Wednesday afternoon, March 30th – Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen
Yasuko had grasped the back of Ryuuji's shirt as he was trying to step away from his seat. She held onto him firmly as if she were trying to keep him from falling off a cliff, or into a pool of hungry sharks. There was no sign of hatred on her face, but it was very clear to everyone that she was absolutely terrified.
From the window seat where she was sitting, Ami couldn't see her mother-in-law's face, but she could see Yasuko's whole body trembling.
"Yasuko sweetie," the Takasu Obāsan asked softly, "what's wrong?"
When she didn't reply to her mother, Ami moved into the seat Ryuuji had just vacated and grasped Yasuko's wrist next to the arm rest. Yasuko's usually youthful and vibrant skin felt cool and clammy. Ami's fingers felt a rapid pulse. She reached up and forcefully turned Yasuko's face to look at her and saw a tanned face that actually seemed pale, and the pupils of her eyes were huge…
"What's wrong?" Ryuuji asked but didn't try to pull away from his mother's grasp.
Ami stood up slowly and pulled Ryuuji back toward his seat as she stepped into the aisle, eclipsing Taiga from Yasuko's view. "Ryuuji, stay here with your mom. I'll go have that chat." She turned to see if Taiga was going to offer up any argument but she too looked shocked at what had just happened.
.
"It's true then." Taiga was back in her seat. Her legs were drawn up in the seat with her – arms wrapped around them and her head down on her knees. Her golden hair cascaded down over her arms and legs and hid the saddened and wet eyes.
Ami was seated next to Taiga now, with Minori standing in the aisle next to her.
"What's true?" Ami asked.
"I told her about Yasuko-san." Minori confessed.
"Why?" Ami demanded of the pink haired girl.
"Wait a minute!" Taiga's head popped up from her knees and she looked at Ami, "You knew about this too?"
"Duh. I live with her. How could I not know." Ami rebuked.
"Then why? For someone as kind as Ya-chan, why..." Taiga trembled with another round of tears as she implored Ami.
"Didn't you tell her what had happened to Ryuuji when she left?" Ami asked Minori instead of immediately answering Taiga's question.
"I did. I even showed her the pictures." Minori said softly. The memories of the day of Taiga's inglorious return hadn't faded over time and she could still recall showing Taiga the photo albums, the magazines, and then… they watched the televised special of the wedding ceremony in Kyoto.
"What does that have to do with Ya-chan?" Taiga demanded. Her sadness was giving way to anger at her questions being ignored.
"Baka! I can see you're still as hardheaded and dense as you used to be." Ami said curtly, but softly so that her conversation wouldn't carry to the passengers in the seats around them.
"Bitch!" Taiga moved to slap at Ami's face, but Minori caught her wrist from behind.
"You saw the pictures didn't you?" Ami pressed, "You saw what he looked like, right?"
"Yeah, I get it! I've already apologized for that!" Taiga's voice was not as controlled or quiet since she was also struggling with Minori to free her arm from the athletic girl's strong grasp.
"Those pictures were nothing… compared to being there. The whole room was depressed from watching him get worse and worse. Every day Ryuuji came to school looking paler and weaker, until it looked like there was no life in his eyes at all." Ami's description was getting to her as well. Forced to recall what it had been like, she could feel that terrible heaviness and despair that emanated from him like an unhealthy aura.
"All right, I've heard this all before. I'm sorry it was so terrible for you!" Taiga finally wrenched her wrist away from Minori but made no move to try and slap Ami again.
"Sure, it was bad for us. But there was one person it was worse for. Much, much worse." Ami returned Taiga's glare as she continued, "When school was out, he would go home… but he wouldn't do anything. He barely cooked any more – and what he prepared was only for his mother. He wouldn't eat on his own. Yasuko had to do everything… as if he were an invalid. She had to wash him. She had to dress him. She begged him to eat. But all he would do was sit on the floor and look up at the hole in the wall."
"Hole in the wall?" Taiga asked.
"The one you put there on the night when you broke into his house to find the letter for Kitamura." Ami replied.
"Ah! How did you know about that?" Taiga demanded. Ryuuji had sworn he would keep her embarrassing secret, so it was a shock to hear this from dumb-chi.
"I heard it from Yasuko. She said she had been upset with Ryuuji – thinking he had damaged their little home from some carelessness. After he told her the story, she just thought it was funny." Ami said softly. For a moment, she daydreamed back to those anxious days of trying to bring Ryuuji back to life. She and Yasuko had spent a lot of time with each other back then.
"So, she knew… even back then?" Taiga asked.
"Yeah. She forgave you for that. She was too delighted that Ryuuji had finally been able to make another friend. Next to that accomplishment, there was no way Yasuko would hold a grudge about a little hole in the wall." Ami revealed.
"Friends…" Taiga too was remembering back to an earlier time. But they weren't friends then. Ryuuji was her dog. He was her slave to do her bidding. She knew his weakness – what he really wanted, and she used that. She had blackmailed him to help fulfill her heart's desire, or he would never have any chance to get what he wanted. Over time, they had become friends… and then something more. But… "I don't think we were 'friends' back then."
"Ryuuji didn't either." Ami laughed, "He thought you were a clumsy, miniature tyrant."
"What!" Taiga felt her old anger reflexes kicking in.
"But, Yasuko didn't see it that way. She had watched him grow up friendless for most of his life. Other kids were scared of him. Until high school, every time Ryuuji tried to make friends, they would just walk away. But not you." Ami recalled that conversation now. She and Yasuko had been relaxing in the bath. And these were the things Yasuko had told her when Ami had asked how and when Ryuuji had met Taiga.
"I wasn't the first. Kitamura was his friend before I was." Taiga pouted.
"True, but you were the first to spend a lot of time with him. Kitamura always had lots of school activities that kept him busy, but not you. She told me about how you would join them for meals at their little house, how you would go to and from school together, and that you two even worked a few part-time jobs together." Ami could see how mortified Taiga was to hear all of this, but she couldn't help but make a little tease, "I mean… I knew about the time you two were selling chocolates..."
"We weren't together all the time!" Taiga was mortified that this story was making her sound like she was always clingy and helpless. But there had been a lot of times she had tried to distance herself from Ryuuji because the other kids at school were getting the wrong idea.
