A/N: --sings to herself--

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Chapter 9: Smash to Smithereens

Aya woke up finally with a brand new smile. She was back at her own home. She spent the night there..and so Katase drove her back there.

She thumped softly downstairs as she quickly dressed up and got ready to eat breakfast.

"Hi, mom. Hi, dad." She greeted, and gave each of her parents a kiss on the cheek.

Her dad smiled back a beam. Slicing the bacon on his plate, he asked, "Aya, you look so happy today. What's new?"

"Nothing, mom. I think I just had something on my mind."

"Hope that's for your own good." Her mom told her.

"I thought of a new story to write." Aya said 'quite' truthfully.

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Ran was on her way to visit Tatsuki first before going to school, which would be after 5 hours.

She was approaching the jail, when she saw her brother sitting outside the station, head buried in hands. She hurried to see what's going on.

She sat beside Yamato as soon as she reached the place. "Hey, whatcha cryin' about now?"

There was no answer. Ran shrugged then frowned. She shook her brother a bit. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Still there was no answer. But there was a sob. --That must be a sob he can't hold anymore. Hope it's not about Miyu.-- Ran thought. For the third time, she asked, "Yamato, I'm just you tell me about that? I might help."

"It's too late to help." Yamato's voice broke out, hoarse.

The rough voice just told Ran something she wanted to know. "What happened between you and her?"

Yamato removed his hands from his face and looked at Ran. Ran's heart was pierced to see the swelling eyes of Yamato. --He must have been crying since this very dawn. I didn't see him last night, either.-- Ran inferred.

"Ran...Miyu's gone."

"WHAT?!?!"

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Yuuhi, on the other hand, didn't wake up his usual Okay-today-is-a-very-good-day-and-I-am-going-to-see-Ran ways. His heart is still beating with fear. Fear that Mami would come back for revenge. Fear that she might hurt his friends. Fear that she might hurt Ran.

In those two years he had been with Mami, of course he already knew what her manners are. And he also knew what she could do. Mami gets everything, and she always has plans to get something she wanted but she never got.

As he got up from his bed, he picked up his brush and brushed some part of his blonde hair. Then he saw a frame containing a picture of him and Mami. He snapped it down. When he got up to look at himself with his full-length mirror, he saw Mami standing behind him and glaring at him with a knife. He turned around. No Mami.

He glanced back at the mirror. No Mami. He sighed. --Maybe I was just hallucinating.-- he concluded. He closed his eyes. --Yuuhi, there's no Mami, okay?--

He turned still with eyes closed. When he opened them he saw Mami holding an unconscious Ran by the hair. Ran had blood dripping all over her body and clothes. Mami held the knife with blood with her other hand.

Yuuhi got angry and was too shocked to see his beloved Ran like that. He heard Mami's laugh. It echoed in his ear. He clenched his fists and ran to Mami like a wild child and punched him. But then he went through her as if she were a ghost. He looked back if she had just dodged his attack, but when he did, there was no Mami.

Yuuhi blinked several times.

--What's going on with me? I'm thinking too much of Mami Honda. I have to let go of her!-- he thought.

He rushed to the door. He was about to open it when he heard a creaking sound by the window. He turned around. But the window was neatly closed.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. He looked down on the floor. He almost gasped when he saw that.

The knife he saw Mami hold through his hallucinations was there.

On the floor.

And covered with blood.

----------

"Therefore these symptoms found in your patient's answer shall be the key to what their possible disease would be. However..." the teacher continued speaking as Rei gathered up the bottles of medicine he was supposed to bring to the other laboratory for inspection.

"Rei Otohata!"

Rei turned around still holding the small casket containing the bottles.

"Hey, Mai!" Rei smiled.

Mai Katta, a close friend of Rei at his university, went over and saw that his eyes were somewhat lacking something.

"Is there...something wrong?" Mai asked.

Rei blushed a bit. He looked away. "Of course none...I just got..scolded by boss."

"Oh." Mai realized Rei never wanted to talk about it. She decided to change the topic. "Hey, lemme help ya there!"

Rei held away his casket and put up his index finger in front of her. "Nuh-uh! You get your own there! Boss says you gotta help!"

"Oh, really? Fine..." Mai walked away in an instance. Rei looked at her as she did try gathering the casket from a distance. He'd never been this close to girls before. Not with Ran. Not with Miyu. Not even with...Aya.

Aya again. When does she leave his mind? When oh when? Rei sighed. He brought the casket to the lab two rooms away from theirs.

Does he have to let go now that he had realized he loved Aya?

Or does he have to think still that Mai could fill that void?

----------

Tatsuki sighed heavily. --Just 3 days more...I'm outta here.-- Tatsuki thought. Then Ran's image popped in his mind. Her laughs, her embrace, her smile...but still he can't imagine her kiss with him. He haven't kissed her yet..for years man...that's terrible. Then he imagined Naoki reaching out to Ran, trying to kiss her...Tatsuki shook his head.

