Effects of The Sorrowed

Chapter 4

The sound of birds, a stream, and wind through the leaves. She felt the tickle of blades of grass on her bare toes.. She looked around. “The meadow again…” She said quietly. A gust of wind blew her blonde hair and made it whip across her face. She looked up at the blue sky. “I wish I could just stay here forever…” She said with a sigh.

“I wish you could too...” A voice came, she turned around to see Kaido.

“Kaido…” She whispered.

“Hey, Mizu.” Kaido said before walking towards her and wrapping his arms around her. She hugged him back with a smile.

“Kaido...last time I saw you...you said something strange…” Mizu said. Kaido loosened his grip on her. Mizu turned around and looked at him, he looked distracted. “I want to know what you meant…” Mizu said. Kaido looked down before he looked back at Mizu.

“Let’s just enjoy our own little slice of heaven…” Kaido said with a smile. Mizu backed up some.

“No, Kaido, what’s going on?” Mizu asked. Kaido’s smile fell and he gnawed at his lower lip. “Kaido.” Mizu said firmly.

“Look, Mizara, I want you to know that I love you...I always have…” Kaido said. Mizara furrowed her brows confused.

“Kaido, what is going on?” Mizara asked sternly. Kaido sighed.

“Mizara...the world is not as nice as you think it is…” Kaido said nervously.

“You said that before, what do you mean by that?” Mizu asked.

“The world is full of bad…” Kaido said. Mizara shook her head.

“I know that not all of the world is nice and polite. I know…” Mizara said.

“No, I mean...like...evil. True evil…” Kaido said, watching Mizara.

“I know there are bad people in the world.” Mizu said.

“No, I mean like, true evil…” Kaido said.

“True evil?” Mizara asked. Kaido shifted nervously and looked around.

“Look…” Kaido said as he stepped closer to Mizara. “They weren’t accidents…” Kaido said. Mizara looked at Kaido confused.

“I...don’t understand, Kaido...” Mizara said, her brows knitting together in the growing confusion. 

“I can’t really get into it right now...but...I know what happened to your parents…” Kaido said. Mizara felt her heart drop and tears well in her eyes. She backed up more.

“Everybody knows what happened...they were killed…” Mizara said, holding back those tears.

“I know, I mean, I know why…” Kaido said. Mizara noticed the scenery slowly dissipating again. Kaido looked around.

“W-What…?” Mizara said shakily, her face paling at Kaido’s words. Kaido was looking around anxiously as Mizara backed up a little more & wrapped her arms around her trembling body.

“Look, I don’t have a whole lot of time, they’re coming back...I was trying to make this a safe place…” Kaido said his brows furrowed together as he looked around still.

“Who, Kaido? Who’s coming back? What do you mean you know why? This is just a dream, right?” Mizara asked. Kaido paused & had to double take Mizara before his eyes twinkled in amusement.

“My dear, Zara...there’s so much you don’t know…” Kaido said, it seemed as though that’s when he realized that she walked away from him. “I don’t know how to describe them…” Kaido said, the scenery fading still. Mizara looked around frantically.

“What’s going on, Kaido, what are you talking about?” Mizara asked as she noticed Kaido’s body slowly becoming more transparent. The scenery falling more quickly, the trees disappeared & the flowers followed, the sound of the stream and wind disappeared.

“Mizu….” Kaido’s voice echoed as he vanished and the ground beneath her followed, suddenly she felt pressure on her ankles. She looked down to see two bony hands gripping her firmly. More bony limbs reached up & grabbed her in various other places & she felt herself being yanked down.

“Miiizzzzzaaaaaaarrrraaaa…” a disembodied voice game.

“Kaido! Help me!” Mizara sobbed, reaching up for anything to grab, finding nothing. All sounds seemed to disappear & a high pitched ringing filled her ears & head, her throat felt like it was being grabbed as well, she reached up with one hand to try to remove whatever was holding her by the throat but she didn’t feel anything.

