Chapter I.

The City of Kokubunji…

In the early evening...

'Ah, this film was really disappointing!' bemoaned Shunsui Shigeizumi, as he walked out of the cinema hall with Gōjun Shoran; dragging his feet slightly under him. 'I don't like stories that end badly! 

'It resembles you to say that,' stated Gōjun Shoran, and Shunsui looked at his friend in bewilderment for a minute, before he sighed, and said, 'We would have done better to go to the karaoke!'

However, Gōjun wasn't listening to him anymore. The latter was staring past his shoulder now, with his fists balled up by his sides, his jaws locked together, his expression showing a combination of anger and pain.

'What is it?' Shunsui inquired, turning around to follow Gōjun's eyes onto the object of his attention. What greeted his sight was a young couple, who were sitting on a bench at a certain distance away on the plaza, and kissing each other.

'That girl, isn't she-'

Even before he could have completed his sentence, Gōjun had crossed his way up to the couple in outrage and yanked the young man up to his feet by the front of his shirt to lay upon him an iron punch in the face. The blow knocked the young man down on the floor, blood streaming out of the latter's nose and mouth.

The girl jerked to her feet, instantly, letting out a screech.

'Stop! Stop! Gōjun, stop!' she cried out in horror, as the latter fisted the young man with again by his shirt, ready to punch him another one in the face. 

Managing to control himself, Gōjun stopped his fist just over the young man's nose, only to release him in a shove and straighten up to his feet, turning half-around to confront the girl, his expression filled with disdain.

'Don't give me that look!' the latter spat out to him, with venom. 'I forbid you to look down on me! I'm not cheating on you, because we were never a couple to begin with! What were we doing together, huh?! Can you tell me?! You don't believe in love and marriage! Our relationship wasn't serious! We had both made it very clear to each other the first day itself!'

'That was before I developed feelings for you!' he roared. 'And I thought that it was reciprocal!'

Her eyes widened at him in shock.

'But, as I can see, I was right not to have faith in love!'

Shaking his head at her, he turned away to leave when, unexpectedly, she dashed at him to hug him from behind. 

'No, Gōjun, please! Wait!' she urged. 'I didn't know that you have feelings for me. Le-Let's stay together!'

'Kitsune!' voiced out the injured young man, who was still lying on the floor, his expression stunned. 'You told me that you love me!' 

The girl's face reddened in shame. 'W-Well, I was really sincere.'

'To how many guys have you said "I love you" without really thinking it, huh? You're disgusting! Don't show me your face ever again!' Gōjun stated at her, staring in the front, and breaking her grips off him, he strode away, digging his hands in the pockets of his jeans. 

Several passers-by had gathered to watch the scene, and they began to disperse at that moment, while the girl moved up to the injured young man on the floor to help him up; her expression even more ashamed than before.

As she was about to reach out for him, he slapped her hands away, in indignation, telling her that everything was over between them. She, then, proceeded to try to convince him not to break up with her.

Oh Gōjun... Shunsui thought to himself, sadly, as he followed the latter with the eyes. You're wrong. Love can exist between two persons. It is not a chimera.

  ***

Six months later, still in the evening…

At the Head Office of Shigeizumi Zaibatsu…

'Tsubasa-sama, your signature is required on these documents,' Ryutsuki Nara declared, as he handed over a number of files to the young woman, where she was sitting behind her desk.

'Ah, thank you!' she said to the old man, with a kind smile, taking the files from him to set them down in front of herself. Grabbing her pen, she opened the first one and began to go through it when, suddenly, her cellphone rang.

She answered the call immediately, and her pleasant expression became replaced by a worried one. 

The old man couldn't hear what was being said on the other line, and her replies were very short, but it was clear to him that there was something wrong. When she hung up, she remained very silent and simply cupped her chin to frown at the table thoughtfully, her expression tensed.

'Is there a problem, Tsubasa-sama?' the man inquired, concerned for the young woman, whom he regarded as no less than a daughter.

'Ryutsuki-san,' she said, looking up at him anxiously, 'Your spouse runs a traditional Japanese sweets shop, doesn't she?'

'Yes, that's exact.'

'There has been a problem with the delivery of the sweets I had ordered for the party of tonight. The shop has made a mistake as to the quantity I had ordered. Not by much, but it will not be enough for all the guests who are to attend. Do you think that your spouse could supply for the rest?' 

'I'm going to phone her immediately to know if she has any sweets left!' he told her, taking his cellphone out without losing a second to dial her number. 

The blonde woman watched the old man in nervous anticipation as he talked to his wife. After he had hung up, he didn't have to say anything for her to already know that she has been saved.

'Since we still have a few works to finish at the office, I'm going to ask my grand-daughter to deliver them at your house!'

She nodded, and gave him a grateful smile, telling him, 'Thank you very much Ryutsuki-san! I don't know what I would do without you!'

'It's a pleasure!' the man replied, returning the smile, and giving her a small bow of the head in respect. 

