A Strange Gift

It was another cold morning in Kahoru's apartment. She had woken up before her alarm rang. She sat up slowly, not wanting to disturb Kanna, who was peacefully sleeping next to her. She rubbed her eyes and quietly got up to sneak into the bathroom.

She started her day with the usual, brushed her teeth, washed her face, a bit of skincare and put some light makeup on. She walked to her wardrobe to pick out her outfit for the day and decided to wear a cream coloured woolly turtle neck and black dress pants. After getting ready, she went to the kitchen and cooked up some udon for breakfast.

Meanwhile, in the next room, Kanna had woken up from the pleasant smell of food. She sat up and stretched as she yawned. She quietly folded up the futon and placed it in the wardrobe and went to get ready.

Kahoru had just finished cooking and decided to go to the next room to wake up Kanna, so she could get the table ready. When she walked in, The futon had already been folded and put away. Kanna was already in the bathroom. Kahoru set up the small table and placed down the udon bowls. She also made freshly brewed milk tea specifically for Kanna as today was the last morning with her before Kanna left to stay at another friend's house.

Kahoru sat down on the side of the table and turned the television on. She switched to the news. The first thing that showed, was a reporter who was talking to a man in front of a store. Kahoru let out a huge cry when she saw the man.

Kanna had just finished doing her makeup and heard Kahoru's cry. She panicked and immediately rushed out to the room to see what had happened. She saw Kahoru sitting next to the table staring at the television, her mouth gaping wide open. "Kahoru, what happened?" Kanna gave Kahoru such a worried look.

Kahoru continued to stare at the screen, slowly pointing her finger at the screen. Kanna looked at the television and saw his face. She too also let out a huge cry. The man that was on television, was Keiichi. Kanna quickly walked to the table and tried to get Kahoru's attention away from the screen.

"Kahoru, you made my favourite things today!!"

Kahoru looked at Kanna and looked at her food trying to avoid eye contact. In a quiet voice, Kahoru said, "I thought I would make it since we probably won't see each other anytime soon after."

"You're so cute Kahoru." Kanna gave a huge grin.

Kahoru blushed and she mumbled, "No I'm not."

They started to eat and watched the news watching why Keiichi was on there. He was giving a tour of a store that has just opened in the Ginza mall. He talked in a confident manner and showed off the jewellery that they had for sale. At the end of the tour, he showed the fancy sign that was in front of the store. The store name. It was called Love Luxury. "I hope you can drop by this wonderful store, especially if you want to find something for your loved one. Thank you." Keiichi bowed at the camera.

The news switched back to the studio and the reporters continued talking about the other topics. Kanna's eyes sparkled at the Jewellery. "They are so gorgeous."

Kahoru did not care. Jewellery was the last thing she would wear. It was very uncomfortable for her to wear.

After eating, Kahoru cleaned up as Kanna packed up the rest of her things. Kahoru's shift did not start until noon and it was about ten in the morning. She had some time until then.

Kanna's phone started to ring. She reached out for her phone and answered the call, "Hello? Yeah, I'll be down soon. Okay, see you." Kanna then hung up the phone and zipped her suitcase up. Kahoru and Kanna made their way downstairs. They got to the entrance of the apartment and a small silver hatchback was waiting. A lady was leaning on the car as she was on her phone. Kanna quickly walked up to her with an excited expression, "I'm here Mizu-chan!"

The woman looked up and put her phone away and smiled. "Ah, Kanna you're here."

"Mizuki, this is Kahoru. Kahoru, Mizuki." Kanna patted them both on the back.

Kahoru bowed first, "I'm Yukimura Kahoru. Nice to meet you."

Mizuki then bowed back, "I'm Hasegawa Mizuki. Pleased to meet you too."

Kahoru was taken aback from Mizuki's last name. It reminded her of Keiichi. "I uh-"

Mizuki interrupted Kahoru, "Yes I am a relative of him. Kanna was talking to me about him when we ran into each other. My family does not associate with his side of the family."

"Oh..." Kahoru did not know what to say. 'how did she know that I was going to ask about him?' Kahoru thought to herself.

Kanna then butted in, " Mizu-chan is a bit open."

"I can see that."

"Doctor Yukimura," Mizuki looked at Kahoru with a serious look, "I heard from my grandmother about you, and when I found out you and Kanna were friends, I felt like I needed to meet you. I have some things to tell you and some are about your past with him."

Kahoru's mind could not process anything. She did not expect that Kanna's friend was a relative of Keiichi. As she was trying to process the information, Mizuki handed Kahoru a piece of paper. Kahoru looked at the paper and saw a phone number on it.

"What is this for?" Kahoru was puzzled.

"Call me when you want to talk, or maybe I'll just come over." Mizuki smiled.

"I'll talk to you when I'm ready."

"Okay. Please do." Mizuki said as she walked over to her car and opened the trunk of her car and Kanna put her suitcase in.

Kanna then walked towards Kahoru and gave her a hug. Kahoru hugged her back. "I will see you in a couple of months Kahoru." She hopped in the car. Mizuki bowed at Kahoru and walked to the other side, hopping into the driver's seat.

When the car started, Kanna rolled the window down, realising she had forgotten to tell her something, "By the way Kahoru, I left a present for you on the kitchen bench. I hope you will use it when the time is right. Bye!" The car then drove off, leaving Kahoru confused.

Kahoru then went back upstairs to her apartment, curious to what Kanna had given her. Walking in, she went straight to the kitchen to see a small neatly wrapped present sitting on the bench. Kahoru took the present with her to the next room and sat down. She started to unwrap the present. It was quite soft. After opening it; to her surprise, there was a cream coloured long-sleeved blouse. It had soft ruffles on the collar and on the end of the sleeves. As she lifted the blouse, there was a black thigh-length pencil skirt to be paired with it.

