Litanya: Hello again. I do not own Digimon or the song 'The Reason' by Hoobastank. And please remember… this is going to be a HAPPY ending… not a sad one. Please remember that. And please remember that this is also a TAIORA. Matt is only being a very good friend.
The Reason:
Sora's Story
When she woke she found that she was staring at a white wall. She was confused. The last thing she remembered was driving in the car with Tai, singing along to the radio and then… TAI! She tried to sit up, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"Sora, its okay, just stay there," it was her mother. She hadn't noticed her before.
"Mum? W-what happened?" she didn't want to ask the question that was on her mind. She had seen the red car smash in to their car, where Tai was sitting. She hadn't heard a sound out of him during the fall and she hadn't dared to look at him. All she knew was that the best day of her life had turned into one of the worst.
"There was an accident honey, but everything's all right," Sora knew by her mother's tone that something was wrong. Rika Takenouchi wrapped her hand around her daughter's and squeezed it comfortingly.
"I-Is Tai alright?" she had found the courage to ask the question. Courage. That was Tai's crest.
"Y-You should get some rest Sora," Rika avoided the question. That would make Sora too upset.
"Mum, I need to know. I-I just want to know. Please Mum…" she trailed off and looked up at her mother, who had closed her eyes. Rika hated what she had to tell her daughter next. Tai had always been there for Sora and she knew that this was going to hurt her.
"Tai- he's dead honey," she finally said, not being able to hold out against her daughter's pleas. She felt Sora's hand tighten and the girl took a deep breath, closing her eyes. It was only then that Rika realised that her daughter was wearing a ring on her left hand. That made the situation worse. Sora had not just lost her boyfriend, but her fiancé. Sora still had her eyes closed and her shoulders were shaking slightly. That told Rika that she was about to cry.
"What about the driver of the other car?"
"He's fine. He's in the hospital claiming that you were the ones that went through the red light. He claims that the lights were on green, so he went through. He was drunk," Rika felt her own voice breaking up. To get away from what had happened she examined the room. Through the window she could see the sun setting on the horizon. It was making a lovely colour in the sky; a mixture of orange and red. The door to the room opened, catching Rika off guard. Kari's tear-stricken face peered around the door, checking the situation in the room. She wanted to make sure that Sora was all right.
"I'm sorry to bother you Mrs. Takenouchi, Sora," she slipped into the room, absently brushing a tear away from her cheek.
"It's okay Kari," Rika answered for both herself and her daughter, who still hadn't moved since she had been told of Tai's death, except for when she had asked her last question. Kari glanced at Sora out of the corner of her eye and then looked questioningly at Rika.
"She's okay. She's just upset," Rika answered the girl's unanswered question without thinking. Kari had been over to her house almost as much as Tai had when she was younger. She hadn't been over as often of late, as she had been busy with school and her boyfriend T.K.
"I thought so. I-I just wanted to pop in to give Sora this. Tai left it behind this morning, muttering something about remembering what it said. I-I haven't read it, so I don't know what it is but…" she trailed off, unable to go any further. Instead she thrust the letter into Rika's hands and turned and left the room, too upset to stay.
"Sora, do you want to read this?" she opened her eyes and Rika could see tears in them, threatening to fall.
"I already know what it says," Sora whispered, her thoughts going back to when Tai had proposed to her, "It talks about when we met and…" she broke down. She couldn't keep the tears inside of her anymore.
"Shh Sora, it's going to be alright," she knew that the words were worthless, but she said them anyway, knowing that Sora needed to calm down. She wrapped her in a warm hug, silently cursing the driver that had stolen the life of the caring fun-loving boy who would have become her son-in-law.
"No it isn't. He's always been there for me Mum. What am I going to do without him?" she didn't think that she was ever going to stop crying. Memories of the day before the accident plagued her mind, along with the memories of everything she could remember. Basically all had Tai in them. He had been the one person who understood her in a way that no one else had been able to.
