Covered Court

Chapter 9: "The Okinawan and Jamaican"

Rei was about to check-in for his flight when his phone suddenly rang as it was submitted for inspection through the security scanner. He picked it up immediately and answered the call. It was from his grandmother.

"Rei-kun? Why were you absent earlier?" she asked.

Rei, sounding hesitant, answered, "I'm not feeling well, Megumi-san..."

She overheard an announcement being said through a prompter, "Flight 12-A3, Tokyo to Paris, is now open for boarding."

"What was that, Rei? Are you at the airport right now?" she wondered.

He wanted to drop the call, but changed his mind and decided to tell the truth, "I'm on my way back to Paris, Megumi-san..."

Hearing these words outraged the old woman, so she scolded him, "Paris? What were you thinking? Abandoning your classes for that!"

He answered, "I have some things to clarify at the office. I'll be back in a jiffy."

What he said just amplified the old woman's temper, "You can't just leave the country easily if it's urgent. You aren't a kid anymore and do anything as you please."

The words of his grandmother struck him and brought him to silence. A pulse of his past flashed before his eyes as her words echoed repeatedly on his mind.

"Rei?" called the old woman.

Rei came back to his senses and realized that he spaced out for a moment and apologized, "Sorry, Megumi-san..."

The old woman sighed and spoke calmly, "There's a process for everything, Rei. It's not that you're not allowed to leave, I'm just saying that you need to inform us beforehand."

"I understand..." he said.

He then sighed and apologized, "I'm sorry. I was being unprofessional..."

She accepted her grandson's apology and told him, "It's alright, Rei. See you at school tomorrow then..."

The old woman then ended the call. Rei slowly turned back and took his leave. Instead of heading to Paris, he went straight home to his condo unit. At his mini-bar, he pulled out a brandy glass from the glass rack and added a few ice cubes in it. He was in the mood to get drunk, so he pulled out a bottle of brandy and poured an amount to his glass. As he started drinking, he reminisced the moments from the memories he recovered from Kochibi.

Meanwhile, Kochibi was at a loss of what do about his photo albums and how he could retrieve them.

"How will I help him recover his memories now?" he said.

His sister, Konan, patted his back and comforted him, "Don't worry bro, we'll get back your precious photos..."

Kochibi admired her for the effort even though he knew that getting it back would be difficult, "Aren't you adorable, Konan?"

In the midst of gulping his third glass of brandy, Rei thought of calling Isabelle. This time, Isabelle answered the call. Hearing him groan gave her the impression that he was drinking.

"Rei-kun? Why are you drinking?" she asked.

Rei sighed as he spoke, "Hey blondie... I just discovered something today..."

She felt her chest tightened as she anticipated on what Rei was going to say afterwards and thought, "Rei... Are you starting to recover your memories?"

"Don't disturb me, Rei. I'll be out of town for a few weeks for a project." she said out of the blue and ended the call afterwards.

She was heavily breathing and thought, "He never drank a single drop of liquor up until now..."