Enter — Hanabashi Akefumi 花橋明文

2012, April 1 — Izu Ōshima

7:00 AM

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

"ACK!!" A boy jolted awake in his bed to the sound of the metallic banging.

"Wake the heck up, Akefumi!" A girl's voice echoed as she energetically banged a ladle against an empty pot. "I've been trying to wake you up for like an hour now!"

"Natsumi..." Akefumi murmured tiredly. Sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes, he yawned again. "Can... can I just get another five minutes—"

"Like I said, you've been saying that for the past hour!" She interjected, laughing out of a mix of amusement and annoyance. Reaching down, she threw the blanket off of her little brother and grasped his wrist, yanking him out of bed. "Up you go...!"

"Woah—!" Akefumi exclaimed as his big sister pulled him out with such force, and with such ease too! Not expecting that much force, he slipped on the floor face first with a dull thud. "Ugh!"

"Alright," Natsumi looked down with her hands on her hips and her chest puffed out in a playfully confident pose. "Go wash your face, brush your teeth, whatever. I've already got breakfast ready, but it's probably already gone cold."

Akefumi raised his arm without turning his face, waving her off. "It's fine," he muttered against his rug, his voice muffled against the material.

"Okay, okay," Natsumi muttered, relaxing her shoulders and kneeling down to help her brother up, sitting him up. "But like... actually get ready, okay? You're gonna be late for your first day."

Akefumi was still a bit groggy, but knew the layout of the house. As Natsumi left his room, he slowly opened his eyes with his blurry vision slowly adjusting to his surroundings. Rubbing underneath his eyes, he walked to the bathroom and twisted the doorknob, pushing it open. When he turned on the lights, he saw himself - and what a mess he was. A serious case of bed hair for his very dark crimson hair, heavy eye bags underneath his eyes - just generally unpresentable.

Turning the faucet, he splashed cold water on his face, waking himself up. "Ugh..."

And as things usually go in the bathroom, he washed his face, brushed his teeth and arranged his hair to be like Natsumi's.

"Hm," he smirked with satisfaction. Turning the bathroom light off, he walked back into his bedroom and slipped into his black uniform. He still didn't really have an idea on how to tie a tie, so he just grabbed his and walked downstairs to the kitchen.

✶

Upon arrival, he saw the silhouette of his sister washing dishes in front of the window. Her hair, while somewhat messy, was tied into a ponytail. She had a fitted gray shirt with black long sleeves and white pants, walking barefoot around the house. Seeing her made his expression shift into a more contemplative one.

Turning, Natsumi saw Akefumi just standing there, staring. "You see something?" She flicked her wrists into the sink.

"Oh, uh.. no, not really." Akefumi answered with a slight stammer. Sitting down at the table, Natsumi set down plates of rice and grilled fish with a small cup of miso soup. Clapping his hands together with his eyes closed, he nodded and said, "Thank you for the food."

Natsumi went back to cleaning, and as she cleaned, Akefumi said, "I had a dream last night before you so rudely woke me up."

"Really?" Natsumi grinned as she continued washing the dishes. "Anything in particular?"

"I mean, it's the reason I was staring at you for a good five seconds, so... I guess so." He answered, casually putting a piece of the fish in his mouth. "Your outfit just kind of reminded me of a lady I saw." Pausing his eating for a brief moment, he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, looking up to make sure he was retelling his dream accurately.

"I remember seeing... a lady with long, white hair... a black shirt, white jeans... and a long red scarf."

Natsumi froze for a second, turning the water off. Turning to her little brother with a more curious expression, she repeated, "A long red scarf?"

"Yeah, kind of like yours."

"Huh.. huh..." Natsumi nodded as she connected the dots. Long white hair. Black top. White jeans. Red scarf. 

"Oh. That was our mom."

"...what." 

Akefumi froze. 

