A/N: Uploading Chapter 6 when I'm not even that far into Chapter 25! I used to be 20 chapters ahead. I'm slipping. Oh well, I'll catch up. In the meantime, hope you enjoy. Loving the feedback!
Warning for Naoi doing... a Naoi thing.
[Chapter 06]: The Truth Comes Out
Ayato got to his knees and started placing the incriminating evidence back into the box, including the framed wedding photo that he ripped out of Kanade's hands. She made a startled sound of protest, but seconds later distracted herself with the engagement ring. He took that away too.
"As you can see," he muttered, not looking at any of them, "Yuri and I have a bit of a history in this life."
"History, meaning past tense?" Otonashi asked.
Kanade fingered the wedding ring before dutifully dropping it into the box. "I don't think he would have this if they were still together, Yuzuru," she said, watching Ayato like an owl as he stored the box back on the top shelf of the hall closet where it belonged. "Not hidden away like that."
He eyed her resentfully as he shut the door, but restrained the words on his tongue he wouldn't dare speak in front of Otonashi. Sure, he may have given her the wrong door, but she'd clearly found the restroom on her own. She didn't have to go back to it afterwards and snoop through his things. If a can of worms was to be opened, he would have much preferred to do it himself on his own time.
"Earlier in the kitchen, you were starting to say that things were tense between the two of you," said Hinata, leaning against the opposite wall of the hallway. "Just how tense are we talking about?"
"And what I want to know," Otonashi said before Ayato could answer, "is if she has all her memories back too. Did she see the concert with you?"
"If she did, that would explain a lot." Hinata smirked at him. "I bet she divorced you as soon as she remembered you."
What that got him was two cries of indignation at the exact same time.
"Hinata! Yuri wouldn't do that-!"
"Hey, I divorced her!"
Otonashi and Ayato exchanged flustered glances, before the former's expression turned to one of disapproval. Ayato suddenly felt very small under his gaze, like he was a little kid again about to be scolded for screwing up on a pottery project.
"But she agreed to it," he said defensively. "As a matter of fact, she seemed pretty quick to be rid of me. She got the Kyogi Rikon papers the next day, moved out before we were even finished signing, gave me the house, and I haven't seen or heard from her since. She didn't even tell me she was leaving town."
"If you asked for a divorce as soon as you remembered her, it sounds like you were quick to be rid of her first," said Otonashi, frowning.
"What was I supposed to do, Otonashi?" Ayato creased his forehead in frustration. Snapping at Otonashi was usually out of the question, but he should have expected that he'd take her side. "Act like nothing had changed? Pretend we actually loved each other?"
"What do you mean 'actually loved each other'?" Hinata demanded, looking cross and suddenly very protective. "Are you saying you were married to Yurippe for, what—"
"Three years," Ayato muttered.
"—three years, and she meant nothing to you?" He took a threatening step forward, getting in Ayato's face.
Ayato met him head-on, growling. "It wasn't us! It wasn't real!"
"What does that even mean?! Of course it was you!"
"Hinata, stop." Otonashi tried to step in and intervene, firmly grasping Hinata's shoulder to pull him back. "This isn't helping."
"But he's even more of an idiot now than he was in the Afterlife!" Hinata complained. "I mean, not that I think they're meant for each other or something ridiculous like that, but we can't just let him off the hook for dumping Yurippe! She's like my sister. You've gotta at least let me kick his ass a little."
"You can try," Ayato said, his eyes glowing.
"Hey now!" Otonashi warned, pushing them away from each other. "Enough of that! Both of you!" This time he turned to Ayato, who flinched under his scrutinizing gaze. "Now, Naoi, he really does have a point. I confronted you when you tried to obliterate her and I think I have to confront you now."
He winced at the way Otonashi gripped his arm. It was just like the first time, strong and unyielding. He'd been grabbed like this by his father many times before, in this life and the one before it, but Otonashi's hold was thankfully less threatening. Just like it had always been. Secure and relentless, forcing him to face all the things he refused to. And he really wasn't ready for this.
"Why exactly did you divorce Yuri?" he asked, his voice misleadingly calm.