"You'll be okay honey. Tai wouldn't want you to cry and you know that. H-He would want you to be happy and… and find something in life to enjoy. You know that. You'll be okay," she rocked her daughter gently for a long time, knowing that whatever she said the wound in Sora's heart would never heal.
"…Tai was the best brother a girl could ask for, once you managed to get to know him. Of course he is-was lazy and he loved to tease me a lot but…" Kari trailed off as her emotions got the best of her. She took a deep breath and finished off her speech, "I could never have asked for a better brother." It was Tai's funeral. Kari's speech had only been short because she had known that her emotions would soon get a hold of her. Sora played with the piece of paper that contained her speech. It was already about to fall apart, but she did not really care. She knew what she had to say. Kari stumbled a little as she made her way back to her seat and it was Sora's turn. She took a deep breath and stood, making her way to the front.
All of the digidestined were there, sitting in the pews in the front of the church. Kari was next to T.K, and both of them were crying openly. They were not very good at hiding their feelings. Next to T.K was Matt. The blond musician had been very quiet when he had heard about Tai's death. Although he had been quiet though, he had also been there for Sora. He had known how much Tai had meant to her. Everyone had, but Matt had been both Sora and Tai's best friend other than each other. Sora was grateful for everything he had done for her. Joe was behind Matt, his head sticking out easily above Matt's. Joe had also been upset about Tai's death as all of the digidestined had been close, but he was one of the least affected out of all of them. To keep his mind off the death he had begun to study even harder. At the age of twenty one Joe was almost halfway through his university course to be a doctor. He had been upset that the doctors had been able to do nothing to keep Tai alive and that made him even more determined to graduate. Next to Joe, on his left, was Mimi. She was crying as quietly as she could, her teary eyes matching her pink hair. Mimi was extremely upset about everything that happened. She was an empathic person and when she cried about Tai's death, she cried because she felt everyone's sadness. That was what made her so sincere. Next in the line came Izzy. He was sitting on the edge of the row, and Sora could see his hands. They were resting in his lap as though they were on a keyboard. The fact that Izzy's laptop was missing showed the magnitude of the situation. He never went anywhere without his laptop unless it was important. By leaving his laptop at home, Izzy was giving Tai a huge sign of respect. It was too bad that the receiver was not there to see his gift.
Sora's gaze caught the eye of Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya. They were trying to be strong, but their masks were cracking. Mari gave her a small, sad smile of encouragement before it slipped completely off her face. They had never thought that they would have to bury their son. They had always assumed that they would die first. It now seemed that they had been wrong. Sora took another deep breath and unfolded the piece of paper. She knew what she was going to say, but it would help to have it there in case she broke down. She glanced quickly around the room again before she began to speak.
"As many of you know, my name is Sora Takenouchi and Tai was my fiancé when he died. I first met Tai when I was four. Some boys were ganging up against him in a soccer game and I happened to join his team to help him beat them. We have been- were best friends ever since that day. He was the best friend I could ever have asked for. He seemed to know instinctively when I was upset or needed someone to talk to and he knew exactly how to cheer me up. He was a soccer freak, which many of us have fond memories of. We all used to tease him about it, but we always knew that he could be a pro at it if he really wanted to. Some of my favourite times were going to the park with Tai and playing soccer, usually in the rain. He always claimed that it was better to play in the rain because then he had a legitimate reason to fall over and not look like a fool.
He always loved to make people laugh. He may not have been the smartest person in the year level, but he was great at cheering someone up and he was great at practical jokes. Even the teachers he tricked got along with him in the end. I remember that everyone used to wait in anticipation for Tai's next trick," she began to lose a bit of her composure but she just bit her lip and continued on, "I knew Tai for most of his life and he and I were really close, but he has-had so many friends, all of which were very close. The digidestined are like a family. Tai was our leader, headstrong and extremely stubborn most of the time, but he never really led us wrong. He held the group together many times when we were going to go our separate ways and he always helped us out, whenever he could. I could stay up here all day and talk about what a wonderful person Tai was, but there is no use. All that I will say now is that Tai would want us all to live life to the full and live our lives the way we want to," she quietly went back to her seat, taking her paper with her. Small drops stained the paper where her silent tears had fallen. She hadn't managed to keep her tears in after all. For the rest of the service she was lost in memories that she had had with her fiancé.
