Third Person PoV
( 1 year ago....)
Kiyopon gazed at the horizon, the spark of excitement and wonder was visible in his eyes. The ocean amazed him.
He slowly made his way towards the coastline. He was drawn in by the beauty of the ocean, he didn't expect it to be this....peaceful and calm......the books he'd studied about the ocean never really described its beauty. It was a shame, or perhaps even the writers themselves couldn't find enough adjectives to describe one of earth's greatest wonders.
Matsuo trailed behind with a smile on his face, he was amused by the look of excitement that the usually silent, indifferent, boy would wear in usual days. A complete contrast.
Kiyotaka felt the sand tickle beneath his feet as he began approaching the water which gently pushed on the sand and returned back. A light wave gently made contact with his toes.
Kiyopon stopped and stared at the ocean waves reaching his toes. He knew what water felt like, he knew what the ocean should look like.
But seeing it in person...feels like a different experience.
" We'll be here for a while. So why don't you take a little swim?" Matsuo suggested.
" I'll just be over here while you have fun and experience the beach. I'm too old to swim like I used to anyways." He chuckles.
Kiyopon nodded and walked further into the sea. The water slowly elevating from his legs up to his torso as he sunk deeper the further he walked.
Kiyopon looked at the surrounding water.
He raised his hand which was soaked by the salt water...
He moved it closer to his lips and he licked it a bit.
"....It's salty...." He murmured.
His lips curled up a bit.
" It's salty....heh...." Kiyopon felt fuzzy all over. He assumed that it was positive emotions that were circulating through his inner being as he began splashing around in the water with his arms.
The saltwater tastes salty. An obvious answer, no?
But Kiyopon didn't care, as someone who'd been closed off from the world ever since he was born and only knows his knowledge through the books given to him.....this was one hell of a personal discovery to confirm that knowledge.
Matsuo watched from the distance. He observed the way Kiyopon acted childish in the water, a behavior completely opposite from his usual demeanor.
" He's incredibly childish when he's introduced to new experiences....don't you think so too? Himeko?" He mumbled out loud.
Himeko....
The name of his beloved wife who had passed away 7 years ago.
' I wonder if there'll ever come an opportunity where Kiyotaka could meet our son. Don't you think they'll get along? Even if their personality contrasts with each other....I think with enough time, they could balance each other. ' Matsuo mentally asked his love.
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" Did you have fun?" Matsuo asked once Kiyopon finished swimming.
Kiyopon nods and begins using sign language.
' The beach is wonderful.' He signed.
Matsuo smiles and nods. " Indeed. I'm glad it amused you, young master. " He said before handing Kiyopon a towel to wipe away the excess water.
Kiyopon took it and began wiping his hair.
" Young master, I have somewhere I'd like to go first. Would you like me to drop you off at the mansion? Or would you like to come with me?" Matsuo asked.
Kiyopon tilted his head in question.
" Are you wondering about the place I'm going to? Well, it's something important to me. Haha! Rethinking it now, it'll seem boring to a young man like you. So why don't I just drop you off-"
Kiyopon began waving his hands frantically, interrupting Matsuo, and gesturing him to let him come along.
" Very well, then." Matsuo said.
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Kiyopon followed Matsuo. He gazed at the tombstones with names written on them on each individual stone.
Kiyopon didn't expect this to be the place where Matsuo would be going.
Matsuo stopped walking, staying still as his eyes gazed at a particular grave.
' Matsuo Himeko' was the name written....
Kiyopon silently gazed at the grave and was suprised by this information...
" My wife passed away 7 years ago....I come here on our special days." Was all that Matsuo said before taking out the candles and lighting it. He then place the now lit candles near her grave.
" And the reason why today in particular is special.....is because it's our wedding anniversary." Matsuo smiled fondly and kneeled in front of the stone in a formal manner.
" Happy wedding anniversary, Himeko." He bowed his head slightly in prayer.