"Because our memories make us who we are," Ayato answered firmly, "and we made entirely different memories in this life. The Naoi and Yuri who fell for each other in this life disappeared when we got our former life and Afterlife memories back, when we became who we were then and are now."
Otonashi thought for a moment, loosening his grip but not letting go as he mulled over Ayato's words with a frown.
Hinata, on the other hand, just stared at him.
"…That is the worst load of crap I've ever heard," he said.
"Nobody asked you!"
"I'm going to have to side with Hinata on this one," Otonashi conceded, and Ayato held his tongue to keep from making a bitter remark. He gestured to Kanade—who was STILL peering at Ayato with those big golden owl eyes of hers!—and said, "Kanade and I fell in love with each other in this life. Memories or no memories, my feelings for her aren't any different."
"Obviously that's because you loved each other in the Afterlife," Ayato replied. "Yuri and I didn't have anything between us then. And now that our Afterlife mindsets are the prominent ones, what we had before doesn't matter."
Hinata made a sound of disgust. "I wish we'd found Shiina first, just so she could be here to say what we're all thinking: this is so stupid."
Ayato snarled. "You're just lucky Otonashi is here, you little—"
"Stop!" Otonashi clutched his head in agony. "You're acting like children! Fine, Naoi. We get it. You don't love Yuri. But some of us here still want to find her, so when was the last time you saw her here in Mizuzaka?"
"Six months ago," Ayato said without hesitation. "When the divorce was finalized." He closed his eyes and scoffed upon remembering how immaturely she'd gone about it. "She cut off contact, and her friend said she moved a month later."
Honestly, what if he'd been calling about a mistake in the divorce papers? Or some things of hers that Ryou and Sunohara had left behind (which, incidentally, they had)? Not that he wanted her to answer his calls, but she should have. The silent treatment had been so aggravating. Just thinking about it now revived his irritation—
"Do you miss her?"
The question was so sudden, so light and quietly but boldly ventured, that although Ayato had spun around in bewilderment to face the source, he barely registered it in his mind. His heart certainly did, kicking his fight-or-flight response into gear as it started beating rapidly in alarm.
"What?" he sputtered, cursing silently when Hinata perked up in interest at his reaction. Kanade merely blinked at him, knowing he'd heard and understood what she just said. Flustered, he broke their eye contact and turned to look at Otonashi. "First she goes through my closet, now she's asking a weird question like this. Otonashi, with all due respect, does she ever mind her own business?"
Oddly enough, Hinata looked more pissed at the remark than Otonashi, whose frown had transformed into a strange little smile.
"Answer her question, Naoi," he said, draping an arm around Kanade's shoulders. "Now I'm curious."
Ayato barely held back a grimace. No offense at all meant to Otonashi, but this question could go straight to hell.
"Be honest. Do you miss her?"
Before Hinata, Otonashi, and Kanade had come along, he barely acknowledged this question when he asked it of himself, let alone answered it. There was no point; she was gone and there was no comprehensible reason to go look for her. No reason he'd be able to back himself up with when she asked him what he was doing there, at least. So why should he bother even thinking about her?
But now these imbeciles—minus Otonashi, of course—were making him think of her. Making him remember the smell of Key coffee in the morning and the comfort of having someone else in this house. Making him look at those photographs after all these months and think back to the moments when they were taken, when they'd laughed and posed next to each other at their high school graduation in this life and thought nothing of an Afterlife one. Back when they'd only had one lifetime to worry about, and the loneliness they'd both grown up with was all in the past.
Damn it.
"Yes," he said at last, his answer barely intelligible through a grumble.
Yes, of course he missed her. How could he not miss the one person who'd, for seven whole years, actually been there for him when he needed her? Who'd saved him not once, not twice, but—counting when she gave him the house—three times from the wrath of his father?
Even in this life, she'd been determined to protect the people she cared about. Though that last one had come from her post-memories self.
He hadn't expected to be, as Hinata would put it, "bosom buddies" after they'd separated. He'd known from the moment she drove off into the thunderstorm that she wasn't pleased with his treatment of her once they'd recognized each other. And that was putting it lightly. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," he'd found, had a heavy load of truth to it. So he stopped calling her and left her alone to get over her little hissy fit. Turned out he'd severely underestimated how little she wanted to see him until it was too late.