F L A S H B A C K
The two of them were lying in the park, ignoring the chilling rain that was falling around them. They had just finished playing a game of soccer. As it always ended up those days, Tai had won.
"It's not fair! Why do you always win?" the 16 year old Sora complained, pushing her hair behind her ears. Tai laughed, throwing the ball up in the air and then catching it as it fell.
"Because I still play soccer and you quit. Come on, why did you start up tennis anyway if you wanted to beat me at soccer?" Sora stuck her tongue out at him and that promptly began a contest as to who could keep their tongue out the longest. Sora won.
"Ha! See? At least I can still beat you at something!"
"Yeah, but only because you use your tongue too much. It probably can lift up a bus with the amount of exercise you give it!" Sora punched him playfully, accepting the lame insult with a laugh.
"I guess that it's true, but if so your tongue would be able to lift the entire world. You get a whole lot more exercise than I do," she had no idea why they were carrying on with this completely lame and stupid argument, but it was fun anyway. Tai rolled his eyes.
"You can't use someone else's comeback as your own Sora, we've been through this! You have to come up with something more original," he told her mockingly joking. Sora's response was again to stick out her tongue, but this time it went unchallenged.
"Wow, you've really grown up Tai!" she told him as he just rolled his eyes again. Their arguments always seemed to follow a similar pattern, whatever they argued about. Suddenly the expression on Tai's face changed until it was almost serious. Sora was surprised. She had not expected him to change his mood so quickly, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I guess I'm just thinking about the future," he did not know what had prompted him to start thinking about it. Just something in her voice when she had said that he was growing up as well as the rumors he had heard floating around the soccer team's change rooms after practice.
"Why would you be thinking about it now? I thought that your motto was 'I'll think about it when it happens.'" The whole mood of the conversation had changed and she felt as though something was going to happen. She did not know what, but she was hoping that he would…
"Just some rumors I heard floating around," he tried to dismiss it, but she would not let him.
"What rumors? Were they about you?"
"No… they were about someone else. They weren't really rumors, but questions someone asked me."
"And what were those questions? I mean, come on. When have you ever thought about the future before?" he looked away, trying to stop his cheeks from turning a light pink, but failing miserably.
"I do so think about the future! And anyway, the questions they were asking were about a certain red-headed, soccer-loving girl that I happen to be acquainted with," she sat up suddenly, her wet hair slumping forward.
"What were they asking about me for?" she tried to sound calm, but her heart was racing. She wasn't interested in any of the guys on the soccer team bar one, and from the sounds of it, he wasn't all that interested in her.
"Oh, they just asked me if I thought that you were attracted to them or not," he smirked, knowing how much she was going to kill them.
"WHAT!?"
"Don't worry about it. Daniel was going to ask you out, but I told him that you loved girls."
"WHAT!?"
"Jeez Sora, chill out! I'm only kidding. I just told him that I didn't think you were interested. Of course I left out how many times you had called him an 'idiotic psychotic axe-murderer' but he got the idea."
"So he isn't going to ask me out?" she asked hopefully, wanting to throw up at the thought of dating the boy.
"Yeah, he's going to ask Mimi out instead. Of course I decided to restrain from telling him that Mimi has an over-protective boyfriend, so he's in for a big surprise!" she giggled and lay back on the muddy grass again, imagining the beating Daniel was going to receive from Joe. The Digidestined of Reliability did not look it, but he could bash up anyone that wanted to steal his girlfriend away.
"Thanks Tai. At least he's not going to be on my back now. I don't even know how he could have gotten the impression that I liked him."
"Well… you always hang around the soccer pitch. I guess he thought that it was because you were waiting for him and not your best friend," Tai was watching the rain fall now, loving the way that it seemed to make everything shine, as though each thing was special in its own way.
