Chapter 42

While walking down the streets of Otaru, Iyori looked up and saw the colors of the leaves that had slowly started changing, telling her that summer was about to end and Autumn was upon them once again. So did the chilly wind and the clouded sky, but Iyori just swung her scarf around her neck and continued walking with the same joyful smile on her face.

After a little while longer, she felt her phone vibrating and she quickly pulled it out, her smile only growing bigger when she saw the caller ID.

“Hello,” said Iyori after answering the call.

“Hello, Iyori? Are you done with prep school for today?” said Shuya from the other end of the line.

“Yeah, I’m walking home now,” said Iyori. “How about you, are you on the train?”

“I am, I’ll be there soon,” said Shuya.

“I’m happy you finally had the time to come home, it feels like we haven’t seen each other in forever,” said Iyori.

“It’s only been a month.”

“Alright I get it, you didn’t miss me as much as I missed you,” said Iyori in mocking tone.

“That’s not what I meant,” said Shuya. “Anyways, my mom is looking forward to having you over tonight. So is my dad, I think... I still have trouble reading him.”

“That’s okay, I’m looking forward to it too,” said Iyori. “You’ll come pick me up, right? My mom wants to say hi to you before we leave.”

“Yeah it’s a deal, I’ll see you in a bit,” said Shuya, whereafter the hung up the call.

The house felt strangely empty after Hanako started University. She really fit right in, and despite Hina’s repeating attempt to make her visit home, she didn’t seem to be in a rush to do so. 

Aiko left the house as well, only 1 month ago, but it still felt weird after she had been living with them for such a long time. Hina was already trying to coerce them into having another baby, hoping that would make Aiko move back in if that happened, but she and Haruki seemed to have enough on their hands already, at least for the time being, so once again, Hina was left disappointed.

“At least I have you,” said Hina while hugging Iyori after complaining to her about Hanako and Aiko like she did most days.

“Mom, you do know I’ll leave too at some point,” said Iyori, but the look on her mother’s face made her instantly regret it. “I mean... I have to... to go to University... but... I promise to visit more often than Hanako.”

“You better!” said Hina. “Why did I ever go through the trouble of raising children when they all just leave me behind.”

“Mom,” said Iyori with a slight laugh as she hugged her back. “You’re so dramatic, nobody has left you. Cheer up, Shuya will be here in a minute.” 

Iyori was right, only a few minutes later did someone knock on the door and Hina was quick to go out and greet the young man standing on the other side.

“...But I don’t want to intrude,” said Shuya while Hina was dragging him inside the house.

“Intrude? You could never intrude on us, please come in and get something to drink before you leave,” said Hina and quickly dashed out of the room and into the kitchen.

“Please indulge her a little,” said Iyori. “She’s lonely these days because the house is so empty.”

“The same goes for my mom, I doubt she’ll let you go home easily tonight, she’ll want to spoil you all she can.”

“I won’t say no to that,” said Iyori.

Hina didn’t just make tea, she also brought a cake she made the day before. Time went by quickly as Shuya told all about his University life and Hina got to complain a little more about her daughter and daughter-in-law who never came to visit.

While Hina and Shuya were continuing their lively conversation, Iyori suddenly felt her phone vibrate and when she took it out, she looked at it in confusion, seeing a message from an unknown number.

Hello Iyori

This is Tomoki. I don’t know if you still remember me, we used to go on dates together, back when you still worked as a part time girlfriend.

I wanted to know if we could met up today? Just briefly.

All I want is to know the reason why you quit your job. If you explain it to me, then I really will be able to let you go.

Sincerly, Tomoki.

Iyori kept staring at the message, reading it over and over again.

Of course she remembered him, he was the one person she wished she would’ve had the chance to explain everything to before she quit, instead of leaving him without any answers, just like that.

“Mom, Shuya and I really have to go now,” said Iyori all of a sudden.

“Is that so?” said Hina with a dejected look. “I guess you have to, but please come visit us again, Shuya. And give my regards to your parents.”

“I will,” said Shuya.

After saying their goodbyes, Iyori rushed Shuya to put on his overcoat and shoes, whereafter the left the house and started walking.

“What’s with the rush? We don’t have to hurry that much,” said Shuya.

“I know, but... look at this,” said Iyori and showed the message to Shuya. 

He too, read it over and over again, whereafter he looked at Iyori in concern, and the look on Iyori’s face didn’t help ease that concern.

“You aren’t actually thinking about meeting him?”

“He was my best client, he deserves an explanation,” said Iyori.

