Act 12, Autumn
"Daidōji-san!"
The girl jerked her attention to the voice in surprise, almost slipping off the ledge in her sudden movement.
Hiiragizawa-san?
The rapid throbbing of her heart was quickly making her faint. Her sight suddenly blurred.
The young man's paler face was one of anxiety that deeply mirrored her own, azure eyes wide in shock. Eriol Hiiragizawa had seen her almost lose her balance in the growing darkness.
How did you know—?
"Jump!"
It was an order she didn't think would come out of his mouth, not when she almost had an accident, and it took her a long second to process what exactly he was telling her. If it weren't for the cold reality of the metal fence of the fire exit that stung her fingers she wouldn't have realized that she was able to cross a steadier pedestal.
"You don't have time to consider, Daidōji-san!" The bespectacled young man hissed edgily. He was still more than twelve feet below the last flight of stairs. The emergency stairway was fastened to the second story and was impossible to unshackle in her trembling hands.
"But—"
Frantic pounding on her locked door could be heard among the loud buzzing of her panicking thoughts.
Okaasama—that's Okaasama behind that door.
"Tomoyo? Tomoyo, open the door this instant or I'll have it destroyed!"
Those amethyst eyes couldn't have dilated more than at that exact moment. The Daidōji matriarch had figured that she didn't have any intention to go back to Osaka with her when it took the girl long enough to just retrieve few belongings.
"Hiiragizawa-san—"
Sonomi called her daughter again before she finally barked her command to one of the guards to break the door open.
The heiress knew she had to make a decision right away. The lock that was securing the door close was giving up now and there was no other way out.
The younger Daidōji shot another desperate look at Eriol who was calling her as well.
"I can't do it!"
"I am going to catch you. Just jump!"
The deafening crash of shattering shoji screens pushed her to madly climb down the last few steps and finally make that jump. The fear of her mother was much more potent than her fear of heights.
To Tomoyo, it felt like it was the longest fall she had to take yet she didn't even have the time to scream. Her heart must have pounded too violently against her chest that it hurt to even breathe.
"Are you alright?" Eriol's horror was apparent in his tone, and he feared that the girl who had fit perfectly in his arms had passed out in fright. The fall was still high.
She opened her eyes and saw his terrified sapphire orbs transform to relief.
"We have to leave now, Daidōji-san. Can you run?"
Tomoyo couldn't trust her own voice and only nodded as she was settled on the ground. Her gaze never left the pianist's rather animated expression, thoughts strangely floating back to her conversation with Yoshiyuki Terada earlier that day. It was clearly the worst time to daydream about recitals and duets with her handsome senpai.
I have gone mad. I am in the middle of escaping from Okaasama and all I can think of is Hiiragizawa-san.
It didn't help her any when Eriol grabbed her hand without any warning, warming her long, cold fingers in his tight hold. Autumn was harsher that day, the temperature dropping too quickly.
They hurried to a waiting car nearby. It took time for the uniformed men to appear at the gates of the apartment and chase after them, and thankfully, Hiiragizawa Eriol was at an advantage and was already speeding to the direction of the nearest train station, leaving no trace for Sonomi's men.
The noisy drone of her beating heart drowned any other sound around her.
"I was able to trick her." That had been the first thing she was able to say, finding it hard to believe.
"Eh?"
It wasn't too dark in the car to watch the bespectacled man's confused reaction, but dusk had already painted the skies dim. She didn't even notice how the night had come to pass, what with all that had just happened.
"Okaasama...I told her I had to get some things in my room," the raven-haired girl said quietly, caught in a trance of her recalling. "And she believed me. Li-san was there to distract her, too, coming in at just the right time. It was unbelievable."
Unsure of how to answer the kohai, Eriol only made a slight nod. That had been part of their hastily organized plan. Syaoran Li was to serve as the diversion to confuse Tomoyo's escorts about what was happening, mentioning fire exits in his unusually excited conversation with Wei as if suggesting in the most casual manner without sounding obvious. Eriol would be waiting for Tomoyo outside if there was any development to the situation. It was up to the girl to figure out how to get out of the house without anyone's noticing. The plan wasn't at all fool-proof. Syaoran had been telling him he could be wrong about everything but anyway left everything else to chance.
Thinking that the man right beside her didn't understand or was oblivious of what she was talking about, Tomoyo heaved a tired sigh and stroked her icy cheek with a delicate hand. The installed heater in the car seemed to have stopped working after five minutes and she was almost visibly shaking.
"Did they hurt you?"
When the strange question left his mouth, the car was almost in full stop from the slow traffic.
Surprised amethyst met hardened sapphire.
She couldn't understand why he sounded angry when he asked or why he would even ask her that.
"Did your mother cause that bruise before, Daidōji-san?" The heated note in his usually calm voice was still there but his expression didn't even shift. In the dimness that surrounded them it was not easy to read his eyes especially with those glasses on but Eriol's knuckles had almost glowed white from grasping the steering wheel too hard. He was, of course, talking about a few weeks ago when she came home with a mark on her face, but she wasn't going to give in to him. Hiiragizawa Eriol shouldn't be too concerned with such thing because they were not even friends, and the former heiress didn't want him to get involved at all.
"Hiiragizawa-san, there was no—"
"Please...just answer me."
It was indeed odd that he was asking her all these, and in that troubled tone at that.
How did he figure it out? There is no way he could have known about it.
"Hai," finally came the kohai's hesitant answer.
"Are you hurt somewhere today?"