Kahoru was shocked that Kanna had bought such nice clothes for her. After lifting the pencil skirt, there was one more thing that was neatly folded that made her squeal in horror. She dropped the skirt and her jaw was wide open. The next time she was going to see Kanna, she was going to give Kanna a mouthful. Her eye started to twitch and her face had turned red in embarrassment.

She slowly lifted the items. It was a set of lingerie. The set had a black lacy bra with a black lacy thong. "Y-You can s-see everything if I ever wore this." She was mortified. Kahoru then noticed a small note and picked it up. It read:

Dear Kahoru, I hope you like the gifts I have given you. You need better clothes and also, I bought you the lingerie set so you can use it when the time comes. Huhu!

Love Kanna

Kahoru quickly put the clothes away. She was extremely embarrassed by them and it was time she had to leave to go to work. She put her coat on and grabbed her bag. She took the bus and after a while, she got off near the hospital. She then walked into the building.

When she walked in, one of the nurses rushed up to her. He looked quite panicked, "Doctor, we need you right now, it's an emergency."

"What happened?"

"A girl around the age of fifteen just arrived in hospital with a pain in her stomach and we found out it was appendicitis. None of the doctors are available and we were just about to call you."

"Then what are we waiting for? Get the operating room ready."

"Yes doctor." The nurse quickly rushed back to the other nurses to get the room ready. Kahoru quickly made her way towards the locker room before she was stopped by a woman. Her eyes widened in shock.

The woman standing right in front of her was no other than Risa. She was glaring at Kahoru with her arms crossed and tapped her foot against the ground. When Kahoru tried to walk around her, Risa tried to block her.

Kahoru became impatient, "Please move. I need to get changed for an emergency surgery."

Kahoru managed to push past Risa and continued to walk.

"Don't act like you don't know me, Yukimura Kahoru."

Kahoru stopped dead in her tracks. She was more shocked to find out Risa had finally recognised her. She turned her head around and with her glare, the atmosphere around them immediately became cold and tense.

Risa flinched at the way Kahoru glared at her. She was a little frightened by it.

Kahoru clicked her tongue, "Tsk, I really don't know who you are."

As Kahoru started to walk away, Risa stomped her foot and quickly followed after Kahoru. She was so furious that steam may as well come out of her nose and ears. "It is me Risa."

Kahoru once again stopped and then Risa bumped into Kahoru's back. Without turning around, Kahoru let out one word, "And?" Her cold words had left Risa frozen.

Risa was baffled and stood in the middle of the hall as she watched Kahoru's back disappearing within the nurses and doctors. Her hands were clenched and she let out a shriek. The patients and staff all stopped to look at the woman who just shrieked.

Risa did not notice the attention she was gathering as she was too angry to even think about the people around her and stomped out of the hospital. Everyone turned to look at each other confused.

Kahoru, on the other hand, had just finished changing into her scrubs and went to the operating theatre. She thoroughly washed her hands next to the room. After disinfecting herself, she walked into the theatre and she wore on her gloves and a surgical mask.

The atmosphere was tense and she began the operation. "Scalpel."

...

In a large office was a man, who has just finished a meeting with the executives of the company.

The young man walking just behind him, spoke in a panicked voice, "Boss, how could reject every single idea from them?"

Takahiro continued walking and sighed, "They're not good enough."

"If they're not good enough, why don't you do it yourself?" Realising what he said, the man quickly gasped and covered his mouth.

Takahiro came to a halt. "Tanaka Ryoma."

"Y-Yes boss?" Ryoma became worried. His boss only said his full name when he was angry. He gulped and pulled the collar of his dress shirt. He thought that it may be the last day he was ever alive.

"Do you want me to cut your salary in half?"

"No boss."

"Good. Now stop saying nonsense."

"Yes boss."

Takahiro started walking again with Ryoma quickly trailing behind him. Tanaka Ryoma was one of Takahiro's two secretaries. He had been working closely with Takahiro for the past few years. Takahiro was impressed by how organised Ryoma was, but Ryoma was a bit chatty and would blurt out things without a second thought, often accidentally saying snarky remarks to his boss. Takahiro did not care, in fact, he found it entertaining as no one would dare to talk about him in such an ill manner.

Ryoma reached for his tablet and checked Takahiro's schedule. He scrolled down to find when the next meeting was. "Boss, the next meeting is in half an hour with CEO Hasegawa and his team."

"Mm."

"They want to expand their store to a few more locations around Tokyo."

"Okay. I will be in my office until he comes. You can take a break."

"Thank you, boss." Ryoma bowed at Takahiro and made his way down to a cafe as Takahiro went back to his office. He continued to sign paperwork.

After ordering a coffee, Ryoma sat down, took his laptop out and drank his coffee as he scrolled through Takahiro's schedule. He typed away answering to emails. Whilst focusing on his work, a man sat right in front of him.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat and tapped fingers against the table.

Instinctively, Ryoma looked up at the man and his eyebrows furrowed. "Do you mind?"

The man laughed. "No, I don't."

"Well, I do Mr Hasegawa. Please sit elsewhere, I am quite busy." Ryoma started to type again and all of a sudden, Keiichi pushed the laptop lid and closed it, causing it to jam Ryoma's fingers. Ryoma twitched his eye in pain and glared at Keiichi.

Keiichi smirked and he stood up. He did not like Ryoma or anyone else who was related to Risa. Risa had told him that the Yukimura family and Tanaka family had bullied her family, which angered Keiichi. He made sure they would have a hard time with him around. He scoffed and started to walk away.

"See ya."