As promised, the updates…
Itsumo: A Thousand Paper Cranes
Chapter Five: Revelations II
Ring. Ring. Ring.
"Pirika!"
Pirika buried her head in the pillows. What was that? More importantly, who was that?
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Doorbells. She didn't even know why she bothered to install one.
"Five more minutes!" She absent-mindedly shouted back. Get a life people! It was Saturday anyway! She turned to look at her alarm clock. And it's only 6 am!
"No! I want you to get out of there now!"
"No!" The next thing Pirika would do the moment she faced the person behind the door was to destroy her doorbell.
"Pirika! I'm counting! Get out here! Now!"
"Aarrggh…"
"One!"
"Two! I'm telling you, I'll break out the damn door!"
Pirika opened her eyes and threw a snort of annoyance. "All right, all right… I'm coming!" She put on a robe, and strode outside her bedroom. She clumsily fixed her hair before she turned the doorknob. "This better be important, or I'll…"
Her best friend stood outside her apartment at 6 am. Great. Before she could even react, Jeanne spoke.
""What the hell happened to you? You look like shit!"
Did she? Pirika wondered. Wait… That statement came from a novice who just went out of the convent? And how could Jeanne even break her door when the girl couldn't even hurt a fly?
"Never mind." Jeanne shook her head and made her way inside Pirika's apartment. Pirika followed suit. "What happened here? Everything seemed to be messed up."
Pirika looked though the living room. Why didn't she notice the mess before? Her books lay scattered on the floor. Crumpled pieces of paper littered on the center table. There was even the Styrofoam from her dinner three nights ago! She felt embarrassed all of the sudden. "I've abandoned cleaning up, lately."
Jeanne raised her brow. "Meaning?"
"Meaning the moment you got out of here, I'll destroy the damn doorbell, clean up the place, then go back to sleep."
Jeanne smirked. "You sure don't want me here, do you?"
"It's fucking 6 am, Jeanne! Aarrggh! " Pirika threw her hands in frustration. She was awake anyway, what was the point? The sooner she got her best friend out, the sooner she would come back to sleep. "Whatever. Coffee?"
Twenty minutes after, the room was filled with the aroma of coffee and pancakes.
"Spill." Pirika spoke. Although she was enjoying a nice cup of coffee, the bed was definitely better. "What are you doing here?"
Jeanne shrugged. "Jut visiting… I want to know how my best friend is doing." She took the mug close to her lips. "You really make the best coffee, Pirika."
Pirika took a bite of the pancake. "At 6 am? You could visit sometime later you know… Like 10 am?"
Jeanne took one good look at Pirika. "I just got back from my vacation in England with Lyserg three days ago…"
"I know…"
"I've been calling you since then… No answer. I left messages. No replies. I went to your place the other night. You weren't home. I tried Horo-Horo. He said you haven't spoken to him either. So, naturally, I got worried."
Pirika bit her lip. "Jeanne… I've been busy lately… You know, school stuff…"
"Precisely." Jeanne replied. "Look, I know that you're busy, and I understand. But at least, make some time for your best friend, whom you haven't seen for two and a half months, whom you haven't talked to for more than 5 minutes on the phone, before this school stuff slowly kills you."
Pirika sighed. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Jeanne brushed her hand off, and smiled. "It's nothing really. No hard feelings. The speech was supposed to make you feel guilty. It did work. I've been practicing that speech since last night. Very effective, huh."
Pirika laughed. "I guess so." She stood and placed all dishes in the sink.
"Serious business, this time." Jeanne finished her coffee. "How are you?"
"Fine. As always."
Jeanne frowned. "I think your face betrayed the truth. You looked pale…. Dark circles under your eyes… Have you been sleeping late, lately?"
"Yeah… I've got some big examinations coming up so that I could qualify as a full scholar… Then, there's work…" Which was partly true, Pirika said to herself. The fact is, since that incident at the creek, she had difficulty getting enough sleep. Once, she even woke up crying…
A dream…
Ren…
"I told you being a doctor is slowly killing you. You'll die of stress before you even graduate."
Pirika had to thank her best friend for interrupting her terrain of thoughts. She had enough with those memory lapses… They've been hunting her for a week already. Three more weeks to go…
"Pirika?"
"Huh?" Pirika questioned. Take this moment for instance. Was she close to blacking out, again?
Jeanne frowned once more. "You seemed daze."
"Lack of sleep." Pirika turned her back once more to start washing the dishes.
"I supposed you've heard that Ren's back, huh?"
"Yeah… I know…." Pirika paused. She spun around. "What did you say?"
Jeanne rolled her eyes. "I asked you if you knew that Ren was back…"
"Ren?"
"Ren?"
The dark-haired man merely turned his back on her.
"Ren? Is it true?"
