𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐌𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 | 𝗠.𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘂𝘆𝘂

────── thirty-one

═══ TRUTH BEHIND THE TRUTH ═══

Guilt was a nasty companion. It had been eating away at Mayu for fifteen years. Not because of something she had done, rather because of something she had failed to do - which was to share the truth with her daughter, the truth about Junto.

All her life, Akiko had grown up believing that the murderous brother was her father, only to then find out her biological father had been dead all along.

To uncover yet another lie, to be confronted with a very much alive yet comatose Junto was inevitably going to rip open a wound that had just begun to heal.

Naturally, when Akiko came to, she wanted some time to herself to think things through. The only person she let in the room with her was Chifuyu, whereas Mikey and Baji were outside calming down Mayu who had come to Yokohama shortly after Seina had contacted her. There was no denying the fresh tension between the three females.

Chifuyu was sitting silently beside Akiko as the girl sipped on a water bottle - doctor's orders, she had to rest and hydrate before she was allowed to leave. The tumble to the floor had done no damage to her skull, aside from leaving her feeling slightly dizzy.

"I just can't believe that no one knew about Junto for fifteen years... ," Akiko whispered into the silent room.

She stared through the window, watching as the clouds slowly passed by the hospital up above, and she wondered how she was supposed to meet her mother's eyes under these circumstances.

"Seina and your mother must've had a pretty good reason for keeping his survival a secret," Chifuyu attempted to sooth her, painting a soft expression onto his face.

"And I don't doubt that," Akiko assured him, "but it still hurts."

"I know."

"Thinking that you're never going to meet your father is one thing, but it's much worse if he's right there and there's a chance that he might never wake up, yet there's this hope that one day he might look at you and smile."

She turned her head, revealing teary eyes and quivering lips. In a shaky voice, the brunette pushed herself to communicate the jumble of thoughts crowding her head.

"Had Ken known about Junto, he would have ordered his assassination. My mother had every reason to keep a secret like that. It makes me wonder if she endured Ken's torture because she always held onto hope that Junto would wake up one day."

Chifuyu heaved a sigh, "The only way you're going to get answers is by talking to your mother. She's the only one who can fill in the gaps."

He wrapped his arms around Akiko, pulled her into a tight embrace and whispered sweet nothings into her ear until she was able to blink the tears away and her shoulders stopped shaking. It seemed the emotional baggage was finally taking a toll on her physically. The bags under her eyes were hard to miss.

Nodding to herself as though she needed the confirmation, Akiko stood up from the bed and marched toward the door.

There was a moment of hesitation as her fingers curled around the cold doorknob. Frankly, she was not ready to know the full truth, despite having her suspicions and filling in some of the gaps by adding up the information she already had, and her heart was racing anxiously.

Then, she pulled open the door and stepped into the hallway, closely followed by Chifuyu.

"Mum?"

A head of chestnut brown hair turned in Akiko's direction. Mayu hurriedly slipped out of her seat, stiffly standing up to face her daughter.