Rainy Day:page 3
Author’s Note: Everything in the first person is from Mimi’s point of view.
***
I managed to stifle a gasp, and tried in vain to keep tears from welling up in my eyes when I heard
those words. I felt as though I was dead, devoid of all life and emotion. I felt like an empty shell with
no mind, heart or soul, inside it. My entire body went numb, but I somehow managed to hang onto the
phone. I wanted to get up and just run out of the house, but I regained some of my composure and
managed to ask, "When?"
It took the detective a few minutes to answer my question. It seemed as though he fought some kind
of internal struggle over whether or not to tell me what I wanted to know. Finally, after about 3 minutes
of silence, he decided to answer me. "Did you see the news yesterday?" he asked me.
For a brief moment, my grief was overcome by curiosity. *What on earth does that have to do with
anything?* I asked myself. * The man I love just died and this..this baka is asking me if I watched the
news yesterday!*
" Yes," I said. " I saw some of it. Why?"
" Well, " he said. " Do you remember hearing a report at 3:30 about a hit and run accident at the
intersection of Ryu Boulevard and Shinju Street?"
I searched my memory before saying, " Yes, I remember hearing it and thinking, ‘what a shame’.
That’s about it though. Oh wait, I remember hearing that the pedestrian who was hit, died shortly after
at the Odaiba Regional Hospital, and that the driver of the car has yet to be caught. That’s all. Why?"
There was a small sound at the other end of the telephone that I couldn’t make out. Then the
detective said, " The pedestrian who had died, was Yamato Ishida. As soon as the med. teams arrived
at the scene of the accident, we sent him directly to Odaiba Regional Hospital. The sad part is, is that
at first, he didn’t seem to be injured all that badly, as we expected from a hit and run victim. We should
have know that that was too good to be true. As it turned out, the doctors later found that he had
suffered massive internal hemorrhaging and there was absolutely no way that he could’ve hoped to
survive. The doctors told him that he had at most a half an hour to live. He died at 4:15 PM at Odaiba
Regional Hospital, the cause of death, massive internal hemorrhaging. I’m sorry, Ms. Tahchikawa.
We had said that we wouldn’t release the name of the victim until we notified his family. We couldn’t
notify his parents because his mother is very ill, and we fear that if we tell her this, that there’ll be
some complications. I don’t know if her heart could take it."
" What about his father?" I asked.
" I’m afraid he’s dead too. He died about 3 years ago. He lost a battle with lung disease. We are
aware that he has a younger half-brother, Takeru Takaishi. We are going to have to notify him next.
Do you have any idea where we can contact him?"
Now it was my turn to fight an internal struggle. It took me a while before I said," No, how did you
know to contact me?"
" A friend of his came and told us that you were one of his close friends."
" Who told you that?"
" I can’t say, all I can tell you is that she was with him at the time of the accident. That’s all."
" Well," I said sadly, " I…I’ve got to go. I don’t think my heart can take anymore of this." I heard the
Detective start to say something else, but I hung up the phone without even caring what he was saying.
It took a while before that statement actually hit me, but when it did, it hit with a vengeance. My gut
clenched and my heart felt as though it was ripped out from inside me while I was still alive. I wanted
to just cry my heart out, but I knew that this was not the place for that, not here, not in front of all the
others. What could I possibly do? Suddenly, it came to me. I knew what to do. I needed to get away
for a while to rest and recover. I wanted to get out as soon as possible, so I took the most direct route
to the front door. That route just so happened to take me directly through the party room. I didn’t care
though, I just wanted to get out of here.
I walked into the party room. The music was blaring loudly, but I didn’t hear a note of it. All I was
aware of was the pain and sadness welling up inside of me. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I
wasn’t paying any attention at all to where I was going. Because of that, I walked smack-dab into Tai.
"Oh, sorry," I said absentmindedly as I continued walking, not even giving him a chance to reply.
" Sure," he said to my back as I walked away, " no problem." He must have picked up on something
because he ran up in front of me and asked, " Mimi, what’s wrong?"
" Oh nothing," I said, my voice belaying a hint of sadness every now and again. That was a
particularly large lie, and I knew it. So did my Crest of Sincerity. It turned ice cold, and it lost some of
it’s luster. I flinched unwillingly at the ice cold stone against my warm flesh, but I guess that Tai didn’t
notice that, because he walked away, leaving me free to go.
