Once Noa was released from the hospital, life generally went back to normal.
Rina patiently waited for about a week before putting Shima's plan into action.
"Miss Akito," she said as she delivered the woman her dinner. "How has Miss Kaneko been?"
"She's fine now, no thanks to all of you. I should fire everyone who had a hand in that. You're lucky you still have a job here."
Rina clenched her jaw.
Akito looked at the tray of food. "I said I wanted takoyaki. What is this piece of trash?"
"It's takoyaki, ma'am."
"Well, it's not prepared the way I want it. Take it back and make it again."
Rina rolled her eyes, careful to not let Akito see. The girl has always been such a brat. She hated working for her, but it was a living and most of the time, she didn't have to have direct contact with her anyway.
A huge part of the reason Rina had agreed to Shima's plan was because she wanted Akito to suffer for everything she put not just her servants but her own family through.
And getting rid of Noa seemed like a good enough plan to her.
"…I can't believe she was here for so long and I had no idea. She must hate me…"
Rina knew for a fact that Noa wasn't angry at all, but she didn't feel like trying to make Akito feel better. "If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion—"
"What?" Akito snapped.
Rina tightened her fists. "You could always take advantage of Master Hatori's ability. He could erase her memories of the incident. If she doesn't remember what happened, she can't be mad at you for it. And I'm sure she would be happy to forget enduring something so traumatic."
Akito mulled over the proposal and didn't find anything seriously wrong with it. She may be angry at her servants, but at least it seemed they were trying to make amends. Maybe she could look Noa in the eye again if the woman didn't remember what had happened to her.
"Tell Hatori to do it."
"As you wish, ma'am."
Rina smirked as she left the room. The first step had been completed. But this next one was harder: convincing Hatori to actually complete the act.
She traveled to Hatori's office where he was sifting through some of his medical papers.
"Master Hatori," she greeted as she knocked on the door. "Miss Akito has made a request. She wants you to erase Noa's memories."
Hatori looked at Rina in confusion. "Are you sure you heard right?"
Rina adopted a feigned look of sympathy. "Yes, sir. She said that after everything that happened with the Cat's Room, she cannot live with herself and it is best that Noa forgets ever meeting her. With this being the case, she cannot be allowed to know about the curse."
"After everything Noa's done for her, I find it hard to believe that she wants her out of her life forever."
"That's what she told me. And you know you can't go against Miss Akito's orders."
"Perhaps I will speak with her myself."
Rina clenched her jaw again. She had told Shima this was going to happen. Hatori wasn't easily fooled and he would inevitably seek confirmation from Akito herself.
She followed the stoic doctor back to Akito's quarters. There was no way this was going to work. She hoped Shima had a backup plan.
"Akito," he called through the door. "Is it true that you want me to erase Noa's memories?"
"It's best for everyone," she answered quietly.
"I have to disagree. I know you're upset about what happened, but I don't believe Noa holds a grudge against you for it."
"She needs to forget. It'll be easier…"
"Akito—"
The shoji slammed open. "Why are you questioning me?!" she screeched. "Just do it!"
Hatori sighed deeply. "All right."
Rina let out a small chuckle of disbelief as Hatori left the Sohma estate.
Never once had she been so thankful that Akito's demanding nature made her cut off someone's speech. Any longer and Hatori might've figured out that he and Akito were talking about two very different things.
That little brat was finally going to get what she deserved.
Hatori trudged up the few steps to Noa's home. He had never wanted to refuse one of Akito's requests more than he did now. He couldn't understand why she wanted Noa's memories of her erased. Ever since Noa had taken Akito to her home, she had shown a pretty big change in character. Her violent outbursts had decreased and she didn't literally stress herself sick so much.
Akito may deny it, but she had gotten pretty attached to Noa.
Why would she want to give all of that up?
For that matter, Noa meant as much to Yuki as she did to Akito. He had already ruined the poor kid's life back when he was in elementary school. He wouldn't be surprised if Yuki never forgave him for this. Nor would he ever expect him to.
With a heavy heart, he knocked on the door.
Noa answered with a bright smile that made him feel even worse. "Hi, Hatori! Come on in."
Hatori stepped inside against his will. It was as if someone else had taken control of his feet.
"Can I get you anything?"
"No, thank you."
"One of these days, you're going to answer that question with a 'yes'."
Hatori's heart panged painfully in his chest. In a few seconds, she wasn't even going to recognize him much less remember how he always denied her question.
"Did you come up to check how I was doing?"
"Not exactly."
"Then what did you stop by for? Not that I don't enjoy the company."
Hatori inched forward to stand directly in front of her. His steps were heavy and he felt as if he was walking through cement.
He firmly took Noa's hand in his own and pulled her close, being careful not to let their torsos touch.
"Uh…Hatori?"
"I'm very sorry…" he said quietly as he put his other hand to her forehead. "But I cannot refuse an order from Akito."
Noa's heart skipped a beat. "What are you doing?" she asked. Her eyes widened with realization. "No. No, no, no, NO!"
SNAP!
With a quick flash of light, the horrible deed was done.
Noa's eyes closed and she crumpled to the floor. Hatori was ashamed that after all that, he couldn't even lift her and place her onto the couch. But the last thing he needed was her waking up and finding a seahorse on her living room floor. Then all of this would've been for nothing.
He knelt down next to the unconscious woman. "Please forgive me…"
With another sigh, he left the small house to return to the Sohma estate, knowing he would not be able to sleep tonight.
