FACADE ( the GazettE Tale )

Chapter Fifteen : Closing the Distance

I rang the doorbell once.

I was in front of a mansion. Outside the thick metallic gates designed in a very intricate way. There was a field of green grass, filling the gap from the house and the gate. Two black cars were parked a few meters away from a bungalow that looked like a garage.

Hamasaki Aya came from an affluent family.

I shouldn't be surprised since the very first time I met her was at my father's masquerade ball where all of the guests were his business partners or a very influential people.

A man in his mid fifties in a black suit went out of the double doors. He walked straight towards the gate and opened it.

"You must be Matsumoto Ruki, Miss Aya is waiting for you."

He ushered me in and locked the gate back before he walked beside me towards the mahogany double door. The man opened one of the doors then gestured his hand for me to go inside.

I walked in the cream colored marble floor. The entry wall caught my attention. It was wide and made from dark green granite with crystals. There was a wide staircase a few steps from me near the fireplace. The whole house looked serene with a touch of sophistication. At my far right was a big framed family picture hanged at the center of a stoned wall lightened from the back.

I stopped to take a look. They were wearing the traditional clothes of Japan. The woman who looked like she was in her early thirties was smiling warmly. She was in a white and purple kimono, her black hair was styled like that of geisha's. The man was wearing a hakama, his eyes were squinted behind his clear glasses but his smile was wide. Between them was a little girl, a seven or eight year old brunette girl smiling brightly, also wearing her little kimono.

"Ruki."

When her scent filled the place, I instantly heard the whisper of my thirst. But when I turned around and locked my gaze with hers, it was all pushed back. She was wearing a white dress that ends below her knees paired with black ballet shoes. Seeing her wearing this aside from her uniform was refreshing to my eyes. "Hamasaki."

Her gaze shifted to the photo behind me then she smiled. "That's... my family picture."

I looked back at it. "That's your parents."

"Yes."

"Businessman?" I asked vaguely. I didn't want to ask her about her parent's business connection to mine.

She nodded. "Mom took over the business after my father died."

The news shocked me. "When?"

"When I was ten." She mumbled.

"I'm sorry for your lost."

She smiled a genuine one. "Thank you. It was too long ago it doesn't affect me much now."

"I see." The thought of Hamasaki Aya grieving for her lost as a child came unbinding in my mind. It was maddening, I cleared my throat.

Hamasaki Aya looked down as if embarrassed. "Mom is... here, somewhere. She wants to meet you."

"Meet me?"

"Well..." She fidgeted her fingers. "This is the second time that someone from my school comes for a visit... Uh... You're not really visiting but.. uhm.. You know what I mean."

"I understand." I said but I heard something unpleasant. "Who's the first?"

My question made her look up at me. "Huh?"