Let me just start by saying I am blown away by your enthusiasm for this story! I never realized Michael fics were this popular! :O

This is the last chapter dealing with September/describing events of the canon (this is where Book 9 ends, if you want). Now we'll be moving to October, to my vision of Michael's life in Japan.

Please forgive me if I once again typed a similarly-sounding word instead of the meant one. My mind is faster than my fingers.

Thanks again to everyone reading, especially to those taking time to say they liked it!

Hopefully more tomorrow,

*insert 'love' in your native tongue*, w.

(4)

I first heard about her on Thursday evening, and it wasn't even her writing me back. It was my own fault, really. I should have known better than reading news about my birth place. What good did knowing what was happening in New York even do me? It made no difference for someone stuck in Japan.

She was the headline. Either it was a very slow news day, or I had underestimated New Yorkers' love for their own princess. I couldn't think of any other reason why school evacuation would be front news, even though it was princess' school.

Unless reporting about evacuation was only a cover for the true point of the news. It didn't escape me how JP, the (rumored) new boyfriend, was described as a hero who selflessly saved the princess. Though I was glad she was safe, it enraged me to no end. And where the hell was Lars? It ruined my otherwise completely plain, emotion-suppressed evening of dinner in front of television and shows I didn't understand. I didn't pick up when Boris called, which of course made me feel even more childish. I couldn't win, no matter what.

I was up all night again, changing channels, deciding whether to watch kpop music videos, TV commercials or the news channel. I didn't understand anything no matter the channel. Around two in the morning I was so fed up I finally ended up unpacking. I guess as long as my stuff was in bags and boxes, the apartment had an excuse for looking impersonal and cold. Now, when bags were in closets and the rooms still looked more like a random hotel room than a place to come to every night, I realized just how lonely I was. I had a few pictures on my nightstand, of my family, my extended family, Mia, but they only exaggerated my feeling of loneliness, so I stuffed them in a drawer, hoping my craving for something familiar would not make me put them back.

I was back in the lab hours before anyone else. On my way I bought some pastry, but I left it in my backpack, for later, but that later never arrived. I worked through lunch, I skipped the afternoon break, I just kept working and working. There was sweat on my forehead, my eyes began aching, my back was hurting, but I kept going, only drinking a few sips of water every couple of hours. It was as dysfunctional behavior as it gets, it was a perfect way to ruin yourself, but I didn't know any better. I was too angry, too upset to allow myself to stop.

"Michael, don't you think we've had enough for one day?" Midori carefully asked around eight in the evening.

"You can home, but I'll stay," I didn't move my eyes off the arm in the making.

"You look like you could use some rest," she insisted.

I glanced at her, for only a second.

"I am fine," I dismissed her. "See you tomorrow."

I stayed till midnight, though I realized quickly after my team left that building Charlie was by no means a one-man band.

As I was walking home, it occurred to me that maybe I could use the media reports in my own advantage.

If I responded, in a friendly manner, it might show her I wasn't angry or upset with her. I she is indeed scared of my anger, it might encourage her to write back. It would be something a friend would do, commenting on newspaper reports about the other, right?

I ran the rest of the way. I paid no attention to the hunger I felt, I went straight to my computer, looking up the article on Post. Looking at a photograph of Kenny I knew just what to write.

So I guess Kenny finally figured out how to get the attention he's always felt he deserved …

After clicking send, I ate the pastry from the morning and went to bed. It was the first time since arriving to Japan that I slept well, without turning around on the verge of wakefulness for most of the night.

Maybe things would get better now.

But her response, the email I was desperately waiting on, didn't come. I kept staring at the clock, trying to calculate what time it was in New York and when she was likely to check her inbox.

All I got was Mom's worried phone call. She wasn't worried about me, I never even gave her a reason – while talking to her, I always made sure to sound upbeat, enthusiastic, describing me trying out Japanese food, making friends, everything, basically, that I would do if that damned Thursday night hadn't happened. Mom might be a psychoanalyst, but once you knew her, it was easy to trick her.

Mom worried about Lilly. She didn't tell me specifics, she just wished to know if Lilly, by any chance, talked to me. As siblings we were close, always, so her inquiry made sense. I didn't have the heart to tell her about the nature of our only phone call since I went to Japan. Instead, I just reassured her Lilly was most likely simply adjusting to the recent changes in her life.

My words cheered her up, as much as they depressed me even further. Lilly was horrible at handling changes, and this time I had no doubt she would take it out on Mia.

And there was nothing I could do, at all.

She didn't want me to.

But I couldn't help but to still care.

