notes: some unsettling events occur in this one; one of the reasons i had trouble writing this series is the current events happening in the world. i actually broke this chapter in half so that's why it seems shorter than usual - it will spill into the next. the 'name calling' dilemma has been somewhat solved. (^o^)
Walking over to the two men in discussion, she placed the tray down and sat between them. "Ayame-kun," Kazuma uttered, turning to her, "Sumimasen... I appreciate the tea, but could you give us a moment. These are matters that I'm afraid I cannot share with you just yet."
"I understand," she replied, getting up, "I hope it'll be all right, whatever these matters are." He gave her a reassuring nod and she proceeded out the room.
"Kazuma," uttered Yoneda, "We're going to have to tell her soon..."
Ayame thoughtfully stood outside in the hallway, tucking her hands into the sleeves of her robe. It was already late and those two had been in that room for over three hours. Sighing, she decided that she should get some rest. Going upstairs, she headed for her room.
"Neesan!" Kaede sat up in her futon, already in her night robe. "Are you excited about tomorrow?"
Ayame cheerfully nodded towards her sister as she climbed into the futon next to hers. "I'm just worried that I won't be able to sleep because of it. I told you how I've been having trouble lately, and all this nervousness isn't going to help me."
"Hmm... Let's get Shinosuke-niisan," Kaede replied, going for the door, "I'm sure he can't sleep either. We can all just stay up and chat..."
"Wait!" Ayame quickly snagged the girl by the arm and stopped her from leaving the room. "I'm sure Yamazaki-shousa is really tired and doesn't want to be disturbed at this hour."
"Yamazaki-shousa?" Kaede squinted her eyes. "Is that how you refer to your lover??"
Ayame blushed and couldn't reply. She hadn't kept anything from her sister, who knew practically everything that had happened between her and Yamazaki. Kaede was supportive in anyway that she could, sometimes adding her own advice - despite her own inexperience in relationships.
"Neesan," Kaede uttered when they had crawled back into their futons and Ayame reached to blow out the light, "Tomorrow you're doing this for Shinnosuke-niisan... you must really care about him."
"It's true," Ayame said, resting on her stomach and putting on a smile, "I love him... I'd do anything for him. But..." She reached over and caught hold of Kaede's hand. "I still love you more."
"Neesan!" Kaede smiled back, but with a slight sadness. "Even so, if I asked you to stop doing these dangerous things and come home... you wouldn't do it, would you?"
Ayame looked to the floor, gripping at the blanket. "I'm sorry, Kaede-san..."
"It can't be helped," Kaede replied, resting her head back, "I really missed you, Neesan - I missed being together like this... I understand what you have to do."
Gazing at her younger sister, Ayame realized how much she had matured from the last they saw each other. Still, she knew Kaede was giving her a brave face; that deep down Kaede always favored her sister being home than in danger - no matter what the circumstance was for Teito. Ayame thought of the soothing words her parents used on them to calm their fears, but felt it wasn't fair to recycle false hope.
"Kaede-san, watashi..."
Kaede suddenly cut her off, "Ne! Did you kiss 'Shin-chan' good night??"
"Dame," Ayame scolded, going to blow out the lights, "Don't think about such things."
Lying in the dark, the two Fujieda sisters pondered the future and held onto the soft hand linked to theirs. "Oyasumi nasai," they blurted out at the same time. Sharing a smile, they finally put aside their worries and went to sleep.
* * * * * * * *
The next morning, Ayame got up early and made preparations for their outing. Their destination was an army field outside of Teito; Hanakoji had invited lots of important people who hadn't been so
supportive of the Tai Kouma Butai or Yamazaki's work in the past.
'That's in the past...' she reassured herself as she put down some boxes in the front hall. Outside, Yoneda and Kazuma were readying the car that they had borrowed to drive to the site. 'Where is Yamazaki-shousa and Kaede-san??'
She went up the stairs and stopped in front of Yamazaki's room. He was pacing around mumbling to himself, while her sister sat atop his desk. "Let's get going, Oniisan," Kaede said, "Everyone will be looking for you."
"I know, I know!" he sighed, still going back and forth while trying to fix his tie, "But I can't go out all nervous... I don't want Ayame to see me like this!"
"Calm down," Kaede leapt down and went to tie his striped necktie for him. "There - you don't look too much like a mess. Saa, ikimashou?"
"Thanks..." he said, bowing his head, "You've been a great help, Kaede-kun. I'm glad Ayame has such a great sister."
Kaede cheerfully beamed with graciousness from the compliment, but slid in a sly smile. "When do you plan on marrying Neesan??"
"UWAH!" Yamazaki face-faulted at these words. Lying on the floor, he sorely asked, "N-N-Nan de??!"
The smile softened. "...I just want to have a family again. It's just Neesan and me in the world... But I like you, Oniisan. You'll be a great brother."
