2. The Meeting
Hikari Yagami was worried – and pissed off. And the weather wasn't helping at all. She had to walk slowly because it was raining like cats and dogs – and she hated it. She wanted to get to the kindergarten fast, because that awful new boy had attacked her little sister again. The kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Kim, had telephoned her and said that Aoi-chan's new set of crayons were broken, thanks to that little git. Aoi-chan, being the pampered little girl she was, had, of course, cried her heart out when the boy destroyed the crayons given to her by their father during her birthday...
The Yagamis were very close to one another, and Aoi-chan was definitely close to her, since Hikari had practically raised the little girl up. Their mother had passed away shortly after Aoi Yagami was born, and that was when their father decided to move away to Kurokuro, this small, rainy village far away from Aoi-chan's birthplace, probably in an attempt to forget all the bad memories of losing his beloved wife.
She fastened her pace as she got closer to the road that would eventually lead her to the colourful kindergarten. "Hold on, Aoi-chan," she muttered to herself, "hold on! Onechan's on her way...!"
– X –
A loud thunder broke the silence between them, and the boy jumped slightly in his seat. "Are you afraid of the thunder?" she asked gently.
Still blushing, the boy nodded quickly, and edged closer to her when another thunder was heard. She chuckled a bit.
"It's not funny!" he protested.
"Oh, I'm sorry — of course it's not funny, how rude of me to laugh…come then, you go and sit near the reading corner, and I'll pull all the curtains, okay?"
The boy didn't say anything, but merely nodded before quickly making his way towards the reading corner. She saw Aoi-chan eyeing the boy carefully. She mouthed an, "It's okay", and the five-year-old relaxed a bit, taking a sip out of her mug before turning towards the window to see if her sister had arrived or not.
After closing the windows and pulling the curtains together, she made her way towards the boy again, who was peering curiously at a storybook.
"You know, you remind me of my daughters," Mrs. Kim began as she sat next to him. The boy lifted his eyebrows.
"How is that so?" he asked, still observing the titles of the books.
"Well, they're both afraid of the thunder too," she said, smiling. "They're twins — you know, they screamed so loud sometimes that I got angry."
The boy didn't say anything. He seemed to be really interested in the books.
"Go on, you can pick one and read," she said, changing the topic.
"Can I really?" he asked. She nodded, giving him the permission to do so. Smiling, the boy pulled out a book and read the back cover.
"It's a story of three siblings who lost their home and parents in a fire," she explained briefly.
"Oh…" He took his time reading the back cover of the book. She could sense that the boy would do fine so she stood up.
"I'll go check on Aoi-chan — you'll be fine, right?"
His cheeks turned pink a bit. "Yeah…fine…"
—X—
Positively out of breath now, he took a left turn and jogged along the small road towards the kindergarten. He did think of driving there, but the roads in the village were narrow and he found it rather tedious to drive. He could now see the colourful walls of the building, but he didn't want to imagine what on earth had happened to the girl. He hoped it was nothing serious… No, the kindergarten teacher would've informed him if it were a serious case, right?
A lady was walking from the opposite direction. She was obviously going shopping, with a basket in one hand - but she observed him for quite some time as she got closer — yes, he was new there, and yes, his appearance was a bit different…but stop with the staring already! It's rude!
He gave a quick, polite smile at the lady, and she seemed to have realised that what she was doing was rather rude, so she gave a friendly smile in return before continuing her journey to the shop.
Finally reaching the small road, he crossed it and walked straight towards the entrance of the kindergarten. The first person he saw was a little girl in a blue dress, sitting near the window and staring out of it.
He halted, breathing rather heavily. The girl looked at him as he paused for a few moments to catch his breath.
"Hey there, mister," she greeted, her face rather unfathomable. But he could clearly see that she had been crying. "You should get in or you'll get wet," she added. He smiled at her.
"Yeah…but I'm already a bit wet," he pointed out. The girl smiled a bit. He returned her smile, but then caught a glimpse of a little boy reading a book at the opposite end of the room. Quickly, he removed his shoes, left his umbrella outside and entered. He made his way quickly towards the boy.
