Revelations
The whole time of the police chase, it was being filmed on live television. The footage was broadcasted on a news channel, thousands of people from Japan are watching footage. Usually it would end up with the driver surrendering, never in the channel's history has it caught someone get shot in the process. It shocked thousands from the part where that civilian got shot. That civilian, was Rono Takayama. The worse thing about the whole situation is that one of those thousands who saw the broadcast, was Tomo and Chiyo. Chiyo always watches the news since she wants to be aware of what was happening in Tokyo. Tomo watches it only when there were any police chases. Never have they thought that they would watch their friend get shot on live television.
Back at Chiyo's home, she was shocked and terrified. When that happened, she ran to her parents who were down stairs preparing dinner. For the whole thirty minutes, her mother was trying to comfort her by hugging her while her dad was watching the news trying to be aware of what exactly had happened.
At Tomo's home, she was watching the police chase, she could handle a little violence, but at the same time she never expected this to happen. She instantly recognized the civilian on television. The moment he got shot, she immediately jumps out of her window of her one story house, opens the gate of her back yard and runs off to Yomi's house. She opens Yomi's back yard door, runs through the back yard and knocks on Yomi's window. Yomi barely got inside her own room from dinner, she hears a sound from outside. She opens the curtains of her window and finds Tomo.
She sighs and opens the window anyways.
"What do you want?" She grumbled.
"Turn on the T.v and go to the news channel!" She exclaims.
"Why?"
"Just do it!" She said.
Yomi noticed something odd about her. She was breathing constantly, her eyes were starting to get watery. Yomi clearly knew that something was up. She did what she was told, turns on her television and changes it to the news channel. On the lower part of screen, it says:
Civilian injured during police chase
"Yeah what about it?" Yomi said.
"That man was Rono!"
"You're kidding right?" Yomi said.
"I'm not!"
"Hmm, if I call Sakaki with my phone and she tells me that none of this is true, then I'll never trust you again." Yomi said.
"Fine, call her then and you'll see I'm not lying!"
Yomi opens up her phone, scrolls through her contacts list and calls Sakaki's phone. She awaits for her answer, but Sakaki didn't answer.
"That's weird."
"Believe me now?" Tomo said.
"I guess, but I'll call her again tomorrow."
Back at Sakaki's area...
Rono was now getting carried away on a stretcher to the ambulance. Right at the moment when he collapsed, he was bleeding from his bullet wound, but luckily, he was still breathing. It wasn't too much blood that was dripped, but if he was shot anywhere on his arteries, then he would surely die from blood loss.
Before the ambulance drove off to the hospital, Sakaki and her mother accompanied the paramedics. Her father stayed with the police that way he can clear things up. After all the questions he was asked from numerous police men, he was called by his name.
"Hey, Yuudai." Said a police officer.
He turns around and finds another police officer. He stood about 5'8, he's well built, as of now he is wearing his uniform, has brown eyes exactly as Rono's.
"I thought you were done asking questions and how do you know my name?" Yuudai said.
"You really don't remember me do you?"
He steps back, takes off his hat, messes up his black hair and looks back to him face to face.
"It's me, Ronin, Rono's father. Nice to see you again." He said as he smiled at him.
Yuudai stares at his face for a bit and finally recognizes him.
"No way!"
"It's been eight years my friend."
The two joined together with a friendly hug that ended up with them patting each other on the back.
"It's so great to see you again! You haven't changed a bit!" Yuudai said.
"What do you expect, I'm thirty-one, I was already done growing years ago.
Both of them laughed it out.
"So my son got in the accident just to save a cat?"
"Pretty much." Yuudai said.
"Well, that's to be expected from him. He's crazy over cats."
"Really? Just like my daughter."
"Yeah, speaking of your daughter, how are things between her and Rono? Do they still hang out like back then?" Ronin asked.
"Not exactly."
"What?"
"It's a long story, let's sit down for a bit."
After some explaining, Ronin has been finally informed of what has was happening ever since his son had arrived to Japan. Like everyone, he felt sorry for what Rono had to go through when he moved to America with him. All of his lost memories could all be because of that.
