Chapter 4: Kana Arima, The Child Prodigy
26th of December, 9 am, Miyako's house
Shortly after the initial shock of Kana's emotional outburst, Akane gets up, seemingly trying to chase after her.
Aqua is now standing in the dim dining room, a cold gust of wind coming through the wide open front door, but Aqua stays frozen in place, his cheek burning from the harsh slap, but he doesn't seem to mind it.
She got it all wrong…
But she is right.
In the end, I didn't text her.
I stood her up without telling.
This time I really did it,
This time, I hurt her.
But this is not my fault,
She should've just listened to me,
she would've understood…
…probably.
It was so important for her.
Still.
Ruby's safety is more important…
But if that's the case,
why am I feeling this bad then?
This is all-.
???: "What is all this commotion about?"
Aqua snaps out of his thoughts as he can hear a sleepy voice coming from the other end of the room, "and why is the door open? It's cold."
-Aqua comes back to reality, blinking a few times. Ruby is standing on the other end of the room. She is wearing her pajamas, and her hair is completely disheveled.
The whole argument with Kana must've woken her up.
"Are you there, Onii chan? What happened? Why are you so silent?"
Did he see some kind of ghost? Why is Aqua acting so strangely… Wasn't Kana still here when I went to sleep? Did she already leave? No, I clearly heard her just a moment ago. Aqua probably has something to do with it. What did this idiot do now?-
-Aqua walks back to the front door, closing it before the house gets even colder, before walking back over to the table.
He slowly picks up the fallen cup, when turning it around, he can see a large crack running right down the middle. He looks at it for a few moments before he places it down on the counter, after which he sits down at the table Kana just sat at minutes ago, signaling Ruby to sit down too…
"Ruby, we need to leave… You are not safe here. Hikaru is still after you; and he knows where we live,"
His voice makes Ruby feel like she's getting a command from a drill sergeant and not a request from her brother.
"ugh,"
Ruby sighs, knowing that this is not up for debate.
"Tell me at least what happened last night, tell me why you were not there,"
Ruby remembers the way Kana was worried, and the way she is just gone now.
"I decided to go after Hikaru instead. It wasn't an easy choice since I knew how much this meant to her."
Aqua thinks back to the way Kana looked at him. He has never seen her like that before, a pang of guilt shooting all through his body-
-"I can't believe this, can't you just finally stop it? You said it yourself, our revenge is over. So stop treating everyone around you like that, like you don't care when it's so clear that you do care."
Ruby's bright, sparkling eyes bore into Aqua's very soul.
"Ruby, this is not about revenge; it's about keeping you safe. I have not forgiven him for what he did to Ai, but you saw it yourself. He is obsessed; he will never stop until you are gone.
Aqua gazes back at Ruby. He is not backing down. Not this time.
"It's okay Aqua, you did what you thought was right, I know that you didn't want to hurt Kana. We will fix this and we will get Hikaru… together."
Ruby says after looking at Aqua for a few moments.
26th of December, same time, streets of Tokyo
Kana is walking down the crowded morning streets of Tokyo, everybody seems to be going somewhere except for Kana. Kana is just walking down the streets without any destination.
The cold wind is blowing through her short hair; she forgot her jacket when she stormed out earlier, making the conditions even more brutal, but she continues walking, not wanting to go home yet, still hoping.
Should I go back? Maybe this is all just a misunderstanding… Maybe he had a good reason to miss it, but what could it be? Does he really see me as not worth his time? Do I even deserve him seeing me differently?
Okay, what are the facts? He just didn't show up to my last show, he broke his promise, and then when I was worried about him, he ghosted me, and then he spent the night with her…
No, I won't crawl back to him again; either he comes to me, or I don't want to see him ever again.
She fights the tears starting to form around her eyes while continuing to walk through the busy downtown of Tokyo. She feels lost, like there is no place where she belongs.
My acting career is over. I don't get any roles, I quit being an idol, thinking it would boost my career, but now I'm just lonely. Do Ruby and Mem even like me? Their eyes… I bet they don't ever want to see me again.
Even someone like Ai was hated by her co-stars… So why would it be different for someone like me… maybe I deserve all of this, for always being like this.
Aqua… you dummy, why are you playing with my feelings like that? No, I don't, I don't deserve this. Nobody deserves to be treated like this by the person… the person they…
But then again, it's my fault for forgiving him over and over again. He never even apologizes… I thought you were different, Aqua. But maybe I was wrong.
Kana continues to walk around without any real destination, the buildings start to become smaller and the people fewer, while she unknowingly leaves downtown Tokyo, walking into a more rural area.
But I can't let this bring me down,
I just can't give up…
Once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up… right?
