The sound of the Rain

13. Thoughts

Hiroki left the house right after the dinner. He refused to stay in this house for a single second longer than he had to. Hideki watched his brother leaving the house before he went to his study, but on his way, he stopped again in the library, picking up one book. The same book the girl who he met before picked up as first. His mind replayed her dazed face, which brought a smile to his lips. Hideki didn’t realize he was smiling until a few minutes later.

Knock on the door of his study interrupted him. He looked down at the table, reading the title of the book which lay in front of him, trying to figure out why this was the first book that caught her attention.

“Come in,” Hideki called from behind his desk without lifting his eyes.

“How can I help you, sir?” Shiraishi Minato entered the study, stopping his steps in front of the desk, facing his boss. Shiraishi Minato worked as Hideki’s secretary since he became the CEO of the company.

“I need you to find some information for me, Shiraishi,” Hideki told him as he stretched his hand with a small paper in his hand.

“Chisaka Alyia?” Shiraishi asked, confused. For the first time, his master asked for any kind of information about a woman. Hideki lifted his head, staring him in the eyes.

“As you wish, sir,” Minato replied without asking further questions about the woman. The serious look of his master clarified he won’t be answering any kind of questions today. For Minato, it didn’t matter. Once he gets a hold of the information his master asked about, he will know enough about her.

“You may leave, and you should go home for today as well,” Hideki dismissed him. He waited till he left his office, before he scanned the book once again in front of him. Hideki stood longer, with his mind roaming around the memories which slowly came forward. The scent of the peony still presents in there as well, bringing him back to his early age, when times were different. Before his brother was born and the garden was full of beautiful flowers, blooming in the early summer.

The next morning Hideki woke up ready for his upcoming tasks in the company. He had several meetings today and one of the unpleasant one with the competitive company.

“Did you find something about her?” Hideki turned to Minato shortly after lunch. His question surprised him. Usually when he got the task, his Master waited until he collected all the information and handed it to him, but when it came to this young woman, his Master seemed different. He held a strange interest in her.

“Chisaka Alyia, student in the computer science department of the Tokyo college. Working as a shadow writer. Eighteen years old…” Minato presented all the basic information which he could dig out during this short time. It wasn’t difficult since these were the regular ones, but Minato knew his Master wanted deeper information. The look in his eyes told him directly he wanted more. This girl caught his attention but in his memory recollection Hideki never met with her, so it really made him wonder where this sudden obsession came from.

“I am sorry, sir. This is all I could get in a short time. I will report to you once I get more about her past.” Minato informed his master, who only nodded to him. In less than ten minutes they should have attended the board meeting, but Minato saw a distracted look on his Master’s face, reading the paper about the woman, checking her pictures.

***

Hiroki woke up early, as always. Before going to the university, he worked out to get the anger from yesterday’s dinner out of his system. The recap of the conversation with his brother also bothered him. Few years ago, all he wanted was to get close to him, but currently it looked so distant. Just the thought of his past self, trying to get close to his older brother, made him angry, frustrated at being so naïve. Since he was a child, his brother kept distance and acted naughty, whenever he had a chance to hurt him. Yet Hiroki kept trying. Only after his father’s death, he realized what kind of person his brother was when he set him up. Until today he couldn’t forgive him for that and since then only resentment grew in his heart.

Once he had enough of his workout, he collected his stuff and went to the school, waiting in the entrance just to see the girl he met the second day of the school. Although he kept his distance from here and never spoke to her, just to make sure Yuriko wouldn’t cause problems for her, his patience grew shorter with every passing day. For the past few days, the girl looks more tired than usual and his protective instincts over her slowly began resurfacing.

He kept sitting one or two lines behind her in the computing course which he had together with her. His distant and cold expression slowly made the freshmen stop bothering him, so when he sat behind her, no one paid attention to it. Especially since he didn’t talk to her for any reason. He always made sure to have her in his view, but never too obvious for anyone to figure out. Hiroki kept hitting on other girls and continued in his regular lifestyle, except he played with other girls instead of Yuriko.

