Chapter LXIV.

Saien Natsume-sensei was absent the following day as well. Even if Shunsui would not admit it, I knew that this bothered him a little. However, it was the only dark spot in the blue sky. Apart from this, Shunsui was beaming. And I was sure that Tsubasa-sama was also beaming with more resplendence after last evening.

At last, Shunsui's feelings had been made known to her, and in an instant, with the gift that only a mother possesses, she had uplifted the negative feelings that had been holding him down for years. And finally, she has been able to hear him address her as Okā-san.

I was beaming too, with rejoice, and it was the first time that I could see such a serene expression on Gōjun's face. And when Shunsui informed us about how Tsubasa-sama and Saien Natsume-sensei had met each other at that same bar of the other day without knowing that there exists a link between them, we could only chuckle at the unexpected twist and turns that fate could take, while the reddish-brown-haired young man let out an unhappy growl. It was impossible to tell whether he was more upset by the fact that Tsubasa-sama had been drinking again, or that she had been drinking with the red-haired male.

However, I was sure that from now on, the blonde woman would never give herself over to alcohol again. And when Shunsui informed us that he was going to visit his mother at the Zaibatsu after school and that from there, they would be going to the mansion to dine together and that he would probably spend the night there, it filled me with even more joy, and I caught Gōjun smiling again.

When we had parted with one another, I headed directly to the hospital to visit my mother and it was with great gaiety that I informed her of the recent evolutions. I kept my visit quite brief however, as I decided to spend some of the free time that I have got to help Obā-san at the shop. 

Ever since the incident concerning my father's sudden eruption at the hospital, followed by his second disappearance, my relationship with Obā-san has become even more strained. She was constantly on the nerves whenever she would see me and she would barely speak to me anymore. This situation saddened me to the highest point. But I still had the faith that one day, perhaps, if not my mother, I would be able to mend all the broken strings of her heart and she would forget her anger and embrace the two of us.

Once I reached home, I grabbed a broom on the spot to inform her that I was going to clean in front of the shop a little bit, as it had been a while now since we had left the pavement as it was.

'There's no need for that!' she muttered at me, from where she was standing behind the counter of the shop.

'I insist!' I told her, with enthusiasm. 'I promise that I won't hinder the entrance.'

And on this, I turned around immediately to rush for the door, before she could reiterate her refusal. 

Just as I went across the counter, abruptly, the handle of my broom accidentally hit into something on the counter, knocking it down on the floor. Instantaneously, I jerked to a stop to look over my shoulder at the sound of breaking glass.

I realized that it was the snow globe that Obā-san would keep there on the counter of the shop. Inside of it, there were two figurines that represented a mother and a daughter sitting on a bench in a park under the snow, with a single scarf wrapped around their necks to both of them. I had always found this trinket very beautiful, because it represented a touching moment between a mother and her daughter. 

It shocked and appalled me that it broke by my fault. The glass had gone into shards when the globe had hit the hard floor. The figurines and miniature decorations had come apart from the base. And the false snow was spilled on the floor amongst the broken glasses. It seemed irreparable. 

'Oh my God!' Obā-san cried out, getting down on the floor in front of it.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw her eyes become filled with tears. 

'It was a gift of your mother!'

My breath caught.

I had not been aware of this.

'It was the last thing that she gifted to me before she left!' she informed me, and my heart sunk at the expression on pain on her face

'Obā-san, I'm sorry!' I whispered, my voice catching.

'Don't tell me that you're sorry!' she shouted at me, and jerking to her feet angrily, her hand went for my face. 

The blow sent me to the ground, and I could taste blood in my mouth. 

At the same time that I hit the floor, I heard a familiar voice cry out a big 'Oi!' followed by the sound of a pair of footsteps running into my direction.

Pushing myself up into a sitting position, I stared at my grand-mother frantically for a second or two, before my eyes shifted onto Gōjun who had gotten down on the floor by my side. 

I was too shaken to form a single thought.

'You're bleeding!' he gasped, and I winced as he touched the left corner of my mouth with his thumb. When he pulled his hand back, I saw that there was some blood on his finger. He stared at the red liquid for a second, before he jerked to his feet, turning to face the woman with a furious look.

