Bokuben 3/5 Route FanFic- Sleeping Princess of the Literature Forest [X]

Chapter 3 : A Glimpse Of The Truth

By the time they arrived at the Furuhashi Residence, Reiji opened the gates and requested Yuiga to carry Fumino all the way to her bed.

"Are you sure about this Furuhashi-san, is it really okay for me to do this?" asked Yuiga while feeling embarrassed. "You have my permission Yuiga-san", replied Reiji. Yuiga then carried Fumino all the way to her room and as he entered Fumino's room, he was delighted by the loveliness of the scent inside. "This scent is so like Fumino. It's been quite a while since I last went here but I just can't get enough of this wonderful fragrance" said Yuiga as he laid Fumino down on her bed.

"Whoa she really is fast asleep, well she's not called the Sleeping Princess of the Literary Forest for nothing" Yuiga told himself as he put a blanket on Fumino.

"Okay I've done pretty much what I needed to do here, sleep well Furuhashi, I need to go home now", he uttered to himself.

When he was about to leave the room, he felt a sudden touch into his hands as if something was gently holding onto it. He turned around and saw Fumino grasping his hand firmly with tears in her eyes while asleep. Yuiga then remembered that Fumino was crying at the school garden this afternoon, so he wondered about what exactly happened.

"Mother, help me I don't... know... what to... do anymore", said Fumino while talking in her dreams. Yuiga was surprised about what she said so he sat down the bed and held Fumino's hand with his two hands. Yuiga then told her "Furuhashi you seem to be in a lot of pain, just let me know what is troubling you and I'll share the burden with you. I'll always be here to support you no matter what. So please, if there's something I can do about it, please tell me".

Reiji was listening all along behind the door and realized that he might as well tell everything to Yuiga. As he entered the room and saw Yuiga, Yuiga said "I'm sorry Furuhashi-san, I didn't mean to hold her hands, she just... Oh yeah it is already so late I need to go home now. See you later Furuhashi-san"

"Wait young man, I told you there was something we needed to talk about right?" explained Reiji. "You mean about Furuhashi?" replied Yuiga as he stopped in his tracks.

"Yes, but we need to discuss about it somewhere else. Follow me for a bit". They went out of the house and went to the backyard as Reiji let out a huge sigh. He said "I'm not really the type to do this but I do somehow have to make up for my mistakes in the past." Yuiga was confused as to why they needed to talk at the backyard, so he asked "So why did you bring me all the way here sir?"

"I want you to look above you", replied Reiji. Yuiga was overwhelmed with amazement as he saw the dazzling beauty of the starry night sky. "Oh yeah I need to show this to Furuhashi and have her smile at the stars" said Yuiga. "Don't worry about that Yuiga-san just focus on what you see in the sky. I want you to tell me about what you see", insisted Reiji.

"I see stars of different brightness and different sizes", replied Yuiga. "Very well said Yuiga-san. So why do you think they appear that way?" asked Reiji

"Well the stars differ in their distance between them and the Earth so naturally some would appear brighter and bigger while some would be dimmer and smaller." answered Yuiga. "You got about half of the answer Yuiga-san, but those are not the real reason as to why they differ in size and brightness in the human eye".

"Really? What other factors could there be Furuhashi-san?" asked Yuiga. "It is their positioning that makes them appear the way they do. Think of a bright star in outer space, then think of another star with lower brightness and place it next to the first star. What do you think will happen"?

"Well there will pretty much be nothing that will happen right?" answered Yuiga. Reiji laughed and said "Yes, for a normal viewpoint there won't really be any difference, but the human mind is more complex than you think. Don't you think that a bright star will seem brighter when a dimmer star is placed next to it?"

"I see that is definitely true, but how does this relate to Fumino?" asked Yuiga.

"You see Yuiga-san everyone shines like the stars, and there are people who shine brighter than others. But when you think about it, there really aren't people who outshine others; there are simply those who make themselves dimmer so that nearby stars will get brighter. ", explained Reiji

"Furuhashi-san, are you perhaps saying that..." said Yuiga as he was shocked by Reiji's words.

"Yes my daughter is so focused on providing happiness to others that she's sacrificing her own happiness", said Reiji

Yuiga thought to himself "All this time I thought I knew her really well, but I guess I failed again at understanding a woman's heart. Sorry Fumino, please forgive my ignorance. I'll make it up to you no matter what."

"Here take this notebook, it might give you a clue in helping her but don't open it until her birthday."

"Don't tell her about this because I just secretly took it from her desk. Hold onto it and don't lose it no matter what." said Reiji

"I will Furuhashi-san", replied Yuiga as he prepared his things to go home.

"Yuiga-san what are you doing", asked Reiji

"Well I have to go home now Furuhashi-san it is already too late, I don't want to be a bother to you anymore." replied Yuiga

"You can stay here for the night, besides it's Saturday tomorrow so you don't have any classes. Feel free to feel at home at our house". Despite Yuiga's decline, Reiji insisted until Yuiga finally accepted his offer.

"You can stay at the room beside Fumino's at the second floor, that used to be my room so there should still be a pair of pajamas in there", said Reiji.

"To think he would go this far, I never thought Furuhashi's dad was like that. It makes me wonder what exactly happened", he said to himself. As he was fixing his things he saw the notebook that Reiji gave him and suddenly got so curious about it that he almost opened it. "What exactly is written on this notebook that I am only allowed to open in her birthday? Come to think of it there's only a month left before her birthday, and I have never really given her a proper birthday present." Yuiga checked the time and it was already past 11:00 PM, so he decided to lie down on the bed and reflect on himself

"It's been a long day. I can't believe all of this happened in just a day. I still have to think things over to give a proper response to Uruka and Rizu. I don't want to hurt any of them. Maybe I can ask Fumino for help, but I don't want to trouble her any further. As of this moment I don't really know what action to take". Having realized this, Yuiga decided to sleep and just put all of the problems the next day...

On the first floor of the Furuhashi Household, Reiji rested on a couch and told himself "I somehow managed to give him a glimpse of the situation; unfortunately it is no longer my job to tell him any further details about Fumino's struggle. It would only complicate things if I told him the whole truth anyway. The rest is up to you Yuiga-san..."