"But he should have known that I was just waiting for you," she sat up again, feeling the cold mud start to sink through her t-shirt onto her back, "We should probably get going now before we get sick." He reluctantly stood up, wiping as much mud from his shirt as he could. They began the walk home as usual, but this time Tai had become silent.
"Tai are you alright? You've been drifting away for the past fifteen minutes," the brunette snapped back to attention and grinned apologetically.
"Sorry Sora, it's just that I have something on my mind," she just raised an eyebrow.
"You actually have a mind?" she tried to lighten up his mood, but it didn't work, "Tai, I'm your best friend. You can tell me anything and I won't judge you or stop being your friend or do anything stupid like that. Come on, you can tell me anything!" He stopped walking and turned so that he was facing her.
"I can tell you anything and you won't get mad?" she nodded, a little suspicious.
"Yeah, of course!"
"You'll be my friend no matter what?"
"Now you're asking stupid questions. Of course I'll always be your friend."
"Do you promise?" he was really making her nervous, with all of his questions. She held out her right pinky and he held out his. They hooked pinkies and shook on it.
"I promise."
"Okay… I love you."
"Of course you do, I'm your best friend! Now tell me what is on your mind."
"I just did. I love you," her heart was racing. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?
"What do you mean? I don't understand."
"Oh… it's uh, nothing," he began to walk again, his cheeks burning. She was confused. He was so embarrassed. He had at least thought that she would know what he was talking about.
"Tai wait!" he stopped and waited as she caught up.
"I'm sorry about that," he apologised as they continued on, "I don't really know what made me say that."
"Did you mean it?" she stopped walking, causing him to stop too. She turned him around so that he was facing her and stared into his eyes, knowing that he would eventually repeat himself. He knew that she knew too.
"Yes. I'm hopelessly head-over-heels in love with my best friend. There, I said it," his cheeks were a bright red by this time and she had to laugh.
"Well, I'm happy to say that I know what you're going through. I'm hopelessly head-over-heels in love with my best friend too," even though he had been hoping for that answer, he hadn't been expecting it.
"You what?" her answer was to kiss him. When they finally broke for oxygen he realised what had just happened.
"I love you," she laughed at his expression; he was still in shock.
"I love you too," and they leaned in for another kiss…
E N D O F F L A S H B A C K
The last pieces of dirt were being thrown onto the grave. Tai would remain there forever now. She was vaguely aware that others were leaving around her, but she ignored them. She could feel the other digidestined standing around her, as well as the Kamiyas and her own mother. But no one really felt like talking. The only noises she could hear were the quiet sobs of Kari, T.K, Mimi and Mrs. Kamiya. Even though she could not see them, she knew that everyone around her was crying, even though she could not see or hear all of them. She also knew that she herself was crying, although she could not feel the tears. She felt detached from herself, as though she was floating somewhere that was nowhere near where she was. It was almost like the whole ordeal was only a dream. She bit her lip and then turned and left quickly, ignoring the surprised cry of her mother to come back. She just wanted to be alone.
She didn't know how long it had been, but it must have been hours before Matt finally found her. She didn't know whether it had taken him that long because he couldn't find her or if he had thought that she needed some time alone. It was probably the second option because she was in the park, in the place where she and Tai had always gone to play soccer.
"Hey Sora," he said quietly, sitting down on the ground beside her. She didn't reply for a long time.
"Hi Matt," she said eventually, lifting her eyes off the ground. She knew that her eyes were red and puffy, but for once she did not care that someone was seeing her cry.
"How are you?" she looked back to the ground, unable to answer at that second without saying something sarcastic.
"I don't really know," she admitted, her gaze now going to the sky. She couldn't really concentrate on anything; her mind was too preoccupied.
"I know what you mean. It is hard to accept it," they lapsed into silence. Matt knew that Sora needed to talk about it, but he also knew that he shouldn't push her too far.