***

Her back hit the floor with a loud crack as her eyes flashed open, tears welling there, her breathing heavy. The covers were wrapped around her in various places & her alarm clock blared in her ear. She looked around her almost dark room before shakily reaching up, switching on the lamp and turning off the alarm clock. She was sweaty and her throat and eyes hurt. She looked down at her scarcely clothed body, noticing her violent shaking. “W-what the f**k…” Mizu barely breathed as she sat up and hugged herself trying to calm down. She lifted a hand to her forehead - damp with fresh sweat, her hair was matted down. Her head hurt. She laid her head down on the side of the bed for a minute before peeking out and staring at the one streak of light that found its way through the blinds. It wasn’t very bright, that told her that it was not sunny today. She looked up at the ceiling and then leaned back against her night stand before taking a deep breath. That’s when she noticed the slight pitter patter of rain against the roof & felt the rumble of distant thunder. 

It’d been months since she’d been out of the hospital and had started seeing a psychologist on a regular basis, she had been prescribed several meds from her psychiatrist for various issues; PTSD, Bipolar Depression, Anxiety, Personality Disorder, and several other things. After successfully going to counseling for two weeks after she got out of the hospital she had returned to school but her friends didn’t talk much to her. She’d changed, become more moody. Things between the three of them had grown kind of rough, Takuto’s drinking had increased as had his smoking, he always seemed like he was in a bad mood, Mizu felt tension between the two. She wasn’t able to get along with anyone very well but especially not Takuto. Ever since their fight, things had been different. 

Sakuto was trying to buckle down & study so that she could graduate on time,as it wouldn’t be long before graduation. Sakuto was more distant because she was focusing on school, Mizara was struggling with her mental illnesses, & Takuto was stressing about bills & not dealing with the current events or the past events. Things were different without his father. He felt lost without his father, Sakuto had never seen eye to eye with their father and so she decided to live with their mother but that hadn’t lasted long before she got sick and passed away. It was then that she moved in with their uncle until his demise. After Mizu had settled down she shakily stood and changed before opening her curtains & blinds. She looked out at the gloomy sky and sighed. She walked downstairs, half-paying attention to her surroundings. She was vaguely aware of Sakuto trying to greet her, Takuto was gone already, she knew this because his shoes were gone. She gathered her bag and sat at the table with a cup of coffee, her appetite had gone for a while, she wasn’t eating very well.

“Mizu?” Sakuto’s voice broke Mizu’s clouded thoughts.

“Hm?” Mizu asked, glancing over at Sakuto. Sakuto looked concerned.

“I asked you if that’s all you were having for breakfast again?” Sakuto said. Mizu looked at her now cold cup of coffee & then back at Sakuto.

“I’m not really too hungry…” Mizu said, staring down into her glass. Sakuto put her hands on her hips & furrowed her brows.

“Mizu, you’re losing a lot of weight, you barely eat...aren’t you at all worried?” Sakuto asked sternly. Mizu shrugged. “Well, I’m worried! This isn’t taking care of yourself!” Sakuto said. Mizu didn’t look up. “Mizu, please eat something…” Sakuto said, her voice pleading now. Mizu clenched her jaw before peeking up at Sakuto and chugging her coffee.

“Fine…” Mizu said before she got up and grabbed a poptart from the cabinet behind Sakuto. “Happy now?” Mizu asked, waving the poptart in Sakuto’s face before grabbing her bag and heading out. Sakuto sighed and leaned against the sink, staring at the ground. She shook her head before finishing the cleanup and heading out herself, it didn’t take long before she caught up to Mizu but she didn’t say anything and instead walked silently beside her, the rain had stopped and it wasn’t due to rain again until much later. Summer was around the corner, so was graduation. The thought made her nervous. Mizu had caught up for the most part with a majority of her classes but oftentimes was caught off guard or distracted by the teachers or other students. Nowadays Mizu was often whispered about, all kinds of crazy rumors were floating around school. Mizu sighed during the lunch break, her eyes focused on the horizon outside, the sun was peeking through the clouds.

“Hey, Tachin.” A voice came from behind Mizu, breaking her concentration on the dream she’d had this morning. She jumped a little before turning to see Kaoru standing there smiling at her. Mizu offered a weak smile back.

“Hey, Hideki. Thanks for all your help in catching me up...it’s a lot…” Mizu said.

“No problem, you’d do the same for me, I hope.” Kaoru said before sitting on the desk beside Mizu.

“Of course.” Mizu said.

“So...I’ve kind of been waiting to ask you something…” Kaoru said somewhat shyly. Mizu’s smile slowly fell.

