Yui peeks at the clouds while gripping the straps of her bag tightly. She looks around and then suddenly starts running again. She stops when she sees a bridge in sight. This part of the city was quite deserted and the bridge had been closed down due to frequent accidents that happened. A lot of people even believed that the bridge itself was a bad omen.
Yui drops her bag and walks gingerly to the bridge.
Meanwhile, two guys sit at a table in a coffee shop. An elderly lady manages the shop. She brings them some coffee.
"Are you on night duty today?" She asks them.
"Yes. That's why we need your coffee. It helps us stay up all night," one of them jokes. He removes his glasses and picks his cup up as he savours the smell of the coffee.
"I just received a signal. Someone just crossed the barricade on the Yama bridge," the other man says. He has a tablet in his hands from which he is accessing information.
His partner hurriedly drops the cup. "Notify Asahi immediately!" He says.
Asahi is leaning against a pole few metres away from the coffee shop when he gets the message from his crew. He has a suitcase next to him. A frown finds its way to his face as he pulls out a lighter from his pocket. He begins to flick it open and closes it repeatedly.
He presses a button on the device in his ear. "Visuals?" He asks his crew over the wireless earphones they used for communication.
"Code Blue!"
Asahi pauses after a flick and immediately closes the lid of the lighter before pocketing it. He opens the suitcase and retrieves an unusual machine from it.
"She's on the edge of the bridge, but we can't tell whether she's just admiring the scenery or she intends to jump."
Asahi scoffs. "Admire the scenery my foot!" He pulls off his coat in one swift move and wears the machine on his back like a backpack. He straps it to himself then presses a button on the strap and wing-like structures emerge from both sides of the machine.
"Asahi! She crossed over the bridge railings!"
"You don't need to scream in my ear. I'm on my way." Asahi takes a stance and lunges himself forward. As soon as his feet leave the ground, he hits another button that causes the jetpack to keep him afloat. Then he flies towards the bridge.
Yui swallows hard as she looks down at the water. The ocean is so calm as if it was promising her that everything was going to be okay.
"I've always gotten away with it at school. Now, I won't be able to face them anymore. They would never forgive me. And elder sister, I hope she lives with this guilt for the rest of her life." Yui's eyes are closed and are brimming with tears as she pushes herself off the bridge. The fall is windy and faster than she could ever imagine. Yui starts to think of the things she could have achieved if she didn't make this hasty decision. Takara's words blow against her ears. "...be independent of her."
Yui's eyes open wide and she gasps painfully as she realizes deep down. 'I don't want to die.' But her tongue seems to be paralysed and she can't get a word through.
Asahi dives towards her like an eagle and then uses his arm to grab her before heading for a higher altitude. "Got you!"
Yui's eyes land on his face and she blinks slowly as she slips into unconsciousness.
*
Yui feels someone grasping her hand tightly. The person sobs quietly and a triumphant smile appears on Yui's face. She peeks under her eyelashes expecting to see Fusae but is shocked to see Takara. Yui pulls her hand from Takara's.
"Ohh! You are awake! Thank God!" Takara says. Yui notices how she is in her bedroom and sits up abruptly.
"What happened?" She asks puzzled. "How did I get here?"
"I got to know that you were absent from your last two lessons so I came right here only to find you unconscious by the door," Takara explained.
Yui gets down from her bed. How did she end up at her house? The last thing she remembers was that man rescuing her. Could he have seen her ID card? But she had left it in her school bag, hadn't she?
"Did you see my school bag?" She asks Takara. Takara thinks for a moment before shaking her head.
Yui's eyes are downcast for a while. I can always go back there but Takara wouldn't let me. And sister-
"Sister Takara, what about elder sister? Does she know?" Yui asks.
Takara shakes her head. "Do you want me to tell her?" She asks.
"No," replies Yui.
¶
"That was a risky thing to do, Asahi," Giichi, the guy in charge of the crew says. The sun has begun to set and the crew is on the terrace of their office complex monitoring what they can from above.
"What if they was another emergency? You went on to take the girl to her doorstep. Seriously, what got into you?" He scolds Asahi.
Asahi flicks his lighter open as he buries himself in his thoughts. Earlier, when they had used a face scanner to identify her, he was at loss for words.
"Her name is Yui Nakano. Guardian's name, Fusae Nakano..."
There was no mistake about it. It was the same family.
Asahi sucks in a sharp breath as he recalls Fusae's face and her angry words ring in his ears.
"I would never forgive you for what you have done. You snatched my sister's and my happiness right in front of our eyes."
Asahi's hand grips the lighter involuntarily. What type of cruel joke was life bringing him at this moment?
After six long years, he still couldn't put this all behind himself.
The day flashes right before his eyes.
He had convinced his best friend to watch a movie with him at the cinema the night before. The cinema was in another district so his friend offered to drive them both. They had missed the movie because Asahi made a mistake regarding the time it was going to be showing but they decided to hang out at a game shop later.
There was a snack shop just across the road and his friend went to get some snacks for both of them. Asahi was engrossed in the game he was playing when he heard a commotion outside. He looked out the window and saw that a truck had crashed into the snack shop. With jittery limbs, he walked out of the game shop and soon found himself at the scene of the accident. Screams and murmurs from the crowd that had gathered around only fell on deaf ears.
Asahi was able to catch a glimpse of a figure lying metres in front of the truck. The person was lying in a pool of blood and Asahi's heart broke when he recognised the outfit the person
was wearing.
Little did he know, that was the beginning of an unforgettable night.