Openmouthed and wide-eyed, Chie shook her head slowly. She felt like someone had just punched her in the chest.
"No," she whispered. "No, that can't be. Anko-chan, she can't be dead. She shares the same body as me so . . ." Chie looked up at Daisuke. "Dai-kun, it can't be. Why are you lying to me? Why is everybody lying to me?"
Daisuke continued to stare at the ground. "It was an alternate dimension," he said. "People get separated in those dimensions. That's how Sumiko was able to kill Saki."
Chie took a couple steps back. She couldn't believe this was true. She refused to believe it.
"How can this be?" she asked. "All this . . . it happened so suddenly . . . why?"
Daisuke didn't answer her.
"Dai-kun, tell me why this happened!" Chie begged.
When it became clear to her that Daisuke didn't want to talk about it, Chie pushed him aside and started running.
Daisuke looked up. "Chie-san, where are you going?" he called. "Chie-san!"
Tears blurred Chie's vision. The colorful blobs that were people slowly disappeared and where replaced by green blobs. She was running in a park. She didn't know where she was running to. She just wanted to get as far away as possible from Daisuke. If Kikuko had been right, then Chie was also to blame.
Chie's foot caught on something and she fell face-first in a fountain of slimy green water. She sat up and coughed out dirty water. Now she was soaked, smelled like a swamp, and had a lump forming on her forehead.
I'm so pathetic, she thought to herself as she got out of the fountain. All I ever cared about was being happy and because everyone around me always smiled I just assumed they were happy as well. But maybe the only happy one was me. Maybe everybody else was miserable and I was too blinded by my happiness to notice.
Chie started walking in an unknown direction. Tears rolled freely down her face. She didn't bother to brush them away. A sudden nostalgia washed over her and she realized she knew this area of the park. There was a swing set in the shade of some trees and a sandbox a few feet away from it. It was covered in shadows now because the sun was setting, but Chie remembered it clearly. When they were little, she and Sasaya used to play on that swing set everyday . . .
"Ku-chan, Ku-chan, look!" Chie exclaimed and she kicked her legs up in the air. "I'm higher than you! Yay!"
Sasaya smiled. "Don't swing too high or---"
Chie accidentally let go of the swing and fell in the nearby sand box. Sasaya gasped. She stopped her swing, hopped off, and ran towards Chie.
"Did you hurt yourself?" she asked.
Chie looked up and stuck out her tongue. Her hair and clothing were covered with sand. "I went higher than you, Ku-chan!" she said with childish pride.
Sasaya put her hands on her hips. "Don't do that! You'll break something. Remember when we were playing hockey and you broke Kiku-san's special tea set?"
"But that was an accident! And it didn't break anything. See?"
Chie stood up and brushed off her clothes. She spun to one side and then to the other so Sasaya could see that she really hadn't broken a single thing.
Sasaya rapped her on the head. "You have a really thick head," she mumbled.
Chie laughed and grabbed Sasaya's hand. "Let's go home! Do you think Kiku-san has cookies for us?"
Sasaya smiled and started laughing. Chie stared at her with confusion.
"What's so funny?"
Still laughing, Sasaya pointed at Chie with her free hand. "You are! How do you make everything funny?"
Chie shrugged. "I don't know."
"You're a real dummy, Chie-chan, but you always make everybody happy."
Chie sighed and walked over to the swing set. She sat down and started swinging. The rusty metal creaked and squeaked.
"Maybe the reason everybody was always laughing around me was because I was so childish and naïve," she said softly. "I always assumed they were happy, but maybe I only made them forget their troubles with my idiocy." Chie hung her head and shivered. She wished she could go home and get out of her wet clothes. Plus she smelled so she really wanted a bath, but didn't dare return home. Kikuko would probably throw a pot at her if she came home in this state.
"I never thought that was a bad thing. Everything seems better when you're laughing, but maybe that distracted people. Maybe that's why everybody's hurt now. Sasaya stopped calling me chan a long time ago, but I haven't stopped calling her that silly nickname. I haven't stopped calling any of my friends their nicknames. Maybe I should grow up, but . . ."
Chie looked up and saw a flower petal float down from the tree. The petal circled around lazily before landing right on Chie's nose.
"I don't want to be pessimistic like all the adults I know. Maybe that's why I haven't grown up. I'm still clumsy and naïve, but at least I'm optimistic. I don't act like the world's going to end." Chie blew on the petal and it circled away. "Is that what being grownup means? Does it mean spending every waking moment acting so apathetic?"
More tears rolled down Chie's face.
