Trapped in Her Heart, forever

by UnraveledKaneki

[AU] Seven Years have passed since our protagonist last saw Hana. Heroes - old and new - have moved on. All except for our 'hero', now working far from home, trying to forget the pain Hana left him with. Features OW2 Characters (Kiriko, Sojourn etc). Sequel to "Trapped in the Heart of a Gamer". Rated M for violence, mature themes (depression, sex, mental illness) and language.

7. Chapter 7: Keeping up with Kiriko

(Overwatch is owned by Blizzard Entertainment)

Patras Airport, United States, August 3rd 20XX, 7:00PM Western

It was perhaps a bit of a rash decision on his part but considering the recent developments and realisations from both Angela and the Shimada Organisation, Jesse McCree had no choice but to try and get his way to Tokyo as quickly as possible. It was an expensive risk to take and that wasn't just financially either. He experienced first hand what Hana Song was truly capable of doing to even a grizzled, well built man such as himself when she had Jonathan Cujoh on her mind. He could remember the day she first came to his place of employment, the Royal Winstonian Academy, vividly…as if it had only happened yesterday. McCree thought that for better or worse, his picture perfect photographic memory was a curse. Every significant moment of his life, he could recall at a moment's notice with vivid detail. As he sat down towards the rear of the plane, bound for Tokyo, his mind wandered back to that day eight and a half years ago…

Admissions Office, Royal Winstonian Academy, USA, 201X

"Let's see here…" said the man dressed up in the quite garish cowboy gear, looking through a set of papers that were handed to him by the young girl in front of him. The papers were an application form to start in the first semester of senior year, quite a late start to school by any stretch of the definition, but McCree noticed a more pressing matter.
"Y'know, uhh, Ms. Song, yer papers are mostly in order but we've got a few things I'd like to discuss"said McCree, peeking his head out from behind the papers. The girl in front of him looked like the palest thing he'd ever seen. She seemed timid and shy, but she had a certain aura of confidence about her, as if deep down she knew that she was perhaps better than anyone else here.

"And what might that be?" she asked, curiously. "It's just when we get ehh, new students we normally have a discussion with them along with their parents who clearly aren't here right now. Now I know it's a tough time fer you to saddle on up into a new country n' all but we need yer parents to sign off on the consent forms and maintenance payments, as part of yer tuition fee" he said, pushing a piece of the application back to her that was left mostly empty. It read "FOR PARENTAL/GUARDIAN USE:" followed by a bunch of text relating to financing, consent and the school's responsibility of the child applying.

"M-My parents are…uhm…"
McCree instantly understood where this was going, but still needed to press just a little more. "Okay, what about a guardian?"
"N-No…I moved here by myself"
"Yourself? You had the money, and approval from the US Embassy, to move here?"
"They were fine with it as long as I returned to South Korea after my time in education was done, or I could prove I was making enough money to sustain myself here" she said, going through her bag before producing a document written in both Korean and English, stamped by both an official in Seoul and one in America, probably at the airport. It checked out, and McCree thought it was official, but asked Hana if he could make a copy, which she obliged to.

"Okay so I take it then that yer gonna go back to Boosawn in Korea once yer finished here?" Hana rolled her eyes at the butchered pronunciation of the name of her home city as she procured another document from her bag, this time a bank statement.
"Uhh…. how much is sixty million Korean Won in US Dollars?"
"Uhm….about 450k, give or take"
"Sheesh, what the hell are you doin' with this kinda money? I'd better get me that job you're doing…" he said, taking back the consent forms and looking over everything one more time.

