn't even cry.
It had been six months since everything had happened.
And still, she clinged onto hope.
Time slowly passed by and everyone resumed their normal lives. She even went back to college. The
search for Ryo was still on, and she had refused to believe that he was dead.
But in time, her heart painfully came to accept it.
Ryo was gone.
....end of Chapter XIV!
A/N: Sorry if that was a little too angsty. ;D I'll write a little cheerier next time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by summerdragonfly
Chapter XIV
"A Heart...Broken"
A/N: Soooo sorry I haven't updated in a long time! I DO have a life you know. =^_^= I actually went
to see a couple of movies...but that's not the point. To be honest, I went on a bit of a writer's block(yet again).
But here it is, finished. Hope you like!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rika groaned. She lifted her head up and rubbed her eye sleepily. She sat up and saw that she was
in the living room of the house she had grown up in, and that she had been sleeping on the sofa.
*Wow.* Rika thought. *What a dream! I can't believe I dreamt that Grandma was dead...and that
Ryo couldn't be found...*
"Rika!" Jeri came in the room. "You're up...hey guys...she's awake!"
"Huh?" Rika turned around and saw that all her friends were around her. "Hey guys...what happened?
I feel like I was hit by a bus..."
They were silent. Henry turned toward Takato. "Doesn't she remember ANYTHING?" he whispered.
"Dunno." Takato replied. "Hey, Rika."
"Yeah?"
"Um...you don't remember anything about last night? Not at all?"
"Why? What happened?"
"Uh---"
"I just had this crazy dream---" Rika felt her forehead. "That my grandmother died and that you
guys told me that Ryo was gone. Weird, huh?"
"Well, funny you should mention that---" Jeri said.
"Guys...? What are you talking about...??"
"Oh dear..." Jeri went to sit down next to Rika. "I'm afraid that what you think you dreamed wasn't
a dream at all..."
"Nani?!" Rika became more alert. "What do you mean?!"
It took a while to explain everything, having to stop in between breaths to calm Rika down, who
was becoming quite hysterical.
"...and within five minutes of hearing about Ryo, I guess you became so distressed that you...
well...kinda passed out." Jeri finished.
"And then we thought it'd be best to bring you back here." Henry said. "...and let you get some
rest."
Rika was silent. She nodded. "So...it wasn't a dream."
"No." Jeri said quietly. "Gomen nasai. I know this has been hard."
"You guys should go." Rika said, staring blankly ahead.
"No, we're going to stay here and see to you and---"
"I'll be fine, Jeri." Rika said plainly. "Really, you've done enough."
"But---" Jeri started to argue, but then Takato put his hand on her shoulder, and a wordless agreement
passed between them. She turned to look at her friend. "Are you sure about this?"
"Very." Rika's eyes still didn't move from the one exact spot. "Arigatou."
"No problem..." Jeri stood up and left with the others.
Rika heard the door close behind them. Her eyes welled up with tears and they coursed down her cheeks.
She buried her face in her pillow.
* * *
In Kobe, miles and miles away from Tokyo, awoke Ray. He sat up and looked out at the window. The
sun was shining, the sky was blue...you couldn't ask for a better day.
Yet somehow, he was deeply disturbed by what he had seen during his sleep. A girl...she was
undoubtedly very pretty, but her face was oddly familiar...he wondered whether or not he knew
this girl. Who she was...her name...her relationship to him...all a blank. The only thing he
could get was her face, and the fact that she was very sad.
Mrs. Yoshida broke through his reverie. "Good morning, my dear."
Ray jumped. He bowed politely. "Good morning."
It turned out that Mrs. Yoshida and her husband didn't have any children and have always longed for
a son. They rarely got any visitors and she was thrilled to have a guest in their home. She treated
him with great hospitality.
"You're so polite." Mrs. Yoshida smiled. "Would you like some breakfast?"
"May I wash up first?" Ray asked.
"Of course!" Mrs. Yoshida said. "The bathroom's down the hall, to the left. Let me get you some
fresh towels and clothes from the guest wardrobe."
