Since all I could do was arts and my budget was low. I chose to make her something really special with my own hands. I learned about ceramics but I had to go to an open shop that was almost on the other side of my school. But the travel was well worth it, I though. However I had to sacrifice the time after school to be with Aika and I would come home way late at night. I didn't want to ruin the surprise so I didn't tell a soul about what I was doing, except the ceramic workshop owner who gave me access to anything I needed. Time was short and every moment counted. And Since my parent were on business trip, I could get me some extra time in the present. That was the mistake I made.... trusting the everything was alright.
That Friday we had the day off school so I spent overnight with the final details of my confession present. Then I was to go to Aika senpai's house and do my confession. I took a rest and then dawn arrived, I placed the present in a small cardboard present box and rode my bike to her house when night fell ad it was there where some thugs beat me up and captured me. I woke up with sounds of like a porn video and opened my eyes. That scene got burned into my head with detail. There they were, Aika senpai and Daigo senpai having sex in Daigo's room.
“Looks like our guest is Awake” he said
Aika stopped riding Daigo and looked at me. All I saw was disgust, hatred and sadness. She then went to me and kicked me in the testicles. It was then I realized I was nude as well, that pain has sharp but I could not fall, I was restrained by the thugs who were holding on me.
“You son of a bitch!” was her way to address me. “you finally wake up. Was this what you wanted to do to me?” She was fingering herself in front of me “To think that I was falling for a monster, you f***!” she punched me in the stomach, I felt a rib breaking.
“What.... The hell?.... What Did I do?” I managed to ask the question because nothing made sense to me.
“and you have the nerve to ask?” She spit on my face and the she had the box I had for her. “and this is what you wanted to use to seduce me? I guess I was a special target compared to the other girls you raped!” She threw the box to the ground and I heard the ceramic statue breaking into pieces.
“Rape?! I never did such a thing! Guh!” I was hit again by Aika who then joined again with Daigo to have sex.
“I told you I would protect you, Aika-san...”
“Yes... ah”
“you guys take him to the police”
I felt myself being dragged and after we left the room I was kicked again. The fingers of my right hand were broken and my left elbow twisted to the other side. I was then thrown outside of a huge mansion where the police was waiting for me, I was arrested on the stop and taken away while I was shouting to claim my innocence. My parents were informed and returned from their business trip. They could not believe it a first but then were convinced that I was the culprit and I was disowned on the spot, and I was on my own. I tried calling my friends but they all were against me and despised me for what I “did”. I could not understand anything at all and I though it was a nightmare, but the pains of the broken bones were my reality check. It was happening.
Since my crimes were too severe I was going to be charged as an adult and my trial was announced. I became news sensation and I was hated by everyone, while I remained in my temporary cell with some bandages to ease the pain until a doctor of a prison finally agreed to help me. While I was being transported some people assaulted the car and pulled me out to execute justice on their hands. I managed to get up after some more beating and ran for my life. My eyes were closed partially so I could not see the cliff below my feet and the people threw stones at me until one got me in the temple and made me fall from the cliff to the open sea. Before I hit the water I though I heard cheering.
I woke up in a beach, didn't know how I got there and what day it was, but my body was in so much pain I could not rest. I cried on the spot cursing my fate, and asking the heavens what did I do to deserve what I got. I finally managed to get up and walk somewhat while I tried to digest the events up until know. I was found by a group of homeless people that helped me patch up and rest. I heard from the news that I was declared dead by some group of people hired to kill me because of what I supposedly did to their client's daughter. I had to be thankful that my face was so unrecognizable that the homeless could not recognize me, so I said I had amnesia and waited for the chance to run away before the facade was exposed.
I kept the bandages on my head and took some clothes from a trash can and roamed the streets. By force I learned to defend myself from gangs or else I would have died before getting to the truth. It was after I beat a bunch of thugs to help an old lady that I got my first light. She offered me a place, a bath, and medicines. Suck kindness after so long in hatred broke me down and I told her my story. By luck, that old lady had connections with Yakuza and believed my story. She offered me a new identity, my own room in the apartment complex I live now and treatment until I was healed. In exchange, I had to live my new life and start from scratch towards my future and never fall into the underworld again. I accepted and I became Hirai Daisuke, an orphan since birth. I was fine with that. My family was dead to me anyways.
