Chapter 32: False Hopes

Here's another slightly emotional chapter~ Oh and another note, Oliver and Teto are talking on the phone. You know, since Oliver is over visiting his family for the winter break.


Normal POV~~~

"So why did you give your family phone number to Evil Neru so willingly, yet I, Teto the goddess, had to search around for it?"

Teto takes a bite out of a piece of sweet bread, ready to hear his explanation.

"First of all, she's not evil," Oliver says.

"Sure, and if you collapse an underwater bubble with a sound wave, light isn't produced," Teto retorts while rolling her eyes.

"Eh?"

'He's so clueless…' Teto sighs.

"Go on with what you were saying."

"Oh, right. Wait, what was I saying?"

Oliver hears someone hit their skin, which is really Teto just face palming herself. "Did you just high-five yourself?" Oliver asks and tries to think of what he was thinking earlier. "Hey, how did you even get my number?"

"Silly boy, as if I would tell you how I work~"

Oliver sighs and rubs his temples as Teto laughs. "Why do you even hate Neru anyways? She isn't-"

"She's the devil's spawn."

"..."

"It's true. Rip off her human disguise and you'll see for yourself."

"Teto, she doesn't have a disguise."

"Of course she does! Have you seen her after school when she peels it off? Disguises and costumes can get really tiring, I would know. There was this time that I had to dress like Kaito-"

"Kaito? Wait, we weren't even talking about him!"

"But we could be…"

"Can't you just tell me the reason why you hate her so much? She only speaks good things about you, so I don't get why you're so mean."

Teto stays quiet and nibbles her bread.

"Teto…?"

"Why don't you just go talk to your precious Neru, huh? I bet she'd love to talk to you," Teto says.

"Well, she said she's busy with something during Christmas Break."

"How convenient."

"But she agreed to have a date with me afterwards."

"YOU TWO ARE GOING TO HAVE A WHAT?!"

Meanwhile, in another part of the town, Rin pauses the videogame. She looks at Len, who looks at the screen then at her.

"What did you pause for? We're on the bonus stage!"

"I just heard something," Rin says.

"I didn't hear anything."

"I must be crazy."

"You can say that again."

Cue Rin's fist hitting Len's arm.


Megurine Household~~~

Luka's POV

My mom is busily preparing a fancy dinner for all four of us. I look up when I hear her curse and clutch her finger. No blood is falling, but the knife must have been very close to her finger rather than the tomatoes. I don't want her to do all this work alone, so I stand up and walk over to her.

"Can I help you?" I ask, and she gives me a smile and shakes her head.

"It's alright Luka, I can prepare this myself. You can go relax and have some fun," she replies.

"What's the special occasion?" I ask, sneaking a peek at the small prop-up calendar on the countertop. December 24th. We celebrate Christmas, of course, and Christmas Eve, but we've already decorated the house with all the necessary things. And she doesn't normally cook. We just end up dressing up and going somewhere fancy and having fun.

"It's our wedding anniversary, Luka. I want to make tonight a special night for us all."

Ah, so it's that. I always forget about that. A wedding so close to Christmas is sweet, and kinda romantic, I think. I smile and grab some tomatoes from the bowl. "Well, let me help too."

"Luka-"

I stop her before she can say anything else. "Mother, I want to help make this night amazing for you two. Just let me help, please?"

She sighs and doesn't say anything, but I can tell by her smile that she's grateful. I focus my attention on the tomatoes in front of me. Tonight is really special. Not just for my parents, but for all of us. Maybe, just maybe, we can become the big happy family again tonight.


That night~~~

He's late.

My mother smiles at us, as if reassuring us that it would be natural for him to be a little late coming back home. Traffic, perhaps. Or maybe it's the piling amount of snow that's been falling on us for a while. But I can catch all her glances that she takes to the clock on her left.

What could he possibly be doing that is more important than his family?

An hour passes.

Perhaps two, I don't know. Lulu whines about her food being cold, but my mother hushes her when we hear someone coming into the house. We all stay quiet as the footsteps come even closer, until a familiar voice reaches our ears.

"What's going on?"

My mother looks at him with raised eyebrows. Surely he remembers what day it is. He has to. It...it's a special day for them. The day they got married.

"I-I cooked us a special dinner," my mother says, yet his face doesn't change.

"Why?"