"Thank you very much for your hospitality. I can't ever repay you."
"Oh stop with the formality, already." Mrs. Yoshida grinned again. "We're happy to have you. Stay
as long as you like."
"Ariga---"
"Ah ah!" she stopped him there. "No thank yous necessary. Just glad to do my part."
Twenty minutes later, Ray emerged nervously into the kitchen. "Hello."
Mrs. Yoshida beamed at the sight of him. "Oh, just look at you! Aren't you handsome."
"Um...thanks?"
"Doesn't he look handsome?" Mrs. Yoshida asked her husband.
"I'll say." Mr. Yoshida said. "How old are you? 17? 18?"
"21." Ray said.
"Oh! So you can still remember your age. Most curious." Mrs. Yoshida said.
"Hmm. 21. Perfect."
"Perfect?"
"Oh no!" Mrs. Yoshida glared at her husband. "You're NOT going to ask him---I forbid you!"
"Ask me what?"
"It's nothing, dear, my husband just likes to---"
"I don't see the harm." Mr. Yoshida said. "He's the right age, it'll be great---"
"He doesn't need to be in that rathole! The poor darling; lost in a strange city, no memory---"
Mrs. Yoshida looked at Ray sympathetically.
"Which is why he needs some stability! For his new life!"
"But---"
"With all due respect, Mrs.Yoshida..." Ray said. "I want to hear what Mr. Yoshida has to say."
"See?" Mr. Yoshida said triumphantly.
"Oh, all right...but he still has a choice." Mrs. Yoshida pouted.
Mr. Yoshida ignored her. "How would you like to get a job, Ray my boy?"
"A job? An occupation?"
"Yes! It'll help you get places here!"
"May I ask what the job is?"
"You see, I own a bar-club type of place downtown. A real nice stop too---"
"Hmph! Nice my foot!" Mrs. Yoshida said indignantly.
"He'll decide that for himself!" Mr. Yoshida said. "Anyway, it's a good club, gets tons of people
every night; and the point is that...we're in need of some help. The last bartender just resigned,
and well---how would you like to be my new bartender?"
"Uh---" Ray was confused. "What's a bartender?"
"Oh, real simple job really, just make drinks and give 'em out! Of course you have to charge them---
nothing's for free these days and---"
"You don't have to take it, Ray, darling." Mrs. Yoshida intervened. "You don't have to work at
such a shady place."
"Now, none of that! After Dusk is the biggest thing right now!"
"After Dusk?"
"Yeah, that's the name of the place, it's a dance club and---you'll get the full details. That is,
if you're willing."
"I don't know---I should get a job since I can't stay here forever---" Ray felt guilty.
"You don't have to decide right now. We can go and take a tour today. See how you like it."
"Well, I guess that's OK." Ray smiled. "I'm for it."
"Good!" Mr. Yoshida said.
"I don't want to keep you from pursuing your goals, Ray." Mrs. Yoshida said. "And if your goal
is to make a new life for yourself here...who am I to stop it?" she smiled. "Go ahead. I guess
After Dusk isn't that bad a place. And if you like it---take the job. It'll be good for you."
"Thank you." Ray smiled. "I'll do my best."
"Great! That's a good guy. How about that tour, huh?"
* * *
Everyone was tense at the police station. Henry was pacing up and down, Jeri sat nervously, biting
her nails. Kenta half-heartedly sipped a can of grape soda. Kazu kept jumping up and down, not
knowing how to react.
He looked around. Everyone seemed sad.
"Hey Kenta," Kazu nudged Kenta's shoulder.
"What?" Kenta threw his soda can into a nearby trash can.
"Want to hear a joke?"
"What's the use? You and me both know that it's just going to end in a pun." Kenta sighed.
"Well if that's the way you're going to be, I really don't want to tell you the joke anymore!"
Kazu said, but he was really joking.
Kenta didn't do anything. Defeated, Kazu slumped back in his chair and fell silent.
Takato looked nervously over in Rika's direction. The poor girl; she looked so sad ever since a
week ago; when her grandmother died and she learned of Ryo.
