Chapter 13

She ran on and on, her ear stinging from the sudden ripping out of the ear stud. She had said that on impulse, and only after she blurted everything out did she feel that she had done something wrong. She had seen Ryo's eyes turn moist. She had hurt him too. But the fact that Yuki was in Ryo's clothes, clinging on to Ryo's body, had made jealousy overtake her. What's more... He had pushed her down. She was so easily jealous; she was convinced Yuki meant more to him than she did. She had only wanted to pull Yuki up so that she could help her home but Ryo had not trusted Moriko, had thought that she had wanted to hurt her own imouto!

The more Moriko thought of this, the more confused she grew. She was in the wrong. But was he even at fault? Yet, the thought of Yuki in Ryo's clothes filled Moriko with such jealousy and anger that she did not try to think even further.

"Tadaima." Moriko returned home, and Kusano stood up abruptly, running towards her in anxiety, examining the reddish ear piercing and asking, "Daijoubu ka?! What happened? Your eyes are all red. Who ripped that ear stud out? It's bleeding... Moriko, give your nii-chan an answer, I'm worried about you if you continue acting like this!"

Moriko looked up. "Nii-chan... I'm tired." She fell into his arms.

--

Two large eyes stared back at Moriko as she awoke, and in shock, Moriko jumped up, her lips brushing past Ryu's cheek. Ryu was bending over her, his face close to Moriko's. Ryu laughed, pulling Moriko up. "Ohaiyo, Riko-chan!!" Ryu greeted. Moriko looked down at her crumpled uniform, her first button undone, and she hurriedly fixed it back, embarrassed.

"Ne, Ryu-chan, why are you here this morning?" Moriko asked.

"Ah, me and nii-chan are staying over for a week! Well you know... They've businesses to see to." Ryu answered.

Moriko grinned. "Sou ne!! Okaa-san and Otou-san will be very happy..."

"You're going to be late for school, Riko-chan."

"Huh?" Moriko glanced at the clock. "ARE?!!!!!!!!!!"

This time, it was not Kusano, but Moriko instead, who flew through the house, grabbing a sandwich along the way. She went up on the bus, staring out the window. Nobody else in the house knew it. Nobody knew what happened to her. But Kusano knew it was not possible that when Moriko came home as though the world was going to end, she had appeared normal in the morning. But the fact that Moriko was late for school gave Kusano no chance to pry into the problem. At the same time, he hoped that while their childhood friends were here, she would find comfort in being around them. Especially Ryu.

--

The same old things happened in school. The same routines. In Moriko's class, everyone was rushing about, asking each other, "Have you done your math homework?!" They had a strict math teacher, but at the same time, they had studied for an English test the night before, which landed them in this situation. Moriko had done neither the previous night.

"Ri-chan!"

She was staring out of the window, oblivious to her surroundings.

"Kusano-san!"

Moriko jerked her head suddenly to see the math teacher glaring at her.

"Please get back to your seat."

She turned, slowly making her way towards her desk.

Thud.

--

Ryo could not sleep the whole night. He had been in Uchi's room, staring at the ceiling the whole night, leaving Yuki alone to rest in his own room.

"Don't leave me, otou-san..."

Yuki had not told anyone why she was drunk -- she was not in a state to explain things. What's more, she was underage.

And Moriko.. She had been so quick to jump to conclusions. It angered him that she should behave that way, and at the same time, it hurt him to have slapped her. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could vision the hatred that clouded Moriko's gaze after his palm had impacted on her cheek. He later found an ear stud on the floor, a thin streak of blood clinging onto it. It pained him more to know the harshness of his hit.

They were all having a fifteen-minute break in between dance rehearsals, and Ryo reached for his ketai.

...no answer.

--

"Am I not good enough?"

"I'm not into willful girls like you."

"Then why did you pick..."

"It was YOU who thought we were really together."

She collapsed.

Her eyes flew open in shock, and the first thing she saw was Kusano's trademark -- his four moles in a straight line. It was Ryu in the morning, Kusano in the afternoon... but it would never be Ryo at night. "Onii-chan." Moriko greeted, her voice hoarse. In that moment, Moriko wished she were a little girl again, when Kusano always took care of her, pampering her with his attention...

"Onii-chan!" Little Moriko tugged at Kusano's singlet while hiding behind her brother. Kusano turned his gaze back at the short little figure of his imouto, giving her a pat on the head.

"Daijoubu yo, Ri-chan." He turned around, bending down a little to Moriko's height. "Nii-chan promised. Nii-chan promised to protect you!" He brushed his fingers across the four moles near Moriko's ear. "I promised. I'll be near you. Zutto. Just think of me, and I am there for you."

