-Chapter 137: I Blame On You
I stare at Gai as he sits there, holding onto his umbrella. I've tracked him down so I can see what he is up to today. It seems like he's going to be colliding with Aruto and the others. I wonder if Yua will fight alongside him.
"There is a Humagear still on the loose. Why are you still here?" Gai asks as two A.I.M.S. officers move in front of him. I'm going to have to join in now aren't I?
I move forward, coming out from behind where I was hiding, and clear my throat. "Aruto, I will be providing assistance to you for this matter."
"You are far too naive, Yua," Gai states, standing up and turning to us. "I thought that you would think about things clearer once you learned the truth about Isamu Fuwa. It appears that you haven't." What does he mean the truth about him?
"Truth? What the hell are you even talking about? What are you keeping to yourself now, Amatsu?" Isamu asks, sounding ticked off. I turn my head, staring at Isamu, and swallow.
I don't know what he has on Isamu at all. Gai hasn't said anything about having something about him that he doesn't know. I am unable to even interfere properly in this matter.
"Fuwa..." Yua seems worried about what is about to be said.
I look back at Gai. "What are you getting at?"
"I can only imagine that she'll be tormented if it remains a secret," Gai says, ignoring our questions. "Please allow me to enlighten you."
"Fuwa!" Yua rushes up to Isamu and pushes him back, trying to keep him away from my ex.
"Your memories from that day, which was twelve years ago, were all fabricated," Gai states and I gasp.
Fabricated? Did Gai put those awful things in his head? That made Isamu hate Horobi so much! Horobi did nothing to him then and he wrongfully went at him. He owes Horobi an apology and I owe Horobi one for thinking he did do something to Isamu.
"They're fake?" Isamu asks, sounding shocked.
"You really thought that rampant HumaGears would attack a middle school? That never happened," Gai says, smiling like a crazy person.
"Gai..." He's really insane. "You're crazy for doing that to someone! How could you do that to someone who didn't do anything wrong to you?" I am so upset right now! Horobi got attacked by Isamu for no reason at all.
"It...it was all a lie then?" Isamu is so having a identity crisis right now, but I can't help him with that at the moment.
Gai's eyes go to me. "You aren't the party who is harmed by this revelation."
"But I am harmed by this. Isamu has been hunting Horobi with hatred in his heart for something Horobi never did to him. How can you think that is fine? Horobi has done awful things, but he was getting punished by Isamu for something he never even did." Isamu was hurtful to him for no real reason other than believing a fake memory.
"That can't be!" Isamu exclaims, rushing forward, and A.I.M.S. moves forward. Well, two of the one who follow Gai around are blocking Isamu with their guns on him now.
"I didn't know it either," Yua says, finally speaking after the last time she did. "I had no idea until he told me earlier."
"If you could do that, Gai, then you could have done that to me." I can't believe that he really didn't use that kind of power on me. He could have made me his willing wife all he wanted, but that probably wouldn't get him going.
"It wouldn't be a good marriage if I forced your hand completely now would it?" Gai's eyes go to Isamu, staring him down.
I look at Isamu as he gets on his knees, still in shock. "Everything that I thought happened isn't real? I believed in something that wasn't real? It kept me going..."
"Isamu..." I wish I could comfort him, but I don't know what it is like to have fake memories in me.
"It was a lie. I did it to make effective use of you because you're my tool," Gai tells him, stepping forward and dropping his left hand to his side. He lowers himself, staring at Isamu with a cruel smile on his face, and I swallow hard. Someone slap him for me.
"I don't have any dreams, but I do have principles. As an engineer, I have them," Yua says and I look over at her as she puts her belt on. She's going to fight my ex right now?
"Beg your pardon, Yua?" Gai asks her.
"Technology only serves a purpose when it benefits people who use it!"
"Are you addressing me?" Gai shouts and I stumble back as my body begins shaking.
"Mari!" Aruto exclaims, putting his arms around me. "It is okay, alright? He's talking to Yua."
I close my eyes, nodding. "I know." I'm still a bit afraid of him and his raging though. He is an awful man who made the Ark what it is today.
"Yes, I'm addressing you! You're using technology to trample on the dreams of people!" Yua responds, shouting as well. I open my eyes and look over at her as she stands in front of Gai bravely. "And I...I will not let you get away with crushing those dreams any longer!" She pulls out her key and activates it, transforming quickly.
Gai pulls out his, his umbrella no longer in hand, and he transforms. "I guess I will have to dispose of you as well."
