Chapter 3: Revelation
Mitsuru could not help but give a sigh of relief. The awkwardness between her and her European History professor seemed to have diminished since the previous Saturday. It was also obvious that the blue-haired woman was back to her usual upbeat and energetic self as she went about today's lesson. The only significantly difference with the professor was when she assigned the class to make a paper on a piece of art from the renaissance period.
"Hey now!" Skye ordered, slapping her palm against the surface of her table for attention. "This is my way of testing you unless you prefer that I give examinations," she told the class with a smile. "Just to inform you, the examinations I prefer to give both include oral and written parts so you should be grateful that I'm giving you a take-home paper to do."
The students continued to grumble as they nodded their head in agreement. "When is this paper due, sensei?" one student asked.
Skye walked to the front of her desk and sat on its edge. "I'm not a brute when it comes to papers so I'll give you two weeks," she informed her class. "Two Mondays from now, you will submit your papers to me in class. Have it ring-bound so that it looks professional." She gazed at her class for a few moments. "Is that more than enough time?"
"Yes sensei," the class chorused.
The dark blue-haired professor nodded her head with approval. "Good. Class dismissed then." She began to fix her things as the student filed out of the classroom when her cellphone began to vibrate incessantly against her thigh. Fishing out the gadget from her pants' pocket, Skye flipped the cellphone open and held it against her ear. "Sagara speaking," she spoke into the mouthpiece. "I just finished with class," she glanced around the almost empty classroom and spotted her redhead student still in the vicinity. "Yes, she's still here," she told the person on the other line. "I'll tell her then." Skye flipped her cellphone close and waved Mitsuru over.
"What is it Skye-sensei?" the redhead asked, walking towards her professor.
"I just came from talking with my father on the phone," Skye told the rather nervous looking young woman. "Father was able to finish the repairs earlier than he thought so he says that you could pick it up today if you want."
Mitsuru smiled. "I would want to pick it up, but I would have no way to ride it home in this condition," she indicated her injured shoulder.
"I told my father that, but he insists that a girl and her motorcycle shouldn't be separated for too long," Skye replied, letting out a sigh.
"What does he intend to do then?"
The older woman led Mitsuru out of the classroom and down the hallway. "He suggested," she paused and shook her head. "No, ordered me to ride your Ducati and convoy with your chauffeured car to your apartment. After that I'll just take a taxi back to my apartment."
The former Gekkoukan student council president shook her head hurriedly. "That would be too imposing on you, Skye-sensei!" she told the older woman. "I could just have someone pick it up tomorrow morning."
"It's all right, Mitsuru," Skye assured the girl. "Father has other motives with his decision that I ride your Ducati back to your apartment. He hasn't been able to ride motorcycles for quite some time now so he wants me to do a test run on your motorcycle." They walked onto the street where Mitsuru's car was waiting on the curb. "I'll also be able to tell if the repairs were done nicely just by riding the bike."
"Well," Mitsuru frowned. "If your father insists then I'll go with his suggestion."
Skye nodded. "You go on ahead to the shop. I have some things to do at the faculty building." With a quick wave, the professor turned and strode towards the small faculty building down the road.
"Kirijo-san?" the chauffeur called the heiress out of her thoughts. "Where shall we go?"
Mitsuru got into the car and waited for the hired man to get into the driver's seat. "Head to the Sagara Repair Shop," she ordered and further explained how to get there. She took a short nap throughout the duration of the trip and only awoke when she felt the car slow to a stop. The auburn-haired girl got out of the car, made her way inside the expansive garage and immediately spotted her gleaming sliver Ducati. Her crimson eyes shone as she stepped closer to the repaired bike and ran her hands over its cool metal surface.
"I never get bored of seeing people give their bike or car that kind of look," Akira Sagara walked up to her with a grin on his face. "It tells me that people appreciate the work I do and that they too appreciate their own bikes or cars."