"Around Yasuko you were. And she loved you for that." Ami sighed. She knew that she was getting to the happiest part of the story and soon it would be getting dark… but Taiga needed to know about this too. "All the years while he was growing up, she fought to keep him from becoming too sad about being friendless. He was never invited to join clubs or come to birthday parties, and his mother was the only one that would come to his. No other child ever came over to play, or to study, or anything… until you."
"But… Kitamura?" Taiga asked.
"They were friends in class and at the school… but he never visited Ryuuji's home. At least… not that Yasuko knew about." Ami told her.
"Oh… I didn't know that." Taiga wondered how much more Ami knew about Ryuuji that she had never learned.
"He really changed then. And you did too." Minori added.
"Ah!" Minori's voice startled Taiga until she remembered that her friend had been standing next to her the whole time, "I did?"
"Of course you did! You were always sniffling and grouchy to everyone except me. But your health got better after Ryuuji showed you how to clean up after yourself..."
"Hey!" Taiga was stunned that Minorin would reveal that embarrassing fact about her past.
"And you started being nicer after he started making your lunch for you every day." Minori added.
"Miiiinoooriiiiiin!" Taiga pleaded for her friend to stop revealing such embarrassing things.
"Oh! Sorry Taiga." Minori quietly apologized when she realized how much she had been embarrassing her tiny friend.
"Jeez, you make me sound like some kind of jerk." Taiga complained.
"You were a jerk. All you did was abuse him… in the beginning anyway." Ami replied.
"I… I was not!" Taiga started to defend herself, but Ami was ready for this.
"Ryuuji was my dog in a previous life. A dog is happiest when serving it's master." Ami recited the words, then turned to Taiga and said, "That was the excuse you gave me after eating all the meat out of his bento and leaving him with only the rice."
"I never… I mean… I didn't…" Taiga looked up at Minori for support but it seemed that her friend remembered the incident too. "But, I didn't mean..."
"Hey, it's okay. I honestly don't think Ryuuji minded." Ami offered as proof, "To someone that is starved for attention, even abuse is welcome. So, even if all you ever gave him was insults, it was better than the silence and distance that he got from everyone else."
Minori had to look away for a moment. Ami's words had stung her too. She had kept her distance from Ryuuji like the others, although for a different reason. She wasn't afraid of him, but she had made the conscious decision to stay away from him as much as possible… so that he might develop a friendship, or even a relationship with Taiga. And now, hearing about Ryuuji's past from Ami, she realized just how much pain she had caused him – even if it was indirectly. She had become one of those people that kept him… at a distance.
"Even with all your abuse, Ryuuji really started to thrive then. That's what Yasuko told me. She said he looked happier than he had in his whole life. For the first time, he was excited to go to school – to be with friends. That made her… incredibly happy." Ami remembered how Yasuko cried when she recounted this part, "She had been struggling all alone for so long. You know about how she ran away from home when she was pregnant with him, right?"
Taiga nodded to confirm, but this was the first that Minori had ever heard of this.
"Since others shunned him, she had to be his whole world… until you came along. And that really meant a lot to her. She put her faith in you… her trust too. She believed in you for what you had been able to do for her son. Yasuko loved you enough to think of you as family… long before either of you realized you were in love with each other."
"I..." Taiga had felt the glow of Ya-chan's love from what Ami was saying, and from her own memories of the times she had spent in that small house with Ryuuji and his mother. But she had never thought too deeply why Ya-chan had liked her. Taiga had simply assumed that Ya-chan was just that kind of person and let it go at that. "I didn't know."
"Did you know that, other than his mother, you were also the first person Ryuuji ever really loved?" Ami glanced up at Minori and added, "I mean a real love, and not just an infatuation."
Minori frowned at Ami's last quip. This had been an old conversation between her and Ami. In the end, they both agreed that Ryuuji's feelings for Minori had been an infatuation that could have become a real love… if it had ever had the chance. And Minori knew that the reason it never progressed from just an infatuation had been her own decision.
"Ya-chan said that?" Taiga blinked.
"Yes. She told me that she had never been so happy than when she found out that her son had fallen in love with someone who also loved him. For the first time in her life, she felt the relief of knowing that there was someone else out there that loved her son for who he was, and someone that was strong enough to help him deal with a society that would never understand him… on first impression." Ami sighed and continued, "And that made it all the more difficult for her when you… left."
"Huh?" Taiga felt as if a chill had suddenly replaced the nice tropical breeze that had been warming her soul.
"He had been depressed before. Who wouldn't have, when no-one would be your friend? But this time… it was far worse than it had ever been before." Ami said softly.
"No… that doesn't make any sense!" Taiga argued, "I was only gone for a year! He had what… fourteen or fifteen years before he had his first friend. It shouldn't have messed him up that bad."
"He had never been as happy… in his whole life, he had never been as happy as he was when the three of you came back from his grandparents house." Ami said.
"What does that have to do with it?" Taiga demanded.
"I get it." Minori paraphrased what she understood for Taiga's benefit, "Since he was never very happy before, he never had far to fall when someone walked away from him."
"But you… the happiness that he felt when he thought he would be going through his last year with someone he loved… Taiga, that kind of happiness was something he wasn't used to. He was like a drunk person walking along a cliff face at night. He loved you… and believed in you… completely." Ami struggled to maintain her composure now. The memories of Ryuuji falling apart in front of her was feeding the anger that she had been trying hard to suppress.
"He fell farther and harder than he had ever fallen before, and… he didn't know how to deal with it." Minori added.
"I've heard all of that… a lot of times! But we were talking about Ya-chan, right?" Taiga tried to diffuse the mood around her, but it didn't work.
"That's right." Ami's gaze turned back to Taiga and it wasn't a friendly look, "Yasuko watched her son fall from dizzying happiness into a physically and emotionally unhealthy depression and… there was nothing she could do. She tried… like she always had when he came home unhappy. But nothing worked this time. Everything she tried, failed. Her own mental health suffered as she watched her son slowly dying."
"I… I didn't know!" Taiga knew the excuse was weak, but she couldn't think of anything else to say.