It took me a few minutes to get to the door, mainly because I kept bumping into people along the way.
Once I was at the door, I grabbed my pink jacket and a spare set of keys before opening the door and
stepping outside. Once outside, I took a minute to look around, before walking down to two large metal
gates at the end of the walkway. Once there, I punched in a special code, the gates opened and I
walked outside. I waved to the guard at the gate, who asked where I was going. I told him that I was
going for a quick walk, and that I’d be back shortly. He asked if he should send a bodyguard with me,
but I said that I’d be okay and not to worry. He then nodded at me, and said that he hoped I’d have a
nice walk. He then turned back to whatever he had been doing before we talked. I then walked out as
calmly as I could. Once I was a good distance away from the mansion, I broke out into an all out run,
as I began to cry uncontrollably. As I ran, my tears flew out behind me like a string of miniature
crystals, each one containing an equally small portion of the grief I felt. Once again, I felt the same as I
did on April 5, 1995. Everything was exactly the same, except for the fact that at this time, it wasn’t
raining. Everything else was the same. On April 5,1995, he left me for another woman, and this time,
he had left me again, but this time, he had left me forever. I just wanted to run away from everyone
and everything that I knew.
As I ran, I was crying. No, not just crying. What I was doing was more like grieving or mourning. I still
couldn’t believe it. The only one I had ever loved was gone, taken away from me by some careless
driver who hadn’t even stopped to help Matt. I was so deeply hurt, so deeply upset, because Matt had
died, but at the same time, I was angry, I was looking for someone to blame. I could blame the driver
of the car that had hit and killed him, but I knew that that wouldn’t get me anywhere. All that would do
was make me angrier. Even if they did catch him, all they could do was jail him and maybe put a
couple of deep scars on his driving record. That wouldn’t be enough though. My heart was scarred
too. It was scarred so deeply that it felt as though it had been completely cut in half.
I could blame the doctors, but that too would have been useless. They did what they could to save him.
I couldn’t blame them.
I could think of no one else to blame except myself. Unless I could somehow pin the whole thing on
Matt. If only I hadn’t been so stubborn. If only on that night, 10 years ago, or anytime before that, if
only I had told him that I love him. I don’t know why he thought that I didn’t love him. I had no idea.
Did he think that I thought that he wasn’t good enough? Did he think that there was someone else?
No. He knew that he was my one and only. I loved him more than anyone else in the world. I thought
he knew that. I just wish that I had the chance to tell him. If I had been there with him at the time of
the accident, I might have been able to do something. If I had known that he was hurt, I would have
run to his bedside no matter where he was. I just wish that I had had the courage to tell him that I
loved him face to face once again. I just wondered what made him decided to leave me. Something
must have happened between the time that we got home and the time that he left. Something must
have happened, something that made him decided to leave me.
I knew that I had to figure it out. I had to know what made him decide to leave me. All I remember
was that I didn’t let him kiss me. That’s all. I had this nagging feeling that some time, a little bit of time
had passed. All I had to do, was remember what had happened. Why couldn’t I remember?
I stopped running, and took a moment to regain my bearings. It turned out that I had ended up at a
park, not too far from my house. I found a nearby park bench, sat down and began to think.
*Why can’t I remember?!* I yelled at myself. * Why oh why can’t I remember what happened?!* I
was so frustrated that I clutched at my head and began to cry wildly. " Why can’t I remember?!" I
sobbed. " Why…?!" I sat and cried like that until my head began to start spinning again, just like the
time that I had those visions in the parking lot. I knew that I was getting an answer to my question, but
I wasn’t sure that I was going to like it.
***
The next thing I was aware of was that I was in a place that was completely empty except for some
white fog that swirled around me, and wrapped me in a blanket. I was shocked at first, but I quickly
adjusted to my new surroundings. I found that I was sitting on what I supposed was the ground. I stood
up, then something drew my attention. Gone, where the long pink dress and pink jacket that I had bee
wearing. I was now dressed in some kind of silver bodysuit with the symbol of the Crest of Sincerity
printed on one side.
