Songs For Daddy: Chapter 10: Easier to Run
Author: bar_ohki
Title: Songs for Daddy
Rating: This chapter is rated T.
Summary: After receiving a phone call, Hiruma abandons his job, his football team, and his friends, disappearing into nothing. After several years pass, Mamori finds a strange girl in her Kindergarten class, a girl strange enough to have the only remaining connection to the missing quarterback….
Pairings: Past HirumaOC, present nothing decided, future HiruMamo.
Warnings: Angst, depressing things, death, childish innocence, Hiruma’s vocabulary, sex, and parents being evil.
Notes: Easier to Run is by Linkin Park, I do not own it.
Links: To song on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch
To lyrics of song: www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/linkinpark/easiertorun.html
To a list of chapter links: bar-ohki.livejournal.com/10704.html
To chapter 9: bar-ohki.livejournal.com/12284.html
Songs for Daddy
Chapter 10: Easier to Run
Anezaki smiled softly as she shut her cell phone, talking to Kobayakawa had been the right choice. He was the only person Anezaki could think of that might understand what Hiruma was thinking, from a parent’s perspective anyways. It also helped that Kobayakawa had also been good friends with Hiruma, just not as close as Takekura and Musashi were.
“Anezaki-san, you gave that man a talking to about the disruption today, right?” The office lady from earlier asked, a menacing glint in her eye. Anezaki had walked over to the main office during her small musings.
“…Yeah.” Anezaki lied after a moment. “Could you get me Hiruma Emiko’s file?”
“Oh, sure sure.” The office lady turned to a file cabinet and fiddled around inside one of the drawers before she pulled out the file Anezaki asked for. After a quick read through to make sure that all the papers were inside in proper order, the office lady handed the file to Anezaki.
“It’s a bit strange for someone to have a change of address this early in the school year….” The office lady gossiped a bit.
“Thank you.” Anezaki bowed and went back to her classroom. Once at her desk she opened up the file and began to examine it carefully. Emiko had all her proper immunizations and spotless health record. There was a small family history that confirmed that she was the daughter of Hiruma Youichi and Saburo Chizue (deceased). Another paper had Emiko’s emergency contact information which now told the school to contact Saburo Haruka and a few other random contacts whom Anezaki correctly assumed were Saburo-san’s friends. The next page was the one Anezaki had been hoping to find: Hiruma Emiko’s void contact information sheet. This sheet listed her old address, Hiruma’s home, cell, and work numbers (none of which Anezaki recognized), along with a handful of emergency contacts. Notably Saburo Haruka and Hiruma Yuuya were among the people to contact.
“Didn’t Hiruma-kun hate his father?” Anezaki muttered, a little confused by that. The third contact had been Emiko’s doctor, which lead Anezaki to assume that Hiruma had simply put down names of people who knew about Emiko’s existence as his child.
Anezaki carefully wrote down Hiruma’s address and phone numbers, knowing she would need them later. She then carefully examined the rest of Emiko’s file to make sure she had not missed anything else potentially useful. There was nothing else interesting in the file, so Anezaki put it away and returned it to the office on her way out of the school building.
Looking around at the street Anezaki wondered what exactly she should do next. Kurtia and Takekura would not be free of work for at least another three hours, so that made contacting them out of the question. Contacting Hiruma after him walking away like that was also out of the question. With a small shake of her head, Anezaki decided there was nothing she could currently do about Emiko’s situation.
While Anezaki was cooking dinner another thought struck her: Hiruma Yuuya had been an emergency contact. That mysterious man, whom she had never met, knew something about Emiko. After dinner Anezaki gave the man a call.
“Hello?” A tired, rough male voice asked on the other end.
“Hiruma-san? Hello, this is Anezaki Mamori.” Anezaki introduced herself quickly.
“Why are you calling me?” Yuuya asked, sounding annoyed.
“This is about Emiko and your son,” Anezaki began, “…I was wondering what you knew about their current situation.”
“How’d you get my number?” Yuuya demanded.
“I’m Emiko’s teacher, your number was one of the Emiko’s emergency contacts.” Anezaki answered truthfully.
“…I promised my son I’d stay out of his life and I have. I don’t know anything.” Yuuya told her and hung up.
Anezaki ended her end of the call with a frown. Yuuya had known something, but had decided not to tell her. With a small sigh Anezaki stared up at the ceiling, wondering if there was anything else she could do. Her hands were messing with her phone absently as she continued to try and figure out what she should tell Takekura and Kurita.