"It's just that… that morning we went out to have fun. He kept on refusing to tell me where we were going. And then in the afternoon he proposed. It was the best day of my life until… That stupid driver! I don't even really remember how it happened. We were driving through the lights, I remember that, and then there was a loud banging sound and the car was going sideways. I just don't understand how he was killed and yet I walked away perfectly fine. Why is it always the innocent that have to suffer? The other driver was drunk and yet he is completely fine. He didn't even seem to care that he had killed someone. Why is it that a monster like that managed to survive when a good person like Tai had to die? I don't understand it!" Matt didn't know how to reply. He didn't know the answer either.
"I don't think that anyone understands it Sora, but it happens. Maybe that guy had been drinking because he had just lost a loved one and he thought that it was unfair. Maybe his punishment was to survive and go to jail and have to live miserably for a while. Maybe God needed Tai and not the other guy. There are a lot of 'maybes' but there is no definite answer. We have to accept that," his voice broke in the middle of this speech and Sora looked at him again. He was crying. Although she had seen him crying in the Church, seeing him cry now was surprising. Matt had never been one to show his emotions.
"But why then?"
"I don't know," Matt watched Sora closely. She had practically collapsed, both physically and mentally. She felt so empty, so alone. Even though she still had her friends and family around where she could talk to them, she did not have Tai. That fact was painfully obvious to her. Tai was gone.
"Why does it have to hurt so much?" she whispered, staring back up at the sky. Matt was beginning to wonder if she could see something in the grey clouds. She had been staring at them for almost the entire conversation. He also noticed that she had been unconsciously playing with the ring that sat on her left hand.
"I don't know," he felt as though he was a parrot, repeating the same thing over and over again.
"I suppose the only thing we do know is that he's gone," she said a little vaguely, still staring at the sky.
"Yeah, I suppose it is."
Six years had passed since Tai's death and Sora was now a teacher at a local girls' school. She was managing to move on with her life, to a point. She still woke up sometimes in the middle of the night after having nightmares about Tai's death. She would see Tai trapped in the wreckage of the car crying out for help with everyone ignoring him. She would cry out and try to get people to notice him, but then the car would explode and Tai would be gone forever. These were of course, only dreams, but they scared her to no end. She had been unconscious when she was taken from the car and she had never been told how Tai had died. She had not really wanted to know.
She still kept in touch with the other digidestined. They were not going to fall apart, although tragedy had torn through the group twice now. Two years after Tai's death, Izzy died of cancer. He had been twenty at the time and he had known that he had cancer for a year. He just hadn't wanted to tell them. But the death of two of their number had made sure that the digidestined stayed closer than ever. They met up every Saturday night, and the night changed if Joe was working or Matt's wife was sick or things like that. All they knew was that they had to stick together.
"Sora what class do you have next?" Kari also worked at the girls' school. She and T.K had gotten married the year before. They had not wanted tragedy to mar their happiness once again.
"Year eight. They have to give their speeches on a topic of their choice. Do you have a free period?" Kari nodded, stacking another pile of papers onto the desk in front of them. It was their coffee break and they were the only teachers left in the staff room. The others were all at separate meetings with the year 12 students, who were all stressing over the final exams.
"Yeah, I'm free. Why?"
"I just have a feeling that I'm going to need you for something. I don't really know why," she looked at her watch before gathering the armful of books and papers she was going to need for the lesson.
"I'll be right here with this wad of paperwork," Kari groaned as she realised that there was more work for her in her pigeon-hole.
"Thanks Kari. Well, I'll see you later," she exited the staff room and made her way across the hallway to the year eight area. The year sevens were in the same building as the year eights, along with the staff room that Sora and Kari had desks in.
"Miss Takenouchi, I am really looking forward to my presentation," a tall blond haired girl with green eyes told her earnestly. She was walking along side her with her small stack of books and speech cards.
"I'm glad to hear that Lizzie. What is your topic?"
"It's a secret," the girl said mischievously and she dodged away to her seat.
"Well, since you are so excited about it, why don't you go first?" at the front of the classroom a laptop was set up. This laptop was connected to a projector so that whatever was on the screen came up on the board. Lizzie left her seat and began to fiddle with the laptop, bringing her presentation up onto the screen.