Aruto shoves me to the side as an A.I.M.S. officer moves towards us. Izu catches me and I turn as Aruto dodges the attack from the officer. He puts his belt on and transforms, quickly getting into action.
"Mari, I have brought you something to use," a voice says and I turn. Kairi steps towards me, holding out a gun of some sort. "It is made by Allen to use to assist the riders when they need a distraction to help them get ahead in a fight."
She tosses it and I catch it, my eyes going to it. I don't need to transform for this do I? Neat.
"Mari, help Aruto," Kairi says, her eyes going to Isamu. "I will check on the boss."
"Alright." I nod. "We all have our things to do." And we should do them.
The A.I.M.S. officers transform and I point the gun at them as Izu releases me from her hold. I fire at them as Aruto's transformation officially completes. Metal Cluster Hopper is so cool!
I look over at Yua as she gets hit by Gai and I point my gun at him. I fire at him and he gets hit in the chest. I hope Isamu can get into action soon. He needs to. I can only do so much to help her out right now, which means he needs to join.
I turn back to Aruto as he dominates the two A.I.M.S. members with ease. I hope I bought Yua sometime for Isamu to join her. I am going to focus on supporting Aruto right now. That is my place in this.
"Mari, you can stand down now," Aruto tells me. "I'll finish this up. Thank you for the assist."
"No problem, dear," I respond, nodding my head as my lips curve upwards. I don't really want to transform right now, so this will do.
I turn my head as Gai gets hit by the finisher of Yua. He falls down to the side and I point my gun down to the ground. She did it! She beat Gai and is free of him now! I am so proud of her and can't wait to party over this.
Gai pushes himself off the ground and moves forward as Yua moves towards him. He picks his ZAIA Specs off the ground and puts them on. When did everyone get out of their transformations? It is always so quick!
He touches the side of it as Yua points her gun at him. "Obey me!"
She winces and tosses her gun to the side, probably landing in Isamu's hand. She takes a few more steps forward and grabs him by the shirt. She lifts up her free hand and punches him across the face, sending him back.
"Mari, shall we get out of here?" Kairi asks me.
"Yeah, let's." I will be taking her back.
~.~
"It is a good thing that she is done working with him," I say, bringing up Yua ditching Gai after a million years of working for him. "She was our biggest fan. She wanted me to continue our affair, but I told her you're more than that to me."
Aruto looks away from the TV and looks at me. "She wanted us to keep seeing each other? Wasn't she loyal to Gai?"
"She knew my relationship with him wasn't in a good state. She knew he saw me as a prop," I reply, looking away from his eyes. "She didn't know how bad it truly was, but she knew it was bad."
"I am sorry that you had to be stuck in a horrible marriage. I am upset that I couldn't free you from it easily. I thought I did it, but we fell right into his trap."
I look back at him and shake my head. "No, I fell into it. I knew it was too easy to get away and ignored it. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt." I thought he could move on, but that was my fault for thinking so.
My stupidity has brought so many bad things to Aruto. I didn't think for a moment to let him know that Gai was probably up to something. I didn't want to ruin our moment of happiness.
"You did a good thing by thinking that way. You were positive and hopeful that he would just move on. You did nothing wrong."
"I allowed him to think he could get away with everything all because I knew he could trap me in the marriage. No one would dare help me out against him. His high position keeps him safe from officially ending it," I state, looking away from him again. "I know how these things work. When I was with Allen, no one would dare to help me. Other women had the same issue and just learned to live with the abuse."
People make it seem easy to get a divorce, but it is really isn't when the person has connections and can make you seem like you're at fault. The risk of losing everything and having shame is enough to scare the woman back into submission. I only gained the upper hand by knowing that my ex-husband wouldn't think I would backstab him any longer. I recorded the abuse and got out. I'm lucky to be here still.
"Is he anything like Allen?"
"I think he's worse than Allen. Sure, he never laid a hand on me, but he did worse than Allen did. My skin can heal with ease, but my mind won't truly heal from what he has put me through."
No matter if I get over it, I'll still remember the pain of being stuck as Gai Amatsu's wife. It was the most painful time of my life. The constant fear of being stopped from living my life caused me so much anxiety and I just stopped being able to live properly for a bit. Aruto has made it better for me to keep living and I'm so thankful for him for that.
"I never thought about how hard it is to be as high up as you are in society. I know I'm a CEO, but that doesn't make me like them. I'm new to it and don't use my money to get what I want."
