Chapitre 40: Adopted?!

"Wait... don't tell me— were you, by any chance, um... you know." Hajime trailed off as his eyes drifted from one end of the room to the other. As far as he could tell, what he was about to say is such an uncomfortable topic so he thought twice before bringing it up. If his hunch was true, then that means that Megumi had it harder than she thought.

"What do you mean?" Even Megumi was confused. It didn't even occur in her mind that what she said was totally misleading, as if she was implying that she was previously not part of the Kikuchi family when in fact she was, it's just that the circumstances were different from then compared to now.

"Were you... you know... um... adopted?" The last word in Hajime's question seemed to stretch out, causing Megumi to exclaim and almost choke on the curry she was eating. Hajime immediately handed him a glass of water, fresh from the faucet of course.

"I'm sorry, I um... I didn't know. And here I was thinking that you had it way easier than me. Of course, if you weren't part of the household, then the expectations they had when raising you must've been too heavy a burden, right? I guess the two of us both had it rough, huh." Hajime sighed downheartedly before taking in another mouthful of curry.

Megumi couldn't tell whether he wiped the sweat off his brows or tears from his eyes but he sure wiped something.

"What are you talking about?! I'm not adopted." Megumi adamantly rejected the notion, almost as if she was personally attacked. "It's just that... we were poor back then,"

"Oh, so that explains why you can do simple chores and cook for yourself," Hajime commented.

A nod came from Megumi. "Yes... when I was twelve, my parents started a new business venture. It was just an idea but they managed to make it big, you know what I mean? A few years later, I heard that it was all thanks to their friends from college, they were basically the ones who sponsored the entire thing."

"Whoa, that's cool. Are they like.... insanely rich or something? Your dad's friends, I mean." Hajime was getting curious now. It was unexpected for him to hear that kind of story, much less from Megumi's mouth.

"Yes, or so that's what I heard. They died though... they died before my parents could repay them." Megumi said with a sigh. "In any case, I thought I would grow up as a normal girl... and then suddenly my parents were owners of a huge company. It didn't happen overnight, of course, but it takes a long time to get used to. I was suddenly a huge target for kidnappers so I couldn't go out on the weekdays. I practically had to beg my parents to let me out on weekends just like before. No one would approach me in school as well, they think I'm an untouchable or something. It's as if my whole life flipped upside down and there was nothing I could do to bring it back to how it was back then. It's as if someone's choking me on the neck... you know that feeling?"

"Yes, I know that feeling pretty well. In fact, I think I know it way more than you do." Hajime responded. He could sort of empathize with Megumi since he too felt like his life was choking him right on the neck, like a noose ever-tightening, depleting the life out of him.

"Riiight~" Megumi nodded slowly, thinking that what Hajime just said was weird. She wasn't going to question it though.

"Look, if you ever feel that way, why don't you talk to your parents about it? It's not like they won't listen. Besides, they're probably worried sick about you... more so that you deliberately ran away from home. It would be pretty understandable if they felt a modicum of indignation... I guess."

Megumi nodded. Because of Hajime's words, she was able to rethink her past actions, realizing that it was unbefitting of her to do that after everything her parents had done for her. She was just running away, she was aware of that, but Hajime's words knocked her down a peg, enabling her to get back to her senses. "I... yeah, you're right." She mumbled. "Thanks, Hajime."

"No sweat, thanks for the dinner." Hajime slightly smiled. 'This Megumi... I guess I couldn't hate her if she was like this."

Pause.

"So... are you going home now? It's still a bit early so you can definitely catch the last train." Hajime said.

"Yeah, I'll go home. You can contact Franz-san through the phone he gave you." Megumi responded.

"Right, I totally forgot about that."

With Megumi's permission, Hajime messaged Franz-san and told him of Megumi's whereabouts. He didn't specify what time she got to his home, he just said that she was there, without any further details.

"I was just wondering... I still don't know who that Akiko is... is she your ex-girlfriend?" Megumi asked, just when Hajime was drinking water.

"Pfwooph~!" Hajime was taken aback by the question, so much so that he spat water all over Megumi's face. "Sorry, and what are you talking about?!" Hajime wiped the excess water off his lips and proceeded to wipe Megumi's face with his shirt.

"Wow, did you just spat at me?!" Megumi asked.

"Sorry, it was your fault for asking such a question," Hajime answered before he started laughing.

"What's funny?!"

"..."

Knock.

Knock. Knock.

Hajime almost jumped out of his feet as they were interrupted by the banging on the door. "Oh, that must be Franz-san. He must've been nearby." Hajime said, peeping through the holes of the door on the off-chance that it wasn't Franz-san who was knocking.

He was right on the money. It really wasn't Franz-san. In fact, it was a woman and a man garbed in formal clothing. They seem like businessmen, no, from the looks of it, they seem like debt collectors. 'What do I do?' Hajime bit his lips as he stole a glance at Megumi.

As for Megumi, she didn't notice Hajime's signal to not move and instead approached the window with the curiosity of a cat. Her reaction was different from what Hajime expected though.

"MOM? DAD?!"

Hajime could've sworn that Megumi's scream was heard throughout the entire neighborhood.