Shunsui came to pick us up in the evening at the appointed time. The reddish-brown-haired young man's mood was still very low. I wanted to say something, anything, but nothing came to my mind. I could only watch him silently.
When we arrived at the mansion, Hinagiku-obāchan informed us that Tsubasa-sama was upstairs in her bedroom and that she should be downstairs at any moment now.
The boys and I headed directly into the hall to meet with the people who had gathered there. It was a very private gathering. Only the close family members of Shunsui's father were present. Gōjun had informed me in the car that Shunsui's defunct father had five younger sisters. None of them lived in Kokubunji.
The hall had been decorated with beautiful flowers and a banquet had been served. Everyone was dressed soberly; the reddish-brown-haired young man's aunts being accompanied only by their husbands.
When their eyes fell onto Shunsui, they all moved up to greet him, but there was something strange. They spoke nicely to him, but I had never seen the reddish-brown-haired young man so cold with anyone before. He barely greeted them back. His replies to their questions were curt. He kept his expression blank. His eyes were frigid.
I took a glance at Gōjun, remembering that he had wanted to tell me something this morning concerning Shunsui's behavior on this day.
Was he talking about this family gathering?
Gōjun seemed to be on his guard.
What's going on?
And Tsubasa-sama, why hasn't she come down yet?
There was something amiss. A kind of tension. I could feel it. But I was unsure to what it was due.
We had arrived only since a few minutes when Shunsui took my hand to lead me to the piano situated in a corner of the hall; Gōjun tagging along with us.
I was surprised when I saw the reddish-brown-haired young man take a seat there in front of the musical instrument. I didn't know that he could play a piano.
Pulling me by my hand again, he made me sit next to him on the bench, and he started to play a sad, romantic tune, while his aunts and uncles were immersed in talking to one another.
The tune was extremely beautiful, and at the same time, unbelievably sorrowful. It stirred my heart.
When he stopped playing, he looked at me to ask me, in a kind tone, 'Do you want to play something?'
I cringed away in a panic. 'Oh, but I- I can't play!'
Getting to his feet, he moved behind Gōjun to push him towards me by his shoulders, telling me, with a smile, 'Gōjun is going to teach you! He plays even better than me!'
My eyes widened at Gōjun in surprise.
He can play the piano too?
'Oi!' he uttered complainingly at Shunsui, but the latter ignored him and continued to push him towards me until he was standing right behind me.
Gōjun fixated me for a minute, scratching the back of his head a little, before he bent over me to pick my hands up in his and place my fingers lightly over the keys of the piano.
I blushed a little.
I knew that I had to keep my hands there, and slowly, he manipulated my fingers to play a tune, a different one from that which Shunsui had played, but just as beautiful and heart-stirring.
'I wonder what our male chauvinist of a father would have said if he was still alive today and he could see Tsubasa- a woman- running the Zaibatsu!' I heard one of Shunsui's aunts declare at one point, and I looked at the woman where she was standing in the distance with her sisters and brothers-in-law.
She was apparently the oldest of the five sisters, and from this distance, we could hear what they were saying with a certain effort.
'When I think about it!' another of the sisters muttered. 'Our father was truly a man with old-fashioned ideas! He has bequeathed the Zaibatsu to our older brother, instead of sharing its control equally amongst all his children. He bequeathed to his daughters only a few houses and a sum of money!'
'He categorically refused that his daughters' husbands' inherit the Zaibatsu, but now, it's his daughter-in-law who is running it!' yet another of the five sisters stated, in a mocking tone.
Gōjun had stopped playing now; Shunsui listening with us.
'I'm sure that our brother's death was not an accident!' the fourth sister declared with contempt. 'I'm sure that she sabotaged his car. She did it to inherit the Zaibatsu! It's his unfaithfulness that must have pushed her to action!'
My heart shook at her words.
What are they saying?! They believe- They're accusing Tsubasa-sama of having killed her husband?! Monsters! They are monsters!
'SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!' Shunsui snarled at them, abruptly, smashing the flower vase standing on the table close-by off it with a blow of his hand.
Everyone's head snapped around at him, startled, while I jerked to my feet on the spot.
Shunsui…
His expression was furious. He looked like he could kill.
