Chapter XXIV.

After the final bell had rung, announcing the end of classes, Shunsui informed me that he has a rendezvous with a few girls from our school and that, therefore, I was free to go home, and didn't have to attend extracurriculars if I didn't want to. However, Mister and his friend didn't miss to inform me that I still had to prepare them their bentō for tomorrow at my home, and they gave me a list of what they wanted to eat for me to buy the ingredients. 

On the spot, I accepted everything, for it offered me the occasion to pay my mother a second visit at the hospital for the day, but when I went through the list once again, I couldn't help but feel a bit cynical.

'Eh?! Where am I going to find these? Most of these ingredients are near impossible to find!'

I hung my head, dragging my feet under me in the corridor of the hospital.

'Shunsui really treats me like his slave. And the worse is Gōjun. He thinks that he can treat me like a slave too, as of right, because of Shunsui,' I mumbled to myself, dejectedly.

I had arrived in front of my mother's room now. 

As I started to open the door, suddenly, a familiar, male voice came from behind me, asking, 'You're speaking to yourself?'

Flushing up in embarrassment, I looked around and my eyes fell onto the director of the hospital, who was holding himself there, several feet away from me, and giving me a small smile. 

It was so unusual to find this man smiling that, just like the first I had seen a smile on his lips, I couldn't help but be dazzled by it.

'Shall we go out and speak for a moment?' he asked, and I took a glance at the door of my mother's bedroom for a second, hesitating, before I looked back at him, and nodded in answer. 

I wondered how things were going on with his son. I had not had the chance to meet him again ever since the day we had taken a meal together.

He led me downstairs to his car and we found ourselves at the same restaurant as the other day, sitting at the same table. It was only after our respective meals had been served that he began to talk to me.

'I've been able to follow your advice,' he informed me.

I almost cringed. 

Eh?! So soon?! 

He's rapid! 

But this shows how much he wants things to get better between his son and himself!

I held my breath, my heart pounding, as I inquired, in a murmur, 'And, how did it turn out?'

He took a deep breath and exhaled, 'Very badly. The moment he realized that I'm trying to get close to him, he completely closed on himself, just like he would always do. He doesn't speak much to me anymore ever since we have returned from our trip.'

My heart sunk; a feeling of profound disappointment and guilt washing over me.

Because of me, not only the gap between the dark-haired male and his son didn't reduce itself, but on the whole contrary, it has widened!

Jumping to my feet instantly, I bowed down, apologizing to him with fervor.

'Sit down again! You're putting me to shame there!' he uttered, under his breath, and I followed his eyes around of the room, at the people who were present in the restaurant and who were staring at us in puzzlement.

I flushed bright red. 

I had been so quick to demonstrate my emotions that I had forgotten that we were not alone and had attracted everyone's attention on us, making us an object of curiosity!

'I'm sorry,' I apologized, in embarrassment, sitting myself down again.

'Listen, it's not your fault,' he asserted. 'You shouldn't feel guilty about anything. In fact, I wanted to thank you.'

My eyes widened at him in surprise.

'This voyage has helped me to understand something vital,' he said, before asking me, rhetorically, 'I didn't tell you the other day how I came to know my son and adopted him, did I?'

I shook my head in answer.

'Well, to tell you everything, his biological parents are extremely rich and famous people; his father is a great politician, and his mother, an idol. My father, who was of same profession as myself, was their family doctor, or more particularly, he was the treating doctor of their son. You see, my son, who was their son, suffers from asthma, and when, he was a kid, it was quite severe. His parents were married, but there was no love, no tenderness in their couple. And as you might have guessed it, the fact that he grew up in an unloving, dysfunctional family didn't arrange things for him. His parents didn't care about him. They were violent towards each other, and it even happened to them once or twice to show themselves violent towards him. And then, when he turned fifteen, they abandoned him legally. That's when I stepped up to adopt him.'

'I see,' I whispered, deeply troubled by his son's story.