“What’s that?” Mizu pressed.

“Well, I know it’s been really rough for you and all...I was thinking that maybe we could go blow off some steam?” Kaoru asked, his eyes set on hers. Mizu blinked again trying to process his words.

“Like...go do something?” Mizu asked. Kaoru grinned and chuckled some.

“Yeah, like something fun, I don’t know, what do you like doing for fun? We can go to an arcade, a movie, a karaoke bar, we can go get sushi, or ramen...I just want you to have some time to stop thinking about things and get out of the house, y’know?” Kaoru asked, his cheeks slightly pink. Mizu looked at the floor for a moment in thought, biting her lower lip. She could use some time out of the house and away from Sakuto and Takuto. She nodded before her eyes met his again and it was her turn to offer a light blush.

“Yeah, I’d like that..” Mizu said, smiling genuinely now.

“Awesome, then it’s a date, how about Friday after school?” Kaoru asked as he stood and straightened his school shirt. Her cheeks burned but she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Y-Yeah...okay…” Mizu said. Kaoru beamed.

“I’ll stop by your house around 7, that way we have time to change and get into something more comfortable than school clothes...and...don’t eat dinner, okay?” Kaoru said. Mizu nodded shyly, unable to speak, Kaoru gave a thumbs up before he headed back to his friends. It’d been so long since she’d been on a date and it made her heart flutter a little. Kaoru was a nice guy...they’d gotten really close the last few months. He’d almost become her best friend. But she still didn’t trust him completely, she didn’t want to get hurt again. Mizu tucked a stray piece of her blonde hair behind her ear and bit her lip some. The feeling was temporary, unfortunately as she turned back to stare out the window - watching the sun peek out more - Kaido’s face flashed into her head, it was as if a record stopped and the smile vanished. She suddenly felt guilt. ‘Stop it, girl, he’s been gone for a while...he’s not coming back anytime soon and it’s time you do move on…’ Mizu thought to herself as she leaned back onto the palm of her hand, her elbow and forearm now supporting the weight of her head. ‘Right...he would want me to move on and be happy…’ Mizu thought. The dream crept back up.

“It wasn’t an accident...I know why they were killed…” Kaido’s voice echoed in her head. ‘What does that mean...how could he possibly know why they were killed…?’ Mizu thought. “There’s so much you don’t know…” Kaido’s words replayed in her head. The bell rang for the end of the lunch period and it was time to finish the afternoon classes, although Mizu found it nearly impossible to focus on anything, her mind was moving at a thousand miles a minute. She only knew class was over when a warm hand was felt on her shoulder.

“Tachin...class is over...how do you feel about what the teacher explained for the assignment tonight?” Kaoru’s voice came, grabbing her attention. She turned to look at him and then looked around the room and noticed most of the students were gone but so was the teacher.

“Um...honestly...I have no idea what the assignment is…” Mizu admitted blushing and looking down. “I’m sorry, I was...distracted…” Mizu said sheepishly. Kaoru looked at her with concern.

“Do you have time tonight to go over it? I want to make sure you graduate with me…” Kaoru said, removing his hand. Mizu looked up and just as she did, Kaoru’s cheeks turned red. “I mean, it would suck to have to be held back...so, it’d be nice if we could all graduate together, you know?” Kaoru said fidgeting anxiously with a button on her uniform.

“Right…” Mizu said blushing as well. “Y-Yeah, I don’t have anything going on, so I’d really appreciate it if you helped me.” Mizu said.

“Great, let me finish up my cleaning and I’ll be down, okay?” Kaoru said with a grin. “It’ll only be a bit.” Kaoru promised. Mizu nodded as Kaoru walked away. She watched as he erased the dry erase board and cleaned the eraser for a moment before she pushed her books into her bag and hoisted it on her shoulder.

“I’ll see you in a bit, Hideki.” Mizu called as she walked out of the classroom, glancing over her shoulder to Kaoru. Kaoru nodded. Mizu headed down the staircase and looked around the emptying school halls. There were only after school activity students left. Everyone else had left already. She put away unnecessary books and headed to the doorway before sighing and leaning against one of the walls staring once more out the window at the darkening sky. A warm wind brushed her hair back before she heard the squeaking of someone coming down the hall. She turned expecting Kaoru but it was another student that she was unfamiliar with but behind him was Sakuto. Sakuto looked up and caught her eye.

