Chapter 9: Thunder

Why did Konata do such a thing? Wasn't it easier to explain by words? Was it really necessary to show such an example? What was she trying to imply?

Kagami lay motionless at bed for half-an-hour, thinking about what her friend had said during the unexpected assault. It was unusual of Konata to pin her down to demonstrate one important lesson; especially when it involved physical assault. Apparently, it was on every news program in every television set around the country. A lot of school girls have fallen victim to boys whose excessive exploitations caused them to execute drastic measures. The number of cases was growing significantly. No girl is always safe even from the nicest among the best and the best among the nicest. Konata was the only person to figure out this kind of disadvantage when going out with a boy; especially one who was almost forgotten by time. Upon closer inspection, it can be said that Kagami has Konata to thank for after all despite her sudden actions. Still, these unprecedented occurrences still shook her resolve although it wasn't meant to break her morale and withdraw at the last moment possible. Somehow, it served as an early warning signal—a lesson that even small things can turn big time.

Turning off the lights of a closed room was one thing. But pinning somebody down against something hard or soft was another. Konata's forceful attack only comprised a fraction of the total strength when Kagami was facing a boy with the both of them all alone in her room and the lights off. She had recently met the guy (their childhood friendship was forgotten) so she didn't know what to expect from him. However, his method of conversation told her that he was a formal person and would never resort to physical abuse. No matter how a person acts, his/her intentions are still of the utmost importance in knowing a person from the inside out. Who knows? The person may be a wolf in sheep's clothing. The formal talk may be no more but a silly act to grab her attention. The date itself may be nothing more than an entrapment operation as a prerequisite for the deed of a heinous crime. She put those things into consideration but she didn't want to presume that he was a bad person. Nevertheless, Kagami is putting herself on the verge of two things: candor and deception. Hajime's true intentions will pave the way for his true colors to show up. Only then judgment can be done.

Evening had fallen. A steady and moderate rain showered across the neighborhood. There was no presence of lightning but thunder was there to stay and terrify the phobic ones. It has been a full week since the torrential rain started. Tonight's weather condition may well signify a break in the bad weather. For now, everybody in the family was enjoying a nice cup of hot tea and a bowl of biscuits in front of the evening news. Like the past few days, it was another report on sexual abuse.

Last night, a senior high school girl was forcibly made to enter a car owned by two men of the same year. They brought her to their condominium unit and reported to have been physically assaulted by the two men. The victim was able to escape before the men could have their chance of killing her to erase any witnesses. The victim hurriedly reported the incident to the police which conducted a search for the suspects. Because of the intensity of the crime and the narration made by the victim, a warrant of arrest was issued against the two men whom the victim identified as Saburo Miyazaki and Jirou Minami, two of her classmates at school. As of now, the said convicts are still at large. The police advised the public to say "no" to strangers and to suspicious-looking people. The school in which the convicts go to refused to give any opinions concerning the pending case against the two men.

"(This must be what Konata is trying to say to me.)" Kagami said to herself. "(I know he won't do such a gruesome thing. He's very kind and sincere.)"

She could have it that way, consistent to her interest.

Konata and her dad had a one-on-one conversation as soon as Konata arrived from Kagami's house several minutes afterwards.

"Konata, I finally did it." He said as if he triumphed over life.

"Did what?"

"You have a new mother."

"Really…? What does she look like?"

"You'll find out first thing in the morning. I don't want to spoil the fun."

She was about to have the surprise of her life since obtaining an ultra rare item in an online RPG game. In fact, it will be more surprising than some ultra rare item.

Hours of arranging the perfect dinner setting exhausted both mother and daughter. Miyuki could hardly get up after standing up the entire day and carefully handling fragile items that were worth a year's allowance. One time, she accidentally dropped a glass wine but luckily her cousin was there to catch the falling object at the exact moment. The table setting was unlike anything in the soap operas. The cloth is embroidered linen with fancy designs and jewels attached to them. The table setting consists of a soup plate above the dinner plate, the spoon and fork placed in between the plates, a wine glass parallel to the spoon, and a napkin parallel to the plates. It wasn't the official formal table setting but to both mother and daughter; it looked like a formal one. Besides, they didn't need all kinds of utensils for such an event. The planned dinner was already exaggerated enough for Kagami in the event that she knew about it. Screwing up would mean hundreds of dollars down the drain and all the sweat they worked up just to get this done.

"Whew! All done…" Hajime put up a sweat. "Handling all those china made my hands all shaky."

"Thank you for helping us out." Miyuki thanked him.

"No problem…besides, your plan was a good one. She'll definitely gasp when I show her this."

"I hope this doesn't affect our friendship in anyway."

"Don't worry; it definitely won't. Besides, it's only for one ordinary day."