Pirika approached the quiet boy, who was staring at the waters of the creek.
"I heard Onii-san and Yoh-kun talking… They said you were leaving… Is it true?"
Ren still didn't answer.
"Ren, answer me, damn it. Is that why you've been avoiding me the past days? Ren! Why don't you answer me?" Tears sprang to her eyes before she could even control them.
The dark-haired boy finally tuned to look at her. "Pirika…"He pulled the sobbing girl close. "No, I'm not leaving, Pirika. I'm not leaving you."
"Pirika?"
Pirika shook her head. Not again. Why wont the memories stop? She looked at her best friend, who was now standing before her, looking at her intently. "I told you, I need some sleep." She smiled. "Yeah… I saw him last week, at Onii-san's house. We… even… ah… talked…" Did time really fly that fast? A week…
But Jeanne didn't seem to hear what she said. "Are you sure, you're okay?"
"Of course, I'm fine! You're worrying too much, Jeanne."
Jeanne sat down, but still regarded Pirika with concern. "I saw him the other day at the party. Come to think of it, he's in a state much like you… He looked like hell. You know, he would just go silent and stare into nothingness."
Pirika flinched. Was Ren affected too? Was he having the same painful flashbacks?
"He looked pretty concerned when I told him that you wouldn't answer your phone calls nor reply to my messages. He was actually the one who suggested that I should visit you this early." Jeanne did notice the display of emotions on Pirika's face, but decided to do nothing about it. "Which reminds me… Why did you miss Ren's party at the Asakura's? I was hoping to see you there."
"So he was the one to blame for your early morning visit. I'll kill him the next time I see him." Pirika tried to sound calm and cheerful. "The party? I got sick at that time. I left Ren a note that I couldn't come the other day."
"It was fun, though. A pity you've missed it..." Once again, Jeanne pretended not to notice the fake smile Pirika was wearing all along. "It's surprising… Ren just showed up… Without a word... Why did he come back?"
I didn't break any promise, Pirika… That's why I came back… I came back to keep it… I've always loved you, Pirika. I still do. I will still.
Breathe, Pirika. Breathe. Take control of the situation, she reminded herself. She couldn't afford to pass out every time the subject was mentioned. "I don't know… He's always good at surprises."
"Yeah. The man just got himself engaged, but I wish he would tell us why he was here instead of being in China, with his fiancée, planning his wedding. It must be something important. We've been playing guessing games with him for years." Jeanne knew that Pirika passed out for a moment, and she knew it wasn't because of her lack of sleep.
"Enough of Ren… So what about you, Jeanne? How are you and Lyserg?"
You did a bad job of hiding things, Pirika, Jeanne told herself. You made everything too obvious when you changed the subject. But she wouldn't let her best friend off the hook that easily. "And I thought you wouldn't ask…" Jeanne held up her left hand. "Surprise!"
"Oh my gosh!" Pirika looked closer at the diamond ring on her best friend's finger. "You're engaged!"
"You don't look at all happy." Jeanne frowned.
"Shut up, Jeanne." Pirika gushed, staring at the ring. "Of course, I'm happy. I knew you and Lyserg would end up together. I remembered the day the two of you met…"
"Don't remind me." Jeanne shook her head, covering her ears. "It's just too damn embarrassing…"
Pirika smiled. "The cemetery… Just the perfect place to meet your future husband… A story worth telling…"
"Oh, just shut up…"
"So, just tell me how he did it…"
"Oh well…"
Pirika smiled and nodded on cue as her best friend recounted her two and a half months in England. Gosh… her best friend was blooming in excitement. Was that how every woman in-love should look?
"Then, he took me to an empty graveyard. He said he have to tell me something. You know what? I actually thought he was breaking up with me! I mean, he seemed to have been avoiding me…."
"So you're breaking up with me." Pirika had said those words with finality.
"I'm not breaking up with you, Pirika." Ren quickly replied.
Pirika sighed, refusing to meet the dark-haired man's eyes. "Don't make this any harder…" Her next words came as a whisper. "I'm tired… I'm tired of hiding; I'm tired of keeping everything a damn secret… I'm tired of…"
"Us?"
"No…" Pirika defended, "What I'm saying is, we can tell Onii-san, we can tell the gang, we can tell your family…"
Ren's face turned grim. "We can't tell my family…"
"They'll understand…"
"They won't understand!" Ren cried angrily.
"What are you so afraid of? Are you afraid to tell your family that you're in-love with some poor country girl you met somewhere? Are you ashamed to admit that you've fallen for some poor nobody when you should have fallen in-love with a girl from the Elite?"
Ren held her arm and furiously shouted. "Don't you ever say that! I don't care if you're not rich... I don't care if your not some kind of girl from the Elite… Did you hear me, Pirika? I don't care!"