'If you say one more word against her, I'll kill each and every one of you, understood?!' he shouted, and picking a chair up, he threw it at them. They managed to skip it by just, only to stare at him in shock.
I wasn't breathing anymore; my heart beating frantically.
'Shunsui! What's wrong with you?!' one his aunts' husband demanded at him. 'We're your family! Will you go against the members of your own family because of that woman? She is not even your mother! We all know that her family is not as powerful ours. And we all know she had discovered her infidelity-'
'WILL YOU SHUT THE F*** UP?!' Shunsui snarled at the man, and completely enraged, he fisted the latter by the front of his shirt to punch him one at the face.
Everyone gasped in shock.
The man fell to the ground, his nose and mouth bleeding. Shunsui was about to hit him another one, but Gōjun and I dashed at him immediately to catch hold of his arms and yank him away, desperately trying to restrain him, despite our own anger.
'Shunsui, please, stop!' we heard a small, familiar, feminine voice sobbed at that moment, and we all went completely still to stare at the blonde woman who had appeared in the doorway.
Tsubasa-sama!
My heart skipped a beat.
I had no doubt that she had heard and saw everything. Especially their accusations.
She was crying. And tears came to my eyes too, my heart swelling with pain.
How can they be so unfair to her? She is the one who had been betrayed!
Flinging around, she ran away.
Tsubasa-sama!
Without losing a second, I ran after her, while I heard Shunsui shout at his father's sisters and their husbands to get the hell out of the mansion on the spot, warning them that this was the last time that they were being allowed to set their feet in this place.
I called after Tsubasa-sama several times, but she didn't pause down even once and simply continued to run. Finally, I caught up with her in her bedroom.
'Tsubasa-sama...' I whispered, pausing down in the doorway of the room to stare at her back where she was standing in front of the window, staring outside, with her hands clutched over her mouth, desperately trying to muffle her sobs.
The next second, I had run up to her to send my arms tightly around her and pressing my eyes shut to hold back my own tears, I held her while she cried.
'Tsubasa-sama…'
She was crying so hard now that she was hiccupping.
When she had quietened into a sob, she told me, in a sad tone, 'Hime, you know, I am not Shunsui's biological mother.'
'I know. He told me about it,' I murmured, and opening my eyes, I looked up at her face.
She was looking at me over her shoulder, trying to blink back her tears. Looking in front of herself again then, she started recounting to me how she had come to know Hayate Shigeizumi.
'We were in high school together. We were very much in love with each other. Or at least, I loved him, and believed that he loved me back, because it often happens to me to ask myself if he had ever love me at any point in his life.'
Oh, Tsubasa-sama…
'When we finished high school, we got married. But within hardly a few months of our married life, he began to grow distant from me. The years went by, and at one point, I began to ask myself if he wasn't seeing another woman. And so, I employed a detective. The day of the accident, Daicho-san had submitted his report to me… And I discovered that, indeed, he's keeping a mistress.'
Tears welled up my eyes again. I couldn't imagine what she must have felt at that moment.
'I looked at some of the pictures and read half of the report. It was raining heavily that day. I ran out of the mansion and I arrived on the bridge on the outskirt of the city. I wanted to... die.'
My heart skipped another beat.
Tsubasa-sama!
'I remained there on the bridge for hours under the rain contemplating suicide when, I received a phone call. It was the hospital which was calling me to inform me that Hayate has had an accident. I rushed to the hospital on the spot. And that's when I discovered about Shunsui's existence.'
'Why- Why did you return for him?' I asked her, softly.
'He was an innocent.'
Oh, Tsubasa-sama...
'But, unfortunately, despite of his reaction of earlier, I fear that I have never been able to find a place in his heart. He has never been able to consider me as his mother.'
Utterly shocked, I released her to step backward.
'Tsubasa-sama...'
Is this what she thinks? That Shunsui does not consider her as his mother? That she had not been able to make herself a place in his heart?!
'Not even once in his life, has he called me "mother" …'
'Tsubasa-sama, you're wrong!' I told her, with fervor. 'You are the woman that Shunsui loves the most in this world! You are the only person that he considers as his mother! You occupy the most important part of his heart! But when he looks at you, he feels ashamed because of what his father and biological mother have done to you! He doesn't understand how you can love him and why you do not hate him! He told me all of this himself! It's the only reason why he has never been able to call you "mother"! And if he reacted like this downstairs, it's not simply because he respects you, but because he loves you!'
