3:46 p.m.
"Hmm-hmm-hmm-♬"
Ruby hummed to herself, strolling lightly around the waiting room with a happy smile. Aqua, too, stared fixedly at the TV monitor with a flushed face and blue eyes.
The second half had begun, and the members of [B Komachi] could be seen stepping onto the stage on the TV monitor.
After coming back from the restroom, Miyako let out a breath and said to the twins, "Phew—do you need to go to the bathroom?"
At Miyako’s question, Ruby and Aqua looked at the TV monitor and replied, "Nope, nope~ We’re fine~"
"I’m okay!"
Watching the twins fangirl in her place, staring intently at the TV monitor, Miyako snorted softly. She took out her phone, set it on the table beside the sofa, and sat down.
As soon as she sat, Ruby held out a hand to Miyako, her eyes sparkling. "Phone! Phone!"
"Huh? You already looked at it earlier, didn’t you?"
"I have to look again! I need to get on Twitter and check the live trends fast!"
"Phew... Fine, but only ten minutes! Too much screen time will ruin your eyes and your brain, you know?"
"Mm-hmm~ Got it~☆"
Even as the daughter of a divine messenger, she was still Ai’s daughter through and through; even her answer was the same.
Miyako picked up the iPhone she had set on the table beside the sofa, unlocked it, and handed it to Ruby.
Delighted, Ruby hummed as she opened Twitter.
"Hmm-hmm-hmm-♬ Trending! Trending!"
No doubt the whole thing would be filled with Mom’s concert!
But when Ruby checked the live trends after entering Twitter—
"Eh?"
She froze, her body going stiff.
At the top of the trends, as if mocking her expectations, was—
[Kaoru Kamiki Dead]
"...No. No way—don’t be ridiculous!!! Why Dad?!!!"
Ruby shook her head in denial, tears welling in her eyes. Startled by Ruby’s sudden outburst, Aqua and Miyako turned to look at her.
Ruby immediately tapped the screen to check the tweets.
< [Exclusive Breaking News] Actor Kaoru Kamiki attacked with a knife by an assailant in front of his home... unconscious>
< [Breaking] Kaoru Kamiki rushed to Tokyo University Hospital by ambulance after knife attack... in critical condition >
< [Breaking] Kaoru Kamiki dies in the emergency room at Tokyo University Hospital... apparently from excessive blood loss >
"No. No. No. No!!! No!!! Waaah— no!!!!! It’s a lie!!! There’s no way Dad would—!!!"
"Ruby?! What is it?!"
"What happened to make you react like that?!"
Ruby, shocked by the tweets, clutched her head and burst into tears.
The phone she had thrown down hit the floor.
Startled, Aqua ran to Ruby, checked her condition, and picked up the fallen phone to look at the screen.
"...!?"
Aqua sucked in a sharp breath.
His heart dropped with a heavy thud, and for a moment his mind went blank.
When Miyako took the phone and checked the tweets—
"...This is...?"
She went pale as well, covering her mouth with her right hand, her eyes shaking.
As the twins and Miyako were thrown into confusion by the thunderbolt of a report, Ai’s trembling voice came from the TV monitor.
"—I don’t think I’ll be able to join you. I’m sorry."
"Ai?!!"
"Eh?!"
"Where are you going—!?"
"Ai!!!"
"—"
As Ai’s phone fell to the floor, Nino heard it and came over to pick it up for her.
"Your phone... Huh? Ai?"
Her face was literally white as paper. Seeing Ai trembling like a person whose soul had left her body, tears gathering in her eyes, Nino sensed something was wrong and carefully placed a hand on her shoulder.
"What’s wrong all of a sudden, Ai? Did something happen...?"
"Everyone, please head up! Get ready to stand by!"
"Yes!"
"Let’s gooo~!!"
"Nino, give me that medicine again~!"
"One minute left!!!"
At the staff member’s sharp voice ringing through the waiting room, the members moved in perfect unison, and when one of them called her name, Nino hurried to get ready to go out as well.
