I'm so hopeless in updating at the moment :(
Thank you for dancingfingers, mrs. zala, Angeline G. McFellou, onliafaze, Guest, Ladybugg0831, and chocolaty for reviewing (very sorry that I couldn't reply all of your reviews). Also big thanks for all of the readers who faved and followed - I can't type you guys one by one - for all the support.
dancingfingers (if you read this): Now I'm glad to know that I'm not the only S around here; I'm completely rest assured.
This chapter is pretty much a recap of Chapter 4 and 5 of 'The Next Episode', so please read those chapters for more details.
Disclaimer: I do not own Skip-Beat!
Chapter 18: Crisis ~Her Situation~
"What's with this score? All other children scored better than you did!"
But Mom, I've done my very best!
"You have to be better than that woman's bastard child, or else!"
But Mommy, Daddy won't leave us like that!
"He left us because you can't be better than her! Why can't you do anything right, huh?! You trash!"
I'm so sorry, Mommy! I promise I will be better! I will!
"You're the only one that I have left. Be the best, please? For Mommy's sake?"
Of course; everything for you, Mom.
"You can't let anyone be better than you, or else Daddy won't come back to us."
So if I become number one in everything, Daddy will come back?
"Mommy loves you–"
Saena woke up with a very loud, choking gasp. She instantly sat up on her bed, sweat covering her whole body, soaking her night attire. Her black hair was in a massive disarray, and her brows were furrowed deeply they looked like knitted to each other.
The woman in her 40s was alone in her bedroom, in the one-bedroom unit of a mid-class apartment building located near the bustling center of Tokyo. It was a nicely decorated place with neat order all around, save her tousled bed and the mess of torn newspapers on the coffee table in the living room.
The image of her mother's face close to hers, looking at her with the eyes of a person close to the brink of insanity, made her stomach churn horribly. She quickly dashed to her bathroom and got to the water closet in time as whatever contents of her stomach was forced its way out through her mouth.
She gasped harshly for breath after there was nothing to be thrown up anymore, and leaned herself back against the cold tile wall of her bathroom. Her vision was blurry, and her whole body was trembling with disgusted feelings. She was sure that when people saw her in this state, they would surely think that she was hyperventilating.
Remembering her mother always drove her to this without fail.
She tried to stand up and walk back to her bed, almost losing her balance on the way. There was no way she could go to the hearing like this.
Saena reached for the landline phone on the side table and quickly called Kitami. Her voice, much to her dislike, was hoarse beyond belief as she spoke. "Kitami? It's Mogami. I don't think I can come to the court today."
"Now, Kitami-san, please open your case."
Kitami sighed and skimmed through his documents. "My name is Kitami Shinji, and I am here to represent my client, the appellant, Mogami Saena-san, who is not able to be present today due to health problems.
"Through me as her legal representative, Mogami-san has lodged an appeal against Akatoki Marina-san, due to the violent offenses done by Akatoki-san on Mogami-san which happened at the office of Lory Majestic Entertainment's president, Lory Takarada-san, on Tuesday, 2nd of November, 20XX. The reason for the offense was because Akatoki-san refused to let Mogami-san meet her daughter, Mogami Kyoko-san.
"As according to Article 204 about Injury, which is included in Chapter XXVII about Crimes of Injury in the Penal Code, Mogami-san as the victim pleads the court to sentence Akatoki-san, the offender, with imprisonment with work for not more than 15 years or a fine of not more than 500,000 yen, which will be used as compensation for the cost of treatment for the injuries inflicted upon Mogami-san."
The judge and jurors looked at the documents. "Do you have your witness, Kitami-san?"
It's now or never, Kitami gulped inwardly. Please don't feel bad about me, Kisaki-san. I really want to live through this. "Your Honor, I would like to call Lory Takarada-san to the witness stand."
Now feeling better, Saena regretted informing Kitami beforehand that she would not be coming to the hearing. However, staying home was starting to be a little bit boring; with her apartment lacking anything interesting and the television had become a cracked mess.
In the end, she decided to get out and have a walk, letting her two feet bring her to wherever they wanted to. The Christmas spirit was still everywhere – from the displays of the neighbor's houses, the tall pine trees covered in decoration, even the lulling distant sound of Christmas songs being sung somewhere.
Before she realized it, she had boarded the train, got off at one station she knew she was familiar with, and her feet stopped in front of a house that belonged to a Takegawa household. Not knowing exactly what to feel, Saena opened the gate, walked past the front yard towards the door, and pushed the bell.
Not long after, the door opened to reveal a man in his early 70s. Most of his black hair had turned into gray, but it didn't make him less good-looking. His dark brown eyes gleamed with curiosity over who was at his front door, until they caught hers.