If there was one more thing that Miyuki feared aside from going to the dentist for teeth-tweaking was the bond of their camaraderie. When Kagami was first introduced to Hajime, she didn't know how to react because it was too sudden. She was deeply affected by this psychologically. The lightning incident proved such assertion. Miyuki wondered if Kagami would face the same fate in the future and eventually lead to their friendship dissolving. Her cousin is a nice guy and he won't do anything to hurt anyone. Nevertheless, she wasn't a psychic that could tell the future. She waited anxiously for tomorrow where everything would be put to rest and in place. That was the master plan. The secondary plan was to have fun. Hajime had arranged his schedule for tomorrow's outing. It was found out that he wasn't only planning to go to Tokyo Tower. He also planned to visit the temples in Asakusa, the digital district of Akihabara, and more. He had the outing all perfectly planned. It was only a matter of the ability to go to these places (not to mention the overall budget) and more importantly, the measure of Kagami's happiness that would determine the success or failure of the outing.

It was already late at night. Everybody had tucked in their beds and slept the night away. It was raining again with the occasional roaring of the sky. Kagami is currently suffering from insomnia. She still couldn't sleep after a glass of warm milk and a lullaby. It's like constant ringing rocked her head. If she doesn't sleep early, she may wake up late for her big day. Either gender doesn't like being made to wait by the opposite sex. It wasn't the sound of the scary thunder that kept her wide awake. What if tomorrow turned bad? What if tomorrow turned against her? Stuff like her good clothes being stained by muddy water, her wallet being stolen by some runaway crook, or who could even forget the threat of a weight increase because of the food she would be eating in merry Tokyo? Material things weren't her primary concern (she has lots of clothes, she could buy another wallet with her piggy bank, and she could work out at her free time). She hoped that tomorrow would turn out alright.

Reading a random light novel from the shelf was her way of knocking herself out cold. She flipped a page open and read the wordy book line after line, sentence after sentence, word after word, as long as she could feel her eyes constantly closing. The clock's hands pointed at ten and one, short and long respectively. The rain continued to fall down from the high sky. The crash of thunder constantly shook the entire house as powerful as an intensity 3 earthquake. When her eyes have gotten heavy, she turned off the lamp and straight to bed she went. At least now she can sleep soundly for what lies ahead tomorrow in the purpose-driven life.

The entire household was pitch-black. The darkness provided less visibility of the objects. Even those who want a midnight drink or snack to satisfy a grumbling customer couldn't find the correct switch for the right bulb. At this state, someone like Tsukasa would be afraid to even take a step into the blackness. It was the perfect set for a thriller movie. Unexpectedly, a strong gust of wind burst a window open, letting the precipitate in the house. The windows flipped against the wall as cold wind rushed throughout the kitchen. The annoying noise of the flapping windows disturbed Kagami's sleep. She was rudely interrupted by the elements. Before she gets annoyed, she went downstairs to the kitchen while turning on a few lights along the way to light her way to the desired destination. When she arrived at the flapping window, she spotted the problem. The pin wasn't locked in place. She closed the window and locked the pin in place. The disturbance was no more.

"I hate it when my sleep is disturbed by some annoying, noisy window." Kagami silently complained as she made her way back upstairs, turning the lights off along her way.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of a chair being dragged along the floor. Upon turning around, one of the chairs on the table was displaced. It wasn't displaced when she got there a while ago. Things were beginning to get creepier from this point on.

"H-Hello…? Who's there?" Kagami said, trembling in fear. "Tsukasa…? Matsuri onee-san…? Mother…?"

The sky roared as the sound of footsteps was heard getting louder and louder as if something invisible to the naked eye was approaching her. Frightened, she ran upstairs hoping to outrun that "something". Whatever it was, Kagami didn't stick around to find out. When she finally reached her sanctuary (her room), she quickly locked the door and even blocked it with the chair in the desk. As another crash of thunder passed by, she heard a ghostly voice coming from somewhere inside her room. It was very frightening.

"Please spare me, whoever you are! I didn't do anything wrong! It's not what you think it is!" She pleaded for mercy.

"Don't worry, little one. I am not here to haunt you."

"Huh?"

In one blink of an eye, a girl in a white dress with blue hair and green eyes appeared on top of her bed. The white dress made her shining like a bright light—an angel that descended from the heavens to fulfill a particular mission.

"Wait a minute, aren't you…Konata's mother?" Kagami aroused some questions.

"You're wondering why I am here." The ghost said; turned out to be the late Izumi Kanata.

"Obviously…will Konata do something that can hurt her; that's why you're here to warn me about it?"

"Actually, this is all about you Kagami-chan."

"Me…?"

"I too faced a lot of difficulties in the past before I met Sou-kun. Sometimes you have to learn to trust people for the better."

"But I trust him. He's a very sincere and honest man. I know he wouldn't do such a heinous crime."

"I know you trust him, dear. I respect your faith. But you must know that temptation is a very powerful being. You just have to be careful while trusting other people."

"I know I shouldn't be asking this but why are you giving me advice?"

"A friend of Konata's is also a friend of mine."

Shortly after a blink of an eye, Kanata disappeared into thin air; leaving no traces of her behind. Kagami, still feeling uneasy, closed the open windows that were forced opened by the gust of wind and went to bed five before eleven. It's pretty late but with the last piece of advice from the most inconspicuous person, the die is cast.

For the past few days, she had been receiving tremendous amounts of help and advice from her friends and family. They have done their part in preparing Kagami for the inevitable. Tomorrow, only she can settle things once and for all.

END OF ACT II

TO BE CONTINUED