(Volume 5) A Midair Snag

"Can we stay here for a short while?" asked Mom. "It can get really stuffy in my room after lunch."

"After lunch? Then let's just stay here all day, I will text Aika to join us here with a picnic bag, she's not really needed at the stage."

Sigh. "That girl is becoming quite stubborn now. Can you believe it? She just told me last night she wants to perform with the club girls--I don't know what to do with her anymore."

"Hearty laugh. "I wonder if you'll keep saying that after she finds a man of her own?"

"You can't be serious--"

"See? You're worked up already."

"Well. .. I mean, can she really fend for herself already?" She was startled by an earnest squeeze on her hand. "Hon?"

"Look," gasped Dad staring up at the sky. "It's here... It's coming!"

"What--?"

She found herself following his gaze. And then she saw it, too. An object approaching at a somewhat steep angle from the north, of an unmistakable shape. The wings of an aircraft... a glider!

She couldn't quite explain it, but she instantly knew somehow. Was it because Dad had told her? Yoshiyuki is in that said plane! Her son, in the flesh, is coming down to her on those wings! She grasped much more tightly onto her husband's hand. She was not quite ready for this. Maybe tomorrow or the day after, maybe even tonight, but now--? "Honey--" she whined softly. She was already trembling, as if freezing, and Dad hugged her closer. "It will be alright, it will be alright..."

"No, no, it's not! Can't he just, m-maybe write a letter first!?"

"It's OK."

"No, hon. I don't wan't to see him--he should know that!"

"Stop telling yourself that."

"You don't understand! After where he did to me, after what he just did to out family. All that disgrace!"

"Hon..."

Wait. Something's odd. The wind didn't abate and yet the glider was still coming in fast, seemingly on a dive. They both saw it. Having flown sailplanes before, they knew. All argument was aborted as they watched the craft hurtle in the wind. "Out of the way!" yelled Dad dragging his wife back towards the gate. But she could not keep her eyes away, and before they got very far, she witnessed in horror the craft landing--skidding on the runway and spinning like a top, off the tarmac and onto the grass all the way almost to the perimeter fence that marked the boundary with the forest, where it halted. She fought back against her husband and broke free, running for a couple yards sans her cane till she fell, and then scrambled to her feet again, limping, then sprinting, then falling, and repeat. Dad was still catching his breath as he took off in pursuit, but his lungs gave out partway after that earlier exertion. What had just happened? Is Yoshiyukis really in that glider? How can he possibly take it if he really was?

Yoshiyuki struggled to open his eyes. If there was one thing he felt he should never allow in an accident like this, it was to pass out. Well, he did it. The blurry vision resolved itself rather quickly, and he only had a dull headache. He still had his wits about him; at the very least he knew he was on ground. Welp. It does seem he made it to the airfield. Should he radio Grandpa now? Shall be tell him he royally messed up? He had clearly overestimated himself a tad, but it looks like he's safe. He will probably wait some more for Gramps to come over and take care of the plane before he heads for the Kubos, if he will let him.

"Yoshiyuki--!"

Mom was struggling to breathe. She kept stumbling on the grass and dirt of the runway, moving on on two feet wherever she could. And then... She struggled across the grass, and... She finally touched the glider. She reached for the canopy, and saw the face of her son inside. "Yoshiyuki? Yoshiyuki? Yoshiyuki! Answer me, please!"

That same face also saw her... and now it blanched in terror. No... It's--It's her! No way... No way this is happening! Her-- Mom's face was just as agitated as it was that day she was striking him with the cane. She is also yelling now. She kept pounding the canopy, yelling and yelling. Yelling and yelling. The glider had carried him straight to his worst nightmare! I'm never flying this thing ever again! He frantically opened a side hatch of the canopy and squeezed out of the plane, then scrambling and fleeing in most disgraceful manner over the fence and into the forest. By the time his mother got to the fence herself, he was gone. Dad arrived shortly after, finding his wife weeping into a wooden post. "Hon?" he said taking her. She quickly buried for face in his chest.

"Yoshiyuki! I told you... Yoshiyuki... He hurt me again!"

Tunnel vision...

The forest rushed through all around Yoshiyuki, as though he was falling headlong into it instead of running through. He slipped in the mud. He fell into a small brook. He scratched himself on the vegetation that stood in his way.

He didn't really know where his path was actually leading him to, but as long as it led into the forest, that was fine. He can find the Kubo manor from there.

He stopped to regain his breath at the foot of a large birdcatcher tree. Only now did he notice his bruises and all; he might as well have tumbled and rolled on impact back in that sailplane. Everything felt more urgent now. He must get to the manor soon to mend and feed himself, there was no other place to go.

He climbed the tree to get a good vantage point of where the harbor could be. Even if his folks were fast enough, they would probably only be posting a notice to search for him by tomorrow morning. All he had to do was hop on to the afternoon bus at Nankaisei on the way to the Kubos.

There!

He spotted the top of the ferris wheel at Izu Mite. All these places were clustered around the port, the theme park, the downtown... and the high school.

It was almost nightfall when he arrived at the manor. The wait at the bus stop was unnerving; for some reason the bus waited till it was full, and it took the usual load of laughing and chattering students as well as some other islanders and even a few tourists staying on the other side of the island. And he was the only one with a face mask. He alighted at a desolate part of the highway, earning him a few baffled looks. Welp, even if they identified him, he would at least be leading the search party on a trip to nowhere.

The manor looked a bit more intimidating now. The very door loomed forebodingly over him. Is he actually going to knock? Maybe it's better to just snuck in and hide, and pilfer food from the cupboards at midnight. He knows the place. While Arisa, being a close aide at Nankaisei, would very possibly turn him in.

Why is he even here? Didn't the honorable Kubos throw him out last time? What if they're still around? No matter. He can make a ruckus. He didn't know exactly how he will pull it off, but there must be a way he could induce the Kubo folk to send his family away if they really had that much clout.

Just then the door opened. The face that appeared there was disbelieving at first... and then took on a flat expression with a shadow of mild scorn. Ai's.