"From what you're describing, that woman's our mom." Natsumi said with a finger up. There was a small smile forming at the ends of her lips. Drying her hands with a damp towel, she followed up with, "Give me a second, let me get some pictures because you don't really run into silver haired people everyday, so..." 

Natsumi jogged up the stairs with a small pep in her step, climbing the steps on the balls of her feet.

As for Akefumi didn't really know what to feel aside from being kind of surprised and shocked, but it'd be wrong to say he didn't feel anything deeper. Since he didn't know this lady, he felt a twinge of sadness in his stomach that needed a bit more information to justify. Beyond everything, he was just somewhat confused.

✶

In the moments following, Natsumi came down with a few pictures in hand. Smiling as she walked closer and pulled open the chair next to him. 

"If this is who you saw, then yes, that's our mama."

And his dream was confirmed. In the pictures was a very pretty lady who Natsumi very much looked like. Aside from her natural, deep crimson hair, this woman had silver locks that was usually tied up, but when it was down, she looked so effortlessly beautiful. She had glaring yellow eyes, probably contacts, and she was also pretty ripped. And glancing over at Natsumi's arms, she also inherited that too based on how her sleeves always looked kind of stressed around her arms.

Most of all, she had that bright red scarf he saw in his dream.

"What was her name?" Akefumi asked curiously.

"Chigetsu Mizuki," Natsumi answered happily. "Rather, Hanabashi Mizuki since she was married to our dad, Hanabashi Yuichiro."

Switching with another photo, Akefumi saw his mother sitting with her hair down and a long dress with a neutral, more content expression as she held a sleeping baby girl in her arms. Meanwhile, there was a very handsome man in a suit standing just next too her - presumably their dad.

"Do you know what they were like?"

"I mean..." Natsumi paused for a moment and thought, though she was still smiling, it faltered a bit as she thought about their parents. She tried to find the right words, rather, she struggled to find a way to tell Akefumi in a way that wasn't too shocking. But, since they're already this far and she didn't want to lie, she said, "They're..."

"They're dead."

And that sad feeling in his stomach was confirmed as well. But, like his mother, he didn't feel anything aside from shock and surprise at the forefront while feeling sorry to hear that. A part of him felt that fact deeper, that they were dead. Solemnly, he said, "...I see."

Taking a deep breath, Natsumi smiled again. "Well, it's not all sad." Picking her head up to face her brother, she asked, "Do you know why the garden in the backyard always looks so pretty, and why I have a really pretty red chrysanthemum in my room?"

Natsumi is actually rather skilled at taking care of plants, and she wanted to show it by tending to a home garden, but Akefumi didn't know why. Shaking his head, Natsumi answered,

"It's because dad taught me!"

"He looked after flowers?"

"Yep! He was a gardener." Natsumi answered, continuing, "He taught me how to look after plants and stuff while mom was out working. Taught me to be kind, gentle, patient... because it takes those same qualities to take care of someone."

"What about mom?"

"Mom? Well..." Natsumi's expression became more contemplative. "Like dad, she was really kind and gentle, but she had work. A lot of it. But when she did come home, she was always so kind and genuine with me." She chuckled softly, reminiscing. "I remember always being so happy seeing her, but... she passed away shortly after you were born."

Akefumi nodded, feeling both so close and so far with a woman and a man he never knew himself.

"Ahem!" Natsumi cleared her throat and sat up. "Go ahead and finish eating and head to school!" Pulling her phone out from her pocket, she read the time. 7:32 AM. "And hurry up, too. You're gonna be late."

Nodding, Akefumi continued eating as Natsumi got up and walked over to the couch, laying down on it and turning the TV on, flipping through channels.

Soon enough, he did finish eating and put his dirty dishes in the sink before walking over to the genkan. Sitting at the edge of the floor, he slipped his feet into his shoes and stood up, looking at himself in the standing mirror by the door, making sure he at least looks presentable. 

"Okay, I'll be back in a bit," he said, waving back at his older sister laying on the couch.

Natsumi simply raised her arm, waved back and said, "Have a good day!"

