APRICITAS [ENG] || Johan Liebert || Monster

Chapter 2 - Ren Yamasaki

"It must have been some cat from the neighborhood run by, or some bird has lost its way to the tree... " She thought, but after a while there was a second tap, louder this time. The girl sighed heavily, got up from the bed and slowly approached the window, then pushed the window frame up and looked outside. A dark silhouette stood by the fence that separated the house from the street.

"Emiko-chan... it's me." The girl smiled weakly, recognizing her close childhood friend.

"What are you doing here, Ren-kun? You're not at the sakura festival?" The boy scratched the back of his head with one hand.

"I was. Risa-san is also there... But we miss you. Will you come with me?" Emiko sighed again.

"I wanted to go, but..." She felt a sob choke in her throat, so she swallowed quickly and managed a smile at Ren so as not to worry him. "Some things happened today... and... and I decided to go to bed early. Have fun together without me... Maybe another time..." Ren, however, was not so easily fooled. From the tone of her voice, he clearly sensed some compulsion, as if she was trying to suppress something in herself and she was fighting it all by herself, instead of asking others for help... But Emiko who he know for so long time, always was like this - she never wanted others to be worried by her problems, but, if somebody close to her heart had problems, she helped him in every way she could think of. This is why she was so special to him... and that's why he wanted to help her, too, whatever was going to happen. He clenched his fist.

"Emiko-chan... If you don't want to go to the festival, maybe you come with me on the walk?"

"But Ren-kun, I..."

"I can clearly see something happened." The young man interrupted her and continued choosing his words carefully. "But if you don't want to talk about it, it's okay... But if there is something you want to talk about, I'll listen to you..." Emiko nodded and closed her eyes, smiling a little.

"Give me 5 minutes." She said, then disappeared behind a closed glass of the window.

****

The park next to the housing estate was mostly bathed at night and with quiet gusts of wind, but street lamps were burning here and there. The same atmosphere was also in the vicinity of the playground, where Ren and Emiko sat together on two swings, staring at the space that was spread out before their eyes. Neither of them had spoken so far, and there was silence, disturbed only occasionally by cars passing along the main street.

The young woman took a deep breath once and twice, then began her story about what happened to her today. She talked about her brother, about not believing in his guilt, and about the fact that if he was actually chased by the police, he had to be framed by someone; she also added her childhood memories and all the values that her brother passed on to her as a child when he was caring for her. She didn't even skip the story about the violet cup that survived today's events. Ren listened to her story with a serious expression.

For a long time, actually since they met, Emiko always told him about her beloved older brother Kenzo and how important he was to her; so that even Ren felt there was something strange about it all... even sinister. A neurosurgeon who has devoted his entire life to saving his patients' lives would suddenly kill a man? Many people? Unlikely... Even if it was a very stressful job, he had the genes of a family that could show their strength at the most unexpected moments. There was definitely something missing here, a single part, in the whole puzzle.

"Ren-kun I... I decided to go to Germany." Emiko said with a voice full of determination. The young man looked her straight in the eyes, slightly surprised.

"What about your studies?" After these words, he bit his tongue and wanted to mentally hit his own head. Firmly. What the hell is he thinking about? That question, in the face of this whole situation, was the stupidest question he could ask!