Prologue: Shedding light in the past [ last part ]
It is better to travel hopeful than to arrive disenchanted.
The sky is clear and the sun shines brilliantly, nothing is left to remind the terrible storm that hit Kiku Heaven the previous days. As Akiko expects, Koichi takes the opportunity to talk to her, and tells her everything. He does not mention the baby though, as he does not want his wife to get the wrong impression. He wants to spend the days of his life with Andy, and if Andy brings a baby with him little difference does it make. Andy is all that matters to Koichi, and this is all Akiko needs to know. The arrangement is simple: the boys will stay with Akiko, and Koichi will take on his shoulders all the financial burden: the house title is transferred to Akiko’s name; Koichi keeps paying the monthly installments to the Bank; Koichi will also pay the College fees for the boys to have a proper education. Do they both agree? Yes. Do they feel better after their mutual agreement? No. Koichi might have things done exactly the way he wants, but a part of his heart feels as if crying; a civilised divorce can be as painful as any, for men are creatures of habit and even the smallest of changes make them feel uneasy. The only thought to comfort Akiko’s hurt feelings and pride is that Koichi left her for a man. This is something you cannot fight, you cannot compete with, leaving you stripped of words and arguments. Perhaps in the future she and Koichi will be friends again, but right now any attempt to pretend all is fine will ruin their efforts to be kind to each other, despite who is in the right and who is in the wrong.
Koichi’s gloomy moments are over once he is settled at Andy’s house. He can’t help but smile as he sees Stephen and Ceci talking to the baby, to Andy’s belly to be more precise. Their positive attitude holds some hope for the future.
…and the future dictates that they should get married first, as the pregnancy seems to be a source of anxiety and stress for Andy. No ceremonies and showing off for friends and relatives, just the two of them.
Andy: Till death set us apart?
Koichi: I’ll be here for you. Always.
While Ceci is thrilled to have been fired from her part-time job, Andy, as it is usual the case with parents, takes it personally and spends a few hours wondering, “What did I do wrong?”
Andy, of course, did nothing wrong with Ceci’s raising. It’s just that some people have it in them to work hard while others do everything on their own pace. Where Andy did do wrong, however, was the composition of the formula he used to get pregnant. Everything, from Andy’s pregnancy till to baby’s growth up to the age of 18 goes too fast. Koichi names their baby Jiro and by the time Ceci and Stephen are ready to leave for College, Jiro, to everyone’s amazement, is almost of the same age!
But it was not only Andy’s pregnancy that went a little too fast. Debora, who gets married to Gero in the blink of an eye, and both living happily now, (or, so Debora claims) gives birth to a daughter, who starts growing really, really fast…
…and her name, Haruko
Koichi and Andy watch their son trying his non-existent skills in dance.
“Something is wrong with this kid”, says Koichi one day, and Andy agrees.
It’s not every day a teenager dashes into his parents’ bedroom completely naked and makes rude comments without any rhyme or reason.
But, what does “rude” mean? Well, Koshiro thinks his son, Kazuo, is rude.
“That’s a lie! I want you to go out and have some fun! What’s rude about it? Are you nuts?”
“There! You called me “nuts”! See?”
“It’s an expression, Dad! Sheesh! Talk about generation gap.”
There is a point when one talks about “generation gap”. Koshiro is perhaps a nice and sensitive man, but his wish to be liked by everyone has some unpredictable results. This is why, when Kobayashi Takeshi comes to visit his friend Kazuo, Koshiro will begin to chat and tell jokes until the boy starts looking extremely displeased.
Koshiro: It was a joke...
Takeshi: No one jokes with Aliens. They *do* exist and have superior intelligence.
Koshiro: You don’t mean it… eh, Takeshi-kun?
Takeshi: Read my face, Koshiro-san.
And with that, he turns his back and leaves Koshiro petrified.
Koshiro: Boys these days are out of their minds.
Well, not all of them. The Yamasakis, for example, could not care less for aliens and supernatural theories. They have studied hard to obtain skills and get scholarships, and now, one by one, amidst Michiko’s joyful tears and Seamon’s sweet sadness, are leaving the nest.
Being the bravest, Nenki and Yokito are the first to leave, but Yokito pauses for a moment to wonder why Yoshi looks so uncertain and worried… Oh, well. In a couple of days Yoshi will join them and then they will have plenty of time to discuss whatever bothers him. Right now Yokito looks forward to seeing Tatsuya, who has already declared his Major and awaits him as well as the rest of his friends from Kiku Heaven.
As he tries to release himself from Michiko’s tight hug and kisses, Yokito recalls Tatsuya’s last e-mail and the mention of some new people he met at the University. “They live across the street” he wrote, “and their house is called Fantasy Friends. I’ve one of them in my class, he’s a little strange but not a bad guy although his clothes are a completely different story: they’re kind of weird and all in the same colour, red. I wonder if he likes it after the Western fashion, or he’s simply eccentric. He introduces himself to everyone as Count D., I’m not sure he’s really a Count, but it would be outrageous and horribly rude to ask such a question. And you, Yokito, you’d better get your ass over here soon. I’ve missed it… I mean missed you. Ha ha ha. I’m teasing you, baka! Kiss-kiss”.