“Hey, Mizu.” Sakuto said grinning.

“Hey, what are you still doing here? I thought you guys left for the day already.” Mizu replied, typically the upperclassmen got to leave earlier than the underclassmen.

“Oh, I had cleaning duty today and was helping a friend at the library. Who are you waiting for?” Sakuto asked, looking around as she reached Mizu.

“Hideki, he’s going to help me with tonight's assignment…” Mizu said playing with a loose bit of hair. Sakuto narrowed her eyes at Mizu.

“You weren’t paying attention again, were you?” Sakuto asked.

“I tried! I just...couldn’t focus today…” Mizu responded ashamedly. Sakuto sighed and put a hand to her temples.

“Mizara, you need to get it together, you’ve only got a few more years before you graduate, do you want to fail?” Sakuto asked, sound exasperated.

“I know…” Mizu mumbled not looking Sakuto in the eye. Sakuto pulled Mizu in for a hug and pet her hair.

“Mizara, I told you that we love you and you can always ask us for help if you need it...I hope this isn’t too much for you but you really do have to graduate…” Sakuto said, she sounded like a big sister or a mother. Mizu hugged her back and then pulled away some. Sakuto’s brows knitted together with concern. “What happened, Mizu?” Sakuto asked, reading her body language. Mizu glanced up at Sakuto’s piercing gaze before looking back down and messing with a string she found hanging from her skirt.

“Nothing…” Mizu lied as she tugged at it some before wrapping it around her finger and then unwrapping it again.

“Mizu…” Sakuto said before grabbing Mizu gently by the chin and lifting it. “What is going on, hon?” Sakuto asked. Sakuto saw the fear and confusion in Mizu’s eyes but didn’t move her own from them. Mizu was silent for a moment trying to look away from Sakuto but couldn’t get away from her gaze. She finally looked Sakuto in the eye.

“I had another dream…” Mizu said, her heart racing some at the memory. Sakuto’s expression softened and became sympathetic as her hand dropped from under Mizu’s chin.

“About Kaoru?” Sakuto whispered. Mizu nodded. “What about this time?” Sakuto asked quietly after glancing around. Mizu looked away for a minute thinking, should she tell Sakuto everything or should she lie to her again? Sakuto would probably catch her lie but she didn’t really want to go into detail. She sighed and looked at her shoes before glancing back at Sakuto.

“He said something...that really scared me and hurt me…” Mizu said, her voice breaking as the fear bubbled. Sakuto watched her cousin, it’d been a long time since she’d seen that kind of fear in her cousin’s eyes. Sure she was shy and sweet and sensitive but this kind of fear was genuine and severe.

“What was it?” Sakuto asked more quietly. Mizu looked down and bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears that threatened her.

“H-He said...that their death wasn’t an accident...a-and...he knows why they were...k-killed…” Mizu said, her voice cracking at the word.  Sakuto froze, her heart stopped and her body tensed. She recalled her conversation at the hospital with her brother.

“He said that he was hiding something?...do you know what he was hiding?...” Her own question echoed through her mind and the image of her brother, silent and staring into the distance. She felt his anxiety peak and felt his nervousness.

“W-Why would he say that, Saku?” Mizu asked barely whispering. Sakuto looked back at Mizu and saw her eyes twinkling with unshed tears. “Why would he be so cruel?” Mizu asked, wiping at her eyes. Sakuto looked around to make sure no one was staring or watching them before she quickly - but gently - pulled her out of the entrance of the school and offered her a reassuring smile, Mizu didn’t have to know it was fake.

“Honey, it was just a dream, okay? Maybe it’s your subconscious fear, I mean, there are people out there that think everybody is out to get them…” Sakuto tried to reassure her cousin but her cousin’s eyes got wider.

“Y-You think I’m just paranoid?” Mizu asked, obviously offended. ‘Shit.’ Sakuto thought before she shook her head no.

“No, no! I’m saying, you’re dealing with a lot of feelings and maybe you are tricking yourself into believing false things because you’re feeling guilty about it...you feel like it was your fault…” Sakuto tried again. Mizu’s eyes were less wide and she sniffled some.