✶

On the walk to school, Akefumi thought about his late parents.

"Can't really put my finger on it, but... it feels like I know them even though I don't. How weird."

Since he didn't really know much more than how kind and hardworking his parents are, Akefumi decided to put the thought on the backburner of his mind for the moment. Inhaling fresh air, tasting the saltiness from the sea breeze, he felt refreshed. Despite the dream and Natsumi waking him up, he slept rather well. The sun was out, the skies were clear and the breeze was nice and cool. Seagulls flew and squawked as they flew overhead.

✶

7:45 AM

When Akefumi arrived at the high school, he switched into his indoor shoes and made his way to homeroom. Students, both upperclassmen, lowerclassmen, and the ones in his same year were chatting and moving around even though it was a good fifteen minutes before class started. He waved briefly at some classmates he was mildly familiar with, not wanting to seem rude considering he didn't even remember their names.

"Class 2-C," he murmured to himself, looking up at the signs as he passed each classroom, finally reaching it after a few more steps. At the back end of the classroom, he slid the door open and scanned the area for open seats. Spotting one rather quickly, he slid past small groups of three and sat at the seat at the back corner.

Hanging his bag on the hook, Akefumi pulled out his English textbook from last year. As he flipped through the pages, he saw how many notes and scribbles he made in it. Some were harder to understand than others, but in terms of actually understanding English at a decent, conversational level, he thought he was fine. 

One thing was for certain however - he doesn't actually know how to pronounce a lot of words correctly given that pronunciations were written in katakana, which in turn led to a lot of students - including him - mispronouncing a lot of words and sounding off. It was inconvenient, but compared to a lot of English-speaking media he consumes on his free time, it didn't seem like that big a deal for him.

✶

8:22 AM

"Yo," a girl's voice came from behind Akefumi, throwing him off his flow. "Studyin' English, Hanabashi-kun?"

Sighing and turning around, he looked behind him to see a tan-skinned girl with pale blonde hair. She had makeup on, not too heavy nor too light. 

"Yeah, uh..." He squinted his eyes looking at the girl, trying his best to remember her name. "Uh..."

But alas, he had absolutely zero clue who this girl was. Getting a better look, on her fingernails were pretty, honestly kind of cute acrylic nails, and around her wrists were loose pink arm warmers, around her ankles were leg warmers of the same color. She had piercings - a ring in her left nostril, studs in her right eyebrow with snake bite rings and two large hoop earrings on her lobes.

"Kagiyama Inori," she leaned forward with a smile as she introduced herself. "We were in the same class last year, but we never talked. I've always wanted to talk to you, though."

"Ah," Akefumi nodded somewhat dismissively, and she caught onto that quickly, pouting slightly.

"Oh, come on!" She huffed, smirking. "It's not everyday a pretty gyaru like myself gets to talk with an average guy like you, so live a little!"

"So that's why you barely look like you're in dress code," Akefumi said casually seeing that her blazer was open with a few loose buttons at the top, and her tie was hanging very loosely around her neck. "Also explains why you're so ready to talk to people."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're more than what you let on," he said as he turned back around, trying to find where he was.

Inori flinched at his words, freezing for a moment. Then...

"Ah, hey!" Akefumi exclaimed as Inori suddenly held him in a headlock that caught the attention of the entire class, "What are you doing?!"

"Oh just a little rite of passage, because you're already better than most of the people in this classroom!" Inori shouted unabashedly as she gave Akefumi a playful noogie. 

"Kagiyama-san!" The teacher's voice boomed from the front of the classroom, freezing Inori in place. Whispers were about to break out, but they were stopped by the teacher's interjection. "Keep your hands to yourself and head to your seat! Class is starting!"

Letting go of the boy, Inori turned to face the teacher and spoke in a more dignified manner, bowing. "Yes sir, I'm sorry." And as whispers and snickers began to shoot around the classroom aimed at Inori, Akefumi saw how securely she walked to the desk she'd chosen for the year. She didn't care one single bit.