The Fantasy Friends Tatsuya mentions in his e-mail are not others than some really interesting students…
...Count D. and his brother Count Fei who come by the last name of Liu; Advent Kadajo and Valentine Vincent.
For the next years, the youth of Kiku Heaven will be walking the path of knowledge and friendship, others will find true love and others, will have a first-hand experience of what a broken heart is. If a broken heart is the result of a lover’s betrayal, and betrayal is seen as a “crime” by the hopelessly romantic souls, there can be other crimes of more grave and dark nature that will be kept secret…
Muroga Hitoshi, Muroga Norihiro and a crime to go unpunished.
Hitoshi and Norihiro might look like normal teenagers, even innocent to an untrained eye, but appearance can often be deceptive. It was a chilly but pleasant spring evening when they arrived in Kiku Heaven with their parents, Yusuke and Yama, but the next morning found them as the only residents of the newly-acquired Muroga residence. If the newspaper-delivering boy had come a little earlier he might had caught a glimpse of two freshly dug graves in their back yard. But he didn’t, and so he saw nothing more than two teenagers talking in the front door who both fell silent when they noticed him approaching.
Hitoshi and Norihiro have been together since their birth, they have a fortune to last till the end of their days, and now a house to live just the two of them, and they are madly in love. Yet, they owe everything to their fathers, two men whose bonds of friendship and loyalty were no different than those of two brothers; two men whose death a few hours after they stepped in Kiku Heaven defeated their hopes and dreams for a new life.
The very first morning in Kiku Heaven finds Hitoshi in front of the chessboard making math calculations. Norihiro will wake up later and have a look around the house (he was too exhausted to notice anything than his bed last night). It is small but cosy and welcome --his father is always the best in choosing the right homes. A morning kiss well-earned… if only he was around.
Hitoshi has no idea where their parents might have gone. “A morning kiss for me?”
After school they will drive to downtown, mingle with the crowd, stroll in the park, get a look at the new fashion trends and go shopping. Hitoshi will make Kobayashi Kenji’s acquaintance who is quite impressed by the kid’s expressive face.
There is an awkward moment as Hitoshi decides what to answer to Kenji’s question about their family.
Hitoshi: Err... they’re probably at work…
Kenji: Probably?
Hitoshi: Well… we didn’t… you see, this morning when we woke up they weren’t at home, and we don’t know where they are.
Michiko: Oh, that’s horrible! You mean they abandoned you? Poor kids!
Hitoshi: No, no… ha ha ha… we’re not poor. We come from wealthy and honorable families.
Drowned in love and lust and enjoying an unexpected freedom the two boys will carry on with their lives and prepare as best as they can for University. A social worker who will visit them a week later will decide they are perfectly capable of looking after themselves and this is exactly what she will write on her report. Three days after the report is submitted, Kiku Heaven’s Court of Justice will declare their parents “Missing” and close the Muroga case.
To endure what is unendurable is true endurance.
Norihiro looks as if undergoing a period of brooding and unendurable pain. “I miss Dad” will reply whenever Hitoshi asks him.
On the other hand, Hitoshi’s desperate hunger for attention and love works as a constant source of distraction for Norihiro…
…barely leaving him time to think about anything else. In fact, he has become Hitoshi’s baby-sitter: he cleans the house, pays the bills, takes the trash out, prepares their meals and occasionally will do Hitoshi’s homework too.
However, there are some rare occasions where Norihiro questions Hitoshi’s strange silence about the incident that marked their arrival at Kiku Heaven.
Hitoshi: “Promise you’ll never leave me… ”
Despite his passionate nature and unbounded energy, Hitoshi, too, has his sulking moments, but it just happens to be alone when his smile disappears and his eyes become darker. Perhaps it is loneliness and inner struggle to keep his spirits high for the time to come that make his feeling overflowing in such intense and contradictory ways. As Hitoshi will not allow his heart to waver or question his decisions he escapes these dreadful moments by running back home and seeking comfort in Norihiro’s arms.
[Are Akiko and Koshiro those two in the background?]
It seems the future will be kind to Koshiro and Akiko. In preparation of their wedding (nothing fancy, just a couple of good friends, including Koichi and Andy of course, and a nice buffet) Koshiro changes style in hair and clothes and, with the boys already in College, Akiko moves with the Strifes the eve of the big day.
< END OF PROLOGUE >
Technical notes:
1. Count D. is Lunar Eclipse’s Sim uploaded at MTS. She has made a wonderful work with Count D.’s robes, in both versions.
2. Kadajo and Vincent Valentine: They are NessyOriginal’s Sims at MTS.
At this point I should say I have tweaked Kadaj and Vincent, and this is why you’ll notice they look somehow different in my game. For me, NessyOriginal has created the best Final Fantasy VII characters for TS2 game.
Thank you Nessy and Eclipse!