Upon my words, she flung around to stare at me, breathlessly.
Just at that moment, from the reflection in the windowpane, I descried a figure standing in the doorway, and instantaneously, I turned around and saw that it was none other than Shunsui himself.
The reddish-brown-haired young man stepped inside of the room, faltering a little, his expression fazed as he stared at the two of us.
Oh Shunsui…
I couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of myself. He had told me all these things in confidence.
But still-
'I'm sorry, Shunsui,' I murmured, 'But she needed to know.'
And lowering my eyes, I walked out of the room to leave them to talk to each other.
***
'Is this… what you feel?' Tsubasa Shigeizumi croaked out, her emotions in absolute turmoil. 'Shunsui… You don't have to feel ashamed of anything! You didn't do anything! You're not responsible for the actions of Hayate or that of your biological mother!'
Tears welled up the young man's eyes; his heart swelling.
Crossing the room rapidly, he took the blonde woman in his arms, embracing her, while he cried.
'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that because of my stupidity, you thought that I could never give you a place in my heart! You occupy the most important part of it! I love you so much!'
Releasing her, he cupped her face with both of his hands to shower kisses all over her face affectionately.
'I love you so much. Okā-san!'
Her heart skipped a beat.
'Did you just... call me...'
'Yes,' he replied, pulling himself slightly backward to gaze at her, while still holding her face in his hands, more tears escaping the corners of his eyes.
Tears started to gush down the blonde woman's cheeks again.
Moving his hands down to grab hold of her shoulders then, he led her to her bed to make her sit down on the edge of the mattress, and getting down on the floor in front of her to sit there at her feet, he placed his head down onto her lap.
'Okā-san...'
'Oh, Shunsui...' Tsubasa whispered, her heart filled with joy, and placing her hand over his head, she caressed it lovingly. 'I love you too.'
***
As I came out of the door, suddenly, I came across of Gōjun.
'Gōjun...' I said, timidly, 'Has everyone left?'
'Yes,' he answered, and digging his hands in his pockets, he moved to stand by the side of the door against the side wall to watch the reddish-brown-haired young man and blonde woman through the doorway.
'Every year, it's the same thing. They come uninvited to impose their presence and try to demean her. This year, they went too far. If she would tolerate them, I think it is only because she believes Shunsui needs them because they are of his father's family. But Shunsui has never considered those monsters as his family! She is the only one who counts in his eyes! She is everything to him! This year, should be the last time they're coming here. Shunsui will never allow them to even set their eyes on her ever again.'
'That's good!' I whispered, reassured.
'He has called her "Okāsan" at last!' he declared after a few seconds of silence, and I took a glance inside of the room immediately at Shunsui and Tsubasa-sama. The reddish-brown-haired young man was sitting at his mother's feet, his head rested in her lap. It was such a beautiful scene that it brought fresh tears to my eyes. I wiped them off with my forefinger to smile, happily.
Gōjun seemed happy too. It was the first time that I was seeing him smiling like this.
'It's all thanks to you,' he stated, and looking at me, he took his hands out of his pockets unexpectedly to reach out for my waist with one of his arms and pull me against him, while his other hand moved up to cup my chin; his face only inches away from mine.
I stared at him, holding my breath; my heart accelerating in my chest.
'Gōjun...'
As I saw him lean in, I pressed my eyes shut, knowing perfectly well what was going to happen. And indeed, his lips came upon mine in a kiss. My heart fluttered in my chest, and I blushed madly.
When he broke the kiss, I opened my eyes to stare at his face again, utterly voiceless.
Once again, he has kissed me!
Without releasing my chin, he brushed his thumb over my lips to wipe it dry while he gazed at me, causing me to blush even more madly; my heart going completely wild.
Oh Gōjun, what's happening to you?
Lowering his hand then, he let go of my waist to grab my hand and start dragging me towards the staircase with him, telling me, 'We're leaving. I'll ask my driver to drop you at your house. I don't think Shunsui is going to leave tonight.'
I didn't think so, either.
This made me smile happily again.
Thank you for reading!