'Since I have started to work with my father from the day I left high school itself, I have known him ever since he's a baby, and when my father died, I was already qualified to practice and became his treating doctor. But, our relationship had always been strictly formal- too much to my own taste- and as I had already told you the other day, even after I adopted him, things never evolved between us. I have tried countless of times to break the wall between us, but he never allowed me to. The only person that he opens himself, to is his best friend, whom he knows since elementary school.'

'He's scared,' I murmured, thoughtfully, feeling sad. 'He's scared that you would abandon him too, just like his parents have done. He's scared to open himself to anyone else, apart from his best friend- on whom he surely knows that he can always count, he can always rely on, and who will never abandon him- because he fears that any other person might cause him pain, break his heart, hurt his feelings, and end up rejecting him; he's scared of being left hurt and abandoned if he starts to care and be cared for.'

When I realized that what I had meant to think only to myself, I had spoken out loud enough for the dark-haired man to hear, my head snapped up to look at his expression instantly.

I wanted to apologize for making such statements as if I knew his son personally, but before I could, he gave me a meek smile, telling me, 'Thanks to this voyage, I have come to the same conclusion. Before that, I didn't know for sure what was stopping him. But this voyage has helped me to understand this.'

I became silent.

'And I have decided that I will not do anything forceful to go towards him; I'll wait for him to come to me on his own.'

At this, my heart fluttered with hope, and I asserted, fervidly, 'I'm sure that he will!'

His eyes widened at me a little, before another smile came to his lips, his expression becoming less sorrowful.

I was fully convinced that it was only a matter of time before the wall between his son and him would crumble down. 

When I parted with the doctor, it was too late for me to visit my mother at the hospital. But it didn't sadden me too much though, for thanks to this conversation, I have realized that the dark-haired man actually did hid a soft and kind heart behind his hard and intimidating exterior. 

Strangely, this reminded me of the description of the father of the only young man Katsura-san has ever loved in her life. 

***

In the night….

Whenever I would return from work, I would pause down for a minute downstairs on the street in front of the shop, to look at the window of the small apartment which gave off directly onto the street, with a strange sensation of expectation mixed with agitation in my heart, at whether the light in the kitchen was still on.

And tonight, this sensation was more powerful than on the eve. Perhaps, it was because Obā-san hasn't spoken to me even once ever since the party. 

I clutched the front of my blouse with both of my hands and held my breath as I lifted my eyes slowly to look at the window, only for my heart to flutter when I saw that there was light coming from the kitchen.

It filled me with a certain feeling of joy, and very quickly, I ran upstairs and entered the door of the apartment. Obā-san was indeed still awake and she was working in the kitchen. However, I noticed that she had prepared more dough than she normally would. I remembered at that moment that she has a big order for the morrow, as well as several other ones for the week, and that this was most probably the only reason she was still awake. Nevertheless, I didn't allow this information to crush the instance of joy that I had felt, and instead, I decided to see it as an occasion for me to spend time in her company, and perhaps, hopefully, arrange things between us.

'You have a big order for tomorrow, haven't you? Please, let me help you!' I proposed. 

My heart was drumming. I was scared that she might refuse. But she didn't say anything. She was still refusing to speak to me, but this gave me the chance to take her silence for a yes. 

Hitching my sleeves up, I headed for the kitchenette to get to work immediately. 

Not once, did we exchange a word with each other during the whole night, but I knew that there was tomorrow, and day after tomorrow, and thereby, I refused to give up.

***

The next morning, I was so tired that I woke up late, and was unable to visit my mother at the hospital. I headed for school directly. It was Natsui's big day. 

After classes were over, Shunsui, Gōjun, the ginger-haired girl and I parted with one another to head for our respective homes to change our clothes, only to meet up again a short while later at the metro station, where Natsui's date had given her rendezvous.

And as could be expected, Gōjun was sulking, and Shunsui didn't make things easier.

