[Fanfic] Where Might You Be?- Maki, Toma, Yamapi, Shun ~~ Ch11
PREVIOUSLY
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
CURRENTLY
Chapter 11
NYC, NY USA
Mackenzie answered her phone hopefully, but her expression changed in disappointment when she saw the name of the caller ID.
“Hello?” she sighed to the caller, not bothering to hide her disappointment. She pressed her finger into her other ear to listen. She and Risa were at the airport on their way to Tokyo. Peter and Eiji had gone back a few days ago.
“Oh, I’m sorry, were you expecting someone else?” Ariel’s voice drifted through the line knowingly.
“Um, no,” Mackenzie lied. Actually, she was expecting Toma to call her, but it had been a week since he came to bring her home from Little Tokyo. She hadn’t seen or heard from him since.
“Anyway, I’m sorry I couldn’t come and see you off at the airport,” Ariel said. “My sister had an emergency business meeting, so I’m the emergency babysitter. Have a good flight, okay? Bring me back some cute Japanese guys.”
“I thought you and Chun are together,” Mackenzie joked in spite of herself.
“Sweetie, it’s true, but I need something to cuddle at night.” Ariel laughed. “Just kidding, but not about the Japanese guy, of course.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see what I can do,” Mackenzie teased. She paused and bit her lip and hesitated to ask that one question that was bugging her.
“Just give him time, that idiot,” Ariel said softly, reading her mind. “He’s, well, trying to ‘figure out’ something. He thinks he’s in love with this girl ---“ Ariel stopped suddenly, regretting the words.
“There’s a girl?” Mackenzie’s heart sank.
“Don’t worry, he only met her online and haven’t seen her yet,” Ariel said, secretly added, “or so he thinks” in her head. “There’s really no problem, sweetie. I’ll steer him to you. Promise.”
The boarding call blasted through the PA system, and Mackenzie said goodbye to Ariel and boarded the plane. Throughout the flight, she reminisced how she and Toma almost kiss on the bus, and she thought about the girl Ariel had informed her. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and decided that she’d just concentrate on this trial about the adoption agency and for Eiji’s upcoming club gig, and not think about Toma. She succeeded for only a minute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shun was dressed in his best suit as he got ready to go to the courthouse for the trial. Maki had wished him good luck before she headed to school. He wished he could have taken her, but Iwase-san clearly told his interns to arrive at the courthouse a few hours before the trial.
He drove Hiro’s car, grateful that he offered to lend it to him just for that day. Mao thought having Shun show up in his motorcycle might throw off his “serious lawyer” appearance, and insisted to Hiro her idea. In exchanged, Hiro got to borrow his motorcycle, making Mao slightly regret her suggestion and Hiro ecstatic.
Once he parked the car, Shun dashed inside the building to find their meeting place. The others were already there, and Shun sighed with relief that Iwase-san hadn’t arrived yet. They went over their statements while waiting for him.
##
“Mom, why are we here early?” Mackenzie asked when they parked at the courthouse parking lot. The whole Wentz family came to the trial. They got out of the car and walked to the courthouse building.
“I want to get a good seat,” Risa replied, hooking her arm on to her husband’s. “C’mon, hon, I want to sit near the front.” She practically dragged Peter inside.
Mackenzie sighed at the ridiculousness of her parents. Still, she could understand their anxiety over this. To find out that the daughter they had adopted from an agency they thought to have a worthy reputation was actually a kidnapped child could stressed out parent. Mackenzie suddenly became nervous herself as the thought of what could become of her entered her mind.
“Hey, daijoubu,” Eiji assured her, placing his arm around her shoulder. Mackenzie nodded and hugged her brother back.
##
Maki glanced at her watch and noted that in a couple of hours, Shun’s trial would start. She was at the library doing her research. She got an idea to check any newspapers that dated the same day and a week after her family was torn apart. Once again, she recruited Sho to come and Kazunari tagged along, too.