“He doesn’t deserve anything, besides, this is really fishy,” said Shuya. “I mean, how does he know your real name? He could be your stalker–”

“That stalker is long gone, I haven’t heard from him in over half a year.”

“So what, even if he isn’t the stalker, I still think he’s up to no good.” Iyori nodded and looked down at the ground, staying silent for a while.

“Still, I want to see him,” said Iyori and Shuya threw his hands up in defeat. “Please, I won’t be able to let this go otherwise. He was such a nice person, even if he’s up to no good, I want to find out so I can let it go.”

“Fine,” said Shuya. “But I’m coming with you.”

“What? No, that won’t be kind to him.”

“So what, you don’t owe him anything.”

“I know, but I still don’t want you to be there.” Shuya let out a sigh and rubbed his temples while thinking.

“Alright, then what about this,” said Shuya. “I come to Sapporo and just stay nearby where he can’t see me. Just in case something goes wrong.”

“Fine, if you’re really that concerned,” said Iyori and Shuya nodded.

Iyori quickly wrote a reply to Tomoki, asking where he wanted to meet up, and a few minutes later, she got a reply. 

Shuya and Iyori got on the next train to Sapporo and started walking towards the destination. When they were a few streets away, she and Shuya parted ways. 

Iyori looked back and he really was gone. When she looked around, he was nowhere to be seen and she wondered if he was actually nearby.

Why am I concerned? Nothing will happen. This is Tomoki we’re talking about, thought Iyori to herself as she continued forward.

It wasn’t long before she spotted a certain someone in the distance. He looked just the same, and his red bicycle was parked next to him. 

She looked down at herself, feeling strange to be appearing in such plain clothes in front of him. Only then did it occur that she really was meeting him as Iyori, not as Yuki, and somehow, she suddenly felt a lot more nervous.

“H... Hello,” said Iyori when she was standing in front of Tomoki.

“Hi,” said Tomoki. “Um... thanks for meeting up with me today.”

“No... No problem,” said Iyori. “Should we go inside?”

“Yeah,” said Tomoki and reached for Iyori’s hand, but she quickly moved her hand away in surprise.

“Ah, sorry,” said Tomoki quickly. “Old habit.”

“It’s okay,” said Iyori and looked around again, wondering if Shuya saw what was happening. 

They had been to this cafe plenty of times before and the atmosphere always felt nice and calm, but today, Iyori felt more tense than ever before and even after eating a whole piece of cake and drinking an entire milkshake, she still couldn’t look Tomoki in the eyes.

They had both been trying to make some casual conversation, but it wasn’t really working. It didn’t feel like usual, because it wasn’t like usual.

“Tomoki,” said Iyori then, breaking the ice with her serious tone. “I’m sorry I just quit like that, without a word or a warning or an explanation. I’m glad you reached out to me today. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll do my best to answer.”

“Alright,” said Tomoki and sat up straight. “I guess the biggest question is, why? I thought you enjoyed your job.”

“I did, I actually enjoyed it a lot, and our dates were always a pleasure for me,” said Iyori and saw a smile appearing on Tomoki’s face.

“Then why? Did someone force you to quit?”

“I wouldn’t say I was forced, but a lot of people advised me to quit, my parents, my boyfriend–” Tomoki’s smile immediately disappeared when the last word came over her lips and Iyori closed her mouth. 

How stupid can you be, thought Iyori to herself and wondered how she could explain it better.

“Y... Yeah... I have a boyfriend now. A real boyfriend,” said Iyori. “And–”

“Did you get this ‘boyfriend’ of yours while you were still working?” asked Tomoki in a cold voice, staring at her with intensity.

“I... I did,” said Iyori and gulped.

“Was he a client of yours too?”

“He... He was,” said Iyori. “But that was different. We knew each other privately as well. He didn’t just know me as Yuki, he knew me as Iyori.”

“I knew you too, I knew you better than anyone,” said Tomoki, his voice strangely tense.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing!” said Tomoki angrily. “I just mean... the way you behaved wasn’t exactly professional, was it?”

“I guess... I guess not,” said Iyori. “But I really tried my best to be a good girlfriend to whomever I was on a date with. And we had fun, didn’t we?”

“Yeah right, when you were actually available.”

“You’re right, I was never really available in the end,” said Iyori. “That’s also why I was easy to convince to quit my job. It wasn’t right to my clients that they could never really request me.”

“It’s all because of that boy...” whispered Tomoki in a firm voice.

“I’m sorry?”