"Have you any idea how worried I was?" he called out, and the boy looked up at him with his blue eyes.
—X—
"Good morning and welcome, Mrs. Takanori!" he greeted as one of Mr. Hokama's usual customers entered through the glass door, twirling her umbrella to shake off the rainwater.
"Oh, good morning dear — ooh, it's just so cold today…"
He was about to comment on the weather, too, when she suddenly she cut across him. Mrs. Takanori wasa talkative person, mind you.
"I saw this young man on my way here, he looks a bit like you — you know, yellow hair and blue eyes — is he a relative of yours, dear?"
He paused to think for a moment. "Uh…no, I don't think so…"
"Oh. Oh, really? Maybe he's your cousin or something, who wants to give you a surprise visit," Mrs. Takanori said, walking towards a shelf full of canned mushrooms.
"Nah, I don't think so," he insisted. "I mean, everyone's so busy lately, they only give me phone calls."
"Hmm," said Mrs. Takanori, "well, if you say so. Now, where can I get some soy sauce, ya?"
He couldn't help grinning at the way Mrs. Takanori changed the subject all of the sudden. He waited for the old lady to look for the correct things, and meanwhile, he couldn't help thinking about her. Had she arrived yet? How was Aoi-chan? Was everything okay?
Anxiety soon took over him, and after making sure Mr. Hokama was engaged with something else, he took out his cell phone, and dialled a certain number. He waited. After the third dial, she picked up.
"Yeah, hello?" came Hikari's voice from the other end.
"Hey," he said, sitting up straighter. "You there yet?"
"No, not yet," she said, a bit louder, in order to fight the sound of the falling rain. "I'm almost there — why did you call me? I had to take out my cell phone from my bag and — ooohh!"
He frowned. "Hello?"
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE DRIVING! …Urgh, a car just zoomed by — oh, look at that —he lives up the hill in the bungalow, no wonder!" she said, sounding pissed off. He couldn't help laughing."It's NOT funny!"
He had learnt when he first came here that those who live up the Spiralling Hill were rich people. That area was filled with bungalows and huge houses. Obviously whoever was driving the car had splashed some water towards her, and had not stopped to apologise.
"Are you okay?" he asked in between laughter. "Are you wet?"
"…No, I'm fine," she snapped, still sounding angry — and also cute."That's it, are you done asking whether I'm there yet or not?"
"Yep, done asking," he said, grinning.
"Good. I'm crossing the road now, don't distract me!"
"Okay, okay!" he said. "Bye — be careful, will you? And say hello to Aoi-chan for me!"
"Sure, I will. Bye!"
And she hung up.
"…Bye," he said, and added quietly, "love ya… Urgh, you're such a coward." He sighed, kept his phone away, and ruffled up his hair. "You should've said that when she's still on the phone, you idiot!" he hissed alone, hitting his head over and over again.
"Hmm, love issues, ya?"
Mrs. Takanori was standing in front of the counter, with her basket full of groceries. He smiled sheepishly at her.
And yes, she was the Goddess of All Gossips here at this small village!
—X—
"Have you any idea how worried I was?" said an unknown man's voice.
"Niisan!" She heard the boy replied.
"Go on with the class, I think one of the guardians are here," she said to Miss Shiro, one of the five kindergarten teachers. Mrs. Kim then exited the classroom towards the colourful entrance hall, and immediately saw a scene:
A blonde young man wearing blue jacket and a pair of black pants was crouching in front of the boy — his back facing her. He was holding the boy's shoulders and seemed to be giving him a sort of lecture, but concern could be heard in his voice as he spoke. Aoi-chan sat where she was, watching the scene.
"You were supposed to be at school — look, now you're wet — what if you catch a cold?" the young man was saying. He then sighed. "You OK?"
She saw the little boy nod. He had his head hung, as if humiliated by what he had done to Aoi-chan. Mrs. Kim cleared her throat, earning the young man's attention almost at once.