"Ai! Let’s hurry up and go!"
"......"
Ai rose from her chair and walked as if she were a person who had lost her soul.
It felt like her body wasn’t her own. Her mind was in such chaos that she couldn’t think at all—where she was walking now, what she was supposed to do next, how she was supposed to do it. Her thoughts had gone completely blank.
The ringing in her ears was relentless.
Step by step, she climbed the stairs and went up onto the stage. Even while a staff member fitted her in-ear monitor and hurriedly said something, Ai couldn’t control her trembling hands or breathe properly.
'The stage. But. Kaoru...'
She had to finish the concert.
The members, the president, Miyako, the twins—everyone had long wished for and dreamed of this stage.
How many people had worked so hard to get here?
President Ichigo’s dream. The twins were waiting for her performance.
The roar of more than fifty thousand fans washed over Ai’s body like a vibration.
But.
'Kaoru. Kaoru...'
Right now, she had to leave this place and head straight for the emergency room at Tokyo University Hospital, where Kaoru had been rushed.
Her entire mind was a tangled mess of worry for Kaoru, anger at this horrible reality that had forced such misfortune on them on the very day of the concert, and crushing despair.
Even if she tried to deny it, the headline kept flashing before her eyes like a photograph.
If the twins found out about this.
If Aqua and Ruby learned the news.
If, from here on, they had to live as just the three of them, without Kaoru...
If they had to spend the rest of their lives longing for Kaoru’s love, for the empty space he left behind...
If Kaoru’s last words, the phone call they had shared last night, were truly the last time she would ever hear him...
If Kaoru’s last embrace, that moment, was the last one in her life...
Boom-boom-boom-♬
"Kyaaahhhh!!!"
"Waaahhh!!!"
"Ai!!!!"
Loud speaker music thundered through the dome, and more than fifty thousand fans erupted in cheers all at once.
Before she knew it, Ai was standing onstage with a microphone in her hand, and her star-bright eyes trembled helplessly, their light gone.
Blinded by the dazzling lights and deafened by the noise, Ai stood frozen, unable to move.
She had no mental strength left, not even the bare minimum needed to judge the situation.
Like a lost child left behind without her parents, Ai simply stood there, rigid with fear and shock.
Hundreds of fans at close range, right in front of the stage, saw Ai’s strange reaction, tilted their heads, pointed at her, and started talking among themselves.
Anyone could see that something was very wrong with Ai.
And yet the concert went on, announcing the start of the second half.
"Hello, everyone! Did you all get some rest~!"
Takamine appeared on several huge screens set up around the venue, and when she waved and shouted into the microphone, the fans roared so loudly it seemed the dome itself would split apart.
Thousands upon thousands of glow sticks, multicolored lights, and camera flashes burst from the seats like starlight.
Seeing the running script displayed on the prompt, Nino naturally turned her gaze, smiled at the fans, and said, "The second half of our concert is starting now~! You all still want to stay with [B Komachi], right!?"
At Nino’s words, another wave of cheers exploded from the crowd.
The next line, Ai’s part of the script, appeared on the prompt.
"......"
But Ai only stared blankly into space and did not read the script on the prompt.
The six members onstage, excluding Ai, all looked at her.
All the staff running the concert also stared at Ai, bewildered by what on earth was going on.
An eerie silence settled over the vast Tokyo Dome, and the more than fifty thousand fans turned their attention to Ai, who stood motionless under the lights.
Takamine gave an awkward smile and quickly read the script on the prompt in Ai’s place, shouting, "Ahaha—! Of course that’s what—"
"I’m sorry."
"?"
Takamine’s words were cut off by Ai’s sudden apology before she could finish.
Ai lifted the microphone with trembling hands, as if she had finally decided to cross a river she could never return from.
Without wiping away the tears spilling from her brilliant star-lit eyes, she said in a shaking voice, "I don’t think I’ll be able to join you. I’m sorry."
"Ai?!!"
"Eh?!"
"Where are you going—!!?"
"Ai!!!"
