Chapter 9: Close

The boy arrived way before the time. He could hear, through the closed door of the Takenouchi apartment, Sora's voice. She was talking to her parents, but Koushiro couldn't really understand what they were saying.

He stood there, feeling too awkward to knock on the door. The boy looked down, glancing at the orange shirt with short leaves and the jeans pants he was wearing. Perhaps he should have dressed more formally, but Koushiro didn't know what kind of attire was expected for a conversation with the uncle who had abandoned him.

Thinking about that still made his heart ache, no matter how hard he tried to be reasonable. In the end, Koushiro was still assaulted by deep sadness whenever he thought about the man's rejection.

Suddenly, Sora opened the door. Startled, Koushiro took a step backwards. The girl was wearing a white sleeveless shirt and blue pants.

"Koushiro-kun, you're here already?" she sounded surprised. "Did you just arrive?"

"Y-yeah..." he lied. "I couldn't really stay at home any longer..."

"Anxious, huh?" Sora guessed. "I'm taking my phone with me, so you can call me if you need."

"Taking your phone...? Are you going out?" Koushiro asked.

"Mom invited me to go out with her. She thinks that you and Dad should talk alone," Sora explained. "But if you want me to stay-"

"No, please!" Koushiro declined. "I'm going to be okay! Please, don't worry about me!"

Sora gave him a sad look and said:

"How could I not worry about you? I care a lot about you, Koushiro-kun!"

Those words warmed his heart. Ever since the day they first met, Sora had always been kind to him. She was kind to everybody, but, due to their particular circumstances, it would be understandable if she started to avoid him. Instead, Sora worried about the boy and wanted to make sure he was okay.

Despite his complicated feelings towards her father, a new feeling began to bloom in the boy's heart. It was like a sense of pride for knowing that he was related to such a wonderful person. After Taichi, Sora was the friend he admired the most.

"Listen, Sora-san..." Koushiro began to say. "I think that... I mean... if you... I want you to know that you can drop honorifics with me if you find it odd to keep calling me 'Koushiro-kun' after knowing we're... I mean... whatever you find best!"

Sora studied him with a serious expression for half a minute.

"Listen..." she spoke in a soft tone and showed him a small smile, "I'd love to call you without honorifics, but I don't want to do that without being sure that you're okay with it."

"Plenty of people don't use honorifics with me!" Koushiro stated.

"And yet, you use them with everyone," Sora contested. "I don't want to be just another person who treats you casually while you're still formal to me. It wouldn't feel right."

"Then..." Koushiro hesitated. "You're saying that you would only do that if I dropped honorifics first?"

Koushiro would be lying if he said he didn't wish to drop honorifics with the people he was closest to in his life. Although he had been learning to act more naturally and be more honestly, the honorifics were still a wall he couldn't take down. When would he feel safe enough and close enough to someone to finally stop using them?

"Please, don't take that as pressure! I don't want to make you feel pressured or anything like that!" Sora assured. "It's okay if we keep treating each other with honorifics if it makes you more comfortable!"

"I-I understand! Please, don't worry!" Koushiro told her.

Then, Sora's mother approached the door. She was wearing black pants and a social purple blouse. Koushiro wasn't sure if he had seen her before. The woman, who had been given him a guilty look, bowed to the boy.

"I am immensely sorry!" she said. "I should've done more for you! If I had been more insistent with my husband... I'm so sorry! I should have taken care of you!"

"M-Mom..." Sora muttered, looking sadly at her mother's trembling body.

"P-Please, don't apologize!" Koushiro pleaded. "I-It's okay-"

"Of course what I did was not okay!" the woman affirmed, straightening her posture. "When I wrong someone, the only honorable courses of actions are to apologize and to be better. I can't erase my mistakes from the past, but I promise you I'll be here for you, whenever you need."

It felt strange to have an adult apologize to him, especially in a such a serious manner. Unsure about how to react, Koushiro bowed and thanked her. Both Sora and her mother smiled.

Koushiro entered the apartment, leaving his snickers close to the door at the same time that Sora and her mother put their shoes on. They shared good-byes before leaving. Sora closed the door.

Koushiro turned around and saw Takenouchi Haruhiko standing in the middle of the corridor. The man was wearing social brown pants and a long-sleeved light blue shirt with buttons. He looked at the boy with apprehension and guilt, but didn't avert his eyes.

