AN: Still not forgetting this one, no worries.
.
Disclaimer: Sunrise
Tokyo, November 2020
.
"Cagalli, which one do you want?" Kira asked his sister, pointing at the food stalls in front of them.
"You pick for me, I'll have anything you want," she answered indifferently without even looking at the stalls. Kira just sighed at her lack of response.
After the intrusion of their mother at Kira's place, Cagalli clearly withdrew herself and became gloomy and brooding and became downhearted. At her workplace, she was still working as usual, but her coworkers could clearly see that there was something wrong with her. To the point that Dearkka, who had exchanged contact with Kira after Cagalli's accident, asked him directly if something had happened to her, on behalf of the other workers at the factory who were worried about her sudden change.
Kira told him the gist of what had happened, and in return, asked Dearkka to watch over his sister when she was at work. He was sure Cagalli wouldn't do anything crazy, but there was just a little bit of worry in his heart that Cagalli would do what she had done to get away from her mother like before, running away. Kira couldn't afford to lose his sister again, not after he just found her again after all this time. He called her every night, making sure she was okay and tried to get her to stay with him again—to no avail. She was afraid that Via would come to Kira's place again; and since she hadn't shown up at Andrew's place, she assumed that Via didn't know where she stayed, and felt like Andrew's place was safer than Kira's.
But the incident was still affecting Cagalli strongly, and she looked discouraged everyday, it worried her coworkers. She was still working diligently, but she talked less and spaced out more; a complete opposite of what she was everyday.
Whenever Kira called her, she insisted that she was okay, and always assured him not to be worried about her. But how could he not?
So here they were, in a weekend, at the Ginkgo Festival at the outer-park of Meiji-Shrine, attempting to cheer Cagalli up and forget about all the fiasco with their mother. Kira had been dragging her here and there, but still, Cagalli didn't react much to his efforts, so he tried to make Cagalli talk about what she was currently feeling.
"I know you are worried about Mother, but I promise she won't ever get her hands on you again. My mom is seriously going to carry on with the restraining order, so you don't have to think about her again. Please Cagalli, I want you to focus on the future. Don't waste your time worrying about her."
"What if she is following me around like she did with you? Like now, what if she is among us now?" Cagalli whispered.
Apparently it was their mother that had been following Kira all this time. Kira had a speculation that Via could have seen him from the magazine that reported his victory, thus knowing where he went to school. Kira thought she was following him from school to home, so that she knew where he stayed. But he was pretty sure Via didn't know where Cagalli was currently staying, since she hadn't shown up there.
"If she appeared again I won't hesitate to show her my moves now," Kira said, determined. "When she showed up at my home, I was contemplating if I should just do it or not, but if she dared to come up again and touch you, I won't think twice."
"But what if she turns that against you? You said about reporting her to the authorities, but if you laid a hand on her first, she can sue you back," Cagalli stressed. But instead of answering, Kira just chuckled like she just said a funny thing. "Why are you laughing at me?" She said, getting impatient.
"Look how the situation is reversed now," Kira said in between his chuckles. "I used to prevent you from raising your hands against people and being a pacifist, but now it's reversed," he reached out and patted his sister's head. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to me anymore. I can protect myself now, and I'll surely protect you too now that I'm capable of it. I won't let you get taken away again."
Looking at her brother, Cagalli could see the determination in his eyes, and the confidence in it. And she didn't know if their bond was affecting it, but now she felt calmer that she had talked directly to him about what had been worrying her.
Was it okay to really let go?
"C'mon, what do you want? If not, I'll just pick oden for you," Kira said and started to tug her to the oden stall.
"I've had enough of that. We are in a festival, pick something that's more like festival food…" Cagalli complained about Kira's choice.
"You said you'll have anything I pick," Kira laughed.
"Okay, scratch that, then. How about baby castella?"
Kira agreed, satisfied at the positive change in his sister's face. As they walked together toward the stall that Cagalli wanted, two teenagers watched from behind them side by side.
"You are not going to talk to her, Athrun?" Lacus asked, switching her gaze from the twins to the guy beside her.
The midnight haired guy just shook his head at Lacus' question, "Kira will do better at understanding her with her fear. I'm an outsider in this matter, so I can't really give her any advice. I don't know how to feel when the parent who is supposed to love you unconditionally turns into a hateful person who does horrible things to her own children. I can only stay with her when she asks for my support," Athrun shook his head at the end of his sentence, still unable to understand the twin's mother's behavior.
They walked following Kira and Cagalli from behind, keeping some distance to let the twins have their time, content by seeing them act more like their usual self now.
"By the way, I haven't heard what you are going to do after graduation. Are you going to continue with singing, or pursue something else?" Athrun remembered that before Cagalli's mother came, Lacus was about to inform them about her future plan.
