The Little Girl's Mother and Father

After finishing their breakfast, Kahoru went to wash the dishes. Kanna was cleaning up the table, then she went into the kitchen. Kanna then put the paper towel she used to clean in the bin and tapped Kahoru's shoulder. "Hey Kahoru, I was wondering if we could go out today?"

"Uh sure. Where do you want to go?" Kahoru asked. She was curious since Kanna already had seen most of Tokyo as she had grown up in the city when she was younger. She ended up moving to America due to her father's work.

"There's a nice shopping mall in Ginza. I really want to go there."

"Ah okay. Then we'll go there. I know the way! I was there yesterday." Kahoru answered Kanna.

Kanna tilted her head in confusion. She giggled hearing Kahoru's words, "You went shopping? I've never seen you go shopping, ever."

"Well, I did." Kahoru continued washing the dishes and not realising the shocked look Kanna had on her face.

"So what did you buy?"

"A dress."

There was a short pause. Kanna was even more confused.

"You? A dress? Why?" she continued to question.

"My father wanted me to buy one for a special occasion."

"Ahh. Now that makes sense. I thought you were going crazy."

"I'm not."

"If you say so... I'm going to get ready first."

"Any normal person would buy clothes for herself."

"Not you Miss Yukimura!" Kanna laughed and then ran off into the bathroom.

Kahoru sighed. "Jeez, what is her problem?"

...

Roughly an hour had passed, both women were ready to head out. They left the apartment building and there was a black Rolls Royce was parked in front of the entranceway. A tall man was leaning against the car while messaging someone on his phone. He noticed two women walking out of the building and recognised Kahoru. He stood up straight and walked towards her.

Upon seeing the man, Kahoru became flustered. She did not expect to see Takahiro.

"You! W-what are you doing here?"

"Checking out where you lived."

"What are you? A stalker?"

"No."

"H-how did you find my address?"

"Your father."

"My father?" Kahoru's annoyance had turned to anger. Kanna tried to calm Kahoru, but it wasn't very helpful.

Kanna butted in and she asked, "Excuse me, may I ask who you are?"

Takahiro smirked, "Her fiance."

"My what?" Kahoru could not process what was going on. Takahiro had shown up out the blue and announced to Kanna that they were engaged. She was livid and tried to slap Takahiro's face but he caught Kahoru's wrist in time.

"My my, you've always been so feisty." he teased.

"Only 'cause you're here," Kahoru replied as she struggled to get out of Takahiro's grip. She tried to pull away but it only made Takahiro's grip became tighter. He pulled Kahoru towards him and put his arm around her waist.

"H-Hey you pervert! What are you doing!?"

All of a sudden, Kanna let out a shriek. "Eeeek!"

"Kanna, what's wrong?" Kahoru finally freed herself from Takahiro's grip and rushed to Kanna. Takahiro's ears felt like they were going to pop.

"You're engaged? Why didn't you tell me? When did this happen? How did this happen? When did you meet him? You're getting married to such a handsome man!"

"Kanna, enough!" Kahoru yelled.

"But-"

"No buts!"

"Well, in that case, I'm going to the mall first. I'll leave you two love birds alone."

Just as Kanna was about to walk off, Takahiro grabbed Kanna's shoulder. "You two, in my car now."

"What?" Kanna was in shocked. She felt like she was dreaming to be able to ride in a luxury car. She then opened the door and climbed into the front passenger seat excitedly.

"Kanna, wait!" Kahoru was rushing after her, but Takahiro stopped her. He put his hand on her shoulder and leaned in towards Kahoru's ear. He said in a low voice, "Just play along. I need to talk to you later."

"Fine." Kahoru reluctantly agreed. Takahiro opened the back passenger door and let Kahoru go in first. Takahiro joined after.

"Sir, Where are you headed?" The driver in the front seat asked.

"Well Kahoru, Where are we headed?" Takahiro looked at Kahoru.

"Ginza shopping district," Kahoru spoke.

"You heard the lady," Takahiro stated.

"Yes, sir." The driver replied and drove off towards Ginza.

...

It was painfully silent the entire trip towards the district, you could hear a pin drop. The atmosphere was awkward until the driver finally broke the silence. "We have arrived."

