| Fan Fiction |
by ferine
"Do you hate me now?" Pi asked.
"I don't. But until you can face me without hiding anything, it's better that we keep our distance." Maki replied firmly.
Pi had never felt so defeated in his life. He buried his head in the pillow, trying to suffocate himself to numbness.
In another room, just down the corridor from Pi's, Maki was also unable to sleep. She stared into space as she tried hypnotizing herself into believing that what she had done was right. 'It's better for the both of us' she repeated this thought over and over again in her mind.
If that was what he chose, to work for Tetsu. Then as his sister-in-law, it was better to keep her distance. But was it his real intention to work for Tetsu. From what Maki understood of Yamapi, he wouldn't change for no reason. And that day, if she was not wrong, he was suffering working for Tetsu, that's why he looked for her consolation, didn't he?
On the couch in that same room, Kame pretended to sleep. He too, was sleepless but for an entirely different reason from Pi and Maki. Tomorrow was the day he couldn't erase from his memory of what happened 6 years ago. The sound of a gunshot resounded in his ears as if it was happening all over again.
Maki crept into bed silently, afraid of waking up Kame. She shook her head to clear it of thoughts of the banquet "Tomorrow," she said under her breath.
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Kame sat in his office, tapping his pen on the table. He shouldn't have came to work today. Since morning, he hasn't exactly been concentrating well.
Finally he gave up and said to the nurse outside, "I'm going off. Please rearrange my appointments for the day."
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Kame touched the tulip flowers lightly. It was her favourite flower. It symbolized perfect love, something not too elegant, too romantic, too big, too small, or too bright; the tulip is always just right. She hoped that their love would be like tulips, simple but comfortable and cozy. 6 years had passed and today for the first time, Kame contemplated visiting her grave. He hated the thought of her buried 6 feet under the ground he was standing on. But it has been a full 6 years.
"Can I help you?" the florist asked.
"I'd like to have a bouquet of tulips."
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"I've brought you tulips, it was our favourite flower remember?" Maki set the flowers down. "Lately, I met someone special. I remember that day you ran to me, excited about this guy you met, I can finally understand why. I've always been a nerd, studying and working all day long, I never thought I'd live the way I would now. But it's painful at the same time too. Did you go through the pain with that guy too? Our situation forbids us from being together. I told him it'd be better for us to stay away from each other. But those weren't what I really wished for. Now, he's working for his father and I feel the distance between us getting larger. I wish you were here next to me, you've always been my listener and advicer... Erika."
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Kame climbed up the slopes. The day they buried her, he had watched from afar, and still he refused to believe that she laid in an eternal slumber in that cold wooden box.
As he reached her grave, he was surprised to find a bouquet of tulips there. He knelt down and laid his next to that bouquet. 'Someone was here before?' he thought. 'Of course, there's Kuma.' But it is just so un-Kuma to bring a bouquet of tulips here.
"Erika.." he whispered. For the first time in 6 years, he spoke her name. It rang in his head for the past 6 years, but for the first time, he said it. Slowly, he reached out to touch that cold gravestone with her photo on it. How long had it been since he saw that face? And the last time he saw it, she was covered in blood. "I'm sorry... I love you" Kame could feel a numbing sensation on his nose as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
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Maki felt around her neck as it felt unusually empty. Her pendant was gone.
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Something glistening in the bushes caught Kame's eyes. He picked it off the ground, it looked strangely familiar. Then he recognized that pendant as the one Erika had worn before. She told him that her best friend had an identical one and even suggested after that they got a pair of lovers' ring.
"I'm sorry, that's mine..." A voice rang from behind Kame.
He turned and was surprised to find an equally surprised Maki staring back at him.
"You're..." both of them said in unison.
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