Ai set the microphone down on the stage and hurriedly ran down toward the floor below.
Everyone inside Tokyo Dome was stunned by Ai’s sudden, unexpected action.
The members, the staff, the more than fifty thousand fans—none of them could stop her.
She ran down through the crowd of tears, sprinting with all her strength along the fenced-off path toward the front gate inside Tokyo Dome.
The lights tracked her movement along the sensors built into her stage outfit, illuminating her brightly.
Tap!
"Ngh?!"
As she ran, her ankle twisted on the shoes that were part of her stage costume and she nearly fell, but Ai barely caught herself and then kicked the shoes off altogether, running barefoot toward the gate.
Ai slipped through the gate in an instant, leaving behind the voices of the members calling after her and the staff’s panicked shouts.
She dashed madly at full speed across the vast interior of Tokyo Dome.
Her field of vision narrowed to nothing but the path ahead.
Thanks to eight years of never neglecting her dance and singing practice, she had more than enough stamina.
More than that, every thought in her mind was focused on getting to Kaoru, so she didn’t even feel tired.
At last, the entrance came into view.
"Ai—!!"
Ichigo’s voice came from far behind her. It sounded like more than one person was chasing after her, with the sounds of sneakers and dress shoes pounding the ground.
"Stop!!! Ai!! Wait a second!!"
"Aren’t there any staff at the entrance?!"
Ai just kept running. She couldn’t stop. Ichigo’s face flashed through her mind for a moment, and a boundless sense of guilt stabbed at her heart.
But she couldn’t waste even a single second.
Even if she told them the truth, she knew Ichigo and the others would still be unable to decide to stop the concert.
Not stopping the concert was, from their standpoint, the perfectly natural and rational choice, but not for Ai.
"Ugh!"
Thud!!
She collided with a door because she couldn’t slow down in time, but Ai forced down the pain, opened it, clenched her teeth, and burst out of Tokyo Dome.
On the gray sky, the first snow of the season was falling softly. People near Tokyo Dome cried out in surprise when they saw Ai running barefoot in her dazzling stage costume.
The cold, hard ground struck her feet mercilessly, as if trying to break them apart.
Where should she run?
Where?
Where on earth?
Breathing hard, Ai frantically turned her head from side to side, searching for a way out.
It was her first time at Tokyo Dome, and she wasn’t familiar with the area. Just as she was biting her lip and looking around anxiously—
"That way."
"Huh?!"
Caw-caw— caw-caw—
A mysterious girl in a black fur coat, surrounded by crows, pointed with a faint smile.
Startled, Ai looked at the girl, and the girl nodded and said, "If you go down the stairs, you’ll find it. What you’re looking for."
"Haa... Hic! Sob—! Th-thank you—!!!"
Wiping away the tears mixed with sweat, Ai ran in the direction the girl had pointed.
"Aiii!!!"
The cry calling after her from behind echoed through the area.
But Ai did not stop.
"Huff— huff! Gasp!"
After running another thirty meters and dashing down the stairs without stopping, Ai spotted a taxi parked by the roadside and sprinted toward it.
Her feet were scraped raw and bleeding from the hard pavement, small stones, and bits of metal, and it hurt terribly, but Ai poured every last bit of strength into it, grabbed the taxi door, opened it, and climbed into the back seat.
As soon as the passenger got in, the elderly taxi driver looked into the rearview mirror with a kindly smile.
"Welcome... Huh?"
"Haa! Haa! Driver, Tokyo University— Tokyo University— ngh! Haa! Please take me to the emergency room at Tokyo University Hospital! Please— hurry! Please, I’m begging you! Please!"
The taxi driver stared blankly into the rearview mirror. Earlier today, he had taken his youngest daughter, a first-year college student, to Tokyo Dome because she was a huge fan of [Ai].
And now the star of that concert was in his taxi.
Her face was bright red from running all the way here, and her beautiful features, smeared with sweat and tears, were twisted with grief and shock. She wasn’t even wearing shoes, and her dazzling red stage costume left the taxi driver speechless.