Moriko looked into Kusano's eyes, slowly brushing her tiny fingers across her nii-chan's four moles, then quickly put her arms around Kusano's waist. "Nii-chan wa suki desu!"

Kusano put Moriko in front of him. They slid down the long slide, Kusano tightly hugging her from behind.

"Daijoubu yo."

Moriko sniffed at the memory. It had only been being afraid of traveling down the tall and long slide, but Kusano had not laughed at this. He had taken her seriously, and accompanied her. She sat herself up, then leaned forward, slowly brushing her fingers across Kusano's four moles again. Kusano said nothing, but simply watched Moriko continue her actions, before he finally took her wrist, gaining her attention.

"Obara-sensei called to inform that you fell in school. You were nearly sent to the hospital, but I told her it was common for that to happen to you, and that you would be fine when you woke up, so you came home instead."

"..."

"...tell me."

Moriko's gaze fell onto the bedspread, especially the portion where Kusano had sewn (very terribly) a white teddy bear patchwork over a hole in the bedspread. Moriko had pleaded with oka-san not to throw away this particular bedspread, for it was her favourite, and oka-san agreed to it with the condition that she could work out how to repair it. While Moriko had been out with oka-san to the supermarket, he had taken out the patchwork he had been working on.

"Hiro nii-chan.. Nii-chan..." Moriko kept repeating, not knowing what to say. Kusano tightened his grip a little, to comfort Moriko. Moriko flung her arms round Kusano, taking in the scent of strawberries on him. It was a different feeling from Ryo. She felt Kusano's hands on her back, and then Moriko closed her eyes, letting her tears flow down, "I'm sorry." She grasped the back of his singlet. "...If I knew it would be like this, I would've listened to you."

"...you fought?" Kusano asked, recalling the wound on his imouto's ear.

"No. We quarreled, that's all. I found Yuki in his room. In his clothes..."

"Yuki?? She was very unhappy yesterday, and I gave chase after she broke out of the house, but I lost sight of her... I thought she'd run to a friend's house."

At that, Yuki quietly crept into the room. "Ri nee-chan, please listen..."

Moriko wanted to storm out the room, but Kusano held her back. "Listen to Yuki-chan first!"

"One-chan, it's not what you think. I have to tell you something. I know.. Hiro nii-chan is here, and I would get a scolding later, but I don't care... I drank yesterday."

"You...drank?! Yuki-chan, what were you thinking?!" Kusano asked.

"Nii-chan, let me finish my words first!" Yuki said in an exasperated tone. "I was upset yesterday, because of otou-san. I quarreled with him yesterday, because he wouldn't listen to me. Hiro nii-chan was there too!"

"Then what was with the 'Don't leave me'?"

"I said that? I think I recalled old memories in my drunken state. Otou-san once brought me alone to the fun fair when I was young, because I hadn't been allowed on the one month trip to Kyoto, remember? During that time, I had angered him suddenly, and he stormed off. But when I tried to catch up with him, the last thing I saw of him was him being hit by a van. Even though he was alright after that, it left a big impact on me. I love otou-san, but I haven't been on very good terms with him all along. That's why I drank."

"...how were you allowed to drink when everyone obviously knows you're underage?" Kusano asked.

Moriko's forehead creased. "Please don't tell me it was Katsura-kun."

Yuki nodded. Katsura-kun had his means and ways through his bad company to get his hands on these things. At the same time... He was also the student who tried to take advantage of Moriko.

"He didn't do anything to you, did he?!"

"No... From what I heard from Nishikido-kun and Uchi-kun, they both found me staggering on the streets, held by Katsura, and when Katsura saw them approaching, he ran away already."

"...you were in Ryo's clothes." Moriko pointed out.

"Ri nee-chan please don't get the wrong idea! Nishikido-kun called an attendant in to change for me. The clothes that were closest were his. I know you had your clothes in there, but he couldn't get it out in time before I broke anything in my delirious state. We did nothing. He slept in Uchi-kun's room."

Moriko stared at Yuki for a very long time. But they had quarreled so badly, there was no way for them to get back. Even if they could... Moriko wasn't sure if she really wanted for then to get back. They had not lasted long before a major quarrel had broken out, then how long could they actually last? And when Ryo had seen her flaw, Moriko did not want him to see her at all. She felt ashamed. She felt she was not good enough.

"It was YOU who thought we were really together."

The dream only intensified her feelings for this. It was a horrible feeling, to want to see him and not want to see him at the same time. She could only wait and see what could be done.