Chapter 15 – Severed Ties

The knock came just before dawn.

Yuji was half-asleep, Mai warm against his chest, when the door to the lodge burst open without warning. The lock snapped like it was made of paper.

Before he could stand, hands grabbed him.

“Hey—wait—!”

A blow slammed into his ribs. Air rushed out of his lungs. Another hit followed, then another. He curled instinctively around Mai, shielding her with his body.

“Please,” Yuji gasped. “Don’t touch my daughter. Take me. Just don’t—”

Someone ripped Mai from his arms.

“No!” Yuji screamed, panic tearing his throat raw.

A man’s voice cut through the chaos. Calm. Cold. Familiar from only one meeting.

Hiroshi Hoshizora stepped forward.

“Enough,” he said.

The men stopped.

Mai cried, her thin wail slicing straight into Yuji’s chest.

“Give her back,” Yuji begged, blood trickling from his lip. “Please. I’ll do anything.”

Hiroshi looked down at him with detached eyes.

“You already did,” he replied. “You existed.”

Yuji tried to stand. A boot slammed into his stomach, forcing him back down.

Hiroshi took Mai from the man holding her. She was crying hard now, tiny fists clenched, face red.

“She’s Hoshizora blood,” Hiroshi said flatly. “She won’t grow up in filth.”

“She’s my daughter!” Yuji shouted.

Hiroshi’s gaze hardened. “She was your mistake.”

He turned and walked out.

The door slammed shut behind them.

Yuji screamed until his throat bled.

Mai was not taken to the Hoshizora house.

Hiroshi knew better.

She was dropped at a private orphanage on the outskirts of the city, one that asked no questions and accepted generous donations.

“No name,” Hiroshi told the director. “No records connecting her to us.”

The director hesitated only briefly before bowing.

That afternoon, Mai Hoshizora ceased to exist.

She became Baby M.

Yuji woke in a hospital bed two days later.

His face was swollen. One eye barely opened. His body screamed in pain with every breath.

The first thing he did was reach out.

Empty.

“Mai,” he croaked.

A nurse rushed over. “Easy. You’ve been unconscious.”

“Where is my daughter?” Yuji demanded, forcing himself upright despite the pain. “Where is she?”

The nurse looked away.

Yuji knew.

He ripped the IV from his arm and staggered out of the hospital, ignoring shouts behind him.

He went straight to the Hoshizora estate.

Security stopped him at the gate.

He fell to his knees anyway.

“I just want to see Aiko,” he said hoarsely. “Please. Just tell her I’m here.”

The iron gates slowly opened.

Hiroshi stood on the other side.

“You’re persistent,” he said.

“Where is Mai?” Yuji asked, his voice shaking. “Where did you take her?”

Hiroshi did not answer.

Instead, he gestured toward the driveway, where a car sat idling.

“Aiko is leaving the country,” he said calmly. “She’s going to America. Her aunt will take care of her.”

Yuji’s heart dropped.

“No,” he whispered. “She doesn’t even know—”

“She knows enough,” Hiroshi interrupted. “Enough to understand that her life with you was a mistake.”

Yuji shook his head desperately. “That’s not true. She loves Mai. She loves me. Please—just let me talk to her.”

Hiroshi stepped closer, his voice lowering.

“I’ll allow it,” he said. “On one condition.”

Yuji looked up, hope flaring painfully in his chest.

“You will disappear,” Hiroshi continued. “No contact. No letters. No visits. You will never seek Aiko again.”

Yuji’s fists clenched. “And my daughter?”

Hiroshi’s eyes were merciless. “You don’t have one.”

Yuji felt like the ground had vanished beneath him.

“If you refuse,” Hiroshi said, “Aiko will believe you abandoned her. And you’ll never even know where the child is.”

Silence stretched between them.

Yuji’s shoulders trembled.

“…If I agree,” he asked quietly, “will Aiko be safe?”

“Yes.”

“Will she live without shame?”

“Yes.”

Yuji closed his eyes.

Every part of him screamed to fight. To burn the world down if he had to.

But Aiko’s face rose in his mind. Crying. Exhausted. Broken.

Slowly, painfully, Yuji bowed.

“I agree,” he whispered. “Just… let me see her once.”

Hiroshi hesitated, then nodded.

Aiko stood near the car, suitcase at her feet.

Her eyes were hollow. She looked smaller than Yuji remembered, like part of her had already been taken away.

When she saw him, she gasped. “Yuji—!”

She ran to him, stopping only when she saw his injuries.

“What happened to you?” she cried.

Yuji smiled weakly. “I tripped.”

She knew he was lying. But she didn’t press.

“Where’s Mai?” she asked suddenly, panic flooding her voice.

Yuji froze.

Hiroshi spoke instead. “She’s being taken care of.”

Aiko turned on him. “What does that mean?”

Yuji stepped forward, taking Aiko’s hands.

“She’s safe,” he said softly. “That’s what matters.”

Aiko searched his face. “You’re hiding something.”

Yuji swallowed. “Aiko… listen to me. You’re going to start over. Somewhere far away. Somewhere clean.”

“No,” she said. “I want to stay. I want my family.”

Yuji forced himself to smile. “This is how you protect them.”

Tears streamed down her face. “Promise me we won’t be strangers.”

Yuji’s chest felt like it was splitting open.

“I promise,” he lied.

The driver cleared his throat.

Aiko hugged Yuji tightly, shaking. “I love you.”

Yuji held her like it was the last time he would ever touch her.

“I love you too,” he whispered.

She pulled back, kissed his cheek, then got into the car.

The door closed.

The engine started.

Yuji stood at the gate as the car drove away, carrying the woman he loved to another country, carrying the lie he had agreed to live with.

Hiroshi watched him from behind.

“You kept your word,” he said. “Don’t ever break it.”

Yuji did not reply.

He stood there long after the car disappeared, fists clenched, heart bleeding.

He had lost everything.

And somewhere, in a quiet orphanage, his daughter cried for a father who was no longer allowed to exist.