Rinse and Repeat
Chapter 127: S2 Episode 26 - Rinse and Repeat
She'd been dealing with excessive migraines due to her extreme lack of sleep and low intake of food, but if her family had seen just how far she'd gone, who knows how they would've reacted?
"Did you see the news?" She asked her father, to which he hesitated a bit.
"Y-yeah… It's a bit weird to see my daughter's face everywhere in magazines and articles. I mean, you're still in middle school but you're receiving a lot of fame," her father replied awkwardly. "Besides, why are you calling so late at night? I was just about to go to bed."
"...No important reason, just…" She paused for a split moment, carefully picking out her words.
"What do you think about all of this news?"
Although he couldn't see her face, she was serious about this question because she valued the opinion of her father the most.
"Hmm…" he paused to think. "I can see that you're on the road of following your mother's footsteps."
This made her a bit joyful to hear, but he wasn't done yet.
"But… just remember, Keiko… Sometimes fame isn't always great. There will always be people who will either love or hate you. I just… I just don't want this to be a repeat of what happened to your mother," he responded thoughtfully yet his voice carried a heavy tone to it.
When Keiko heard this, for some reason, she thought back to the conversation she had that one time with Henri Lucas.
---
"Are you trying to say that my father is purposefully hiding something from me, his own daughter?" Keiko asked with some aggression in her voice but Henri Lucas shook his head.
"I don't doubt that he doesn't trust you, it's just… I believe that your father knows more about your mother's death than you do yourself, Miss Keiko. Did you know that there was no trial held for your mother's death?" Henri Lucas asked and Keiko tilted her head in confusion.
"I-I-I don't—"
"—If you still doubt my words, then I think the person you should be seeking answers from is your father. He must know about the case behind your mother's death more than anyone," Henri Lucas ended.
---
'Does Dad… does he know something about mom's death that he isn't telling me?'
She shook her head at that thought, trying to disperse any ideas she was beginning to have.
'No, there's no way Dad would keep something from me about Mom! I saw it happen… I saw her get hit! I'm his daughter! He would never keep something from me!'
But then, she thought back to recently when she talked to Kashino's mother, Kashino Asa. She hadn't known she and her mother were close friends, not to mention that her mom's family was trying to force her to become a doctor!
Why hadn't they talked about it with her? Why keep quiet for so long?
She ended her thoughts there to prevent any strange ideas or questions from escaping her mouth. Instead, she thought back to the sweets princes' families buying tickets to watch the competition. This was actually the main reason why she decided to call.
"Um, are you…" She hesitated before breathing in and exhaling to calm her mind. "Are you guys… going to come and watch me in the final round?"
There! She finally said it!
.
.
.
"..."
But unexpectedly, the other line had gone unusually quiet. This wasn't the reaction she wanted. Why didn't he speak?
"...Sorry, Keiko… We really wanted to go watch you during the final round but we live 3 hours away, AND I have a whole bunch of cases stacking up here on my desk," her father said from the other line while smacking a heavy file on his desk for her to hear.
That's right. She forgot that her father was one of the top prosecutors of Japan who was always busy. There was no way he could ever have time to see her and her team compete.
"T-That's right… What was I thinking? Asking you such a silly question like that! Hahahahahaha!" Keiko responded, laughing into her phone for her father to hear.
"Hehehe… it was quite silly…" he laughed along with her, and with these words, Keiko's heart dropped to the ground in a split second.
The laugh she had when she talked had absolutely nothing in it. Any sense of emotion she had when she talked to her father disappeared at that moment. Any shine left in her bright blue eyes returned into the deep abyss they fell in long ago.
She looked so… detached from the world… so… lifeless.
'Right… I've always been alone…'
"Hehehehehe…" Keiko lightly chuckled to herself on the phone. She wanted to burst out laughing like she once had before but even she had enough consciousness to not do that in front of anyone—especially her father.
"What's so funny?" Her father inquired from the other line, hearing her laugh to herself. He didn't quite understand what was funny.
"Nothing… nothing's funny," Keiko responded which finally stopped her from breaking out into a laughing fit. As if disregarding his daughter's sudden laughter, he continued.
"We'll make sure to watch you on TV, though! Make sure you get plenty of rest and eat a ton! We'll be cheering you on, so good luck!"
Her father was energized but she could feel not a trace of emotion run through her soulless body.
Everything was gone. She felt nothing.
No happiness, sadness, anger, motivation, or anything.
She had become an empty shell of a person called Michiko Keiko.
Every inch of her that once existed to others had died, yet nobody could tell anything was remotely wrong with her.
If only she could speak her mind like usual, would they understand her? Her suffering?
As if she was getting ready to say something, she retracted any sound that would come from her mouth and stood quietly for a moment before continuing.
"Goodbye."
Keiko said and immediately ended the call before her father could say anything more.
She placed her phone on the kitchen counter at her station and looked at it with empty eyes. It seemed as if the look in her eyes was clouded with darkness. Nobody could understand just what she was feeling, not even herself.
'I don't need help… I'm fine.'
Her last cry for help had failed her.
* * *
The next day, she and her team would practice again—and then she'd stay later and take notes.
Practice, take notes, practice, take notes, practice, take notes…
It was an endless cycle of rinse and repeat, yet each day she was beginning to lose all life in her bright blue eyes. There was no light anymore and she masked it all with a gloomy smile to hide her suffering. She was broken and couldn't ask for help.
'Everything is fine,' she told herself.
'I'm fine…'
She hadn't spoken a word to Fraise since that day and only minimally talked to her teammates when she needed to. She was exhausted and sick but she would push herself until she was on the verge of breaking, only to achieve that speck of hope she called a "Dream."
Each and every time they practiced, they got faster and more calculative of their actions. If it wasn't for Keiko who took her time to write down detailed notes about what they could fix, even they would think that the first cake they made was sloppy. But as of now, with their current skills and expertise, their recent cake was the best it could be within the time they had.
For them, they would do their best to win the final round—For all of them...
The cycle repeated until it was the day of the Final Round.