In a middle-sized bedroom, with pink and red-coloured stripes painted on the walls, a painting of a family hung on the left wall, it included a man, probably in his mid-thirties with chestnut hair and hazel eyes, a woman, his wife, who had a beautiful shade of blond hair and bright grey eyes with a lovely smile on her petite face, and a little girl in their middle with brown hair, a shade lighter than her father's made into short, cute twintails and bright hazel eyes. She had a petite face just like her mother's and a bright, toothy smile to top it off. A wonderful picture indeed and very well artistically done, almost lifelike if anything else.
A queen-sized bed lay in the middle of the room and a flat-screen television was set up in front of it. By the right side of the room, a brown desk stood with different kinds of books stacked neatly on it. A small picture frame rested on the table as well, a picture of the same little girl, albeit older, and a boy with winter blue hair. Both children had wide smiles on their faces and looked very happy together.
A wardrobe was placed on the left side of the room, beside the painting that hung on the wall. Different sculptures of animals, mostly rabbits and puppies, objects like bicycles, cars and ships, made of clay, soap and bronze rested on top of the wardrobe. So beautifully sculpted, it could be said that the creator was blessed with gifted hands.
"Chi-chan, could you get a tray with some snacks, Aosaki-san is here!"
"I'm on it! Let me just get something from my room!"
The door of the bedroom opened and Chiyo stepped inside and ran up to her desk. She unlocked her drawer with a key and opened it, picked out a small, cute white bunny, closed the drawer and took off from the room.
"Konbawa, Onee-chan."
"Chiyo-chan!"
The older woman pounced on Chiyo with a back-breaking hug and a bright smile. Laughing at her gesture, Chiyo patted her back good-naturedly and put the bunny in her hands.
"Hmm?" Ruri asked, curiously, "what's this?"
"Umu, I thought you'll be lonely without Toshirou, and I know how much you liked bunnies, so I made one to keep you company if you ever felt lonely," Chiyo replied.
Tears welled up in Ruri's eyes at the kindhearted act of the younger girl.
"Chiyo-chan!!" And she hugged the girl tightly again, crying into her blouse.
"*sniff* Thank you *sniff* for worrying about me."
'Onee-chan.'
Patting her head softly, Chiyo smiled gently.
"Daijobu, daijobu, I'll always be here for you, Ruri-nee."
She separated the embrace and gave Ruri a warm grin. Her father threw his head back in laughter, having witnessed their heartwarming relationship.
"Hahaha, even though your son is gone you still remain the same. A truly strong woman."
"Hehe." Ruri laughed. "You praise me too much."
"Not at all, you deserve it. So tell me, why did our boy leave all of a sudden?" Chiyo's father asked.
"Umu... Arisugawa-san, you are aware of how I lost my husband when Toshirou was a year old." Ruri said, more of a statement than a question.
"Ahh yes, I remember you telling me such. I'm still very sorry for the loss of your husband, Aosaki-san."
'Yeah that's true, Toshirou-kun never knew his dad since he died when he was very little.' Chiyo thought, 'I can't imagine how it would have felt for him, growing up without a loving father.'
"Daijobu, there's no need to apologize. But moving on, so many years after his death, it seems that recently his former business partners have decided to come in contact with his son."
"I see, I guess it has something to do with a kind of contract or will on your husband's part?"
"Precisely. Toshirou-kun is sixteen years of age, he's of age to know about his father's business so, he's gone away to know more about it. He was reluctant at first but I encouraged him to go on."
"Hmm, big organization stakeholders have it rough don't they? It's quite sad."
"Yes, but there is one thing, Toshirou-kun didn't go to learn about the business."
"Really?"
"Hai, you know how he is, he values friends and family over money and fame, that's why he said he's only going to 'sort out this mess'. I don't know when he'll be back but he promised to come home soon, and if there's one thing I do know, it's that Toshirou-kun never breaks his promises."
Chiyo's father said nothing but simply laid his head back and closed his eyes. Breathing out loudly, he said,
"Well, I do wish him the best of luck, but are you really okay with all this, Aosaki-san?"
"To be frank, no I'm not. If anything, I would have preferred for him to be completely left out of it but sometimes, we don't always get what we want in this world that we live in."
'I haven't seen Onee-chan this serious before. It's somewhat unsettling.' Chiyo couldn't help but feel uneasy about the whole situation. But some things don't just add up. Why did Toshirou-kun come back all bloodied that day, why was Sensei unconscious in his arms, plus his sudden disappearance, it didn't take Einstein to know at a glance that something was definitely going on. Chiyo knew that her best friend's mother was lying. It was so plain to anyone who witnessed what she did but her dad didn't, so, understandably, he'll fall for it. Ruri is a master in the arts of deceit, that much Chiyo knew, not in a bad way of course, but rather to protect others from herself. Toshirou had told her that much at least. She only hoped that if she confronted Ruri directly, she would get a direct response.
'But Takezawa-sensei gave me her phone.' Chiyo's eyes opened, 'that's right, she gave me her phone! How could I have forgotten!?'
