Chapter 21
“What about that little girl, Hana Fubuki?” Kazu asks as he follows Shizuyo, who is carrying a sleeping Naoyuki in her arms, to the car. “Are we just going to leave her alone in the hospital?”
“The doctors have notified her mother and her aunts and uncles; they said her aunt would be picking her up within a half hour,” Shizuyo replies. She laughs a little to herself. “To think I’d have to pry the little sprout out of Naoyuki’s arms like that...It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him cling to anyone he’s not familiar with.”
“That’s a good sign,” Kazu comments. “He’s finally letting people in.” But on the same token, he adds to himself, it also means he’ll have an extremely difficult time letting go.
Shizuyo sits Naoyuki in the back seat and buckles him in; he twitches a little, but goes right on sleeping. Shizuyo shuts his door, moves out of Kazu’s way, and goes to the driver’s side and gets in. When Kazu is buckled up, Shizuyo turns on the ignition and backs out of her parking space. She hears Naoyuki stir and glances at him. “Finally awake?” she asks. Naoyuki lets out a yelp and curls up in fright. “What’s wrong?” She watches Naoyuki tremble and pulls right back into her space. “Kazu,” she says warily.
“Right.” Kazu climbs out of his seat into the back with Naoyuki. “You okay?” he asks, reaching out cautiously. Naoyuki’s eyes are wide with fear, and his face is pale; he whimpers and shakes wildly. What’s this? A reaction to yesterday’s car accident? Kazu wonders. “It’s all right; the roads are better today, so don’t worry.” He puts his hand on Naoyuki’s shoulder to put him at ease; Naoyuki shrinks away a little, but doesn’t strike out at him, the way he had when Kazu tried to touch him before. Naoyuki seems to calm down a little, and Kazu nods to Shizuyo to restart the car.
Shizuyo pulls out of her spot and drives out of the parking lot and onto the road. It isn’t long before they reach the freeway. Naoyuki stares nervously out the window, as if expecting something to happen at any given second. After a long while, Shizuyo finally takes an exit off the freeway and drives down the main road. An hour or so later, she pulls up in front of a two-story brick house. “We’re here,” Shizuyo says.
She climbs out of the car, followed by Kazu and Naoyuki. The three of them walk up the sidewalk and onto the porch. Shizuyo knocks the door, and Mrs. Kondo answers. “Come in,” she says, waving them inside. Her husband watches like a hawk as Shizuyo leads Naoyuki inside and stands in the front hall, holding Naoyuki’s shoulders firmly.
“Good day,” Mr. Kondo says curtly.
Shizuyo nods back. “Good day.”
“He’s here to stay, isn’t he?” Mr. Kondo asks. “Why don’t you let go of him now – if you can?”
“You won’t mind if I come by to check up on things once in a while, will you?” Shizuyo inquires.
“Of course not,” Mrs. Kondo assures her with a smile. “Come by any time you like.”
Shizuyo hesitantly releases her hold on Naoyuki’s shoulders. “Take good care of him,” she says pleadingly. Gently, she nudges Naoyuki toward Mrs. Kondo.
Naoyuki stops to pull off his coat and kick off his shoes. “I’ll take that,” Mrs. Kondo says. She hangs up his coat and returns to him with her arms wide open. Naoyuki rummages around in his jacket pocket, then approaches his mother and puts something in her hands. “What’s this?” She sees the hand-beaded bracelet and smiles. “Oh, Naoyuki, thank you! It’s beautiful!” She slips the bracelet on and hugs her son. “I love you; I’ve missed you so much.”
Naoyuki’s apprehensive frown flips into a smile as he hugs her back. “Mama,” he says warmly.
Something’s still not right here, Kazu observes as he glances around the house. It almost looks like someone else lives here with them. He sees a small pair of gloves nearby, and school papers on the table. Another child?
As if in answer to his questions, a little boy with dark hair and pale brown eyes peeks down at them from the stairwell, then slowly makes his way down the steps. “Mom?” he calls softly. Startled, Mrs. Kondo turns to face him and lets go of Naoyuki. “Who’s he?” the boys asks as he finally descends the last step and stands, staring at Mrs. Kondo.