"That's impossible. Naoki's too young for Ran." He insisted on himself. But the darker side of him was telling otherwise.

--Tatsuki...age doesn't matter! You know that!-- his darker side said.

Tatsuki forced a laugh. "You're silly, Tatsuki. Ran would never exchange me for my brother."

"Kuroi, you have a visitor."

--Now I'd probably have the record of 'Having visitors each day of the week'-- Tatsuki thought. "Coming."

He went out his bars and walked towards the room.

"Ran." Came out his breath when he saw the visitor. How he wished he could jump so high and embrace Ran...he could die of happiness when he saw Ran.

"You're safe." He remarked. Then he sat down across her.

Ran held his hand. "How are you?"

Tatsuki blushed red and looked away. "I..I'm fine."

He saw Ran hoist an eyebrow. "Okay, I'm not that fine. But those things you sent me were too much to make me say 'I'm not fine.'." he said, valuing that look of hers.

Ran smiled. Oh how Tatsuki felt like melting before her very eyes. Her killer smile just kept on making his heart bounce.

She let go of his hand. Ran's left eye twitched for a nanosecond, which isn't impossible for Tatsuki to perceive. He moved his face closer to take a better look at her.

"Ran..."

She looked at him with that 'What-are-you-up-to-?' look. Tatsuki sat up straight and said, "Ehem.."

"Well?" Ran asked, meaning she wanted to know what he was to say.

"I think you have a problem. Don't put your mask on. Please. Not in front of me." He told her seriously.

Ran just smirked. "Whatever you tell me, I'd only say that I'm okay. I'm done with problems now. I want..to take a break."

"And so you're seeing me to forget your problems?"

Seeing no other answer to that question, she said "I love you." to him, to which he had been surprised.

He stammered. "I...I love you too Ran."

--What's going on with Ran?-- he thought. Not so sure whether he would believe in her actions. --Of course I would..but...it's so odd..--

----------

"Rei, I want to meet up with you." Yuuhi said, frantic. "I mean right now. I'll be waiting for you here. Demiki corner." He clicked. He panted for breath...he's so hopeless. It's like he wanted to die already...he's fearing her so much. What could he do? He couldn't help telling what he knew. He wanted to protect Ran. But what if Ran gets angry...knowing that he hid the truth from the police..letting Tatsuki almost get in trouble like spending years in prison.

A few more minutes and Rei was already there, because his hospital wasn't that far.

"Why the frail look, man?" he said, coming over from his car.

Yuuhi held his head for a while, then sat down on the ground, with a heavy sigh. That sigh made Rei sharp about what it meant.

"Rei, I...I went to have dinner with Mami's family last night."

Rei sneered. "Well? How did it go?"

"F--ck, Rei...I told his dad everything I knew about her! And guess what? Duh I can't believe it! Yuuhi did bicker! His dad ordered his guards to pursue me."

"Everything...you know about her?" Rei

Yuuhi realized he got his tongue slippery. "It's...It's..."

"Something I might know?" Rei asked.

--But I also know about Aya getting drunk!-- Yuuhi thought, starting to feel doubtful of himself. He has to tell him the truth. Or else he loses his bestfriend...

"I know why all the troubles here in Shibuya are happening."

"All the troubles?"

"I mean in our gang." Yuuhi said. Then he gulped. --What to say now?-- he asked himself.

Rei shrugged with just one of his shoulders. "Why don't you stand up there and face me here? I don't get what you mean."

Yuuhi at first stared blankly at Rei. Then he sighed. Then he stood up and did what Rei told him. "I know I should tell this early, because if I hide this longer...then...I know you'd be rejecting me."

The brunette just listened. But his eyes were so cold to look at and it only made Yuuhi frail. But he knows he must do it. hehe...taking so long? Well, here it goes...

"I...I know why Tatsuki...why he's in jail now...I know why...I know why...Miyu's lost now." Yuuhi said truthfully.

"Miyu's lost? Since when?"

"I'd explain later about that..."

"Later?" Rei asked. "I thought you were finished with telling the troubles."

"I know in this one...you'd be mad.." Yuuhi gulped first the big lump in his throat. "I..also know why the situation between you and Aya is now...is now... out of order.."

At that part of Yuuhi's confession, Rei did react to it. "What did you just say?"

"I was involved in getting her drunk." He replied. "But...I didn't know she would kiss Katase! I didn't! She was—"

Rei punched him. "You son of a b-------- ! I haven't thought you'd be the reason of why Aya would be gone! Of why we'd be apart! Look at what you did! Could you see me suffering from her loss?!?"

"Go ahead." He whispered, loud enough for Rei to hear. His nose and mouth bled..but his eyes were mostly covered by his hair. He was on the ground now, sitting up from the strong brunt Rei gave him. "Punch me all you want. I'm not gonna fight."

Rei held him by the collar. He was so raged knowing that of all the people who'd be ruining his lovelife...it would be his bestfriend!