" Where am I?" I shouted aloud, no knowing whether some one would hear me. I listened to my voice
echo through what I presumed was a vastly large area.
I was getting fed up with this. " Is anyone here?" I shouted. Once again, I listened to my voice echo,
but this time, I heard something else. I heard a sound other than the echo. I heard something that
sounded like someone walking around in that fog.
Now that I knew that someone was here, it was time to move onto the next step. " Who’s there?" I
shouted.
This time something weird happened. Unlike the first two times, my voice didn’t echo, and this time, a
human woman’s voice answered me back. " You are here," she said.
" Where is here?" I asked.
" That is irrelelvant," she said.
"If that is irrelevant," I said, " then what is relevant?"
" I will tell you what is," she said as she stepped out from behind a wall of fog. " What is important, is
what you want to know."
I gasped when I saw her. She was about my height. With blue eyes, and long blond hair that cascaded
down and around her shoulders in long curls. As I took in her appearance, I couldn’t help but feel that
she looked somewhat familiar. She was wearing another silver bodysuit with a symbol resembling a
crab on it. on it. I racked my brain trying to figure out if and when I had seen her before. I stood there
for a minute, staring, when suddenly, it came to me.
"It was you!" I yelled at her. " you were the one who me and Matt saw on our way back from the
theater. I remember now. You were the one that he ran off with! You stole him from me! Palmon
was the one who came and told me that she had seen you two together!" I was furious now. " You
were the one with him at the time of the accident, weren’t you?! You could have saved him! But you
didn’t do anything did you?! You just stood there and let him die, didn’t you?!"
As I stood there, accusing the woman of all this stuff, she stood there, giving me this puzzled look. She
shook her head dubiously with each of the accusations that I threw at her. After I accused her of
letting Matt die, she stood and held her hands out to silence me.
" Now wait a minute," she said calmly. " I am not the person that you are thinking of!"
I was shocked for a moment. I stood and stared blankly at her for a moment before saying, " Then
who are you?"
" My name is Sabrina. I am also known as Cancer."
" Are you one of Celeste’s friends? Why are you here?"
" Yes," she said, " I am one of Celeste’s allies. As for why I’m here, you were wishing that you could
remember what caused Matt to leave you. I am here to show you why he left."
" How can you?" I asked.
" I am Cancer. My elements are time and space. I can arrange little trips into the past, and with you
consent, we’ll take a little trip into your past to see why Matt left you. Do I have your consent?"
" Yes," I said, " you have my consent."
" All right then," she said. " Here goes!"
She pointed at me and I felt myself blackout yet again. This time when I woke up, I found myself
watching myself walk up four small stone steps with Matt, and stand under the overhang. It was
raining cats and dogs again. This time frame was familiar to me. It was during the time that I lived in
the city, the time before I was discovered. That could only mean one thing. I quickly turned to Sabrina.
" This is a flashback, isn’t it? This was the night that Matt left me, isn’t it?"
Cancer nodded in return. Then she said simply, " Watch."
I followed her instruction and stood and watched carefully. I saw a past version of myself, a younger
more naïve version, walk up to the door with Matt. We stood there, protected from the rain by the
overhang . Matt braced the umbrella against the door. Then, things started to seem unfamiliar. A car
passed. It sounded like it was running without a muffler;it was so noisy. Then, the streetlights flickered
slightly, and the past me gasped.
( All right, this is getting hard! To save myself what little energy I have left, I’m going to change
everything until further notice, to the third person. Instead of having the present Mimi, actually watch
this and us watching it from her P.O.V. I’m just going to have it as though we are the only ones seeing
it, k? Well, back to writing. When I say Mimi now, it’s the past Mimi.)
There was an ocassional pedestrian passing by, and there was a few cars too. Matt and Mimi just
stood staring out at the street. The fog swirled around them, wrapping them in a cloud. Everything was
just as it had been when they had left for the movies. It was a little bit cold, but between her pink
jacket, and Matt, she was as warm as ever.
They stood underneath the overhang, just staring out at the street, for a couple of minutes. Actually,
only Matt was staring out at the street, whereas Mimi, was wondering what on earth he was staring at.
There was nothing new about the street, it was still that same. No new buildings had sprung up
suddenly, and no one was outside in the downpour except for them. It was unsually quiet though, but
that was all that was unsual.