"I may not be apathetic, but I am pathetic. I could be doing something, but all I can do is yell and cry and run away. I'm such a baby. And Dai-kun would never want a girl like that." Chie stopped swinging and gripped the metal chain. "I wish I was like Giku-chan. If I were stronger and more athletic and prettier, would Dai-kun like me better than Giku-chan?" Chie shook her head, her wet hair slapping her face. "No. He's drawn to Giku-chan because Giku-chan has qualities I can never have. Everyone's unique and Dai-kun's drawn to Giku-chan's uniqueness. It doesn't matter how long I pine for him. He'll never see me as more than a friend." Chie let go of the swing's chains and drew her hands to her chest. She gripped the wet material closest to her heart. "If I know it's true and I can accept it, then . . . then why does it hurt so much!"
Chie let out a loud sob. Luckily, the park was deserted, so no one heard her heart-wrenching cries.
"Why?" she sobbed. "Giku-chan has Dai-kun and I have nobody. Why? Why do I even care?"
She dropped to her knees and the swing hit her on the back. She sobbed and sobbed until she heard someone's voice.
"It's not a good idea for a girl to be crying alone in the park at this time of the night."
Chie looked up and immediately stood up. "Dark-san," she said rather dumbly. "You're Dark-san."
Dark walked over to Chie and gently grabbed her chin. Chie kept her eyes on the floor.
"How long have you been crying?" he asked softly.
Chie squeezed her eyes shut and more tears fell out of them. Dark brushed them away.
"There, there," he said. "Don't cry. What's the matter?"
"Why not? That's all I'm good for anyway," Chie said with some ruefulness in her voice. She took a couple steps away from Dark and buried her face in her hands. "Dark-san, everybody has gotten hurt. I should've known there was something going on, but I didn't. All I can do is cry when I find out the horrible truth. I'm no better than Sana-san."
Dark frowned. "Don't say that. You're not like her."
"But it's true! Sana-san only lives for revenge against Anko-chan because Anko-chan killed her. And Anko-chan killed her out of jealousy. I'm afraid . . . I'm afraid that . . . that I'll turn out like them! Except it'll be Giku-chan that's the victim."
"Riku? Why?" Dark asked with amazement.
"Because I'm jealous of her. She has Dai-kun."
"What does Daisuke have to do with anything?"
Chie looked up at Dark with severe sadness painted all over her tear-stained face. "I love Dai-kun!"
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Chie gasped and her hands flew up to her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that. Why did she say that?
"You love Daisuke?" Dark asked dumbly. "Why . . . why didn't you say anything before? Why didn't you say that to Daisuke?"
Chie stared at the ground miserably. Tears pricked her eyes again and Dark became nothing more than a black and purple blur surrounded by green and brown blobs. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it didn't work. For a moment, she stood there, gaping and trying to speak.
"He loves Giku-chan," she finally whispered. "And Giku-chan loves him back. How could I hurt two of my bestest friends in the entire world? It wouldn't be right to force my feelings on him because his heart has already been taken by Giku-chan. It belongs to her and I can't steal it away. It's just not in me."
Dark approached her and stroked her wet hair. "You're so selfless."
Chie hiccupped. "You mean selfish."
"No, it's selfless. Of course you're jealous. It's okay to be jealous when you can't have something you want. At least you've accepted the fact that you can't have Daisuke. That's actually very mature of you."
Chie looked up at Dark with quivering lips. "It is?"
Dark nodded. "And there's someone else here who thinks that, too."
Kikuko came out from behind a tree. "Don't run away like that anymore. You scared the hell out of me."
Chie blinked. "Kiku-san." After saying her name, Chie started sobbing loudly and threw herself at Kikuko. "Kiku-san! Kiku-san!"
Kikuko smiled and rubbed the girl's back. "You're wet and smelly. Did you fall in the fountain?"
Chie pulled away from Kikuko. "I did. I'm sorry. I got my clothes all wet."
"Don't worry about it. As long as you're okay."
Dark started walking away.
"Dark, shouldn't we---?" Daisuke started.
"She'll be fine. I can tell that she's not going to stay sad. So, are you embarrassed about what she said?"
Daisuke didn't respond for awhile. "I don't know what to do. I never realized Chie-san felt that way about me."
"Just act normal."
"Are you sure?"
Dark flew up to the sky and stared back down at Chie and her grandmother.
"I'm sure," he said with a smile. "And I'm positive things will end happily."
Poor Chie. What she said is true. She's still very childlike (which is why I made her say bestest. I know it's not even a word, but it's such a common word when it comes to little kids my little sister says it all the time that I made it part of her vocabulary). Don't worry, though. Chie always bounces back. It's not good for her to stay sad because . . . well, she's actually the happiest one in this entire fanfic. I don't want her to stay sad. It wouldn't be right.