Mitsuru bowed deeply to the mechanic. "I am truly grateful for your work, Sagara-san!" She straightened. "How much do I owe you?"
Akira scratched the back of his head and walked around the silver Ducati. "Well, to sum it up. Repairs were pretty expensive especially with the way you totaled your bike," he told the college student. "Not to mention that the bike you own is a Ducati so parts are hard to come by and are also quite expensive. I had to order and replace a number of parts to get it back in shape and I had to smooth out the dents and give it a new paint job," he added. "All in all, the repairs cost about 1.5 million yen but since I like how you treat and care for your motorcycles, I'll be giving you a discount." He grabbed a compact calculator from his pockets and punched in a few figures. "I'll charge you 1.2 million yen and throw in shining wax."
"You're too kind, Sagara-san!" Mitsuru protested.
"But I really insist," Akira shot back with a smile. "You remind me a lot of Skye when she was younger although she wasn't as formal and serious as you are." He chuckled as he watched the young woman blush in embarrassment. "Speaking of my daughter, I think I hear her pulling up outside right now." Just as he said, his blue-haired daughter strode into the garage with a dark look on her face. "Skye? What's wrong?"
Skye shook her head and headed to her father's desk. "It's nothing, oto-san," she replied. She drew a drawer open and shuffled through the papers inside. "I just have to deal with some pesky salesmen outside." She grabbed a sealed brown envelope and closed the drawer. "It's nothing you should worry about and it's definitely not something I can't handle." She quickly nodded a greeting to Mitsuru before striding out of the garage.
The auburn-haired college student tried not to look intrigued at what had just transpired. It was rather strange that Skye had explained that she was only going to handle some irritating salesmen. It didn't make any sense that she needed to come back inside the garage and get a brown envelope to handle that matter.
"Kirijo-san," Akira snapped her out of her thoughts. "My daughter did inform you that she would be convoying on your Ducati with you and your chauffeured car back to your apartment right?" He was making a last minute inspection of the bike.
"Yes she did," she replied, glancing outside the garage to try to spot Skye.
"Why don't you go check if she's done handling those salesmen?" Akira suggested. "You do need to get back home or attend to other business so I don't want to keep you here for too long."
Mitsuru nodded. "If you say so, Sagara-san." The young college student leisurely walked out of the garage and expected to see her professor kicking some salesmen out, but was surprised to see the dark-haired woman standing stiffly with her arms crossed over her chest and addressing two foreign men in expensive suits. From what it looked like, Skye was either dealing with rich and foreign salesmen or she had lied. It was obvious though that the older woman and the two men were in a heated debate.
"How many times must I tell you?" Skye huffed out impatiently. "I tried that kind of life and I didn't like it," she told the two men.
"But what about the future of the Thierry Corporation?" one well-dressed man demanded.
Skye shook her head. "It's not for me to take," she replied. "Give it to someone else. I am sure that my mother's brother is itching to have one of his sons take over the business." She looked at the darkening skies above. "Personally, I don't really give a damn on who inherits the company and my mother's fortune."
"Your mother would have wanted you to take over," the other man finally spoke up.
"If my mother wanted me to take over," Skye said ominously to the men. "She would not have left her oh-so-great life for a poor mechanic and live a simple life!" Her eyes flashed dangerously. "Don't ever assume that my mother wanted me to have the kind of life you wish to make me live! The way you and the rest of the Thierry family treated my father was enough reason for me to leave London and to not come back." The blue-haired woman glared hard at the men. "Now leave before I lose my temper!"
The men opened their mouths to protest and argue back, but they decided to back away and board their luxury car. The chosen heir of the Thierry Corporation may be a slippery and stubborn being, but they were sure that this meeting was not going to be the last of its kind.
As the suited men drove away, Skye knead her temples tiredly. "You heard everything, didn't you Mitsuru?" she suddenly said without turning around. "This is the second time that you eavesdropped on me and I'm still undecided on how to feel about it." She sighed and turned around to look at her student. "I probably owe you an explanation anyway so I'll be glad to give you one once you close the deal with my father." She walked passed Mitsuru and paused by the garage door. "Well," she said, glancing back at the auburn-haired student. "Are you coming?"