"I'm going to study abroad," Lacus said without much hesitation, since Kira was not listening to them. She had no problem telling Athrun; she was only nervous and unsure of telling Kira, and how he would react—if he would be concerned or indifferent, and how to proceed with her own feelings.
"Abroad…? As in leaving Japan?" Athrun stopped his steps, trying to proceed with the new information.
Lacus, who was a few steps ahead of him, halted, and turned at Athrun when she felt Athrun had stopped. Staring at him, she explained further, "Yes, to Austria. A teacher from the Chorus club invited someone from a university in Austria, and she offered me a scholarship, and I already accepted," She turned again to gaze at one of the twins, "Cagalli was actually the one who pushed me to accept."
"So Cagalli knew?" Athrun questioned, and then realizing when the last time they got together, Cagalli seemed eager to know about Lacus' plan post-graduation, when actually she was encouraging Lacus to open up to them about the plan; then followed by Lacus' nod. "And Kira?" he asked again, though he felt like he knew the answer, which was confirmed by Lacus shaking her head. "When are you going to tell him?"
"As soon as possible. I wanted to tell him that time, but then…" She trailed off, remembering what had happened at Kira's house.
"When will you be going?"
"Next Fall. This is my last chance to enjoy Fall with you guys," Lacus smiled at him.
Last chance. Athrun recollected again the things Lacus mentioned to them these days. So that's why she told everyone to do many things together, like this festival and hatsumode, and tried to spend as much time as she can together with them all, because it was her last chance before leaving Japan, for probably quite a long time.
"If you are studying for vocal class there, will you be pursuing your career there too?"
"I'm still not sure. Of course I want it, but... I want to wait until I talk to Kira about my feelings and then decide on things." She knew that after Fllay, Kira probably was still unwilling to open his heart again. But like what Cagalli said, she wouldn't want to keep it all down inside and end up with regret. She would surely tell him how she actually felt about him.
"Then how about this?" Athrun said as an idea came to his mind.
Tokorozawa, November 2020
.
"Cagalli, are you okay? Still thinking about that mother of yours?" Dearkka commented in morning just as they walked to the briefing room after changing into their uniform. He saw that Cagalli still had that gloomy face as she walked out of the female changing room. It was the start of another week, right after Cagalli went out with Kira and the others to the Ginkgo Festival.
"I wished Kira didn't tell you anything," Cagalli sighed. Now everyone in the factory knew what had happened with her and were looking at her with concern on their face. She was glad with their attention, but Cagalli would rather them not knowing about her crazy mother and worry for nothing.
"Just forget about her. She had been neglecting you for all you know right? Even if she wants you back, you don't have to agree with her," Dearkka continued as they joined everyone for the usual morning brief. A few members who were already there turned their heads as Dearkka greeted them, followed by Cagalli.
"What, you are still troubled by your mother, Cagalli?" Murdock, who caught a few words from Dearkka, commented on her. "If she had the guts to leave you all these years, why should you be worried? She has no right to come out of nowhere and suddenly act as a mother to you and your brother."
"That's right," Arnold, who was sitting in the room already, interjected. "She might be your mother, but it takes more than blood relation to be a real mother. And she has done nothing for you. Instead, she owes you a lot for neglecting you both with your brother. Even though you are still eighteen and still have two more years before you are an adult legally, she can't plead to be your legal guardian again. I think any judge would consider her incapable of being a legal guardian even if it is her own child. She'll face charges instead."
"And if she ever bothers you, just remember that Andrew and the boss won't sit still. You know what they are capable of," Murdock grinned at her, followed by the others nodding in agreement.
"You still had a long way to go, Cagalli. It's time to cut all unnecessary ties to your past. And in the meantime, you already have your brother and I'm sure his family is more than willing to be your legal guardian. Even if they are not, you always have a place here with us," Andrew joined them in the room and walked toward Cagalli and patted her head, smiling at her. It was a rare time that he came to the manufacturing place, though he was going away again from there after the briefing.
Cagalli returned the smile and swiped her eyes through everyone in the room; whom were looking at her encouragingly. They all were always supportive of her and acted more like a family than her own mother. She felt bad for making them worried. Now after Kira convinced her that their mother wouldn't be able to touch her, and the support from her friends, Cagalli felt like she could get up and forget about her mother.
Cagalli knew that logically and legally, her mother wouldn't be able to touch her for years of neglect and her exposed abuse to the child welfare association. It was just the feeling of fear that she had felt back then, the short amount of time when her mother stayed with her at her grandparent's house, that was creeping back to her. She could never stand up to her back then. But finally that day when she showed up again, Cagalli told her everything that had been deep in her mind, all that she had wanted to say to her, she had said it all.