One year later, when I finally recovered enough I started getting jobs and studying to get back to school. I saved some money to see if in any cemetery there was my name in it, but none were found. I went to the place I was “killed” and in secret carved a tombstone in one of the nearby rocks. With every hit my hatred and sadness grew. I was hated and killed and no one cared about my whereabouts, I wanted to do something to punish them, but when the tombstone was complete I broke in tears. I thought what I would do if I were them, and even though I conclude that I would believe in me to the end. There was some evidence that was planted that would make me doubt. So I decided to get my revenge by clearing Touru's name and keep him dead.
It took me time, but I had to do work for some Yakuza and simple errand boy: buying groceries, cleaning windows, etc. In exchange I would get help in information about what happened to the rape cases I was accused of as Touru. It took me almost another year, but everything was clear. Daigo hired some delinquents to look like me and perform the rapes in the time I was in the shop. They burned down the workshop and the old man was in a comma, they planted evidence of my sweat, prints and pictures, and some were paid to testify against me. I was glad I finally got the information to clear my name. Now I waited for the perfect time to send it to the media... my desire for revenge helped me choose the perfect opportunity. The high school graduation ceremony and the merge of companies of Daigo's father company and the one my former father works at were at the same day... The chance was too good to miss.
I got a job at the store thanks to a friend of the landlady, Tanaka-san, who offered me a job while I was attending another high school as Daisuke. I lost two years of my life... but I sent everything to the media to make everyone pay for that lost time. That night was the first one in which my nightmares were gone.
After I finished my story, Aika looked down again “that truth destroyed almost everything, even me”.
“I cannot blame you... it was not your fault” she finished her tea and asked for more, I served her on the spot “The lie was so deep that once reveled, everything crumbled like a house of cards”
Her expression was gloomier than ever, she had a mixed feeling of wanting to know what happened and at the same time not wanting to know... but she came all the way to see me, so I rather not beat around the bush and be clear and blunt on what happened. I wanted her to leave, move out and go back to her home... but I guess more things were keeping her back. She started to cry again.
“I knew it!!!! I f***ing knew it!!!!” she hit the table hard and broke down in crying again after drinking the whole tea “I knew... I knew... you were alive... when the news came out... and I followed my heart.... but....” she stopped for a moment “I was so stupid to not follow my heart that night!!!... I had a feeling you were innocent all along!!!” she looked at me and cried some more, this time was harder than ever and she hugged herself tightly. I froze that time because no matter what I would do, it would only make it worse. “I was so blinded... the doubt hurt so much back then... because I truly loved you... I really did... but in pain... I accepted Daigo's plan for me to get revenge on you... and be his girlfriend” I was shocked at what she said but it was hard for me to believe after what I have been through. “I was more like a sex slave...” she trembled more and tried to find comfort grabbing the blanket tightly, and screamed in pain.
I could not take it anymore and hugged her again. I didn't say anything just stood there and felt her arms holding me tightly as well as she cried on my chest. Of all the times I remembered her, she was also strong willed and nothing would break her, and her skills in karate were second to none. To see her like this was heart breaking even for me.
“If only I could have stayed by your side and believed in you...” she repeated that constantly. I stood there, holding her tightly but gently. Her pain reached me and reminded me of my pain as well. We cried together for it felt like forever. When we stopped crying, I let her go and looked at her. “Thank you, Touru” she said.
“Daigo... he did to me many things. First I thought it was of love but things escalated and I was more of an object.” This time she was more calm. Maybe because she could not cry anymore “I got pregnant once and I was close to be kicked out of school. I had the miscarriage because of all the stress” she drank more tea “My father arranged the marriage to keep things under closed doors and he almost disowned me. I had to reluctantly accept, I was trapped, even though I despised Daigo for what he did to me... but I had to continue being his fiancee and girlfriend... it meant more sex, more “training” as he and his friends called it”. She looked at me and noticed my rage increasing. No matter what happened to me, not even for revenge I would never treat a woman like that. She continued “yes... I was in orgy as well because of him... It was humiliating beyond belief” hs looks down. “even then... I could not forget you, Touru” She looked at me.
We stopped the hug and I sat next to her, we were looking out the window to the night sky that was so clear.