She was about to tap Matt on the shoulder and asked him what he was looking at, when, almost as if
on cue, he turned to her. He moved closer to her so that he could see into her eyes. He was just
slightly taller than she was, but that didn’t bother her. It was almost comforting. He gently lifted her
chin, just to make sure that he could see into her eyes clearly. They stood like that, staring into the
other’s eyes, for a couple of minutes. During that time, Matt seemed like he was wrestling with some
kind of internal decision, whereas Mimi was staring back at him, her eyes filled with love and
admiration.
Mimi guessed, that if he was wrestling with a decision, that it must be a really important decision
because he was taking so long. It seemed like they stood there forever without saying a word. Mimi
was just about to ask him if he wanted to go inside and have a drink, and maybe have something to eat,
when, he looked away from her, his head turned back to the street.
Mimi’s curiosity was peaked by this, so she decided to talk to him. " What’s wrong Matt?" she asked.
He turned back to her, and he seemed to have had made an important decision. " Nothing at all, Mimi,"
he said as he smiled at her. " Nothing at all."
Then, something unexpected happened. Matt reached in the pocket of his trenchcoat and pulled out a
small, black, velvet covered box, and got down on his knees. Mimi gasped. She knew what was
coming.
He opened the box to reveal a ring with a heart shaped diamond on it. The diamond glowed and
sparkled in the dim illumination of the streetlights.
Then he spoke. " I love you with all my heart, all my mind and all my soul," he said. " There is not one
person in my life more important than you. I would give my life and my freedom for you. I love you so
much. I will love you now and forever. Please accpet this ring as a symbol of my everlasting love for
you." He paused, then said, " Mimi, will you marry me?"
***
Mimi was shocked at this. She stood stock still, staring at him, wanting to look away, but she knew she
couldn’t. She was scared. Now, that was stupid. This was exactly what she had been waiting for.
Since she had first met him, she had loved him, ever since she had first laid eyes on him. She loved
everything about him. She loved the way he had been so protective of everyone, especially his younger
brother. She loved the way his eyes lit up when he laughed, and she loved the way his hair always
looked like a bird’s nest even at the best of times. Most of all, she loved the way he loved her. She had
been waiting five long years for this moment, but that still didn’t calm her irrational, inexplicable fear.
She didn’t feel as though she was ready for this. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to make such a
commitment. She was scared.
She stood there and stared blankly at him, but on the inside, she was fighting a battle between love and
fear. They stood there for a long time, Matt kneeling and waiting for her answer, and Mimi, fighting a
battle. Both were there, neither one moving.
Eventually, Mimi spoke. She turned back to Matt and said, " I’m honored," she said. She paused. Then,
she made a mistake that she would regret for the rest of her life. She continued speaking. " But, I’m
afraid I can’t marry you. I’m just not sure that I’m ready to make that big a commitment. I’m sorry,
Matt."
He was just plain shocked. He just kept staring at her as though he couldn’t believe what she had just
said. He had an, I can’t believe you just said that, look on his face.
He sat on the cold stone step for a moment and stared at her, trying to figure out what he was going to
do. Meanwhile, Mimi just stood there staring at him staring at her, staring sadly.
She wished that she hadn’t had to have told him that, but that left only one other option, to say yes, but
she just wasn’t sure that she was ready for marriage. She hated herself for doing this to him, but it had
to be said, she couldn’t have remained silent. Staying silent, would have thrust her into marriage, which,
at this point, was all too possible. They remained like that for quite a while, until Matt broke the silence
and stood up with a smile on his face.
" It’s okay," he said as he tucked the box containing the ring back in his jacket pocket. " I understand."
" You do?" she asked excitedly as her face brightened greatly.
" Yes," he said. " I understand about you not being ready for marriage. Now that I think of it, I’m not
sure that I was ready either. I don’t want to rush you into anything that you’re not ready to handle. I
was really hoping that you would become my wife, but I‘m willing to settle for you to be my girlfriend."
" I’m so glad you understand," she said. " I was so scared that you wouldn’t. I really don’t want this
relationship to end." She tried to stifle a yawn, but she failed.