Maybe that was the closure that she needed.
And Andrew was right, it was time she cut all ties with her past.
Cagalli sucked a deep breath and faced them all. "Thank you everyone. I'm sorry I have been brooding all this time," She bowed down her head, and got a cheer from everyone.
"Now that you seem better, I think it's time for you to open this," Andrew walked out of the room and then came back again soon after, with something in his hand. He passed it to Cagalli and she gasped as she recognized what it was.
"No way, when did this arrive?" Cagalli looked up to Andrew and then back to the postcard in her hands. It was her exam result notification postcard.
"Last Friday. Apparently the thing with your mother took your attention so much that you forgot to check the post box. Thank goodness I was there to check, and I also paid all the bills," Andrew chuckled, making Cagalli mentally smack herself for forgetting her duty. She was in charge of paying all the bills ever since she lived with him. When she mumbled her apology, Andrew just flapped his hand, telling her not to worry. "You've been doing it perfectly ever since, so you deserve to slack off now and then. Besides, you are going to leave me when you move to the dorm for college, so I have to get myself used and take over that duty again from you. Now that you seem to be back to your old self, it's time to get your life on track again. Hurry, open it."
"Move? But… I don't even know if I will be accepted." Now Cagalli had another thing to worry about. Since the incident with her mother, she had been forgetting about her incoming exam result and the next procedure she needed to do. If she failed this exam, she wouldn't be able to apply for the college she had been wanting to go to. "What if I don't pass?" She mumbled in a low worried tone.
"You studied everyday for this exam didn't you? How was it? After the exam did you feel like you'll fail?" Andrew took a seat beside her.
"Well, I felt like I got this, but..." Now that the result was right before her eyes, worry crept into her mind. She had been so confident, but now, she wasn't so sure with the result.
"Just open it, Cagalli. Even if you don't pass, there is always next time. I know that means you have a long way to go and start over again, but the Cagalli I know won't give up like that," Arnold said, encouraging her. "Even if you fail, your effort is not meaningless. You'll surely get it right the next time. Though I'm sure you'll pass." Looking up, all Cagalli saw was the people who had been supporting her for almost three years ago, and they still did, even now at this moment.
"It's been three years since I found you at that park, and then you came here, working with us together. Time sure does fly," Andrew mused, remembering that fateful day when he was on his way home, and stopped by a park near the station. He was about to take a short break for a cigarette and walked past the middle of the park. And when he passed by the big slide with a concrete dome shape, he was startled when he saw someone inside. And at the same time, snow started to fall. Even by just seeing her, he knew that she was nearly frozen to death by her pale skin and shivering figure. She wouldn't budge when he offered to take her to the hospital or the police, which he later found out that it was because she was afraid they would take her back to her mother. And Andrew couldn't leave her alone in that rare snow in March, so he took her to his place.
"It does," Cagalli whispered. Flashes of her past with Andrew came to her mind. Along the way, she learned a lot, changed a lot, experienced many things, and met new people; all the members of the company, her boss, Dearkka and Miriallia, Athrun and Lacus, and eventually, it all brought her to her brother, whom she didn't even imagine could see again.
Speaking of, she remembered her promises to Athrun for his birthday present. The first one was here on her hand, waiting to be opened. She wondered if he would tell her his second wish if she ended up failing her exam.
Which made her doubting herself again. "I can't open it! I'm scared!" she crowed, lowering her hands which were holding the result.
"Then I'll do that for you!" Dearkka came up behind her and snatched the postcard.
"Wha—wait!" Cagalli shouted as Dearkka peeled the postcard, but not peeking inside. She got up from her chair and tried to snacth it back.
"So you wanted me to look or you want to do it yourself?" He handed it to Cagalli, and she halted, not as eager now. "Come on, we all believe in you. You should too," he added.
Gulping, she took the postcard from his hand, and slowly flipped it open. But she was shutting her eyes tightly, while her audience stared at her intently, waiting.
Finally, she mustered the courage to open her eyes, and then scanned through the exam result past her general data shown on the paper, to the bottom part where the result was printed, to the moment of truth.
As she saw it, she sucked a sharp breath and shouted.
"No way!"
Sorry I'm cutting it there. I just needed a bridge for the next chapter. This is unedited; I just felt bad for leaving out this one so long while there is only a few chapters left, so you might find the chapter even more sloppy than usual. I might come back again and edited if I feel like it.
Do you think the way Cagalli met Andrew felt like the scene from HigeHiro (does anyone here even read/watch it)? I didnt even know of the manga when this story-or this scene-came to mind, so that was just coincidence XD
Next chapter is the scene that I've been wanting to write in this story, but still don't know how to approach. Already half written. Hopefully I wont be letting you down.
See you next time,
Cheers