'Since you're supposed to be boyfriend and girlfriend, shouldn't you be holding hands?' the reddish-brown-haired young man declared at the two of us, teasingly, before he covered his mouth with his hand to giggle to himself.

My cheeks took a shade of red.

'Don't push the plug too far!' Gōjun muttered at him, but his words fell on deaf ears. 

'Natsui!' a male voice called, at that moment, and we looked on our right at the young man who was waving at her from afar. I recognized the young man. He was of average height and was slender, with short, black hair. He half-ran to meet up with us.

'You're right on time!' Natsui told him with a smile, before she went on to introduce us to him and vice-versa. I couldn't help but flush bright red when she introduced Gōjun and I as a couple, while, on his side, Gōjun turned his face away to exhale sharply in irritation as a response. Natsui's date, who had for name Tatsuhiro Kume, didn't notice anything though.

'Well, Tatsuhiro, what's the plan?' Shunsui asked him, in a casual tone, and the dark-haired young man replied, smilingly, 'I was thinking that we could go watch a film at the cinema, and then, dine at a restaurant.'

'I think that's perfect!' the reddish-brown-haired young man told him, completely in for it. 'Let's do that!'

The metro arrived by that instant, and we were bustled by the crowd of people which converged for the different opening doors of the vehicle. 

'Let's hurry!' Shunsui told us, and I blushed when I saw Tatsuhiro Kume take hold of Natsui's hand to head for the closest door. But I blushed even harder when, unexpectedly, Gōjun gripped me by my upper-arm to prevent me from getting lost in the crowd or even being left behind.

'Come on, princess!' he told me, as he began to drag me towards the door of one of the compartments.

'P-Princess?' I uttered, looking at his face in puzzlement.

'Yes, your name is Hime, right?' he muttered, grumpily. 'Hime means "princess". So from now on, I'm going to call you princess!'

Eh?!

I had often noticed that, never once ever since we have known each other, has Gōjun called me by my name. It was his way of showing that he refused to acknowledge me. Though, this marked an evolution, it was not of the type that could be expected, and definitely, not to my liking.

I could only smile awkwardly.

When we entered the metro, all the seats were full and so, we remained standing like several other people. After a few minutes during the journey, I noticed that Natsui, who was standing with Tatsuhiro Kume a small distance away from where we were, was wearing a strange expression on her face and her cheeks were all flushed. 

As I was watching her, out of the blue, the young man who was sitting in front of her, jerked to his feet to punch the man who was standing right behind of the ginger-haired girl, calling him a pervert.

The man in question was a middle-aged man and he was clothed in a tie and suit, and was carrying a briefcase. The blow sent him to the floor, but very quickly, he picked himself up again, asserted defensively that he didn't do anything, before he scooted out of our sight. 

It wasn't hard for anyone of us to understand what had happened. The old pervert had been taking advantage of the crowd to touch Natsui! 

'Is she your girlfriend?' the young man demanded at Tatsuhiro Kume, in a cold tone. 

He was of a young man of our own age. He was tall and slender, with disheveled, blond hair, and creamy-white skin. His eyes were gray, and he was clothed in casuals, and had his earphones on.

'Pay more attention to her next time!' he muttered at Natsui's date, before he moved away to get out of sight too in the crowd, leaving his seat to the ginger-haired girl.

By the same moment, without giving any warning, Gōjun began to push me backward through the crowd, and I looked up at his face in puzzlement. 

What is he doing?

He wasn't looking at me, his expression hard. He pushed me all the way to the door until my back was pressed against it, after which he placed his hands against the door on either side of me, keeping them there protectively.

'Gōjun, what are you doing?' I whispered, lowering my eyes and blushing madly. 

He was standing so close!

Not to forget that, in this position, he appeared taller and larger than usual; his presence seeming overpowering to me given my small size.

Shunsui had tagged along and he stood quietly by my side, with his back pressed against the door too, his arms crossed over his chest. 