They were in one of those study rooms the library provided and a stack of newspapers was already piled high on the table. She picked the top paper and browsed through the pages. Sho and Kazunari were flipping through their respective papers as well.
“Ugh, mendokusai!” Kazunari exclaimed after browsing through papers without luck. “So many words. My eyes are hurting.”
“I told you this is hard work,” Sho whispered, embarrassed of his friend’s outburst. “You didn’t have to come.” He turned to Maki. “Gomen, Maki-chan. Nino complains a lot.”
“No I don’t!” Kazunari defended himself.
“He argues a lot, too.”
“Urusei!”
“See?”
Maki just smiled at Kazunari. “Daijoubu, Nino-kun. I didn’t mean to bother you like this,” she gave a small apologetic bow. Kazunari cringed his nose in guilt.
“Ah, sumimasen,” he said. “I chose to come along, anyway, so I better do my part, ne?” He took another newspaper and flipped through it.
Maki smiled, but then frowned. She felt dizzy suddenly and excused herself to get a drink of water. Before she could reach the door, she fainted and fell to the floor.
“Maki!” Sho and Kazunari exclaimed in unison.
##
“Chotto, toire,” Mackenzie said to her family, and headed to the restroom. They were already in the courtroom, a few minutes before the trial starts. On the way, she passed by a small room where six people gathered. She thought she heard the agency’s name being mentioned, but shrugged it off as she entered the restroom. Moments later, she heard two women coming inside the restroom. She heard the agency’s name again, and she quickly see who they were. They were about her age, but they were dressed professionally.
“Sumimasen,” she said to them. “Are you part of the agency trial, too?”
The two girls nodded. “Toda Erika desu and this is Nagasawa Masami,” Erika introduced themselves.
“Mackenzie Wentz desu,” Mackenzie bowed. “Were you adopted by the agency, too?”
“No, we’re interns for one of the district attorneys. We did the hard work just so the DA could present a solid case,” Masami explained. “How about you?”
“Oh,” Mackenzie nodded. “I’m one of the adoptee from the agency.”
“Hontou?” they asked excitedly. “You’re one of our witnesses. We should introduce you to the rest of the interns. Come with us.” They left the restroom and went to the small room Mackenzie had passed by earlier.
“This is the interns for Iwase-san,” Erika pointed to everybody. “That’s Iwase-san himself. Wait, where’s Oguri Shun-san?”
“He had an emergency and had to leave,” Keiichiro replied. “His girlfriend collapsed and was sent to the hospital. Iwase-san excused him a minute ago.”
“Oh I hope she’s alright,” Mackenzie said sympathetically. The others nodded. They soon took her back to the courthouse and a few minutes later, the trial started.
##
Maki eyes slowly opened and she groggily looked around. She didn’t recognize the white tiled ceiling and the white curtain. She realized that she was lying on a bed, and she looked at her side. Shun was sitting on the chair, his head down on the bed, sleeping. She nudged him awake.
“Babe, you’re awake!” he exclaimed in relief and kissed her forehead. “You fainted in the library and Sho and Nino called the ambulance.”
“How was your trial?” Maki asked weakly, sitting up slowly. “Where am I?”
“Iwase-san excused me so I could be here with you,” Shun explained. “Yuuta will call me later how it went when they’re done. You’re in the hospital.”
“Konnichiwa,” the doctor greeted as he came in, interrupting them. “Oh, good, you’re finally awake, Horikita-san. A lot of people are worried about you. Well, I got the test results, and… you’re extremely dehydrated. We must take care of ourselves from now, okay? Drink lots of fluid, especially water. We’ll let you finish this IV, then you can go home.”
Maki nodded and promised she would follow his orders before the doctor left the room. Shun looked relieved but he looked disappointed, too.
“Doushite?” Maki asked squeezing his hand. Shun sighed.