About an hour later, Noa awoke on the hallway floor.
"Did I pass out?" she asked herself. "That's weird…"
She didn't feel light-headed and she'd been eating fine recently, so she must've just gotten a dizzy spell. Everyone had them. There wasn't anything wrong with her.
The next day, Noa's doorbell rang. When she answered the door, there stood a boy with silvery hair.
"Hi, can I help you?" she smiled.
"Oh, is this a bad time, Noa?"
"I'm sorry, have we met?"
Yuki's brow furrowed. "It's me. Yuki. You know, I come over about once a week, sometimes stay the night."
"I think you have me confused with someone else."
"No, I don't. I…I'm friends with your son, Yuta."
"Oh, that's nice. How did the two of you meet? You look younger than he is."
"I met you first! You took me in when I was a child after I had an asthma attack."
"I think I'd remember meeting someone like you. I'm really sorry, but I have work to do. I'll let Yuta know you stopped by."
Noa closed the door leaving Yuki standing on the porch in stunned and hurt silence.
Noa…didn't know who he was.
The only woman who'd treated him like her own child didn't recognize him. How was this possible?
There was only one answer to that question.
Feeling such a rage that completely overshadowed his fear of Akito, he stormed to the main house.
"Oh, Master Yuki," one of the younger maids smiled. She noticed his uncharacteristically enraged face. "Um, is something wrong?"
"Where's Akito?" he bit out.
The maid took a nervous step back at the fury he emanated. "Uh, in his room."
While most of the servants now knew Akito's true gender due to her no longer wishing to be called 'Master Akito', she had requested that no one in her immediate family know the truth because she wanted to tell them all together when the time was right.
Yuki stormed into Akito's room. "Akito!"
Akito's eyebrows rose in surprise at Yuki's entrance. She smirked a little. "My, my, what a surprise this is. My darling Yuki coming to see me of his own accord."
"What did you do to Noa?!"
"What are you talking about?"
"I just went to her house and she didn't have a clue who I was!"
Akito's smirk completely disappeared.
Yuki glared at her because his rage was the only thing keeping him from bursting into tears. "Did you order Hatori to erase her memories?"
Akito remained silent which only served to anger him more.
"Did you?!"
The young woman was taken aback at how angry her rat was. She had never seen him like this before, especially not towards her. She had only ever seen him cowering and afraid before her feet, terrified of what she might do to him next. That was always how she'd wanted it.
But if what he was saying was true…
Akito raced out of the room, leaving Yuki alone for the second time in an hour.
Ignoring all cries from the servants around her for her to stop, she ran outside of the gates and down the street to Noa's house.
The Sohma estate was a good distance away from there, but she didn't care. She just wanted to see Noa, and unfortunately, she had never learned how to drive a car.
By the time she made it, she felt like her lungs were about to explode and she was a breath away from passing out.
But there was no time to focus on her weakened physical state.
She quickly knocked on Noa's door.
The woman answered with another smile, but her face quickly filled with concern at the girl's appearance. "Are you okay?"
"Noa, do you know who I am?"
"Um, should I? Are you another one of Yuta's friends? Or maybe you're friends with that boy who was just here? Oh, what did he say his name was…? Uh, Yuki."
"You don't remember," Akito said softly, her heart crashing down to the ground. "No. No, no, I…I stayed here for a month." She pushed past Noa and went inside the house.
"Excuse me!" Noa exclaimed.
"I stayed up in the room on the second floor."
"No one's stayed in that room for nearly 15 years."
"I read books on that couch right there. And I helped you make dinner twice in that kitchen. And you talked to me about how I wasn't eating at that table!"
"None of that happened! Now get out of my home before I call the police."
Akito's eyes filled with tears. The Sohma family was so large and influential that the police never interfered with their matters. But what good was that for now? Even after the police had been dealt with should Noa actually call them, she still would not remember any of them.
At the sight of her watering eyes, Noa looked at her sadly. She never had been able to handle someone crying in front of her. After all, she was a mother and mothers quickly yearned to dry the tears of anyone who cried.
But what was she supposed to say? She had never met this girl before despite what she seemed to believe.
The strange thing was that this was the second time this had happened in one day. Had she missed something important?
"You have to go," she said quietly to the girl.
Akito slowly left the house as tears began to spill from her eyes.
The door closed, effectively cutting her out of Noa's life forever. She sank onto the steps as she began to sob.
Akito slowly began to make her way back home. A car pulled up beside her and Hatori anxiously got out.
"Akito, what were you thinking?!" he demanded. "How could you come all the way out here by yourself? What if something happened to you?"
Once he was close to her, Akito slapped him on the face as hard as she could, leaving behind four sets of scratches from her sharp nails.
Hatori was shocked. It had been a long time since Akito had physically attacked someone.
"How could you?" she growled. "You were supposed to just erase Noa's memories from her time in the Cat's Room! How could you erase all of them?!"
Hatori's eyes widened in horror. "You mean…you didn't want everything erased…?"
"Of course not! How could you betray me like this?!"
"It was…one of the maids. She told me you wanted Noa to forget everything."
"And you believed her?!"
"When I came to ask you, you said you wanted Noa's memories gone. I just didn't know you were talking about a specific one."
Akito started hitting his chest over and over again. "I hate you! I hate you! How could you do this to me?! I hate you!"
Hatori tried to catch her flying fists before his one good eye stopped working as well.
If he had felt bad before, he now felt a thousand times worse.
Akito's worst fear had been realized.