Erased/Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi
KayoXSatoru
Chapter 5:
Author's note: The following is based on the small extension series for Erased, called Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi Gaiden. If you haven't read it, you will likely not understand what is happening within this chapter. I advise you read the manga before this chapter, and read the Erased manga before reading any of the fanfic. That said, this chapter will be a little emotional. So please enjoy.
Kayo stood before the door of the small apartment, silently. She faced the stairwell, waiting for her host to return anxiously. She felt her chest tightening, despite all of the great news and happiness of the day. She felt her heart racing as she heard the footsteps coming up the stairs and looked up from her gradually further downcast eyes to see Satoru's mother walking up, and she met the older woman's eyes.
"Hey Kayo," she said, smiling. "Sorry for making you wait so long. I just got back from the hospital."
"I know," Kayo answered, forcing a smile across her face. The note inside her luggage felt like it weighed a ton as she followed his mother into the door, pulling her luggage behind her.
As Ms. Fujinuma took off her coat and hung it up, and took off her shoes, she smiled over her shoulder at Kayo.
"I was thinking about making some hamburgers," she said. "Would you like some dinner?"
Kayo nodded silently as she followed her elder's example and took of her shoes and coat.
"Are you feeling alright?" Ms. Fujinuma asked her, turning and giving her a perplexed look. "You seem upset, or maybe sick."
"I'm fine," Kayo said, shortly. She pulled her luggage up and looked into her eyes. "Where is the guest room?"
"Oh, well," she answered, leading Kayo to an adjacent room. "We don't really have a 'guest room', but I managed to get all of the rented equipment packed up and returned, so you can sleep in Satoru's old room, if you'd like."
Kayo's eyes widened as she saw the mattress, clean and with fresh linen. She slowly walked up to the bed, kneeling down and placing her hand on it as she thought of how Satoru had spent so many years lying in this exact bed after his mother had taken him away. She felt her chest tightening again and had to force an image of him sitting upright in his bed, alive and healthy, to chase away the sad memories.
"If you don't feel comfortable here-" Ms. Fujinuma started.
"This is fine," Kayo cut her off, not looking back at the older woman.
After a long moment of Kayo sitting beside the empty mattress and Ms. Fujinuma standing in the doorway, Ms. Fujinuma clapped her hands together, startling Kayo slightly. She turned and saw the older woman brush some invisible dust off of herself.
"Well, now that we have you situated for your stay," she said, smiling, "how about we get to making some dinner?"
Kayo nodded solemnly at the older woman, leaving her luggage in the room and following her out the door, taking another glance at the room before they went to the kitchen.
"So," she said, trying to make conversation as Sachiko started prepping the ground beef, mixing various seasonings together and kneading them into the meat. "How much do you pay in rent every month for this place?"
"I pay about fifty thousand yen a month plus utilities," Sachiko answered, looking at the younger woman. "Why? Planning on moving?"
"Not right now," she answered, washing some uncut green beans and filling a pot with water to boil them.
"How have you been, Kayo?" Sachiko asked, forming the hamburgers as she looked at the younger woman, who was prepping a pan for her to fry them in.
"I've been managing to stay busy as a teacher," she answered, pouring a light amount of vegetable oil into the pan, still not meeting Sachiko's eyes.
"I see." Sachiko seemed to think for a long time on what to say next as she laid down the hamburgers into the oil and started frying them. "So how are the others?"
"I wouldn't know," Kayo said, quietly, getting the rice cooker started. "I haven't kept in touch with most of them since we graduated high school."
"I see," she responded, absently. "What ever happened to you and Hiromi?"
Kayo felt her heart beating fast and a frown quickly grew on her face as she looked at her.
"We broke up a long time ago," she said, angrily. "Why?"
"You two seemed so cute together," Sachiko said as she returned her attention to the burgers in the pan. "I actually could've pictured the two of you getting married and having at least one baby together."
"Well it didn't work out," she said, anger starting to fill her voice.
The two fell silent the rest of the time they took cooking their meal. Not another word was spoken as they set the table and brought the food to the table. Neither even spoke as they served themselves dinner.
As they both bowed their hands and said their thanks for the meal, Kayo's anger finally got the better of it and she slammed the hand she held her chopsticks in down onto the table.
"WHY?!" she said, looking into the older woman's eyes, who stared at her, an unreadable expression on her face. "I know why you said you did it but GOD DAMN IT. Why did you take him away?!"
Tears streamed down Kayo's face as her eyes stayed locked on Sachiko's. Sachiko's expression remained unreadable and Kayo's anger flared up again.
"I only wanted to help him after he'd saved me," she yelled out. "I just wanted to pay him back! He'd done so much for me and you took him away before I could even remotely have paid him back for everything!"
After another brief moment of silence, Sachiko sighed, setting her chopsticks down and looking to Kayo's eyes, sadness showing deep in her eyes.
"Could you really have told me you would've lived a full life if I'd have stayed there with Satoru?" she spoke, tears silently building in her eyes.
Kayo felt her anger waning, slightly and found herself unable to meet the firm, yet sad gaze locked on her.
"I owe him so much," she said, softly.
"You know he wants you to live your life to the fullest," Sachiko said, a tear rolling down her cheek. "That was the only payment that you could've given him that would've made him truly happy."
Kayo's chest tightened again as her eyes were cast down.
"Do you think he would've been happy to see you today if you'd have told him you'd wasted fifteen years sitting at his bedside, waiting for the day that he woke up?" Sachiko spoke, softly, her voice breaking slightly.
Kayo saw her vision blurring as she tried to hold back the tears burning in her eyes. She felt her body starting to tremble with locked up sobs and nearly jumped when she felt Sachiko's arm wrap around her and pull her into a warm, motherly embrace.
"Shh, dear," she said, rocking back and forth slowly as Kayo clung to her like her life depended on it. Tears slid down her cheeks and landed in the younger woman's hair as she lightly stroked her hair. "He's awake now. That's all that matters, right?"
With that, both of the women began sobbing tears of disbelieving joy into each other.
So many years of pain and waiting.
Finally, the tragedy was over...