"Yes!" Mitsuru blurted out and hurried to get to her professor's side. "I apologize about eavesdropping again. This time it was really an accident," she told the older woman. "Sagara-san asked me to come get you so that you could take my motorcycle and ride it to my apartment." She and Skye walked around three cars and stepped around the tool-cluttered floor. "He said that you shouldn't keep me waiting," she added, embarrassed.
"Typical of my father," Skye muttered, looking around for the stubborn man. "Hoy! Oto-san!" she called out. "Mitsuru and I are about to leave already so we'll just take the bike!" She frowned and continued to look around for her father.
"Strange," Mitsuru let out. "I could have sworn he was just here by the bike," she told Skye. "He was giving it a last going-over when I went outside to get you."
Skye nodded. "There wouldn't be any other place for him to go in here aside from our small office, but I could already see through the windows that no one's there." They moved towards the Ducati bike and looked around some more. "Where could have he gone?" Skye asked loudly, her eyes scanning the expansive garage. As her emerald green eyes swept across the room, she caught two overall-clad legs sprawled on the floor sticking out from behind a car. "Found him. He must have decided to start repairs on that car. Oto-san, I'll be going ahead now," she told her father as she walked around the car. "Oto-san?!" Skye strode forward and dropped to her knees beside the motionless man. "Oto-san!"
"Skye-sensei! We must get Sagara-san to a hospital immediately!" Mitsuru urged her professor as she got to her knees and began to haul the unconscious man up. She and the distraught professor each took hold of a limp arm and proceeded to half drag half carry him outside the garage where Mitsuru ordered her chauffeur to bring them to the nearest hospital. The five-minute dash to the hospital was an ordeal for both the auburn-haired woman and Skye. Skye was constantly trying to wake her father while Mitsuru worried over both the man and his daughter.
Once the car skidded to a halt by the emergency ward entrance both women hopped out of the car and yelled for the hospital personnel to assist them. Mitsuru jogged along with her professor, the doctor and his assistants as they wheeled the gurney down the hall. She would have gone further when the doctor in charge told her to stay in the waiting area while they attend to Skye's father. They could not do the same to Skye though, eventually relenting and allowing her to come with them to the treatment room.
Mitsuru waited in an empty waiting room, hoping to hear about the state of her professor's father. Over an hour had passed when a nurse scurried into the room and announced that Mitsuru was allowed to go to the room assigned to the Sagaras. The auburn-haired student sedately followed the nurse through a few halls and walked into the modest room the nurse gestured at. Akira Sagara was asleep on the bed and his daughter dutifully sat by the bed and kept a watchful eye on him.
"Is he alright?"
Skye looked at her companion and nodded stiffly. "He was awake a few moments ago, but he couldn't talk," she told her student. "It happens sometimes when people get a stroke." She reached out and grabbed hold of her father's hand. "The doctor told me that if he continues to refuse treatment for his cancer, he has less than a year to live."
Mitsuru remained quiet. "Is money really the problem, Skye-sensei?"
"Stop calling me that when we're not on campus," Skye reminded tiredly. "In a literal sense, money is a problem especially with the current livelihood that my father and I have." She rubbed the back of her father's hand gently. "He's a stubborn mule and I realize that I take after him. In all honesty, oto-san could be treated easily."
"How so, Skye-san?"
"You overheard my conversation with those two men awhile ago," Skye pointed out. "Particularly the bit about my mother and the Thierry Corporation," she continued. She smiled tiredly at her student. "I suppose this will somewhat shed some light on why I've been nice to you. I am the chosen heir of multi-billion dollar monopoly involved in the development and trading of medical drugs and equipment all over the world."
