He sighed. "Look, I know we haven't talked much since you got kidnapped and I got involved in this whole mess with your parents, but…just hear me out. Okay?"
She hesitated, but finally nodded. "Alright."
"First off, I know you don't believe me, and you're probably angry at me. I get that. I really do. But please, just listen."
Daiyu bit her lip. "I'm listening."
"My mom left me."
Daiyu blinked. "Your…mother?" She paused. "But I thought she abandoned you. How did you end up alone?"
"Long story short, she died in a fire."
She gasped. "A fire? How?"
He took a deep breath. "When I was five, we moved to our hometown. This is really weird. My mom wasn't a bad person, but she sure as hell wasn't exactly the nicest person either. Anyway, one day she was working late at work, and she never showed up. So, my dad told me to watch TV. When I turned on ththere was a news channel covering the accident. They said they found my mom's body in the rubble."
"What?! Are you serious!?"
He nodded. "Yeah. So, I started questioning myself why she died. If she didn't have a car, wouldn't she have gotten to safety faster? Wouldn't she be okay?"
"Why?"
"Because she was old. Old people die young all the time. She was only thirty seven years old. She should have lived another ten years. But she didn't." He paused, letting out a small sob. "I was so confused."
Daiyu placed her hand on top of his, squeezing it gently. He squeezed back, sniffling.
"I thought about contacting the police, but I didn't know who my father was. And I didn't want to talk to him. So instead, I started searching online for any information regarding my birth parents. After some digging, I found an article about your parent's disappearance. I read it over and over and over again, hoping for a clue, anything. But I found nothing. Just more and more questions.". I searched for their names, their age, places they were from, anything. Nothing stuck out to me, except for a couple things. One of the articles mentioned that your father's name was Kaito Shinohara. Another mentioned that his first name was Kai."
She frowned. "What does that mean?"
"It means that he's Japanese."
"Japanese?" Her brow furrowed. "Why Japanese?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, but I figured you should know. And since I still don't know anything, I had to find someone else to ask. So I contacted the guy who knows everything about your family. He told me that your father is named Kaito Shinohara."
Her heart skipped a beat. "Are you serious? How do you know he isn't lying?"
He shook his head. "There's no lie or exaggeration in what he told me. Your father's name is Kaito Shinohara."
She gulped. "Is that possible?"
"It could be."
She bit her lip nervously. "And who is he?"
"
"I started researching about theme TVKuroba Kaito."
She flinched. "Wait, Kuroba Kaito? As in, Kudo Kuroba, Kudo Yuuki's son?"
He nodded. "That's him. But he doesn't even live in Japan anymore. His parents passed away a couple years ago. His mom died during childbirth, and his father died when he was three. There's no information on him anywhere, except in the obituaries."
Daiyu clenched her fists. "Damn. How's he still alive?"
"Probably because he has his brother. And his sister. He's been living with them in America."
She scoffed. "Of course. Of course. So you're telling me that his parents are living in America while his brother lives here in Japan, and you've been keeping quiet about it all this time?"
He frowned. "Not quite. I found out a little bit before you did, but I kept my mouth shut for my own sake."
"Why?"
He hesitated. "Because I knew you would start yelling at me. You hate it when people keep secrets."
She huffedWell, you should have kept your mouth shut then."
"Okay, fine. I won't tell you everything. I will tell you something."
She raised her eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"
"The thing is, I think my mom was killed because she ran away from home. She had cancer, and apparently, she decided to take care of it before she passed. She had to have known that she was dying. She was a very sick woman, but she loved her children. She always tried so hard, but she couldn't take care of them, and neither could my father. So she left us to take care of ourselves. That was the last thing she ever wanted."
Daiyu stared at him, speechless. She slowly began to nod, processing everything he just said. She looked down at her hands and fiddled with her fingers, playing with a loose string on her sweater. "So…that explains the bruises," she murmured.
He nodded. "Yeah. I found out where my mom and father disappeared. It wasn't too far away. A couple hours drive if you drove fast. So, I drove as fast as I could to go find them.Unfortunately, I ended up finding them first. They were…dead. They had died by themselves in a burning car accident."
She swallowed nervously, nodding. "I see."
Taiga cleared his throat. "Anyway, after I found my mom's body, I came to terms with the fact that I'll never know anything about my real mother. All I found on her social media accounts were pictures of her kids and other random stuff. Nothing else."
"You said that your aunt sent you to look for answers. What about your uncle? Is he still alive too? Did she contact him?"
"Yeah, she did contact him." He paused. "We both agreed not to contact each other. Our families are complicated. We can never trust each other. He went missing a few months ago. I've called the police many times, but they've never managed to trace him."
She nodded silently, thinking. "And you still haven't found any clues. Why not?"
He scratched the back of his head. "No idea. Like I said, I never saw him. He didn't have any Facebook posts, or any other social media accounts. It'