“When Nino told me that you fainted, I thought -“ Shun’s voice trailed. He cleared his throat. “Um, I thought you’re pregnant or something.” He scratched his head sheepishly and smiled faintly. Maki smiled.
“Did you hope I was?”
Shun shrugged. “Well, I was prepared for it, but it’s okay. If it’s time for us to have a baby, then it’ll come.” He got up from the chair and sat beside her on the bed. He kissed her forehead again. “I’m just glad you’re okay now.”
Maki nodded and kissed him. She lied down again to rest while Shun stayed by her side. An hour later, she was discharged from the hospital and they went home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yamapi dialed Sho’s number and waited for him to pick up. He reached a recorded message instead. He sighed and dialed Kazunari’s number. His phone was off, too.
“Where is everybody?” Yamapi growled. He wanted to ask Sho’s advice on his situation. That morning, he woke up to find that Makiko was gone. In panic, he quickly changed and got ready to look for her until he found a note she left stating that she had gone to get some breakfast at the nearest convenience store.
Alone for a few minutes, Yamapi wondered what to do next to help Makiko out. He hoped Sho could tell him since he was a Law major, and should be familiar with it. He dialed again for the umpteenth time.
“Moshi, moshi,” Sho answered. Yamapi sighed with relief.
“Dude, I’ve been calling you,” Yamapi said. “I have a question.”
“No, you cannot borrow my notes,” Sho said without waiting. “You lost mine the last time.”
“Iie, listen. Totally different,” Yamapi replied. “Um, if, uh, no, wait. Uh, I have a ‘friend’ who is involved with a certain group of people, bad ones, really bad ones. Anyway, I, I mean he, um helped out the daughter of the leader of that bad group, who is in trouble. Well, I do-, I mean, my ‘friend’ don’t know what to do if her dad finds out that she found out what bad stuff he had been doing.”
“Sorry, Pi, but could you get to the point,” Sho interrupted. “My battery is running low.”
“OK, wait I’m getting there,” Yamapi continued. “Well, what should I, I mean, he, do if they get in a big trouble with the dad or something else?”
“Is she pregnant with your ‘friend’s’ baby?” Sho asked.
“NO!” Yamapi exclaimed. “She just found out her dad’s been killing people that’s all. Oops.” He slapped his forehead for spilling out too much information.
“Pi,” Sho said in a serious tone. “I suggest that your ‘friend’ and this girl go tell the authorities about him, even if it is her dad. They will be in big trouble, but I’m sure the police will help them out.”
“Well, do you know who else I could call in case we, I mean, they, get in trouble?”
“Um, I have a friend who’s a lawyer,” Sho said. “Well, actually, he’s an intern right now, but maybe he could help you out. His name is Oguri Shun.”
“Yeah, great. Could you email his number for me?” Yamapi asked. He turned his head at the door when he heard footsteps outside. “I have to go.” He hung up without waiting for Sho’s reply. He got up to the door, expecting one of Yousuke’s men.
“Pi,” Makiko called out when she opened the door. “Ahh!”
“AHH!” Yamapi yelled back in surprised. “You almost gave me a heart attack.
“What? YOU almost gave me a heart attack!” Makiko exclaimed. She handed the plastic bag roughly at him. “Breakfast.” She walked passed him to come in haughtily. Yamapi gritted his teeth, but kept quiet. He set the food on the coffee table and had breakfast.
A few minutes later, they left for the university to get Makiko’s car so they could get her stuff. On the way, Yamapi got an email from Sho in his phone, and he quickly memorized Oguri Shun’s number, in case he lost his phone. Soon, they got in Makiko’s car, and sped off to Yousuke’s house to get her things.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
mini-dictionary:
daijoubu- fine
mendokusai- annoying
urusei- noisy/ shut up
chotto, toire- I'm going to the restroom (or close to that translation)
hontou- really
konnichiwa- hello/ good afternoon
doushite- what's wrong
moshi, moshi- hello (when answering phone)
iie- no
Next
Chapter 12