chapter twenty-eight

true faith

THREE DAYS LATER

We were curled up on the couch, a bowl of popcorn between us as we watched a movie called 'The End Of The Tiny World', courtesy of my Netflix access since Tetsu still couldn't guess Naomi's password. When the film ended, Tetsu got up from the couch and stretched, a tired yawn escaping his mouth.

"I should probably start getting ready for work." Tetsu sighed. He turned to me. "Gilly, you're really lucky, you know that? You just get to hang around the house all day, no responsibilities."

I laughed, moving the popcorn bowl aside and giving him a hug. "Not for much longer. Once my resident status comes through, I can start applying for jobs in courthouses around the area. I already have a court in the Rascal's district interested."

Putting in my resignation for the courthouse in Toronto physically hurt me. I'd be saying goodbye to Kiana, to Judge Cheng. The people that had been my only friends through the end of my step father's life. Ultimately, however much I didn't want to let my old life go, it was time for me to move on. It's what Yuki would have wanted.

Tetsu came runnning back down the stairs, struggling to pull his hoodie over his head. I stifled my laughter as I filled up a pint glass form the Bar Odake with the filtered water pitcher. "Meet me at Ryusei's for dinner?" Tetz suggested, a dumb grin on his face as I pulled him in for a kiss.

"Sure. I'll see you later, baby."

Once Tetsu had left, I made my way back upstairs, eager to draft another email to my mother. I'd spent all week making a list of talking points and I was looking forward to writing back home. Mom seemed to be doing well now that she was back in Santa Fe. She sent me a pre recorded video of her and my grandparents, and I'd sent one back, Tetus hovering awkwardly behind me.
As I sat down at the desk to power my computer on, something sitting near the windowsil caught my eye.

Yuki Morizono-Wagner's moleskein journal.

The answers I had been putting off finding.

I closed my laptop and reached for the notebook, running into the other room to grab Steve the axolotl before curling up on the guest room bed as I opened it to the first page. The first few pages were mundane, there wasn't a lot going on in Yuki's life at the time. Not much changed, the journal entries recounting motorcycle trips, long nights in the garage and parties at Itokan. And then I turned one page and everything changed. The handwriting became more frantic, everything made less and less sense.

But I knew when it must have been written. The night Ryu Izawa died.

My heart leapt into my throat as my breath hitched. Every word was painful to read, having to imagine what it must have felt like as Yuki grappled with what had occurred that night when they went up against the Hyugas. Ryu was only nineteen, with a wife and baby at home. He had a bright future ahead of him, and Yuki couldn't deal with the fact that he he had ended that.

That's what lead to him going off the wagon. There were entries and entries where he pondered if the meds he was on were the reason for the unreasonable anger he had felt that night, the anger that had lead to Ryu's death. So he stopped taking them.

The entries were getting harder and harder to read as I watched his descent into madness. The only consolation I had was that he ultimately pulled himself out of that disaster, getting back on medication that worked and leaving Sannoh for good.

There were pages devoted to his inner turmoil after he was recruited by the Iemura Group. The lies that Tatsumi Iemura fed him to keep his claws in. The Iemura's promised that they'd get him help. I'll give you one guess how that turned out.

The last page was ripped out, and I realized that the past three were tear-stained.

My tears.

I stared at that jagged remnant of dotted paper and I knew I had to go talk to someone.

The one person who would know what was going on with Yuki in the days before he left the country.

I grabbed my tennis shoes and my suede jacket, haphazardly throwing Tetsu's spare motorcycle helmet on as I made a run for the Harley, keys in my shaking hand. It didn't take long to get to his apartment, I remembered the way from when I had first gone there with Cobra.

My entire body shook, from shock or rage I couldn't tell. I pounded on the door, sending Sting into a barking frenzy.

"Tsukomo! I need to talk to you! Please!" I shouted, not caring if I made a scene

I could hear movement inside the apartment, and I was still knocking when Tsukomo opened the door.

"What's wrong, Gillian?" Tsukomo looked concerned. "Come inside."

As I stepped inside the door, I reached into the pocket of my jacket, pulling out the journal. "I know everything, Tsukomo!" I cried. "Why didn't you help him!?"

As if he sensed my distress, Sting padded over in my direction, sitting back on his haunches and gently pawing at my leg. I crouched, and the large dog reared up, resting his front paws on my shoulders in a sort of hug.

"You found the journal." Tsukomo said quietly, thoughtfully almost.

"The last page is missing. When he was suffering, after Ryu Izawa died, why didn't you do anything?" 

Tsukomo lowered himself to my level, placing one hand on my shoulder. "We tried, I'm telling you. But he wouldn't let us in. He was spending less and less time at the garage, at Itokan. Yuki was isolating himself from Mugen. He felt responsible. More than once he went into Daruma territory to try and talk to Masako. She never wanted to see him. It was sheer chance that the Iemura enforcers and recruiters happened to find him. And he was in such a fragile state that he believed them."

I looked up at Tsukomo, eyes rimmed with red. "That's not helping. I have no idea what's in those last pages. What if it was something important?"