But the answer was simple, her heart had been in so much disarray as of late that she hardly thought of anything else.
"Tou-san?"
Both adults turned their attention to her.
"Hm, is something the matter, Hime?" Her father asked.
"Mou, don't call me that. It's embarrassing."
"Haha, sucks to be you then. It's your fault for being so adorable."
"Hm, hm." Ruri nodded her head in agreement.
"Jeez," Chiyo replied playfully, "but do you mind if I go get something. I won't be gone for long."
"Of course, take all the time you need. This is an adult conversation after all."
With a grin, Chiyo said, "Arigatou, Tou-san." and left for her room like a lightning bolt.
'Yare yare, I guess it was too much for her after all.' Chiyo's father sighed deeply. 'She's still in love with that boy, I wonder how her heart is going to handle any more of it.'
...
"Sensei's phone surprisingly doesn't have a password on it huh."
Lying on her stomach on her bed with the phone her teacher gave to her, she switched it on. The screen came alive, revealing a lock-screen of Ruri and Takezawa doing the peace sign and giving a toothy smile to the camera.
They look so pretty, Chiyo said, admiring the two beautiful ladies on the phone. She swiped up and the screen unlocked. Immediately, a video began to play much to the astonishment of Chiyo. Quickly she paused, scrambled to her desk to get her earpiece and plopped down on the bed again, ready to watch the video.
She put on the earpiece and pressed the play button on the device. Toshirou's face came into view as the video started.
"Yo, Chi. If you are watching this then you've probably met Takezawa-sensei for my whereabouts. Not that that I blame you though, it is my fault for keeping a lot of things from you. And I'll bet you're watching this video at the same time Kaa-chan is lying to your dad. You also took permission to leave so you could check Sensei's phone and you're lying face down on your bed."
Chiyo's eyes opened in amazement as everything that he said actually happened just as he said.
"It's all as I planned. Well, it just shows how much I know of how my best friend thinks. It's also proof of how close we are. In fact, I know you're wearing pink panties right now with a matching bra."
Chiyo blushed heavily in embarrassment and instinctively used the blankets to cover herself. It was almost as if he was there, gazing straight into her eyes.
There was a small pause as Toshirou smirked and leaned closer towards the camera.
"Oh come on, don't be embarrassed. And yeah, I also programmed Sensei's phone to play this video as soon as you got past the lock screen."
The Toshirou in the video took in a deep breath before continuing, his expression now monotone and serious.
"I'm sorry, Chiyo, for the troubles I've caused you. It might be too late for me to say this but I hope you'll forgive me, for lying to you, keeping you in the dark and for worrying you. There are things that have happened that I cannot explain on a screen. It's far more complicated than what you can imagine."
He looked away from the camera then brought his gaze back.
"A little heads-up, there's a ninety percent chance I'm not gonna come back alive."
"Huh?! What do you mean you're not gonna come back alive!?" Chiyo exclaimed at the phone.
"Exactly as I said", the recording replied, as if predicting her reaction.
"Chi, sorry alone isn't gonna cut it. I'm just tired of it all. The things I've seen in the past few days, the actions I've taken, I'm tired of it all. I... I'm not normal."
Toshirou on the screen wiped his eyes with the back of his palm.
"Things are never going to be the same anymore and I need you to be strong Chi. I don't know what's going to happen to me, I don't know what is going to happen to you, Kaa-chan, everyone else, I don't know. The only thing I do know is that if I fail, everyone is going to die. If I do come back, I promise to explain everything, from scratch to finish, to you. I just hope.. you don't come to hate me for everything I've done to you before then."
"There's no way I could ever hate you. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of burden was placed on you to make you say these things."
She began to cry.
"I don't know what kind of expression you are making right now but please don't let it be guilt. You've done nothing wrong, Chi. It's selfish on my part but there's a favour I'd like to ask of you; smile. Your smile gives courage to those around you, it's honest, beautiful and breathtaking, all at the same time. It might be difficult to do right now but promise me you'll keep on smiling. I know I'm not your boyfriend, especially after I turned you down, so it's wrong of me to request this. But as my best friend, I would like to see your smile again. I think my time's up, so till next time we meet, Arigatou ne, Chiyo. Thanks for everything."
And with that, the video completed its term.
With tears still streaming down her cheeks, she could only lay on her bed deep in confusion. She didn't understand, nothing made sense to her, or rather, it was too much for her maiden mind to bear. The talk about him dying and everyone else in danger seemed so appalling but yet she knew Toshirou would never lie to her, especially about those kinds of things.
"Just what am I going to do?" She asked herself in exasperation.
'I need you to smile, Chi.'
"That's right, the only thing I can do now is to smile and be strong. It must also be hard for Onee-chan but yet she's still standing strong and facing reality with a smile. I want to be able to do that, to be strong just like Onee-chan, and I'm going to do just that."
Chiyo stood up from her bed and pumped her fist in the air in determination.
'I'm not going to let anyone down, including you, Toshirou-kun. I promise... so please, come home soon.'