CHAPTER 3
The Lost Twin
'Whoever made up 'Take your son to work day' should be shot..' Takuya grumbled inwardly. He was being brought back to the institution. The one Kouji hated so much. Why? What made Kouji so angry at the mention of it?
"Takuya, wait here. I'll just be a second." his father turned and went into a room with a plaque that read 'Office: Authorized Personnel Only'.
'...Oookay.' Takuya turned and paused. Standing by the window was a boy who could have been a Kouji double! 'Woa..'
"Kouji?" Takuya asked, walking up. The boy turned to look at him, but Takuya could tell it wasn't him. What made him say the name? Their eyes were completely different. Kouji's held anger.. And despair. "Oh. Never mind." He went to go wait for his dad again.
"Why did you say Kouji?" the boy had grabbed his wrist. This followed with a silence Takuya had only experienced around Kouji.
"Uh.. Well, see.. You look just like this guy I met about a week or so ago. His name is Kouji and.."
"Just like me?"
"Uh ya.."
10 minutes later.
"Woa! So you had a twin named Kouji! Hey! Maybe their the same guy!"
"Impossible." Kouichi, as Takuya had found his name to be, and Takuya were walking down the hallway talking.
"Why?" Takuya asked, hands behind his head.
"Because my brother died 10 years ago." Kouichi stopped walking only momentarily before continuing at the same pace. Takuya stopped completely and had to rush to catch up.
"I'm sorry. I.. Didn't know.." he said sadly, looking at his feet. "How'd he.."
"I'd rather not talk about that." Kouichi said slightly faster than normal. Before Takuya could apologize, he continued. "I prefer to talk of how he used to be." he flashed Takuya a smile that made him feel loads better.
"Wanna get a bite to eat in the mess hall?" Takuya pointed behind him to the elevator. Kouichi smiled.
"Sure."
– – – – – – –
Kouji walked along the beach in front of the institute. He looked up at the windows on every one of the 4 floors. The first floor was for shopping, eating, basically nothing too important. The second floor and up was divided into two sections. One half for the institute's undersea research and the other for visitors. He shook his head and kept going.
– – –
"Sooo. Tell me about your brother." Takuya ordered as he put his spoon into his ice cream. What? What'd you expect? It's Taku we're talking about.
"Alright. He was only six when he died.. But he was closer to me than either of our parents or any friend we had. If I could change anything, it's that I could've switched places with him..."
Takuya paused in eating, the spoon hanging from his mouth. Kouichi took a deep breath and smiled at memories as he told them.
"Kouji loved the ocean. We lived in a little house by the ocean until he died, then we moved into a housing complex. Kouji would spend hours by the ocean, just staring at it. He was smart for a 6 year old. He could read better than me even though I was older and he'd read to me when mom and dad were to busy." Kouichi smiled sadly as he remember laying upside-down on their bed as Kouji read.
A shadowed figured stood nearby, out of sight, staring at the floor.
"Kouji told me he wanted to become a pirate once." Kouichi grinned. "It was just after he read a fantastic pirates tale to me and we'd laid down for bed. I remember he stared at the ceiling and asked me to be his first mate. We laughed for an hour, imagining grand adventures." The figure in the corner left.
"His favorite food was chocolate pocky, oddly enough." Kouichi laughed. "He'd eat that stuff whenever mom bought some.. Of course.. It made him really thirsty for milk. But that was funny." he remembered Kouji nearly drinking from the carton before his mother stopped him and poured it for him.
"Sounds cool." Takuya smiled, eating his fast melting ice cream. "Your parents sound amazing too."
"...My dad owns the institute. Did you know that?" Kouichi was staring at the only thing he ordered, a soda.
"Really? Mr. Minamoto is your father?" Takuya almost choked on his ice cream.
"Yea. Dad built this place from scratch once the government finally decided to give him the money. Kouji's never seen the building since he died two years before it's construction. Father's lack of money was hard on Kouji.." Kouichi lowered his head.
"What? Did he blame himself?" Takuya asked, finished with his ice cream.
"No. But I think that's a story for another time." Kouichi smiled but something told Takuya he was hiding something very depressing behind the smile as they both stood up to leave.
– – – – –
"Takuya! There you are!"
"Kouichi!"
Both boys were embraced by their fathers. Kouichi was hugged especially hard by the father would already lost one son.
"Don't run off again, you could really get lost in here." Mr. Kanbara scolded.
"Father.. I want to talk to you alone when we get home." Takuya heard Kouichi even though he was being scolded and said boy was whispering. And so the cloud of uncertainty about Kouji thickened.
It: hm.. I just realized Onee.. Kouichi never had that talk with his father..
Onee-chan: that's because you not creative enough to use your imagination. Maybe Kousei said he couldn't, or Kouichi forgot. Maybe they did and they argued. Or they got along like best buddies and went to a theme park and ate ice cream.
It:...uh..
Onee-chan: Exactly. -smiles-