I just can't give up,
I am not past my prime,
I will show it to all of them,
I will show how I'm better than Akane,
I will become more famous than Ruby,
And I will find someone that actually appreciates me and doesn't play with my feelings like Aqua does…
Aqua…
But what if I don't make it,
I don't want to be average,
I want to shine,
shine like Ruby.
Like Ai…
Like Akane…
I know what to d-
Kana snaps out of her thoughts as she notices someone talking to her. She doesn't know the person, he is about 30 centimeters taller than her, and wearing a black hoodie-
???: "Excuse me, Are you Kana Arima from B-Komachi?"
26th of December, a few hours earlier, Kamiki's penthouse
-The room is dim and ominous; only a few rays of the rising sun make it past the closed blinds shining against the ceiling of the very spacious living room, filled with all kinds of expensive antique sculptures, paintings from various historic areas plastered over the walls.
In the center of it is a luxurious couch, a couch table with 2 open whiskey bottles right in front of it. Seated on the couch, a dark figure, the room is dead silent, and the figure doesn't even move an inch.
I can't let it happen,
I just can't,
It can't be…
Nobody can surpass Ai.
I need to get rid of her,
I can't allow her to surpass Ai.
I need to be fast. If she continues to grow like that, she will get a show in the dome in no time…
NO NO NO NO,
I can't let it happen,
I need a plan,
Aqua is not dumb,
She is probably already well hidden…
What should I do?
I need to draw her out.
He silently takes one of the bottles, throwing it against the wall with all his might. It instantly bursts into 1000 pieces, whiskey and glass landing on the floor.
The figure slowly walks over to the shattered bottle without a care in the world. He starts to pick up the shards with his bare hands, shallowly cutting his hands while doing so. The alcohol lingering on the shards only increases the pain, while small droplets of blood are dripping onto the floor.
After finishing the clean-up, a message sound comes from his phone, he looks at the message for a few moments before grabbing a black coat and his car keys, leaving his penthouse in a hurry.
…
The door of the penthouse opens again, and a cloaked figure enters through the door, looking around the penthouse for a moment. After the person was sure of being alone, they walked into the living room. They stay there for a few minutes before leaving again, making sure to leave everything as it was before.
26th of December, during the same time, the house of the producer Gotanda Taishi
Both Ruby and Aqua arrive at Gotanda Taishi's house, but he is currently gone with his mother on a vacation. During this time, he allowed Ruby and Aqua to lie low, using his house until this was over.
Aqua looks around one last time before unlocking the door while thinking.
This is definitely not perfect, but it should buy me enough time to end it once and for all.
Ruby and Aqua step into the residence, closing the door behind them and heading up to the makeshift room that was set up for Ruby and Aqua-
Once they have settled down, Aqua stands up again, walking towards the door.
No, I can't let him leave. Onii chan is in danger too, but he either doesn't know or doesn't care…
Either way, he can't leave, not now, not without telling me what his plan is to begin with. I don't want to lose you again, Sensei… not so soon after I found you again.
Ruby hastily stands up and walks over to Aqua before he can reach the door. She grabs his hand, holding him back.
"Don't,"
She whispers while looking up at the back of his head, while he stands there unmoving.
"You know I have to do this, Ruby, let go of me,"
Aqua says while standing right in front of the door, unmoving and still facing the door.
"No,"
Ruby's grip tightens as she speaks.
"I won't let you go out there on your own, you probably don't even have a plan, this would be suicide, you are acting like a cornered dog."
"You're right."
Aqua's arm becomes limp as he speaks again, still not turning around to face Ruby.
"I don't have a plan, but I can't just do nothing, I can't just sit here and wait for the inevitable to happen."
"I know how you feel,"
Ruby says, loosening her grip just a bit.
"You couldn't save me all these years ago, and now you want me to live at any cost… but I want you to live too, I couldn't do this without you Aqua."
Aqua feels how her grip loosens, but he doesn't pull his arm away.
"I've already had my chance at life; it would be selfish of me to risk your chance just so I can have a second one."
"No"
Ruby's grip tightens again at Aqua's reasoning.
"I don't want this, you are supposed to live, live with me… don't throw it all away, you need to ask for help, you have so many people that would help you, why can't you just accept that and finally start letting them in, you are not alone."
Aqua slowly takes his other hand off the doorhandle and wants to reply, but suddenly Ruby's phone starts ringing, which startles both of them.
They look over to the phone. Ruby's phone is lying on her bed. They both walk over to the phone, their movement slow like the phone could attack them any second.
When they finally reach it and look down at it, they both look relieved when they see that it is Kana who is calling them.