“Aya...!” Shizuyo gasps.
Naoyuki stares questioningly at the little boy, his smile melting. He turns his stare on his mother, waiting for some kind of answer to what was going on.
“Ikuo,” Mrs. Kondo says shakily, “this is Naoyuki. He’s your..stepbrother.”
She adopted another boy, Kazu surmises. From the looks of it, he was a replacement for Naoyuki – his looks are very similar, and he must be around the same age. “How could you...?” he whispers. This is so cruel to Naoyuki. She just left him behind..and had him replaced with someone else.
Mrs. Kondo looks up at Kazu and Shizuyo and pleads, “You don’t understand! This was our only choice...We did it for Naoyuki...”
“For Naoyuki?!” Shizuyo cries angrily. “You abandoned him!”
“We had to leave him! We couldn’t drag him from town to town with us, but we had to find someone who could help him!” Mrs. Kondo cries.
“What?” Shizuyo asks.
Mrs. Kondo hugs Naoyuki again, looking sadly into his eyes. “Naoyuki was always sick,” she says. “Over the past three years, we heard about countless specialists, but couldn’t find anyone who could help him. Then we followed news of a doctor who lived in this area and came out here to find him. Several referrals followed, and we could no longer afford to stay in a hotel, so we put down money on this foreclosed house. We’re still looking for a specialist; hopefully, this latest referral will be the one...”
“But the boy...” Shizuyo says shakily.
“Aya was falling to pieces without Naoyuki,” Mr. Kondo says tersely. “So we adopted.”
Kazu thinks back on his words the night before. “You adopted him, didn’t you? He legally became your son. The rest is in the past. The old house is yours and Naoyuki is yours. We’ve put those things behind us.” He’s given up. He’s the one who decided to drop Naoyuki. “So as soon as things became ‘troublesome,’ as you put it last night, you decided to throw Naoyuki and everything surrounding him away.”
“Kazunori!” Mrs. Kondo cries in shock.
“Watch your mouth!” Mr. Kondo snaps.
“I see,” Kazu murmurs.
“I won’t let go of him again!” Mrs. Kondo cries. “I’ll be a good mother this time, if you give me the chance. Please forgive me.”
Shizuyo’s face softens. “Apologize to Naoyuki, not me,” she says. “He’s the one you hurt the most, Aya.”
Mrs. Kondo looks into her son’s eyes and says, “I’m so sorry, Naoyuki. Please forgive me.” Naoyuki hesitates, holding his arms defensively out in front of him, poised to back away. But his expression softens, and he gives her a small nod before reaching out for her again. “Thank you,” Mrs. Kondo says, tears streaming from her eyes as she takes him up in an embrace. She glances toward Shizuyo and adds, “and thank you for bringing him back to me.”
Shizuyo nods back uneasily. “Kazu,” she says, “let’s go.” She turns to Naoyuki, who is looking unsurely back at her. “Goodbye, Naoyuki,” she says.
To Shizuyo’s surprise, Naoyuki pushes from his mother’s arms, bounds toward her and gives her a hug. “Thank you,” he says softly. “See you soon...?” he asks hopefully.
Shizuyo hugs him back. “Yes,” she replies. “I’ll see you again soon.” I can touch you again, she thinks, happy tears building up in her eyes. I can talk to you again. That’s thanks enough. I love you. She doesn’t speak the words for Naoyuki’s sake. “‘Til then,” she says, “goodbye, Naoyuki.” She slowly backs away from him and waves as she turns and opens the door. Please take good care of him, Aya, she pleads inwardly, stepping out with Kazu in tow.
“I want to believe she’ll be good to him,” Kazu murmurs, “but Uncle Hiroto’s attitude makes me worry for Naoyuki. Do you think he’ll be all right there?”
“It’s what Naoyuki’s wanted all this time,” Shizuyo tells Kazu. “I just want him to be happy.” She climbs into the driver’s seat as Kazu steps into the passenger’s side. She takes one last look at the Kondos’ new house before starting the engine and pulling away.
