Mirage_GSM wrote:She survived a fire. In close proximity.
It's not really impossible for her to have inhaled deadly amounts of smoke to have affected her health.
Yes, but why would that manifest only many years later?
It's not unheard of, children can be especially hardy when recovering from trauma. But it doesn't change the fact that if body and health had been severely damaged, an emotional blow (or Pregnancy) can be all it takes to weaken the mind and immune system, and the same child as an adult may not be able to make the same "miraculous" recovery again.
Or... Hanako was hiding her asthma and relatively frail system from everyone, and that's her more pertinent reason for attending Yamaku. Though arguably, it seems she didn't really need to be there, but then again, you can say that about a lot of the other disabled students. (as in.. they don't actually need a doctor to monitor them closely all the time, like Rin, Shizune, Lilly, and probably more)
(also; it seems to Hisao she can run fast, but it's not really known if she gets severely out of breath when she gets out of sight, and verily; she's definitely far from athletic)
Also; final entry into this not-so-good story.
The bashing and clicking of the train tracks droned on...
In the empty night that puts the silence of distance between us.
Under the coldness of night..... where Hikari and I now travel through...
Past events leading up to this point flash by in streetlights;
I remember how Hikari looked under them, with a bandage over her eye and the hate in her scowl.
She must know me.. somehow..., she had to.
For I'm her father.
"-Don't Touch Me You Bastard! You Abandoned Me! You Left Mama To Die! I HATE YOU!"
-that's to be expected..., i don't know what to tell her....., i don't even know where to begin...
But the story must come out. Or she won't come with me, and stay behind with her mother.
my wife.. hanako..., ...if I can ask God one worthy question; it'd be: "Why did everything have to end up this way?"
It was long ago... i was starting a shipping company. Business was booming.
And it would have kept on going good for me; as long as I didn't ask the Yakuza about their 'special' containers.
But i already knew what was in them. I adopted an old police dog; and it would never stop barking whenever the drugs were brought in.
I could always turn a blind eye. ..until that day, they shot my dog. For biting and maiming the dealers.
Heh, they would have shot me too, but then they'd have to start over with bribing another man. And that'd be too troublesome.
I kind of wished they had killed me. It would have been better.. maybe. I wouldn't have started drinking... I wouldn't have met Hanako.
It was ..strange, the way things turned out. I didn't think she'd shelter me from the rain after I vomited on her,
...to be honest, I didn't really understand what she saw in me. On the night I fell in love with her. The jealous storm raging down on us notwithstanding.
We wedded. We promised each other. We ...loved, each other.
I could keep on turning a blind eye, as long as she was there for me, as long as she'd never judge me. ..no, as long as she never knew.
When Hanako became pregnant with Hikari, the Yakuza came to our apartment to celebrate. They're like that, ..it's their ..."tradition".
It didn't take long for Hanako to realise what my real occupation was. The true source of my income. The nature of my twisted lie.
She yelled at me. She knew how many lives were destroyed by the white powder.. the white dust that is blood. That can never be washed off my hands.
I had wanted to escape from ..'that'. I didn't know what 'it' looked like, but in the flickering light of overdue realisation; I saw the monster in me reflected on Hanako's face.
I could never face her again. ..not after being confronted with my crimes. ..with the lies that we built our happy home on. The sick truth that is me.
I ran away.. from her, from myself, from the monster inside. I drowned in alcohol each night, and woke up a different person each time.
It was no different than being dead. Reborn a monster everytime the news listed another soul lost to addiction. I couldn't turn a blind eye anymore...
I ratted to the police. The day Hanako collapsed at her work place, at the restaurant owned by the Yakuza. There was no way I could have known.
My intentions weren't completely that of atonement. I had racked up a huge debt with another business, and the Yakuza had been lavishly pampering me prior.
It was all down to a single choice; to continue the lie. Or make amends.
The police helped transfer Hanako away, to some hospital near her old school. Called 'Yamaku' or something. It was a special school for disabled students.
I wondered why Hanako would study there, but the doctors made it clear for me; Hanako's health wasn't as perfect as it seemed. Our child could die with her in birth.
I wanted to be beside her for it, when the moment came, but they wouldn't let me. Staying hidden near her old school was the last place anyone would suspect.