"I see, so when he came back, he hasn't remembered a thing about his past, am I correct?"
"Yes, that is right."
"So why didn't you tell him about it?"
"Well here's the thing, Sakaki doesn't want us to tell him what happened, she wants him to figure it out on his own."
"So you think it's better to let him know after death?"
"What are you talking about?"
"As we know as of now, Rono was this close to dying, what do you think might of happened if I hadn't showed up? He would be shot dead by that lunatic. What would you do after that? Tell his now rotting and bloody corpse all about it? All of this, could of been avoided easily if you told him in the first place."
Yuudai shocked from his comment, now stood in silence looking down at the ground in shame.
"I'm sorry for all of this." Yuudai apologized.
"Look, there are things that shouldn't be kept in secret."
He turns around and starts to walk away to his car, but he stops to tell him one more thing before he leaves.
"Sorry about what I said, but you've seen what happend. When Rono wakes up, I expect you and your family to tell him what exactly happened back then. After you tell him, tell Sakaki to promise me this."
He turns around and faces back at him.
"Do not keep secrets from each other, unless if it's necessary."
Ronin turns back around and walks to his car. He opens the door of his police car, gets inside, turns on the engine, puts on his seat belt, turns his car to and drives with the group of police cars. Yuudai kept his eyes on the police car where Ronin was in until it disappeared in the distance.
He sighs and walks to get to his car.
"Let's hope Rono doesn't die on us."
When Sakaki and her mother left with Rono inside the ambulance, the paramedics controlled the bleeding from the gun shot wound with a tourniquet. Before they knew it, they made it to the hospital. Rono was then rushed to the emergency room, Sakaki and her mother weren't allowed to enter. He was going to get a surgery to remove the bullet from his body and clean some of the scrapes from his body. Before the surgeon went inside, he asked the two for their names just in case. He then told them that they will be able to visit him tomorrow until he was treated right. So now they have to wait until the next day.
After getting picked up by Sakaki's father, Sakaki went to her room to sleep. While her parents talked about a few things.
"Honey, I think we should, tell Rono."
"What, why, your daughter told us to not tell him yet!" She said in anger.
"It's just.."
"Just what?"
He could barely answer his wife, he felt like all of this was his fault. If he hadn't kept the secret inside, then Rono wouldn't be in this situation.
"He almost died out there."
"Yeah."
Silence occurred only between the husband and wife.
"The reason we planned this event was because we wanted to jog his memory, right?"
"Yes, what are you saying?"
"If we told him about his past in the first place, then he wouldn't be this badly injured."
She stood in utter shock, she thinks to herself of how selfish they'd all been.
"You're right, he's been hurt because of us."
"I suggest that we tell him immediately after he wakes up."
"Yeah...let's do that."
His wife looked at the ground feeling bad for Sakaki's friend, she wasn't in the mood to do anything but cry. Before that occurred, her husband decided to lighten up the mood a bit.
"Oh and one last thing."
"W-what?" She sobs as she looks at him with tears now forming in her eyes.
"While I was settling things up with the police, I saw Ronin!"
"Really?" She said.
"Yep, he hasn't changed at all either!"
"That's good to hear."
"Honey, don't be so hard on yourself, this isn't your fault."
"I don't know, I still feel so guilty."
Without knowing, Sakaki opened the door of the family room and walked inside.
"Sakaki why are you still awake?" Her mother said.
"I-I can't sleep." She said quietly.
Her father sighs and stands back up from the carpet floor.
"Come on, let's eat, it's already midnight. You haven't ate anything before going to sleep."
"Okay." Sakaki whispered.
She walks away with her parents to the kitchen without saying a word. From that point forward, they ate as a family at the dining room with pastries now on the table. It was odd, the atmosphere was way different that what they have experienced. Sakaki and her mother looked depressed when eating their food. That happy atmosphere was now gone, instead, it had transitioned to a sad and lonely atmosphere. All there was, was pure silence. The silence was soon broken by Sakaki's father.
"Sakaki."
"Yes?" She sobbed after.