Yamazaki pulled himself up and faced her. "You're a great little sister, Kaede-kun... however, we are a family. Everyone under this roof I consider people I really care about... that includes you."
"But, Neesan the most, right???"
"Hai, hai!" he retorted, patting her on the head. He then moved to the window and gazed out at the clear blue sky. "I love her more than anything. I won't let any harm ever come to her."
"Yakusoku??" Kaede said, grabbing onto his arm - her face rather serious, "Promise you won't let... Neesan is all that I have... All I care about!"
Yamazaki looked down at her, slowly nodding his head. "You can count on me, Kaede-kun... But, remember that you and Ayame aren't alone. You have Shinguji-taisa and Yoneda-shirei... and me if you'll have me. We're a family."
Kaede tearfully nodded her head, releasing his arm before she wrinkled his suit. "But," she said, drying her eyes, "I still want Neesan to be happy. When are you two going to..."
"When there's peace in Teito," he replied right away.
"Aaan?! That's not fair!" Kaede exclaimed, giving him a playful punch that actually hurt. "Oniisaan! That will be a long time! Okaasan's wedding gown will get dusty waiting for that day to come and Neesan will become an old maid! I won't stand for it!!"
Yamazaki nervously backed away from the vengeful girl and started to go for the door. But when he pulled it open, Ayame fell in. "Aa! Shitsureishimasu!" Ayame gasped, as he caught her, "I-I was just coming up to get you two..."
Kaede giggled and turned away. Yamazaki was holding Ayame in his arms in a tilted position, looking ready for a kiss. The two sweat-beaded as Kazuma and Yoneda arrived.
"Hey, no time for that!" Yoneda snapped, dragging Yamazaki down the hallway by the ear, "You're going to be late, dammit!"
A blushing Ayame bowed her head towards Kazuma then scurried after the two. Kaede cheerfully passed Kazuma and caught up to her sister. Kazuma, looking very weary, stopped at the door and shut it close. He slowly went down the stairs to where everyone else was waiting.
* * * * * * * *
"This is it..." Yamazaki uttered. He continued to pace around the setup area and occasionally peer out the curtain towards the group of men sitting down. "I think I'm going to die..."
"There's nothing to worry about," Ayame said, moving in front of him to keep him from going off, "It's going to be okay." He suddenly pulled her into a hug, not caring who saw him. Ayame, very embarrassed, hid her burning face in his chest. "Shousa..."
"Ayame..." he said into her hair, "It will be all right... because of you..."
"SENSEIIII!!" both Tanaka and Rika called as they dropped two boxes of supplies on the floor. The sound got Yamazaki's attention and he instantly backed away from the blushing girl. "This is all that was in the truck."
"Then let's get it ready. Ayame, you can go ahead with Tanaka to put together your equipment. We'll set up the gauges on the steam generator so that nothing will go wrong."
"Hai!"
As those two left, Yamazaki glanced at his watch. They didn't have a lot of time as he hoped. Kneeling down at the generator, he made the adjustments. "Rika-san... no matter what, don't let any of the settings change." he instructed.
"Ryokai!" Rika chimed, "That's why you left me in charge, ne?? I'm more reliable than that Tanaka!"
"Saa..." he uttered, going for the door, "I've got to get up to the podium. If anything happens, get Tanaka or someone." She nodded her head and he finally let out a sigh of relief and left the room. 'This is it...'
* * * * * * *
In the crowd, Kaede happily talked with Hanakoji. "So you're going to give me a written excuse for school?? You are the kindest man I've ever met, Hanakoji-ojisan!"
Hanakoji turned towards Kazuma, chuckling. "We might have a job for this girl in the future... After all, the young people are going to be the ones who we're leaving Teito to."
"RIght..." replied the younger man, gazing off into space.
"Kazuma-kun, is everything all right? You look very pale."
"It's nothing." Kazuma replied, fixing his tie, "Just one of those days... I'll be better later." He then focused on the podium. 'Why do I have this bad feeling...'
Yamazaki shuffled through his papers while sweat ran down his face. Closing his eyes, he thought back to his humiliation - him being laughed at and voted out of the Teito league of scientists. 'That was then... this is different... I have people who are counting on me... who care about me... I'm not alone...'
"Ko... Konichiwa..." he uttered into the microphone, "Thank you for coming... Today, I want to discuss with you the topic of our capitol's defense against an perpetual enemy, and how are we going to protect the safety of our citizens..."
* * * * * * * *
Back in the staging area, Rika had thrown her lab coat aside and was looking over the equipment. 'The more I think about it... this is a boring job. Why did I get stuck with it?'
She paused to hear some rustling in the grass. Turning around, she saw a very familiar face. "Ano, sumimasen," said the sweet voice - his lip curling into a smile, "Rika-san, is it? Do you have a moment??"
"Un..." she stammered, her face all red as he took a seat next to her, "H-How did you know I wanted to see you...?"