“The truth... freed me as well” she continued “Daigo was finally revealed to the public and his family had to compensate mine for all the damages he did to me and my body to avoid further scandals and such. Daigo is now in prison with the same men that sent you off the cliff. I was now a free girl again, bound to no man, to no arrangement. But since I already gave mislf and the events that happened, I can no longer succeed my family, that role is for my sister now... but I don't care... I'm free”. I felt relief to hear those words. I was also free as Daisuke and after clearing myself and I could not see any lie coming from her. She was being as honest as straightforward as I remember.
“Can I.... lean on you for a while?” she asked me softly.
“Sure...” I replied. My feelings changed from annoyance, to anger, to respect and then admiration for Aika. The lie bound her to a life of hell and the reveal of my innocence saved her. And after all, even though the events happened, she is my first love and that feeling hasn't being forgotten. “What happened to you after all was revealed and Daigo was arrested?”
She stood silent for a moment and then replied “since I was defiled and tainted in many ways, I could no longer succeed the family, but that did not meant I was abandoned. Father and mother send me to a woman's hospital where I was being treated in my body and mind. I went to recover my beauty and youth as much as possible, but my innocence was taken away and it would not return. I learned to accept that. Then I remembered something...” She reached for her purse and took out a small cardboard box “please... open it”.
I took the box and opened it slowly. To my surprise it was the statue I worked so hard to make. A ceramic statue of two wolves together under a tree with our names engraved under the full moon. I looked at it closely and saw some of the marks of the fragments it was broke into. Without a doubt it was my present for her, restored. I looked at her in surprise.
“While I was in the hospital, I could not stop thinking about you and what I did to you. I heard that the workshop owner recovered from the coma and told me how hard you were working on this and how many times you were frustrated and started all over again to make the perfect gift for me. I asked the maid to gather all pieces and give them to me as well as the picture of the finished work the old man took when you were done... while I was in treatment and recovery, I took my time to reassemble the pieces and see what you did for me” she paused for a moment “To think I was being so loved by someone cheered me up to go on and face everything to recover and start anew... you fought so much to get to me and to get to my heart I feel I am not worthy of such strong love, but for that I thank you” She looked at me and puts her hands on my face “I has a slight hope you were alive and when my prayers were answered... I decided to follow your example. As son as I recovered from the hospital I started looking for you until I got your location” she lets go of my face gently “I chose to risk anything in order to finally see you once more. My heart ached when I was moving to this complex and registered at the local college to begin my career”.
“So the real reason you cam here is...” I looked at her eyes
“I want to be close to you...” she replied with slight tears her eyes “even if you were to hate me... I just want to be near you, Touru. I made a bet to your kindness and it seems it paid off”
“you always knew me well, senpai” I chuckled and she felt more comfortable
“even if I am next door?” she surprised me with that question.
“huh?”
She giggled for the first time after seeing me “I am the girl next door now” We laughed softly. It was an old lame joke, but after everything, it was welcomed in our hearts.
“I know something else about your life... Daisuke-kun” she smirked, recovering her colors, mentioning my new name for the first time
“going to my new name so quickly?” I replied “what is that info you have about me”
“well...” she looked around and then at my eyes “you are available...” another giggle coming from her. Making my face blush, like the old times
“I … I... think there are a few girls in my school that... well... might like me” I tried to defend myself against that attack. I was never prepared for this.
“well, here is one that was rescued by your love back then, and will not stop to get your heart again” she coiled her arms around me. Her perfume smelled very nice and her beauty increased many times under the moon light, making my heart race.
“s...s.....senpai....?”
“Aika... ” she kissed me and held me tightly “please call me Aika”
“Aika...” I calle dher name and my impulse won, I embraced her and we kissed again. My love for her never faded... just went dormant after all I have been throught. After a good while we separated and she was blushing and panting
“this is the first time a kiss... almost made me lose mi mind...” she said
“That was... my second kiss... Aika”
“your love is the only bond I will accept” she replied “why don't... we make up for the time lost? The night is still young, just as we are”
We kissed each other again and we let nature take its course with us.
After all that happened... I was able to forgive her, respect her... and now love her again... I will not let go of her. It may not be the relationship that I dreamed two years ago... but somehow got realized and I cannot complain anymore.
“I love you Aika”
“I love you Daisuke”
