237 Ability to love despite the things that happened to you

in the morning, the news about the kirishima family spread through the village. the crowd gathers around the kirishima family house. the cops come to talk to daniel nagasawa who is also wounded. the little child appears to be too shocked to speak. 

kiyohira has been on his way to the store to buy ingredients for breakfast when he hears the locals talk about the kirishima family. he goes straight to the kirishima family house. daniel nagasawa is standing near the entrance, talking on the phone. daniel has a bandage around his neck. the child is nowhere to be seen. 

"mr kamiyama, you are here." daniel walks toward him, slightly limping. 

"what happened?" kiyohira looks at him with worry. "did yuki get hurt?"

"she's safe." daniel smiles at him sadly. "i didn't expect my wife to do that. she and i were having some problems because she wasn't taking her pills. yesterday night, she lost control and attacked me. when her father tried to stop her, she killed him before she killed herself."

he's giving him a mechanical answer. there's more to their deaths. kiyohira releases his breath. "can i meet her?"

"she is in shock. she might not want to speak to you." daniel shakes his head. "but if you want to see her, i can take you to her."

that's enough for now. kiyohira follows daniel into the house. there's still blood on the table. the house is a mess. they walk upstairs. daniel pushes the door. 

mira is lying on the bed with her eyes closed. kiyohira notices that she also has a bandage on her throat. she did get hurt. was it daniel or ayaka? 

"it's hard for her." he hears daniel speak, "she saw something that a child should have never seen."

daniel and kiyohira exchange a few polite words. kiyohira returns to his house. his wife is in the kitchen, preparing the morning coffee. she looks over her shoulder and smiles at him. "do you want some?"

"rie, ayaka and her father died," kiyohira tells her, panting for breath. "i heard that she attacked daniel and mira, and killed her father before she killed herself."

stumped, rie puts down the coffee cup. the news is too shocking. how is mira feeling? that child was only here yesterday. "what should we do now?"

"i will speed up the process." it's tricky, but it's not impossible. kiyohira takes out his phone. "we will get the child. don't worry. the deaths are too suspicious. i am sure that daniel is hiding something. if the child talks, it will be easier."

"i will go and check if i can find something on daniel nagasawa." rie cracks her knuckles. "that man seems to have a lot of secrets. let's bring her to our place today. we can worry about the legal stuff later. sometimes, force is necessary. it's a matter of a child's safety."

things don't always work that way. kiyohira sighs and shakes his head. but she is already running to the bedroom to get her phone and delve into daniel nagasawa's history. he's related to the consortium. there's no way that the man is clean.

"she's going to stir trouble again." kiyohira lets out another sigh. he should tell yuta about this. he finds his son sitting on the bed with an empty face. "yuta."

"yes, father?" yuta looks up at him. 

"ayaka and her father are dead," kiyohira replies, observing his son's reaction. there's nothing. his son isn't shocked at all.

"i know." yuta says to him quietly, "i saw their corpses last night."

"what?" kiyohira exclaims. "did you go to her place last night?"

"yes, i did." yuta is too tired to lie or hide the truth. he didn't want to see "the woman who killed him". he didn't want to hear her real reasons. he is a fool indeed. why did he think that she loved him for a single moment? "she also got her memories from another life. she is no longer a child. i think that she was the one who killed kirishima ayaka and kirishima naoki."

yuta sighs. "we don't need to get involved with her anymore."

kiyohira doesn't speak for a long time. yuta lies down and covers himself with the blanket again, clearly too upset to continue speaking. kiyohira sits beside him. "can you let her go?"

"i already did."

"then, why are you depressed?"

"i am not depressed."

he pulls the blanket away. "if you can let her go, i won't say anything."

the boy stares at his father.

"if you can give up, then give up. you will always have me." kiyohira lifts him in his arms. he pats his son's back. "you don't have to act grown up and keep it all inside. if you feel like crying, you can cry."

"i am tired, father." yuta says with a weary voice, "she wanted me to kill her, but i couldn't do it." 

why was he so weak? he should have killed her for everything that she did to him. she hated him, but he is only mad at her. she mocked him for being in love with her still, but he can't bring himself to hate her. he can't continue to love her either. in the end, he hates himself. 

"you did the right thing." kiyohira smiles. he also doesn't want his son to become a killer. in this life, he and his wife wish that he lives a life without getting touched by any darkness. "if you had killed her, you would have regretted it for the rest of your life."

but she doesn't regret killing him at all. 

"her love might have been a lie, but you did love her once," he hears his father says. "we are often cruel to the people we love when they hurt us. i am glad that you didn't take that path. son, even if you still love her, it's nothing to be ashamed of. i am proud that you still have the ability to love despite the things that happened to you."

just closing the door doesn't make the feelings disappear. all kinds of death, whether it's love or life, need time to move on.

yuta's lips curve into a rueful smile. yeah, he would have regretted it.