He couldn't help but feel guilty for what he did. He should've helped Ryo out of the sticky mess,
but instead he ran for it. *I'm such a coward.*
*Better be an honest coward than just a coward.* Takato took a deep breath and opened his mouth,
but no words came out. *How can I break this to her? Without making her go off the deep end?*
A couple more times he tried talking. Rika seemed to take no notice of him. Her eyes were fixed
on one spot, as it had been for the last hour that they were there.
*Don't chicken out, Matsuki. You already failed once, don't do it again.* He turned to look at
Rika again. "Uh...Rika-chan?"
"Yes?" Rika said without moving.
"Can---can I talk to you for a minute?"
For the first time in an hour, Rika's eyes tore away from one place. She turned toward him. "All
right."
Once they were outside, Rika looked at the sky and surroundings like she was in a dream. This
alarmed Takato a little bit, she was looking so lost and melancholy it scared him.
"Rika?"
She looked at him curiously. "What is it, Takato?"
"Um...I know we're going to find Ryo, we will, but uh...hypothetically speaking, HYPOTHETICALLY
SPEAKING, if we didn't...."
"If we didn't...?" She still had a possessed look on her sad face.
"I just want to say....gomen nasai."
"Arigatou. I appreciate it." Rika forced a little smile.
"No...not just a normal apology..."
Now she was really curious. "What are you talking about?"
"Rika..." He sat down on the edge of the water fountain. "I was there with Ryo before...before he
went missing."
"What?" She sat down next to him.
"I was there with him moments before he was gone."
Rika gulped. "What...what happened?"
He had hesitated to tell anyone this before, not even the police. And now he had to tell the love
of Ryo's life. "Um..."
"You can tell me, Takato. I'll be all right, really." It seemed like she was out of her trance.
"Well...the enemy had just spit out some really weird stuff...it was really sticky and---Ryo got
caught in it."
"Uh-huh..." Rika nodded. Part of her wanted to know, yet the other half didn't want to hear the
horrid details.
"...I'm not sure if I should be telling you this..."
"Please. I have to know."
"Um..." Takato's own mind wouldn't let him remember.
flashback
"It's complete!" Yamaki shouted. "The upload is completed!"
They all rushed to get out as the D-Army blob roared some more.
"Ryo!" Takato shouted, running over and trying to pull Ryo out.
The D-Army was now literally blowing up from the inside, as if bombs were going off inside it.
"Takato! Go! I'll be fine!" Ryo shouted, trying to wrench his foot out of the sticky substance.
"But--"
"Now!"
Takato decided it would be best not to argue. He went off in the opposite direction.
Just then, a huge explosion occured.
end flashback
"Takato. Takato." Rika shook him. "Takato!"
Takato snapped back to reality. "Oh! Sorry..."
"You were saying?"
* * *
"So that's what happened." Takato said, his head down.
"Oh." she shrugged. "I see."
"That's why I feel so guilty now, you know?"
"Why?" Rika looked at him.
"Because...I...I left, and I should've stayed there to help him."
She smiled. "That's OK. You did what you had to."
"No, I didn't. And---"
"Look, why are you beating yourself up about this, anyway? If I'm not obesessing over this, then
you shouldn't be either." Rika said. "Just let it go." She started to walk back in.
"Hey," Takato called after her.
She turned around.
"We will find him."
Rika stared at him. "Yeah."
* * *
And so it happened all too quickly. On the surface, Rika looked fine and strong. On the inside,
she was filled with a bittersweet sadness. Even she wasn't aware of how fragile her psyche was.
Yet through it all---her grandmother's funeral and reassuring her mother that everything was going
to be OK---she didn't break down. She didn't even cry.
It had been six months since everything had happened.
And still, she clinged onto hope.
Time slowly passed by and everyone resumed their normal lives. She even went back to college. The
search for Ryo was still on, and she had refused to believe that he was dead.
But in time, her heart painfully came to accept it.
Ryo was gone.
....end of Chapter XIV!
A/N: Sorry if that was a little too angsty. ;D I'll write a little cheerier next time.