But experience from a lifetime of living was never wasted.
Instead of asking why, the taxi driver recognized Ai’s desperation, quickly started driving, and asked, "T-the emergency room at Tokyo University Hospital!?"
"Yes! Haa! Haa! Please, as fast as you can! If I’m late— Kaoru— Kaoru— sob sob sob—!"
With desperate sincerity, Ai cried out her plea, tears streaming from her star-bright eyes. The taxi driver shifted gears and sped into an alley instead of the traffic-choked main road.
Thanks to his many years on the job, he knew the side streets and shortcuts like the back of his hand, and his driving skill—among the top five in the company for accident-free records over all those years—shone through.
Screeeech—! Vroooom!
It was hard to believe this was a Tokyo taxi famous for safe driving as it weaved through the alleys and headed for the emergency room at Tokyo University Hospital.
Whatever the reason, one thing was clear: someone precious had been hurt and was in the emergency room. The taxi driver bit his lip and spun the wheel quickly.
Strapped into her seat belt, Ai brought her trembling hands together and prayed with all the pitiful, desperate sincerity she had toward a god she usually didn’t believe in and didn’t even know the name of.
Please.
Please, I’m begging you.
Please don’t take Kaoru away from our family.
God, please. Please. Just this once.
Please save Kaoru...
Tears slipped from between her tightly shut eyelids and dripped onto her clasped hands.
Glancing at her through the rearview mirror, the taxi driver pressed the accelerator harder and increased his speed.
And then, finally—
Screech—!
"Aagh?! What the— what on earth!?"
The taxi driver, trying to pull in quickly in front of the hospital emergency room, slammed the brakes and let out a groan.
Startled, Ai lifted herself up from the back seat and leaned forward to look through the windshield.
"Ah—!"
Familiar-looking cars. Broadcasting company logos on the sides. They were station vehicles.
Having heard that Kaoru had been rushed to the emergency room, they had swarmed here like bees in no time at all.
This was bad. Ai bit her lip, unfastened her seat belt, opened the door, and shouted to the taxi driver, "Thank you!!!!"
"W-wait a second!"
Ignoring the driver’s attempt to stop her, Ai jumped out at once and ran barefoot across the asphalt toward the emergency room.
The soles of her feet were torn open and bleeding, and the pain was so sharp and raw it felt unbearable. Her whole body screamed from the sudden, violent sprint without any preparation.
But Ai ran. Even with tears blurring her vision, even as her breathing grew ragged and her head swam, even as people shouted in surprise at the sight of her.
Ai ran.
To meet the person she loved.
To somehow hold on to his last moments.
With a desperate prayer to save the person she loved, even if she had to give everything.
"Ughhh—! Nghhh—!"
At last, she reached the entrance to the emergency room, where reporters had swarmed like clouds and there was not even a single place to put her feet. She strained to force her way through.
She stretched out both hands, trying to grab the reporters’ clothes and pull them aside, but with her small frame and all her strength gone from running, Ai cried out as if in pain, "Please move! Please move so I can get in, pleeease!!!"
"[Ai]!?"
"W-whoa! A, [Ai]!?"
The reporters standing nearby were startled and hurriedly raised their cameras to photograph her.
The other reporters, who had recognized her from right behind, also gasped as if they had seen a ghost.
"It’s [Ai]!?"
At that cry, the reporters packed together in the crowd all turned around as if on cue, and—
"Haa! Haa! Hic! Haaah!"
As if she had lost her mind, they parted into a single lane so as not to block Ai, who was running barefoot and tear-streaked toward the emergency room, and filmed her with their cameras.
As Ai rushed into the emergency room, Rentaro, his face and shirt stained with dried blood, looked so shocked he seemed ready to faint. He hurriedly reached out to grab her, but—
"Haa!"
Ai shook off Rentaro’s hand and drew in a deep breath, forcing air into the inside of her chest, which felt like it was splitting apart from her ragged breathing.
"Kaoru!!!"