I watch as his word takes effect on my mother. Her bottom lip trembles, and she bites down on it. "What do you mean why? Do you not remember?"

"If it was really that important, I'm sure I would remember."

"Dammit Akihito, it's our fourth year anniversary."

Suddenly, it's like the tension in the room rises up 200 percent. Lulu and I share a glance and then stare at our parents. My dad is just standing there with his mouth open, unable to say anything.

"You knew I was working late, and yet you did this?"

"I didn't know how late you were going to be!"

My dad sighs and grabs a chair. "Well, I've come home, so we can start this."

"No."

We all look at my mom, who is glaring at my dad. I can already tell where this is headed. I don't want to see the scene unravel in front of me, so I look down at my plate of cold food.

"You've already ruined the mood. Just for one night, you couldn't put your work aside and sat down with your family? For just one night? Would that kill you?"

"Don't you understand what I'm going through with all this work? It's not like I can drop everything! Can you try to be considerate of what I'm doing for this family?"

"You're not the only one working hard for this family! I may be a teacher with lots of teenagers to look after, but I still find time for us to be together!"

"You don't understand-"

"It's always the same thing! "You don't understand, Hana, you never understand"!" She raises her voice. "I understand completely! You don't care about this family! All you think about is the money and you see us all as mouths that need to be fed!"

"If I had the choice, don't you think I'd spend time with you all? But the real world doesn't work that way, Hana. You knew when we got married that we would have to struggle to pay for everything. In fact, it's your fault for having such high expectations of me! To make this dinner and try and make me feel bad when I come back late! And now you've just made me look horrible in front of our daughters!"

"Don't you try and turn the tables on me!"

I grab Lulu's hand and stand up quickly.

"Sis?" Lulu says, looking up at me with confused eyes. I can tell that she's scared too, since her hand squeezes mine.

I squeeze her hand back and help her out of the chair, leading her out of the room, where the screaming only intensifies. I let go of her hand as soon as we're out and run to my room. I can't let anyone see me crying like this. Today was supposed to be a special day.

We were supposed to have fun.

We were supposed to be laughing.

We were supposed to act like it was the good old days.

I lock my bedroom door as I walk in and jump onto my bed, trying to will the stinging tears to stop.

Why couldn't today just have gone smooth? Why does life do this to us? If we could spend time together like we did before-that simple wish would be marvelous. I wish that could have lasted forever.

But then, if we were down there and we tried to act like everything was okay, it would all be fake. But, why should I disapprove of that? As long as we're together-

No, I can't start thinking like that again.

I guess I have it easy, just being a teenager. I have hardly any weight on me. No one is leaning on me and depending on me to do my best. But at what age will that all change? Which number is the start line? And once that number pops up, I can't do everything I wish to do. I have to take time and think things through. Other people have to weigh in on the equation. But do I have the will to close the book that holds all my false hopes?

But why can't things stay the same? Why do we all have to change into something so different? Why do we have to start thinking so cynical? Are all these dreams and positive thoughts just stupid affirmations?

I brush aside the tears forming in my eyes and grab my cell phone out of my pocket. His number is engraved into my head, so my fingers quickly type the numbers.

Fortunately, he picks up quickly.

"Luka?"

"H-hey Aito," I say, trying to sound strong but my voice trembles.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Aito immediately asks and I sniff, more tears falling.

"I-I just, I need someone to talk to, is all," I say, and he hangs up.

Why would Aito hang up on me at a time like this? Was it an accident? Has he grown tired of me always venting out my feelings to him? Well, I can't blame him for being tired of taking care of me. I can be a handful a lot of times.

Several minutes later, a rock hits my window. I rub my red eyes once more before looking out of the window to see someone sitting on the tree nearby. I open it to get a better view of the face.

"Can I come in?" Aito asks, and holds up a bag. "I brought tuna."

I almost burst into tears again by his kind gesture. I know my voice will fail me, so I just nod and he climbs through the open space and sets down the bag. Before doing anything else, he holds me in a tight embrace.

"Just let everything out Luka, it's alright."

I secure myself into his arms, as if I could lose him any second and my body gives loose to the agony within me.


There are two song references in here. Don't let the title fool you, those are just lyrics to one of the songs. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this short chapter.

Thank you for all your reviews :D I really do appreciate them all.

And thank you all for reading. I should have another chapter up soon, so if you'd like to review, you can do so down below. Bye bye~!