"Punch me." Yuuhi said. He waited, since he wasn't looking at Rei, he can't see if he's about to punch him or not. But when he noticed it had been for a long while Rei had only been holding him by the collar...he looked at him.

Guess what he saw? For the very first time...Rei was actually crying! Yuuhi's eyes widened in shock. Rei's hands were trembling under the Yuuhi's garment he was holding...He also grits his teeth at the moment. "You..." Rei snapped. He threw Yuuhi to the wall. "Aargh!" was all he could tell. He was so fumed! For the first time as well! Rei never felt the anger before.

Yuuhi didn't speak...it's as if he never wanted to defy Rei. Not now when he's so irate...he has to receive the consequences. Then he went to wonder...

If Rei loved Aya...then....?

"Before you go blowing punches at me, let me tell you something." Yuuhi whispered between tired breaths. "Ahead of what I did...getting Aya drunk...did you tell her already that you love her? Did you have a good relationship even before she got drunk? When she did get drunk, why is she with Katase?"

That made Rei shocked. His eyes wide...almost bulging...Yuuhi's right..He didn't tell her yet. And he even dumped her! Rei remembered he only loved her when he realized her loss..and that was after he saw them kiss!

"W-why do you care?" Rei stammered. Rei suddenly grew cold and calm! As if everything that happened just left his memory! He turned around and said, "Well done, Yuuhi...Thanks."

Much to Yuuhi's confusion, Rei left him there staring at the air.

--Well done, Yuuhi...Thanks.-- Yuuhi recalled. "Well done...he said well done..he said thanks...but..what--?"

"Rei!!!!" he shouted, running towards Rei's car, but when he did, the car sped away with the driver of course.

----------

Yamato, riding his bike(which is still with him until now), tried to look for Miyu all around Shibuya. In all the corners he knew... At every place. Even beside that hospital. But she was nowhere to be found.

Then his cell rang.

Surprised as he was, the screen displayed 'Miyu' on it. He answered it quickly. "Miyu!! My goodness, where in the world have you been?"

But it almost made Yamato crunch his cell phone when the voice spoke. "Kotobuki Yamato, pleased to meet you." Came in a male voice.

"Who are you? And why do you have Miyu's phone?"

"Aww...tsk, tsk, tsk.." the caller mocked. "Didn't she tell you yet?"

Yamato's heart thumped both with anger and with fear. "You're not answering my questions yet! And what did you call for?"

"Just checking if Miyu already revealed to you about us...I'm the father of her developing baby..for you to know." It said directly.

Yamato was bowled over. Stabbed by an infinite number of knives, he was about to drop his cell when the caller spoke. "By the way, you know me a lot. I'd be giving you a big clue of who I am. I'm the 2nd Prize Winner of the Grand Prix years ago." Then the line went off.

Yamato recalled everything it said to him. --I'm the father of her developing baby...for you to know. I'm the 2nd prize Winner of the Grand Prix years ago.-- he evoked.

"AAAAAAARRGGHHH!!!!" He shouted, and slammed his phone on the ground, leaving it to shatter to many millions of pieces. It made people turn their heads towards him, but he didn't care. He ran away. He even left his bike on the road! To whoever would want to own that material he kept for years, it doesn't matter now. Nothing matters now.

Nothing.

If anything else matters, not Ran, not his family, not the bike, the broken phone...not anyone else.

It would be nothing. Nothing matters.

----------

Mami cried all day, all night...all the time. She didn't accept any meal during that day. She was crying not because she's grounded. She's crying because she lost Yuuhi, because of Ran. She knew really that Ran's the one he still loved, because Yuuhi haven't been the type of guy who'd be romantic when with Mami Honda ever since.

Too bad..or maybe it was too good for her to be true. But though Mami's dad took her cell phone from her, the rich girl kept her wits intact. So, after wiping her precious tears, she crawled under two heavy mattresses and took a hidden cellphone out of it. She inserted a sim card she keeps for emergency and dialled the numbers of her accomplices, which she knew very well.

First accomplice, busy.

Second accomplice, three rings. When it answered...

"Hey, have you done your job well?" Mami asked.

"Yes, boss! I told Yamato that I got Miyu pregnant! He believed so much! I guess he ruined his cell by now."

"Very well, then." Mami pressed the 'end call' button. --Aya gets drunk, goes to Katase, away from Rei, from Ran...Miyu thinks she had sexual intercourse with another man and goes away from Yamato! Rei feels so down now, because Aya has left him, Yuuhi lives with fear because father kept him in trace...Yamato gets angry, knowing and believing that Miyu's really pregnant! Only Ran's left.-- Mami calculated.

Little did she know that her accomplice told Yamato that the one who impregnated Miyu was Yuuhi...little did she know how much Yuuhi suffers from all this mess she was making...and little did she know that the more she makes the mess, the more it made Yuuhi go away from her.

End of Chapter 9