"Right. I'm going to approve your application and explain the situation to the principal, man she's gonna drag me into the dirt fer this but I see potential in you, Hana Song" he extended his hand, which Hana gently shook. "I'll be seein' you next Monday, and if yer lucky you'll be in my class. Kids there are nice, if a bit weird. There's a free space there actually since one of the guys in there just moved so you'll slot in there nicely"
"I hope so…" she said timidly, picking up her bags, turning to leave the office with all her papers in order. She quickly turned around one last time to face McCree, before saying "I hope there's at least a cute guy there, otherwise you've got the worst class ever!" she said with a playful giggle, before finally leaving his office. McCree leaned back in his chair and sighed. "She's gonna be a piece of work, I bet" he said, looking at his previous year's class photo.

He couldn't have hit the nail on the head harder with that statement.

Shinjuku, Tokyo, August 4th 20XX, 07:30AM

Hana awoke at the same time she always did, 7:30AM on the button. Today was going to be her one day off this week before she had to start looking for the Yamagami woman and she had work to do, that being continuing to gather evidence on Jonathan Cujoh. It was a miracle she'd found him in the first place, as if fate brought him to her once again as it did eight years ago. He came out of a coffee shop in a hurry, probably late for something to do with whatever job he had in the inner city. In a way, Hana was jealous of Jonathan living a normal life, but knew that when she met him again he would bring her out of the world of the Yakuza and back into the world she missed so much, the world of being a cute gamer couple with nothing to worry about other than each other. She would occasionally think that her actions from the past were maybe too dramatic, but Jonathan was a compassionate man who would forgive her for any misgivings they had. He did marry me after all! she gleefully thought whilst putting her clothing from last night into the washer, Hiromi Hashimoto's scent still pungently hanging onto every fiber of the suit.
Once the clothing was in the wash, she quickly whipped up an omelette for herself to have for breakfast, consisting of eggs (of course), rice and beef, the protein of which let Hana build her strength to maintain her dominant reputation. It was one of the reasons Hashimoto liked Hana so much, she was incredibly powerful physically despite being such a small and somewhat frail looking person. Hana knew it wasn't her natural strength, but a gift of the Widow's Kiss she received all those years ago. The kiss from Amelié Lacroix that changed something in her brain. It allowed her to reach deep into the recesses of her mind and unlock her body's true potential, though she did suffer some intense headaches while doing so, it meant that practically no human was a match for her physically.

After finishing up her breakfast, she went back into her tiny bedroom, the walls plastered with pictures of her and Jonathan from their brief few days spent together in both America and Japan. She unlocked the top drawer of her desk and took out the sole item from within, a letter she wrote three years ago once she finally gained enough trust from the Hashimoto family to be autonomous and live her life freely outside of work. It was addressed to Jonathan and it was a letter that she knew he would understand the meaning of. After all, he was an avid gamer too. He would know what the letter meant, and specifically, who it was from. All she needed now was an address to deliver it to. Despite many attempts, Hana couldn't find his home address online. Only an email address on his work webpage for work related enquiries. Hmmm…maybe…this might work…she said, typing out a quick message on a burner email account she'd made just in case something like this happened. She was always one step ahead, she thought. She knew she had to be prepared for every possible situation with Jonathan, but thankfully she knew that - as far as she was aware - he was alone in Tokyo. Or she had hoped he was. If she found out that he had been cheating on her all this time with another woman, she would have to teach him another lesson in loyalty, just as she did eight years ago when she caught Fareeha Amari stealing a kiss from him and forcing him to say horrible things about their relationship. She knew she had to use a fake name. If Jonathan knew it was her, he might not understand her intent, and keep running away from her. She had come so close, she couldn't let him slip away again.

Subject: Translation Enquiry
From: rebornflower
Dear ,
I'm an undergraduate student who is struggling with translation classes. I was wondering if you could give me a quote on a translation for this document? I'll pay you of course, but I don't have a way to transfer funds set up yet. Could I perhaps hand the payment over to you in person or deliver it to a safe box?
Thanks a million in advance. Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Megami Miyamoto

She attached a small Japanese text file, only one A4 page long, that was simply a poem she'd found online in the back end of the Google search machine. She nervously hit the send button, butterflies flying in her stomach as she realised that this was the first step in making things normal for them both again - in her eyes. She went onto her phone and quickly reconfigured her email application to receive emails and notifications from the burner account and set it as a priority app.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! I can't believe I actually did that! The excited thought ran through her head like a hamster in a plastic ball. Soon, I will finally see him again…I better make sure I have that suit clean of Hashimoto-sama's scent before then! she giggled at her excitement before opening up Steam on her computer to quickly check on her farm in Stardew Valley, something she planned on doing for a while today.