"Thierry…" Mitsuru said slowly. "You're the heir of the Thierry Corporation?" she demanded, shock prevalent on her face. No wonder her professor's middle name struck a familiar chord among her group of friends. "The Thierry Corporation currently stands as the wealthiest corporation in the world and also leads in the stock market," Mitsuru informed, remembering her past lessons on the business world with the Kirijo group. "Not only that, the corporation monopolizes the medical industry when it comes to drugs and various medical equipment due to their superb research and development departments, limitless funding and technology," she added. "Up until ten years ago, Ilina Thierry was the favored heir of the corporation's board of directors, which included her parents. Upon her death, the next favored heir that was chosen was…" Mitsuru's eyes widened.
Skye smiled sadly. "Skye Thierry," she finished for her student, her green eyes darkening. "If I had not left London, I would have been ushered easily into the position of owner of the corporation."
"But what made you leave Skye-san?"
"I should probably start from the beginning," Skye suggested, motioning for Mitsuru to take a seat next to her. Once the younger girl was seated comfortably by her side, the professor began to narrate her life story. "You were right about my mother being the heir of the corporation's ownership, but as a young adult she realized that the rich and lavish corporate life was not for her," she explained. "As she got older, she didn't like it that she was going to end up becoming a prominent figure that would be controlled like a puppet. Despite those thoughts, oka-san didn't really have a choice. The corporation's board of directors were strict and rather controlling especially when it revolves around inheritance issues." Skye closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "That changed of course during one business trip to Japan," her eyes glittered as they opened. "She met a simple mechanic who taught her to break the chains attached to her and to live the kind of life she wished to live."
"So your mother stayed in Japan with your father?" Mitsuru asked.
Skye shook her head. "It wasn't that simple, but eventually that did happen," she explained. "She went back to London in a confused state and she could not focus on her work. During a meeting, she finally realized the wrongness of what lay in store for her in the future. She snapped and announced that she didn't want the position anymore and the board could not do anything about it. The following day, she disappeared from her home and cut of all her contacts with her family and the Thierry Corporation." The blue-haired professor tucked the blankets securely around her sleeping father. "They had no idea that their supposed heir to the corporation had gone back to Japan to secretly live with her mechanic friend. She didn't foresee that she would end up falling in love with the mechanic who turned out to be this old man here," she pointed at her father. "A year later Ilina gave birth to me and we all lived happily despite the lack of money for twelve years." Skye's face drooped. "That was until my mother was diagnosed with Leukemia. I had to live through a year watching her in pain and it haunted me every night whenever oto-san would bring me to visit her in the hospital. She was so pale and she had lost so much weight. Her face was always contorted from the pain, but whenever she'd see me she would always give me that smile of hers. When I was in school a month later, I was called to the principal's office. My father had called to say that he was going to pick me up to go to the hospital. Oka-san wasn't expected to live much longer so the doctors urged her family to be at her side," she paused, obviously deeply depressed as she talked about her mother's death. "When we got to the hospital, there were three richly dressed foreigners waiting at the lobby. Oto-san went to greet them and led us to the room of oka-san. I only realized after mother's death that those three foreigners who came were oka-san's parents and her only brother."
"I thought that your mother had cut off all her contacts with her family," Mitsuru pointed out.
"She did," Skye replied. "But in the situation of her life about to expire, she had begged oto-san to contact her family so that she could see them one last time."
Mitsuru looked at the unconscious man on the bed. "I suppose Sagara-san did not take that lightly."