"If you want we can visit Rono tomorrow morning?"
"Are you sure?" She said in a quiet tone.
"Yep." He said.
"When it's time for lunch, we can make Rono some lunch. I don't think he'll like hospital food that much."
"Thank you mother, thank you father."
"You're welcome." Said her father and mother.
Now they feel much better now that their daughter is smiling. She meant the whole world to them.
The next day...
Things went on a different turn the next day. After the surgery had occurred last night, it was expected that he would wake up sometime in the early morning. Unfortunately, he didn't wake up at all, he was still unconscious from yesterday. One of the nurses from the hospital checked up on him to see if his heart was at least beating. Turns out that he's still alive, but knocked out.
"I'm sorry for what happened, please wake up for your family and friends." The nurse whispered to him.
The nurse that took care of Rono stood 5'8, she had a white nurse uniform and a white hat with the Red Cross on it. The nurse is always kind to the patients in the hospital, she helps the elderly and the sick. She always tries her best to treat them right until they get cured from whatever they have been ill of. She then walks away and is soon to come back after three morehours to put set up the next round of nutrients for Rono's IV.
Rono wakes up in his bed, but something is different. He isn't on his normal bed from his apartment. When he lifts his upper body from the bed, he notices the bed is smaller than the one from the apartment. He looks around his room and notices that there are a handful of toys, there was even most beloved stuffed animal, Kiroki.
"Kiroki!" He jumps out of his bed and walk to his shelf where his stuffs bear was on top of.
The bear had a blue scarf and a green sweater. It's as if he was prepared for chilly day outside.
He hugs the bear tightly but something pops up in his mind.
Wait a minute, why is he here? He thought.
He looks around the room he was in once again. His eyes widen as he recognises where he was. This very room was the one from his old house in Japan before he moved to America!
"W-what, w-why am I here?" He said.
Many questions developed in his head, he was confused if he was dreaming or not. Then a mirror is found in front of his door. He walks nervously to the mirror and then he gasps in shock. His physical appearance is the same just like he when he was seven years old!
This can't be real! He thought
A loud voice is heard from downstairs.
"Rono, time for breakfast!"
"Mom? Am I really seven again? What year is this?"
He looks for the calendar on his wall. This was the most surprising and shocking thing in his life, it turns out that the year he is in is actually 1997!
"No, this has to be a dream."
His stomach rumbles in hunger.
"I have no choice but to eat anyways." He says as he rubs his stomach.
He opens his bedroom door, goes inside the bathroom to each his face and goes down the stair. The whole way down made him feel something, it made him remember how it felt like to live in Japan as a family. When he went to the dining room, his dad was found reading the news paper, his mom was found cooking the breakfast. What was on the menu were rice, scrambled eggs, two sausage links and orange juice.
"There you are Rono! How's my sleepy boy been doing?" She said playfully.
"I'm fine, just hungry."
"Hey Rono, I heard that the author of the book you were reading is in town giving autographs. Want to go there before we leave?"
"Really, sure!"
Somehow I remember this, I would always go to certain libraries where one of my favorite authors are signing books. But something isn't right at this moment, I can just feel it. He thought.
"Dad, where are we going?"
"Didn't I tell you? Where moving to America!"
No, don't tell me today was the last day living here! He thought.
Back in the real world...
Before leaving the house, someone rang the doorbell of the intercom. Sakaki walks to it and answers.
"Who's this?"
"Sakaki? It's me Chiyo!"
"Chiyo!" Sakaki said before she lets her finger off of the button of the intercom.
She opens the door to find Chiyo waiting behind the front gates of Sakaki's house. Sakaki opens up the gate to let Chiyo inside.
"What are you doing here?"
"I heard about Rono. I wanted to find out if he was fine."
"We were going to the hospital to visit him."
"Really, can I come with?" She said.
"What about your parents?" Sakaki asked.
"My parents are at work, I'm alone in the house."
Sakaki's mother came out of the kitchen to check who was visiting.
"Who's visiting?" She said.
She looks at the small girl recognizing who it was.
"Oh Chiyo! Didn't expect you to come visit!"
