Rie wakes up with a scream. She can still hear them laugh when Miwako fed her the dirty food. She can't forget what she felt when she was forced to eat dirt. She feels like she can't breathe in this room. She walks to the flower field. She wonders how long can she walks until it ends.
She pauses when she feels an intense gaze on her back. She sees the evil man smoking near the bench quietly. She looks around. Ren isn't here. She is alone with this evil man.
"Don't come close," She shouts when she sees him walking toward her.
Kiyohira steps back. She is terrified of him. He can't help but ask her. "Why?"
"You are bad," She replies with a childlike voice and throws the branch at him. "Don't come near me."
It seems like he is labeled because of his intense eyes. She might not be afraid of him if he gets plastic surgery. He wonders if he should get it. Kiyohira picks up the flower branch. "Why are you here at night? You aren't wearing much. You will catch a cold."
She runs deeper into the flower field. Kiyohira sighs. "Don't run at night. You will fall."
His words act like a jinx. She falls on her face and screams. Kiyohira runs to her and finds her crying in pain. Her face and arms have small cuts. She crawls away when she sees him and sobs harder. She shields her shaking body, ready to get hit. "Don't hurt me. Don't hurt me."
Kiyohira feels weak. What kind of monster turn her like this? He is ashamed of himself for treating her the way he did.
"I will do anything that you ask me to." She squeezes her eyes shut. "I am your dog. I am your toy. You can call me whatever you want."
Kiyohira grabs her shoulder and shakes her. "You are nobody's toy."
She howls loudly. "Mother, where are you? They hurt me every day. They make me eat trash. Take me away from this place, Father. I will be a good child. I will study hard. Don't leave me here. It hurts so much."
Her each desperate cry is heart-shattering to him. He holds her tightly in her arms and tells her softly, "It's okay. Cry as much as you want. You have been keeping it all in your heart for a long time. I am here to listen. I will protect you from anyone. I won't leave you alone. I promise that I will make all of them pay for doing this to you."
Yuhara Kozue watches them from afar. They haven't noticed him yet. He writes down his observation in his notebook.
[Day 5: The woman is caught taking the night stroll by the evil man. She has another episode. The evil man keeps her in his arms until she stops crying.]
"He's not all bad."
Startled, Yuhara Kozue jumps. "Professor, what are you doing here?"
Umezaki Yushiro raises his brow. "I am taking a night stroll."
When Rie slips into sleep in Kiyohira's arms, he brings her back to the house. Umezaki Yushiro follows them quietly into the house.
"Did he come to watch her every night since she came here?" Yuhara Kozue mumbles to himself. "If he is keeping a watch, then why is he asking me to keep watch? One of us should get some sleep."
***
"Uncle, I am doing the same thing." Rie pouts her lips.
"If you are doing the same thing, it won't turn out like this." Umezaki Yushiro shakes his head. "You must have full concentration and patience when you are doing pottery. It's an art, not a chore."
The vessel is deformed again. Rie is frustrated to see that Umezaki and Ren's works are better than hers. The one she made looks like it has been made by a 5 years old child.
"Why do I have to do this?" Rie grumbles. "It's Ren who promised you that he would help you."
"Sorry, Rie." Ren smiles at her. "We should help this old man as much as we can."
"This boy!" Umezaki glares at Ren. "Who is old?"
"If you aren't old, then what are you?" Rie smirks. "Half of your hair is white."
Yuhara, who has been watching from afar, writes down in his notebook.
[Day 6: The woman and her boyfriend are teasing Professor Umezaki during the pottery session. Professor Umezaki is pretending to be offended. The woman is relaxing little by little. P.S. She doesn't have a bone of an artist.]
Yuhara notices Kiyohira standing by the door and watching Rie with deep affections and a soft smile.
[The evil man's gaze is better today. He looks like a man in love. The woman already has a boyfriend, but the evil man wants to snatch her away from her boyfriend. The woman has seen the man now. She isn't running away today.]