The suddenness of Hiruma’s disappearance had left a large hole in the lives of both friends; it made the subject of Hiruma extremely painful. Glancing down at her phone, Anezaki realized she’d been typing a text message to Hiruma’s phone. It was just a collection of random letters with no meaning so Anezaki promptly erased the contents.
‘Don’t push us away. I’m telling Kurita and Musashi about Emiko.’ Anezaki texted. She didn’t get a reply right away, which didn’t surprise her. She called Takekura.
“Hello.” Takekura greeted her. There was no background noise for him to talk over.
“Musashi, is it possible for Kuirta to join us for dinner tomorrow?” Anezaki asked.
“I think so, why?” Takekura sounded a little confused.
“…I recently got some news and I wanted to share it with both of you.” Anezaki explained.
“Do you mind if we meet at Devie’s then?” Takekura asked her.
“Not at all.” Anezaki smiled, recalling the found memories she had of the restaurant.
“I’ll see you at six then.” Takekura told her.
“See you then.” Anezaki hung up.
-The next day-
Getting the present from her father had turned something around in Emiko’s mind, Anezaki was quick to observe. The little girl seemed to care about school again, about other kids again, and about trying to make friends. Thankfully the severe bout of depression Emiko had had opened the rest of the class up to acknowledging her existence as a person.
“Sorry? I like to play Sorry.” Emiko commented to one of the other girls. “It’s my favorite.”
“But you said Minesweeper is your favorite game!” Nozomi protested. Nozomi was waif of a girl with bushy black hair and enormous box-shaped glasses. She had been the first one to try and reach out to Emiko, even when the girl hadn’t been responding.
“Sorry is a game?” Emiko blinked, confused.
“Yes.” Nozomi nodded slowly, looking confused that Emiko was confused.
“Papa said it was a board game, not a game.” Emiko explained.
“A board game is a kind of game.” Nozomi explained.
“Oh!” Emiko’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Are video games games too!?”
“Yes.” Nozomi laughed. “If it has the word ‘game’ in it, it’s probably a game.”
“I get it!” Emiko smiled, happy.
Anezaki pondered that interaction for a moment. Emiko was proving to be a blunt, straightforward sort of girl. She was very kind and her emotions came only in extremes. It made Anezaki wonder just how much of Emiko’s behavior was the fault of parenting and how much of it was something else. Anezaki had had children with mental disabilities’ in her classes before, their odd behaviors had nothing to do with parenting usually.
The buzz of a cell phone brought the class into silence. Everyone was staring at the vibrating phone on Anezaki’s desk. With a small, embarrassed blush, Anezaki drove for the phone and promptly silenced it, mental smacking herself for forgetting to turn it off. She quickly checked her phone. Hiruma had sent her a text with saying ‘Devie’s 5:30’.
“Was that your boyfriend?” One of the girls asked.
“No!” Anezaki was mortified. Her dating Hiruma!?
“You’re blushing!” One of the boys pointed a finger at her with a triumphant laugh.
“Ke ke ke!” Emiko laughed, sounding just like her father.
Needless to say the added surrealism hadn’t helped matters.
-Devie’s, 5:45-
Anezaki didn’t usually take the trains out into the Deimon area anymore, she hadn’t had much of a reason to go and visit her old high school. Having had known the train schedule, Anezaki took the trains presuming that had not changed. But it had and now she was running 15 minutes late for her rendezvous with Hiruma and 15 minutes early for her dinner appointment with Takekura and Kurita. In her rush to try and save what little time there was left, Anezaki almost crashed into Hiruma as she entered the restaurant.
“I’m so sorry!” Anezaki gasped between pants.
“Tch.” Hiruma muttered. “You used to be punctual.” With that Hiruma walked back into the restaurant, leaving Anezaki to catch her breath and follow. Hiruma was wearing a more causal set up, consisting of a leather jacket, jeans, and a blue tee-shirt. Notably, Hiruma was wearing a wide-brimmed hat that made his pointy ears less obvious. Anezaki simply followed him to the booth where he sat down.
“We’re here to talk right?” Anezaki asked as she sat down.
Hiruma pointedly looked out the window.
“…I know I don’t understand everything you’ve been doing these last six years but,” Anezaki told Hiruma, “why do you shut everyone out? Musashi and Kurita would have loved to stand by your side when you got married. Any of us would babysit Emiko in a heartbeat! Why-”
“I didn’t come here to have you lecture me.” Hiruma pointed out to her in a quiet voice. Anezaki stopped and pulled her emotions back under control.