"He sure didn't. He argued with oka-san that it wasn't necessary to have them come to Japan to see her, but he could not refuse her when she pleaded to him that it was her dying wish," Skye explained further. "So as oka-san lay in her bed struggling to breathe, she told her parents that she was sorry for leaving them but had no regrets. In her dying moments, she begged my grandparents and her brother to not force her daughter to join them in their family business then said her final words to her husband and daughter. She passed on soon after that." Skye grabbed a glass of water from a nearby desk and gulped down its contents. "After the funeral, oto-san and I were distraught for a few weeks. I had stopped going to school because of it and oto-san could not work. Eventually, I learned that oto-san was not only suffering because of oka-san's death, but also because of the debts he owed in order to pay for the treatment of my mother. He did not have the capability to support and care for me anymore so he approached my oka-san's family despite despising them so. He knew that they would take me in and care for me until he was capable again to support his family. So he allowed his parents-in-law to take me to London where I was bred and raised to take over the Thierry Corporation." Skye played with the empty glass in her hands. "I was brought up thinking that my father no longer cared for me and I gave in to that belief because I never received any letters or calls from him. I even scrapped my father's name and called myself Skye Thierry after my mother's maiden name," she continued. "That changed recently. Over a year ago, while I was browsing through the file cases in my grandparents' office, I came across a large and worn brown envelope that contained nearly a hundred letters addressed to me from my father. It was then that I realized my mother's family had not kept their promise to my mother. They had purposely tried to cut off my father so that they could make me the next heir of the corporation without any trouble."
Mitsuru could not help but empathize with the older woman. Skye was right when she said that Mitsuru would understand more why her professor had taken to her so easily. The two of them have very similar backgrounds. "So you left London and decided to come back here to Japan," Mitsuru clarified.
"Not without losing my temper with my grandparents and the board of directors for coming up with such a conspiracy behind my back," Skye replied. "I told them I no longer wanted to inherit ownership of the corporation and I pretty much cursed them for treating my father so badly before I gathered all my belongings and travelled to Japan." She shook her head. "I remember not knowing if my father still lived in the same house, but I still went ahead and took a cab from the airport to my father's repair shop. That was a really awkward moment when I walked into his garage and stood face to face with him. He recognized me right away and led me into his office so that I could explain what happened. So after explaining myself and apologizing, I went out and bought an apartment with what savings I had brought with me. My father wanted me to live with him, but it was easy to see that he was still experiencing hard times. I decided afterwards that I would get a job so that I could help myself and my father." Skye took in a long breath. "So that's about it that happened. As you can see, my grandparents have been trying to get me to come back to London and reconsider taking over the corporation."
"You really don't want to go back to that kind of life, Skye-san?"
The professor shook her head. "I may have been interested in it once, but I am no longer after finding out what my mother's family did behind my back." She gazed at Mitsuru seriously. "Are you happy with where you are now as the heir of the Kirijo group?"
Mitsuru thought about it for a minute. "Perhaps I may have felt like that kind of life was being forced onto me, but the reason why I decided to continue aspiring to take leadership over the Kirijo group is for a good cause."
"And that good cause would be?"
"To atone for the sins my father and his subordinates committed and to change the platform of the Kirijo group," Mitsuru replied. She couldn't exactly tell her professor what kind of sins her father and her grandfather had committed when they were still alive. Only she and her friends held that knowledge.
"And I am to believe that everything is going the way you wish it to be as heir of the Kirijo group and the Kirijo Corporation?" Skye raised her elegant eyebrows at Mitsuru.
"Well…" Mitsuru began, a frown forming on her face. "I have grand plans for the Kirijo group, but there are certain factors that tend to get in the way. Certain factors that tend to be quite unnecessary when one thinks about it," she explained.
"Marriage," Skye guessed without much thought. "It has always been one of the greatest issues when it comes to corporate inheritances among family owned businesses," she pointed out in disdain. "So what are you doing about it Mitsuru?"
Mitsuru sighed and ran a hand through her auburn hair. "They did manage to betrothed me to one of the corporation's associates, but I was able to get around it with the help of a dear friend of mine," she told the blue-haired woman. "Now, the corporation is still trying to get me to change my mind and see the advantages of marrying, but I've managed to stall them by explicitly stating that I wanted to finish college before I seriously start thinking about the future of the Kirijo Corporation."
Skye remained silent. "What will you do after you graduate then? Will you allow your family's corporation plan out your life from there?"