On Saturday my team took me on a road trip around Tsukuba. I protested, but my arguments were weak. We needed time off, no matter the tight schedule. Going out with them was still better than what I would otherwise do, pottering around my empty apartment, waiting on the email that could easily never arrive.

Once I put my worries aside, the day was turning out to be fun, the best out of all I had sent in Japan. I finally caved in and tried baby squids - they were my idea of a neither snack nor food itself.

Midori, who I felt organized the whole thing – kept looking at me to see if I was having fun, and her boyfriend turned out to be a Star Wars fan. Together we tried to explain the basic concept to others, but everyone kept shaking their heads, convincing me to start watching anime.

I came home tired, but happy for a change. It felt so good, recapturing a bit of that optimism I felt before arriving here. I turned on the TV before taking a shower, to bring at least a bit of sound to the apartment. I selected the news channel, completely coincidently. I thought I understood a word the news anchor kept repeating, but I dismissed it.

Only after I came back from the bathroom and heard the word again, it caught my attention. I could swear I heard him say Genovia.

I neared the TV, trying to find a reason for my mind playing tricks with me.

And then I saw her. She was on a stage, talking into a microphone. At first, I had no idea what she as talking about – one of ancestors died of plague? How was that news? Breaking news, nevertheless?

She went on saying this Princess Amelie established democracy just before passing away. It took me a minute to understand.

Genovia – a democracy?

What?

It showed her grandmother, the dear Clarisse, the Dowager Princess, in tears. And she wasn't weeping of joy. It was horror, more likely.

I quickly grabbed my laptop, trying to find more information and clear my confusion. It couldn't be real, Genovia, a democracy. When Mia had been revealed to be a princess, I had read everything – and I mean everything, even tourist reports – I could find on Genovia. Nothing, nothing at all mentioned democracy.

Apparently nobody knew of it until Mia read it in a diary she was reading.

And she went on, telling it to the whole world.

Obviously it wasn't a diplomatic thing to do, at all, but right nevertheless.

I listened to her speech again, and I felt proud. She looked so confident, so sure of herself, nothing like she had used to be. It was a brave, brave speech. So totally Mia, the Mia I always knew she could be.

I had no doubt her family won't be as excited about it as I was. I shrieked at the thought of the possible consequences she could face, despite doing the right thing. I might not be there in person, but I could let her know I supported her.

This email was easy to write.

Dear Mia, did you just ditch your throne and bring democracy to a country that's never known it? Way to go, Thermopolis!

Whether she was writing me back or not, this was the Mia I knew.

And loved.

The next morning I slept in. Like always, she was my first thought after waking up. This item I smiled. First parking meters, then snails, now democracy.

And things got even better.

I checked my email, with still sleepy eyes. But the moment I realized there was her email, waiting on me, I was totally awake. It only took a second for the world to look brighter again.

I reached out; and now she took my hand, once again creating a bond between us.

Hi, how are you? Things are fine, it's snowing here, isn't that weird? Well, I have to go, bye.

It was only a few words, but it felt like the world to me.

It was rather impersonal, but it was the most personal, touching thing happening to me since arriving in Tsukuba.

It wasn't promising anything, but it was the brightest, the most hopeful light I had ever encountered.

There was a goofy smile on my face throughout morning. I made myself breakfast, then grabbed my wallet, and went to every major shop I could find. It took me three supermarkets to find what I was looking for.

I rushed back home, wanting to waste no time. By lunch time, I already knew how to greet and introduce myself in Japanese. I was studying, reading, writing, repeating, for the whole afternoon, and diner was an opportunity to use my newly learnt Japanese, ordering food to the apartment.

Yeah, we were broken up. Yeah, it ended in a horrible, horrible way.

But just because we were over, as a couple, it didn't mean our feelings had died as well. Two years is a long, long time, and you cannot just shake it off. She could deny it, but I refused to believe she didn't feel anything for me anymore. I knew the past two years had not been a lie, I was there, I didn't just witness it, I lived it. What we had was still somewhere, somewhere under the chaos we drowned in. But just like a body floats back to the surface, so would our feelings for each other.

I had to believe it. Otherwise, everything I thought I had known would turn out to be a lie. And that was something I could not deal with. Not right now, at least.

Feelings are alive, they thrive, they struggle. They might keep on going, or they might eventually fade away. It is all part of life. And I wasn't done living. I had so much to see, try, experience. I wasn't done loving her. I might be loving her from afar for the time being, but it didn't make my feelings nor the future possibilities any different, any less real.

To Be Continued.

Broughttoyouby::winter.