Cramped
was the kind version. The bedroom in Urufu’s flat had been used as
a storage for a long time, and it showed.
Noriko stared at
the futon barely fitting into the small space of floor she just
cleaned up in hopes that it hid how her lips turned into a thin line
of disapproval. Guess I did
hope we’d sleep all three in one room. But that had been a rose
coloured fantasy of hers.
Sato-sensei gave
them all a questioning look filled with misgivings when they turned
up together earlier, but she didn’t protest. She just made certain
both girls had the approval of their parents.
By now Noriko had
all but given up on bedding Urufu in the near future. She’d get her
opportunity one day, but not now with their lives in turmoil.
“You look very
young for being Urufu’s mother,” she heard Hitomi say from the
living room that also served as Urufu’s bedroom.
“That’s
because I’m not. I’m his guardian,” Sato-sensei answered in her
no nonsense voice.
I really like
that woman. When I grow up I want to be more like her. Noriko
smiled and eavesdropped some more.
Urufu stood
behind her. He didn’t touch, but she could feel his eyes on her
back.
“You fine like
this?”
“We’ll make
do,” she answered.
“I’m sorry, I
didn’t know,” she heard Hitomi say from the other room.
“Don’t
apologise to me. Urufu’s the one with dead parents,” came
Sato-sensei’s cold reply.
Noriko slapped
her hands to her face. With some luck it would serve to mute her
giggling.
“Amaya, dammit,
she hasn’t done anything wrong. Don’t be like that, please!”
Urufu’s voice, and she heard how he turned his head while
delivering the admonition.
A pity Urufu
couldn’t see how funny it was. Well, they were planning to spend
the night here. Bullying Hitomi might not be the best course.
“Secret,
Urufu,” Hitomi said, and Noriko felt how his attention left her and
turned to the other room.
With a sigh she
gave the futon a last glare and joined him.
“Urufu?”
Sato-sensei’s voice was filled with worry.
“We’re
telling her,” Urufu said. “She came back. That kind of backbone
should be rewarded.”
Noriko Found
herself a place where she could feel Urufu close to her. Across the
table she saw a small bookshelf, the kind you’d expect to find in
any home. Then there were two big ones, from floor to ceiling. She
threw them a glance, and then another one.
Oh my!
One was stacked
with children’s books. A wild mix of picture books, adventure
stories for grade schoolers, light novels and the occasional easy to
read classic. It lacked the right to exist in this home, but then
Urufu’s personality solved the riddle.
So that’s
how you learned Japanese. She stared at him. You never do
things half heartedly, do you? Noriko was about to throw her arms
around him when the contents of the other bookshelf caught her
interest. Ah, the other you.
She knew she
shouldn’t be surprised, but she was. Volume after volume hinted at
secrets unveiling unto anyone who would dare to read. All in English,
and all about a corporate world that lay years ahead of her
understanding.
“You’re
what?”
Hitomi’s sudden
outcry banished Noriko’s inner bookworm and drew her back to the
reason they were here. So he dropped the bomb?
“You were the
one who suspected something wasn’t right,” Urufu said. “Yes.
Another dozen years in the Sweden I know and I’d retire with a
healthy pension.”
“You’re
saying that you’re… No! Drop the act! I’m not an idiot.”
“He is,”
Sato-sensei said. “And it’s not as easy as you believe. He didn’t
time travel back into his youth.”
“I don’t
understand.”
Noriko didn’t
expect her to. She once spent an entire evening listening to Urufu
and Kuri explain what had happened to them. It had taken Yukio’s
and Kyoko’s combined persistence to convince her and her brother
that the two foreigners weren’t merely foreigners but that they
came from another world.
“Hitomi,
listen. You don’t need to believe me yet, but let’s pretend what
I said is true. Let’s pretend there are forty or fifty of us here.”
Hitomi shook her
head, but she smiled. “Fine, let’s pretend.”
Good girl.
Noriko allowed a giggle to slip out and rose to help Sato-sensei who
had gone to the small kitchen.
The two of them
prepared a late snack and tea while Noriko listened to Urufu as he
tried to convince Hitomi of the impossible.
“What if that
kind of people were very successful, or at least very good at what
they were doing before arriving here as teenagers?”
There was a short
pause, and Noriko was tempted to look over her shoulder to see
Hitomi’s expression.
“Imagine that
kind of people being given a chance to do it all over again. Then
imagine the kind of people who would want to be in control of that
happening.”
This time Noriko
shivered. It didn’t matter that she lived in that reality. Hearing
Urufu state it with that voice, cold and void of emotions, almost
forced a scream from her. He was broken when he arrived here.
Wasn’t that what they said?
She had to turn.
With Sato-sensei’s hand on her shoulder, sending warmth, worry and
sympathy along her fingers, Noriko ate Urufu with her eyes. I’m
so happy I won you to my side, but what did you have to give up? And
the answer made her cry. An entire life. You lost your life.
Sato-sensei’s finger dug deeper into her, and Noriko leaned back
into them for support.
“I’m going to
pretend I believe you. I’m going to, because then my father’s
actions make a lot more sense.”
“What did he
do?” Sato-sensei said from behind Noriko’s back.
Hitomi looked at
them. “He paid a lot of scary people a lot of money. There’s a
diet member protecting Kareyoshi.”
Noriko felt
Sato-sensei nod. They already knew that much.
“He has a son.
One of those who attacked Kuri. They got caught on security camera.”
That was bad, or
good, depending on point of view.
“My father
managed to dig up something else as well. He can trace that son to
the rapes.”
Noriko gulped and
Urufu swore.
“If you’re
smart you’ll let the swine run,” Hitomi said.
“Why?” Three
voices. Urufu’s, Sato-sensei’s and Noriko’s.
“As long as he
gets away then Kareyoshi’s support goes away as well.”
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