"Sorry for the surprise visit! I was wondering if I could come with you all to visit Rono?"
"Sure, what about your parents?"
"They're at work." She replied bluntly.
Sakaki's father would then agree to take Chiyo with them. All of them went into the the mini van that Sakaki's dad also had and then drive all the way to the hospital.
When they enter the hospital, they first sign in with the receptionist.
"May I help you?" The receptionist asked.
"We're here to visit someone."
"Sure thing, may I get the patient's name?
"Rono Takayama."
She types in the name to the PC in front of her and his name pops up.
"Okay, now can you give me everyone's name please, for security reasons of course."
They all gives their names out to the receptionist while she types their names to the guest list. After that was done, she tells them the room number where Rono was located and activates the door of the emergency rooms which is now opened. Through that, there are many nurses, many doctors walking to a certain room. Sakaki's family then search for Rono's room, it was a bit farther away from the door they entered from.
After a while, they found it. They open the door, the first thing they all see was a blue curtain hanging from the ceiling. Sakaki's dad slides away the curtain and finds someone in the room. It wasn't just Rono in the room, but there was a nurse inside the room too! She is found changing the empty nutrient bad with a different liquid bag full of potassium.
"Oh, I'm guessing you're the Sakaki residence, are you?" She said with a mouth cover on her face.
"How do you know?" Sakaki's mother asked.
"His dad visited way early in the morning. He told me that you might visit sometime today, looks like he was right, wasn't he?" The nurse informed.
"So how are things with him?" Sakaki's dad asked.
"Good news is that he's healthy and recovering. Bad news is that he hasn't woke up since last night."
"Strange." He commented.
"I'll make sure to tell you if there's anything wrong going on with him the next time you visit him." The nurse said.
"Thank you Ms...?"
He looks at the name tag on her shirt, it says Fukushima.
"Fukushima."
"You're all welcome."
She opens the door and leaves the room leaving the family and Rono there. They all wait patiently for his awake while Sakaki's father watches the television in the room.
In Rono's mind...
Something strange happened during Rono's state of mind. Time froze for him, nothing could move, not even people, animals and cars! All that moved was just himself. Normally if any other person were in a situation like that, the he would feel helpless and lonely. But for him, it wasn't, he's used to it, all of those times he spent alone at his school and in his room somehow paid off. If his family never existed, then he wouldn't have anyone to depend on, he never had any friends in his life, or so he thinks?
He walks around his quiet, ominous, gloomy and lonely neighborhood. Nothing was in color except for him, nothing in sight was in color, just pure black and white. At this point he gave up hope, he thought that it would be fine for him to never come back to his home. Them some kind of light flashed before his eyes, this light wasn't anything that he's seen before, it had color!
Rono runs as fast as he could towards the light. The closer he got, the light flashes slowly and slowly. Getting there felt like an eternity, but it was all worth it. As soon as he made it to the area of the light, the light stopped making the area black and white. It took a moment for the area to turn back into its original color. When that happened, the area looked like a park, it had a merry-go-round, a slide, monkey bars and finally a pair of swings. The swings were his favorite, but something unexpected happened. There was a girl in the park, Rono and mysterious girl were the only ones who could move.
"Hey! Can you hear me?" Rono said.
The girl heard him and turned around to him. Her face couldn't be shown even if it was sunset. A dark shadow covered her whole face except her body. He notices that this girl looked fairly familiar. Rono then remembers that this girl was the same girl from the dream he had the first day he came to Japan! He runs towards her as fast as possible, when he reached her, he gasped for some air before he could talk.
"I know that this may sound weird but...I think we met somewhere before. So please...can you please tell me your name?"
"What do you mean, you don't remember me?" She said with a distorted voice.
The small shadow on her face starts to disappear little by little.
"I'm your friend, Sakaki!" She said as the shadow finally disappeared.
He stood in total shock and disbelief. When her face was now exposed, he immediately imagined an image of Sakaki in high school. He compared it to her and the one he's looking at right now. It was no doubt, that this was actually her.
"No...this...can't be."
