Chapter 29: Chapter 28: Trust

[Thursday, 15:00]

The whole time on the way home I’ve done nothing except worry about how Mama’s going to react to Chinatsu being infected by me. I’m actually afraid she is going to hate me. ‘Chinatsu’s her real daughter after all, why wouldn't she hate me for this?’ keeps bouncing back and forth endlessly. I would never forgive someone who hurt Chinatsu, so why should I expect anything different.

Chinatsu, well, she’s being Chinatsu. It’s as if nothing has happened as far as she is concerned. Right now she is sitting beside me holding my hand and leaning her head against my shoulder. How she isn’t freaked out about this, I have no idea. I sure as hell am.

Honestly, I’d gladly trade Mama and Dad disowning me and throwing me out on the street if it means nothing bad will happen to Chinatsu. I’m absolutely scared witless that is just what will happen. I won’t blame them if they do throw me out. Who knows what I have done to her? I sure don’t.

I sigh and look at Honoka. “Honoka?”

“Yes Sora?”

“Can we stop at Higashine Park?”

“Sure. Why do you want to go there though?”

“Putting off the inevitable I suppose.”

“We can do that, but you know your mother is expecting us back before dinner.” She tells me, looking in the rearview mirror at me with a concerned expression. ‘Join the club, I’m concerned too. I’m probably about to lose everything that means anything to me and I can’t face it,’ I think while looking at her in the mirror.

“I know.” I quietly tell her. Chinatsu lifts her head and looks at me apprehensively.

“Sora-nee, what’s wrong?”

“I want to take a walk at the park for a little while.”

“Okay… That isn’t all of it though. Don’t even try to tell me it is.”

“I don’t want to go home yet, so I want to take a walk. Is that bad?” I’m not lying, but not telling the whole truth either. She would know immediately if I tried to lie anyway.

“No, it’s not bad Sora-nee, but you still aren’t telling me everything.”

“Yes, you’re right. It’s not the whole reason, but I don’t really want to talk about the rest of it right now.”

Chinatsu doesn’t say anything more, she simply looks at me anxiously with a distraught expression. Well, I’m right there with her in those respects, but I’m sure the reasons are completely different.

I turn to stare out the window at the passing scenery, while not actually seeing anything and doing my best to stop thinking altogether.

A few minutes later, Honoka pulls into the parking lot of the park. When the car stops, I unbuckle myself, and tell Honoka and Chinatsu, “Please give me a bit of time alone.”

I open the door, get out and head toward the walk path without waiting for an answer from Honoka or Chinatsu.

[Chinatsu’s POV]

What the hell?! I know Sora-nee is upset that I was infected, but I’m fine. I told her that. I don’t understand what she's thinking right now. I can see she is hurting and anxious, but there’s no reason to be. Why does she always try to take everything on by herself?

“Honoka aren’t you going to follow her?”

“No. I think she needs some time to think and sort through things. She can’t do that with us looking over her shoulder. I’m tracking her. If she goes off the walk path or it looks as if she is going to leave the park then I’ll do something.”

“Well, I’m going to call Dad and let him know something is wrong.”

“Okay.”

I unlock my phone and dial Dad. He answers after three rings.

“Wow, called twice in one day by my lovely daughters. What’s up?”

“Dad, something’s wrong with Sora-nee. She’s not acting like herself since we found out I was infected. On the way home she asked to stop at Higashine Park, and told us to give her some time alone before taking off by herself.”

“What do you mean she isn’t acting like herself?”

“She’s acting distant from me, distracted, anxious, nervous, and maybe a little afraid. Of what, I have no idea. Honoka said it would be best if we left her alone to think and sort through whatever is going on. I’m worried, Dad.”

“Does she have her phone and watch with her?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I tell you what. I’ll call her and see if I can get her to talk to me. Honoka is probably right though, she might need some time to think things through. I wouldn’t start worrying just yet, alright?”

“Dad, this is Sora-nee we are talking about. She talks to me about everything. I’m telling you something is seriously wrong here.”

“Let me talk to Honoka.”

“Okay Dad. Honoka, Dad wants to talk to you.” I tell her as I hold my phone out to her.

“Yes sir? ... Yes sir, I am. ... She’s about 200m from where we are. If I remember correctly there is a bench just around the bend where she is at. ... I think so too, but I’ll go retrieve her if you want. ... No sir. I haven’t seen anything out of place or I’d have sounded an alert and gone after her already. ... Yes sir. He wants to talk to you again.”