"Then what the hell is it?"
Ren turned away. "You don't understand… You won't understand!"
"That's the problem! You don't trust me! You don't trust me to understand!"
"You'll never understand…"
"So be it…" With that, Pirika left.
The next day, Ren showed up, with pieces of paper in his hand. Pirika understood.
And from that day on, they cast their fates to the tale of the thousand paper cranes.
Whatever happened… Whatever should the paper cranes willed… Whatever their fate would be…
Ren and Pirika were bound to understand.
They never finished the paper cranes. On the 500th crane, Ren didn't show up. Pirika found out that he was gone.
Gone… Without a word…
Pirika started anew with the paper cranes. She folded a thousand, on her own, while waiting for Ren… She promised herself to give Ren some time… That on the occasion that Ren came back or simply gave a word, before she finished the thousand paper cranes, she would give "them" a second chance…
But if not… They simply weren't be…
She finished the paper cranes a year after… She gave him a year… She waited for him a year…
Still no word…
That night, she went to the creek to cast the thousand paper cranes, and she prayed…
Pirika prayed that she might be given the strength to move on from a lost love…
"I want to forget…"
That she forget everything about him… That the pain would subside, that the bitter memories would leave her in peace…
"I want to forget…"
That she forget that once, in a blissful dream, she did love him, and he loved her back…
She cried her last.
Then she left, never to return…
With one last spoken promise,
That in the event that Ren came back, she would do nothing…
She would feel nothing…
But to cast once more, her fate, their fates, to the waters of the creek, and to the tale of the thousand paper cranes.
Pirika woke up to find herself in bed. What happened? Did she pass out? She remembered talking to Jeanne, then…
"You fainted."
There was her best friend, who seemed to have read her thoughts.
"Right in the middle of my tale, the most romantic part when Lyserg kneeled down, and asked for my hand in marriage… Then, thud! There you were, on the floor…"
Pirika forced a smile. "I'm really sorry, Jeanne… It was your fault, anyway, for waking me up at 6am…"
Jeanne rolled her eyes. "Whatever…"
"What time is it?"
"Almost 10 a.m.…"
"What!" Pirika immediately got out of bed. "I'm late for work! Do you realize that?"
"No, young lady. You'll stay in bed." Jeanne admonished. "You'll stay home and rest…"
"I'm okay…"
"No, you're not okay. You blacked out on me three times, and you even fainted! For pete's sake, Pirika, stay home, and for once listen to me!"
Before Pirika could argue, Jeanne was putting on her coat, preparing to leave. "I need to go now, I have some things to attend to. I ordered food for your lunch. I'll be coming back in the afternoon to check on you, so don't even think about escaping."
With that Jeanne was gone.
Jeanne hailed a cab and gave the driver the address. She knew something was wrong. From the moment she saw Pirika that day to the successive fainting spells, something was definitely up. And if Pirika wouldn't tell her what, she knew someone else could.
She heard it. The name Pirika muttered before she completely passed out…
Ren…
She got out of the cab twenty minutes later, and headed for the door. She rang the doorbell, once… twice… On the third bell, someone finally opened the door.
It was, as she expected it.
Ren.
If Ren was surprised to see Jeanne at 10 a.m. with absolutely no business at all, he hid it very well. He merely stared at her. "What do you want?"
"We need to talk." Jeanne quickly replied.
"About what? If it's about Lyserg…"
"What happened to you and Pirika years ago?"
That completely got his attention.
Okay, that was the update. I think I've finished the flashbacks. So anyway, you like it? Leave a review… Next chapter? I don't really know.
To those of you who've read the first chapter of "Let Go", and didn't understand a thing, here's basically the story. The first chapter is actually a prologue. It's a Yoh / Anna. Yoh and Anna were once a couple, but they broke up for some reasons. Anna disappears, and meets Tamao, who becomes her best friend. Anna goes away for some time. Meanwhile, Tamao meets Yoh, falls in love with him, and Yoh, after the incident with Anna, decided to give Tamao a chance… That he could try to love her and all that… Tamao starts telling Anna about Yoh in her letters, but she didn't reveal the name. Anna figured out that it was Yoh, along the way. When Tamao speaks of marriage, Yoh agreed, seeing that it was time to move on and all that. Anna started to avoid the couple, as she thought it was the best thing to do. It was during the engagement party that Anna showed up, and Yoh learns the truth, and things happen along the way.
I've just revealed the plot. Great. It was just a matter of what Yoh would do… of what Anna would do… and what about the engagement…
Yeah… So do you want me to continue the story "Let Go" or not?
"They say when you love someone, learn to let go… You did just that. But what if he comes back? Can he still be yours? Would he still be yours now that he's engaged to your best friend?"
That's the summary… See the point?