He had parked on the side of the road and stepped out of the car. He walked over to the passenger seat and opened the door for Kanna. Kanna climbed out and knocked on the back window. The windows then rolled down and Takahiro's face became visible. His face was quite gloomy and stern which caused a little discomfort in Kanna.

Kahoru leaned towards Takahiro and spoke to Kanna. "Kanna, can you go ahead? I will join you later."

"Oh? The couple needs some private time hey?" Kanna gave them both a wink and giddily skipped off towards the shopping district.

"H-hey!" Kahoru became angry. Kanna was misunderstanding the entire situation.

"Settle down." Takahiro calmly said.

"But-" Kahoru was about to complain until Takahiro interrupted her.

"Driver please stay outside until I call you back in."

"Yes, sir." The driver bowed and walked away to a safe distance. Takahiro then rolled up the windows. He gave a long sigh. Sounding annoyed, Kahoru took the initiative to talk first.

"Uh, what did you want to talk about?"

"We are going to get married either way."

"What do you mean? I refuse to get married to you." Kahoru was displeased.

"Our parents apparently have both our signatures on a marriage document. My sister overheard that they already handed it in."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"They must've gotten someone to make us sign without us knowing."

Kahoru thought back to the day she was rushed to sign a few documents. "I think I remember when a nurse ran in with a pile of documents. One of them did look strange, but I signed it regardless because the nurse made it seemed like it was needed immediately."

"You are stupid."

"I am not!"

"Tell me why you signed it."

"A nurse rushed me. Also, WHY did you sign it?"

"Ugh." Takahiro groaned in annoyance. He was not happy. He did not want to marry the noisy creature that was next to him. "I guess they were planning this the whole time. We've been played."

"Even if we were to get married, we can still divorce." Kahoru leaned her head on the window.

"I guess you aren't so stupid as I thought."

"Again, I am not."

"I will make preparations later. Lets file for a divorce in a week"

"Good to hear."

"I still don't know why they set me up with such a noisy girl."

"Well, I don't know why THEY set me up with a mean bull like you."

"Tsk, why don't you get out now you airhead?"

"Ugh, I will." Kahoru opened the door and stormed out, she was very close to starting another fight with Takahiro. She walked off towards the district, Takahiro called his driver.

Kahoru angrily walked towards the district and reached out to her phone. She called Kanna. After a few rings, Kanna answered. "Kahoru, Are you done?"

"Yeah. Where are you?"

"In the Ginza mall. I'll be waiting at the main entrance."

"Okay, see you there." Kahoru hung up the phone and quickly made her way to the entrance of the Mall.

...

Kanna walked outside and stood next to the automatic doors. When she saw Kahoru arriving, she waved at Kahoru. "Kahoru, over here!"

Kahoru noticed and walked towards Kanna was standing. Kanna quickly linked arms with Kahoru. "Let's go." She cheered.

"Mm." Kahoru replied as she was being dragged along. They walked around the mall, as they browsed and shop.

...

It had been an hour since they were in the mall, and Kahoru was already exhausted from being dragged around. Kahoru stumbled across a seat and decided to take a rest. Kanna went off to do more shopping and disappeared within the crowd of shoppers. Kahoru reached out for her phone and started to play a crossword game to pass the time.

As Kahoru began to relax, she heard a small sniffle next to her. She turned to see who was making the noise. It was a small girl. The little girl wiped her tears and snot away with her sleeve as she continued to cry to herself.

Kahoru put her phone away and stood up. She kneeled in front of the girl and tried to give comfort to the child. "Hey kid, where are your parents?"

The little girl looked at Kahoru with tears in her eyes. "I don't know. I want mummy."

"Do you want me to help you find her?" Kahoru's voice was soft and gentle, as her eyes were too. The child was extremely cute, Kahoru resisted the urge to squeeze her cheeks.

"Yes please," she said quietly.

"What's your name?" Kahoru asked. She patted the little girls back as the girl sniffled.

"N-Natsuki."

