So, another short one-shot.
But, it seems a bit weird to me. I'm not so confident about this one.
However, I hope you guys enjoy it~
I hope its okay as well. 
Well, enjoy~Thank You.An office, Watanabe Mayu thought as she sat quietly on the seat opposite the principal. She looked at the old man before her and wondered. Wondered what kind of family he was raised, what kind of family he has right now, and what thoughts he had for his long life. Did he enjoy it? He probably did, Mayu concluded quickly in her head. She relaxed in her seat even more because the principal wasn’t starting a conversation like he should. But, she wasn’t annoyed. She could embrace this silence. The office wasn’t so bad either. It’s all fine. He doesn’t need to speak; it’ll be his loss anyways. She’ll just sit and wait, patiently.
Mayu glanced up to the old man again. He had an expression of concern written all over him. She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side a bit. What was he thinking? Could he be struggling with the news he was supposed to tell her? Mayu prepared herself for the worst and continued to wait. The room was eventually becoming suffocation as Mayu’s sharp yet gentle gaze finally to through to the old man, though Mayu meant nothing of it.
The principal finally prepared himself to break the ice. He opened his mouth and slowly formed the words needed to inform Mayu of the important information she was called in for. He leaned in a bit and began. “Watanabe… I’m sorry to say this but”
Mayu looked at the old man, anticipating for the rest of the sentence. She was sensing bad news from the moment she entered the room. So, her mentality should be prepared for anything right now. She’s someone who’s able to take in any kind of news, no matter how bad or how good, with a clam demeanor. She will not cry, nor will she scream with joy.
The principal sighed. “I’m sorry, but…” he repeated his last phrase before continuing, “You’re mother passed away a few hours ago” his eyes were filled with sympathy and sadness. “The hospital just called in and wanted us to inform you”
Mayu inhaled and exhaled deeply as she did not budge from her position. She just simply said two words with a quiet voice. “Thank you…” and those were her first words to the principal and in the office. She stood up. No reaction, no ‘whys’, no tears. Nothing. She simply stood up and left the office with a bow.
The principal watched the young student leave and sighed. Mayu always seemed so hard to approach and distant from the people around her. And, all he did was ask. “How can she be so calm?”
~
“Stop following me!” Itano Tomomi yelled as she abruptly turned to the brunette who has being following her around for the whole afternoon. It was annoying, and she wanted to be alone. So, why is some random she’s never met before following her around, like their life depended on it? Itano clicked her tongue in frustration and turned back around to continue her walk. But, the girl kept on walking tightly behind her.
“I just didn’t want to be alone…” the girl finally said after hours of following. “I’m sorry for being selfish” the girl’s voice was a mere whisper and filled with confusion, as if she didn’t know what to do anymore. She had no guidance; she didn’t know why she’s even here. “Maybe I should just die too,” she whispered. There was a tremble in her speech as tears started to pour out subconsciously, “Why did you die…?”
Itano heard and turned around out of concern. “W-what are you saying?” and there she saw a stranger crying right in front of her eyes. There was so much pain behind those tears; she didn’t know what to do. “Hey, don’t cry. I’m sorry for shouting at you”
The brunette shook her head and wiped her tears. She forced a smile and looked at Itano. “It’s not your fault, I should be sorry,” she said, “I must’ve being a bother” the brunette turned around and began to run the opposite direction.
“Wait” Itano said but it was too late. She just sighed and decided to continue with her walk, but a white piece of paper caught her attention. The girl must’ve dropped it, she thought. Walking over, she bent down and picked it up. It was folded into quarters. Itano stood up straight again and started to carefully open the paper up to its original shape. She scanned the printed words. It was a letter.
Kasai Tomomi. The girl’s name, she thought. Itano shifted her eyes down the paper and continued to read; she knew it was bad to read other people’s stuff but she’s a curious being and couldn’t hold in the urge. It might answer why the girl was crying. Then she saw the key words.
Stepmother. Passed away.
Itano folded the paper back into quarters and looked towards the direction the girl ran. Then, she looked up to the sky. It was cloudy and grey. She could tell rain was going to fall any time soon. She needed to get back home, before the rain gets her. Hurrying her steps, she began to jog a bit. Suddenly, drops of water began to fall. “Rain? Already…” she said in frustration. She began to run but stopped in her tracks and looked at the letter in her hands again. Does that girl have an umbrella? She didn’t see on the girl at least. Itano’s body moved by itself and turned back around and began to run. She was going to find a stranger. She was chasing a stranger.
“Ah, stupid stranger!” Itano yelled as she ran in the rain to make sure the girl was okay.
