Chapter Twenty-Eight: Sayonara:

Three years passed without incident. Anna continued to lead a normal life like Daisuke wanted for her to.

In April of 1999, Daisuke happened to come down to the front door to see Anna off to school like he sometimes did. However, this morning, he paused. He thought he saw a girl with long midnight blue hair to her waist stand up from putting on her shoes and walk over to the door. Daisuke blinked at this vision. The girl turned around and looked at him.

“Yumiko?” the man asked in surprise.

“Papa?”

Daisuke shook himself back into reality to find Anna standing before him staring.

“Is something wrong?” she asked him. The man put up another brave front with her. “Oh, no, it’s nothing. You just looked like your aunt Yumiko there for a moment.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Have a good day, sweetie.”

“See ya,” Anna said before she went out the door. Despite moments like this, Daisuke truly wondered if the peace would really last. In the late summer, Daisuke began to have strange dreams again. Only this time, they came in a different variation.

-Nightmare-

Daisuke opened his eyes and found himself in a darkened room. He looked above his head and saw a sea of lit candles. The man glanced behind him when he heard a low chanting. If he could guess, this would be the chanting of monks. A puzzled expression came over his face.

Are they chanting something for funeral? His thoughts were confirmed when the strong scent of burning incense made his nose hairs curl. He blinked rapidly as his eyes watered.

Yep, this is a funeral, Daisuke thought. The question was, who was it? Something told him that he did not want to know. The man tried to get up and leave the room, but found that his legs would not move.

Come on, he thought, I should not be here! I have to get back to my daughter. Anna-chan needs me. Please let me go home. The ringing of a steel bell drew Daisuke’s attention to the altar before him. The black and ivory casket’s lid drew open inch by inch. The man felt his pulse race with the anticipation and dread mixed together.

I should not be seeing this, he thought. I should not be seeing this! The lid fell to the coal-tiled floor with a shaking thud. All color drained from Daisuke’s face when he saw the body. No… No! His heart sank when he realized the truth. He saw his own body lying dead in the casket in front of him. The man tried to scream, but found that his voice was silenced by the chanting and thick air around him.

Suddenly, a sharp pain caught him in the chest. Daisuke slowly looked down and saw the bright red spreading on his white shirt under his chest. Various other wounds began to appear on his body. The ones that scared him the most were the burns in his wrists. One line at a time, they all formed into Kanji. He tried to make out what they were saying as they formed on his skin.

“Eda… Kimoto…” he slowly read to himself. The third and final one almost came down on his arm. Bear? Before he could think of anything else, Daisuke felt himself sinking into an endless sea of darkness.

-Reality-

Daisuke laid awake in his futon staring up at the ceiling as his stomach turned. He had been having this dream for twenty-nine nights in a row now. What could this all mean? Daisuke shook his head at the only possibility that crossed his mind.

I’m going to die by my family’s hands, he thought in a sea of utter despair. He tightly shut his eyes as many more questions filled his head. When were they going to kill him? That dream didn’t make any sense. Why would his family wait to strike after so long? They had plenty of times to try and kill him while he was in Tokyo. Even on that night that Haruka appeared on his front porch, she could’ve killed him then. If felt as if they were waiting for the right moment to strike. The dreams reopened that old worries and fears that he had been trying to bury since 1996.

Those old feelings carried on into the morning. Anna couldn’t help but notice the state that her father was in. She had not seen him like this since he learned that his favorite director, Kurosawa Akira, died of a stroke in his bed last year. Daisuke spent days in a funk talking about how the late director brought happiness in his life when times looked rather grim.

However now that she thought about it, this was not that time. Daisuke was more worried about something deeper than a beloved director dying. Anna debated asking him what was on his mind at the breakfast table. Something told her that he would ignore her, but she would have to at least try.

“Papa, you don’t look so well,” Anna began. “Did something happen?” Daisuke looked his sixteen-year-old daughter in the eye. He remembered something about her that made both of their futures look rather grim from where he sat. It was nine years ago, in fact.

-July 7th, 1990-

The city clinic in Kobe, Japan opened for the day. Daisuke walked in as his eyes shifted around the muggy waiting room. Not many people around, but he still felt judged. They can smell that woman on me! Thinking about his mother angered him all over again. He and his siblings didn’t deserve such torment from her as they were growing up. The flames danced in his eyes. Sometimes he wished that there was a way to get back at her from killing his sisters. His heart pounded up to his throat as the young man closed his eyes and breathed in short circles.

Don't let her break you down again, he thought. You are not her toy anymore. Don't do this crap again. You have a daughter to look after now. Just let it go! Daisuke pulled his eyes open again. The smell of disinfectant filled his nose. The potency nearly made him fall backwards on the ground.

"Excuse me mister," someone spoke up. Daisuke jerked his head upwards to a young nurse who looked straight at him. She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old with her black hair tied back into a tight ponytail.

Daisuke blankly eyed her. "Are… you a nurse here?"

"Yes.  I'm shadowing a nurse for my summer break."

Daisuke nodded with a puzzled face. "Okay…" Something told him to expect a really bad feeling to follow this visit.

"Now, can I help you?" she asked.

"Sure! I need a…um…”

"What?" the young nurse asked.

"A blood test," he forced out with a mouth so dry. It sounded so painful to say it out loud like this. The nurse eyed him.

"Okay," she said. "May I ask the purpose of this test?" Daisuke felt his face burn. There was no way in hell that this little girl could comprehend what was at stake here.

"Can I talk to a doctor?" he asked. "You're not helping."

The nurse frowned at him. "You don't have to be so rude."

"Sorry!" he said. The girl calmed down.

"Right," she said. The young nurse turned to leave. Daisuke tried to keep it together. She's just a kid. Don't take out your frustration on her.

"Hey!" he called.

The nurse stopped and turned. "Yes?"

Daisuke swallowed his pride. "I'm sorry. I'm just a bit stressed out at the moment from my life." The nurse didn't blink.

"Okay…" she said. Daisuke shuffled a bit.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Nancy," the nurse said. "Ikeda Nancy."

Daisuke gave her a little smile. "I'm Kimoto Daisuke."

-Present Day-

“Papa?” a familiar voice shook him awake from his trance. “Papa?” The man saw Anna staring at him with a concerned look on her face. Daisuke shook his head as he pushed a piece of picked ginger in his mouth. When he was finished chewing, he lowered his chopsticks on his bowl.

“It’s okay,” he informed her. “I am a little stressed out at the moment. I plan to see someone to get some help today.” He turned and looked her in the eye. “In fact, I don’t actually expect to be home on time tonight. Please don’t wait up for me.” Anna didn’t know what to say at first. She clearly hadn’t expected him to say something. The most that she hoped to get was a vague answer or a rebuff. The girl finished her juice and set her glass down on the table.

“Alright then,” she mumbled. Daisuke watched as she cleared the mess from her table and walk out of the kitchen. The man just wanted to get out of the house and be alone for a while. He cleared his section of the table while he was sure that his daughter was gone for school and left Kimoto Manor himself. Jin watched the whole situation from his usual spot above them.

“My, my, my,” he said to himself. “Where will this all lead to today?”