Fixing his hair and sitting up straight, class started. Akefumi sighed quietly as he realized that with what's going on in his head and in this class, it's going to be a doozy of a year.

✶

12:31 PM

It was finally lunchtime.

Akefumi leaned back and stretched before reaching for his bag, pulling out a bento Natsumi made for him this morning while he was asleep: umeboshi onigiri, tamagoyaki, and tonkatsu, sliced over a bed of rice.

Bringing his hands together, he quietly said, "Thank you for the food," before taking his chopsticks and digging in.

"So whatcha got there?" Inori nosily asked in a quiet murmur. 

"Mmmghk—!!" Akefumi, caught off guard by Inori suddenly popping back into existence, got a grain of rice stuck in his throat. He immediately hammered his fist on his chest repeatedly while Inori pat his back just as quickly. As soon as the grain of rice was dislodged from his windpipe, he swallowed and quickly chased it down with some water before turning to Inori, coughing.

"I'm so sorry about that!" Inori bowed her head repeatedly, showing genuine regret in her expression. She took a step back, remorseful.

"What the hell?" Akefumi sighed, annoyed as he chugged down some more water. 

"I'm sorry, I'm... overstepping my boundaries with someone I don't even know." Inori bowed again, her manner of speaking rather polite instead of fully loose and casual. Following up with a truthful statement, she said, "I just want to get to know you, but... clearly I'm not doing that well. So let's start over."

Willing to give her another chance, Akefumi said. "Sure."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Inori lowered her head briefly and said, "My name's Kagiyama Inori, and we were in the same class last year. We've never actually, you know... spoken before, but I'd like to get to know you as a classmate a bit better, and maybe we can become friends."

A solid reintroduction that Akefumi found himself satisfied with. Each word was natural and as honest as she could've given. Taking a breath, he started.

"My name's Hanabashi Akefumi, and..." he tried to find the right words, but Inori pretty much stated the obvious - they've never spoken and this is the very first time they're actually talking to each other after sharing a class for a year, apparently. "I'd... like that."

Inori smiled. Then, a glint caught in her eye as she grabbed the empty seat from the desk besides Akefumi, scooting next to him. "Wanna eat lunch together?" Little by little, that more laid back and casual way of speaking she was known for was coming back.

"Yeah."

Instead of just the seat, Inori grabbed the desk and slid it over beside Akefumi's. He didn't really react or anything, while the classroom just stared at the two and whispered like they did a few hours earlier. 

"Losers attract losers, I guess."
"You think she likes him or something? Gross."
"I wouldn't be caught dead being around someone like that. Much less sitting with them."

Once again, Inori was absolutely unshaken by the whispers. Akefumi's curiosity continued to grow, even if she was a bit unorthodox in comparison to the average Japanese girl. The tanned skin, the makeup, the piercings and blatant disregard for the cleanliness of the uniform was only slightly offputting, but being so unbothered to the rumors and whispers circulating around the classroom and being unashamedly herself was a big part as to why he was hooked.

The other classmates resumed their conversations with each other and eating lunch, some topics ranging from guys talking about gravure models and hot actresses to girls kicking their feet about boy bands. Meanwhile, Inori ate her soba besides Akefumi, matching his quieter energy herself.

"So, your name..." Inori started, swallowing. "It's really unique, isn't it? Your last name's super rare, but your first name is like... ultra rare. Where's it from?"

"Well, from what my sister told me," Akefumi closed his finished bento box and slid the empty container back into his bag. He then pulled out a journal and opened it flat on his desk, flipping to the back where there was nothing. With his pencil, he wrote:

'flower (hana) bridge (bashi) dawn (ake) sentence (fumi)' in Kanji and the proper Hiragana.

