Hack Into My Heart

Code 5: Promise

"Your sensei?"

Yusuke nodded, "your father and my sensei apparently were old friends. My sensei, Shimaha-san, told me that after your mother's death, Tahara-san resented him because although Shimaha-san was the police chief, he couldn't find the culprit behind her accident. As a result, they didn't talk for seventeen years. However, after the KCG scandal, Tahara-san visited Shimaha-san in the hospital where he was staying and asked for help. By that time, my sensei was on the verge of dying due to cancer, so he asked me to help your father," he paused, looking at his interlocked fingers.

"Why didn't you help him then?" I asked harshly. If he had helped, my father could be alive.

"I tried, but all the documents seemed to be legal and when I wanted to dig further, I was given a disciplinary punishment," he explained with an apologetic tone.

"So, you gave up on the issue?" I snorted. That's why he was so nice to me, his conscience bothered him as he was partly responsible for my father's death.

"No!" he was horrified, "I continued my research in secret, but I couldn't find anything useful for Tahara-san's case. Some high ranked officers were involved in the case, so they concealed the evidence."

"Yeah sure," I rolled my eyes, "it took only ten minutes for me to get all the documents from KCG, if you really wanted to help, you could find a way or you could use Shimaha-san's title!"

That silenced him. He lowered his head as much as he could, and silence reigned for a while before he mumbled "I am so sorry."

"No, you are not," I said coldly, "you just want to relieve your conscience as you didn't keep your promise and now both of them are dead. You only help me out of guilt."

Yusuke shook his head vigorously, but didn't deny my accusation. Heaving a sigh, he said "then use me. Now, you don't have anything, so you can use what is mine. As I am indebted to you, I will never say no to any of your demands."

"Will it bring my father or my two years back?" I snorted and he got paler than he was already.

"No, but you can take out your anger on me, KCG has already gone bankrupt, so you can channel your anger."

"How generous you are!" I slammed my hands on the table, "then I will take your offer," I said threateningly and went to the room, taking my anger with me.

I was fuming and didn't want to breathe the same air with him, but I didn't have any choice. I decided to fill that form for the governmental funds and look for a job, starting from the next morning.

When I was calmer, I left the room to pray for my father. Yusuke was still sitting in the same position, perusing some documents. He asked me if I wanted something, but I didn't answer him and went to the cupboard before kneeling in front of my father's ashes. Yusuke came behind me and reached some incense sticks. Without looking at him, I got one and burned it with a match I got from the cupboard. Praying and apologizing, I stabbed the incense to the sand plate in front of the ash box.

When the stick burnt out, I walked back to the room again without even glancing at Yusuke. Still, a moment later, he knocked on the door and entered with blue towels in his hand.

"You can use the blue ones, I have the white ones," he said and left after putting the towels on the bed. A bath was actually a good idea. I grabbed two towels and some casual clothes from the bag and went to the bathroom.

It felt like Heaven. I stood for a long time under the hot water, letting it calm my tense body. When I was done, I got dressed and left the bathroom. Yusuke was still reading documents as if he was very diligent about his work, puff.

"Do you want some coffee?" he asked, "or you can check the kitchen to see where is where."

I didn't utter a word and went back to the room. I tried to sleep some but the bed was too comfortable, so I couldn't. I just lay on the bed, watching the ceiling and trying to figure out what to do with my life.

When the lights of the day faded away, there was another knock on the door. The door opened ajar and Yusuke's head popped in.

"I bought dinner," he informed me and although I wanted to say "no need", I was actually hungry. Seeing it as an opportunity to torture him, I followed him to the coffee table where he lay several dishes in their aluminium containers.

"I bought several as I don't know what you like," he said rather cheerfully.

"Don't you cook?" I asked coldly although I knew the answer.

"No," he whispered, looking towards the kitchen with melancholy.

"Is that how you took care of poor Shimaha-san? Feeding him with take outs?"

Hurt flashed through his face as his hands on the chopsticks tightened. So, I was right, that Shimaha-san really didn't have anyone other than Yusuke. That's why his ashes were in Yusuke's house.

"Hospital was providing the food," he explained with a fake smile and started to eat.

I shrugged and dug in as well. After the prison food, everything tasted so good. Without even realizing, I ate almost all the food, but Yusuke didn't comment on it. As my upbringing wouldn't allow me, I helped Yusuke to discard the empty containers. Then he made two cups of coffee and placed one cup neatly in front of me.

"Do you have a laptop?" I asked and he looked panicked for a second before fishing his old laptop out of the document mountain.

"You won't do anything illegal, right?" he asked with hesitation, but gave the laptop anyway.

"I will hack the police system and leave a trace behind so that they will find you," I answered aloofly and he chuckled. A real weirdo.

"You wouldn't do that," he said all-knowingly and took a sip from his coffee with a calm manner.

I clicked my tongue, irritated and started to do my research for potential jobs. When I was done with it, I cleared the search history and went to the room, ignoring his good night wish.

The next morning, I woke up early in the morning as a habit from prison and decided to leave the house before Yusuke was awake.

Well, he was already up, even bought breakfast.

"Why are you so early?" he asked with an overly cheerful tone, annoying me.

"None of your business," I mumbled and moved towards the door.

He rushed behind me, "won't you have breakfast?" he asked concernedly and I shook my head. "Then take these," he gave me an envelope with some money and a key.

It was a nice gesture, I admit. But inwardly. I stuffed the envelope into my pocket and left the house without uttering a word.

All day long, I went from one shop to the other, applying for any kind of positions I found. They all welcomed me with smiles, but when they learned I had a criminal record, the smiles left their faces. A waiter with a hacking record was indeed dangerous for the ice latte...

Dejected, I went back to Yusuke's home with empty hands. The reality hit me one more time, I didn't belong to this world and there was no future for me. As the world was cruel, I decided to hide the fact that I was an ex-con. Maybe it would work.

The moment I took a step into the flat, I heard Yusuke's loud voice.

"Welcome back, Tahara-san!"

"STOP WITH YOUR FAKE KINDNESS!" I yelled at him and went to the room, slamming the door.

I knew I was being an ass, but I couldn't help it.