“…Everyone’s been hurting since you left.” Anezaki informed him.
“I didn’t come here for a guilt trip either.” Hiruma told her flatly, annoyed at her behavior.
“What did you come here for?” Anezaki asked, looking up and meeting Hiruma’s gaze.
Outside the restaurant, Takekura and Kurita where walking down the street. Due to the bus schedule, they had landed at Devie’s a little early.
“Hey, isn’t that Mamori?” Kurita pointed at Anezaki, who was sitting across from some guy in a hat.
“Yeah, who’s she talking to?” Takekura squinted trying to recognize the man. Both friends, without needing to talk, walked closer to the window to try and get a better look at the person.
“You’re destroying the peace I’ve been carefully building these last six years,” Hiruma told her acidly, “stay the hell out of it and don’t go bringing the others in.”
“Hiruma!” Anezaki gasped. “Do you even care about your daughter?!”
“This is her peace!” Hiruma snapped angrily, leaping to his feet.
Takekura and Kurita recognized the figure: Hiruma Youichi. After a small shared look, the two rushed into the restaurant, blowing past the distressed hostess.
“Hiruma!” Takekura yelled, stopping the angered man mid-rant. Hiruma looked away from Anezaki to make eye contract with Takekura for the first time in six years.
“Hiruma!” Kurita yelled, a few tears leaking out of his eyes. Hiruma met Kurita’s eyes too.
Then Hiruma grimaced, turned, and ran away. Takekura chased after him for a little while, but quickly lost Hiruma in the dark streets. Kurita, knowing that it was better than to try to run after his two friends, stopped and looked at Anezaki.
“Why?” Kurita asked Anezaki, so confused as to why Hiruma would run away.
“…He’s really scared.” Anezaki explained.
“Scared? Of what?” Kurita was confused by that. “Hiruma wasn’t afraid of anything.”
“…I’ll explain when Musashi comes back.” Anezaki told Kurita simply. She didn’t think she could explain everything that had been happening twice.
“…He’s not going to catch Hiruma, is he?” Kurita muttered.
“No, he’s not.” Anezaki agreed.
About 20 minutes later Takekura came back and sat down next to Kurita, looking completely defeated.
“Do you know what possessed him to run like that?” Takekura asked, winded.
“Part of it.” Anezaki began. She recounted to the other two how she had met Hiruma Emiko and the complexities between Hiruma’s current relations with his in-laws. Takekura and Kurita stayed really quiet while Anezaki explained what she knew about the custody trial and the advice Kobayakawa had given her. She finished with the conversation she had just had with him.
“…That explains that ring he started wearing.” Takekura remarked after Anezaki finished. Anezaki paused and recalled that Hiruma had been wearing a small gold ring every time she had seen him recently.
“He was wearing it before?” Anezaki couldn’t recall seeing Hiruma with a ring before.
“Around his neck, on a necklace.” Kurita explained. “One day in the showers he had a ring around his neck. Musashi and I were the only ones that noticed.”
“He was always super careful about hiding it too,” Takekura continued, “I wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for the fact I showered next to him.”
“Since he was always hiding it, we decided not to ask him about it.” Kurita continued. “…We always thought he would tell us when he was ready….”
“He wasn’t getting a lot of sleep right before he left,” Takekura went on, “I called him on that one-”
“He said it was going to go away soon.” Kurita finished.
“…I wonder why he’d say that if he was about to become a father.” Anezaki wondered. “Wait-! You don’t think he and Chizue-san were planning on putting Emiko up for adoption?”
“They probably were.” Takekura admitted. “If Hiruma had been seriously interested in someone romantically, I would have been at that wedding.”
“And Hiruma really loves Emiko-chan, so he wants what’s best for her, right?” Kurita observed wisely.
“…He didn’t want his daughter raised in a loveless marriage.” Anezaki whispered, her eyes wide in realization.
“But what’s scaring him so much?” Takekura muttered. “Why is he afraid of us meeting Emiko?”
“…I didn’t get an opportunity to talk to Sena about it, but I think he might have the best guess of the lot of us.” Anezaki explained.
“Why Sena?” Kurita blinked, a little confused by that himself.
“Because Sena is the only father I know of that knew Hiruma fairly well.” Anezaki answered simply. “And I think most of these problems stem from Hiruma being a father.”