"Hmm, hmm..." Inori nodded, then brought one of her perfectly manicured fingers to the page, pointing particularly at the 'dawn' character. "For names, this is usually 'aki'... and 'fumi' is a common suffix for names for both guys and girls alike. Your full name's really pretty though."

"You think so?" Akefumi asked, flattered.

"Yeah," Inori nodded as she answered truthfully. Her eyes sparkled dimly, gradually getting brighter as the fires of her interest were being stoked. "Do you know what your name's supposed to mean?"

"I remember asking my sister about it. She said that my mom named me Akefumi and that the 'ake' part means 'dawn' - like 'yo-ake'. And the 'fumi' is also read as 'bun', and it means 'letter', or 'book'."

Inori listened intently, nodding with the bottoms of her palms pressed against the corresponding edges of the chair she sat in, tapping her acrylic nails rhythmically against the bottom of the seat.

"There's also a proper legal term for the characters my name consists of, read as 'meibun', meaning 'legal statement'." Akefumi paused for a split second, cutting himself short as he pulled out his phone. "On second thought, let me just ask my sister about it."

"You have a sister?"

"Yep."

"Explains why you're not afraid to talk to women," she teased, laughing softly.

Akefumi snorted as he typed his message to his sister, "Shut up." His message read:

"Hey big sis. I'm talking with someone right now and she's asking about my name. I remember you told me mom gave me my name, but do you know why? Like what she meant?"

"And now... we wait."

✶

3:32 PM

Three more hours pass and students are leaving the campus en masse as the final bell finished ringing. Akefumi was already at the front, slipping into his outdoor shoes. He put his indoor shoes back into his locker and hoisted his bag over his shoulder, beginning his walk out.

"Hanabashi-kun!" Inori energetically called from behind, jogging behind him. Stopping and turning to face her, Akefumi saw a peppy girl jogging towards him, willfully ignorant to whatever stares or rumors went her way.

"Kagiyama-san..."

"Leaving school without me?" 

"Um... yeah?"

Inori snorted, knowing she jumped the gun for fun. "Dick."

Beginning their walk side by side, Akefumi asked, "Don't you have any gyaru friends to walk with?"

Inori gazed in the distance at the students in front of them as she thought about her answer before saying, "Two of them, but they've got part-time jobs. As for me, I'm unemployed." She said that so confidently, stroking her chin like it meant anything. Lowering her hand and schooling her expression to a content expression, she said, "Apart from them, you're my only pal in the immediate vicinity."

"Ah, so you're a loser?"

"If that's what that means, then yeah."

During their walk, Inori eyed Akefumi for a brief moment, and he noticed her eyes gliding up and down at him.

"Did you just give me an updown?"

"You're short." She answered bluntly after a brief pause as she shifted her gaze between the path in front of them and Akefumi himself.

"Yeah??" He replied reflexively to the point where it came out way, way too fast for him to stop, causing a small blush to spread. Someone's insecure about his height. "Something wrong with that?"

"I didn't say that," Inori grinned, laughing as she said it. "All I said is that you're kind of short for a guy our age..." And so, Inori began her analytical dissection of Akefumi's height.

"I mean... you're around my height. I'm 158 centimeters, and..." she eyed him once again, squinting as she tried to come up with a reasonable estimate. "...You're also my height too—"

"I'm 163 centimeters, thank you very much!" He interjected, totally embarrassed with reddening spreading through his cheeks.

"Still a little guy," Inori teased, unmoved by him adding centimeters. "We've got Akiyama-kun, the third year in the baseball team. The guy's seventeen and something like 178? And there's also Kuribayashi-kun, who's in the same year as us standing at 171."

Hearing the heights of fellow classmates were like daggers to his heart and he pouted.

"And there's also..." Inori brought her gaze back to Akefumi. His eyes were closed with arched eyebrows, looking as if he was trying to block out such irrelevant information with a great deal of focus. But above all of that...

"Oh my God, are you blushing?" Inori snickered.

"N-no!" He answered, turning the other way as they stopped across from a currently inactive construction site in front of the senior rehabilitation center.

