School Girls' Stories - Year 2

Chapter 50 – Yuki’s Farewell to Shinwa

Yuki and Shinwa sat awkwardly on the seats awaiting his plane for his departure. This was not the fond farewell she had been planning. She had planned to be in his arms, crying to him, telling him how much she loved him and that when he left her heart would be broken, but it broke three times on the way to the airport. She had to tell him about Kaori returning, the fact that Kaori was having a baby that had a 50% chance of being Nakago’s, and that Kaori had curtly snapped the real reasoning behind the night Amatsu had been accused of murder. Yuki knew the truth, and she had not wanted to tell Shinwa. She had not meant to blurt it all out, especially not the way she did, but the way Kaori said it, it was like her sister had been trying to hurt Yuki, to stab her through one last time. What had happened that made Kaori so bitter? She had seemed so happy, even when she left a for shamed slut.

Kaori leaned forward in her sultry way, leaning towards Yuki, whispering so only Yuki could hear while the Oshidori parents were in the kitchen. “Nakago killed Shoushin,” she nearly hissed at Yuki. Yuki had wanted to scream. That was worse than Shoushin committing suicide. Shoushin’s death had been by someone who was not even involved in anything to do with the ex-Velvet Wrappings artist.

Yuki did not realize what Kaori had left out. Kaori did not have the courtesy to tell Yuki that it was Shoushin who shot Kago. Instead Yuki was lead to believe that Nakago had killed both her ex-boyfriend and Shoushin, and though Yuki had despised Kago in those last hours, and had never really known Shoushin, she mourned anew and had to be excused for the rest of the evening.

In the back of the cab that drove Shinwa and Yuki to the airport she had blurted out the entire story to Shinwa, which had left him slightly shattered. His friend, his fellow band mate, had died because of her brother. It was not suicide, it was homicide. Shinwa no longer knew what to make of himself, much less the girl with the same blood flowing through her veins as the man who had strung Shinwa up.

“I’m sorry,” Yuki whispered for the hundredth time that afternoon. Why had she told him that? This was supposed to be a happy farewell, and, ‘until I see you again’ type of farewell. It was not good bye, not for good, and yet now it felt like it would be an eternity before they would see the face of the other again. Yuki shuddered, afraid of what to do next. She fiddled with the box in her pocket and wondered if she should not have just returned it during Christmas when she had not given it to him do to all of the problems that had arose.

“It’s not your fault,” Shinwa finally said, his voice a bit shaky. “I know you did not mean to tell me like that, and in a way it is better I know… better to not believe he had killed himself. Why? I know him and Nakago did not see eye to eye the few times they had met, but why would he…?” Shinwa could not finish the thought. His throat was clogged and he suddenly stood up. Yuki saw where his eyes were, on the plane that slowly pulled into the docking area, the plane that would soon take him away to England.
“Shinwa,” she cried, standing and throwing herself into his side, hugging him from the side, clinging to him, afraid to watch him leave. She had not yet said sorry enough. She knew that the more one apologized the less it seemed sincere* but she wanted to let him know that this was not how she meant the final farewell to be. She had meant for them to be together, romantically, kissing and saying farewell to one another before he stepped on the plane, promising her letters every day. She wanted it to be like when Usagi had said good-bye to Mamoru in Sailor Moon, but without the whole his-plane-going-down thing.

She was more surprised to feel Shinwa’s arms wrapping back around her, pulling her in close and grasping to her. He leaned his face into her hair, a feat when he was towering above her small stature, especially with her bent at such an odd angle to wrap herself around him. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” he whispered to her, which only made Yuki begin to blubber. How could this be the hardest thing? He had to deal with a family that had little respect for him, he had to break himself away from the drugs, and he had to live through killing his ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend. This was the hardest thing? Somehow it broke Yuki’s heart while filling her with even more adoration for the man who was about to leave.

“I will write you and call you as much as I can, I promise,” he whispered to her.

Yuki nodded, knowing that it would not be every day, and he would often forget or become too busy for her, but the words meant something to her, because she knew he really would try.

The woman’s voice on an intercom called for the people of the flight to England to start boarding. Yuki’s hands shook, wrapping into his shirt to hold him close to the last lingering second. He made no move to walk away from her, hugging her closer than he ever had before. Yuki regretted leaving his apartment, she should have stayed with him until the very last day. She would have missed Kaori’s unpleasant return, and she would have been with Shinwa, she would have BEEN with Shinwa in a way she had not been in over one week. Granted, it was not the longest time in the world, but that would be their last time together until he visited, if he visited. What would he be doing in England without her? Why was this the career path he had to choose when he could have done so much, like stay here with her?

No, she would not be bitter. They would see again soon. He was only filming movies, and maybe a television show. Damn, why had she told that woman that Shinwa was…

Yuki’s thoughts drained away as her lips were taken over by Shinwa’s. This was the farewell kiss, she had to make it special, she had to make it warm and loving, and she did. She answered his lips with the passion of her heart and the warmth of her waiting for his return, while he kissed her with no regrets, only the happiness they shared. All past horrors and fights were forgotten in that moment, all they remembered was the laughter, the warmth, the love of one another. Yuki clung to her hero, the man who had tried to save them all and in the long run needed the most saving. Yuki hugged him close and pulled him closer still, but then there was the last call for the flight and neither of them had noticed that he was the only one remaining.

“I’m sorry,” he now apologized, pulling away from her and gripping the duffel bag. “I will call you, as soon as I get there, as soon as I know anything, and as soon as I miss you.” He gave her one last fast kiss and then had to run before they closed the doors and left him stranded, which would not have been a bad thing for Yuki. Yuki watched him go, her heart pounding desperately.

She turned around, trying to remain strong, until her cell phone beeped. She looked down at it and stared at the text message: I ALREADY MISS YOU! Yuki fell to one of the hard seats in the terminal, curled up her legs, and cried into her jeans.