"She was one of the people that called you. She left messages and texted you every day… hoping that you would return the call and talk to Ryuuji." Ami told Taiga, "She thought that if you would just do that… if he could just hear your voice for a few minutes, it would be enough to snap him out of his depression. But…"
"I never heard the voice mails or saw the text messages so… I never called." Taiga imagined a desperate and sobbing Ya-chan calling her again and again. She hid her eyes behind her hand as she thought of the senseless pain that had been inflicted on such a sweet person. And whether by action or inaction, Taiga knew it had been her own fault.
"She went through a lot, so… I guess it's not surprising that she's afraid of you now." Minori said as compassionately as she could.
"Wait… she came to my Kendo events. How come she wasn't afraid of me then?" Taiga challenged.
"That's true." Minori felt a little hope spring up, but it wouldn't last.
"Each of those times, there were a lot of others around and… you never tried to lead him away." Ami replied.
"Oh… yeah." Minori recalled the occasions when Taiga, Ryuuji, and Yasuko had all been at the same place and, it was true.
Taiga too recalled those occasions but said nothing. Even if she wanted to argue with Ami, what had just happened a few rows away, in this very train car… was indisputable. Worse than that – Ya-chan, who had once considered Taiga a part of her family, was now afraid of her. Her hand was in front of her eyes again and a long sorrowful moan escaped her lips as she thought about another thing she had lost, "Noooooo."
Ami's anger had been just under the rage level, but it was washed away now. A defiant Taiga would have kept those fires of anger well stoked, but the Palm Top Tiger was anything but defiant now. She looked up to Minori, still standing in the aisle. She wanted to signal to Minori that it was time for them to switch places so Taiga could cry on her pink haired friend. But she didn't move fast enough.
"Amin!" Taiga leaned into Ami and held onto her blouse as she cried.
"Ah!" Ami jerked back a little at this unexpected contact and looked down at the girl that had suddenly become attached to her, in disbelief.
"What can I do? I never wanted to hurt anyone. You believe me don't you?" Taiga pleaded.
Ami could feel the desperation in the way Taiga clutched at her shirt, and the trembling from the small body wracked with sobs. She knew from experience that Taiga was capable of a little play-acting deception, but this felt real. Her sympathy waxed and she relaxed – putting her arms around Taiga in an awkward hug. The seats wouldn't allow for more than that, but they didn't keep Ami from showing compassion for the distraught friend. But that would be the extent of the comfort for now. The only words Ami could give her would sting a bit. "I don't think there is anything you can do right now. This is something that is going to take some time."
"How… how much time?" Taiga asked.
"I don't know." Ami admitted. Even a professional psychiatrist wouldn't be able to give an answer to that question. But, Ami had a thought. "I heard from several people that you did a splendid job of taking care of little Tatsuya."
"I tried! I really tried my best." Taiga said eagerly.
"I believe you." Ami was a little creeped out at the way Taiga was hanging onto her and looking so uncharacteristically earnest, but she continued, "It's a shame Yasuko wasn't there to see it."
"So, I missed my chance?" Taiga pleaded.
"No Taiga," Minori patted Taiga's head from behind as she told her friend, "This is something you can do. You already know you can watch after Tatsuya and he even likes it when you hold him, right?"
"Yeah?" Taiga agreed, but didn't know how this was going to help with Ya-chan.
"Just keep doing that." Minori suggested, "When Yasuko sees you caring for her little brother…"
"Grandson!" Ami corrected.
"Right." Minori paused briefly to wonder why she had made that mistake, "Anyway, when she sees that… she's sure to come around! She'll be liking you again in no time!"
"It's all right with me if you want to try that." Ami offered.
"It's… it's not like I want to be around a smelly infant." Taiga said with a shadow of her old tsundere arrogance.
"Oh, well never-mind then. If it's too much trouble for you." Ami quickly dismissed the offer as if it were a silly idea in the first place.
"I didn't say it was too much trouble!" Taiga objected.
"But you obviously don't like smelly infants and, let's be honest – until he's old enough to be out of diapers, he's going to be smelly." Ami countered.
"I… I…" Taiga knew her old habits had once again, put her into a corner that she couldn't get out of by herself.
"It's a shame though. I would really have appreciated some free babysitting." Ami sighed.
"I didn't say I would do it for free!" Taiga snapped. Then she realized that Ami's comment could be used to help her out of her corner. "I mean… I wouldn't need much but I am a college student and… I have expenses."
"How about five hundred yen an hour?" Ami offered.
"I'll take it!" Taiga replied quickly before she blew another opportunity.
"All right then," Ami said as she stood up and moved into the aisle, "it's time that I go back to my seat."
"Wait!" Taiga asked nervously, "What are you going to tell them… that we talked about?"
"I'm not going to lie." Ami enjoyed the startled but accepting look on Taiga's face before smiling as she added, "I'm going to tell them that you've agreed to babysit Tatsuya for five hundred yen an hour."
.
When Ami got back to her seat, Yasuko was leaning into Ryuuji's shoulder and looked peacefully asleep. Everyone else's face wore expressions of curiosity… and concern. Ryuuji in particular was worried about his mother.
He had seen her get upset a few times when he was younger, but nothing like this. After Ami left to talk to Minori and Taiga, he had glanced across at his grandparents but they too looked like they had never seen their daughter behave in such a way.
"Is… is she asleep?" Ryuuji's grandfather asked softly.
"Yeah, I think so." Ryuuji replied. Over the years, Yasuko had fallen asleep on his lap or leaning on him – almost as much as he had fallen asleep leaning on her. So, he was pretty familiar with what she felt like when she was asleep.
"I can give you… whatever you need, if it turns out that she requires… professional help." Ojiisan Takasu said quietly. From the difficulty he had in getting the words out, all of them could see how difficult it was for him to accept that his daughter might need that kind of help.
"That's a great idea!" Kawashima Anna said warmly as she took the old man's arm and pushed herself up against him like a cat looking for attention.
"It is?" Ryuuji didn't know why Ami's mother would endorse something that his grandfather found so repulsive.
"Of course! I've had professional help many times over the years, and I think it has done me a world of good." Ami answered casually.
"You have?" Ojiisan Takasu looked dumbstruck at such a revelation. He had always thought that the kind of people that needed psychiatric help were like serial killers, sexual deviants, and the detestable otaku.
"What? Are you one of those people that think only the scum of the earth need psychiatrists?" Ami taunted the old man with a pained look.
"No… I… uh…" Ojiisan Takasu realized that a truthful answer meant that he would be insulting the actress that he had long idolized… and who was incidentally hanging on his arm at the moment.