"Sorry, what was that?" Hinata asked, cupping his hand over his ear. It was a bit frightening how much the gesture reminded him of her.
Ayato forcefully breathed out his irritation.
"Yes," he said, a little louder so the simpleton could get it through his thick head. "I miss her."
A proud smile played across Otonashi's face. "Enough to help us find her, and put aside whatever friction the two of you have right now?"
"Enough to seek closure, I suppose," Ayato said with a confirming nod.
"Good enough," said Hinata, clapping him on the shoulder. Ayato glowered suspiciously at his hand until Hinata removed it with fearless nonchalance. He was lucky he still had it. That oaf was getting too comfortable around him.
Next to Otonashi, Kanade stepped forward, her hands clasped in front of her. "Then it's settled," she said in that wispy voice of hers, one that still raised Ayato's suspicions of her angel status. "Now, is there anything you can tell us that could lead us to Yuri?"
Ayato frowned thoughtfully.
"I can't," he said, narrowing his eyes, "but I know someone who can."
One good thing about April was that each day was getting longer and lighter, but the reunion between four-fifths of the graduating group must have taken more time than Ayato thought, because the sun was inching lower in the sky and bringing a trail of blue and gold with it when he finally brought the group to their destination. It peeked out from behind the roof as Ayato stepped up onto the front porch, giving the quaint little two-story a warm glow.
Otonashi, Kanade, and Hinata waited on the walkway a few feet behind him. Kanade's attention had been captured by the buttercup-yellow flowers in the flowerbed, but beside her Hinata tapped his foot impatiently on the stone path.
"Why didn't you just call her? Wouldn't that have been easier?"
"I remember her address but not her phone number," Ayato returned, pressing the doorbell until he heard a satisfying jingle coming from inside. "Besides, I was hoping she'd be more sympathetic if we all did this in person."
Seconds after Hinata grunted a "touché," the front door opened, and the person greeting them gave a sharp gasp.
"Naoi…?"
"Ryou," Ayato acknowledged the woman with a cordial nod.
She was less squeaky and panicked than he remembered her, but there were still traces of suspicion all over her face. "What are you doing here?" she asked, looking as if she wanted to shut the door in his face as soon as her manners allowed it.
"Listen, I—"
"Wait," she said, waving both her hands wildly in protest. "I do know why you're here. The cards predicted this—"
Ayato resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but groaned anyway.
"—and no, I already told you, I promised Yuri I wouldn't tell you where she went!"
"But this is important!" Ayato insisted, catching the door before she could close it on him. Her reluctance to hear him out was overpowered by her politeness, something he jumped on. "Please, Ryou? This isn't just for me, this is for them." He gestured to the trio behind him; Otonashi and Hinata waved. "They're old friends of ours. I know she'd be happy to see them. It's been years." A gross understatement, but Ryou didn't have to know the details.
Ryou crinkled her brows and started chewing her bottom lip in distress. "Even if I just told them, I know they'd tell you. I can't chance that. I'm sorry, but I just can't!"
"Ryou—"
"I made her a promise, Naoi!" Ryou said, sounding surprisingly even less squeaky and more adamant. She shot him a highly reproachful look. "And why would I do you any favors after what you did to Tomoya today?!"
Ayato cocked his head. "Tomoya…?"
"Youhei told me you did something strange to our friend Tomoya Okazaki," Ryou said sternly. "That you used some sort of hypnosis that made him think he was a dango, and he rolled out into the road!"
"You heard about that, huh?" Ayato said nervously, rubbing the back of his head. Behind him, Hinata snickered.
"Don't laugh! He could have been killed!"
"I… apologize for putting him in danger," said Ayato, choosing his words carefully. "Sorry" was a word he'd overused in his childhood to the point of hatred of the term, so these things were hard to choke out when it came to people he felt didn't deserve it. "He was attacking my character. I assure you it won't happen again."
Ryou hesitated, scanning his face for sincerity. Though she looked satisfied with what she found, her brief half-smile faded. "I appreciate the apology. But it won't give you Yuri's new address!"