“Hi Dad.”

“I know you’re worried, sweetheart, and I realize you know Sora much better than your mother or I ever will, but I think we ought to give her some time to work through things. She’s probably upset you got infected, blames herself for it, and needs a little time to come to terms with it.”

“She didn’t do anything wrong, Dad.”

“I know that, so do you, but she might not see it that way. Try not to worry, give her a little time and I’m sure everything will be fine.”

“Okay Dad. Thank you.”

“Talk to you soon.”

“Bye Dad.” I end the call. I really hope he’s right, but I have a really bad feeling about this.

[Sora’s POV]

After I walked around the bend in the path, I saw a bench and decided to sit down. Simply walking around is going to tire me out if I go very far and it’s not as if it’s going to magically bring me answers if I do. I’m at a complete loss as to what I’m supposed to do. I realize Chinatsu is worried about me, and I probably upset her when I asked to be left alone and walked off.

I sigh and shake my head. So much for things going well. I shake my head again and look up at the clouds as they float by. Out of the corner of my eye I see some movement and glance to see a man walking along the path in my direction. Dismissing him, I return to watching the clouds.

“Are you okay?” He asks me when he gets fairly close to me, snapping me out of my reverie.

“Hmm? Oh yes, thank you. I’m fine.” I tell him. When I look at him, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. Something isn’t right with this.

“Are you waiting on someone?”

“I’m not trying to be rude, but that’s really none of your business. I’d appreciate it if you left me alone.”

“Wow. They didn't say you had a smart mouth.” He says with a rather nasty look. I don’t hesitate for a single moment, I reach over and hold down the right hand buttons on my watch. One thousand one, one thousand two and press the top left button, while I’m doing that, I move to place the bench between us.

“Look, I don’t want a problem. I wasn’t trying to be cheeky. I was simply saying I would prefer to be left alone, that is all. I think you may have me confused with someone else.”

“Oh no. I know exactly who you are, Sora Kobayashi. Redheads are rather rare in Japan after all. Now don’t make this hard on yourself and just come with me. I would prefer not to hurt you if I don’t have to.”

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So, he knows who I am. Alright, I need to buy some time for help to come.

“Look, I don’t know who you are and I really don’t care, but you ought to leave before I call the police.”

“Go right ahead. By the time they can get here I’ll be long gone with you.” He tells me with a smirk, takes a couple of steps in my direction and I move diagonally away from him while keeping the bench between us.

Fortunately for me, unfortunately for him, this places his back to the path I came down which has Honoka running down it as fast as she can while pulling something from behind her.

When she’s about 10m from him, she stops and yells at him, “On your knees with your hands on top of your head. I’ll give you three seconds to comply before I put a bullet in you. Sora, move onto the path and come to me.”

I keep an eye on him, but follow what she told me to do.

“Hey now...”

“1 ... 2 …”

“Alright. Okay.” He says, dropping to his knees and putting his hands on top of his head.

“Don’t even think of moving, if you so much as twitch you will be shitting in a bag for the foreseeable future.”

“No need to be crude. I think there is some misunderstanding here. I was simply asking the young lady if she was alright. That’s all.”

She laughs harshly. “Do you really think I’m going to buy that? Mister, I have no idea who you work for, but I promise you that you opened a can of worms you shouldn’t have by accepting this job. You will be lucky if you get to spend the rest of your life in a prison cell.”

“Honoka, there are four men coming up behind us.” I tell her from where I’m standing behind her.

She glances in their direction. “They’re my backup Sora, nothing to worry about.” She replies and I continue to look around us and I spot a minivan with an open sliding door about 50m away from us.

“Honoka, I think that might be the van he was supposed to take me in. He came from that direction.” I tell her, pointing to the van. Honoka glances at it. Looks at the men as they come alongside us,

“Two of you go check out the van. The other two cuff him.”

After they have the man handcuffed, she puts away her pistol and kneels down in front of me.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Something told me he was a bad person when he spoke to me, so I used my watch to alert everyone and got the bench between us. He never even got close enough to touch me. I’m sorry I caused a problem Honoka, I should have never went off on my own like that.”

She chuckles. “Only you would apologize to me because some asshole tried to kidnap you. Silly girl, this wasn’t your fault, but you should really talk to your sister. She’s rather out of sorts because you took off and wouldn’t talk to her.”