DRINKING & DRIVING
Sora froze as she saw those words appear. She should have known that this would happen. She had to learn to get over it. Many people died in car accidents and people had to learn that drink driving was wrong. Tai had died and he wouldn't have wanted her to dwell on it too much. He would have wanted her to be happy.
"Come on class, we'll have to hurry to get through the presentations," the girls slowly became quiet, their focus switching to either daydreams or the girl up the front. Sora nodded at Lizzie and she began to speak.
"Good morning everyone my topic for the speech today is drinking and driving. This practice is very wrong as it can change the lives of many innocent people and it can also kill them. But it is not only bad for the victims, but also bad for the driver," she clicked the mouse on the computer and a picture came up on the screen. It was a picture of a car crash. But it wasn't any car crash. It was the one that Sora and Tai had been involved in six years before. Sora froze at the back of the room as she recognised the car and the location. She could not believe that after all of these years, she was being confronted by the same scene.
"This is a car crash that happened six years ago. A drunk driver in the red car on the right of the screen, crashed into this blue car as they were going through the lights. The driver of the blue car, a young guy named Taichi Kamiya, was killed in the accident and his fiancé sustained injuries. The driver of the red car got off free of injuries. But did he really? The driver of the car was my father and he was jailed for five years because of this accident," Sora was shaking, "My father was the one that caused the accident and he was drunk at the time. He had just had a fight with my mother and he had gone to a bar and gotten drunk. He had climbed into the car without thinking and by doing so he killed an innocent man. It destroyed my father. He went to jail, but when he got out last year he told us that it wasn't enough. He told us that he wished that he had died in the place of the young man. On the radio the song 'The Reason' by Hoobastank was playing. My father says that these words stuck in his head after the accident.
I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday
And all the pain I put you through
I wish I could take it all away…
"He wishes that he could say these to the people in the accident."
Sora had had enough. She could not take it anymore.
"Lizzie, please stop your presentation," it was said in a firm voice and Lizzie immediately stopped.
"But I still have more to say," she complained, although one look at her teacher made her shut her mouth quickly.
"I cannot mark this presentation. Please find another topic and I will give you another week to work on it," she had to stop shaking, but she couldn't. Her memories of that day, which she had tried so hard to keep away, now came flooding back.
"Why? Is it because my father was drunk and he killed someone accidentally?" the girl's voice was defensive, as though Sora was accusing her of doing something wrong.
"No, it's nothing like that… It's just… I was in that accident and it was my fiancé that was killed. I would rather that you found something else to speak on, that is all," Lizzie's face went pale and her eyes wide.
"But I looked it up and it said that the guy's fiancé was called Sora and I didn't think that was your name and… I'm so sorry."
"For the record my name is Sora. Look Lizzie, you didn't know. It's okay. You have another week to come up with another presentation. If you can't do it, then it's fine. Now Amanda, can you please start setting up. I'll be back in five minutes. Please do not disturb other classes," she stood and left the room quickly, wanting to get out of the room before the tears started to fall. She made her way back to the staffroom where she knew Kari was still working.
"Sora, what are you doing back here?" then she saw Sora's tears. She quickly left her desk and wrapped the elder woman in a warm hug, "Sora what's wrong?"
"Can you please take over my class for me? I-I just need ten minutes," she struggled to stop the flow of tears and stepped back out of Kari's embrace, "Please?"
"Of course," Kari grabbed a few books and headed straight for the year eight classroom. She knew that the class could not be left alone for too long and she also knew that she would not get anything out of Sora. She might as well find out from the class itself.
When Kari arrived in the classroom she found the class silent. That in itself was a miracle.
"What's going on in here?" she asked as she placed her books down carefully on the desk.
"Where's Miss Takenouchi?" a short brunette named Tanja asked shyly, watching as Kari placed her books down.
"She'll be back in about five minutes or so. She asked me to look after you guys until she gets back," she turned to see what was on the presentation board and froze.
"Mrs. Takaishi?" she bit her tongue and turned to face the young girl that had spoken.
"Was this presentation up when Miss Takenouchi left?"
