Chapter 65: Why Does My Heart Go On Beating?
[Scene: Chief Midori's squad car. Chief Midori is driving. Zoi is sitting in the passenger seat. His eyes are closed and he looks deathly ill.]
Chief Midori: You didn't eat dinner last night.
Zoi: I'm not hungry.
Chief Midori: I'll drive through and pick you up some breakfast on the way to school. What would you like?
Zoi: I don't care. Get me whatever you want.
Chief Midori: Are you angry at me?
Zoi: Why would I be angry at you?
Chief Midori: I thought maybe… you know… you blamed me…for, you know…
Zoi: No. I don't blame you for that. If Kunzite wanted to stay, there is nothing you could have done to make him leave.
Chief Midori: I'm glad you're wise enough to realize that.
Zoi: [bitter] I'm not.
[Chief Midori looks at Zoi who just sits there, lifeless, with his eyes closed.]
Chief Midori: You're not the first person to go through this sort of thing, you know.
Zoi: I know that.
Chief Midori: Listen, I think maybe that – that you need some help.
Zoi: Help?
Chief Midori: When your mother left, and took you with her, that was a really bad time for me.
Zoi: I know, Dad.
Chief Midori: But I handled it. Honey, you're not handling it.
Zoi: I'm fine.
Chief Midori: Maybe, well maybe if you talk to someone about it. A professional.
Zoi: [his eyes open] You want me to see a shrink?
Chief Midori: Maybe it would help.
Zoi: Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that sort of thing only work if the subject is relatively honest? If I try to explain everything that happened they're going to put me in a padded cell.
[Besides that, Zoi has no intention of learning to be happy without Kunzite. If Kunzite thinks he'll be able to lead a productive life without him, he intends to prove him wrong.]
Chief Midori: I'll come get you right after school.
Zoi: Yes, I know. I'm still grounded.
Chief Midori: You're not grounded. I need to keep you safe from the Blackmoons.
Zoi: The Blackmoons are done with me. They've said so themselves.
Chief Midori: I'm not taking any chances. I'm going to stop working these long hours and stay home with you so I can guard you like a hawk. [The fastfood place comes into view] Have you decided what you wanted?
Zoi: [sighs] Get me two breakfast sandwiches, an order of hashbrowns, an orange juice, and a fruit and yogurt parfait.
[Chief Midori smiles to see his son is on the mend.]
[A short time later Zou walks into homeroom with his bag of food and holds it open for Umino.]
Zoi: Want some free food? Take as much as you want.
Umino: I don't want to take your breakfast.
Zoi: I don't want any of it.
Umino: Ok, if you insist.
[Umino takes a breakfast sandwich and the orange juice. He hold the bag out to Rei, who is staring, and she takes the yogurt parfait.]
[Zoi walks over to Usagi's desk and drops off the bag of fast food with her.]
[Usagi's eyes light up as she goes rooting through the bag. Mamoru follows Zoi back to his desk.]
[Zoi takes his seat and looks up at Mamoru.]
Zoi: Can I help you with something, Mamoru?
Mamoru: A group of us are going to see that new Zombie movie tomorrow night. I was wondering if you wanted me to buy you a ticket?
Rei: [outraged] Hey, nobody invited me!
Umino: [mutters] Don't feel bad, nobody ever invites me.
Mamoru: [breaks into a sweat] Yes, well…it's a small group.
Zoi: How small of a group are we talking?
Mamrou: Just Usagi and me.
Zoi: [blinks] You're inviting me on one of your dates with Usagi?
Mamoru: Usagi won't mind.
[Zoi looks back at Usagi, who is smiling all chipmunk-cheeked at Zoi with two thumbs up.]
Zoi: Of course she will mind! Are you really that stupid?
Mamoru: [looks back a Usagi with a sheepish expression] Look, you'd be doing me a favor. She's been a bit too clingy lately.
Zoi: Usagi's been a bit too clingy? [bursts into tears] How dare she have such deep and genuine feelings for you! Here's a suggestion: if you want her to leave you alone, why don't you reach into her chest, pull out her heart, and stomp on it! That will teach her not to love someone so much! Or better yet, since you're so desperate to hurt her, why don't you just grab a knife and stab her in the heart a few times! That would be a lot kinder!
[Umino and Rei's eyes go wide as Zoi sobs into his desk while Mamoru tiptoes away with a mortified expression on his face.]
Rei: Kunzite really messed him up, didn't he?
[Umino waits a respectful amount of time and then taps Zoi on the shoulder. Zoi looks up with tearstained eyes]
Umino: Will you come and sit with us at lunch today?
Zoi: That won't be much fun for you.
Umino: You're my friend. I don't care if it's fun for me or not… Besides, if you don't feel like talking about it, we can use the time to study for our French test.
[Zoi gives him a half smile. Umino is a true friend. Zoi's starting to rethink his strategy of failing all his classes on purpose, just to get back at Kunzite and his father.]
[Zoi sits with his friends at lunch, feeling a little guilty since he know that if Kunzite so much as walks through the cafeteria, he's taking off after him like a bullet and leaving the rest of them behind. Kunzite doesn't show up for lunch.]
[He doesn't show up for Biology class either. Mr. Tomoe doesn't even say his name during roll.]
[Zoi allows his tears to flow freely as he sits alone at their table. Neffy is sitting in the back, chuckling under his breathe and grinning like a Cheshire cat while Esmeralde Blackmoon gives him a hate-filled stare.]
[Zoi ignores them to work on his lab.]
[When he looks up fifteen minutes later, Esmeralde Blackmoon hasn't budged an inch. She is still giving him the same hate-filled look. It's as though she's been frozen by a gorgon. He looks away and then quickly looks at her again.]
[Same hate-filled stare.]
[It's so unnerving Zoi almost forgets to be despondent.]
[The bell rings and they leave. Neffy passes by him, chuckling under his breath
Zoi: What's so damn funny?
Neffy: Kunzite thought he had to kidnap you to protect you from the Blackmoons. The Blackmoons thought they had to kidnap you to protect you from Kunzite. The funny part is—neither of them were wrong.
[Neffy laughs as he vanishes into the crowd.]
[Finally the day is done. Zoi climbs into his father's squad car and goes home. He immediately goes up to his room and looks in his photobox.]
[The contents are not different than the day before. He hadn't expected any new pictures, but he'd hoped for a gift, a note, any sign that Kunzite hadn't completely forsaken him.]
[Zoi has a feeling he will never receive such a sign.]
[A clean 's what Kunzite wanted, and that was what he had gotten. ]
[Zoi puts Skeeter Davis's "End of the World" on continuous loop as he pulls out his scrapbook and studies the photos of himself with Kunzite. He holds the book nearly an arm's length from his face, careful not to get his tears all over the pages.]