Ai’s pitiful cry, her scream as if her heart were being torn apart.
The anguished voice filled with the pain and fear of never wanting to lose the person she loved—
echoed through the entire emergency room.
"!?"
Starting with Hasegawa Yuno inside, everyone in the emergency room—medical staff and patients alike—looked at Ai in shock.
Clop, clop— with her bloodied bare feet, she took one step, then another, forward.
Ai, bursting into tears again, barely pried her trembling lips apart and said, "Kaoru... Where’s Kaoru? I came... I’m here— where’s Kaoru? Huh!?"
Her long purple hair, a mess from sweat and wind, and her brilliant stage costume.
Contrasting with that, Ai’s tear-filled star-bright eyes were crying out in grief and shock.
As the entire medical staff was overwhelmed by shock and no one could speak—
"Ah—"
No.
Ai took that eerie silence as the answer to the result she had so desperately hoped would never come.
She had tried to deny it, but the horrifying reality had finally caught up to her. The ringing in her ears and the pounding headache surged, and her trembling legs nearly gave out. Just as she began to stagger—
"Ai!"
A voice reached her ears.
Ai opened her blurred eyes and looked ahead.
With bandages wrapped around his right hand and around his stomach,
an astonished Kaoru was running toward her.
In time that seemed to move slowly, Ai let out a quiet breath.
Unable to believe whether this was a dream or reality, she hesitated and stepped forward, reaching out a hand.
Surely—
"Kaoru... how—"
"Ai!!"
Just as her legs, pushed beyond their limit, gave way and she was about to topple forward, Kaoru quickly caught her and pulled her tightly into his arms.
Held in Kaoru’s warm embrace, Ai caught the scent of sharp medicine and the faint smell of blood at her nose.
But— Ai could feel it.
Kaoru’s warmth. His heartbeat. Kaoru’s skin pressed against her own.
"Kaoru. Kaoru— are you okay? Huh?"
"I’m fine. How— the concert?! And how did you get here—"
"Sob— hhhk—"
Ai could not answer Kaoru’s question, his face full of worry and surprise, as he held her face in his hands.
She was far too. Far, far too—
happy to see him to waste even a second answering.
The star-bright eyes that had lost their light were gradually filling again with brilliant life.
Her whole body hurt so badly it felt like it was falling apart, but none of that mattered.
Kaoru was alive. He had come to her on his own two feet and held her tightly in his arms.
She was so relieved that the terrifying future she had been dreading had not become reality.
So grateful that, from now on, she could keep feeling this gentle voice and warm embrace together with the twins.
So thankful that he had stayed by her family’s side instead of leaving them.
Ai wrapped both arms around Kaoru with all her strength and, as the waves of relief crashed over her heart, burst into loud, childlike sobs.
"Sob sob sob—! Kaoru! Uuuuhh—! Waaah! Huuuuuh! Waaah—!!!!"
"Ai."
Kaoru was so sorry for having made her worry, and so, so sorry that his wife had abandoned the concert and come all this way just to see him, that he clenched his teeth hard to keep the tears from spilling out and hugged Ai tightly, lowering his head.
"Haa!"
Rentaro, who had entered the emergency room with the reporters, panted hard as he looked at the couple, now reunited and clutching each other on the floor.
At that dizzying moment, when the enormous secret that had slipped from his hands was about to be exposed to the world—
Click-click!
"Don’t push!"
"Hey, hey, don’t shove!"
"Record it! Hurry!"
Even as the invading reporters flashed their cameras and filmed them, Rentaro somehow found himself nodding, a smile of relief forming on his lips all on its own.
-
Around 4:10 p.m.
The report of Kaoru Kamiki’s death was revealed to be false, and a correction was issued stating that although he had been attacked with a knife, he was not in danger of losing his life and was receiving treatment in the emergency room.
Three minutes later.
Photos and video of Kaoru and Ai embracing in the emergency room were reported as breaking news everywhere, both offline and online.
Along with the news that Tokyo had received its first early snow.
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