"We almost got psychiatric help for Ryuuji-kun, back when he was struggling." Obāsan Takasu said in an effort to help her husband out of the jam he had put himself in. She knew he was an old man and had opinions like all the other old men from his generation. Having gone through her own depression after her daughter ran away, she had wished that she had scraped up the courage to get help herself.
"Oh?" Anna looked across at Ryuuji. She was about to ask why they didn't get help for him, when she remembered the stories she had heard over the years, and then en masse at the Hisamitsu Estate. That her own daughter had pulled off such a feat seemed fantastical. The Ami she knew had become quite a useless person when she entered her teens. Except for her ability to be pretty in front of the camera, Ami's personality had become something that Anna could barely stand to be around… but that had changed too – and she knew she was looking at the man that had encouraged that change. Anna shifted her gaze to her daughter and smiled.
Ami hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. Ryuuji sat between her and Yasuko, but Ami could see the Onee-chan's sleeping face on Ryuuji's shoulder. She knew Ryuuji was concerned and took his hand, squeezing it to show her support – and to let him know that she would be in this fight too. Her heart beat a little stronger when his big hand closed around hers and gave her a firm, but gentle squeeze. With her other hand, she reached across Ryuuji and gently brushed the hair out of Yasuko's face.
Anna squeezed Ojiisan Takasu's arm a little tighter – which pressed her not insubstantial breasts into his arm and chest. It couldn't be helped though, she was proud of who her daughter had become. They had both become the kind of people that inspired belief and in her heart, she knew that Ami and Ryuuji could mend anything, since they had already done the incredible by fixing each other.
"Emurff!" Ojiisan Takasu muffled as he felt the softness pressing against his arm and chest. His wife glanced over from where she was holding little Tatsuya and stifled a chuckle.
"I think your daughter's going to be just fine." Anna whispered to the grandparents.
"Oh?" the grandmother asked. She didn't believe that her daughter was beaten by this either, but she wanted to know what had given such hope to the glamorous celebrity currently snuggled up against her husband.
"Just look," Anna gestured over at Ryuuji and Ami with her eyes, "she's already in very capable hands."
.
After the stop in Osaka where the grandparents and great grandparents departed for their own destinations, there was an uneasy pall that settled over the passengers on the Tokyo bound bullet train. Many of them, like Ryuuji, Ami, and their friends, had not been back to Tokyo since the recent disasters. News stories had told of countless repairs that needed to be made to the rail system, how Tokyo's skyscrapers had swayed perilously during the earthquake, and of the recent scare about radiation in the drinking water… Like many of the other passengers, Ryuuji and his little party were somewhat concerned about what awaited them.
The inside of the train flickered bright and dark as the Shinkansen sped through the numerous, but brief tunnels of the foothills of southern Kanagawa. When the last tunnel was cleared, they still weren't in the true city of Tokyo, but they had entered the southern most reaches of it's urban sprawl. From here to their destination at Tokyo station, they would be passing through the interconnected cities that made up the southern coastal part of the great metropolis.
Yokohama and Kawasaki flew by the windows and looked… like they had always looked. Small plots of land with crops interspersed with houses and convenience stores changed to houses interspersed with apartment buildings, and finally to bigger buildings as the train passed north of the harbor district. Soon, the Tokyo Tower could be seen between the numerous skyscrapers and there was a strange, uneasy feeling that everyone shared at just how normal everything looked.
When the train finally pulled into the majestic Tokyo Station, the odd feeling that everything was normal was even more intense. Ceilings were intact, windows in the high domes and spires weren't broken or missing, and the floors weren't cracked or crumbled. It was the same majestic red brick station that it had been for almost a century.
After the surprise of normalcy was over, everyone was eager to get to their last connections to get them home, but they still lingered on the platform for a few moments. From here, Minori and Taiga would be taking the underground tunnels that would get them to Otemachi Station where they would catch the commuter train that would get them back to Waseda University. But everyone else would be crossing much of the vast Tokyo Station to get to their final connection that would get them close to Meiji University.
"I guess, this is goodbye for now." Minori said as she clutched her suitcase handle.
"But not for too long, right?" Taiga demanded, "You promised a reunion during the summer vacation, Ryuuji!"
"I know. I've already started on it." Ryuuji smiled at the way Taiga tried to use an abrasive attitude to hide the fact that she wanted to see her friends again.
"Is Kitamura-kun really going to be there?" Taiga asked. She believed he would want to, but California was such a long way away.
"He said he would try." Ami replied and then added with a sinister smile, "If he does, he'll be bringing your old friend Kano-san with him."
"Sumire..." Taiga remembered the fight between her with her bokutō, and Sumire with her shinai – fighting over their love for the same boy. And now, even though the romantic matter was finished, Taiga still felt as though that fight had not yet been properly resolved. "Ha, I hope she shows her face! Maybe she'll be here long enough for a little rematch."
"That sounds like fun!" Minori cheered.
"What!" Ryuuji couldn't believe that Minori would be encouraging a violent confrontation during the reunion. But his shock didn't last long. As devoted to sport as the pink haired girl was, he realized that he should have counted on her supporting any kind of contest. "Yeah… if Sumire is up to it, maybe it would be interesting."
"Well, I guess we'll see you again then…" Taiga always hated goodbyes – mostly because she didn't know what to say. And now, with awkwardness of Yasuko's reaction on the train still in her memory, she felt even more uncomfortable than usual.
"Baka!" Ami laughed at Taiga's discomfort and through a sly smile – asked Taiga, "Have you forgotten your promise so soon?"
"Eh?" Taiga couldn't tell what Ami was up to, but her little superiority act didn't sit well.
"You promised to me on the train," Ami said as she sauntered over to Taiga and looked down into the Palm Top Tiger's amber eyes, "that you will babysit my little Tatsuya, whenever I need you. And I've decided that Ryuuji and I are going to be… involved… in a lot of things for the rest of this semester! So you better clear your calendar because you… are… mine!"
"Ah!" Taiga was about to tell a certain blue haired princess that she could stuff all those plans - when it suddenly occurred to her what Ami was up to. It's all an act! And, it's even an act for me… so I can fix my relationship with Yasuko. Damn, she really is good at this. Taiga's fists unclenched and she sighed. "Well, a promise is a promise."