“If you had just looked my way instead, if you had just listened...” The words and the tone of the voice all made Iyori’s body tense up. Once again she glanced out of the window, but Shuya was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he wasn’t so worried after all. 

Iyori gulped again, she had to pull herself together. Why was she scared? This was Tomoki, the sweet man she had been on dates with many times. And they were in a cafe with lots of people. There was nothing to be scared of.

“Anyways... was that all?” said Iyori and Tomoki snorted.

“Typical, always looking for an excuse to move on,” said Tomoki and Iyori held her breath. “Is he here? Your boyfriend? Is he waiting for you outside?”

“Tomoki, please calm down.”

“Calm down? You play with my heart, dump me and throw me away without a word and then you want me to calm down?” yelled Tomoki, raising attention from the customers around them. “You were all I had!”

“But, what about your studies? What about med school? That’s got to mean something to you.”

“Med school? Another thing that failed me...” said Tomoki. “Life really won’t go my way. I should’ve just taken you away a long time ago.”

“I think I should get going,” said Iyori and got up from her chair, but Tomoki quickly grabbed her wrist, preventing her from leaving.

“I’m not done,” said Tomoki and pulled Iyori towards him, but she did her best to pull the opposite way.

“But I am done,” said Iyori and in one quick motion she pulled her arm to her and got free from his grip, quickly running out of the store.

“Stop!” yelled Tomoki as he ran after her. 

Everyone in the store looked at them in chaos and the owner stormed after them, yelling that they hadn’t paid the bill yet.

“Leave me alone,” said Iyori while trying to make her way through the masses of people, but Tomoki was faster and quickly got a hold of her again, this time grabbing both her hands.

“Let me go, Tomoki, please,” said Iyori and looked at Tomoki, but the kind expression he used to wear was nowhere to be found.

“Why won’t you look at me? Why is it only him? Why not me?”

“Tomoki, please, you’re hurting me,” said Iyori. “And people are watching.”

“Sir, you need to pay,” said the poor cafe owner, although no one was paying attention to him.

“You’re not leaving me again,” said Tomoki and pulled Iyori closer to him, but when she was only a few centimeters away from him, another hand grabbed her arm and Tomoki’s attention shifted.

“Let her go,” spoke Shuya in a firm voice while looking directly into Tomoki’s eyes.

“You!” said Tomoki and pushed Iyori away, walking closer and closer to Shuya who backed up, into the people standing behind him. “You’re the scum who took her away. How dare you!”

“Tomoki, leave him alone!” yelled Iyori and ran towards Tomoki again, but it was already too late. 

With great force, Tomoki landed a fist right on Shuya’s face, making him fall backwards, people around them screaming and shouting in shock.

“You... you should just... die....” said Tomoki while he kept hitting Shuya, kicking him, stomping on him.

“Someone, get help!” yelled Iyori while running towards Tomoki again, trying her best to pull him away from Shuya, but he didn’t budge and just pushed Iyori away again.

“Stay back, you slut,” said Tomoki and looked at Iyori. “He’s the reason you didn’t look at me, I’ll make him pay.”

“Shuya, get up, run away!” yelled Iyori, but Shuya didn’t move and just stayed on the ground. He wasn’t fighting back one bit.

“Look at this scum, he doesn’t even have the strength to go up against me,” said Tomoki and got ready to kick Shuya in the stomach once more, but the sound of a whistle made him stop mid motion and everyone looked up.

“Hold it right there!” yelled a tall man in a uniform while he ran up to Tomoki. 

“Please help, this man has been stalking me for a year and now he attacked my boyfriend!” said Iyori and the officer looked at him.

“Alright sir, I think we’re gonna have to take you to the station, you two follow as well,” said the officer and grabbed Tomoki before he could even think about running away.

“Shuya, Shuya can you stand?” said Iyori after running to Shuya’s side. He slowly opened his eyes, his face swollen and bruised.

"Iyori... are you... okay?"

"What do you mean 'am I okay'? What about you? Why didn't you fight back?"

"I just... I didn't want... to break my promise..."

Hello everyone!

I'm sure a lot of you had already guessed it by now. I always want to make these crazy reveals but they're never really a reveal because everyone already guessed it haha. But it was still fun to write.

Fun fact: When I wrote the first draft to this book, there was no stalker, nothing like that. And I felt it lacked something, so that's how I decided to give Tomoki this bigger role. It's weird because I love him so much, so I wonder why I would make him a villain?

Anyway, what did you think? Please let me know in the comments down below.

And as always, remember to stay happy and healthy wherever you are!

Love, Annalise~