"Natsuki? That's a cute name. Let's go and find your mother." Kahoru stood up and offered the little girl her hand. Natsuki was hesitant but agreed and held Kahoru's hand. Before Kahoru was about to walk off, Kanna had come back to check on Kahoru.

Kanna's Jaw dropped. A little girl was holding Kahoru's hand. Kanna rushed towards Kahoru. "Kaho!"

Upon hearing her name, Kahoru turned around. Kanna caught up to her and looked at the little girl. "Who is this child?" Kanna asked.

"Her name is Natsuki. She lost her mother and I'm going to take her to customer service."

"Ahh, the poor girl! I will come with you." Kanna said with determination. She walked by Kahoru and they all walked towards the customer service area. "Kahoru, I bumped into a middle school friend. We were close back in the days and she offered me to stay over at her house. I figured I wouldn't burden you and I'd be bored out of my mind if I stayed at your house."

"Ahh is that so? Then go ahead. I'll be working for the rest of the week."

"Yay! She's picking me up tomorrow morning."

As they chatted, they had finally made their way to the customer service desk. Kahoru walked up to the desk and as she was about to say something, a lady shouted out Natsuki's name.

"Natsuki! There you are!" She ran towards the little girl and hugged her.

"Wahhh! Mummy!" Natsuki started to cry in her mother's arms. The lady was extremely flustered.

"Natsuki! Don't ever walk off on your own like that again."

"I won't anymore. I promise."

Then, a man's voice was heard, "Natsuki you little rascal! Why did you run off like that?"

"Papa!" After letting go of her mother, Natsuki ran to her father and hugged him.

Kahoru and Kanna whispered to each other and started to walk away, not wanting to interrupt them.

"Wait!" The mother cried out.

"Yes?" Kahoru stopped. She turned around to look at the mother. She got a clear look and her eyes widened. She silently gasped. The lady smiled at her. "Thank you so much! How can we repay you?"

Kahoru was speechless. She recognised her. It was definitely her. The lady did not change much, except that she had bags under her eyes and looked a bit more tired than before. Kahoru gulped. The father joined in with his wife and bowed at Kahoru. "Really, thank you."

It was them. It was Yuuki and Jun. To think she would run into them again. Kahoru had flashbacks of the day of the high school reunion. She grasped both of her hands tightly. It was like fate, there could have been a reason to why they met like this.

She was not ready to face them. She wanted to break down and apologise to them about how stubborn she was back then, but she was not ready to hear them tell her that they would never forgive her for what she had done.

Kanna noticed that Kahoru was inattentive and tapped her shoulder firmly. "Are you okay?"

Kanna's tap brought Kahoru back into reality and she instantly bowed at the couple. "You don't need to repay me. I will be leaving now. Sorry." Kahoru turned back around and walked off in a panic. Kanna quickly followed behind.

Kahoru walked out of the shopping centre. She stopped and took a deep breath.

"Kaho! Are you okay?" Kanna asked.

"I think I'm going to go home early. You can stay and shop if you want to."

"No no. I' staying with you until you are alright."

"I'll be okay."

"No, you won't be."

"Okay okay, you win. Let's go back." she quickly gave in.

On the way back home, it started to rain. Kahoru nor Kanna had brought an umbrella. They ran quickly back home. They were soaked by the time they made it back to the apartment. They went upstairs and took turns taking a bath. Kahoru had ordered some fried chicken to be delivered. When the food arrived, they dined in and watched a romance movie. Kanna was emotional and wept towards the ending. Kahoru was judging Kanna. Romantic shows were always too cheesy to her.

It was getting late. The girls tucked themselves in Kahoru's futon and Kanna instantly passed out. Kahoru had too many thoughts running through her mind that night. Her father had forced her and Takahiro into a marriage and that she had run into Yuuki and Jun out of everyone at the mall. It felt like life was trying to ruin her again.

She quietly got up, put on a robe and walked onto the balcony quietly so she wouldn't wake up Kanna. She sat down on a chair and looked out toward the city, as the chilly breeze blew at her face. She sighed. Her tears began to well up in her eye as a tear rolled down her face.

"I should've never come back to Japan." She quietly uttered to herself. Her chest felt heavy and for the first time in 3 years, she began to cry. Silently to herself.