Wow, lots of review for the last chapter. Thanks everyone for the awesome support and feedback. As for those asking about the length of the story. It's basically going to be as long as it needs to be. No more, no less. I don't want to extend this story just for the sake of extending it. There are probably going to be 3 or so more chapters, depending on if things go right now as I plan them to. Anyways, on to the good stuff.
Rei let out a low groan as her alarm clock began to go off that morning. She lazily draped her arm out and let her palm fall on top of the snooze button. Through her half open eyes, she could see out through the small opening between her curtains to see that it looked like it would be a cloudy dreary day. The perfect kind of day to sleep in and not get out of bed, which seemed perfect to Rei since she had no desire or motivation to get out of bed. It wasn't on account of the weather though. No, she had been like this for a whole week. Strange, one week. Seven days. Was that all it had been? Rei laid on her side with her beautiful dark eyes looking out at nothing in particular in the dark room, and thought about the past week. It had been one week since Chad had left her family's shrine. For Rei it had been an agonizingly long week. One that seemed to just go on and on forever. It hadn't been long on account of anything in particular that had happened or anything at school; on the contrary, it had everything to do with what had not happened. Namely, not having Chad around anymore.
Rei was amazed, horrified, and terribly depressed by just how bleak her life seemed now that Chad was gone. She couldn't believe that she had never noticed it before, but he had become a very central and important part of her life. Her home no longer felt normal. It felt…empty. There was a very comfortable part of it that was now missing. She had never noticed just how much he always seemed to do for her, the small yet sweet little acts of kindness such as offering to make her school lunch some mornings when she would be too tired from staying up late and studying for a big exam, or helping out with the preparations for important festivals or events at the shrine.
Rei bit her lip a little and her nimble fingers slowly curled around the covers of her bed. She had come to expect all of those sweet things, and had taken them for granted. She had taken Chad for granted, and she was starting to hate herself a little for it. He had always been so nice to her, and it now seemed like all she had ever done was make fun of him or belittle in return. She wondered what he thought of her. Considering the way their last conversation had gone, he probably thought something horrible of her. That was what hurt and bothered Rei the most, the way they had parted. She felt so guilty that the last time they saw each other she had been just horrible to him. Especially since given the circumstances, he had been sticking up for her.
Rei was pulled out of depressing thoughts when she heard her alarm going off again. She knew she had to get up so she sat up and turned her alarm off. She then stood up and made her way to her closet to put on her school uniform. That was another thing she had come to miss. Sometimes if she had trouble waking up in the morning, Chad would knock on her door in that timid sheepish way of his and make sure she had woken up. It had annoyed her before since she felt like he was being nosy, but now she would love to have that sweet dummy poke his head in to her room to make sure she got out of bed. If that did happen, Rei knew she would take the chance to apologize for the way things had ended between them. She just wanted a chance to apologize for being mean and teasing him so much, and to thank him for always being there for her. Unfortunately she didn't know any way to get in touch with him. She didn't know where he lived or anyone else who would. Even if she did though, would he even want to see her? Rei wasn't so sure.
Rei hurried to finish up and then grabbed her bento box from the kitchen and walked out the door with a piece of toast in her free hand for breakfast. Rei and her grandfather now had to take up the chores Chad used to do, so neither of them had much time to make breakfast. Rei looked up at the sky to see it was very dark and cloudy, so she grabbed an umbrella near the door. She sighed a bit; it seemed as if the weather wasn't too inclined to try to help uplift her mood. She checked the nearby clock to see how much time she had and then started walking towards her school, and along the way it started to rain.
Later on that day in the middle of the city, a group of men were sitting at a long table on the top floor of a business building. It was an important meeting among the company's board and some of their share holders. One man stood in front of the rest wearing a black suit with a large poster presentation sitting on an easel that showed various graphs and charts. "So as everyone can see, by cutting this section of the company, we stand to raise our profit margins by a significant amount." The man said.
The man then paused a bit as his speech was being drowned out by the low continuous sound of snoring. He looked down the table and saw the newest member to their group sitting at the right side of the company president. He was slumped over in his leather chair fast asleep. The man frowned a bit and cleared his throat a bit before he spoke, "Ahem, Mr. Kumada, Sir. I believe your son has a little drool."
This made the rest of the men in the meeting start to chuckle a bit under their breath. Mr. Kumada, Chad's father, sat at the head of the table and wore a brown suit and had a brown mustache over his face. He grumbled a little as he looked at his slacker of a son slumped over so carefree with his mouth open and drool running down the side of his chin. Mr. Kumada had never felt so embarrassed in his life. The man quickly kicked Chad's chair underneath the table making him jump up startled a bit. He looked around and asked, "Uhh, what's up everybody?"