"I could watch Tatsuya." Yasuko offered.
Taiga cringed that Ami's plans might crumble so easily, but a glance at the bluenette revealed a smile of confidence instead of the worry she expected to see.
"Um, Onee-chan? You promised that you would help me with homework and getting me to my dance and singing lessons." Aiko-chan chimed in.
"Oh? Yeah, I guess I did." Yasuko wanted to beg off that commitment, so she could spend more time with her delightful little grandson. But cute little Aiko-chan's use of her big-sister nickname was a very powerful flattery assault that Yasuko had no resistance to.
"Well, I guess we should be going. We still need to hoof it to Otemachi Station." Minori said, but then both she and Taiga's heads popped forward as if they had been struck from behind and they both cried out, "Ow!"
"Otemachi Station?" Suzume's older, but shorter sister stood behind them. She had just delivered a head smack to the pair for their ridiculous statement, "The Tozai Line is the most densely packed train in all of Tokyo. And you nitwits plan to take it during rush hour… with luggage? Are you sure you're smart enough to be in college?"
"Hey!" Taiga rebutted while rubbing the back of her head, "I though people in customer service jobs were supposed to be nicer!"
"Quiet you! My car is here, so unless you want me to leave you to battle the crowds alone, it'll be you showing me the meaning of polite." Umeko-san wasn't cutting Taiga any slack. Ever since the Kendo event when Taiga had tricked her into wearing a Miko outfit and acting as Taiga's servant, the gloves were off.
"Um..." Taiga hated to lose two battles in a row, but dealing with the crowds on the train at this time of day really was insane. And with a suitcase… Giving a slight bow, she quietly said, "Gomen'nasai… and, arigato."
"Hey, little sister." Suzume said to Umeko-san. She didn't usually taunt her older sister like this, but she didn't like the way Umeko-san was picking on her friends. "I'm glad you're okay, but… have you put on a little weight while I was gone? Are you going to be able to fit back into your uniform?"
"What!" Umeko-san was aghast at this unexpected attack from her kid sister. She was about to demand that Suzume give her the respect that an older sister was due, when Suzume smiled and winked.
"Don't bother threatening me with a ride. I'm going with Ryuuji-sama." Suzume taunted.
"Eh?" Umeko-san had been looking forward to seeing her little sister after returning from her travels, but now even that was falling away.
"It's true. We need to get everything ready for the new school year." Umeki explained.
"But…" Umeko-san, despite just getting slammed, really did love her younger sister and had been missing her since she had left for Australia a month ago.
"I think she's upset with you for bullying Taiga and me." Minori whispered to Umeko-san like a first base coach giving instructions to a base runner. Then she added, "She'll only have a half-day on Friday. We can visit her then."
"Thanks, Minori." Umeko-san knew she could count on her fellow baseball player.
.
There was the chorus of bye-byes and see-you-laters, just as there were with any scene where people get back from a long trip and finally head off to their own homes. It wasn't quite the tearful goodbye that they had experienced in Australia when they had to say farewell to Deena-chan, but then again… they weren't going to be all that far from each other. Indeed, dormitories, homes, and apartments for all of the friends and family now living in Tokyo were all within four kilometers of each other… as the bird flies. That is not to say that there wasn't some sadness at the first parting, at the Tokyo Train station.
Ami gazed at the people being crammed onto all the commuter trains and groaned. Umeko's words hadn't only been true for the one train line that would have been taking Taiga and Minori to Waseda. All of the commuter trains would be packed full of weary passengers… for the next hour or so. Students with their backpacks, women with their purses, and men with their briefcases – all jammed into the train cars until they were impossibly full. Such was life in a metropolis. But Ami's group didn't just have luggage with them – they also had two infants that they were toting. The idea of being crushed by the other passengers while trying to carry an infant, and keep track of her luggage, didn't appeal to her at all. She glanced over at the other mother in the group and saw that Yuri-sensei seemed to have the same expression. Turning to Ryuuji, she planned to tell him that she wanted to wait out the crowds – but he was on the phone.
"Kitchen Street!" Ryuuji announced as he brought his phone down from his face and started typing in messages.
"What?" Ami wasn't quite sure she heard him right in the crowded and noisy train platform.
"We have reservations for dinner." Ryuuji said while he picked up two of the larger suitcases and turned for the escalators that would take them away from the train platform into the vast maze of corridors and pedestrian avenues that ran beneath the giant train station.
"Ryuji-sama," Aiko-chan tried her hardest not to sound like she was whining, "I'm pretty tired. How far away is this place?"
"It's here in the train station." Ryuuji told her.
"What about our luggage?" Yuri asked.
"They said they would stow it for us." Ryuuji replied to his former sensei.
"I'm hungry." Umeki said in agreement with Ryuuji's decision to go to a restaurant.
"I could eat!" Suzume also agreed while hurrying to catch up with Umeki and Ryuuji.
"You can always eat." Umeki laughed.
"Hey!" Suzume cried out indignantly.
Ryuuji was leading the way, with the younger girls chattering away around him. A few paces back, Yasuko walked with Ami and Yuri, who were both carrying their children. The three of them were treated to the amusing sight of the three younger girls, fluttering around their Ryuuji-sama.
"Who would have believed that he, of all people, would turn into a little-girl-magnet?" Ami laughed.
"Or any kind of magnet! I can remember watching the students in the hall. They were packed elbow to elbow trying to get to their next class, but there was a bubble around Ryuuji. No-one would come within three meters of him… except Kitamura."
"I don't remember that." Ami looked at her former teacher curiously.
"It stopped shortly before you came to our school." Yuri replied.
Ami realized why. It had been Taiga. He had only been associating with the aggravating runt for a little while before Ami had arrived. But, it had been enough to have already made a difference in the students around them. Well, it wasn't all Taiga. I know Kitamura fought hard to make things better for Ryuuji too. She was wondering if Yasuko knew how much of Ryuuji's image transformation had been Kitamura's doing, when she noticed that her mother in law looked like she was walking along in a trance. "Yasuko, are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh… I was just watching Ryu-chan! He looks so cool, doesn't he? I used to tell him that he'd grow up to look like a hunk, just like his father… and he did!" Yasuko gushed.
