Upside Down

[Tuesday, 09:00, Tokyo Central Police Station]

Dad tells us to find a place to sit down while he goes to tell reception that we"re here. This place is just as packed as before, I suppose that means it"s almost always like this. Once we find three seats together, we go sit down.

I realize Chinatsu and I are dressed kind of s.e.xy and Honoka is just plain s.e.xy, but we seem to be attracting quite a bit of male attention, some of which I find very uncomfortable. Those kinds of disgusting looks are coming from, well, shall we say, the less reputable looking boys in the room. Remember what I said about the way some boys look at us girls? Yep, this is exactly what I was talking about. I would love to know if they truly believe girls like that kind of attention.

"Honoka, cross your ankles and knees together unless you want everyone to see your panties." Chinatsu quietly admonishes her. Honoka looks at her with an irritated expression, but she does as she is told.

"I went through the same thing, Honoka. Be glad you aren"t getting pinched like I was. Don"t worry, it"ll become second nature soon." I tell her in an attempt to encourage her.

About ten minutes later, Dad and Lt. Aoki show up.

"h.e.l.lo again ladies, you all look very nice today." He smiles when he looks at Honoka. "Honoka, it"s very nice to see you again."

Oh, really now? It looks as if the attraction might not be one sided after all. Good for you Honoka. Go for it is all I can say.

Hopefully, these two don"t do the same thing Chinatsu and I did. Although, being in love with someone brings it"s share of misunderstandings and worries, unrequited love is just painful. Do yourself a favor. If you fall in love with someone, tell them. Yes, there"s always a chance they"ll turn you down and that would hurt, but at least then you"ll know and be able to move on.

Looking back to me, he says, "Let"s go to my office so we can talk for a bit, ladies."

Once we arrive at his office and we are all seated, he asks if anyone would like something to drink, which we all decline. Nodding, he picks up a tablet, leans against the front of his desk, and looks at me.

Taking a deep breath he begins talking, "Alright Sora, I"m sure your dad already told you we finished our investigation. I asked your dad to bring you in today to let you know ahead of time what we found out before the news breaks it this evening. I had to ask them to hold off reporting it, but I felt trading a favor was worth it since you deserve to know what we found out first. Even so, they thankfully don"t have the complete story. I found, fired, and arrested the informant before he could tell them everything."

He sighs and then continues, "Sometimes, I really hate this job. I hate giving out news like this. Akiyama, through his attorney, is the one that ordered your house attacked. When we questioned him, the attorney said that Akiyama correctly a.s.sumed the charges would be dismissed when his trial date came up and you didn"t appear. He also had a covert lab set up to perform testing on you. I won"t even describe the kinds of "tests" he ordered performed."

"No need to, Lt. Aoki, I can imagine the kinds of things he would do to me if he could."

"Sora, I have to apologize to you. If I had ordered him monitored twenty-four hours a day the attack would have never happened. I truly am sorry about what you had to go through because of my oversight. I suppose I simply expected this to basically go away for you once he was arrested and I should have known better. People like him don"t give up easily because they"re used to getting their way. I don"t expect you to forgive me, but I do hope you will accept my apology."

"Lt. Aoki, there"s no need for an apology or for my forgiveness. You have nothing to apologize for. As you said, men like him don"t give up easily, if you had blocked him from doing it one or even a dozen ways, he would have kept trying right up until they hung him. Dad, please excuse my language, but Akiyama is a vindictive a.s.shole." Dad and Honoka chuckle for a few moments. "The only thing that will stop people like him is death. So, as I said, you don"t need my forgiveness, because there"s nothing to forgive, and I won"t accept an apology for something that isn"t your fault."

"Thank you Sora, that means a lot to me. Okay. Part two, did you know your parents owned 47% of TGR?"

I shake my head. "How would I have known? I saw them maybe once a week. When I did, it was long enough for them to stick a bunch of money in my hands and leave."

He nods, acknowledging what I said, and continues, "They did, it took a dedicated AI to uncover that fact. He moved their shares of the company through nineteen subsidiaries and thirty-seven people before they landed in his name. The ¥300 million he announced as death benefits he had actually tried to list as payment for their shares, which is far, far below market price for them. At the time he tried to do this the shares were worth about ¥2.6 billion."