Hinata looked aggrieved. "Not even the city?"
"Sorry."
He'd been right about the in-person thing; Ryou's face showed genuine sympathy. But she wasn't caving for them. Ayato turned to the other three, shrugging helplessly.
Hinata hummed. "She's a tough nut to crack."
"Maybe she just doesn't like him," said Kanade, which made Hinata grin (and Otonashi too, despite himself).
Of course Ryou heard them and made the trademark squeaks of protest Ayato was not unfamiliar with, but he brushed her background noises aside. There was one thing left he could try, a last-ditch effort he felt a little guilty even considering.
"Can I…?" Ayato asked, looking to the group as he gestured subtly to the woman behind him.
"Eh…" Otonashi showed the same hesitation, glancing over Ayato's shoulder. Uncertainty plagued his features for a moment, but then he let his arms fall to his sides. "Just be nice about it."
Nice? The only thing that came to mind was when he helped Otonashi with his memories. But what the heck, he'd try "nice." Whatever that was.
Ayato turned back around, guilt flashing across his face.
"Sorry about this, Ryou," he said, taking a secure hold of her upper arms. "But you leave me with no other option."
"What? Wh-what are you d—"
She froze, her round blue eyes latched with a pair of gold ones that were swiftly changing to ruby red right in front of her.
There was a surprising stubbornness to her, but all minds eventually lost the fight, no matter how strong. The most tenacious could hold on for a few seconds, just as Yuri had, and the more submissive of minds were out like a light upon eye contact. Ryou ranged somewhere in the middle.
"Now…" The old keening buzz in his head and heat behind his eyes were becoming less noticeable on his second try. "Tell me where we can find Yuri Nakamura. Where has she gone?"
Just like Okazaki, Ryou could not disobey.
"She's at 9319 Mahou Complex Drive," she revealed breathlessly. "In a city called Noroi."
"Noroi." Ayato immediately released her from his hold, mentally and physically. "Thank you for your assistance."
Shaking off the trance, Ryou backed away in disbelief. "You are NOT welcome!" she exclaimed. She had a troubled look on her face, as if she wanted to ask him how in the world he'd done that but was too afraid to.
"Noroi is only two hours away," Kanade announced, observing the directions on her phone. "We might be able to go tonight if—"
"Wait! You can't go there!"
Ryou's eyes, bugging and fearful, were still fixated on Ayato. If that girl chewed on her lip a moment longer it was going to bleed all over her yellow-green sundress. But that wasn't what bothered him.
"And why not?" He studied her features, frowning. What could possibly trouble Ryou this much about him taking Yuri's friends to pay her a visit? "Ryou, it's just a friendly reunion. And I'm going with because I genuinely want to make things right with Yuri. I promise I won't do anything to upset her."
"I…" Ryou looked ready to burst into tears. "I know, but I-I can't let you do this…"
This was going nowhere. It would either end in tears, Ryou spoiling Yuri about the visit, or both. Unless… maybe he could try speaking her language.
"What do the cards say, Ryou?"
She glanced up sharply at his words. "H-huh?"
Seeing his tactic flourish instead of flounder, Ayato jumped on it and went with it. "Check the cards. Or whatever else it is that you do. Just read Yuri's fortune," he pressed. "And if you like what the future has in store for her, or want it to pan out, then let us go visit her. Don't call to let her know ahead of time. Otherwise, you can—"
"Go."
Now it was his turn to be surprised. "What?"
Ryou simply nodded at him. "Go to Noroi if you feel like you really have to. I'll read Yuri's fortune and decide for myself. I guess that's better than getting hypnotized again."
"And I wouldn't want to have to do that," Ayato said, chuckling warmly.
She gave him a sad sort of smile in return.
"Good luck, Naoi," she said, then disappeared into the house and closed the door behind her.
Ayato squinted at the door in his face. She said that like he was some kind of fairy tale prince going off to save his princess from a dragon. Honestly, Yuri had always been more of the dragon type. If Ryou thought he was going to try to win Yuri back, she had another thing coming.
Shrugging it off, he spun around and marched off of the front porch towards the gate, where his car was waiting. Hinata, Otonashi, and Kanade followed leisurely behind him.