“Y-Yeah...maybe you’re right...maybe I’m just doubting things because I’ve been watching too many scary movies…” Mizu said, nodding. Sakuto smiled at her and pet her hair back again.

“It’s okay, sweetie. Now wipe those tears, I think someone is coming down to see you.” Sakuto said, fixing Mizu’s hair, glancing back at the stairs and patting her eyes dry. Mizu glanced up at the stairs to see Kaoru jogging down the stairs, staring at the stairs as he landed on each one. Mizu sniffled again and wiped her nose and eyes before straightening her uniform and heading back to the doorway, Sakuto following behind her and mentally sighing a breath of relief. When Kaoru reached the bottom is when he looked up to see Mizu and Sakuto. He smiled at both of them.

“Hey, Tachin, Kagane!” Kaoru greeted both of them with a wave. Sakuto smiled and waved back and Mizu smiled. “Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long...I wanted to make sure it was all complete.”

“You’re fine, I’m gonna go ahead, I gotta hurry up and get back to studying!” Sakuto said with a quick hug and another wave to Kaoru before starting off on her own. Kaoru nodded and put away his unnecessary things and grabbed his necessary things before starting out with Mizu.

“You okay?” Kaoru asked as they walked down the street, Mizu was pretty quiet, as was Kaoru but Mizu seemed distracted. Mizu chuckled a little bit.

“I mean...as okay as I can be…” Mizu said as she stared at the ground. Kaoru looked over at her.

“Hey, I know I’m not Masame...but I want you to know that...you can tell me anything, I’m a good listener…” Kaoru said before looking back ahead. Mizu glanced up at him. Kaoru felt her gaze and peeked over, when his eyes met hers he quickly looked back in front of him. “That’s what friends do, right?” Kaoru said. Mizu smiled softly.

“Yeah…” Mizu said before looking ahead as well.

“I can’t wait until summer, Tachin, I’m looking forward to swimming and eating yummy barbecues, aren’t you?” Kaoru asked. Mizu smiled more.

“Yeah...I love the summer…” Mizu said. ‘It was our favorite season…’ Mizu thought. Kaoru smiled.

“Me too, it’s my favorite time of year.” Kaoru added. Mizu felt her heart skip a beat as she looked up at Kaoru. Suddenly Kaoru’s face became Kaido’s face and she looked back down. How strange, it was almost as if he read her mind...or maybe it was his favorite time of the year…

“Mine too...or, it used to be…” Mizu said. She’d never told him very much about Kaido except that he was her best friend and he was killed. She didn’t like talking about Kaido, especially seeing as Kaoru looked so much like him. It made her feel strange and it was honestly kind of unnerving. The more she got to know him, the more he reminded her of Kaido and that terrified her.

“Alright, we made it!” Kaoru said playfully as he stepped aside to let Mizu open the door. They stepped inside and headed to the kitchen table, she noticed that Takuto’s shoes were by the door but he was nowhere to be found. Sakuto was sitting on the couch with bulky headphones on and a large book on one side of her, a notebook and pencil on her lap. “So, let’s get started, tell me what you don’t understand.” Kaoru said after they pulled out their books and notebooks and set them up on the table. Mizu blushed some.

“Um, honestly, everything…” Mizu said sheepishly. Kaoru stared at her for a long time.

“Wow, were you that distracted?” Kaoru teased. Mizu shrugged bashfully. “Well, it’s a good thing you have Professor Hideki to help you out! I hear he’s a great teacher.” Kaoru said playfully again with a wink. Mizu giggled a little bit. “So, first things first…” Kaoru continued as he began his lesson. Two hours had passed before the two of them were finishing up the last bits of their assignments. Sakuto had started dinner and Takuto was still nowhere to be seen. “Alright, let’s see what we’ve got!” Kaoru said as he set the papers side by side and compared them. He nodded as he looked over his answers and compared them to Mizu’s. “Well, it looks like you pretty much understand it but there are a few that you did still get wrong...but I don’t blame you, they were harder problems…” Kaoru said, his brows pulled together, focused. Mizu looked at the two assignments and immediately saw the incorrect answers.

“Oh no! I thought I understood those!” Mizu said before throwing her hands to her face and burying it in them. “There’s a lot more at the end...I would’ve failed if this was a test…” Mizu groaned.