"Onee-chan, you should really stop doing that." Yuri said quietly. She didn't want to shoot her friend down when she was so happy, but this was a habit of Yasuko's that annoyed everyone around her… and her son most of all.
"Doing what?" Yasuko asked innocently.
"You should stop comparing Ryuuji to his father." Ami also didn't care for it either, "It's insulting."
"Insulting… how?" Yasuko was genuinely confused at the comments from both of her friends. "You don't think Ryu-chan looks like a hunk?"
"It's not about looks, Yasuko." Ami wished this hadn't come up now, but then… there would never be a good time to explain this to Yasuko. That being the case, Ami decided to forge ahead, "Ryuuji's father was a useless thug with no evidence of loyalty, morals, or ethics. He used you while it was fun, and walked away when you became inconvenient. Tell me… what part of that is like Ryuuji?"
"But, he looked cool… just like Ryuuji does." Yasuko pleaded.
"His looks were a curse for Ryuuji, Onee-chan." Yuri said softly, "It wasn't his attitude, habits, or hobbies that scared everyone away from him all through his childhood."
"I don't mean just his face. He looks cool all dressed up, just like his father did." Yasuko tried to explain.
"I've seen the pictures. That man wore flashy clothes. They looked good on him, but he still looked like a thug." Ami replied, "But look at Ryuuji now."
Ryuuji was wearing a beige overcoat on a dark blue suit that he had kept from the Australian fashion shows, with a deep burgundy scarf Ami had picked up for him in Tokushima. He walked tall and carried himself with pride, as had been his custom since Yamada Yukiko and Hisako taught him how to look and act like a manager. Even if the appearance of pride masked the fear that he might somehow let his charges down, he never shirked that responsibility and constantly tried to learn and improve, He had certainly become someone to be proud of, and yet…
"Yasuko? Yasuko, why are you crying?" Ami worried that she and Yuri might have been too hard on Ryuuji's mother.
"Sometimes… it's just scary how much he's grown." Yasuko dabbed at the wetness around her eyes and continued, "I used to like the way he shined when he was studying. I hoped that all his smarts and learning would make him happy one day. I thought it would be a long time, and I wanted to be there to help him… and watch him on his way to that dream. But he's done so much… and he's already so happy… I just… don't feel like I'm useful to him anymore."
Yasuko clutched at the handle of the rolling suitcase she was pulling with her head hung. She was fighting the emotions that were welling up inside her. She was glad to have friends like Ami and Yuri – friends that would listen to the things that troubled her heart. But she certainly didn't want to embarrass her son by breaking down into tears in the middle of Tokyo Station. At a time like this, she was thankful for the support of…
"Baaaaaaaka!" Ami said while shaking her head, "That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
"What?" Yasuko was stunned at Ami's unforgiving response.
"I have to agree." Yuri chimed in, "That last comment was pretty ludicrous. On the scale of intelligence, I think an eggplant might be smarter."
"Hey! I'm not even as smart as an animal?" Yasuko whimpered.
"If my hands were free, I'd call Hisako and tell her what you just said. Do you know what she would do?" Ami asked, but didn't wait for an answer, "She would fly all the way here to slap you. She would keep on slapping you until your brain started working again."
"What? What did I say that was so wrong?" Yasuko begged them.
"Usefulness..." Ami noticed that Ryuuji and the younger girls had walked into an Italian restaurant, so she stopped in front of Yasuko and told her quietly, but firmly, "Usefulness has nothing to do with it. I know why he calls you by your name instead of your title, but you need to understand something. You are his mother and he loves you very, very much. Next to that, whether you are useful or not is irrelevant."
"Yasuko, it was his father that ran off to some other girl when you became an inconvenience. Ryuuji would never do something like that." Yuri leaned closer and asked, "Just who are you thinking of when you look at Ryuuji?"
"Ah!" Yasuko shook as if she had just been splashed by cold water. Yuri's question had sent her mind reeling and she didn't have an answer. It was something she had never considered, but now that the question had been raised – it was something that must be answered.
"Is she okay?" Yuri asked Ami.
"I don't know… I think you broke her brain." Ami commented as she looked at Yasuko's wide, unblinking eyes.
"Ill go get Ryuuji." Yuri hurried on into the restaurant with her son in her arms.
"Did you hear that?" Ami asked the still dumbfounded blond, "Yuri was his teacher. She's about a decade older than him. And yet, she relies on him too. Hisako and I are veterans in the modeling industry and yet, we both chose Ryuuji to be our manager even though he had no experience. He has become a paragon of reliability. You really raised him well Yasuko."
"Ah!" Yasuko gasped as if she had just remembered how to breathe. Her eyes blinked and she looked up at Ami.
You really raised him well Yasuko.
"Do you really think so?" Yasuko asked meekly. Her question had nothing to do with whether her son had turned out well. Rather, she still found it hard to believe that her pathetic mothering skills had really made all that much of a difference in her son's life.
"Are you kidding?" Ami smiled, "Look, I know I can be a great performer, but a mother? I'm not so sure about that role. I mean… I'm pretty sure I can do it. But I want little Tatsuya to grow up to be as wonderful as his father is, so pretty sure isn't going to be good enough. But I'm not worried."
"Why not?" Yasuko asked.
"Because, I've got you." Ami replied just as Ryuuji came out of the restaurant.
Ryuuji was puzzled why his mother was clinging to Ami and crying – but seemed happy. He was about to ask what was going on, but Ami waved him off with a shake of her head. Instead, he took the remaining luggage from his mother and the baby carrier from his wife. Looking down into the baby carrier and saw that his son was looking back at him with a curious expression.
"Don't look at me for answers," he told his son quietly, "I can't figure them out either."
.
Friday morning, April 1st – Meji Affiliated School
The first day of school was traditionally a half day, but a lot was packed into that half day. Aiko-chan didn't mind though. She was practically singing as she strode along the path with Suzume and Umeki. Except for the homesickness, her spring break had been an amazing time and she couldn't wait to tell her friends about it.
It was an odd site to see the three walking to school together. Suzume alone caused a double-take when others passed by the 181 centimeter tall girl. Much taller than the average Japanese woman and even taller than most Japanese men, she was certainly too tall to be wearing a girl's high school uniform. And yet, this wasn't even her final high school year. But it wasn't just the tall red head that seemed odd to the passers-by.