Even I didn't know anything about it... much less the Yakuza who were outraged and out for blood. So... I stayed away.... I didn't do anything to for Hanako.....
I think I nearly went mad with grief in the jail cell, waiting for the news of the delivery, ...it was only indescribable when my confidant told me both Hanako and Hikari survived.
Even if Hanako had to spend years on life support, after nearly working herself to death, even if Hikari had to stay at Hanako's old orphanage, ..I was thankful.
"Protective custody".., in a way, my family was caught in the limbo of "protective custody". Justice was slow, ..and so was my road to redemption.
Court hearings can take extremely long, ..especially when big and powerful people are involved. And i had to testify each time like a cowardly rat in the shadows.
When it was finally over, ..when the dark cloud finally lifted for me, I ran to Hanako, I had held it all in all those years, I wanted her to know every word of every prayer that I wished for her safety and happiness. And I wanted to make it all Real again. ..our Happy Home
But she had already found the man she truly loved; a teacher at Yamaku. 'Hisao' or whatever. And she wanted to marry him. ....I never said a word to stop her.
It felt as if my soul had been blown away, by the gale of that same storm so many nights ago, under the icy waters that poured on us as we met.
...under that rainy night where I fell in love with Hanako, where everything that I was fell apart.
'Look at it this way; It's a fresh start!', my ever cheerful confidant always knew how to say the best things to upset me, I guess he should; it became his job as my closest friend.
He somehow got me working in the legal department, a fairly good job thanks to him asking his ex-girlfriend to pull some strings for me. In retrospect; I should have been more grateful than I was.
Maybe it was punishment.. maybe God had Really wanted me to suffer; when I lost control of myself one drunk night, and got into a fight. ..with Hisao.
I didn't mean to kill him, I didn't know he had a heart problem, I just pushed him to the ground, ...he said he thought Hanako was an addict, ...I couldn't pull back my punch.
my god... what had I done? i killed him... i killed Hikari's father.... I swear I didn't mean to...... Hanako...., you believe me, ...right?
..hanako? please... forgive me... please.....
After the funeral..., Hanako's health got worse.., she was bedridden again.
The doctors told me it was 'psychosomatic' or something, I think they had tried to not put it too directly; that I had killed Hanako's will to live again.
I didn't have a face to show her anymore.. shame was all that i became. death was all that i was good for..
but she summoned me. to beside her bed, to hear her words; that she forgives me. That I am still Hikari's father. I am all Hikari has left. Don't let her be alone again.
i didn't know how long i cried, with her scar-ridden hand gently patting on my head, her smile proving to me that she wasn't weak. she was always stronger than i would have thought. she was.. beautiful...
"i love you"
I tried reaching out to Hikari, it didn't work the first few hundred times. Hanako said she could make her stay and listen to me, but that didn't felt fair to her, so I let her avoid me for as much as she needed to. ..until she was ready to accept ...me.
Maybe that was the problem. I didn't feel that I was a father. I can't wipe away the unspeakable sins of my past, the stains that have hurt Hikari so deeply in her life.
I wondered if I was ever worthy of being her father. if I ever Could be Hikari's father... i made a promise to Hanako, I know.. but it was the most difficult question that I could have asked for an answer from God.
And God was not feeling very charitable. The imprisoned Yakuza bastards did not let the iron bars stop them, and they were coming after me... their former friend, the most "loyal" employee, the one traitor with everything to lose.
My confidant made the arrangements, we had to leave the country immediately.
I remember how Hikari ran from me, how it took them too long to find her, and the monsters cut out her eye to make me suffer.
It will not end. Until I give myself up. My confidant locked me back in a jail cell to keep me from harm.
That bastard of a friend gave his life to save my daughter. I will never forget him for that.
There was no way to get to the airport safely, there wasn't enough time to wait for the other officers.
I ran with my unconscious daughter in my arms to the train station, we had to catch the private plane in time.
The bleeding and dripping from my wounded body on the train...
In the empty night that puts the silence of death to me.
Under the coldness of that stormy night... where I leave Hikari crying in my arms as I go to heaven...
and find Hanako there to let me in.