"I think it might have been a suicide note." Tsukomo said quietly. I had to strain to hear him.

"What?"

Tsukomo sighed. "I think he realized that dying was the only way get away from the Iemura's. He explained everything on that journal page. He was going to jump into the ocean, off the top of a cliff. I was out biking with Kohaku, we saw him standing there, devoid of any emotion. When he saw us, he just burst out into tears, he kept apologizing. He was inconsolable. Obviously Mugen took him back, but he realized he couldn't stay in Japan any more. So the three of us, Tatsuya included, we helped him move to America, even if we knew we might never see him again. Eight months later, he met your mother. I think it was you and Courtney that saved him."

____

Back in the center of Sannoh Town, on the shopping strip that gave the municipality it's name, Yamato Asahina tiptoed quietly into Itokan diner, the windchimes on the door chiming quietly to announce his arrival, a Tiffany's bag underneath his arm. Itokan was fairly empty: Kohaku sat at a table in the corner, a cigar in his hand and a newspaper in front of him. The bench in the middle of the small restaurant was occupied by five girls from Oya's Murder Block, the latest generation of Sato fighters. Naomi was behind the counter, chatting happily with Junko, Asuka and Nonoriki, the three girls laughing as they sipped their strawberry milk and Naomi wiped down the counter.

Yamato slipped  quietly behind the bar while Naomi's back was turned, gently cupping his hands over her eyes. "Guess who." He laughed.

Naomi grinned. "It's totally not Yamato, there's no way his hands are that perfectly smooth."

The Asahina boy dropped his hands, feigning a hurt look on his face. "What do you mean my hands aren't that smooth?"

From the other side of the bar, the Ichigo Milk girls gave each other a series of small smiles before collecting their drinks. "We'll be over there." Nonoriki said as the girls moved to one of the booths by the window to give the couple some space.

"Alright, loverboy." Naomi grinned, tossing the dishcloth over her shoulder. "What's in the bag? Are you spoiling me now?"

Yamato smiled, passing Naomi the turquoise bag. "Well, when Murayama and Todoroki came in here last week to get that ring for Midori from Junko, you basically made fun of me and you might have mentioned that I don't buy you anything."

"I'm sensing a 'but' or a 'however' coming on here."

"Yes, I was just getting to that. Open the bag."

Naomi rolled her eyes, taking the cloth off her shoulder and throwing it down on the surface of the bar before taking the layer of tissue paper out of the bag. There was a long rectangular box in the bag, which the restaurant owner handled with care as she gave her lover a knowing look.

"I happened to be out with Cobra and Noboru the other day and I saw it in the shop window." Yamato said "My wasted college money has to be good for something, right?"

Naomi opened the box, a wide smile taking over her face as she took in the silver necklace, and the small yellow-green stone hanging from the middle. "Yamato, it's beautiful."

"Let me help you put it on." The Asahina boy said, smiling like an idiot as he gestured for Naomi to turn around. 

Naomi moved her hair so that it fell completely over one shoulder, and Yamato carefully took the necklace out of the box, placing it around his girlfriend's neck lightly before clipping it in place and placing a feather-light kiss on her neck.

Over at the table full of Sato girls, a slim blonde rested her head on her hands, staring at the loving couple with a sad smile. "I wish I  wasn't fucking single. I want someone to care about me like that."

"Don't." Bianca Tsumeragi chuckled "Men are a waste of time."

"What about Takahide?" Momoe suggested from across the picnic table, turning her head back to the group. "Don't think I don't see the way he winks at you everytime he and Nao walk past."

Bianca snorted. "After what he did to poor Sakura Kobayashi? Come on, Wakana, have some standards."

"Please." Wakana, the blonde who had originally spoken scoffed. "As if the fact that he turned down Kobayashi to date a fifteen year old from Katsunari with a yakuza fetish  wasn't bad enough, he's from the Hanging District, and that's enough to make me wanna hit him."

Bianca nodded, as if considering the fact. "And he has bad hair. I mean, seriously. Does he even brush it in the morning?"

"Wait," Momoe hummed, taking a sip of her coke. "Since when did you care about Sakura Kobayashi? Isn't she a little...you know, weird?"

"Dude," Another, shorter girl spoke up "did you see what she did to Kubota-san's garden gnomes?"

"Then she punched his son in the face." Wakana added

Back at the counter, Yamato and Naomi were talking quietly and giggling among themselves as they made plans for later. Plans that would most definitely include hot sex. Kohaku had very bad timing, choosing to put his newspaper down at the exact time that Yamato Asahina chose to kiss his girlfriend.

"Oi!" Kohaku shouted. "Yamato, you and I need to have a little chat, brother."

Yamato's face went pale as he looked in the direction of his fellow Mugen member.

"Shit." Naomi said. "Yamato, run!"

"Way ahead of you. See you tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Yamato replied before taking off out of the diner, Kohaku hot on his heels.

NOTES!!

ONE MORE CHAPTER AND THEN AN EPILOGUE, GUYS! i love how i finish my high and low books so quickly, but take like five years for all of my other books-