Umeki was a much more normal height for a high school girl. At 151 centimeters, she was actually a little on the short side for second year high school girl, but she somehow looked a lot shorter while she was walking with Suzume and Aiko-chan. The younger, golden haired girl was only three centimeters taller than Umeki, but unlike her senpai's she wasn't wearing the livery of a high school girl. And she wouldn't be wearing it for a while either. The ten year old was still in elementary school and would be for quite a while. It wouldn't be for another two years until she would finally be graduating to the Junior High program… at the same time that her senpai's were graduating from High School to College. And thinking about walking to school with her senpai's for another two years made her very happy.
"You seem to be in good spirits, Aiko-chan." Umeki observed.
"Yes!" Aiko-chan bounced on her toes and spun around in an impromptu dance when she replied, "I get to go to school with my senpai's and then, I get to tell all my friends about the fun things we did!"
"Hey, Aiko-chan!" a group of other elementary school kids approached the trio just outside the gates of the school. "Wow, look at you guys! You're all so tanned."
"Huh? We are?" Suzume looked at her arms, but really noticed the difference when the grade school kids got closer and she could see the difference between her skin tone and theirs.
"I guess we didn't notice it since we were always around people that were there with us." Umeki observed.
"I thought it all went away, but I guess there's still some left." Aiko-chan laughed as she held her hand up against several of her friends.
"Did you get that tan in Auxtraland?" one of the boys asked.
"Yup!" Aiko-chan answered with a big grin.
"It's Australia, and yes. We were in the sun a lot while we were down there." Suzume explained.
"Did you see any of our shows?" Aiko-chan asked with hopeful excitement.
"No, they weren't on any channels we got. But the people on the news are talking about it a lot." a girl answered.
"The news? Why would they be talking about it?" Aiko-chan asked aloud, but she didn't get an answer from her friends. Not a lot of grade school aged children watch the news after all.
Not a lot of high school aged children watch the news either… normally. But things hadn't been normal in Japan for several weeks. The two natural disasters and the continuing problems with the nuclear power plant brought more attention to the recent news broadcasts. Even teenagers were tuning in to find out the latest development, so it was no surprise that Suzume and Umeki got a lot of questions when they entered the courtyard of the school building that was surrounded by the high school wings.
Some of the comments were friendly. Several people thought they had a healthy glow with the tropical tans they still had. Others asked if they had fun on their trip or if they got to pet a kangaroo or a koala.
But a few questions were a bit darker. Some students seemed bitter and wanted to know why they would choose to flee the country when everyone else was suffering. Suzume and Umeki didn't recognize those students as anyone that had been in their previous class-year, but the comments still stung. Friends and former classmates supported them though, and it seemed that everything would be better when they got to their homeroom with Yuri-sensei.
But that didn't seem to be the case. Someone from the faculty office was there to take roll, but she wouldn't tell anyone why Yuri-sensei wasn't there. After what had happened in the courtyard, both of them had a bad feeling about their missing teacher.
.
Yuri was having a bad feeling too. She was in the Headmaster's office along with several other people. Some of them were from the University administration, but there were also members of the Disciplinary Committee and the Student Council there as well. Unfortunately, many of them were looking at her with accusational eyes. Some of their expressions bordered on contempt.
Yuri had arrived earlier in the morning but hadn't even finished preparing her desk when she was coldly told to report to the Headmaster's office. The woman that had come for her did not seem happy to see Yuri, but was at least kind enough to give her a warning about what she was being summoned for.
"It is going to be decided whether or not you are let go." the woman said tersely.
"Let go? For what?" Yuri asked. She tried to ask calmly, but this was the kind of thing that easily made her fall apart.
"Very poor judgment. And… possibly an ethics violation." the woman quietly vented as she showed the terrified Yuri into the empty room to wait.
Yuri sat in the room by herself, wondering what she had done and how she could explain this to her husband, her friends, and her students. As if her mind was on auto-pilot, she sent a text message to her husband and clutched her cell phone as if it were a lifeline back to him. Then she was left to her fears, alone in the big room as minutes turned into an hour. She felt like she needed to go to the bathroom, and maybe even vomit from the stress, but she was afraid to move from the chair that she had been shown to. Almost two hours passed before the door opened again and others began to file in.
The Headmaster entered but didn't greet her. He walked around to his chair and took a seat while gazing at her. He didn't seem terribly upset with her, but he did have a sad expression as if she had somehow disappointed him. The woman that had summoned her was there, and she still looked quite disgusted. Others arrived, and she recognized members of the University administration office and the student government officers.
After the room was nearly full of people and Yuri's nerves were about shot, the disgusted woman asked, Do you understand why you are here, Koigakubo Yuri?"
"I… I…" Yuri stammered from her fright, even as the door behind her opened to admit even more people into the room.
"That would be Locke Yuri" a very deep voice bellowed from behind her.
"Eep!" Yuri couldn't help but cry out a little as a large hand settled on her shoulder and gave her a firm squeeze. The sudden contact had startled her, but she could feel the stress starting to evaporate, now that The Major was here. Until she unexpectedly heard her husband's voice, she hadn't realized just how much she wanted someone else who was on her side, to be in the room with her.
"This does not concern you, Major Locke. You should leave." the unpleasant woman spoke to him as if she were correcting an errant child.
"She is my wife, and it would seem that this… meeting has been set up to bring some kind of allegation against her. From what I can tell, by reading the expressions of the people around the room, it would seem that some of you have already come to a conclusion without having first convened a proper board." The Major let that set in for a moment. He was an employee of the university as well, and he had read through all of their rules and bylaws. He could tell from the uncomfortable looks around the room that he had struck a blow with that comment.
"Major Locke, nothing has been decided." the Headmaster said in a calmer tone than the irate woman, "This is just an inquiry."
"If it is a board of inquiry, then where is my wife's representation? All I can see here is the representation of the accusers, and those that will pass judgment." The Major asked.
"Oh? So you admit that your wife has done something that needs representation?" the bitter woman demanded. She thought she had trapped him, but The Major had been through this kind of wringer before – both as the accused, and as the defender of the accused.
"One should always have representation when faced with baseless allegations and the contemptible lies of cowards."
"Are you calling me a coward?" the woman demanded.
"No no, it was just a quote from a politician that was falsely accused." The Major replied.