"What's 'up' is that you so rudely fell asleep during Mr. Tanaka's very important presentation, Yuuichirou." Mr. Kumada said in an aggravated tone.
"Oh…uhh sorry Dude, do you think you could give me the cliff notes version and fill me in?" Chad asked, rubbing the back of his head a bit as his bangs fell back in front of his eyes.
"Oh dear God…" Mr. Kumada said with a grimacing look on his face, "The 'cliff notes' is that if we get rid of one of our divisions then we stand to increase our profits."
"Oh…so that means firing a bunch of people right?" Chad asked.
Mr. Kumada nodded and said, "Yes. What about it?"
"Well, we're not going to do it, are we Dad? We're gonna put a lot of people out of work just so that everyone here gets more money? Doesn't seem all that great of a trade off. I mean, doesn't everyone in here have enough money already?" Chad questioned which started to make everyone in the meeting room begin to crack up with laughter, despite all of them trying to keep their composure.
"Alright alright! That's all for today, meeting is adjourned." Mr. Kumada said as he stood up from the table. The group of men all began to slowly exit the room until it was just Chad and his dad. Mr. Kumada looked out the window for a moment and then back at Chad and asked, "Yuuichirou! What's the matter with you?"
"Uhh, what do you mean, Dad?" Chad asked as he stood up from the chair and stretched his arms out a bit and yawned.
"You fell asleep in a very important meeting and embarrassed me in front of the entire board! I brought you here to teach you how the company works and begin preparing you to take over some responsibility in the company so that you can run it on your own in the future. It's as if you don't even care about our family's company. If you're going to have a future here, then you're going to have to take things like this seriously. I mean, just look at your tie." Mr. Kumada said, motioning to Chad's disheveled looking appearance.
Chad looked down at his tie that was clearly crooked and not tied very well. He had gotten Kasumi to help him that morning, but unfortunately she wasn't that much better at it than he was. "Sorry Dad, it was just an accident."
"Well we can't be having any more accidents like that from now on. Anyways, go on ahead and take your lunch hour. We've got other people to meet with at the country club today. Oh, and please do….something with that hair of yours. You look like you should be out on the streets." Mr. Kumada told him and then started to gather his materials in to his briefcase.
"Y-yes sir." Chad said with a nod and then made his way out of the meeting room and down the hallway. Chad walked along as he looked out the windows to see that it was slowly yet continuously raining down. He looked at his reflection in the window to see himself in the dark blue suit with the weirdly done tie. He thought he looked like such a tool. He brought his hands up to his neck and tried to adjust and fix his tie as best he could, even though he really had no idea what he was doing. He remembered that night before when Rei had done it for him so easily. He blushed a little as he remembered it. He stared out the window a little more and looked at the forested looking area towards the edge of the city and he smiled a bit. That was the area where the Hikawa shrine was. It was funny, he really missed all the manual labor his sensei had made him do. It had been hard, but he had enjoyed it far more than working in this office.
It had been a week since he had moved back home, and Chad had found it to be an agonizingly long week. He was bored out of his mind with all of this business stuff. It wasn't his fault that he had fallen asleep in that last meeting; he hadn't been sleeping too well. He felt so out of place, being back in this sort of setting that it was taking him time to get used to again. He never had any trouble sleeping when he was at the Hikawa shrine; he was always too exhausted to not want to sleep. That was then, but this was now and this was where he was. Surrounded by people who had nothing better to talk about than things he had no care or interest in at all. He was glad to see his family again, but he hadn't missed their life style in the slightest, or the kinds of people they chose to associate themselves with.
Chad had been quickly reminded why he had left in the first place a year ago, and he found himself missing being at the shrine each and every day. He missed the serenity of it, as well as the bizarre craziness that could sometimes take place with his sensei. A small smile crept on to Chad's lips as he remembered all the times he had been forced to help his sensei out of tough jams. Usually they involved the old man going a little too far with his lecherous advances on the young girls. Chad would have to quickly interject and try to mend things. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes he'd just end up having to take a slap to the face in place of his sensei. It was the strange yet memorable things like that which Chad missed most. It was life, plain and simple. An interesting life. Not like here though. Around here, everyone was alive in the medical sense, but they seemed to lack any real passions or dreams. The stuff that made life worth living. Except of course when it came to money. Always working to try to move up that corporate ladder or make that big bonus. What a pitiful way to live, at least that was how Chad saw it.