"You know," Otonashi said as they were walking, "we probably could have just found a phonebook or something. Or tried the Nakamuras again if they were home. Instead of just hypnotizing her friend."
Hinata turned to look at him, exasperated. "But we were literally right here."
They ultimately decided to stay overnight at Ayato's, then pack up whatever they wanted to bring and drive to Noroi in the morning. Nobody wanted to chance arriving at her place later than expected and catching her at a time when she was cranky and tired, least of all Ayato. Once they agreed on this, Hinata crashed on the couch, while Kanade and Otonashi took to the guest bedroom.
He certainly hoped the four of them—yes, even Yuri all the way in Noroi—were enjoying their sleep, because he couldn't catch up on a bit of it.
Admitting everything today came with more cons than pros. He unconsciously touched the right side of the bed, then realized what he was doing and recoiled. That was an impulse of his "pre-memories" self. He knew those impulses didn't mean anything, but they were still embarrassing. What was more embarrassing was the feeling of emptiness that often followed.
He'd always attributed it to loneliness, but it was more than that. It was like he'd finally said—he missed her.
And now, thanks to his friends and a little bit of hypnotism, he was going to see her again. The thought alone terrified him into a fit of insomnia.
But why should he feel like this? Why should he be scared of Yuri? Six months had passed. By now, it was possible she'd forgotten all about their tension. That she'd gotten over it. Over him. But then, if things were okay between them, she would have gotten ahold of him. Ryou wouldn't be so insistent upon keeping her word, or freaked out at the prospect of him going to see her.
The Yuri he knew was once the type to hold grudges—not just for six months, but for decades—until she overcame the burdens holding her down. Her pre-memories self was no stranger to the silent treatment, but usually they'd been able to just argue things out and let them unfold instead.
He wasn't certain about post-memories Yuri. But as much as he hated to even think it, Okazaki was right. The fact that she'd ignored his calls and left town without telling him anything wasn't looking good for him.
Though he supposed she didn't consider it any of his business.
It didn't matter now. He was going to get his chance to talk to her amicably about it and sort things out tomorrow. If he would just stop thinking about it and go to sleep already.
Willing himself to silence his mind lasted all of ten seconds. For some reason, his brain could focus only on one thing.
Before he knew what he was doing, his feet had touched the ground and he was slipping out of his bedroom, into the hallway. He walked past the guest room and the bathroom, to the closet at the end of the hall, and quietly opened the door. It was the box's new hiding place, since Hinata was sleeping on the TV room couch and Ayato didn't trust him to avoid being a Pandora like Kanade.
Clutching the box in his arms, he returned to his room and set it on the right side of the bed. He carefully lifted the lid and set it aside, then shifted through the contents until he fished out a familiar jewel-encrusted band.
Why he never pawned her engagement ring off, he'd never know. It just seemed like if it was meant to be sold, it should be sold with the locket he'd given her. And that… well, she'd never given it back. For a fleeting moment, he wondered if she still wore it.
Maybe she did. So what if she did? It was just a necklace. Why should it matter to him if she had it? If she was holding it right now, and thinking of—
The ring fell out of his hands and landed back in the box soundlessly, resting on top of a few old pictures. This was not the time for his pre-memories self to come out of hiding and grow sickeningly sentimental. He shouldn't have even fetched the box in the first place. It was wrong.
Something was wrong.
He put the lid back on the box and shoved it under the bed. Whatever it was, he'd much rather worry about it in the morning. The Yuri he'd given the ring and the locket to wasn't the Yuri he was meeting tomorrow.
He spent the rest of the night ignoring the old pain-in-the-ass voice in his head that kept trying to tell him otherwise.
A/N: Yay, they learned where to find Yuri! Although Naoi's methods were somewhat questionable. Stay tuned - another (rather dramatic) reunion is just ahead!
~Caroline
Preview:
"Don't touch the driver."
"I asked Yui to marry me as soon as I remembered her."
"I'm making things weird?!"
"How can you remember us and not him?"
"Yurippe wouldn't be this petty."
"They'll get to the bottom of this."
"…I never existed to her."
[Chapter 07]: Meeting Anew.