_=_=_=_=_
I changed the chapter title four times, meh! Tell me what you think!
Title: Songs for Daddy
Rating: This chapter is rated T.
Summary: After receiving a phone call, Hiruma abandons his job, his football team, and his friends, disappearing into nothing. After several years pass, Mamori finds a strange girl in her Kindergarten class, a girl strange enough to have the only remaining connection to the missing quarterback….
Pairings: Past HirumaOC, present nothing decided, future HiruMamo.
Warnings: Angst, depressing things, death, childish innocence, Hiruma’s vocabulary, sex, and parents being evil.
Notes: Easier to Run is by Linkin Park, I do not own it.
Links: To song on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch
To lyrics of song: www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/linkinpark/easiertorun.html
To a list of chapter links: bar-ohki.livejournal.com/10704.html
To chapter 9: bar-ohki.livejournal.com/12284.html
Songs for Daddy
Chapter 10: Easier to Run
Anezaki smiled softly as she shut her cell phone, talking to Kobayakawa had been the right choice. He was the only person Anezaki could think of that might understand what Hiruma was thinking, from a parent’s perspective anyways. It also helped that Kobayakawa had also been good friends with Hiruma, just not as close as Takekura and Musashi were.
“Anezaki-san, you gave that man a talking to about the disruption today, right?” The office lady from earlier asked, a menacing glint in her eye. Anezaki had walked over to the main office during her small musings.
“…Yeah.” Anezaki lied after a moment. “Could you get me Hiruma Emiko’s file?”
“Oh, sure sure.” The office lady turned to a file cabinet and fiddled around inside one of the drawers before she pulled out the file Anezaki asked for. After a quick read through to make sure that all the papers were inside in proper order, the office lady handed the file to Anezaki.
“It’s a bit strange for someone to have a change of address this early in the school year….” The office lady gossiped a bit.
“Thank you.” Anezaki bowed and went back to her classroom. Once at her desk she opened up the file and began to examine it carefully. Emiko had all her proper immunizations and spotless health record. There was a small family history that confirmed that she was the daughter of Hiruma Youichi and Saburo Chizue (deceased). Another paper had Emiko’s emergency contact information which now told the school to contact Saburo Haruka and a few other random contacts whom Anezaki correctly assumed were Saburo-san’s friends. The next page was the one Anezaki had been hoping to find: Hiruma Emiko’s void contact information sheet. This sheet listed her old address, Hiruma’s home, cell, and work numbers (none of which Anezaki recognized), along with a handful of emergency contacts. Notably Saburo Haruka and Hiruma Yuuya were among the people to contact.
“Didn’t Hiruma-kun hate his father?” Anezaki muttered, a little confused by that. The third contact had been Emiko’s doctor, which lead Anezaki to assume that Hiruma had simply put down names of people who knew about Emiko’s existence as his child.
Anezaki carefully wrote down Hiruma’s address and phone numbers, knowing she would need them later. She then carefully examined the rest of Emiko’s file to make sure she had not missed anything else potentially useful. There was nothing else interesting in the file, so Anezaki put it away and returned it to the office on her way out of the school building.
Looking around at the street Anezaki wondered what exactly she should do next. Kurtia and Takekura would not be free of work for at least another three hours, so that made contacting them out of the question. Contacting Hiruma after him walking away like that was also out of the question. With a small shake of her head, Anezaki decided there was nothing she could currently do about Emiko’s situation.
While Anezaki was cooking dinner another thought struck her: Hiruma Yuuya had been an emergency contact. That mysterious man, whom she had never met, knew something about Emiko. After dinner Anezaki gave the man a call.
“Hello?” A tired, rough male voice asked on the other end.
“Hiruma-san? Hello, this is Anezaki Mamori.” Anezaki introduced herself quickly.
“Why are you calling me?” Yuuya asked, sounding annoyed.
“This is about Emiko and your son,” Anezaki began, “…I was wondering what you knew about their current situation.”
“How’d you get my number?” Yuuya demanded.
“I’m Emiko’s teacher, your number was one of the Emiko’s emergency contacts.” Anezaki answered truthfully.
“…I promised my son I’d stay out of his life and I have. I don’t know anything.” Yuuya told her and hung up.
Anezaki ended her end of the call with a frown. Yuuya had known something, but had decided not to tell her. With a small sigh Anezaki stared up at the ceiling, wondering if there was anything else she could do. Her hands were messing with her phone absently as she continued to try and figure out what she should tell Takekura and Kurita.