Though, I knew that he meant to protect me too, just like Gōjun, a small amused smile would come to his lips whenever he would glance at the two of us, and I would blush even more madly at the teasing look in his eyes.

When we came down at our intended station, I moved to Natsui's side for a minute to take her hand, comfortingly an ask her if she was alright. Fortunately, the ginger-haired girl didn't seem too shaken by the incident in the metro. 

From there, we headed directly for the cinema hall. Contrarily to what I had expected, there weren't too many people, perhaps because it was a weekday and not dark yet.

'That's great! There are several romantic movies on offer!' Shunsui exclaimed, with delight, as he perused the catalog of films, Natsui and her date doing the same thing.

I smiled, enthusiastically. I love romantic movies!

'We've made our choice! Shall we go for this one?' declared Tatsuhiro Kume, by the next minute, and the reddish-brown-haired young man agreed in everyone's name. 

Natsui and Tatsuhiro Kume went ahead to buy their tickets, while Shunsui, Gōjun and I followed them at a small distance from behind. 

The reddish-brown-haired young man sent his arm around my neck as we walked, while Gōjun kept an arm-length distance from us. The latter was still sulking; he had his hands dug in his pockets, his face turned the other way.

'But maybe, Gōjun, doesn't like to watch movies?' I said to Shunsui, timidly.

Especially romantic ones...

I felt a bit guilty towards Gōjun. If I had not told Shunsui about the date, he wouldn't have had to come.

'Oh, not at all! He watches movies very often! And maybe it's going to surprise you, but let me inform you that he also likes to read a lot.'

'Really?' I was indeed surprised. It didn't match his personality!

'Yeah! He's a big fan of the whodunit genre!'

I looked at Gōjun's face. The whodunit genre, huh?

'Will you two stop talking about me?' he muttered at us, and Shunsui giggled to himself, before he would ask, playfully, 'What is this?! You're supposed to be boyfriend and girlfriend! Then, why are you walking so far apart?!' 

And on these words, he ushered me closer to Gōjun, until our arms were touching. 

I looked at the latter's face again, blushing.

Soon, we had entered the cinema hall, and still very playful, Shunsui took hold of my shoulders from behind to push me and make me sit next to Gōjun.

'Boyfriends and girlfriends should sit together!' he stated, cheerily, and I blushed even harder, while Gōjun gave him an irritated look. 

The movie was quite a long one, and by the time it ended and we had come out of the cinema hall, the sun had already set.

'Yare! Yare! I really don't understand what's going on with those writers these days! I'm truly disappointed!' Shunsui uttered, hanging his head and dragging his feet under him while he was walking.

'I'm as disappointed as you! I had wished for a happy ending!' I moaned, hanging my head too. Natsui and Tatsuhiro were in the same state of spirit as the two of us. Maybe, it was not such a good idea for them to watch a romantic movie on their first date. They seemed to consider it as being portent of a bad omen for them.

'Okay, that's enough now!' the ginger-haired girl exclaimed, suddenly. 'Let's not be superstitious!'

'You're right!' Tatsuhiro agreed, his mood shifting equally. 'Let's get to dinner!'

'Yatta! Dinner, here we come!'

Shunsui and I smiled, while Gōjun shook his head at us.

We took dinner at a restaurant close-by. Since the place was quite chic, I was scared for my purse. I stood slightly on the side to count my money when the time to pay for our meal arrived. I had to be careful not to spend too much money.

'Eh? What do you think you're doing?' Shunsui demanded at me, as he appeared next me out of the blue, like a devil out of its box. 

I jumped. 

Still, without giving any warning, he snatched my purse from my hand and pressed his eyes closed, to inform me, cheerily, 'Gōjun is your boyfriend; he'll pay for you!'

The latter pinched his nose in-between his eyes, frustrated by the reddish-brown-haired young man's antics.