"You're totally blushing!" As she tried to stand in front of him.

"Like hell I am!" He continued to turn away from her.

"Hanabashi-kun, relax!" Inori couldn't stop grinning like an idiot, stopping him from turning one more time by placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "I never said there was anything wrong with being short, you know!" 

Their little game had passing students shooting curious gazes at them, likely thinking they're either really good friends or a couple. 

Still looking away with his frontside facing hers, Akefumi mumbled, "...160."

Inori's ears perked up, eyebrows raising slightly. Turning her head to the side to hear him better, she said, "Mind if you said that again? Didn't catch that."

"I'm... 160..." Akefumi said, still largely inaudible even if the murmur was slightly stronger.

Inori cupped her ear, "Hmmmm?"

Turning quickly to face her, Akefumi's voice boomed with embarrassment as he repeated with his hands balled into fists, standing in a power stance, "I'M ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY CENTIMETERS TALL!"

A more satisfied and less teasing smile spread across Inori's lips. "There we go. Wasn't so hard now, was it? Cool power stance, though."

"Sh—shut up," Akefumi shook his head as he reluctantly unrelented, finally facing her.

With her hands on her hips and slightly leaning forward, Inori spoke in a more grounded tone, "I didn't say there was anything wrong about it, dude. It really isn't that big a deal. Sorry if I made it one."

"It's..." Akefumi sighed, shaking his head as he followed his familiar path home. "It's fine. Let's keep walking."

"By the way, do you live down here?" He asked, walking down with Inori.

"Yep, just a few more minutes and I'm home."

"Hm..." He nodded as she walked beside him down the sidewalk, turning at the semifinal corner.

"Real quick though," Inori said immediately after, stopping the both of them. Pulling out her phone, which he saw had a cute magical girl phone case with cute keychains, alongside the billions of adorable charms on her bag. Opening her Contacts app, she pressed the button to make a new contact and suggested, "Let's seal this new friendship by sharing contact info."

"Oh, uh.. sure." In response, Akefumi pulled his phone out and did the same - opened his Contacts app and pressed 'New Contact', passing his phone to Inori as she did with hers.

After a few taps, which were more audible from Inori thanks to her fake nails, they returned their devices to each other. They both looked at the fresh contacts in their phone, feeling pretty satisfied after having done that. Even though Inori did open up pretty rough, she's pretty down to earth.

"Appreciate it!" Inori hopped once with a smile and a chipper thumbs up.

"Thanks." Akefumi responded with a bit of a bashful smile. Aside from his sister, she's the only other girl in his contacts, so he understandably feels kind of woozy on the inside.

They finished their walk with these final few meters, passing the trees on the side and turning left to the few houses in this small corner, Akefumi and Inori stopped in front of the houses with the red roof and black roof respectively.

Staring at each other, it took the both of them to register that...

"Wait, we're neighbors?!!" They both exclaimed in unison, utterly shocked. Akefumi was at a loss for words, both shocked and surprised while Inori laughed hysterically.

"As if this day couldn't get any better!" Inori said while laughing.

"I'm actually speechless, what the hell," Akefumi brought his hands up to his head. He then stopped and looked at Inori, who was trying to compose herself but couldn't help some of her laughs.

"Okay, okay..." Inori breathed deeply, exhaling. "I'm heading inside now, but uhh..."

Akefumi unlocked the gate to his home, but kept his ear open for his new friend.

"You know what? I'll text you."

"Alright, see you, I guess." Akefumi pushed the gate open and walked to the door. The moment he opened the door, he kicked his shoes off, closing the door right behind him.

"I'm back," Akefumi said after taking the biggest sight of relief he'd ever taken up to this point in his entire life. But, the house was silent. No TV chatter, no music, no running water from either the sink or the bathroom. There were no dishes in the sink that needed to be washed or put away, the throw blanket on the couch was neatly folded. There was absolutely no sign of Natsumi in sight.

