HANA YORI DANGO: HEY! SAY! JUMP chapter 10
The struggle between Yuto and Chinen ended when Daiki said he would drive Akiko home that night. They dared not to resist against their senior, but their eyes were still reflecting each other. “What are you doing Chi?” Yuto asked As Ryutaro ran towards Ryosuke’s car whispering.”GO GO!! BOMB ABOUT TO EXPLODE!” Yamada looked up and saw Yuto and Chinen glaring each other in rage. HE shrugged his shoulders and got into his car. Chinen did not answer. He just turned around and walked away but Yuto held him back. “Don’t get so emotional Yuto; she’s just a girl…” Chinen said as he threw Yuto’s hand off his shoulder. Yuto yelled and lunged at him. As Yuto and Chinen rolled on the road, throwing fists at each other, Yabu who was standing not so far away came over and threw them both far away from each other. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” he roared. Chinen stood up wiping his bloody lip. Yuto stood up with a bruised eye. They dared not to answer to Yabu. Especially when Yabu was not in the good mood. “Ashta…” Yuto said, his breath coming in wheezes. “Ashta…” Chinen muttered wiping blood off his lip with the back of his hand. They went home after that. Yabu made sure of it.
*********************
“Arigatou ne, Dai chan” Akiko said happily as she sat comfortably in Daiki’s car.
“IE…I had to help you…or Chi and Yuto might have ripped you into half, trust me they have done it to Ryosuke before…funny ne” Daiki said grinning as he steered the black Mercedes through the gloomy and damp roads of Tokyo. Akiko enjoyed the ride. There was a song playing on the radio. Some new hit called “ULTRA MUSIC POWER”. It was pretty catchy. She hummed along with the song but then stopped abruptly at the sight of a photo. A picture of a girl in the drawer. She picked it up slowly. The girl was very pretty. Although she was Japanese girl, she looked slightly European. “Must be a Eurasian.” she thought.
“Ano sa, Daiki, who is this?…” she asked showing Daiki the picture. Daiki smiled but he did not answer. He stopped the car on the roadside. Akiko looked at him bewildered. “Eh, did I say something wrong…Gomen ne…”
“Ie…just that….I want to talk about her. I usually don’t tell the boys you know. Its kind of personal. It’s strange that I really want to talk about this to you.” He said running his hand through his hair.
“Her name is Sakura…nice right?” he smiled taking the picture. His face was at peace when he stared at Sakura’s picture. Surely he admired her very much. “Who is she?” Akiko questioned noticing Daiki’s sweet smile. “You mean…who was she…to me?”
Akiko’s face went pale. She covered her mouth with her hands…”Daichan…gomennsai…”
Daiki smiled. “It’s not that. She is still alive. But…she’s dead to me…” At this his face turned a little sour as if reminiscing some horrible memories. Akiko was taken aback. The charismatic Daichan...He had a history of his own…
“Nande...Nande is she dead to you?”
Daiki looked up at the sky through his window. “Best to tell you ne…I loved her…very much. She was my childhood friend. And we had been together for so long. She used to call me panda. That’s where JUMP got it from. Panda . Hmm” Daiki stopped. It was as if a volcano was erupting inside him. But he was holding it down. And holding it down caused tears to come flowing out of his red and puffy eyes. He quickly wiped them off to avoid Akiko from noticing but she did. “Daiki…” she said putting her hand on his. He held it tightly. “I loved her so much; I was willing to give up my money for her. I wanted to go away with her. I would’ve done anything. But her father…he was a swindler.”
Akiko stared at Daiki’s eyes. A waterfall of tears now came from remembering the sorrows of the past. “He was a swindler…So I told her to come away with me...She refused. He got caught one day, and they went bankrupt. My father was not so famous back then; he was still working hard at it. An average player. No fame yet no glory. So I was a normal kid. Her family needed money to save their pride in the high society. So her mother gets her married to some rich guy in Paris. She was two years older than me. So she gets to marry a guy who is six years older than her…just for the sake of money…ARGH!” he said angrily as he banged the steering wheel. His face was wet with tears. His eyes were red. Akiko looked at him quietly; she wanted to make him smile again. This was painful. To see his face so devastated. It was painful. “And you know that part I hate the most. Her mother told me to get lost when I went to talk to her. I wanted my Sakura to be with me. But her mother refused. Because her parents did not know about us. Sakura hid me from them. The average boy. Not the rich one. What I hate the most. Sakura came out of her room and her mother asked if she knew me. Sakura was standing with her newly engaged finance then. She looked at me and said “No I don’t know him” Akiko remained silent.
“So I killed her. In my heart. I can never do that in real life no matter how wealthy I am now or how much power I have. My dad’s the best player in Japan now. And I wanna be just like him. I…I… I can’t even kill her picture” He said tearfully holding Sakura’s picture in his hand. Akiko looked at the photo. It was soaked with his tears.
“But I can kill her in my heart…so to me this picture is just of a deceased friend…yes that’s it…but now, it’s difficult for me to love anyone. I don’t have the energy anymore. To be in love….”
He said as he parked now at Akiko’s house. Akiko barely noticed. She was too busy looking at Daiki. Her eyes were wet. As Daiki looked up
“We’re here…Oyasumi…Gomen ne…I just spilled out like that I shouldn’t have…” he said getting out of the car. He opened her door for her. She stepped out. Before he could do anything else, Akiko pulled him into a tight hug. “Cry…”she whispered.
“Eh? NO…I mean…” Daiki stuttered.
“Cry Daiki…don’t leave that space in your little heart so full. Be at peace. Just cry…Daijobu…” Akiko said patting him. Daiki couldn’t move. He didn’t know what to do. So he wept. “You have more love than Sakura could have ever given you ne Daiki...You have JUMP, you have friends…and you have me…” she said holding him. Daiki kept weeping. He knew she was right. He just wanted these shattered pieces of his heart to go away. And somehow, just somehow, Akiko’s warm voice seemed to be gluing them back together.
NOTE: IM sorrry for the late updates, have become really busy nowadays. A bit sickly now too... :(anyways please keep on enjoying this fic. THANk YOU!!