I look back at Aruto and nod. "Yeah, I know you're like that. I just remember knowing a ton of women who didn't care about being abused. They could tolerate it for wealth and the title of being a rich man's woman. That was enough for them."
"How do you two deal with it?" I ask the two women who are married to Allen's close business friends.
I am aware of what goes on in their marriage because I can see the signs of it. I can tell that they are covering bruising from the beatings from upsetting him slightly and I can see the fear in their eyes of being seen as a victim. They don't want anyone to know their secret and will do anything to keep it hidden.
The two women are beautiful with fancy jewels and nice hair. They having nice clothing, which is red on Janet and the other girl has blue, and they smell nice. I'm wearing a beige dress and have my hair down. I'm pretty, but I don't feel like it is worth being this pretty while dealing with pain.
"You too, huh?" Janet asks me, sighing a bit. "What a shame. At least you don't get hit in the face. I heard a rumor that you look like his late wife. Does that mean anything to him still?"
I look down, nodding. "It is because of his late wife, Elise."
"Thought so. I remember her being at parties. We're not supposed to talk about her, but you're with us and we know," Janet responds. "You want to know how we tolerate it, huh?"
I look back up and nod. "Y-yes."
The other woman, who I think is named Carmen, looks around. "Should we even be talking about this here?"
"They do not care as long as we're not trying to get away. It is pointless to do so. I've tried once and couldn't. He told me he'll give me all of his money if he dies as long as his heir can take over. I gave in since it was such an obvious choice. I want the stability," Janet says. She only wants the stability? What's the point in having that if you're going to suffer for it?
Carmen looks at me. "Yeah, money is worth the pain. I can tolerate it. Can't you just deal with it and learn how to be good to your husband? I bet you're always causing him trouble."
"Ah..." Tolerate it, huh? "Right..."
"Stop trying to run and support him with all you got. That is what you are for now that you married into this lifestyle. Deal with it," Janet tells me, giving me her 'best' advice.
"Yeah, don't run. If you keep running, it'll only get worse for you. It is best to let your husband do what he wants with you. You'll get used to it in time once you stop resisting."
"I bet they thought you were odd for wanting out," he tells me, moving closer to me and putting his arms around me. "I don't think you're weird for wanting out. It was the right thing to do."
I nod a little and smile. "It was more of 'Why would you marry someone rich if you can't deal with the consequences' than 'Deal with it and stay married', Aruto. Of course, some did tell me to put up with it so I can have many children and all. We both know how that turned out."
"Yeah, I was told about it many times. You're unable to have children with ease now. Are you still on the medication?"
"Ah, yeah..." I am still on it and haven't been that safe with him. "But don't worry! I've been taking pregnancy tests and all of them have been negative. I'll probably never have children at this rate."
"If you were able to have kids again, what would you name them?"
I haven't really given that a thought exactly. I mean, I did a long time ago, but it went no where. My pregnancies ended pretty much as soon as they even started.
"For a daughter, I do have a name picked out. Hana," I tell him, looking away from him and back at the TV as a commercial about backpacks plays. "I don't have a name for a son yet."
"Why that name? Hana is a pretty name, but I want to know the reason for it."
"It means flower in Japanese if I remember correctly. I want her to bloom into a beautiful flower that doesn't make the same mistakes as I have."
If I have a daughter, she's bloom into a flower that doesn't have to worry about anyone else bothering her. She'll be the prettiest flower among them and will be strong. She will not need a man and she'll be tough towards those who challenge her.
"I hope you're able to have a daughter and son one day."
"No, I hope that we can," I tell him, smiling a bit more as my face starts heating up. "I would like to have a family with you, Aruto."
His eyes go wide as he pulls back from me a bit. "With me?"
I nod as my face burns hotter. "Why not? I want to have a family with you."
I am sure of being with Aruto and having a family with him one day. He just needs to believe in me a lot more and not worry about that Humagear he's absolutely jealous of. I just hope he can do so.
"Are you sure you want to have a family with me? One hundred percent sure of it?" His eyes are still wide, which is cute. I have totally caught him off guard over it and that is fine with me.
"I am." I am ready to have a family with Aruto at any moment if that is what God wants for me. "I want to have kids with you and grow old together."
"Mari, I don't know what to say."
"Then don't say anything at all and just hold me close to you. Also, don't let me go or else someone else might try and get me. I don't want to be close to anyone else, Aruto."
"Alright, I won't."