When he stopped talking, the room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop a kilometer away. I was utterly stupefied by the amount he said. I knew they weren"t hurting for money, after all, they shoved ¥100,000 in my hands every week to take care of everything, but I had no idea they were billionaires. Nothing in the way they lived or dressed would have ever remotely suggested that. We never had a maid, a cook, or anyone to take care of me when they stayed at work all the time as Akiyama demanded. Well, Mama and Dad took care of me somewhat, but that isn"t the point, since I seriously doubt Mother or Father ever paid them to do it.

My face must have shown how shocked I was, because the next thing I know Chinatsu is in front of me, shaking me and calling my name. It took me a little bit, but it finally registered with me.

When I look at her finally, she asks, "Sornee, are you okay?" All I can do is nod dumbly in answer. A few moments later, I stand up and say, "Excuse me, I need a moment to gather myself." and step outside. I vaguely hear Dad"s voice as he tells Honoka to stay with me. Of course, you know he never had to say a word to Chinatsu, she grabs my hand as I turn to leave the room and refuses to let go.

I walk a few steps to some windows and stare out them, thinking, "He killed them over money? He took my parents away from me over money?! He already had far more money they they did. I know he did, he was the majority shareholder and CEO. What need could he have for more? It makes little sense to me. Killing them had to be detrimental to the company. There was no one else there at their level of genius. What am I saying? There are very few people in the whole world as smart as they were or as creative."

Turning, suddenly gathering Chinatsu in my arms, holding her tightly to me. I must have surprised her, because it takes her a few seconds to respond and hug me. Resting my chin on her shoulder, I close my eyes, feeling the same horror and anguish as I did when Uncle Jiro told me about Mother"s and Father"s deaths that day. I truthfully don"t know if I can handle this. It feels as if my heart has shattered into dust and been blown away in the wind. I"ve known all along that I never even attempted to deal with their deaths. All I did was bury my feelings so I could function enough to bury them as they deserved. I knew I couldn"t have dealt with it anyway, so I did my best to pretend it never happened. I may have rarely ever seen them, but that doesn"t mean I didn"t love and miss them.

Yes, I know it seems contradictory, but I"ve always been able to separate things intellectually and emotionally, at least to a certain extent. How else do you think I survived so many years of bullying? I hid my little heart with Chinatsu, that"s how. She"s the only one I ever let get close to me. She"s d.a.m.n sure the only one I could trust with my fragile heart. So what now? All of this is torn open, just as raw and fresh as the day it happened and tearing me apart. It seems as if it was forever ago that I had to deal with this kind of thing, and I just don"t have the ability to deal with it like I used to.

"Sornee?" she whispers worriedly in my ear.

"Don"t, just hold me. I feel like I"m disappearing."

That"s exactly the way I feel, too. It feels as if this happy time I"ve had with Chinatsu, Mama and Dad is all a dream or a figment of my imagination and it"s going to disappear in a puff of smoke. Me along with with it. This can"t be my life. I"m not allowed to be happy. I"m the one that gets. .h.i.t, kicked, tripped and cursed at, so how can this be real? It simply has to be a delusion of mine or a dream.

Chinatsu telling me she has always been in love with me? How could that ever really happen? Someone like Mayumi saying she loves me and is my friend? Same thing with Honoka. Why would anyone like her want to be friends with a worthless person like me? If I allow myself to buy into this, it would break me when I wake up. I mean, break me the rest of the way. I"ve been broken a long time. I"m the toy that was broken the day after Christmas and tossed aside to be forgotten as if I never existed.

As if all of this wasn"t bad enough, now my head decided to join in on the fun and is absolutely killing me. Even the tiny bit of light coming through my eyelids is torture.

"Shenazu, ma ed hurz." I say slurring badly.

I feel myself being moved."Sornee? Sornee?! Honoka, help!"

I can hear all of this, but it makes little sense to me. My eyelids are too heavy to open and see what all the yelling is about, but I wish they would stop, it"s making my head hurt worse.

"Kwiet, ur tu woud. Ma ed hurz enuf awedy." I say while slurring again, in an attempt to get them to be quiet. I feel a touch on my eyes and my eyelids are peeled open and some blonde girl says, "Her left pupil is blown." Then she yells, "Someone call an ambulance immediately!" Making me groan in protest.