"Saena-kun!" he gasped, caught a little bit of guard. It was obvious that he hadn't expected her to turn up at his house.
She gave the man a small smile, although he could see that her eyes did not smile at all. "It's been a while, Yuu-san."
"First of all, Takarada-san," the judge began nervously. "Can I please ask kindly of you to change into another outfit as to not cause confusion in the courtroom?"
Lory was completely baffled. "What's wrong with my clothes?"
EVERYTHING, the entire people in the room thought, staring at the tall man who, apparently, had chosen to dress in a black cloak and white cravat over the shirt and black pants, something that easily could cause confusion if he were to sit side by side with the judge and the jurors.
Much to their relief, Sebastian came and him a white suit jacket that complemented his crisp shirt nicely. After Lory was convinced that the white would look better for the occasion, he was then turned into someone akin to Blood Dupre – without his cane and top hat, of course.
The judge cleared his throat, now pleased with his appearance. "Now, please say your oath."
"I swear that I will speak the truth, and only the truth," Lory said dramatically, ending the oath with a sigh as he put his left hand on his chest and raised his right one like a preacher. "Now, where I should we begin? That time, I was in my limo with my magnificent granddaughter–"
"Takarada-san," the judge butted in, a vein clearly visible on his temple. "I believe this is the time for the plaintiff representative to ask you questions."
"Ah, of course," the flamboyant president murmured, nodding in agreement. "Kitami-san, you're more than welcome to question me."
He hasn't understood the point at all, Kisaki thought, frowning deeply. Beside her, Marina had to work hard to stifle her laughter – the same case with their friends who were sitting in the audience seats. This is the first time I have a witness that is so eager to testify. He's indeed out of ordinary.
Kitami – taken aback as he was – finally found his voice back and cleared his throat. "Err, alright, let's begin. Takarada-san, did you or did you not witness the violent dispute between Mogami Saena-san and Akatoki Marina-san on Tuesday, 2nd of November, 20XX, at approximately 7.30 pm?"
To everyone's surprise, Lory shivered violently on the witness stand. "I did," he said through his chattering teeth. "And I regret to be there."
Wow, Ren thought, looking at his boss. Those women definitely have scarred him for life. To think that those women consist of my mother, my soon-to-be mother-in-law, and my soon-to-be aunt-in-law; now I'm dreading the moment all of them become my family when I marry Kyoko.
"The dispute happened in your office in Lory Majestic Entertainment main office building; is that correct?"
"Certainly."
"Can you please tell us exactly what happened during that time?"
Lory's eyes widened and he almost bolted out of the witness stand to kneel at Kitami's feet and beg. He begged, nevertheless. "Please! Other than that, please!"
The judge's gavel being knocked was heard. "Takarada-san, I don't want any unpleasant behavior in my court!" he hollered. "Now answer Kitami-san's question!"
The mustached tall man gulped audibly. "Well, it all started when I received a call from my receptionist, informing me that Mogami-san wanted to meet me once I got back to my office. She came at 6.30 pm sharp; now that I think of it, her punctuality can rival that of Ren–"
"Can you please stick to what exactly happened, Takarada-san?" Kitami cut him off.
Ren glowered. Why did he have to bring my name into this?
"After I got back to my office at around 6, I contacted Marina-chan straight away, since she is the legal guardian of my talent, KYOKO. I figured that what Mogami-san wanted to talk about was regarding KYOKO; she was her mother, after all.
"Once Mogami-san entered the office, she straightaway demanded me to annul the contract between KYOKO and LME. So I told her that I could do nothing about it, because according to the contract, the contract cannot be annulled without consultation with the talent and his/her legal guardian first."
Kitami did not really like where this testimony was going to. "And how did Mogami-san feel about it?"
"From the look on her face, I thought she was definitely going to butcher me," Lory answered. He was a bit exaggerating, of course, but he thought it would be good for publicity.
"What happened after that?"
"Mogami-san demanded to talk with KYOKO's legal guardian, so I told her that Marina-chan was coming, without mentioning Marina-chan's name at all. I didn't know that the two of them had a bad relationship. When Marina-chan arrived, they immediately did this glaring contest without saying anything."
The judge gulped in anticipation. "And then?"
"The first one to break the silence was Marina-chan," Lory continued. "But then what they were doing was only taunting each other about things I didn't really understand. The only thing I understood was that Marina-chan refused to annul KYOKO's contract and let Mogami-san meet KYOKO.
"I'm not sure what happened before Mogami-san slapped Marina-chan–"
"Wait a minute!" the judge exclaimed, completely into the story. "So Mogami-san was the first one to hit?"