Kiyopon didn't know what to do. This was an intimate moment for Matsuo and his departed wife. He stood a few feet away, frozen in his standing position, and silent.
" Ah, my love, I'd like you to meet someone." Matsuo spoke, excitement in his proud tone.
" Kiyotaka-sama, please come here." Matsuo called out to the boy.
Kiyopon hesitates at first but slowly made his way towards Matsuo's side.
Kiyopon decided to follow what Matsuo was doing and also kneeled in the same formal manner.
" This is the child I've been wanting you to meet." Matsuo chuckled before putting a hand on Kiyopon's shoulder and gesturing him to introduce himself.
"...." Kiyopon looked at the grave.
He bowed his head slightly, closing his eyes while doing so.
" ....My name is Ayanokoji kiyotaka...." He said in a soft tone, " It's nice to meet you..."
The cold breeze blew through the trees, many leaves fell from their branches. Silence filled the air.
" See? Isn't he such an awkward boy?" Matsuo laughed and broke the silence.
Kiyopon stopped bowing his head.
" Matsuo..."
" Hm?"
" ....You've never mentioned anything about your wife...." Kiyopon said.
" That's because you never asked." Matsuo said.
"..."
" If you'd like to me questions, then you're to do so right now. " Matsuo said.
" What was she like?" Kiyopon asked.
" A wonderful woman. Beautiful, smart, optimistic, headstrong, stubborn, tough, and the worst at cooking. Eichiiro choked on her food many times...." Matsuo said.
Kiyopon gave him a bewildered look. He was confused about the contradicting traits that wouldn't usually be associated with a term such as ' wonderful' if it included nearly killing her own and being stubborn.
Matsuo finally noticed the look of bewilderment that Kiyopon was giving him, and immediately began talking further...
" Ahaha...those last few details must have contradicted with my earlier statement, right? Hm, well....how do I put this......it's something only a person deeply in love could understand and relate. Even now, even after her passing.....I'm still in love with her because her memory is alive in my mind." He said. " Her being ' wonderful' despite those other aforementioned traits have no effect on how I feel about her."
Matsuo smiled fondly at the grave as he spoke, " You'll understand when you get to that stage in your life."
"..." Kiyopon nodded and accepted that explanation.
He, too, began staring at Himeko's grave again in silence. He wondered if there'll be a time where he could understand Matsuo's words...
But it's only wishful thinking....
He's not free, after all...
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( Present time...)
Kiyopon coughed.
" Here." Suzune immediately handed him the prescribed medicine tablets for his fever and cough, and a glass of water.
Kiyopon took it and drank the medicine with the water.
He places down the empty glass on the tray.
".....Thanks." Kiyopon said.
" No problem." Suzune replied while taking a bite of her own lunch since it was currently lunch time and thus, she could only spend 1 hour before returning to class and then continuing later in the evening once class dismisses.
" Horikita." Kiyopon softly called.
" Hm?" She stopped eating and looked at him.
He gazes at her. " ...It's been a few days since you started coming here.....and not once did you mention anything about our class."
She didn't respond and instead opted to give him a blank stare of her own.
"....How much class points did we lose due to my absence?" He asked.
" None." She quickly replied.
" None? Why?" Kiyopon asked in suprise.
"....When the chairman informed us about your situation. He decided to give you as much time as you need to recover without our class having to lose points..." She explained the truth......well...most of it. She intentionally tried to hide one small truth from him.
Kiyopon observed her facial expression as she said that. And he eventually arrived to one conclusion.
" You're hiding something. What is it?" He asked, straight to the point.
" I'm not-"
" Horikita." He emphasized her name in way where she would have no choice but to confess.
"..." She averted her gaze in an attempt to resist telling. Even if the information was harmless, she didn't want to pressure him to recover fast. She wanted him to take his time.
In other words, she was ready to sacrifice her class points.
" Horikita, what are you hiding...." He asked.
"......."
" Why won't you tell me? Please, I need to know if it's important." Kiyopon pleaded a bit.