" I see that you’re tired," he said. " Maybe you should go and get some sleep. I think that I’ll go home
and do the same."
" That would be great," she said. " Goodnight," she said as she stifled another yawn.
He then moved over to kiss her, but she pushed him away.
( All right, everything is now back in the 1st person. Instead of saying Mimi said…well, you know the
drill.)
I knew what was going to happen next. The rest was engraved in my memory, never to be forgotten.
Then, Cancer turned to me and said, " We will now return to the present."
Then, I felt myself black out yet again, and this time, when I awoke, I found myself back in the park
where I had stopped to rest after taking off from the mansion. I looked around for a second to get my
bearings. I found, that in the actual time that I had been blacked out in this park, I had fallen off the
bench, and onto the ground. The strange thing was that with all the people that usually walked through
this park at this time of day, no one had even noticed that I was unconcious. Well, no one that I knew
of. It seemed that I had been taken somewhere and sent back here. *What on earth happened?* I
asked myself. *Where was I? Was that real?* My mind was full of a thousand and one questions,
each one crazier than the next, but I managed to block out those questions long enough to get myself
back onto the park bench. I sat there, somewhat stunned, until a woman dressed in jeans and a t-shirt,
who looked eerily like Cancer, came walking up to me.
" Hello, Mimi," she said.
I was somewhat shocked that she knew my name, but I wasn’t surprised. With the kind of day that I’d
been having, nothing, nothing at all, could have surprised me. " Is that you Cancer?" I asked cautiously.
" Yes," she said as she waved a hand at me, " but please, call me Sabrina. After all, we are now in
your world. It would be almost inappropriate to call me Cancer since that could bring misfortune upon
me."
" How’s that?" I asked.
" That is…" she began.
" I know, I know," I said, " that is irrelevant. Forgive me for asking," I said somewhat irritatedly. "
Anyway, why are you here?"
" To make sure that nothing happened to you during the time that you where unconcious."
" How long was I?" I asked.
" Not long, but long enough. Anyway, my job is complete now. I must be going. I have other
obligations," she said as she turned to walk away gracefully.
" Wait!" I called out. She stopped walking and turned to face me. " Please. Thank you." I said. "
Thank you for showing me what really happened that day."
" You’re welcome," she said as she turned again to walk away. " I really must be going now.
Goodbye, Mimi."
" Bye Sabrina!" I called as she walked back down the path that I had run down a while ago. As she
vanished around a bend in the road, I still sat on the park bench, lost in my thoughts.
* I can’t believe I said that!* I screamed at myself. *What an idiot I was! I thought that if I knew the
reason why he left me in the first place, it might ease the pain caused by his death, but it didn’t!* I
pounded my hand helplessly, and frustratedly on the bench. * It didn’t make it easier at all! It just made
it harder! All the more harder! What an idiot I was! I had had the oppurtunity to marry the man I loved,
but being the idiot that I was, I turned it down!*
I sat there, and was internally screaming at myself, when, I suddenly felt a cold wet thing drop on my
nose. I was surprised by it, but it wasn’t the same when another cold wet drop landed on my cheek. I
looked up, skywards, and saw that the once sunny sky, had been covered in large foreboding storm
clouds. As I looked up, yet another raindrop fell right into my eyes. I blinked, and rubbed at my eyes
before looking up again. As I sat there, I watched many more raindrops fall from the sky, until the
infrequent drops turned into a light shower, then into a full fledged downpour.
Usually, I would have run for the nearest shelter, but in the condition I was in, I truly didn’t care. So, I
just sat there on the park bench, in the rain, and thought. About a minute or so after the storm had
started, I was soaked from head to toe, but I didn’t care. All I wanted to do, was sit there and cry,
which is what I did.
I don’t know how long I sat there, and simply cried my heart out, but I guess that I wasn’t long,
because, what seemed like fifteen minutes after I had started crying, someone, I don’t know who,
stopped running through the rain, and said to me,
"Are you okay, miss?" the man who had stopped asked.
I looked up at him when he said that. He looked about my age and height. He had blondish hair. He
had blue eyes, that looked as though they could see my very soul. He looked a lot like Matt, but I knew
that it couldn’t be him, since he was dead. The man had a somewhat worried and concerned
expression on his face. " Uh, yes," I said shakily. " I’m fine."