The suddenness of Hiruma’s disappearance had left a large hole in the lives of both friends; it made the subject of Hiruma extremely painful. Glancing down at her phone, Anezaki realized she’d been typing a text message to Hiruma’s phone. It was just a collection of random letters with no meaning so Anezaki promptly erased the contents.
‘Don’t push us away. I’m telling Kurita and Musashi about Emiko.’ Anezaki texted. She didn’t get a reply right away, which didn’t surprise her. She called Takekura.
“Hello.” Takekura greeted her. There was no background noise for him to talk over.
“Musashi, is it possible for Kuirta to join us for dinner tomorrow?” Anezaki asked.
“I think so, why?” Takekura sounded a little confused.
“…I recently got some news and I wanted to share it with both of you.” Anezaki explained.
“Do you mind if we meet at Devie’s then?” Takekura asked her.
“Not at all.” Anezaki smiled, recalling the found memories she had of the restaurant.
“I’ll see you at six then.” Takekura told her.
“See you then.” Anezaki hung up.
-The next day-
Getting the present from her father had turned something around in Emiko’s mind, Anezaki was quick to observe. The little girl seemed to care about school again, about other kids again, and about trying to make friends. Thankfully the severe bout of depression Emiko had had opened the rest of the class up to acknowledging her existence as a person.
“Sorry? I like to play Sorry.” Emiko commented to one of the other girls. “It’s my favorite.”
“But you said Minesweeper is your favorite game!” Nozomi protested. Nozomi was waif of a girl with bushy black hair and enormous box-shaped glasses. She had been the first one to try and reach out to Emiko, even when the girl hadn’t been responding.
“Sorry is a game?” Emiko blinked, confused.
“Yes.” Nozomi nodded slowly, looking confused that Emiko was confused.
“Papa said it was a board game, not a game.” Emiko explained.
“A board game is a kind of game.” Nozomi explained.
“Oh!” Emiko’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Are video games games too!?”
“Yes.” Nozomi laughed. “If it has the word ‘game’ in it, it’s probably a game.”
“I get it!” Emiko smiled, happy.
Anezaki pondered that interaction for a moment. Emiko was proving to be a blunt, straightforward sort of girl. She was very kind and her emotions came only in extremes. It made Anezaki wonder just how much of Emiko’s behavior was the fault of parenting and how much of it was something else. Anezaki had had children with mental disabilities’ in her classes before, their odd behaviors had nothing to do with parenting usually.
The buzz of a cell phone brought the class into silence. Everyone was staring at the vibrating phone on Anezaki’s desk. With a small, embarrassed blush, Anezaki drove for the phone and promptly silenced it, mental smacking herself for forgetting to turn it off. She quickly checked her phone. Hiruma had sent her a text with saying ‘Devie’s 5:30’.
“Was that your boyfriend?” One of the girls asked.
“No!” Anezaki was mortified. Her dating Hiruma!?
“You’re blushing!” One of the boys pointed a finger at her with a triumphant laugh.
“Ke ke ke!” Emiko laughed, sounding just like her father.
Needless to say the added surrealism hadn’t helped matters.
-Devie’s, 5:45-
Anezaki didn’t usually take the trains out into the Deimon area anymore, she hadn’t had much of a reason to go and visit her old high school. Having had known the train schedule, Anezaki took the trains presuming that had not changed. But it had and now she was running 15 minutes late for her rendezvous with Hiruma and 15 minutes early for her dinner appointment with Takekura and Kurita. In her rush to try and save what little time there was left, Anezaki almost crashed into Hiruma as she entered the restaurant.
“I’m so sorry!” Anezaki gasped between pants.
“Tch.” Hiruma muttered. “You used to be punctual.” With that Hiruma walked back into the restaurant, leaving Anezaki to catch her breath and follow. Hiruma was wearing a more causal set up, consisting of a leather jacket, jeans, and a blue tee-shirt. Notably, Hiruma was wearing a wide-brimmed hat that made his pointy ears less obvious. Anezaki simply followed him to the booth where he sat down.
“We’re here to talk right?” Anezaki asked as she sat down.
Hiruma pointedly looked out the window.
“…I know I don’t understand everything you’ve been doing these last six years but,” Anezaki told Hiruma, “why do you shut everyone out? Musashi and Kurita would have loved to stand by your side when you got married. Any of us would babysit Emiko in a heartbeat! Why-”
“I didn’t come here to have you lecture me.” Hiruma pointed out to her in a quiet voice. Anezaki stopped and pulled her emotions back under control.