"Regardless," the woman fumed, "the matter here is about Locke Yuri's lack of judgment and ethics..."
"Alleged!" The Major interrupted – pointing out the critical omission in the woman's statement.
"Fine!" the woman took a deep breath and amended her statement, "The matter here is about Locke Yuri's alleged lack of judgment and ethics. However… from the beginning I had my suspicions about her abilities in this prestigious institution, so I have no faith in her ability to carry on in her current capacity as an instructor here."
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." The major replied with a half smile.
"Another one of your western witticisms?" the woman demanded.
"He was… a great leader. A long time ago." The Major struggled to keep a straight face while giving his reply.
"I don't care who he was. We are here to present the evidence of Locke Yuri's wrongdoing, so that we can get on with her termination." the woman spat.
"This is supposed to be an inquiry, is it not? In an inquiry, questions are asked and answers are given. There is no punishment step in an inquiry. Your fundamental lack of understanding of what should be going on in this room is deeply concerning." The Major now looked at the woman as if she were the unschooled child that needed supervision.
"There is no lack of understanding here! I know everything about her unforgivable actions! I will have justice!" the woman demanded.
"If you understand everything, you must be misinformed." The Major quipped.
"Misinformed! I have held this position for over thirty years and I have never been wrong in these matters!" the woman insisted.
"Boasting begins where wisdom stops." The Major said calmly while smiling at the woman's building anger.
"Now… you are calling me a fool!" the woman shouted as her countenance twisted in anger an disgust.
"How unsightly. The face becomes a mirror of the soul." The Major smiled.
"I will not be made a fool of! You will acknowledge my authority here!" the woman yelled.
"One who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger." The Major replied.
"I thought I made it perfectly clear that I did not want to hear any more of your western witticisms!" the woman screamed.
"Those were… Japanese proverbs." another of the people around the Headmasters desk said.
"WHAT!" the woman's wrath turned on the person who had spoken up, but the short older man was unphased by the irate woman's blustering.
"Those were not Western witticisms. Everything he has said, since his inquiry about this being an inquiry has been a Japanese proverb." a short man announced to the room, rather than address the irate woman directly. Then he turned to The Major and gave a short bow before addressing him, "Very good, Major Locke. Your elocution of the Japanese language is better than some native speakers I know. And your knowledge of proverbs and idioms is quite impressive."
"Thank you, Oshiro-hakase." The Major remembered the little man from the orientation ceremony when he was retained as a substitute language teacher. Unless his role had changed since then, the short but well-spoken man was the head of Japanese literature and culture on the college side of the house.
"You are certainly welcome. I have always been impressed with your linguistic skills, but pardon me for asking… how do those skills qualify you to be her representative in this inquiry?"
"They do not. Rather, I am here due to my concern for my wife." The Major admitted.
"With all due respect, that is not a sufficient justification for your presence in these proceedings." the Headmaster said.
"Hmpf!" the irate woman gloated at what she counted as a personal victory over this… foreigner.
Yuri felt her heart stop beating when it looked for the moment as if she might have to face these people alone after all.
"That is why I brought my friend, Colonel Masahiro of the JSDF JAG Corps along. I assume that his credentials as a certified lawyer will be sufficient for a mere inquiry?" The Major announced, while staring directly at the woman that seemed to have something personal against his wife.
"Of course." the little man said and even smiled at the Major.
"Since your wife now has representation, I will have to ask you to leave… before we begin the proceedings." the Headmaster said levelly at The Major.
"Understood. But… before I go, may I hear the subject of concern that has necessitated this inquiry?" The Major asked.
"Very well." the Headmaster stood and looked down at the still seated Yuri, "It has been reported, and it is widely believed by the public, that Locke Yori – along with the entertainers that she was traveling with, were out gallivanting around in foreign countries – having a good time… while there was catastrophe and destruction at home. While this is not illegal, it creates a poor public image that reflects on the University."
"Then the problem isn't what she did or didn't do, it is all about the public perception?" The Major asked.
"I am afraid so. Please understand that… most of us have no ill will toward your wife. In fact, most comments from peers, students, and parents have been quite positive. However, it has always been the policy of the administration to distance itself from anyone that would cast a negative image on the University and it's affiliated schools." the Headmaster took a deep breath and confessed to The Major, "I'm sorry, but I do not see much hope for Locke Yuri's case in this unfortunate event."
"I… understand." The Major looked down at his wife's beseeching face and softly told her, "For now, trust in Colonel Masahiro. I'll be just outside these doors… making some phone calls."
Yuri nodded up at him but couldn't say anything. The words, along with her emotions, were caught in her throat. She watched him walk toward the doors behind her, but a hand gently squeezed her shoulder before she could fully panic. The Colonel wasn't looking down at her. His gaze was sweeping across the faces of the people he was about to face off with. But Yuri was sure that his quiet words were for intended for her.
"I was with your husband in Sendai. He is a remarkable and a very resourceful man. No matter what happens in this room, you should place your trust in him." the Colonel told her.
The solace of the Colonel came just in time. The vindictive woman was now gloating and laughing disdainfully as The Major left the room and closed the doors behind him.
.
The Major could hear the laughter but that didn't bother him as much as what he had heard from the Headmaster.
...it has always been the policy of the administration to distance itself from anyone that would cast a negative image on the University and it's affiliated schools.
He knew that a policy like that might not just stop with a teacher. There was a very real chance that three girls that were very special to him and his wife, might be expelled from the school… after they were done with his wife.
.
Glossary
500 yen: roughly equivalent to $5 USD.
Arigato: thank you.
Bokutō: a wooden katana, or sword.
Gomen'nasai: formal version of 'sorry'.
Hakase: a person of high academic accomplishment; a professor or a doctor.
JAG: Judge Advocate General – lawyers and judges who handle mostly criminal, but some civil cases within the military.
JSDF: Japanese Self Defense Force – Japan's modern military.
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Apologies
I will be taking a hiatus from this story for a while. I have been working on finishing off Book 3 of The Kotomi Continuum at the same time that I have been working on this, and I believe it is making both projects take longer than they should. But trust me, I do have an idea where this will be going and I will NOT let it be an unfinished work. Also, I won't be starting any new projects until The Kotomi Continuum and Walk The Same Path are both complete. So, if you have been enjoying this story, please favorite it and you will be updated when I post the next chapter.