"Yes. It was my presentation. I didn't realise that the guy killed in the accident was Miss Takenouchi's fiancé," Lizzie was packing up her things slowly, but the image was still on the screen.
"No wonder she's upset… she and Tai were so close…" she muttered to herself. She had meant for the words only to be heard by herself, but Lizzie caught them.
"Did you know him too? I'm really sorry," she looked stressed because her presentation had made so many people upset.
"Yeah, he was my brother, but its okay. Neither Sora nor I blame you. You didn't know about it," Kari assured the girl, feeling bad because Lizzie was feeling bad.
"No, I mean that I'm sorry that it was my father that was driving the car when he was drunk. He is really sorry you know," Lizzie insisted, about to burst into tears.
"I'm sure he is, but let's just change the topic. Finish packing up your presentation please," Kari didn't want to know that it was her father. She preferred to keep the killer nameless so she could hate him better. Lizzie obliged and soon Sora was back to watch the next presentation…
"Sora are you sure that you want an interview with this guy?" Kari double-checked. It was parent-teacher evening and it was the coffee break. Sora's next interview happened to be with Lizzie's parents and Kari wanted to make sure that Sora was okay with meeting the man that had killed Tai.
"Yes. He has a right to know how his daughter is doing in Japanese and he should be told first hand. He shouldn't have to rely on his wife for the information," she could see that Kari wasn't too happy, "Look, if I don't think that I can take it anymore then I'll leave. But I have to give them an accurate report; it's my job."
"Okay… but the minute that you feel uncomfortable, you have to leave them, okay?"
"Okay," she could tell that Kari still wasn't happy, but it was the best thing she could do. She felt that she was obligated to talk to both of Lizzie's parents, and that was what she was going to do.
"Okay, coffee break is over. We've got to get back," there was a collective groan from all of the teachers at this remark from the principal and there was a loud scraping back of chairs.
"At least it's my last interview," Sora said lightly, trying to calm down. She was really nervous about this last interview and she fingered her engagement ring unconsciously. After all of the years, she still wore the ring that Tai had given her. She knew that she would never love anyone as much as she had loved Tai.
"Good luck Sora," Kari whispered to her before they separated to go to their different tables. Sitting at Sora's table were Lizzie's parents. Lizzie's mother was a tall, thin blond with strange brown eyes. She was dressed in old jeans and a warm jumper, as the air outside was cold. Her husband had curly brown hair that was cut short. His eyes were blue and Sora felt cold when she saw them. Then again, she knew that he was responsible for Tai's death and therefore her judgement may not have been accurate. She took her place opposite them and tried her hardest to give them a pleasant smile.
"Good evening, you must be Lizzie's parents. My name is Miss Takenouchi and I am Lizzie's Japanese teacher," she shook hands with each of them as she introduced herself, feeling as though her smile was completely fake.
"I'm Gary and this is my wife Charlotte. How is Lizzie doing in your subject?"
"Lizzie is actually a very good student. She grasps concepts well and she has had no problems handling the texts we have been studying. The only problem that I have come across with Lizzie was her oral presentation, but we sorted that out."
"What was the problem with it? I told her where she could find the newspaper clippings once she told me what she wanted to talk about and I read the presentation through once she had written it. I thought that it was very good," Charlotte commented, looking a bit serious.
"I'm sure the presentation was good, but I couldn't really concentrate on it. You see the topic was… I couldn't grade it," Gary raised his eyebrow.
"I read the speech too and I thought that it was okay. Are you saying that you couldn't grade it because in the presentation she told you that her father killed someone?" he was very defensive. Sora shook her head quickly, not wanting them to get the wrong idea.
"No, of course not. It's just… the accident that she focused on… I was in that accident and Tai was my fiancé. I would have graded the presentation but I couldn't concentrate on what Lizzie was saying. Her presentation probably was good. That is why when she did her next topic she got an A. But I just couldn't grade that topic," Gary's eyes had gone wide and Charlotte was holding his hand tightly. This was the first time that he had seen Sora as being one of the victims of the car crash. He was shocked.