"I prepared some tea and rice balls... they're in the living room..." Haruhiko's voice was low and hesitant, as if he was afraid of something. "We could talk there if you want... or it could be somewhere else... wherever you find it better..."

"It's okay, we can go there," Koushiro told him. He wasn't hungry or thirsty, but he thought it would be rude to decline.

On the short-legged table in the living room, there was a tea pot between two empty cups and a large plate with at least fifteen rice balls. Koushiro and Haruhiko kneeled on a pillow each, across from each other. Haruhiko immediately offered to pour tea for the boy; Koushiro accepted, quickly taking a sip of it.

"It's delicious!" Koushiro complimented.

"Thank you..." Haruhiko said back. His expression was still serious and his movements were rigid.

Koushiro took a rice ball and waited for the adult to talk first. After almost two minutes, the man finally said:

"I'm sorry."

Was that it? Did Koushiro go there to hear an apology that consisted of only two words? There had to be more than that! Nevertheless, Haruhiko remained silent.

Koushiro could feel that familiar anger burning his insides again. How could he say just that after all the heartache he had put the boy through? After abandoning him? Did he even take a look at Koushiro before making that decision, more than a decade before? Did he at least know who was going to take care of the boy?

"Did you know my parents back then?" Koushiro inquired in a controlled voice. "The Izumis, I mean. Did you know them?"

"I saw them a couple of times," Haruhiko answered. "They seemed nice."

"Then, you didn't actually know them..." Koushiro murmured, focusing on the rice ball he was still holding. "Did you talk to them before...?"

"My wife talked to them... she was convinced that they were indeed good people and would take care of you..." Haruhiko replied, smiling at the other. "You seem to be a healthy child... and you're also very polite. They really did take good care of you, didn't they?"

"They did..." Koushiro confirmed in low voice, looking at the cup of tea instead of the man.

"I'm glad!" Haruhiko told him. "I knew... I was sure that you would be better off without me! I'm glad that really was the case!"

Koushiro placed the rice ball back on the plate. It was getting harder to keep his burning emotions under control.

"You never bothered to check on them or to check on me," Koushiro stated, glaring at Haruhiko. "All this time, you just hoped that I'd be okay and yet you did nothing to be sure of it... you let two people you didn't know adopt your nephew! It's true that I grew up with two loving parents, but what if I wasn't that lucky? What if they were neglectful or treated me badly? You would never know!"

"Toshiko-san talked to them!" Haruhiko said. "She made sure-"

"But you didn't talk to them! You didn't check on them! You didn't do anything!" Koushiro accused. "If it wasn't for your wife... i-if the Izumis hadn't offered to... what would have happened to me? What would you have let happen to me...?"

Koushiro could feel the tears coming and closed his eyes. He didn't want to cry in front of that man.

"I understand that my behavior was inexcusable..." Haruhiko's voice was filled with shame. "When I lost my sister... it was a huge shock to me. I wouldn't leave my room, I wouldn't eat... I couldn't even pay attention to my surroundings... I kept waiting for Ame to appear and tell me that everything had been a huge misunderstanding... but she never came. I thought that agony would surely kill me. It got to a point..." he sobbed "... to think of her became unbearable to me. I was in no conditions of doing anything. And I know how awful it sounds but I couldn't stand the idea of having you around... you would be a living reminder of her absence... to be near you would break my heart every day!"

Koushiro opened his eyes and looked at the man. Haruhiko had several tears streaming down his face and was sobbing loudly.

"I'm sorry I was weak and selfish!" Haruhiko continued. "I'm sorry I ran from my responsibilities! I'm horrible! Despicable! I failed both you and my sister! I'm sorry! I'm so deeply sorry! I-If you can ever forgive me... if you let me, I'll do everything to make things right between us. I know I can't change the past and that you have every right not to want me in your life, but if you allow me... I promise I will never fail you again!"

Haruhiko bowed to him.

Koushiro could feel his anger dissipating.

"Isn't my presence still bothersome to you?" the boy asked. "When we first met, you couldn't even look at me."

Haruhiko straightened his posture and looked at Koushiro. The tears were still falling, but he didn't look away.

"I was afraid of seeing her in you," Haruhiko explained. "That fear was so great, I didn't even pay attention to how you looked like. Now that I'm looking at you, I'm noticing a few things."