'Don't worry! We'll add it to your debt!' Shunsui informed me quietly in my ears, and I cringed. 

'I think I prefer to pay for myself!' I said, but he wasn't listening to me, and was already moving towards Gōjun to get him to take his wallet out.

I sniffled.

A minute later, as we came outside of the restaurant, suddenly, we came across of the young man we had met the other day at the karaoke. Again, the said-young man looked sozzled and was accompanied by the same two girls as the other day.

'Ah, Shunsui! Gōjun!' he called out, from the distance, but the two girls immediately chided him, telling him that that was enough, and they dragged him out of sight before he could come to talk to us.

I stared after them for a minute. 

If I remembered well, the young man was named Rikishi, and he had said things about Gōjun and Shunsui that had intrigued me a lot, especially, Gōjun.

I looked at the latter.

'Do you know that guy?' Tatsuhiro Kume asked Shunsui, out of curiosity, and my eyes shifted onto the reddish-brown-haired young man, only to find him watching me.

'Yeah, he's an old friend!' he answered. 

After having taken another look at me, he turned his gaze onto the ice-cream van situated a good distance away on the plaza, asking, 'Hey, who wants an ice-cream?'

Tatsuhiro glanced at everyone's face, before answering, 'I guess everyone!'

'Wait here! I'm going to fetch them!' Shunsui declared, and informing me that I was accompanying him, he dragged me away with him by my collar.

'I would like five ice-creams please! Three chocolates and two strawberries!' he said to the vendor when we had reached the van. Turning back to me then, he asked me, with a playful smile, 'Am I wrong or Rikishi has told you something the other day at the karaoke, something that has left you intrigued, especially about Gōjun?'

Lowering my eyes and scratching the back of my head, I admitted, shyly, 'Yes, it's -it's true. He told me that Gōjun used to be a playboy before and that he completely changed his lifestyle overnight.'

The same stood for him!

'There you go!' the vendor declared, as he handed to us our ice-creams. 

The reddish-brown-haired young man didn't go to join the others immediately, though; we shifted only slightly out of the way of the other clients to speak to each other.

'You have to know that Gōjun doesn't believe in love,' he told me. 'He never had. If you think that I'm a flirt, then you should have seen him only a few months back! But then, he met that girl: Kitsune. It wasn't supposed to be serious between them. They were meeting just for… well you know what! But, despite of himself, he developed feelings for her.'

He fell in love with her?!

'And, what happened?'

'He had decided to confess his feelings to her when, he surprised her with another guy. Clearly, his feelings were not reciprocal. Not only did he stop believing in love completely after that, but he also decided that he would stay away from all other girls from then on.'

I see…  

He had a heartbreak.

'I was with him that day,' he added, more lightly. 'And if I remember well, it took place exactly here, where we are standing!'

Eh? My expression turned awkward.

'Oi! What's taking you so long?!' came Gōjun's voice, at that moment, and we looked around instantly to see him arriving with Natsui and Tatsuhiro Kume.

Feeling a bit panicked, I handed to him one of the ice-creams in my possession, a chocolate one. 

'Huh? It's almost completely melted!' he groaned, giving Shunsui and I an unhappy look.

The reddish-brown-haired young man and I could only giggle awkwardly. 

We began to eat our ice-creams immediately after that, before they would be completely melted. By the time, I had finished mine, Shunsui looked at me to tell me that I had some cream on my face.

I reached up to brush my hand over the right corner of my mouth.

'No, not there!'

I wiped the other side, but he told me that it still wasn't there.

Making a frustrated noise, unexpectedly, Gōjun reached out with his hand to brush his thumb over my upper lip, only to bring the cream over his finger to his mouth. 

My face heated up at this action of his, while Shunsui chuckled to himself on the side.

'Ah, by the way, I'll also add the ice-cream to your debt!' the reddish-brown-haired young man informed me, quietly.

I'll never get out of this!