“…Everyone’s been hurting since you left.” Anezaki informed him.
“I didn’t come here for a guilt trip either.” Hiruma told her flatly, annoyed at her behavior.
“What did you come here for?” Anezaki asked, looking up and meeting Hiruma’s gaze.
Outside the restaurant, Takekura and Kurita where walking down the street. Due to the bus schedule, they had landed at Devie’s a little early.
“Hey, isn’t that Mamori?” Kurita pointed at Anezaki, who was sitting across from some guy in a hat.
“Yeah, who’s she talking to?” Takekura squinted trying to recognize the man. Both friends, without needing to talk, walked closer to the window to try and get a better look at the person.
“You’re destroying the peace I’ve been carefully building these last six years,” Hiruma told her acidly, “stay the hell out of it and don’t go bringing the others in.”
“Hiruma!” Anezaki gasped. “Do you even care about your daughter?!”
“This is her peace!” Hiruma snapped angrily, leaping to his feet.
Takekura and Kurita recognized the figure: Hiruma Youichi. After a small shared look, the two rushed into the restaurant, blowing past the distressed hostess.
“Hiruma!” Takekura yelled, stopping the angered man mid-rant. Hiruma looked away from Anezaki to make eye contract with Takekura for the first time in six years.
“Hiruma!” Kurita yelled, a few tears leaking out of his eyes. Hiruma met Kurita’s eyes too.
Then Hiruma grimaced, turned, and ran away. Takekura chased after him for a little while, but quickly lost Hiruma in the dark streets. Kurita, knowing that it was better than to try to run after his two friends, stopped and looked at Anezaki.
“Why?” Kurita asked Anezaki, so confused as to why Hiruma would run away.
“…He’s really scared.” Anezaki explained.
“Scared? Of what?” Kurita was confused by that. “Hiruma wasn’t afraid of anything.”
“…I’ll explain when Musashi comes back.” Anezaki told Kurita simply. She didn’t think she could explain everything that had been happening twice.
“…He’s not going to catch Hiruma, is he?” Kurita muttered.
“No, he’s not.” Anezaki agreed.
About 20 minutes later Takekura came back and sat down next to Kurita, looking completely defeated.
“Do you know what possessed him to run like that?” Takekura asked, winded.
“Part of it.” Anezaki began. She recounted to the other two how she had met Hiruma Emiko and the complexities between Hiruma’s current relations with his in-laws. Takekura and Kurita stayed really quiet while Anezaki explained what she knew about the custody trial and the advice Kobayakawa had given her. She finished with the conversation she had just had with him.
“…That explains that ring he started wearing.” Takekura remarked after Anezaki finished. Anezaki paused and recalled that Hiruma had been wearing a small gold ring every time she had seen him recently.
“He was wearing it before?” Anezaki couldn’t recall seeing Hiruma with a ring before.
“Around his neck, on a necklace.” Kurita explained. “One day in the showers he had a ring around his neck. Musashi and I were the only ones that noticed.”
“He was always super careful about hiding it too,” Takekura continued, “I wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for the fact I showered next to him.”
“Since he was always hiding it, we decided not to ask him about it.” Kurita continued. “…We always thought he would tell us when he was ready….”
“He wasn’t getting a lot of sleep right before he left,” Takekura went on, “I called him on that one-”
“He said it was going to go away soon.” Kurita finished.
“…I wonder why he’d say that if he was about to become a father.” Anezaki wondered. “Wait-! You don’t think he and Chizue-san were planning on putting Emiko up for adoption?”
“They probably were.” Takekura admitted. “If Hiruma had been seriously interested in someone romantically, I would have been at that wedding.”
“And Hiruma really loves Emiko-chan, so he wants what’s best for her, right?” Kurita observed wisely.
“…He didn’t want his daughter raised in a loveless marriage.” Anezaki whispered, her eyes wide in realization.
“But what’s scaring him so much?” Takekura muttered. “Why is he afraid of us meeting Emiko?”
“…I didn’t get an opportunity to talk to Sena about it, but I think he might have the best guess of the lot of us.” Anezaki explained.
“Why Sena?” Kurita blinked, a little confused by that himself.
“Because Sena is the only father I know of that knew Hiruma fairly well.” Anezaki answered simply. “And I think most of these problems stem from Hiruma being a father.”
_=_=_=_=_
I changed the chapter title four times, meh! Tell me what you think!