189 I want to see you again

the sound of rain enters into his ears. yuki's eyes flutter. he moves his fingers next. he tastes blood in his mouth. he looks at the ceiling with his half-opened eyes. he isn't dead. a tear rolls out from the corner of his right eye onto the floor. 

"father, why did you leave me?" he mumbles to the darkness in the room. "i miss you. i want to see you again. please come back and take me with you."

the silence in the room is broken by soft sobs of a child. he waits for a long time before he gets up. he wipes his tears. he will wait. his father will come back. he won't abandon him. he will keep his promise and take him back to a better place. but, it hurts to wait. he sniffles. he will be strong like his father told him to. but, it hurts to move his neck. still, he will wait. he will stay strong. he crawls to the book that his father left him. the leather cover is worn out. he turns the first page.

he blinks his grey eyes when he reads the name. it's a familiar name. kirishima heiji. his grandfather calls him heiji all the time. he reads the date of the first entry. "seventh september 200x."

the boy sits in the corner and begins reading the diary of a dead boy.

***

yuta narrows his eyes on his mother who is playing a game on her phone. he's suspicious. it's his gut feeling that has never been wrong except for one time. that one time got him killed. nevermind! the past is not a priority right now. his mother is too calm or not acting the way she should be. she's levelling up in mmorpg mobile game while her best friend is with nina, a potential threat to her best friend's life. something is just not right.

[beep!]

a text arrives from maddox. rie walks out of the house with the phone in her hand. yuta realizes that his parents are not talking about ren in front of him. he needs to get that phone and see what is going on. she's up to something. he must find out what it is about. 

takeshi comes into the house and sees his nephew standing on the chair and leaning against the window, looking at rie's back like a hawk. he's also curious. so, he stands next to him and looks at kiyohira and rie talking in low voices on the porch while gazing at the rain.

yuta tries to read his parents lips to make out what they are talking about.

"did you hear from ren?" 

"he's fine, but he's following her. i contacted someone. they are keeping an eye on nina and maddox's people. she got them off her tail. they will take her to a safe place soon."

"i see, ren isn't the type to keep himself out of other's mess."

rie sighs. "i am worried too. i can't blame nina if ren puts his head inside the lion's mouth on his own volition. i have to take care of so many stupid men."

"i am not stupid." kiyohira grumbles.

"oh, you take the first position in that list." rie snorts. "you are the stupidest man i know."

"i am stupidly in love." he rolls his eyes. "imamura sent me this."

he hands over his phone to rie. she opens the file containing background information on yuki's family. she creases her forehead when she reads the information. strange. it's too strange. is this world a circle? 

"what do you want to do about yuki?" kiyohira asks with a hushed voice. when it comes to his son and wife, he can't be careless like before. so, after seeing the fight between yuta and yuki, he texted his secretary. his secretary mailed him the information before he asked takeshi to look into yuki's family to keep her brother. he wants to keep takeshi out of this. that's why he didn't tell him anything. he's sure that takeshi won't be able to find out much about yuki as he doesn't belong to that world. it's also the reason why he's sending takeshi back to t city. it's also rie's wish to keep unrelated people out of this matter. 

their lives are already tangled into something that will take a long time to untangle. takeshi and ren should stay out. the more they know, the more dangerous it will be for them. if takeshi manages to find out something, he will handle it then. 

"this is..." she exhales. if she touches this child, it will bring a disaster to their way. is this what they call fate? "i don't know if we should take action. we might be making things worse for this child. before anything, i want to get free from dh and protect our family."

kiyohira understands her worries. "i understand, but we can't ignore this. the child is..."

important to their son.

"it's better if we keep yuta away from this child." rie looks at the picture with sadness. "but, i will find a way to save this child. we should try contacting the father first. if it's the legal matter, you can help him."

kiyohira gives her a nod. it won't be difficult to handover the custody if they gather enough evidence. he finds it odd. did the father not know or there's another reason why the father is quiet? kirishima ayaka is clinically insane. her father is the same. in this case, why did the father leave the child alone? 

"i have broken the dh." rie stares at him. "law killed himself when the cops infiltrated his lair. maddox and yuan bo are missing. i have used something against him, but i am afraid that it won't hold him back for long. when the times come..."

she trails off, speaking with her eyes alone.

he pretends to not see it. "we will hunt them down and kill them."

she stretches her legs. the raindrops fall on her naked feet. yesterday, she felt the snow. today, it's rain. "i am afraid that it won't end with him."

the rain is rather heartbreaking tonight as if the night sky is crying for someone.

he squeezes her hand. "is there something more that i don't know?"

"after i found out that he was one of my old online friends in a chatroom, i have been keeping an eye on him since i went to the dh." rie rests her head on his shoulder. her voice is so low that only he can hear her. "he acted like my fan. i found him suspicious. i didn't trust anyone in the dh and i wanted to know who the boss was. i have hacked into the surveillance cameras near the places he lived. for the next four years, i found nothing odd. a few months ago, i found his secret."

she lifts her head and looks at him. "one of his secrets."

"you used it against him this time?" 

"yes, i did." she doesn't feel good about it. a lot of grey hats has been caught today. law died because of her. in some way, she is the reason why nina's life is in danger. ren won't keep himself out of danger. "it was easy to connect after he made that small mistake."

"what was that mistake?" he asks her.

she watched maddox for five years because she was suspicious of him. he's curious. did she ever hack the surveillance cameras to watch him?

that question has to wait. maybe, he will ask her someday. the five years are gone and sometimes, he is regretful of his actions. he should have been more understanding. he should have been more loving to heal those wounds. if he had acted in a mature way, she wouldn't have left.

they are together again. he wants to be a better father to his son and a better man to his love. that is his only wish.

she opens her mouth after a long silence. "he has a..."

yuta grips on the edge of the window. he leans forward. what is it that he didn't know about maddox? 

"daughter."

no, it's impossible. yuta cannot believe it. he lived with that man for ten years. that man is fooling his mother. maddox has no one.

right?