Her brown eyes met a pair of worried, but quite pretty, blue, blue eyes.
—X—
Hikari looked to her right and then to her left before quickly crossing the small road towards the kindergarten. She could see the figure of her little sister sitting near the window, but she wasn't looking out of it — instead, she was watching something inside. Breathing heavily (for she had jogged all the way towards the kindergarten), she slowed her paces down and finally came to a halt.
"Ooh…oh…oh dear…phew!" she panted, catching her breath. Aoi-chan turned to look at the sound of her voice.
"Onechan!"
She grinned at her sister, who leaped off the chair and ran towards her. She hugged her. "Aoi-chan…! Are you okay? You all right?" she asked, stroking her hair gently. The five-year-old nodded.
"But most of my crayons are broken and wet," she said once they let go. She could see that Aoi-chan was in deep pain: that box of crayon was from their father, and she had treasured it throughout the year.
"Oh, it's okay, honey," she said, smiling gently at her. "We can buy a new one, okay?"
Reluctantly, Aoi-chan nodded. "But…I loved the one dad gave me…"
"I know," she said sympathetically. "I know, Aoi-chan…but what else can we do? Come on, let's see your teacher — and I'll scold that naughty boy who did this to you if you want me to!"
Aoi-chan giggled as she made an angry face. "Why didn't dad come here? My teacher said you're coming instead," Aoi-chan asked (as she removed her shoes and entered the kindergarten).
"Well, your teacher didcontact our home number, but dad was asleep," she replied. "And Taichi-niichan is out somewhere — he said something about visiting an old friend… So here I am."
"Ah, good," said a woman's voice. Looking up, she saw Aoi-chan's teacher, Mrs. Kim. "It looks like both guardians are here. Through here, if you please."
The teacher went on first towards the office. She immediately saw the boy who had broken Aoi-chan's crayons, and also his guardian — a young man…with blonde hair… That young man had his back facing her, but she could see the boy clearly: he had brown hair, fair skin, and a pair of somehow familiar blue eyes…
Suddenly a thunder was heard — a loud one — and the boy jumped as if he had received an electric shock before squeezing his eyes shut and pressing both his hands against his ears.
Her heart suddenly stopped (figuratively, mind you) — seeing that scene suddenly triggered an old memory…it came swimming back into her head…
A rather empty living room...an apartment overlooking the gardens... A rainy day... Articles on Japan's heroes of the past were scattered on the coffee table... An unsmiling teenage boy watching the news...
Then, a loud thunder visited—
CRACK! BOOM!
Nothing else could be heard after that, for several thunders followed after, but then she heard it — a voice. Somewhere in the house.
A child's voice.
"Keru-niichan! Hiroki afraid…!"
The cold teenage boy introduced her to his little cousin... And then...
He smiled...
Hikari blinked several times as the image of the person whom she had been trying to forget invaded her mind. Everything happened too fast...
The guardian of the boy placed an arm around the small, scared boy. He was tall, he had bright skin (just like the boy), and he had a pair of blue eyes.
"It's okay, Hiroki…" he said gently, pulling the little boy closer to him.
Time stopped. The ground shifted. Everything around her went black. She only saw that tall person — that person who had pretty much ruined her life, who had broken her heart oh so many times, who had made her cry on her bed numerous times at night—
"Mr. Ishida? Hikari-chan?" called the teacher from the office. She peered out from the door of the office, her brown eyes as gentle as ever. The plump woman in her thirties opened the door of the office wider and smiled. "Come on inside, all of you."
Upon hearing her name, Mr. Ishida whirled about and stared at her. His blue eyes widened, and a frown was visible on his face. Clearly he had not expected this meeting – he was as surprised as she was.
At last, after five years of separation, Hikari and Takeru were once more in the same room.
A/N:Err, more? I was going to write more, you know. But. Oh well. AHH! :D
If you've read Coincidence or Destiny, then you'd probably be able to guess that the flashback is from chapter 7 where Hikari was stuck with Takeru in his apartment, having to do their little history project together. :)