Until she got an email, on the burner account no less, in only a matter of hours.

Kiriko's Apartment, Ueno, Tokyo, August 4th, 09:47AM

After eventually falling asleep only six or seven hours earlier, Jonathan Cujoh woke from his slumber feeling much lighter than he did towards the end of last night, with a headache to boot too. He looked down to his left expecting to see Kiriko still cradling him, but he only noticed a somewhat large stain on his shirt. Probably from her crying all of last night, the poor thing he silently thought. He next wondered about where Kiriko was. The apartment had only two rooms and the bathroom, so if she wasn't in the room across from him she'd be in the bathroom most likely. He quickly checked his phone and saw that he had an email on his work address, but he decided against opening it for now, his head was too groggy to really care about work at all at the moment. He stood up and took a look around the now brightly lit (thanks to the Tokyo sunshine) apartment. It was quite minimalist in its decoration, with a lowered table on a raised section of the floor towards the window, a television with a Nintendo Switch console connected to it, and the kitchen area of the room all being the only real points of note, other than miscellaneous decor like photographs and plantlife. He walked over to the sliding door separating this room from what he assumed to be Kiriko's bedroom. He could hear something from the other side, which meant that Kiriko was clearly behind the door.

"Uhm, Kiriko?" he called out, unsure of what it was she was actually doing. He could hear the sound of metal being placed against metal before the door was opened in front of him, revealing Kiriko and her bedroom in view behind her.
"Ah, good morning sleepy head" she said, ruffling his hair. "You sure slept in for a while huh? The hangover getting to ya?" she winked as she turned back around and re-entered her room. "Come on in, I wanna show you what I've been working on" she said, motioning with her arm for him to follow her inside, to which he obliged.
"Whoa…" his curiosity piqued at the array of kunai and sharpening tools that were on the desk across from her bed. "Pretty neat huh? I think it's cool to have a weapon you're trained in! Like, the people who devote themselves to the sword and stuff, as a kid I thought that was so awesome, seeing my mom and her friend Hanzo practice their swordplay was amazing! But…" she said, trailing off, looking at her kunai again, some of them were tied with a red string to allow immediate retrieval from a target. "...I wanted to be different from them. I wanted to learn how to effectively use a kunai, both as a long distance weapon and as a makeshift knife, but nobody I knew actually knew how to use them other than as a throwing knife."
"So then what?" Jonathan asked, his headache still pounding though the sight of Kiriko's passion made the pain somewhat tolerable to bear.
"I just taught myself! I learned through books and the internet how to be a warrior, because y'know, mom's not getting any younger and despite what people may say, Tokyo's a dangerous place…especially when you're being hunted by the Yakuza. I've had to go through so much, I even was forced to change my name by my mom so that I could hide in plain sight but I still needed to prove to her I was a grown up now. I worked out every day, training my core, my legs and my arm muscles so that I could beat anyone in a knife fight" she said with pride. Jonathan took another quick glance at Kiriko's body, with her in her current outfit of shorts and a tank top (with her bra on of course) he could get a better look at the finer details. Indeed, her muscles were defined, especially her thighs, but they didn't overpower any softness in her look or her features. With normal clothing on, Kiriko Kamori looked like any other woman her age. Jonathan quickly put his attention firmly back onto Kiriko's face.