***************************
The afternoon Naoyuki spent with his mother slipped by quickly into evening, then nightfall. “You’ll be starting at a new school tomorrow, Naoyuki,” his mother said, “so you need to get a good night’s sleep. You and Ikuo will share a room.”
So Naoyuki gets ready for bed, then climbs the stairs to the room that he and his step-brother would share, carrying the bear he’d gotten from Haruko, as his jacket and shirt were going to be washed. He steps in to find a mattress, quilt and pillow on one side of the large room and a full bed on the other. Ikuo is already pulling down his covers and fluffing up his pillow. Naoyuki gulps and tries to speak up. “Um.. ‘Night,” he says shyly.
Ikuo looks toward him with a hint of coldness in his pale eyes. “Why are you wearing my favorite pajamas?” he asks, hurt.
Naoyuki looks down at his feet and hugs tightly onto his teddy bear. Mama gave them to me. “S-Sorry,” he stammers. “I didn’t..know.”
Ikuo climbs into bed without another word and turns toward the wall, throwing the blanket over himself. Naoyuki bites his lip and climbs onto the mattress, then wraps himself up in the warm quilt and curls up with the teddy bear. Papa and Ikuo don’t seem like they like me, he thinks. What did I do? As he slips into sleep, he can’t help thinking about his old house, his old school, Shizuyo, and Haruko and Kotaro. I wanna go home...
Naoyuki wakes up screaming, in a cold sweat. He pants heavily, whimpering as the feeling of the car flipping over on the highway ties up his stomach, and the images of Haruko injured flash through his memory. Naoyuki throws his teddy bear a few feet across the floor; he couldn’t be reminded of Haruko without the accident creeping into his dreams.
“What’s wrong?” Ikuo asks groggily, getting up from his bed and rubbing his eyes. Only moments later, Naoyuki’s parents come into the room asking the same thing, his frantic mother hovering over him.
“Naoyuki, what happened?” Mrs. Kondo cries. “Do you feel all right?”
Naoyuki tries to calm himself and manages a nod.
“Did you have a bad dream?” his mother asks. Naoyuki nods.
“You both need to go back to sleep,” Mr. Kondo says. “You have to get up in the morning.”
Ikuo climbs back into bed, and Mrs. Kondo caresses Naoyuki until he starts drifting back off to sleep. “Good night, Naoyuki,” Mrs. Kondo says. “See you in the morning.” She gets up and joins her husband to leave the room.
Again, Naoyuki awakens in the middle of the night after a frightful nightmare. Images of a mangled Haruko flash through his mind; he squints his eyes shut and tries to shake off the awful pictures. Afraid to fall back to sleep, Naoyuki turns toward the wall and lays awake on his mattress. That one was even worse, he thinks. He knocks his head against the wall. No, don’t even think about it!
Naoyuki’s thoughts turn instead toward his next school day. I’m going to a new school tomorrow. I wonder what it’ll be like. I sure don’t want it to be like my old school; this time, I’ll try to make a good impression. Hey,..what time is it, anyway? I’m gonna be dead tired in the morning if I don’t get some sleep... Naoyuki yawns and starts drifting off to sleep once more.
This time, Haruko is on the ground outside the car. This was your fault. Haruko is motionless, not even breathing. She got hurt because of you. Kotaro’s father takes Kotaro away, turns and yells at him. You should’ve been the one who died.
But Haruko isn’t dead!
Are you sure? Naoyuki hears a beep before Haruko disappears in front of his eyes.
He awakens to the sound of the alarm clock on the dresser behind him, shaking from head to toe. “Haruko...” he whispers. It was just a dream... Naoyuki knocks his head against the wall to rid himself of the remnants of his nightmares. He groggily pushes himself up and folds up his blanket over the mattress as Ikuo slips out of bed and hurries to stop the buzzing alarm. Ikuo approaches him and drops his teddy bear on his mattress without speaking a word to him, then leaves the bedroom. Haruko, please don’t go, Naoyuki begs inwardly as he kneels down and clutches onto the bear.