“No, no, no, you wouldn’t have gotten a great grade but you wouldn’t have failed, but that’s why we have these assignments! So that we do good on our tests so that we can correct our mistakes!” Kaoru said quickly, staying positive. “You did a really good job for not having any idea what you were doing before! Some of these are just little mistakes that were made, like this one here, you put this like that instead of like that, which then made the whole rest of your answer off, but that’s okay, we can fix it.” Kaoru said as he pointed to one of the problems, Mizu watched him intently and nodded.

“So, show me how I was supposed to do it?” Mizu asked. Kaoru nodded.

“Of course, so instead of doing this…” Kaoru said, showing her what she did. “...you have to do this  instead, does that make sense? Because this and this aren’t the same and mean two completely different things, you see?” Kaoru asked. Mizu watched and nodded.

“Ooooh, okay, so I just miswrote it and put this one instead of that one...oaky, so that wasn’t an awful mistake.” Mizu said.

“Exactly, I made the same mistake when I first started the in-class assignments. Wait, you did the in-class assignments, didn’t you?” Kaoru asked, looking at Mizu whose face turned red.

“Um...when I said I was distracted...I meant...really distracted…” Mizu said shyly. Kaoru put a hand to his forehead.

“Oh jeez, Mizu...she’s collecting them Thursday…” Kaoru said with a sigh.

“Oops, I’m so sorry…” Mizu responded looking down.

“It's okay, I can help you get them done before then. There weren’t too many.” Kaoru said. Mizu took a deep breath.

“Oh thank goodness…” Mizu said, putting a hand to her chest in relief. Sakuto watched the exchange subtly and couldn’t help but smile. This was the happiest and most normal she’d seen her cousin for a really long time. She also thought it was strange how much the boy reminded her of Kaido. His looks, his temperament, his behavior. “Hideki, is that what you want to do when you get older?” Mizu asked after they had corrected the problems and started on the in-class assignments.

“Hm?” Kaoru asked, looking over at Mizu.

“Be a professor?” Mizu asked, her eyes focused on Kaoru. Kaoru blushed a little.

“I mean, I love learning and I love teaching others...it’d be great to be a professor...but I want to be an English Professor…” Kaoru responded.

“Well, that’s a really good thing to be, they make good money and you can enrich so many people's lives...you really are a good teacher…” Mizu said. Kaoru looked over at Mizu to see her purple eyes set on him, a smile on her lips. He blushed and pretended to be putting away things, he really only had to put away two more things.

“Well...thank you, Tachin…” Kaoru said shyly.

“Mizu.” Mizu responded. Kaoru looked up at her, blinking in confusion. “Call me, Mizu.” Mizu said.

“Oh, okay, thank you M-Mizu…” Kaoru said. Mizu beamed at him. “You can call me Kaoru then, we’re friends now, right?” Kaoru asked.

“We’ve been friends, Kaoru. I just wasn’t sure how you felt about it. So that makes me happy.” Mizu responded. Sakuto smiled to herself before grabbing plates and bowls for everyone, including Kaoru.

“Alright, let’s clean up, dinner is ready!” Sakuto said cheerfully. Kaoru and Mizu - who had been staring at each other - looked now at Sakuto before quickly clearing the table and setting their bags aside. Sakuto set plates and bowls down in front of the two and then set the table for her and her brother. “I’ll run and grab Takuto, you two can start without us.” Sakuto said. Mizu and Kaoru looked at the plates and bowls and then looked at the food that Sakuto had set in between the plates and bowls.

“Oh wow, this looks delicious!” Kaoru said, licking his lips.

“She’s a good cook, she wants to open her own restaurant one day.” Mizu said with a smile. Kaoru glanced over to Mizu before glancing back at the food.

“Oooh, that’s cool! What kind of restaurant?” Kaoru asked, waiting for Mizu to serve herself first. Mizu grabbed some of the dishes sitting before her and made up her plate.

“I think she said Italian or Greek…” Mizu said as she finished making her plate and grabbed some tea for them.

“Oh wow, that’s impressive...is she going to go to school for it?” Kaoru asked as he made up his own plate. That was when Sakuto came downstairs looking irritated and pale but she smiled at them.