"I somehow know," he replied, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a kiss...
* * * * * * * *
Yamazaki was in the middle of demonstrating how high Ayame's spiritual power was, using an advanced reading contraption. "If we can make an organization in collecting such people with this power, I'm sure that with numbers the risk in fighting these demons would be greatly reduced."
"Even more so," called out an aged general, "If we gather an army of people with psychic powers, don't we run a risk of having these freaks taking over the government!?"
"You fear something you don't understand," Yamazaki replied, "I believe that all people are born with good nature... It's just some are corrupted along the way. If the government approached people with these special abilities with good intentions, I'm sure there won't be anything to worry about."
"Are you insisting that the government has approached them with anything but good intentions??"
Yamazaki held his tongue. He didn't want to get into a debate over this – over something he could easily disprove with what he knew… But who would believe him? `It doesn't matter what happened in the past… this is different…' he reminded himself, going to continue as though the question never was asked.
"Now, we shall see what this spiritual power can do to apply kinetic energy to the special armor suits we are developing. These suits as you saw my assistant, Tanaka-kun sprayed with a hose of demon venom – the damage results were very low. To move within these suits would be difficult, considering their bulk. With remote control it doesn't capture the spiritual energy needed to defeat the demons. Thus, the only solution is to have a person with high levels of spirit power to embody these armor suits."
"Impossible!" blurted out someone. There was the usual murmur of voices not buying any of this. Yamazaki, who was used to it, looked to Tanaka who gave him the thumbs up – that everything was ready to go. He then turned to Ayame; she mouthed the words he ached to hear every time he had the chance. Without another thought, he reached for the lever.
"It is most certainly NOT impossible!"
The crowd went silent as he pulled the lever down with all his might. But the second it went all the way down – a large sound was heard behind the stage and the ground shook. On stage, the machinery started to malfunction and soon exploded as well. Ayame and Tanaka, who were closest, braced themselves but soon got hit by the impact and went flying off the stage. Hot steam sprayed the front rows as black smoke came out from behind the curtains. Yamazaki stood in shook from the other side, papers flying all around him.
"IYAAAAAA!!!" Kaede exclaimed, trying to break out of Yoneda's hold as she tearfully looked on at the fallen bodies lying in the aisle, "NEESAAAAAAN!!!"
* * * * * * * * *
A couple hours later, the group waited outside the emergency room of the military hospital. Yamazaki sat next to Hanakoji, his head in his hands. Yoneda looked very solemn, while Kazuma was nowhere to be seen. Kaede couldn't stay still; she continued to pace around with her eyes on the door.
Suddenly a doctor came out. Kaede leapt at him immediately. "I-Is she all right?!"
He blinked at her for a moment, and then slowly nodded. "We've stopped the internal bleeding. She's out of the danger zone and is going to recover."
"Can I see her?!"
"Aa… only immediate family though…"
"We ARE family, dammit!!" Yoneda snapped, rushing the doctor angrily, "I've known that girl since she was born! Don't you dare keep me away from her!!"
The doctor gulped and frantically backed away from this argument. "I'll make an exception this one time… Anyone of you can come see the patient…"
Hanakoji patted Yamazaki on the shoulder, giving him a look that told him that he should go. Yamazaki nodded and started to go towards the door, but Kaede stood in his way.
"This is all your fault! You made her do this! Because of you, Neesan… she almost died! You promised me! You said you wouldn't let anything happen to her! But… you're nothing but a liar!!"
"Kaede-chan… Dame da!" Yoneda tried to reprimand her, but it wasn't any good. The girl rushed up to Yamazaki and plummeted his chest with punches.
"I HATE YOU!" she sobbed, as he stood and said nothing, "I hate you… I hate…!" Breaking down in tears, she leaned her face into his shirt and let out everything, the fists now clinging to him.
Yamazaki slowly lifted his hands to her shoulders, going to hug her. "… Gomen." was all he could say; glassy blue eyes focused on the closed door.
Once she finished with her tears, Kaede pushed away from him with a glare in her reddened eyes. "Sorry isn't good enough. I'll never forgive you."
With that she walked into the ward. Yoneda went after her and so did the doctor. Yamazaki slowly sat back down next to Hanakoji, who patted him on the back. "Ayame-kun is going to be all right, and Kaede-kun will forgive you eventually."
"Still…" he uttered, covering his face to hide his tears, "Fifteen people were injured… Tanaka and Rika-san were killed…"
"Shinnosuke-kun…"
"No matter what you say, these facts cannot change." he said, wiping his eyes. Before Hanakoji could say anymore, Yamazaki stood and bowed his head, then turned to leave the waiting room. `Because of me…'
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Next Episode: "Are you leaving?"
'Let's face it – I'm no good. My failure has cost lives and who knows what the future has in store. What use is this life for if it only destroys others? I won't continue this way… I won't weaken the team any longer.'