Hiroki already found out her name. Maybe it was the name which was the same as the girl he had in his old memories. Most of those memories faded over the time but the strong feelings from them remained until today. This girl seemed different. Her personality and her features. The girl he remembered was young, only eight years old when he saw her the last time but the person he followed now was way too different, not to mention he was sure she would remember him, he didn’t change this much and not once their eyes had already met.

Hiroki observed her for half of the day before Yuriko found him in the cafeteria.

“Looking for another for today?” She saw beside him placing her lunch on the table, smiling at him. There was nothing warm or candid in her eyes or in her smile. She was toying with him, trying to get on his nerves, and he knew that. During the last weeks, he wondered why he kept her for so long beside him. Sure, it was convenient, especially since she didn’t bother him about his own matters, but right now, he saw how scheming and dangerous this person was.

“Since you are scaring the others and getting them out of my way, I have no other option.” Hiroki replied, his tone cold as ice.

“You can keep this play as long as you want, but we will be together. Don’t forget that your family still needs the contract with my father.” Yuriko told him. Not even for a second. The smile changed on her lips. She kept her composure, which made Hiroki realize that getting this contract done would be more difficult than he originally expected. His mother gave him one week to come up with the plan, which meant he needed to find the weakness of her father and he had to do it quickly. This left him with only one option. He would have to reply to the connections his name provided. He hated that. It always reminded him how dependent he was on his name.

“Don’t worry about that.” He replied to her before standing up, picking up his trail and leaving the cafeteria. Deep inside, he felt irritated. Angered by everything around him and without realizing where he was going, he bumped into Alyia, making her fall to the ground.

“Watch where you go.” Riko almost instantly scolded him. For the first moment, he gave her a look which would kill anyone, making Riko to instinctively take a step back from him. Seeing her startled face made him realize he knew her. She was a friend of Alyia, which made him look down at the girl who fell.

“I am sorry.” He said, offering her hand. The leftovers from his plate were all over her clothes. Seeing her wet from the spilled soup and the food on her made him feel guilty. He didn’t mean to hurt her.

“It’s alright.” She replied to him. Alyia looked at her clothes and noticed that her shirt became soaked with the soup, making it semi transparent. Almost immediately, she covered her chest with her hands.

“Here.” Hiroki took off his jacket, handing it to her. She put it on, covering her chest. She felt embarrassed, but she couldn’t feel angry at him. The moment she looked up at his face and locked her eyes with his, she saw how startled he was by seeing her on the ground. She tried to stand up while smiling at him softly, but her ankle gave up on her and she almost instantly ended up on the ground again. With his first instinct, Hiroki leaned forward wanting to help her but then he realized that just a moment ago he spoke with Yuriko which made her present painful in his mind. He couldn’t show any kind of care unless he wanted Yuriko to be on Alyia’s back.

Riko finally unfrozen from the shock of seeing murdering gaze of his, and went to her friend's side, helping her on her feet.

“You should take her to the infirmary.” Hiro said before collecting the dropped plates and left them. Frustration from yesterday and with what happened today left a deep mark in his mind. For the first time in his life, he felt completely helpless. He wanted to speak with her. Those doe eyes when she looked up at him, with no resentment despite what he did to her. The only thing he saw written there was understanding. His entire body screamed to go back, pick her up from the ground and carry her to the infirmary, but he knew he couldn’t do that. He literally stormed out of the cafeteria, straight out of the college to his bike. His heart was pounding from anger and despair. A lot of mixed emotions swirled inside him, making it painful to even breathe. Why was his life so messed up? Why did he have to be surrounded by people like his family or Yuriko? Why did he have to be born into this family? Those questions popped into his mind one by one, making his frustration almost unbearable.

As he drove his bike around the city, directly to the highway, the increasing speed made everything around him disappear. Only blurred lines lining his way and there, at the end of those lines, in front of him, her face. Those two eyes which saw straight through him, straight to his heart. Those two eyes which could read everything in his mind.