"I think it was after Marina-chan mentioned a 'Kento' leaving her 18 years ago."
All eyes went to Kento, who was surprised to have his name mentioned. The judge, however, kept questioning Lory. "And this 'Kento' is…?"
"I believe they were talking about Uehara Kento-san, father of KYOKO, and the one who appointed Marina-chan as KYOKO's legal guardian," Lory replied. "But the story doesn't end there. I tried stopping both of them from yanking the life off each other, but then they had to smack me on the jaw."
The judge hummed. "Must have been hard on you."
"It was!" the flamboyant man exclaimed fervently. "Not only they ruined my office, they also bruised my jaw before an important press conference! And to make matters worse, another woman had to jump in and join the fight."
"It certainly has been a while since you last visited me, Saena-kun," Takegawa Yuu said while serving two cups of tea onto his coffee table in front of Saena. "How have you been doing?"
"I've been doing pretty well, I should say," she replied politely. "Work's good so far and at least I can relax instead of working myself really hard to earn something."
Takegawa patted her hand with a smile of a father. "Saeko-san will surely be proud if she can see you now."
"How's Mother doing?" Saena asked abruptly.
"She's doing pretty well herself," Takegawa sighed. "Saeko-san has been showing improvement – she has calmed down somewhat from her hysteria, which the doctors told me was a major improvement in a case such as hers – but some of her memories still haven't returned. She sometimes asks for Eiji-san, wondering whether he will come visit her."
Saena's thoughts turned grimmer when her mother still yearning for a hopeless relationship with her long-dead biological father was mentioned. "Yuu-san, can I ask you a question?"
"What is it?"
"You know very well that Mother still loves my father deeply," she stated without hesitation, enticing a wry smile on the older man's face. "Then why did you decide to marry her in the first place, knowing that she would never love you?"
Takegawa's eyes softened. "The answer is just simple, Saena-kun," he said. "Just as Saeko-san loves Eiji-san like crazy, I love her just as much."
"Even if you look like the pathetic rebound guy that she only married to look after her useless kid after she were left behind by her shameful, cheating husband?"
"Now, now, do you really mean what you say?" he asked her back with a tease. "If you really think of Eiji-san as shameful, why do you still keep his surname?"
"So, do you admit that you joined the aggression towards Mogami Saena-san, Mrs. Hizuri?" Kitami asked.
Julie huffed - with both an irritation and a little sense of triumph in her tone - and stated, "And that's something that I will never regret for the rest of my life."
Kuu face-palmed at that. Julie, honey, please! We don't need them to press charges at you too!
"What was your reason to did so?" Kitami asked again, a bit nervous as he realized that he was facing the wife of the infamous Hizuri Koo a.k.a. Hozu Shuhei, a now Hollywood star and Japanese showbiz world's pride.
"Well," the American began slowly, "I heard Marina said that the woman was Kyoko's mother, and just before that I heard from my trusted source that my baby daughter was abandoned by that crazy woman when she was little. And now she's demanding to have Kyoko? Hah! Over my dead body!"
"Now, now, Mrs. Hizuri," the judge chuckled uneasily in an attempt to calm his fired-up witness down. "There's no need to be so emotional, right?"
He only received a sickly sweet smile from the blonde woman, and for some reason, he started to feel the chills.
Kitami decided to interrupt the silent interaction between Julie and the poor judge by clearing his throat. "What did you do to Mogami-san?"
Her face brightened with childlike excitement. "Oh," she said, "first I gave her a choke..."
By the love of the lord, Julie, stop! Kuu screamed inwardly.
"... and then I just sent jabs here and there. Not sure if I managed to hit the damn woman, but at least I hit something."
Her husband palmed his face again in exasperation.
"This way, Mogami-san," a nurse gestured for Saena to follow her with a kind smile. "Your mother will be elated to see you after so long."
I doubt that, Saena thought as she walked alongside the nurse across the mental institution's long hallway. Here and there she saw various people that were not in their right state of mind; some adults were giggling with dolls in their embrace, some others were doodling something gibberish, some were with their family members that came for a visit, and so on.
To think that her mother was among those people she deemed as society's trash...
They stopped on their tracks once they reached a door with 'Takegawa' written on the nameplate beside it. The nurse shifted the door open, revealing a pale thin woman in her early 70's sitting near the window, not noticing her two visitors.
"Saeko-san," the nurse called cheerfully. "Your daughter is here! You miss her, don't you?"
Saeko's eyes shifted just slightly to gaze at them, but Saena knew better than to assume that the older woman was looking at her.
"Saena, darling," Saeko croaked pitifully. "Is that you?"