"No!" Mitsuru protested violently. "I would not want that, but I still have a duty I owe to society after what the Kirijo Corporation had done in the past."
"I see." Skye continued to gaze in interest at her redheaded student. "That's the difference between us then," she told Mitsuru. "Whereas I refuted becoming the heir of my mother's family business, you on the other hand still aim to lead your family's corporation because you feel duty bound." Skye shook her head and gently smiled. "I have nothing against your decision Mitsuru," she assured the young woman. "I even admire you for your resolute goal of atoning for the past sins of the Kirijo Corporation. The only thing that I worry about is that your family's associates would eventually manage to control your life."
"I understand Skye-san," Mitsuru said softly, looking down at her lap. But how else could she counter the Kirijo group's plans for her? Her hands clenched tightly into fists on her lap as she took in everything that her professor had said to her. Skye-sensei was right after all. She may be able to atone for all the mistakes her father, grandfather and their associates committed, but her eventual acceptance of leadership would still lead her to even more complicated issues in the future. The auburn-haired woman was about to excuse herself from the room due to her tension when she felt a hand gently lay itself on top of her own hands. She looked up to see the twenty-four year old woman smile at her reassuringly.
"If things start going downhill, you'll know who to look to for help," the blue-haired woman told her student. "I'll do anything in my power to help you out." The tone of her voice was several notches above serious.
"Sensei…" Mitsuru locked eyes with her professor. "Why are you so willing to help me?"
Skye shrugged and looked away. "You're just like me," she replied. "I feel that there's something that I must do for you because of that." She looked at her wristwatch and frowned. "It's getting late Mitsuru. Perhaps it would be for the best that you go on ahead. For now, I'll take your Ducati bike from oto-san's shop and keep it in my apartment since he won't be able to work in his shop for a while."
Mitsuru got to her feet and bowed deeply to her professor. "Thank you, Skye-san." She turned to the door and was about to step outside when her professor called out her name.
"Mitsuru," Skye twisted around in her seat to look at her student. "From now on, drop the honorifics. Just call me Skye, but you could stick to attaching sensei when we're in school campus."
"All right… Skye," Mitsuru answered, bowing once more and taking her leave.
It was past dinner by the time Mitsuru arrived back at her apartment. It was a rather eventful day for her and everything that had happened in the recent hours had gotten her thinking deeply. Skye Sagara's revelation that she was the Skye Thierry frequently talked about in the corporate world. After their long conversation, Mitsuru felt that she understood her professor even better than before. Walking into her elaborately furnished room, the auburn-haired woman fell against her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She was just about to sit up and get changed for the night when her cellphone started ringing loudly. With a loud sigh, she fumbled around for her cellphone and settled it against her ear. "Kirijo speaking," she greeted.
"Mitsuru-senpai!"
Mitsuru flinched and pulled the phone away from her ear. "Yukari!" she let out, placing the phone back against her ear. "You don't need to shout like that! What is it? Is there something wrong?" she asked her young friend.
"Senpai! You have to come quickly!" Yukari's voice was a combination of excited, worried and nervous. "You won't believe it, but he's awake!"
"Calm down Yukari!" Mitsuru ordered, feeling intrigued. "Who's awake? Just explain yourself!"
"Minato… Minato is awake!"
I know I know… it's been a few weeks already since I last uploaded a chapter. I just finished school last week and I needed to give myself a break before I started to write again. Anyway, I have a month of vacation before I go back to school so hopefully that will be enough time for me to post more chapters for this story.
Quite a few of you have requested that Mitsuru would end up with Yukari and well… I'll be honest. I'm having a hard time visualizing and coming up with a story line revolving around Mitsuru and Yukari. So as of now, I'm still leaning towards making this a Mitsuru x OC story. I'm developing
the character of Skye so that she could eventually (and hopefully) become a good match for Mitsuru. I ask the readers to be patient with me and to give me a chance.
Next chapter: Awake from a long slumber, confession and hurt feelings.