Diamonds Burn Gold

Chapter 45: The Hellish Puppet Master, part 2

Hajime Yukimori started his career as a designer at a small clothing manufactory in Tokyo, at this time, he had retired from the streets and decided to start a new lifestyle. Although he still grins from time to time that he was still King. His older brother may have said that he went easy on him, but he knew that his brother fought his hardest in their match and was happy to give him the crown. With family's support and a lot of hard work, Hajime's designs and talent was recognised and he managed to build his very own studio. Though he was glad to go independent, he felt that his shop would work a lot better with different perspectives, collaboration and creativity, so Hajime gathered a team of designers. One of these designers was Asuka. Saya's mother.

From there, Hajime's business skyrocketed and became well-known as one of the top fashion designers in Japan, however, he didn't want to receive all the credit and said he would never have gotten so far with the support from his family and the excellence of his team. His teammates and the public respected him for that. Around this time, he and Asuka were beginning to get close. They spent more time together, often going out to dinner, and even went out off-work hours. It wasn't a huge surprise to everyone that, within a few years, they announced their engagement and eventually got married. The team was happy for them, Hajime's entire family was happy for them and had wholeheartedly welcomed Asuka with open arms.

Of course, Asuka was told of Hajime's unorthodoxy family tradition, but she told them that she didn't mind. Later, the family rejoiced when Hajime announced they were going to have a baby. Hajime worked little hours from his shop to head to their apartment and prepare and paint his baby's room while Asuka personally made baby clothes. Hajime was there for her throughout their pregnancy and made sure they were both taken care off. They had a successful business, lived in a nice apartment, and when they had Saya, everything was perfect. Asuka decided to become a homemaker and resigned, to take care of her child.

Hajime felt like he was the happiest man in the world and gave his wife and daughter all the love he had in him. Hajime believed his daughter deserved the best of everything so he worked even harder to make sure that Saya would want for nothing. This had caused him to be at work longer hours at work and come home very late, exhausted. But seeing his family's faces made it all worth it. Every day, without fail, he would tell Saya how much he loved her. Asuka often helped him out by taking charge of his designs to make less work for him. Hajime's work even had him leave Tokyo and go to work on business around Japan but no matter how busy he was he would always call to check on his family.

However, things slowly descended into sorrow. While Hajime worked his long hours and leaving Tokyo, things began to take a shift in Saya's home. Though she was only seven, Saya was very observant and notice how her mother would often have phone calls with several people. Giggling, smiling, say how she didn't have any plans. Of course, she asked her mama who she was talking to and her mama told her that she was just talking to a friend.

The next night, 9:00, Saya was put to bed, tucked in by her mother. Saya smiled as she and Asuka exchanged their vow of love. Asuka kissed her daughter's forehead and left her room. It was only an hour and a half later, that Saya was jolted out of her sleep as was found in the arms of her crying father. Holding her tightly as he sobbed incoherent words. Saya was all alone in her home. He stayed with her until Asuka came back at 5:00 AM. From there, it starts. Hajime placed her in her room while he screams, yelling how Asuka could even think about leaving their seven-year-old child alone.

Asuka remained calm and offended at the accusation. She claimed that she had called tried to call his brother and his wife to come to babysit Saya as she was needed at the studio. Hajime grew angrier and said that he had come home at 10:30, shouting at Asuka that no one else was here. Asuka didn't back down and simply said, "I had called them much earlier than that. It was your reckless brother who wasted those hours. I guess they don't care about her as much as we thought."