'How dare you raise your hands on her?! How can you give importance to a mere trinket but neglect the most important thing- your daughter! I know from my father, Kenren, that you have not visited your daughter even once ever since she has entered the hospital! Let me warn you! If you don't change your behavior, I will take your daughter and grand-daughter so far away from you that you will never see them again in your life! And trust me, you won't be able to do anything about it!' 

My eyes went wide at him; my heart skipping another beat.

Gōjun…

'How- How dare you speak to me like this?!' Obā-san demanded at him, in an angry tone, though her expression was intimidated. However, he ignored her completely. Flinging around to face me again, he yanked me to my feet by my upper-arm to drag me out of the shop, and opening the passenger door of his car, he hurled me into the seat, shutting the door on me with a long bang, only to make his way around the vehicle to jump into it and drive away with me.

'Gōjun...'

***

A quarter an hour later…

We had stopped on the bridge outside of the city. 

Wiping my tears with the back of my hands, I looked at Gōjun. The latter had taken a cigarette out and was smoking it. He had rested his arms on the wheel of the car and he was staring out of the windshield, his expression still very much angry.

When he felt my eyes on him, he took a glance at me, but only to turn his face away the very next second, to growl, 'I'm not going to apologize for having spoken to her so rudely, got it?!'

Oh Gōjun...

Even if I didn't like the way that he spoke to Obā-san, I was not angry with him. I knew that he was only trying to protect me.

'Stop crying now!' he declared, as I brushed the back of my hands over my eyes again to wipe off my tears. He was looking at me now, his expression less angry. 'Decidedly, you have no force! I pity you! It took a single blow to draw out blood from your mouth!'

At this, I shrunk a little. 

He's mean! 

Flicking his cigarette out of the window, suddenly, he turned to face me completely, his hand moving up to cup the side of my face. And leaning in, he drew his face slowly towards mine. 

I held my breath, my eyes closing on themselves; my heart picking up speed.

Gōjun, what-

But he didn't kiss me- at least, not on the mouth. I felt his lips come lightly over my wound to kiss it softly. 

When he pulled his face backward, my eyes blew open and I stared at him in surprise.

'It's going to heal rapidly now.'

EH?!

My mouth went slightly open.

As if, it is possible for a kiss to do that!

When he lowered his hand, I looked away, blushing.

'By- By the way, why did you come to the shop?'

'Ah, I fell onto a recipe book on French cuisine the other day at the bookstore. I thought that maybe we could try something new during the weekend. Since you're such an excellent cook, I'm sure you should not encounter any problems as long as you follow the recipe very closely!'

'I- I see.'

I smiled awkwardly.

He had come to give me work!

'And where is the recipe book?'

At this, he cupped his chin and looked upward thoughtfully, to answer, 'Well, I forgot it on the floor of the shop!'

Eh?

'It's okay. I'll recuperate it.'

***

It was already dark when Gōjun drove me back home. Obā-san was nowhere to be seen in the living room of the small apartment; she had closed herself in her bedroom. My heart heavy, I grabbed the bunch of keys lying on the kitchen-counter to come back downstairs and open the door of the shop. 

When I switched on the lights, my heart became even more heavier as my eyes fell onto the broken trinket, which was still lying there on the floor by the side of the counter, with the recipe book Gōjun had brought lying just next to it.

Apparently, Obā-san had closed the shop down immediately after we had left, to go upstairs and shut herself in her room.

For a whole moment, I stood there, staring at the broken trinket, with tears coming to my eyes, before I moved to fetch a small box from under the counter, and getting down onto my knees on the floor, I started to collect all the different pieces of the snow globe into it with a broom. I collected every single piece of it, as well as the fake snow. Picking up the recipe book as well then, I got to my feet again to carry them upstairs, switching off the lights on the way and making sure to close the door of the shop properly.

Shutting myself inside of my own bedroom, I unrolled my futon on the floor and placed the box in front of me to sit there and try to put the different pieces of the broken trinket back together with the help of glue. I couldn't keep my tears from falling anymore. 

As I tried to pick up the broken pieces of glass, the shards cut my fingers at several places, but it didn't matter; I continued to put all the pieces back together, until I had reconstructed the snow globe in its entirety. But the result was not excellent. Even if I had been able to put the figurines and decorations to their original places and I had been able to glue the different pieces of glass back together, it was impossible to hide the cracks on the globe. 