'Onii-san!' Tatsuhiro Kume exclaimed, abruptly, and we all followed his eyes onto the young man who was approaching us, walking arm in arm with a girl whom we all knew: Hiyori Miyatsu!

Natsui and I looked at each other, astounded. 

The dark-haired girl seemed as astounded to see us, and more particularly, Natsui with Tatsuhiro Kume.

'Onii-san?' Shunsui said, looking at the latter's face.

'Yes,' the young man replied, smilingly. 'I present you my older brother. His name is Teruaki. And this is his girlfriend, Hiyori Miyatsu!'

Natsui and I held our breaths. 

The young man Teruaki, in effect, had a family air with Tatsuhiro. They resembled each other a lot, though, the older brother was slightly taller, and his hair, longer. 

I couldn't help but find the fact that Hiyori was going out with the older brother of Natsui's boyfriend quite disturbing; I felt apprehensive for the ginger-haired girl. The latter looked equally agitated.

Tatsuhiro Kume went on to present each one of us to his brother. Our names seemed to ring a bell in the latter's head.

'Aren't you all from the same school?' he asked Hiyori, before turning to Natsui, to say, 'And she's your cousin, right?!'

Tatsuhiro instantly looked at Natsui, to ask her, 'Hiyori and you are cousins?'

The ginger-haired girl lowered her head to nod hesitantly, while Hiyori Miyatsu turned her face away, her expression uncomfortable, her jaws tight. 

'Well, that's a big coincidence!' the younger Kume exclaimed with delight, and his brother listened to him with a smile while he was talking to him, though the older male's eyes would constantly shift onto Hiyori's face, a certain awkwardness having instilled itself in his manners. 

I wondered what Hiyori had told him about us, and more especially, about Natsui.

'We'll see each other tomorrow at school!' the dark-haired girl told us, very rapidly after that, before dragging her boyfriend away with her.

Soon after that, Natsui and Tatsuhiro Kume said goodbye to each other. The ginger-haired girl didn't allow Hiyori Miyatsu's entrance in the picture to disturb her too much, though. She parted with her date on a good spirit.

***

Sometimes later, on the other side…

Hiyori Miyatsu and Teruaki Kume laid next to each other on the rumpled covers of the hotel bed, panting hard.

For a whole minute, none of the two moved. But then, after having caught his breath, the dark-haired young man rolled onto his side, and cupping Hiyori's face with one of his hands, he placed a sensual kiss on her lips.

'That was excellent,' he told her, with a smile.

But Hiyori didn't show any response. She continued to stare at the ceiling intently. 

'What is it?' the young man asked her. 'I've noticed that you were not very present today. You didn't like it?'

In all of a sudden, she sat up and pulled a sheet over her naked body, staring straight ahead.

'You have to ask your brother to break up with Natsui!'

'What?!' 

The young man sat up immediately, pulling another bed sheet over his lower parts.

'You've heard me very well!' she stated, giving him a hard look. 'Your brother will have to break up with Natsui, otherwise, I'm warning you, it's over between us!' 

He stared at her, even more astounded.

'Hiyori, you can't be serious?!'

'I'm very serious!'

The young man blinked in confusion.

'Hiyori, I don't understand you. Why do you detest that girl so much? She never did anything to you!'

'Will you ask him to break up with her or not?' she demanded, angrily. 'If you refuse, I'm leaving and you'll never see me again! These last two years had been nice, but it's time to say goodbye!' 

She started to get out of the bed. 

The young man immediately reached out to grab her hand to stop her, giving in. 'Alright! I'll tell him to break up with her!'

Pausing down, the dark-haired girl looked at him, to inform him, 'It has to be done tonight itself! I want him to break up with her tonight itself!'

He stared at her in the eyes for a minute, before he sighed, acquiescing. 

'Now, come here!' he said, with a lascivious smile, pulling her back onto the bed, and climbing on top of her, he started to kiss her again. 

And the two went in for another round.

Thank you for reading!