“I do, I also plan on going overseas to study the culture and the food in Italy and Greece, maybe even America…” Sakuto said as she picked up Takuto’s plate and made it up then covered it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. “That’s why I’m studying so hard, I want to get into a good American school or Italian school or Greek school but I’m not sure what kind of restaurant I want to open yet so I might just stick to American for now and figure it out from there…” Sakuto explained before removing her cute little white apron with pink bunnies on it and hanging it up and then coming to the table and making up her plate.

“Oh wow, that’s really exciting…” Kaoru said before he took a bite.

“I’m kind of bummed because that means she’ll be living in America for a while…” Mizu said as she moved her own food around her plate with her chopsticks.

“Don’t worry, I won’t forget you guys and I’ll come back to visit often, I promise! I’ll even bring souvenirs back!” Sakuto said before she took her own bite and then narrowed her eyes at Mizu. She swallowed and cleared her throat. “Stop playing with it and eat it, Mizu...you’re skin and bones…” Sakuto said sternly. Mizu made a face before putting a small pinch of rice in her mouth and chewing it.

“This is really delicious! I hear America is great…” Kaoru said between bites of food, his eyes shifting between Sakuto and the food.

“I know! I’m so excited and there will be so many American boys!” Sakuto said excitedly. “I can’t wait to meet a nice american guy and settle down with him…” Sakuto continued.

“Wait, you might stay in America?” Mizu asked. Sakuto didn’t look up from her food.

“I don’t know yet, maybe…” Sakuto said.

“What about Takuto and I?” Mizu asked.

“We may be twins but that doesn’t mean we have to spend our whole lives together…” Sakuto said moving her own food around now.

“Can you two handle that? Being so far away from each other?” Mizu asked. Sakuto was silent for a minute and her smile fell before she shrugged, the truth was, she was terrified of leaving her brother but she wanted to live her own life and things were getting hard with him. She was feeling things she didn’t want to feel and she hoped that distance - physically - would help.

“I’ve read about twins being separated at birth and adopted in different countries than one another and they seem to do okay but they often have a lot more psychological pain...it’s not impossible though…” Kaoru said as he looked between Sakuto and Mizu.

“Well, they’ve been together since they were babies...they only lived 20 minutes away from each other before…” Mizu said before looking down and taking another bite of rice.

“That might be tough but, I’m sure you’ll be fine Kagane-san, it’s important for the two of you to do your own things in life.” Kaoru said before eating more of his food. Sakuto didn't look up as she stuck more food in her mouth. She finished chewing then looked between the two underclassmen.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve always wanted to travel and I need to get away for a little bit anyway, I want to explore.” Sakuto said offering a smile, it was obvious it wasn’t as enthusiastic as before but neither Mizu nor Kaoru said anything about it. “Mizu, what are you going to go to school for?” Sakuto asked before sticking more food in her mouth, her eyes on Mizu. She was desperate to get the conversation off of her. Mizu stopped mid-bite. She looked between Sakuto and Kaoru.

“Um, I was thinking maybe to be an author…” Mizu said. The fact of the matter was, she wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do in life, for a long time, she didn’t even think she would be alive for it to matter. A grim way of thinking but with how things were going. Sakuto’s eyes flashed in interest.

“An author, huh? What kind of books do you want to write?” Kaoru asked. Mizu shrugged.

“I’m not sure, romance novels or horror stories, not sure which…” Mizu said before sticking more rice into her mouth.

“Those are two completley different genres, Mizu…” Sakuto said. Mizu nodded.

“I even thought about Sci-Fi but...I’m not sure anymore.” Mizu said.

“Why not? Sci-Fi is cool.” Kaoru said as he finished his plate. Mizu chuckled a little and rolled her eyes playfully.

“You would say that, most guys think so.” Mizu said.

“What? I mean, you could do a lot with sci-fi, you can even add romance or horror to your sci-fi, make it a three for one kind of deal, I can be your editor!” Kaoru said.

“Yeah, if I wanted to publish in America…” Mizu said matter-of-factly.

“Why wouldn’t you want to?” Kaoru asked. Mizu paused before shrugging. 

“I don’t know, I’m not really that great at english and I’d be okay with just getting famous in Japan…” Mizu said.

“I say, go big or go home!” Kaoru said with a chuckle.

“What’s so great about America anyway? They seem kind of mean over there and they don’t learn lessons very well it seems…” Mizu said.