"Yeah, I bet you could, I mean, those kunai are in immaculate condition…where did you even find them?" he said, picking one without a string attached to it from the table.
"The old lady who comes by the café sometimes gives them to me, I told her that I was interested in them and I guess she either makes them or just has a lot of them" she said, shrugging as she plucked the kunai from Jonathan's hand. "Be careful with that mister translator, these aren't toys" she said playfully, giggling at her own joke. Her eyes then darted to his shirt, the stains from her tears last night covering a small part of the chest area.
"Oh crap, I'm so sorry! I ruined your shirt!" she said frantically tossing the kunai, somewhat carelessly, back onto the table before going over to Jonathan to closely look at the stain. "Here, gimme your shirt, I'll wash it for you and have it looking like new in thirty minutes, if I don't then the next date's on me!"
"Oh so there's gonna be a next time?" he teased, before finishing with "but I'll have to decline the offer of you cleaning my shirt. I'm only five or so minutes away from here and I dunno how I feel abou-"
"I insist!" she said, her hands at the bottom of his shirt now, her attempts to pull it off were met by a tepid resistance from Jonathan.
"K-Kiriko please I don't wann, whu, whaaaa!" he said as they tipped over onto the bed, her body crashing down on top of his, the two of them wrestling each other, the shirt now coming looser and looser with each and every second.
"Please stop! This is not a good idea!" he said frantically trying to prevent her from taking the shirt off.
"C'mon it's my fault dude! Rrrraaah! There we go, finally got it off, see? That wasn't so ba-"
Her gaze turned down to his now exposed chest. It was relatively well defined and maintained. However, she couldn't help but see something that horrified her, her eyes widened and her mouth gaped wide open as her body loosened up its grip on Jonathan, the shirt in her hands falling to the floor as silence began to fill the air.
A single, four letter word was carved into his skin, the red markings making it stick out to her as clear as day.

"Hana…" she said, barely audible, her eyes meeting Jonathans, his slowly filling with a different kind of fear.

Kiriko now knew the true extent of the horrors that occurred on that night eight years ago. It was worse than anything she could have imagined. A physical scar that left with him a more emotional pain than any kind of pain a knife could cause. Jonathan quickly pushed her aside and grabbed his shirt before putting it on.

"I told you…that was a bad idea…" he said, clearly shaken.
"I-I didn't kno-"
"I didn't want you to…not yet…" he said, sitting back down on the bed, but keeping his distance.
"Any time I think of her…any time I remember those times, I feel the pain here. It's not a "real" pain, it's not like it's a physical thing but…I feel weighed down. I feel…

…trapped in her room. In her heart. for what seems like forever" he said as Kiriko looked on, guilt taking over her conscience. "And then I meet people I trust, like my friend Angela, or my mom, or even you and then I think "oh maybe things CAN be different" but then I look in the mirror…" he said.
"Jonathan…I…I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry, I really didn't know!" her eyes pleading him to understand, but they looked at her, filled with pain.
"You said you would bear this pain with me…last night, right?" she said, wiping his eyes.
"And I meant every single word I said last night! I will hold you when you need me to, I will embrace you when you feel the urge to, I will take the pain for you when you need it the most! I don't break my promises, Jonathan. I'm too far gone myself to allow myself to" she said, tears beginning to fall down her face as the guilt overwhelmed her, her desperation at keeping one of her only lights in life alive pouring out with every milliliter of tears shed.
"Kiriko…please, don't cry" he said as she burst into tears, her moaning cries echoing throughout the room.
"I-I-I didn't want to hurt you-"
"I know, Kiriko, look I-"
"Please Jonathannn forgive me!" she cried, looking at him, her pained look triggering a reaction within him. He nudged himself over towards her, and held her tight in his chest.
"You're a big crybaby, you know that?" he said, smiling at her, her crying becoming more of a sniffle as the seconds turned to minutes.
"I…I won't hurt you again Jonathan…I promise you." she said, taking his hand into hers.

"Oh…I've gotten the other side of your shirt dirty now…" she said, looking at her new tear stain that was painted onto his chest.