"I'm so sorry," he told her, his voice a little strained, "I didn't mean it."
"Yeah, I know. But you still did it," she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Out of the corner of her eye she could sense Kari watching her.
"How old was he? That is if you don't mind me asking. They didn't tell me anything," Sora took a deep breath and realised that she was calm. She wasn't on the verge of tears or in an angry rage. She knew that all of that would come later, where Gary would not have the satisfaction of seeing it.
"Nineteen. He'd asked me to marry him only two hours or so before the accident," she watched as Gary looked at the ground. She knew that he was feeling bad, but she could not stop hating him.
"I'm so sorry. If I'd have known I would never have…"
"You should never drink and drive anyway," she saw Kari rise from her seat and come towards her. It looked like Kari had finished all of her interviews.
"Sora are you okay?" Kari asked her quietly, coming up from beside her.
"This is Kari Takaishi, another teacher here," Sora introduced her whilst giving her a look that said 'what-are-you-doing-here?'
"I overheard you talking about my brother," Kari said smoothly, taking a seat next to Sora, "And I thought that I might want to hear this too. That is, if you don't mind." Charlotte and Gary looked a little confused.
"Kari is Tai's little sister," Sora filled them in. She didn't blame Kari for wanting to listen in, but her actions were a little rude.
"I'm-
"Yeah, you're sorry. I heard you the first time. Look, we don't need your apologies okay? We have moved on from this in various ways, and we don't need apologies. If you want to talk about it, then talk, don't just apologise," Sora raised both of her eyebrows at Kari's tirade. For the first time ever Kari sounded as though she didn't care about somebody. Gary just nodded, as though he understood.
"I just want to know a little more about him. Then maybe I can find a way to help people somehow, a way to help me understand this too," he pleaded. Charlotte looked interested in knowing too. Obviously this had been hard for her as well as her husband.
"I knew Tai since I was four years old. I met him playing soccer, and he asked me out on our first date after playing soccer. He loved that sport and he had been offered a place on the Japanese team. He had received the offer about a week before the accident. He was also a digidestined. Have you heard of them?" Gary nodded, "Well, he was our leader. He held us all together many times. He had the crest of Courage, which meant that the trait he most believed in was courage. He could always make people laugh and he knew how to cheer people up when they were down. He wasn't exactly smart, but it didn't matter. He was the best person I ever knew. Does that make you feel better?" She hadn't meant to be so abrupt, but the words had just come out of her mouth that way. Gary took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. I know that I keep on saying it, but it's because I mean it. I have a son too, and his name happens to be Taichi. He was born years before the accident, but don't you think it was ironic? I keep on having nightmares that it was my son that was killed instead of your fiancé. I remember being shown into a room after the accident and being forced to look at the person I had killed. That was the worst experience I have ever had. Do you know what it feels like to know that you have killed someone? It is the worst feeling in the world."
"But you deserve it. You killed another person. I'm sorry, I usually am very forgiving of people, but I cannot forgive you. If it had been an accident, then I would have forgiven you. But because you got into that car drunk, knowing that you had been drinking then it was no accident. It was meant to have happened because you did not think. If you had not had any alcohol, then my brother would still be alive today. Now I think that it would be best if we say goodbye to you now. I'm sure that Sora may see you at next semester's parent-teacher interviews. Good night," Kari took Sora's hand and almost pulled her out of the room.
"Kari what are you doing?" Sora whispered fiercely. She was grateful to the girl for saying what was on her mind, but she was terrified of what Gary and Charlotte would think.
"I just said what you were too afraid to say. Now come on, now that that is over, let's go out and go drink some tea. It'll calm us down," and with that they left the hall, ready to go to Kari's place and have a long chat…
End of Chapter…
Litanya: Well… that was Sora's story. Next chapter is Tai's story and then after that it is the epilogue kind of thing. I'm not really sure if it is the epilogue… it's more like the end of the fic. Anyway, it is the school holidays now, so this fic and 'An Old Box' will probably be finished by the 20th of July or maybe a little after that. Please review and I'll see you in the next chapter!