Of course, the one thing, well person, that Chad missed most of all was Rei. He remembered the first time he ever met her. He was stumbled over the steps of her family's shrine after a crazy night of partying with some local guys he had met. He fell for her the first time he ever saw her. She was by far the most beautiful girl he had ever met before in his life. But that wasn't all. It wasn't just that she was beautiful, but she was so fiery and alive. She was so refreshingly unreserved, so open and emotional. She had a fiery temper and was pretty haughty, but that just made her so much more stunning. Chad then knew that he would do anything just for the chance to get to know her a little better. That was why he had begged her grandfather to take him in as an apprentice. His wish was granted. He was actually able to live under the same roof as her, and he was able to get to know her very well. To his delight, every passing day she just seemed to amaze and dazzle him all the more. Rei loved to put on a tough act, and she would always tease him for being shy and a little wimpy; but Chad was able to see through it. Underneath all of that, was a very sweet, tender, and caring person. He could see it in the way she acted with her friends and everyone around her. Chad had left home to try to see the world and broaden his horizons, but he had never expected to meet someone like Rei. Nor had he expected to fall in love.
Chad sighed a bit and slipped his hands in to his coat pockets, and then headed towards the elevator. He hit the down button and waited for the doors to open up. Once the elevator arrived, he stepped inside and hit the ground floor button. He tried his best to take his mind off of it, but he really missed Rei. He hoped she was doing well. Thinking back on it, she was probably right to tease him for not acting manly a lot of times. He wished he had done so. He wished he had mustered up the courage to tell her just how amazing he thought she was.
Rei sat in class and tried her best to stay away, but her head and her eyes continued to grow heavy, which made her head bob up and down a bit. She looked up at the clock to see that school was almost done for the day. She had been feeling tired lately since she hadn't been sleeping too well. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened between her and Chad. She wanted to sleep. Oh how she wished so badly to sleep a lot. Maybe then she could at least have some comforting dreams to make her feel better. The last few nights, when she was ready to go crazy from just laying there in bed for hours and hoping to fall asleep, she would get up and sit in front of her keyboard and try to work on her music. She figured if she couldn't sleep, then the least she could do was be productive and do something. She hoped that working on her music would help take her mind off of things and then make her sleepy. But she found little solace in her music. In fact, she found that she could barely concentrate on it like she could before. She'd just sit there with her pencil in hand, trying her best to think up some nice melody to jot down on the music sheets, but she just kept drawing a blank.
Rei remembered back when she was working on composing all of the music for the school festival. That had really been something. There were times when she'd want to just tear all of it up. Luckily she had Chad there to help her. He really liked music so he would offer his ear to whatever she was working on and then give his opinion on what he liked and what he didn't. He would also sometimes have really good ideas that helped her a lot. He was always really supportive and encouraging of her music, even when she thought it was horrible.
The bell finally rang and classes were dismissed for the day. Rei slowly rose from her seat and placed her book bag on top of her desk. She began to put away her notebook and pencils when she overheard some of her classmates talking. She heard one of the girls mention something about an older sister named Kasumi that was about to get married. Rei's eyes widened and she wondered if she could be talking about Chad's fiancé. The girl then said something about how she had been overseas for a year. Rei was sure they were talking about that Kasumi. She then heard the girl talk about some sort of big party they were throwing for them. Rei wondered if maybe she could get in to that party and then find Chad to set things right with him. Unfortunately he heard the girl say that it was by invitation only. Rei looked down disappointedly and decided to return home for the day.
Rei returned to the shrine to see her pervy grandfather hitting on some high school girls. Rei rolled her eyes a little and shook her head. She smiled a bit and thought to herself that at least she knew for certain that there were some things that would never change. Rei quickly walked in to the house and made her way to her bedroom since she needed to help out around the shrine that afternoon. She walked to her closet and started to change in to her red and white miko outfit. She turned around once she had changed clothes and was about to walk out to the shrine when she paused. She saw something out of the corner of her eye and slowly turned to see something peeking out from underneath her school blouse which she had put on the bed. She pushed the blouse to the side to see a small envelope had been placed on her bed. She opened the envelope up curiously and her eyes widened in shock to see that it was an invitation to a party. The party that Chad's family was holding. Rei's whole face lit up in pure joy. This was it, this was her chance.
Not too much going on this chapter, but the next one should be pretty fun. I have one last final this Friday that I need to study a lot for. But then the summer will begin and I should hopefully have more free time for writing. As always, thanks for reading everybody, leave a review or comment if you wish, and tune in next time to check out the party.