"Now you really owe me that second date" he said, as they both began to laugh.
"Yeah, I guess I do" she smiled, wiping the tears from her and Jonathans eyes. "Hey…" she said, trying to shift the mood.
"Wanna play some Smash Bros?"

Earlier, at Jonathan's Apartment

The letters on the phone screen glared towards the eyes of Angela Ziegler, who was preparing to get ready to head to the Airport to meet Jesse McCree. He was arriving in only a matter of hours now, but even still she had something to do beforehand. She opened up her Instagram messenger and hovered her finger over the "Call" button beside Vivian Chase's name.
Just do what you always do. Honest deflection. You can't let her in too much. Minor affection. You can't fall for her. Pretend the world is more important than everything else right now and it should be okay. A promise you know you can keep, she'll appreciate that she hesitantly pressed the call button, letting it ring out a few times.

But an answer never came. Strange, thought Angela. She tried again, maybe Vivian suddenly needed the bathroom.

Still no answer at all. Was this a trick? A weird joke of some kind? The usually cool and collected Angela began to grow ever so frustrated at her 'lovers' lack of an answer. She rolled her eyes, not allowing herself to let this woman get to her. Before she could set her phone down, she felt it vibrate suddenly in her hand.

Ah so that's how it's going to be, huh…she thought as she saw Vivian's name come up on the screen, hitting the answer button.

"You're not one to usually keep a lady waiting, you normally like to cut to th-"
"Yeah yeah, tell me something I don't know" Vivian said wearily at Angela's attempt at an overplayed joke. "How you holdin' up Angie?" she asked, sounding quite tired.
"I'm good, jet lag is finally wearing off I think" she blatantly lied. Not about the jet lag though, if anything was affecting her body clock now, it was the sudden revelation about Hana. "How's work? You sound tired, you poor thing" she sympathetically said, somewhat feeling Vivian's mood through her tone of voice.
"It's rough lately, Talon's been stirring again. We thought we had them pushed back decently but they got funding from fuckin' somewhere, I dunno how and now they're causing the Canadian government massive problems, I had to clear out three bomb threats today in Toronto alone…" her stress seemingly was getting the better of her.
"...I miss you Angie…I wanna see you again, soon" she pleaded over the phone, Angela though simply didn't want anything to do with her right now. Her body though, was a different story. It had been months since she got any action from anyone, not just Vivian. She had to resist the urge to open Tinder up and swipe right on any good looking guy she could find there, she was in Japan for a reason and time was somewhat of the essence, she couldn't afford to fool around.

But it did feel very, very appealing right now…

Kiriko's Apartment, 11:00AM

"WHAAAAAAAAAT! HOW DID YOU WIN AGAIN!?" Kiriko said in astonishment. She had gone seven matches in a row without winning a single one, bewildered how someone "as good as her" at games could even lose once, never mind seven times in a row. She didn't realise that the man she was with had the pedigree to call himself one of the only people in the world to ever beat a former World Video Game Champion in a fighting game.
"I guess it's just a skill issue" Jonathan shrugged as he put his controller down, Kiriko giving him an ice cold glare from within the jaws of defeat.
"You just got lucky" she pouted, before heading into the bathroom to adjust her hair that she'd messed up while gaming. Jonathan quickly opened up his phone to check the email he'd gotten earlier, his head now in a better space to do so. He read the contents of the email, perplexed by the clients wish to hand physical money over to him or deposit it in a safe place. The document itself was incredibly small, in fact he could effectively translate it in seconds if he needed to.
"Easiest ten thousand yen I'll ever make…" he said quietly as he typed in a quick reply, attaching a translation of the document to the email.

Subject: Re: Translation Enquiry
From: cujojo
Dear Ms. Miyamoto,
Please find attached the translated document and invoice for the service. Thank you for choosing me to assist you. The document is protected by a password which I will remove once I receive the payment. If I am not at the office when you arrive, please deliver the payment through the letterbox at the address attached to the receipt.
Thank You.
Jonathan Cujoh

"I better text to let Angela know there might be a knock at the door later…" he said, as he hit the send button right as Kiriko came out of the bathroom, her hair now tied back in a ponytail with a fierce look on her face.