She stands up and takes out her phone to make a call. “Ikeda, 1471. Cardinal is secure. All clear.” She ends the call and looks at me. “How about we go see your sister?” She asks me, holding her hand out to me which I take and nod.

“Honoka, do you know who he works for?” I ask her when we started walking back toward the car.

“No, but we will before too long. Don’t worry about it though, okay?”

“That’s easier said than done. What I really want to know is if he works for Akiyama. I wouldn’t put it past him to try to do this so I couldn’t testify against him.”

I stop and pull on her arm to make her look at me. “Umm. Thank you Honoka.” I tell her as I step up to her and hug her. She wraps her arms around me and holds me.

“I’m just glad you’re safe, Sora.”

“Thanks to you, I am.”

She smiles and shakes her head. “Come on Sora, let’s get out of here. Your sister is waiting.”

“Okay.” I take her hand and we resume walking back to the car. I see Chinatsu leaning against the car waiting for us. Once we get closer, I can easily see she is quite angry.

“Sora-nee, don’t you ever do that again! Once the alert came through on Honoka’s phone I was worried to death!”

I step up to her and hug her. “I’m sorry Chinatsu. I promise, I won't do that again.”

“Damn right you won’t.” She grumbles in my ear, but I can feel her trembling as she hugs me.

“I’m not sure what this was over, but there is nothing worth putting yourself in danger over. Do you hear me? You are going to tell me what this was all about when we get home. Got it?”

“Chinatsu, I may not have a home after we get there. You’re Mama’s real daughter and look what I did to you. I wouldn’t blame her for throwing me out on the street.”

She pushes me away and looks at me incredulously. “Are you an idiot?! I know very well you aren’t, but what the hell?! You really think Mom or Dad would ever throw you out of the house over anything? You heard Dad the other day, you are just as much their daughter as I am. They would never, ever do that. Sora-nee. I realize you aren’t used to dealing with people yet, but next time something comes up talk to me instead of doing something stupid like this. Alright?”

“Okay, I promise. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, just don’t do it again. You’re safe and that’s all I care about. Come on let’s go home.”

I nod and the three of us pile into the car. I know what Chinatsu said, but I’m still extremely anxious. I have no idea what Mama is going to say or do when we get home. Well, I suppose I’ll find out soon enough, it’s not as if the park is very far from the house after all.

A few minutes later we arrive at the house. Honoka drops us off in front of the house and she drives off to go park the car. Chinatsu takes my hand and we start walking toward the front door. We get a few steps from the front door before tears begin spilling from my eyes and I start trembling.

“Sora-nee, calm down. It’s okay, you’ll see.” She tells me as the door is pulled open and Mama comes out to grab both of us in a tight hug.

“Are you two okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom.” Chinatsu says.

“Sora, it’s okay. There’s no need to cry, you’re safe at home now.”

“That isn’t it, Mom. Sora-nee thinks you’re going to throw her out of the house.”

“What? Why would she think that?”

“She thinks you’re going to hate her for infecting your real daughter with nanites.”

Mama gently takes my chin and makes me look at her. “Sora, I have no idea where you get silly ideas like that, but we love you and would never throw you out. You’re our real daughter too. Understand?” She tells me as she wipes away my tears. I nod as relief washes over me.

“I imagine you’re tired from everything that’s happened today. Why don’t you two go take a nap, I’ll come wake you up when dinner is ready.”

“Thanks Mama.” I give her a hug and quietly tell her, “I guess I still have a ways to go before I can trust people. Too many years of expecting the worst.”

She kisses my forehead and tells me, “You’ll get there sweetheart, it’s just going to take some time. Now go take a nap.”

Chinatsu takes my hand and starts to pull me into the house. I stop her and look back. “Mama, thank you. I love you too.”

“I know sweetheart, go on now.” I nod and allow Chinatsu to lead me up to my room.

However, once the door is shut and we are alone, Chinatsu stops, wraps her arms around me and pins me against the door. “Don’t you ever, and I mean ever, do something like that again. When the alert came through on Honoka’s phone I thought my heart was going to stop. It would kill me if something happened to you. Do you understand me?”

“I won’t do it again, I’m sorry I scared you.”

“You have to promise me that you’ll talk to me when something happens. Even if I can’t do anything to help whatever it is about, I can at least listen and be there for you.”

“I promise.”

“Good, then let’s take a nap.”

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