"Yes," Saena said as she stepped further into the room. "It's me, Mother."
Saeko cracked a tired smile at her daughter. She opened her arms wide. "Come here, my baby, let me have a close look at you."
Hesitantly, Saena approached the older woman, stopping in front of her.
"Look at you!" Saeko cooed affectionately. "You were a sweet baby girl in my arms, and now you're a woman already! Time moves too fast for me. I'm sure Eiji-san..." Her voice trailed down and her eyes widened. "Where is Eiji-san?"
The younger woman did not say anything.
"Saena, where is your father?" her mother asked her frantically. "Isn't Eiji-san going to see me?"
"Mother," Saena said vehemently. "Father is dead."
It took long seconds for Saeko to let the blunt statement seep in. And it only took one quick second for Saena to be abruptly shoved out of the room and witness the nurse trying to restrain her now violent, screaming mother.
"It's a lie!" Saeko screamed. "You're lying to me! Eiji-san must not want to see me because you're a failure! It's all your fault!"
"I think it will be best for the both of you if you leave now, Mogami-san!" the nurse shouted, trying to overpower her patient's scream. "I'm really sorry that you have to see her in this state!"
Saena stared at her mother with unsympathetic eyes for some moment before walking away.
Kisaki sighed after the judge had finally given her permission to crosscheck the witnesses' testimonies. She knew that it was not supposed to be like this - each witness had to be crosschecked right after his/her testimony - but His Honor apparently was so enraptured in the manic occurrence that had happened in Lory's office that he forgot to run the court properly according to the rules. And shockingly, none among the judges tried to correct the course of the hearing either.
Was a cat fight between two women so interesting that they could not wait for the ending? she grumbled inwardly. "Your Honor, I see no need to crosscheck both witnesses as so far they were telling us exactly what they have told me before the court was in session."
Kitami let out a deep breath in relief.
"However," Kisaki continued, making the other lawyer jump, "I would like to point out that from the testimonies given, we can safely conclude that Mogami Saena-san, the plaintiff, was the one that inflicted injuries first; therefore, she herself can be charged for violation of Article 204 of the Penal Code."
The judge nodded as he hummed in agreement. "Kitami-san?"
"Your Honor," Kitami replied. "However, as the act was incited by Akatoki-san, the defendant, with insults that may have been intended to tick Mogami-san off, Akatoki-san can still be charged for violation of Article 206."
"So does that mean that your base of charge pressed towards the defendant has changed, Kitami-san?" the judge asked.
"I'm afraid so, Your Honor."
"Well then," the judge said. "Court will be adjourned until the plaintiff and the defendant revise their charges!"
And the gavel was knocked down three times, marking the ending of today's hearing.
After leaving the mental institution, Saena was not sure whether 'wreck' was the right word to describe her emotional state.
The strong winter breeze blew her hair, calling for her attention. When she came to, she was already in Shinjuku, facing a large screen where important breaking news and advertisements were usually broadcasted.
At the moment it was broadcasting a music video entailing a love story between a fallen angel and a man dressed in tattered black. She watched the video with moderate appreciation; she was no big fan of artistic media, after all. But eventually, after watching for a minute, Saena had to admit that the story was charming in a fairytale-like way.
A moment later, she was caught in surprise when the face of a boy she knew well – yet at the same time did not – appeared in the said video. The bottle blond was dressed in dark coat that screamed everything but modesty, and he was singing heartily into his microphone with his eyes looking at somewhere distant, as if he was looking at a girl that was beyond his love and reach while singing his apologies for being stupidly blind and not seeing her true worth.
She was – kind of – standing face to face with Fuwa Shotaro.
Author's Note:
The clauses mentioned by Kitami and Kisaki are REAL. Below are the exact translation of Chapter XXVII of the Penal Code, taken from Japanese Law Translation Database System (©2013, Minister of Justice, Japan):
Chapter XXVII Crimes of Injury
Article 204 (Injury)
A person who causes another to suffer injury shall be punished by imprisonment with work for not more than 15 years or a fine of not more than 500,000 yen.
Article 206 (Incitement of Injury)
A person who incites the offender in the commission of a crime at the scene of a crime prescribed under the preceding two Articles shall, even if the person does not directly cause another to suffer injury, be punished by imprisonment with work for not more than 1 year, a fine of not more than 100,000 yen or a petty fine.
Additional Disclaimers:
- I do not own Kisaki Eri; Aoyama Gosho does.
- Sadly, I also do not own Blood Dupre; QuinRose does. If I own him, I'm pretty sure I won't be dreaming of a boyfriend of my own right now.
Please review :) Thank you!