" it's...really something you don't need to be concerned about but....." She sighs, giving up. " He added one condition."
Kiyopon waits for her to continue.
" He said that for a month, during your absence....our points will remain unaffected. But once the month ends and you still continue to remain absent.....then the points we'll lose will be equal to your past absences." She explained relucatantly.
"...."
" But please don't worry about it, all right?!" She waved her hands frantically, " Focus on your recovery!"
Kiyopon sighs and lies back down on the bed,
" Anyways....how are you? Mentally speaking, I mean." She asked,
"..." Kiyopon releases a sigh. " I don't know.... I thought I was getting better but...it stopped. "
" ' Stopped'? "
Kiyopon points to his chest. " When I heard the news....I felt a pain in my chest. The weeks that followed, it only grew worse until you showed up and began taking care of me. The pain stopped. That's it. It just....stopped." And he was only left with a deep empty pit.
"....I see...." Suzune nodded.
Kiyopon could tell that Suzune was currently having trouble understanding his current ' feelings' so he decided to dismiss her.
" It's almost time for classes to start......you should go." He told her.
" Ah, okay." Suzune said and quickly packed up her lunch box and other things.
She then headed towards the door. " Okay, I'll be back to take care of you, later." She said.
" Okay." Kiyopon said.
And she finally left.
Kiyopon was about to close his eyes and sleep until he turned over his side and spotted something peculiar on the table.
" Hm?" He sat up and looked at it from a closer view.
It was a key....it wasn't his key but it was-
" Horikita's key..." He mumbled. To be exact, it was Suzune duplicate key for Kiyopon's room that she's been using often to enter especially when he was still asleep. It's often the best time to make his meals.
Kiyopon picked it up and headed to one of the drawers.
He decided to place it inside the drawer for safe keeping until Suzune will visit again later in the afternoon. He was comfortable enough in letting her have her own key to his room, so he'll simply give it back to her once she returns.
Kiyopon opened the drawer and he paused as he looked at the notebook in the drawer.
"...." He stared at the notebook in the drawer.
...
He wasn't ready yet.
He closed the drawer and opened the second drawer, placing the key inside there instead.
He then made his way back to the bed until his eyes landed on his uniform blazer.
He stopped.
He felt an odd feeling forming inside him. It felt uncomfortable the more steps he subconsciously took towards the uniform blazer he wore that day when he saw his father.
His focus landed on the blazer's pockets.
"..." For some unexplained reason, he stuck his hand into one of the pockets and began searching around.
And then he felt something.
He took out a letter.
"...?" He examined the paper and opened it.
His eyes widened in suprise.
' From: Matsuo
To: Kiyotaka '
"...Matsuo? But when...." He looked at the date in which this was written.
' September 4, 2015'
"....A month ago?" He couldn't believe it. Matsuo had written a letter for him....a month before took his own life to appeal to his father.
But why did Kiyopon receive it now?
Was this in his blazer's pocket the entire time?
Did his father sneak it in when he was in close contact without prior notice?
Kiyopon had multiple questions and multiple reasons to automatically discard this letter due to his rising suspicions that his father had something to do with this. What's in this letter probably has the intention of worsening Kiyopon's mental health, so the best decision would be to ignore this letter.
"...."
Right?
"..." He opened the letter.
"...." His eyes widened in shock.
His hands trembled.
And the pain that had once stopped....
It had begun once more....
It was all because of this one letter......that is Matsuo's exact handwriting...
And the first sentence in the letter?
' Dear Kiyotaka,
I regret saving you. In this letter, I will explain all the reasons why I now despise you.-' That was the first sentence.
The first sentence already elicited such a horrified reaction.
But he continued reading....
And when he finished....
His hopeful thinking....went to waste.
Chapter END!
Dropped a nuke right there in the ending, didn't I?
Kiyopon's pain is even worse than before.
I may or may not reveal the full contents of the letter. But the whole subject in the letter was already stated in the first sentence :)
Written by his own butler.
KawaiiLumine, out~