  ***

Meanwhile, at the hospital…

'Did you hear the news?'

'What news?'

'About Yugito! Apparently, she's pregnant!'

'Yes! Yes! I've heard about it! She got married last year, didn't she?'

'Yes, but the rumor says that the child she's carrying is not that of her husband, but of her ex-boyfriend!'

'No, really?!'

'Yes! Shione told me the other day that she saw-'

'Ladies, don't you have anything better to do at this hour than to gossip?' 

At the sound of that familiar, grave, masculine voice, the two nurses almost jumped out of their skin. 

Instantaneously, they flung around to meet the look of the director of the hospital. The latter had arrived behind them out of nowhere like a ghost. 

A scream bubbled up their throat, but they managed to repress it down. They had broken into cold sweat.

'Do I have to remind you about your duties at work, or will you be able to remember it by yourself?!' he demanded, severely, in a rhetorical question, scowling at them.

Letting out a nervous giggle, they excused themselves rapidly, and scooted out of sight as though they were pursued by the devil himself, their face as white as a sheet of paper.

The man exhaled sharply, and continued with his round. 

As he was passing one of the rooms on the first floor, he came to a halt when he heard a soft, feminine voice emanating from it. Peering through the crack in the door which had been left slightly ajar, his eyes fell onto a certain young girl. The latter was sitting on a chair by the bedside of the patient who occupied the said-room, with an open book in her hands. 

The girl was around seventeen-years-old, and was very petite, being short and slender. She had knee-length, straight, crow-black hair with a "hime" cut. Her skin was milky-white, and her eyes were green. The patient was most definitely her mother. They resembled each other a lot. He remembered that he had seen the teenaged girl a few times before at the hospital. 

'"He left to settle down abroad, while she remained in Japan, each going on to live their respective lives separately from each other. The End,"' she read, before she cringed away, her expression turning cynical. 'Eh?! How can it end like this?!'

Taking a deep breath, she let out a sigh of lamentation, moaning out, 'Ah! Okā-san! I'm sorry! This book is really disappointing!' 

But, very quickly, she cheered up again to assert, 'I like a happy ending, and I know that it's the same for you. I'll go to the library again tomorrow to lend another book!'

At that moment, the man decided to enter the room.

  ***

I jerked to my feet in a panic when I heard the door of the room slip wide open and closing the book in my hands, I held my breath to stare at the person who had stepped in the room. 

The man was in his early thirties. He was of fair complexion, and was tall and rather muscular, with chin-level black hair that he kept parted in the middle. His eyes were gray, and he wore spectacles. He was clothed professionally, in a suit and tie. And if I was not wrong, he was the owner and director of the hospital!

All color drained out of my face and my stomach began to churn with dread.

'Young girl, can you tell me what you're doing here at this hour?' he demanded, tersely. 'The visiting time is over since two good hours!'

Bowing down instantly, I presented to him my most sincere apologies. 'I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again.'

I knew that I had committed a wrong by not respecting the rules of the hospital. The fact was that I had been so enthusiastic to discover the end of the story together with my mother. But above it all, I always find it so hard to leave her.

'I'll be back in five minutes and, by then, you should already be gone!' he told me, in a stern voice, and I followed him with the eyes as he walked out of the room, bobbing my head up and down in answer, even if he couldn't see it.

I looked at my mother after that and, picking one of her hands up into mine, I squeezed it gently, and tell her, in a whisper, 'Okā-san, I need to leave now. I'll come to see you tomorrow again, and I'll bring a new book, as promised.'

Bowing down, I placed a kiss on her forehead, before I looked at her face again, my heart swollen.

Her eyes were tightly shut against the world; her chest moving up and down in steady movements. 

No, it is never easy to leave her. 

But the worst was probably to see her in this state. She was in a coma. I was sure that could hear and feel everything. But her body wouldn't respond.

As I released her hand and had been about to make for the door, suddenly, my cellphone rang.

'It's Ojii-san!' I said, as I read the name appearing on the screen. I picked up the call immediately. 

'Ojii-san!'

'Hime, where are you right now?'

'I'm at the hospital with Okā-san.'

'You will have to do something for me.'

'Yes, please, tell me.'

He explained the situation to me, before telling me, 'I'm going to send you the address of Tsubasa-sama by text message. You'll have to go home to pick up the cartons of sweets your grand-mother will give you, and then, deliver them at the said-address. Will you be able to do it?'

'Hai!' I replied, cheerily. 'You can count on me!'

He chuckled. 

'Alright. Be careful on the way, ne?'

'I will.'

Hanging up, I explained my errand quickly to my mother, and saying goodbye to her, I left the hospital to head out for it. 

The City of Kokubunji was quite large and well-populated. At its center could be found all the businesses and commerces of the city, including offices, shopping malls, cinemas, hotels, and restaurants, with several skyscrapers standing tall and high, seeming to want to pierce the sky. It was the busiest area of Kokubunji, with lots of traffic, and houses cluttered together, most of them being apartments built atop of private commerce. It was there, in the center of the city, that I lived with my maternal grand-parents, atop of the traditional Japanese sweets shop ran by my grand-mother.