✶

3:47 PM

Then, something shot across the sky like a shooting star in broad daylight. Black smoke followed as a loud crash echoed through the air.

The sound of something making a hard landing could be heard, followed by skidding through the dirt as a woman grunted and coughed.

Akefumi saw something fall from the sky from the kitchen window, and he felt a sense of urgency burning. Running back to the genkan, he slipped his feet back into his shoes and pushed the gate open and turned left, running into the plot of dirt right next to the house.

Surely enough, there was a big trail dragging to the brick barrier, and he saw a woman lying with blood trickling down her battered face.

Seeing her, she had dark, crimson hair, wore a black tank top, white jeans, brown boots, and... a red... scarf...

"NATSUMI?!!" Akefumi shouted, running closer to his sister. He noticed something on the ground beside her — a gigantic kitchen knife.

Reaching for the hilt of the blade, Natsumi's eyes opened instantly and she sprung up to her feet despite her damaged body, snatching the knife away before him, reacting way faster than he ever could've prepared for.

And Natsumi breathed heavily, each laborious breath more painful than the last as her body looked at Akefumi.

"B—baby brother...!" Natsumi seemingly awoke, smacking her tongue to get some moisture in her mouth. "You need to run...!"

"H—huh...?!" Akefumi was bewildered. He heard something land to his left, and when he turned, someone in a cloak stood on the rooftop, looked down at them contemptuously. The moment he and Akefumi locked eyes, he brought his hand to his mouth, fighting back the urge to just throw up everywhere.

Natsumi extended her arm as she shoved him to the side. "RUN, NOW!!!"

And he ran, trying to climb the brick wall.

Natsumi trembled forward, the wounds in her body gushing horrific waterfalls of blood into the earth below her. She could barely even walk straight with a broken leg, much less stand up straight with five broken ribs puncturing her lungs. Breathing, talking, and just living right now was nothing but pain.

The cloaked figure closed the distance instantly between itself and Natsumi, and she flinched hard. 

Akefumi stopped at the top of the brick wall, looking back.

His eyes widened in terror.

Natsumi had dropped her knife and her body twitched and stuttered from shock. And behind her was the figure's hand extended through her torso with her heart in its hand, pumping out the blood from the veins. With the last of her strength, she tried pushing the figure's arm out, trying to push it forward. 

Akefumi dropped back down to the dirt and ran back in a furious daze, frantically reaching for the bloody knife on the ground, but everything went black.

✶

2012, April 22 — Izu Ōshima

3:11 AM

Akefumi was in his bed, laying awake and staring at the ceiling. The bags under his eyes were heavy, his cheeks hollow and his face gaunt.

A phone call came, but he didn't answer, making that the 200th phone call at this point. Turning in his bed, facing the wall, his bony hands clenched his blanket as he pulled it up to cover his face.

✶

Big Sis

2012/4/1 - 2:40 PM

Oh
Well
Mom said that when she gave you your name, she thought of a few different things, but none of them were "as wonderful as this"

The 'ake' in your name is from 'yo-ake', as I told you. Dawn. Morning. But in this particular context, it means 'the darkest time before sunlight'.

And the 'fumi' in your name, is 'sentence', but it can also mean other things like 'art' or 'culture', like the 'bun' in 'bunka' or more familiarly since you're in school, 'bunkasai'.

There's also the legal version of your name too, read as 'meibun'. A legal statement.

Mom said that she saw great things in you, so... make a name for yourself! Make a statement! Be the first ray of sunshine that brightens up the broad night sky! Make history!
Something like that lol

When I was around mom, she was always the dramatic type, but she did it for our entertainment. She really was a good person in the times I actually got to see her, but for most those four years, it was mainly just dad. Work really had her working hard.

Be like mom, baby brother!!!

Alright, that's all the time I got for right now.

Talk to you when I get home.

Stay safe, love you!

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2012/4/7 - 4:00 AM