~
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mayu asked with her usual quiet but clear voice. She looked at the middle-aged man that had his back to her and clenched her fists at the mere sight of him. “Did you even love her?”
The man turned around and stomped his foot. “Of course I did!”
Mayu held back her tears and looked down to the ground of the hospital room. “Then, did you even love me enough to tell me?” she looked back up and raised her voice. “Did you even love Kasai enough to tell her too?”
The man stepped back; even he was surprised at the fact that Mayu just raised her voice. She never does, he’s never seen her raise her voice or get mad. He’s never seen her complain or cause ruckus for attention. Mayu was mature and collected. Honestly, he even admires her sometimes. How she can be so modest yet charismatic, she’d make a great leader. But, he didn’t like it at the same time. He’s being jealous many times and he knows it’s stupid for a grown man to envy a high school student. But, he just couldn’t hold his jealousy in sometimes and would treat her harshly. And even so, she never lost her cool and took all his hate in. She didn’t talk back, she didn’t treat him badly afterwards either. Mayu still treated him like she always would. It made him even worse towards her, he would wonder. Why? Why isn’t she fighting back? It made him furious.
“I gave her a letter,” he said trying to keep his ground in the conversation.
Mayu scoffed, “I’d understand you not telling me. But, not being able to tell Kasai face to face is just sad. She’s your own daughter and you knew she was close to my mother. Even so, you kept her in the dark for so many years. You kept us in the dark”
“You two wouldn’t have understood if I did tell you anyways. You two were too young. I was trying to protect you two” he defended.
“Please, this isn’t a joke” Mayu stated seriously. “You knew that we could handle it, that we would understand. And, you also knew that we would’ve wanted to know. Needed to know” Mayu walked forward, “Kasai would’ve wanted to go through things as a family. She would’ve thought you trusted at least her. But, now it seems you’ve just made the biggest mistake in your life”
“You don’t understand!” he shouted at the girl.
“I understand very well!” Mayu shouted back. “I never really trusted you, or tried to form a bond with you because you’re not my real father. But, Kasai did with my mother and I thought she was very brave to adapt so well into the situation. She loves you and my mother so much. Nothing will change between us through this event because I never saw you as my father. But, for Kasai… A lot of things will change”
“Why would she want to know so bad anyways?” he said. “She wouldn’t want to know such sad news about her stepmother”
“Kasai would’ve wanted to be by mother’s side. She would’ve wanted to make sure that our mother wasn’t alone. And, when our mother was suffering, she would’ve wanted to make her smile and create wonderful memories for her” Mayu explained. “We both would’ve”
Mayu’s stepfather stayed silent.
“She saw my mother as her mother. And, she’s my irreplaceable older sister” Mayu said, “But, you. Will never be my father. Remember that” with that Mayu left the hospital room and left her stepfather inside by himself.
~
Itano panted heavily as she bent over to catch her breath. “Found you,” she said. She stood upright and walked towards the girl. The rain drenched them both, and Itano squatted down beside the girl and took off her school blazer. She placed it on the girl, “Here, you must be cold”
The brunette looked at Itano. “What about you?” she asked.
Itano smiled; “I’ll be fine” she looked ahead and observed the rain pattering onto the pavement. She just watched as the girl beside her snuggled into her own arms and hugged her knees. “You know… Everyone experiences loss”
The girl looked up. “Eh?”
“But, I think everyone also has the right to talk about it with someone else” Itano continued, “I know it may be different, but when I was very young. My dog died and I remember crying a lot. I locked myself in my room and never went out. It felt like the world ended” she looked back at the girl and smiled. “I loved my dog. But, there are so many opportunities in life waiting for you. I still had a whole life ahead of me. Ups and downs will of course happen, but that’s part of growth. Once you overcome these obstacles you’ll grow into a stronger person”
Itano stood up. “So, Kasai, don’t worry. You may feel alone, but there’s definitely someone out there who will help you overcome the sadness and show you all the joy the world has to offer as well” she reached out her hand.
Kasai looked up at Itano and hesitantly held onto the girl’s hand. Itano pulled the girl up and smiled again. “Let’s go dry ourselves up first”
Kasai smiled too, finally, a genuine one and nodded. Itano felt as if the world had stopped spinning for a second. The world around her froze just for that one smile. She felt the need to snap a shot of it and keep it her galleries forever. It was a beautiful smile, “Smiling suits you much more”
Kasai’s eyes widened at the comment, as she looked down flustered. “Thank you” she mumbled under her breath.
Thank you…~
So, how was it?
Topic: Thank You (MayuTomoTomo) - OS COMPLETED (Read 2341 times)