As we leave the center of the city, the commerce gradually disappeared, and the houses become vaster and begin to stand more sparsely apart; the scenery growing more verdant. And at the northern periphery of the city, was the upper-class neighborhood. 

I had never ventured out to that part of the city before, and it was there that I was headed.

My unfamiliarity with this neighborhood made me a little nervous.

As I arrived in front of the property I had been indicated to by asking around, I paused down in front the metal plate situated on the wall by the side of the gate to look at the address inscribed on it, and then at the on my phone one, and back again, twice.

It was well the same address.

The golden metal gate was standing wide open, and timidly, I took a peek at the property.

Within the enclosure of the walls, was a mansion, larger than any one I had ever seen before even on television. It stood two-storied high, and was painted entirely in white, with the front porch standing higher than the rest of the building, supported by two pillars covered with carvings. The ground of the courtyard was paved, with several lamp-posts standing all around. The walls surrounding the property were quite tall, the iron gate ornate. 

There were several luxurious cars parked on both sides of the courtyard, with a few other cars parked on the street just across of the property.

My nervousness increased ten-fold.

There must be a lot of people inside, I thought to myself. I was not dressed in the proper tone. Not to forget that I was feeling utterly intimidated by the size of the property.

A young couple came past me at that moment to enter through the gateway. The man and the woman were in their late twenties, with the latter was leaning on the man's arm. Both were clothed classically- the man in a suit, the woman in an evening grown. 

Timidly, I followed them from behind up to the mansion, but I decided not to enter through the front door. I approached a male servant at the entrance, and he indicated me to a side door that led directly to the kitchen. 

It was this door that I took. It opened onto a long corridor and on the right hand-side wall was a door which led into the kitchen. 

The kitchen was a rectangular room, with a door at each end, and a long and large table sitting in the middle.  A kitchen-counter lined the two side of the room, with cupboards situated below and above it. The sink was on the left, while the refrigerator stood by the side of the door at other end of the room. 

The kitchen was less busy than I believed it would be. Three maids in uniforms were bustling their way out of it, through the other door, when I entered; most probably hurrying out to join their comrades in attending to the guests. An old, spectacled, authoritative-looking woman, clothed in a different uniform than that the other maids, was standing by the sink. 

The moment I entered, her eyes zeroed on me.

'Ah, you must be Ryutsuki-san's grand-daughter!' she said, in a pleasant tone, making her way towards me. 'My name is Hinagiku, and I'm the oldest employee of the house. Tsubasa-sama has informed me that you will come to deliver the sweets. Please, put them down here!'

Upon her direction, I placed the cartons of sweets on the table when, abruptly something seemed to happen to her as she reached me.

'Obā-san!' I gasped, catching her arm as I saw her teeter, looking as if she was about to faint, and without releasing her, I pulled a chair to her immediately to make her sit. She was holding her forehead with her hand now, her eyes closed.

'Are you feeling alright?' I asked her, watching her with concern. 'Do you want me to fetch you a glass of water?'

'No-No,' she replied, with a small shake of the head, without opening her eyes. 'I'll be alright. I'm just- a little tired.'

'You should go to your room and rest down a bit,' I murmured.

'I can't. Do you see all those plates lying by the sink? I told those lazy-bones yesterday that there will be a party this evening and to make sure that the porcelain is spic and span, but they didn't listen. And now look what happened! The guests are already here and I'm still cleaning the porcelain!'

'I'm going to take care of it,' I decided. 'You may go and rest for a while!'

This old woman, she was of the same age as my grand-mother. And I remembered that Ojii-san had mentioned her once. From what he had said, she had been brought into this house from the orphanage while she was still a kid, and ever since, she has been working here. Being the most senior of all the employees of the household, she was the president of the staff. Ojii-san held her in high regards.

'But-' She looked at me, hesitantly. 'Are you sure?'

I nodded. 

'I'm going to take care of everything. You may rest assured.'

She nodded back at me. 

A young maid had entered the kitchen by that moment, and the old woman asked to carry the sweets that I had brought to the buffet table without any delay, after which she was to return or send someone in her place now and then to fetch the remaining plates. 

The young girl hurried up to do as she had been told.

Rising to her feet, the old woman walked away after that, and I followed her with the eyes until she had disappeared through the door.

'Well, it's time to get to work, Hime!' I said to myself, with zing, and hitching my sleeves up to my forearm and grabbing an apron, I made for the sink.

Several minutes had elapsed from then when, out of the blue, I heard the double-door through which I had entered- open with a long bang. 

The sound caused me to jump, and instantaneously, I looked to my right, only for my face to flush tomato red at the scene which was playing itself right in front of my eyes.

Thank you for reading!

Glossary

Ojii-san - Grand-father

Okā-san - Mother