Chapter 6
"I wish that I had something to leave to my orphans, but all I can do is leave them this reminder that I love them, and to never give up hope. Hiromi, it's all yours. The house in town, my money, my clothes if they will fit you – and my country house. I would ask that you care for the orphans as well, but I won't force them on you."
"That's it," stated the lawyer, staring in a mildly surprised way at the will he had been reading from.
"What do you mean 'That's it'? There's got to be more to it than that!" Hiromi screeched, still in shock at having lost her best friend.
"I'm sorry Miss Hiromi, but the only other ink on this page is the late Miss Yoshioka's signature. My condolences on the loss of your friend, and my congratulations at your sudden increase in wealth," he said, rising from his seat at the head of the dining room table – at which all the children were also seated – and left the will with Hiromi.
The black-clad man left.
Some of the children had been sobbing quietly the whole time, others had just barely been holding back tears. Now, they all let it go. They were all orphans. For some reason or another, they had lost their parents – car accidents, abandonment, and so many more reasons – but now they had lost their kind Miss Haru as well. She had been a second mother to them, a first mother for some, and they had to cry.
Hiromi was crying just as helplessly as the children were, and even Tsuge had wet tracks running down his face as he sniffled occasionally.
It was a shock to them all. It shouldn't have happened. The brunette had only been putting the picnic things back in the bus when the car had come screaming around and knocked her down. The driver had been drunk, and Haru had been unable to move, call for help, anything, until five minutes later, Hiromi had gone looking for her. She'd called the hospital at once, and an ambulance had come.
Tsuge drove the children back to Haru's big country house, while Hiromi rode with her best friend, holding her hand the whole way. The brunette never reached the emergency room. The medic in the back picked up his radio and sadly informed the driver to change course, then the hospital that they needn't prep for this emergency. It was over.
Hiromi had stayed with Haru, held her lifeless hand until the robed men told her she couldn't go any further. Tears stung her eyes as the coroner began his examination, and she turned away. She couldn't bear to watch him butchering her friend.
"Tsuge," Hiromi whispered, clinging to his warm presence now, at Haru's table, with Haru's children, but without Haru herself. "We don't know how to…"
"Shh, I know," he whispered back. "I'll make some calls so that they stop coming, and we can try and get them all to good homes as quickly as possible. I think that would be best for all of us."
Hiromi nodded and held tightly to her fiancee, absently wrapping her arm around the child that had crawled into her lap looking for comfort.