"What things?" Koushiro asked.

Haruhiko smiled before answering:

"Your eyes are black. Not brown, like hers. Your hair is the same color as hers, but Ame's was straight, not spiky. Her eyebrows were also different. It's funny..." Haruhiko smirked, "... as it turns out, you resemble Shunsui-san way more than Ame. If I had noticed that sooner... if I had paid attention to you..."

The man frowned.

"There's no point in imagining how things could have been different. We can't change the past," Koushiro said. "Imagining alternative versions of my life never brought me happiness."

"You... did that a lot?" Haruhiko inquired.

"In the beginning, after I overheard my parents talking about my adoption," Koushiro informed. "Imagining what had happened to my other parents... wondering if they had died or abandoned me or something else... doing that only made me feel worse. It got to a point when I couldn't bear to think about it anymore and tried to escape. Because of that, I dedicated most of my time to the computer."

"That wasn't a bad way to escape from your torment..." Haruhiko told the boy. "You never abandoned anyone who needed you. Nor did you move to another town, away from your wife and daughter. Sora told me about how you were always helping your friends in the Digital World... she had lost count of how many times you saved them. Koushiro, you never let your pain stop you from doing the right thing and helping others. You're very strong and admirable... and immensely kind!"

Koushiro usually felt uncomfortable when people praised him. However, to hear those words from his uncle touched his heart. Even though he intellectually knew he didn't need Haruhiko's approval, it still made him happy. The feeling of rejection the boy had carried with him for so long were finally being replaced by something more pleasant. He was being filled with peace.

"There's something I would like to ask..." Koushiro muttered. "My parents knew my father better than my mother, so I've heard more stories about him. If it's not bothersome, could you please tell me things about her? What kind of person was she? What did she like to do?"

Haruhiko stared at him with a serious expression. Koushiro thought he was going to deny his request. It was a hurtful subject for him, after all. To his surprise, Haruhiko smiled at him.

"Of course! I can tell you everything! Where do I start? Let's see..." Haruhiko said, putting a hand under his chin, "I think I should start from the beginning. She was born during a storm when I was five years old. I've always wondered if that was the reason why she liked lightening and thunder so much."

Koushiro smiled largely after hearing that. He liked those things as well.

The boy didn't feel the hours passing by him as he listened to the stories Haruhiko had about his mother. The woman who used to be nothing more than an abstract idea was becoming more real after each word he listened about her.

Koushiro didn't notice the return of Sora and her mother until they were both in the living room, surprised to see them still talking. That was also when the boy realized he had eaten most of the rice balls on the plate. Toshiko invited him to stay for lunch. Koushiro thanked her, but said that he had to go home because his parents were waiting for him. Before the boy stood up, Haruhiko picked a pen and a paper from his pocket and wrote something down.

"My cellphone number and my e-mail," Haruhiko said as he gave the paper to his nephew. "If you ever want to talk more, please contact me."

"Thank you!" Koushiro said back, smiling.

Sora accompanied the boy to the door.

"It seems that things went well between the two of you!" Sora commented while Koushiro put his snickers on. He didn't remember ever seeing her that happy.

"To be honest, I was afraid of how things would turn out..." Koushiro confessed. "I'm glad I took the risk and talked to him."

"I had the feeling you would get along well with him!" Sora said, beaming at the boy.

Koushiro was so happy, it felt strange. It was as if he was made of warmth and tranquility at that moment. He was closer to Sora than ever before. That proximity didn't scare him nor did it make him anxious. He felt at peace and safe in her presence. Koushiro didn't want that feeling to ever fade away.

"Let's hang out more times during this summer," Koushiro proposed. "It could be with Taichi-san and Yamato-san or just the two of us. I'd like... it'd make me happy if I could spend more time with you."

"I would love that!" Sora told him.

Koushiro crossed the door, but he didn't want to leave yet. There was still something he wanted to do. One last risk to take, one last wall to destroy... he could feel it in his reach for the first time and decided to act before his courage disappeared. He turned to face the girl one last time, took a deep breath and said:

"See you soon, Sora!"

She was shocked at first, but it didn't last long. Her eyes soon became brimmed with happy tears as a huge smile took over her face.

"See you soon, Koushiro!"

The two cousins would meet many times during that summer and after it. For the rest of their lives, they would be there for each other.

Thank you very much for reading this story and for the lovely reviews!