When Tomoyo shook her head it was only then that Eriol seemed to have been able to loosen his grip. Satisfied, the senpai didn't say anything else and only concentrated in parking the car in the busy road.
"We are leaving the car here, and we'll walk to the train station with the crowd," Eriol told her, securing his scarf on the girl's neck and handed the trench coat he had on. In any given day, the awkwardness would not be easy to deal, but this time they could not even afford it.
"I'll be riding the train with you, but I'll have to get off in a different stop."
"I'm heading Hiroshima," she said. It was the first place that came to her head. Though it was somewhere she wasn't familiar with, she figured it wouldn't be as hard as any other place.
"Don't. Get off in Hakata Station instead," the bespectacled young man distractedly instructed, leading her inside the station. It would not be difficult to blend in especially at rush hour.
"Fukuoka? Dōshite."
They had now stood below the signage with glaring kanji.
"That's about five hundred miles from here. It should be far enough."
Side by side the pair anxiously waited for a few more minutes behind the yellow line beneath their feet before the train to Hakata Station came. Both had secretly expected that Tomoyo's mother would find them soon enough, but they were lucky that nobody had come yet and there was no second-guessing that they would not be able to escape once they were traced.
When they stepped in the train it had already been almost full and the couple had to stand exceptionally close to each other just as the last of the passengers had occupied that limited space they could get.
But Eriol, being the ever gentleman, blocked anymore passengers that would crush Tomoyo to the window.
"Hiiragizawa-san, you don't have to do this." Her voice had fallen into a whisper that betrayed her embarrassment. The pianist had to extend his arm to the window to maintain a decent breathing space for the former heiress. The position was uncomfortable and all too intimate for her.
You keep on saying this, too. Maybe you should just get used to it, her mind couldn't help but point it to her.
It was the first time that day that he offered a genuine smile that brought more red to the girl's face.
"Don't worry about it," he replied good-naturedly, amused for some reason.
It was harder to concentrate at what exactly he was saying, not when all she could breathe in was his scent that was a strange mixture of sandalwood and of something else she couldn't quite determine, of something so—
—Eriol Hiiragizawa. Strange. I would never have reacted this way especially in a situation like this.
But there she was, slave of her female hormones. Tomoyo knew she was mad.
"Is there something on my face, Daidōji-san?"
Is it possible to have melted under the man's gaze?
The way he was looking at her made her scramble for an excuse.
"I'm just thinking."
It was impossible to think with his azure eyes reading her like that.
"About?"
The young woman finally averted her eyes at her senpai's chest, pretending to be fascinated with his ID hanging there that showed his name and position in the music school. She had one like it until she surrendered it to Terada.
"I was surprised to see you outside my window. How did you know I was going to run away?"
"I didn't. Li was convinced I was crazy, but I felt you were in trouble." He had an odd look on his pallid face when he explained. Eriol seemed tired, too. Like as if he ran a mile and never really stopped. "I was hoping I had been entirely wrong but you're with me in this train to Fukuoka right now."
How could he have possibly felt that? Is it possible to have sixth sense over something like that?
"Daidōji-san?"
"I'll tell you about it someday."
Eriol opened his mouth once but then decided against persuading her to speak now.
They stood in the same position for almost an hour before the young man announced that when the train stopped he would get off from there.
"I have my wallet and cell phone in the left pocket." He was referring to the coat she was wearing.
Her fingers met the smooth surface of a device and something leather when she fished in the over-sized pocket.
"Call me with Li's number once you've arrived in Hakata. I have enough money to last you a week. Use it until I come for you sometime next week. My cousins will be in Fukuoka by then so you will have somewhere proper to live in."
By this time the train was slowing down and Tomoyo was painfully aware of the impending parting.
The pianist was already deciding for her, but she realized she didn't mind much. His concern for her was easily making the former heiress wistful.
"Hiiragizawa-san—"
"I have to get off now." When he said these words, Eriol had sounded worried. He stared at Tomoyo's anxious eyes before he started stepping back. "I'll see you in a few days."
Then suddenly he looked sick as he lifted one pale hand to his face.
"Daijōbu desu ka."
No. No, not now, please.
A burning pain was consuming his lungs, yet the dark-haired pianist was fast enough to suppress a convulsion as he covered his mouth.
Those amethyst orbs were almost pleading him, but why they were so he couldn't tell. Maybe the girl was afraid to be alone, scared that her mother would find her anyway. His kohai was mouthing a question now but he was fast becoming so drained to even stay focused at anything.
"Ganbatte Daidōji-san," Eriol heard himself say before he forced his feet to bring him out of the sliding doors. When he turned his back he missed Tomoyo Daidōji's look of concern. He was going to see the foolish girl one day, and he would make sure that she was kept out of trouble. The amethyst-eyed young woman was really going to be the death of him one day just like Li Syaoran had said. And with this thought, he finally lost control of his lungs and collapsed against a uniformed train station security who was on duty that night. His blurry vision was then filled with faces above his own but none of them looked like the girl with heliotrope eyes and inky, curling hair. Eriol Hiiragizawa was suddenly alarmed.
"Somebody make sure she'll be alright." His words came in gasps and the confused guard was yelling to the radio in his hand, something about an ambulance and a person who had fainted.
Another surge of spasm made his body jerk before Eriol had finally given up to unconsciousness.
Quick Notes:
dōshite – "Why?"
ganbatte – "Good luck."
Hakata Station is really in Fukuoka.