" Well," he said as eyed me, " you probably won’t be if you stay out in this downpour. Come on," he
said as he moved the umbrella so that it was covering both our heads. " We should both get out of this
rain."
" Sure. Thanks," I said as I got up and stood next to him. We then walked out of the park together.
***
( Okay, P.O.V.’s switched back to 3rd person because, this little section takes place back at the
mansion where Mimi’s not there to see what’s going on so… on with the story.)
Meanwhile
***
Brring! Brring! All of the phones in the house were ringing off the hook, but this time, there was no
loud music to block out the sound. The party that had been taking place a little while ago, had
completely ceased due to the fact that the guest of honor, had run off.
Tai had been a little suspicious that something was wrong with Mimi because she seemed out of it,
more so than he remembered was normal. He had watched her walk away, and wondered if he should
go after her, but he decided not to. She had walked out the door, and she had left the grounds of the
mansion, he knew, but still he had no idea where she was.
After that two minute encounter with Mimi, shortly after she walked out the door, Palmon had come
running in frantically screaming that something was really wrong with Mimi.
Kari had asked what was wrong, and Palmon had said that she didn’t know. All she knew was that
Mimi had received a phone call, and that shortly after she had hung up, she had run out of the house.
The party had stopped immediately. The music was shut off, and everyone sat down and discussed
what they were going to do next. Well, everyone except Sora, who was busy trying to get a reading
from her crest.
Izzy had suggested that all of us split up into a standard search pattern and use our digivices to try and
get a lock on Mimi’s digivice, but we all knew that that wouldn’t work. Our digivices hadn’t reacted in
years, so it was doubtful that they would react now.
Everyone except Sora had sat and thought, until the phone had rung. It seemd that they might get the
missing piece to this puzzle, unless, it was a telemarketer. T.K. got up to run and answer the phone, but
Celeste held up a hand to stop him.
" Let me get it," she said.
T.K. sat back down without saying a word, and none of the others made even the slightest move to
oppose Celeste.
She got up and walked over to the nearest phone which just happened to be in the kitchen. She walked
in, her shoes making a click-clack sound on the white marble tiles. She found the phone, picked it up,
and cupped her hand around the mouthpiece.
" Hello," she said.
" Yes," said a male voice on the other end. " This is Detective Moyori from the Tokyo Police. Is this
Mimi Tachikawa?"
" No," said Celeste. " She’s not here right now. Can I take a message?"
" Yes," said the detective frantically. " You must tell her that I called. She knows who I am." He
paused. " Are you ready to take down the message?" he asked.
" Yes," Celeste lied. In reality, she already knew what was going to be said, and she knew that she
mustn’t tell anyone. Not even Mimi, especially not Mimi.
" Hello," said the Detective, " are you still there?"
" Yes," said Celeste.
" Okay, here’s the message. Are you ready?"
" Yes," she said again.
" All right," he said. " You must tell Mimi Tachikawa, that there’s been a terrible mistake, and it turns
out that…" Celeste knew what he was going to say, and she knew what an impact it would have if
Mimi knew. She also knew that the others would tell Mimi, no matter what she told them to do.
So…Celeste quickly hung up the phone, all the time aware that the Detective was still talking, and she
quietly smiled to herself.
It had taken five years, but phase 2 was finally underway.
(All right, everything’s now back to Mimi’s P.O.V. You know, Mimi said=I said now.)
***
I and the man I had met, had been walking for what had seemed to be over and hour, but I knew that
it had been about only ten minutes. During that ten minutes, we had talked a lot. One of the first
questions he had asked was, ‘ What are you doing out here in the rain all by youself, and unprotected?’
" Well," I said in answer, " I was just out for a quick walk when it started raining, but I once it started
raining, I just didn’t feel like going back to my home. I just wanted to sit out here and mourn."
" Why?" he asked.
I took a couple of seconds before answering. " Because," I said, " the man I love…well.. I just…I
just…I just found out that he died yesterday."
Tears welled up in my eyes, and my heart began to ache when I said that.
Then, I turned back to my friend’s face, it was filled with compassion and sympathy. " Gee," he said,
" I’m…I’m sorry."
" Oh, it’s okay…I guess," I said
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