This saddened me all the more. 

By the time I had finished, Ojii-san had returned home. When he asked me if I had taken dinner, I lied and told him that I had, before I went back to my bedroom again to lie down on my futon and weep to myself anew. The truth was that I didn't have the spirit to eat or even to go to work, and therefore I didn't go. 

That night, Obā-san didn't stay up till late in the kitchen, and soon, the apartment was filled with darkness.

Hours ticked by, and already, it was the middle of the night, but I still couldn't close my eyes to sleep or stop crying. 

At one point, however, I heard a small knock come down onto the door of my sleeping quarters. Sitting up instantly, I brushed my tears away with my hands and turned around to face the door, switching on the lamp at my bedside. 

When the door slipped open, I was extremely surprised to see that it was Obā-san who had come to see me. She wasn't sleeping yet either.

'Hime, did I wake you up?' she asked me, softly, with her eyes averted.

'No,' I replied, almost breathlessly. 'I- I couldn't sleep.'

'Can I sit with you for a while?'

I nodded, rapidly, and without losing a second, I shifted slightly away so as to allow her some space on my futon. She came to sit beside to me, and I stared at her face in the orange light of the lamp which was reflecting directly on her features, with the same awe that she has always inspired in me.

Keeping her eyes down on the floor, she told me, in a murmur, 'Hime, I wanted to apologize to you for my behavior.'

My eyes went wide at her.

Obā-san…

'I realize that I have been terribly unfair towards you. All this while, I thought that I was angry with your mother and I've been taking this anger out on you. But the truth is that it's not against your mother that I'm really angry with, but against myself! 

My heart skipped a beat.

'I realize that I've been such a lamentable mother! If I had not broken all ties with Kozue, maybe she would have told me about what she was going through with Shin. Maybe, your grand-father and I would have ended up discovering it by ourselves. We would have been able to do something! Your mother and you wouldn't have had to go through such terrible moments! And today, Kozue wouldn't have been in hospital! We would have been able to protect her! But I had abandoned her, and she didn't dare to tell me anything! Oh, I hate myself so much! I'm so angry with myself!'

She was holding her face in her hands now, having broken into tears. 

Oh, Obā-san... 

My heart clenched.

All this while, she has been feeling guilty and responsible for everything?!

'Obā-san, please, no! Don't cry!' I told her, my voice cracking, and grabbing her hands in both of mine, I lowered them to onto her lap. 'Even if you had remained in contact with Okā-san, I'm sure that she still wouldn't have let you know anything, in order not to worry Ojii-san and you, because the truth is that, she was shackled by her love and she would never have accepted to leave him unless she had decided it herself.

'Oh, Hime!' she sobbed, looking at my face, and sending her arms around me, she embraced me, cradling my head with one of her hands. 'You're such a sweet little girl! I should have showered my love on you the moment you had arrived! But instead of that… Hime! I promise to give you all my love and affection from now on!'

'Obā-san!' I cried, hugging her back.

I had been yearning for this moment ever since my arrival. In fact, I had waited for this moment all my life. I wanted to stay in her arms like this forever.

When she had let go of me and we had wiped our tears, I picked the snow globe I had fixed to hand it over to her, as a sign of not only my love for her, but also, as the souvenir of the moment where all the strings of her heart had been mended.

'I'm sorry I couldn't restore it to its original state. It is full of cracks!'

'It doesn't matter,' she told me, as she accepted it back, sending one of her arms around me again to pull me against her side, keeping me there cuddled against her. 'The most important things to me are not in the world of this globe. They are here- outside- with me!'

I closed my eyes, my heart swelling. When I had opened them up again, it was to see Ojii-san standing in the doorway of my bedroom and smiling as he watched the two of us.

'Oya! Oya! Why am I being left out on this marvelous moment?' he asked, pretending to be vexed, and making his way up to us, he sat himself down on the other side of me to hold me in one of his arms too just like Obā-san. 'I'm jealous! I want to be part of it too!'

I gave him a tender smile.

'Let's capture this moment forever!' he declared, and grabbing my phone which was lying on the floor next to my futon, he lifted it up to take a selfie of the three of us. We smiled goofily at the camera; our eyes filled with tears of joy.

Thank you for reading!