"Ichihara, come and help us." Umezaki Yushiro calls Kiyohira. "Little one is bad at making this. We need an expert's hands to finish the number."
Kiyohira takes a seat beside Rie. She shifts closer to Ren. Her shoulders are tensed. She peeks at Kiyohira. When their gaze meets, she looks away and hides her face with her hair.
It seems like she is a little less afraid of him. He doesn't need to get plastic surgery. Kiyohira shows a small smile.
Ren binds her disheveled hair into a bun. "You should tie your hair when we are making potteries, Rie."
She breaks into a smile and pecks the tip of his nose. "Ren, you are there to do that for me."
"Uh..." Ren glances at Kiyohira who is looking down at Rie's deformed piece of pottery. "Yes, I will do that as long as you let me."
"Young birds in love." Umezaki Yushiro looks dreamy. "It reminds me of the time when I met my wife for the first time on a blind date. It was love at first sight."
"Old man, you are reminiscing your first date. What about us? I want to go on dates with him, but I am stuck here for a week." Rie cracks her knuckles. "If we don't go on dates, we won't have anything good to remember when we are old."
"Rie chan, you had an accident. You need to rest more." Ren turns to Kiyohira. Is he the same man who nearly killed Rie and Ren for running away? He won't do anything crazy this time, would he?
Rie furrows her brows. "How much rest? I am perfectly fine now. I will go crazy if I stay inside this huge place one more day. Let's go watch a movie."
"O.K." Umezaki Yushiro makes O.K. signs with both hands. "Yuhara will drive you to the nearest movie theatre. If you want to go anywhere else, he will take you."
Yuhara drops the notebook and shouts, "Professor, why me?"
Umezaki ignores him. The kid needs exposure to the woman to get over his gynophobia. "Ichihara, do you want to go too?"
"No!" Rie crosses her arms. "Old man, is it a date if there are so many people going with me? I will only take that driver."
"I am not a driver."
Rie turns around and looks at Yuhara. "You are not?"
"I-I-I..." She's talking to him. What should he say? "D-D-D-D-R-I-VE..."
"If you can drive, then you can come." Rie smiles at him. "You speak in a funny way."
"T-T-T-THANK YOU!" Yuhara runs out of the room. Outside the room, he realizes that she made fun of him. He writes another observation.
[The woman makes fun of him for the way he talks.]
"Are you ok?" Umezaki Yushiro stares at Kiyohira. Rie and Ren have left with Yuhara Kozue. They will come home straight after seeing a movie.
She has chosen Ren over him. He doesn't even have the right to feel jealous. "I want to see her happy."
Umezaki Yushiro smiles mildly. "She isn't afraid of you like before she was. It's a good sign toward her recovery."
Kiyohira touches the unshapely vessel in his hands. She wouldn't have chosen him even if the things hadn't gone the way it did. She hated him for being the eldest son of the Kamiyama family. She hated him for hurting her adopted mother. She hated him more when he tried to force her to come with him. His wish is fulfilled. He is in her heart. Even when she doesn't remember his face, she still hates him subconsciously. If he had known that being hated hurts this much, he would have never chosen it.
"Don't look like the world is ending." Umezaki Yushiro sympathizes with the heartbroken man. "Her recovery is a priority. Ren won't cross his lines when she is like this. She is getting better. Did you find anything about the people from her past?"
He has reinvestigated Chisa's past. So far, he can't find anything that connects Chisa and Rie. He has met with Rie's old school teachers. They didn't recognize Chisa. They did say that Takeuchi Miwako might have bullied Rie. Some of her old classmates have also confirmed that fact. They told him what they saw during lunchtime in elementary school. Takeuchi Miwako threatened them to keep quiet back then. When it comes to middle and high school, the results are the same. Miwako's name keeps coming up. She is the one who spread the rumors and asked Fujita Toshi to drug Rie's drink.
He went to find Fujita Toshi to confirm whether Chisa and Miwako have known each other. Fujita Toshi killed himself after he went bankrupt.
Kiyohira regrets for being hasty in ruining that man. So far, he can't find any connection between Miwako and Chisa either.