"Ready for round 8? I'll win this time!" she said, pumped up. Jonathan let out an exasperated sigh as he picked up the controller from in front of him again.
"Okay, but this is the last one. Let's go get lunch after this" he suggested. "Sure, did you have a place in mind?" she said, sitting down beside him as they chose a stage to play on. "How about Karaoke near the station? We can get some food AND have fun at the same time!" she gleefully said as she picked her character, Zelda. Jonathan picked Terry.

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

Outside Jonathan Cujoh's apartment, 12:45PM

*ba-dump* *ba-dump*

The metal and wooden door in front of Hana Song seemed like an impassable Monolith. It was the final obstacle in the way of her destiny, she thought. Despite it being an ordinary door, she froze at the sight of his, her legs losing a small bit of strength from her nerves. This was it. This was what she had been waiting nearly a decade for. Behind this door was the key to her eternal happiness. She had covered her face with a mask and sunglasses, tying her hair back too, to make sure nobody recognised her from the Hashimoto clan. She had to be careful even when just going about her daily life.

*ba-dump* *ba-dump*

Her heart was racing. Her nerves were flying. Her heart was fluttering. Her skin was sweating.

*ba-dump* *ba-dump*

She slowly raised her right hand, keeping her left at her side, holding the sealed envelope containing her letter and the single 10,000 yen note, chump change to her really.

*ba-dump* *ba-dump*

She timidly knocked on the door, hearing sounds of rustling coming from inside. Her breathing was scattered and nervous.
Here he comes. Here he comes! Here he comes! HerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecomesHerehecom-

"May I help you?" a voice called out from in front of him, speaking very formal - and basic - Japanese.

It was not the voice she was expecting or wanting to hear. It was a woman, about an inch taller than Hana. A woman Hana knew very well from her past.

A-Angela Ziegler? A woman who Hana hated with all her heart. A woman who tried to keep Jonathan away from her. For what reason, Hana never knew, but she didn't trust her, not after what happened that night eight years ago.

"Hellloooo?" Angela called out to Hana again. Her lack of a reaction was at least a confirmation to Hana that she didn't recognise her. She had to quickly talk her way out of the situation. She decided to put on a thicker accent than her normal Japanese accent (which already sounded too distinct due to her Korean origin) to sound less suspicious. She couldn't let Angela know she was alive. If she found out, everything would be over in an instant, or Hana would - worst comes to worst - kill her on the spot.

"Is this the office of Jonathan Cujoh?" asked Hana.
"Oh yeah that's right, he mentioned that there would be a client today, yes, this is his office…well, home is a better way of putting it. Do you have the payment?" she quizzed the woman in front of her.
"Yes, it's in this envelope" she said, holding it out to Angela, who took it from her. Hana bowed, as much as she hated doing it to the woman she hated so much, and said thank you to Angela before leaving, who did the same to Hana.

"What a strange woman…" thought Angela, as she closed the door behind her, setting the envelope down on Jonathan's bed, a place he could clearly see it in, not knowing what the envelope truly contained.

(Authors Note: Hana Song finally comes into contact with Angela Ziegler, a woman who's heart yearns for a real connection after another tepid phone call, for this first time in eight years as McCree finds himself lost in the past, as he often does. Jonathan and Kiriko have a rocky moment together but their resolve helps them understand each other just that little bit extra. What exactly does Hana's letter say, and how will Jonathan react to it? How will Hana go about her mission from the Hashimoto? We'll see soon enough. Once again, huge thanks to you all for reading and leaving the reviews on the story. This is by far the longest chapter I've ever written and I think I did a good enough job here. Please continue to give me feedback, good and bad, as we continue on with the plot. See you next time everyone!)