Chapter Six:
When they got outside all hell broke loose. The girls were scolding Taiki for not being considerate of Ami's and Urawa's relationship, and Seiya was trying to calm Usagi down because she was yelling at Ami for keeping a secret from her. Rei was yelling at Yaten for being so heartless, and Minako was yelling at Rei for yelling at Yaten. Makoto was the only one not yelling. She was in fact very quiet. As she looked around she realized how empty outside was.
It seemed like inside the restaurant there were tons of people. But outside, it was like a ghost town. And even more strange, she could have sworn that she saw shadows. But only shadows. Shadows of people…but the people weren't there to cast the shadows. With a concerned face, Makoto kept poking Usagi saying "Hey…hey" quietly. Usagi finally annoyed of her poking stopped yelling at Ami long enough to hit Makoto's finger and said, "What Makoto?! Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?!" Seeing the twisted look on Makoto's face, Usagi paused and Ami caught on too that there was something wrong.
"Hey guys!" Ami yelled at the rest of the yelling party. "HEY GUYS!!" she repeated, and soon the rest stopped and looked at her. She resumed looking at Makoto and the others mimicked her. Everyone was wondering what was with Makoto. "What Makoto?" Usagi said again. Makoto turned to her and said quietly, " Look….where is everyone?" Everyone started looking around and also realized how empty outside had become. " I don't see anybody…but I saw people's shadows." Minako slapped Makoto on the back and said, "Oh come on Makoto. You probably just couldn't see the person because they were out of your sight, but you glimpsed their shadow."
Rei's eyes were closed and she said, "No Makoto's right. Something is not normal here. We've all been so caught up in this drama that we didn't even notice." Usagi squeezed Seiya's arm and said shakily, " What is it Rei?" Rei shook her head and replied, "I don't know." They all sat there in silence looking at each other and then back to the empty town.
"That doesn't make sense. There were lots of people in the restaurant, but I doubt the whole town is in there.", Taiki said. Then the group heard a sound. It sounded like footsteps. But they couldn't tell where it was coming from. The sound kept growing louder and faster. Usagi felt like something was going to attack and she was already in defensive position. In fact, everyone was on edge ready for whatever was coming at them.
Taiki was standing in front of Ami, and Seiya in front of Usagi. Yaten was standing behind Minako. Suddenly Rei spotted something coming towards them, but couldn't quite tell what it was. And it was heading right for Seiya. "Seiya look out!" Rei shouted, but the running object jumped on Seiya before he could react. It wasn't a large thing, but rather small covered in a cloak. It resembled a little grim reaper or something to that nature. Seiya fell down with a thud and screamed in surprise. "GET OFF ME!!" he shouted and the others rushed to help him.
The little object clung to him and the others tried to pull it off. Minako grabbed the thing by the cloak and the cloak tugged and ripped off. Underneath revealed a little black haired girl hugging around Seiya's waist. Everyone jumped back and Seiya took a double look at what was attacking him. It was a little girl? "DADDY!!" she said with glee and hugged Seiya tight. Seiya gently but firmly pulled her off and got back up. Brushing himself off, he said catching his breath, "Uh, kid- I'm not your dad" She looked up at him with big shiny blue eyes and said, "Yes you are!" Seiya kind of chuckled and retorted, " I think you have me confused with someone else. Who are your parents?"
The little girl giggled and pointed to Seiya. Usagi looked at Seiya with a raised eyebrow and Seiya looked back at her. Looking at the little girl, he said, "What is your name kid?" The little girl ran and hugged him saying, "I'm Toshiko silly. And you're Seiya!" Seiya put his hands up unsure how to react and looked to Taiki for help. Taiki bent down to the little girl and said, "Why do you think Seiya is your dad? Maybe you're just a fan huh? You've seen us perform?" The confused look on Toshiko's face let Taiki know that was certainly not it.
Yaten stepped up and said, "Look you. Seiya's not your father. So run along ok?" Toshiko looked up to Yaten and smirked. "Yaten, he is my father. And you're my uncle!!" Seiya smiled and said, "I like this kid." Yaten clenched his teeth and stepped back. Everyone was dead silent. Taiki kind of pulled on Seiya's arm and kind of whispered in Seiya's ear, "Is there something I don't know about? Someone you were seeing and didn't say anything? Could this be your kid?"
"NO!!" Seiya said. "Look there is no way this is mine! I think I would know if I had a child! I mean she's what? 6 years old?!" "FOUR!" Toshiko chimed in happily. "Ok! So 4 years ago, where was I?" Seiya asked and bit his lip. Suddenly a look came over his face. "Uh oh" Seiya said. Taiki's face did the same thing. Yaten also got that look.
Taiki said slowly, " Seiya….wasn't that when you were….um…" "Don't say anything else today Taiki!! You're terrible at keeping important information to yourself!" Seiya said and then looked at Usagi. Usagi was fuming. "Who were you with SEIYA?? Is this your kid?!" she said with a raised voice. Seiya looked down at Toshiko who clung to his arm and said, "I swear, I don't….NO! This cannot be my kid!" Usagi got even more upset and stated, "OH PLEASE!! SHE LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU!!" With that, Usagi stormed off.
Seiya tried to go after her, but had a 4 year old cling a long that weighed him down. Seiya tried to pry her off him and finally got her little fingers detached long enough to say, "Taiki! Yaten! Could you take this for a minute! I've got to go after her!" He handed Toshiko to Taiki, who passed her to Yaten. Yaten sat there staring at this kid and holding her at arms length.
The girls stared at Taiki and Yaten, and they stared back as Seiya took off after Usagi. "So Taiki….how long have you known about this?" Ami said. Taiki threw his hands up and replied, "I don't know anything about a kid. All I know is if this is his kid, then I'm pretty sure I can guess who the mom is." Rei marched up to Taiki and accusingly said, " You've known that your brother was in a heavy relationship with some other gal, and you didn't have the decency to mention that Seiya might be carrying some baggage? How do you think Usagi feels??" Taiki was blown away.
"LOOK! It's not my job to keep everyone up to date on past relationships! Jeez!! You wanna get angry at someone, get angry at Seiya! I've got my own problems to deal with!" Makoto couldn't help herself- her curiosity always got the best of her. "What was her name?" Makoto asked. Taiki groaned and Yaten still in fear of the child he was holding said, " Her name was Kaori. Not that that is any of your business." Makoto scoffed and said, "I was just wondering."