On top of everything, Takeuchi Miwako left the country before he could get to her.
Umezaki Yushiro scratches his chin habitually. "I told you that it might not be Chisa. It must be something about her that reminded her of Miwako."
"But, something isn't right." Kiyohira taps his fingers on the desk. "I have seen Takeuchi Miwako at the hospital confronting Rie. That woman talked about another woman waiting to see Rie. She didn't say the name."
"There is another one? But, no one knows about that person."
The phone rings and interrupts their conversation. Kiyohira excuses himself and picks up the phone.
"Did you find Takeuchi Miwako?"
[Boss, she is found dead in H country.]
"What? How?"
[She was attacked by sharks when she went for snorkeling. She was saved, but she took her last breath at the hospital.]
That kind of death...
"Are you sure that it's her?"
[It's confirmed by her family members. They are bringing her body back to the country today.]
Kiyohira finishes the call.
"What happened?" Umezaki Yushiro asks.
"Takeuchi Miwako is dead. I have to return. That person might come to her funeral."
***
"That movie was good." Ren takes her straight to the car after the movie. "I like playing games more."
"Level grinding is more fun than watching movies with pointless plots." Rie stares at him. "You didn't do anything during the movie.
Yuhara Kozue blushes. He can hear everything. Self Note: The woman speaks whatever she wants whenever she wants. She doesn't care about the people around her.
"Rie chan, what do you want me to do?" Ren decides to tease her a bit. She squints at him. He laughs and says, "Tell me."
She lifts her head and kisses his lips. "This."
Yuhara presses the break and runs out of the car screaming. "I didn't see anything."
"What's wrong with that guy?" She stares at the back of Yuhara who is running on the road like a crazy man. "It was just a kiss. There were deeper kissing scenes in the movie."
"Rie chan, you are bold." Ren pushes her away slowly. "We shouldn't do this before marriage. I am a traditional man."
Rie grabs his collar and pulls him closer. "Traditional man, I want to confirm something."
"What do you want to confirm?" He tries to push her away. He doubts her intentions.
"Did you heart flutter when I kissed you?" She asks with a grave tone.
"What?" He blinks at her. His brain is having a hard time processing those words. Heart fluttering?
"Like they said it in the movie." She moves closer and stares into his eyes. "The butterflies in the stomach. The throbbing heart. The urge to kiss a lot..."
He swallows his saliva. His Rie chan is a romantic type at heart. "Rie chan, did you feel it?"
"That Yuhara interrupted before I could feel it. He screamed like crazy and ran away like we were having sex in the car." She grabs his face. "I wanted to do this for a long time."
"Rie chan."
"Just once, Ren."
"Okay, but don't kill me afterwards."
"I won't. Come here."
When he closes his eyes, she kisses him again. Again. Again.
"That's enough." He shoves her away. "It feels wrong."
"I feel the same." She scratches her head. "Why? I didn't feel anything in my stomach or my heart. Ren, I do love you."
He sighs. Perhaps, she was right that day. "You and I care about each other. We are best friends. But, we can't force feelings. Rie chan, this is a wrong time to fall in love. When we grow older, we might find the right moment with the right feelings."
Rie stares at him. "So, we are back to friends?"
"Not a bad idea." He pecks her forehead. "Now, did you feel something?"
"I felt that you love and care a lot about me as a friend." She pokes his forehead. "At least, we are not awkward exes."
Ren laughs, but his heart feels sad. Rie chan is not Rie chan. He isn't the 'Ren' he used to be. Both of them have changed in the last 8 years. "Want to go home?"
Suddenly, a van stops in front of the car. Several men dressed in black with masked faces come to the car and drag Rie out. Ren holds on to her arm and yells, "Who are you? Where are you taking her?"
It all happens in seconds. One of the men gives an injection in his leg before he can react. He begins to lose consciousness, but he tries to hold her hand. She screams his names before she is taken away. He manages to take his phone out and dials Kiyohira's number.
"Save her."
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