CHAPTER 20

                               The school bell rang. Yuuri was tidying up her desk. Yui, Hazuki and the boys approached her. “Hey, Yuuri…” Yuuri was startled and looked at them curiously. “Are you okay?” Sanzo asked. “Do you have a problem?” Hakuren asked curiously. “What happened to your arm?” Hazuki asked while holding Yuuri’s bandaged arm. Yuuri accidentally parried Hazuki’s hand really hard. Everyone was shocked. Yuuri was dumbfounded. “Yuuri…” Yui whispered. “I’m sorry but I had to go now.” said Yuuri. She took her school bag and left the class room quickly. “What’s wrong with her?” Gojyo asked. They only kept quiet. The air was stiff with tension.

                       Yuuri was walking quickly while hanging her head low. Suddenly, someone pulled her hand. Yuuri was dumbfounded and looked at that person quickly. “Oh, it’s you, Momiji. You startled me.” said Yuuri while smiling gloomily. “I told you to wait for me, didn’t I?” Momiji scolded her. “I’m sorry.” Yuuri apologized gloomily. Momiji sighed. “Let’s go home.” said Momiji. “That’s okay. I don’t want to burden you. Plus, Hattori might scold me if I don’t wait for him.” Yuuri explained. Momiji understood. He accompanied Yuuri to the rest room.

                    At the rest room, Yuuri was sitting on the bed while day-dreaming. Hattori was doing his work. “Don’t you have any homework?” Hattori asked. “I’ll do it later. I’m really tired right now.” Yuuri answered gloomily. Yuuri heard footsteps. She took her school bag and hid inside a cupboard quickly. Hattori only looked at her curiously. The door was open. “Hey, Hattori, have you seen Yuuri by any chance?” Hazuki asked. Hattori continued his work. “No, I don’t.” Hattori answered. “But I swear I saw her came inside this room.” said Gojyo. “Yeah, me too.” said Goku. “That’s okay. We’ll talk to her tomorrow.” said Sanzo. “Thanks, Hattori.” said Yui. They all left the room. Hattori stared at the door for a moment. “They gone.” said Hattori. Yuuri pushed the cupboard’s doors really hard and fell on the floor. She sighed. “That was close.” said Yuuri. Hattori went towards her and lift her up. “Why are you avoiding them?” Hattori asked while putting Yuuri down. Yuuri hung her head low. “You know why… I don’t want them to get hurt just like Shigure and you…” Yuuri answered gloomily. Hattori was dumbfounded. He patted Yuuri’s head while smiling. Yuuri looked at him curiously. “Let’s go home.” said Hattori. Yuuri smiled gloomily and nodded. They both went home together.

                     Hakuren and Hazuki were walking together. “Hey, Ren… do you think Yuuri was mad at us?” Hazuki asked gloomily. “Why did you say that?” Hakuren asked while looking at her curiously. “She’s been acting strange and kept avoiding us since this morning.” Hazuki answered. “May be she had her own reasons for doing that.” said Hakuren, trying to calm Hazuki down. Hazuki was speechless. “Let’s ask her again tomorrow.” said Hakuren while patting Hazuki’s head. Hazuki smiled and nodded. They both went home together. Since that incident, Yuuri kept avoiding her friends. She kept on giving excuses when her friends invited her to go somewhere or went home together. Her friends started to feel fed up with it and started to ignore her.

~*****~

                         Yuuri was walking alone at the balcony. Suddenly, someone pulled both of her hands and shove her at the wall. Yuuri struggled to free herself as hard as she could. She successfully forced one of them to let go of her hand. “Let my hand go, Uki! You’re hurting me!” Yuuri pleaded angrily. “Not until you tell us the truth!” said Snazo. “Why are you avoiding us?!” Yui scolded angrily. “What’s wrong with you?! Do you have a problem?!” Hazuki insisted angrily while holding Yuuri’s bandaged arm. “Whether I have a problem or not is none your business! Now, let me go!” Yuuri scolded angrily. Her arm started to feel numb. “Not until you tell us the truth!” Gojyo scolded her angrily. “Why?! Is it because we’re not worthy enough to be your friend just because everyone already knew that you own a company?! This is all Momiji’s fault, isn’t it?!” Goku scolded Yuuri. “Momiji had nothing to do with it! So back off!” Yuuri scolded angrily while trying to bare the pain. “Then, what?! Why are you doing this to us?!” said Goku. “Stop this nonsense right now!” Hazuki’s hand was parried really hard. Hazuki released her gripped. The man pulled Yuuri and hugged her, covering her head into his chest. Yuuri was dumbfounded. “Hattori…” Yuuri whispered softly. “What do you think you’re doing?! Are you blind! She’s hurt, isn’t she?!” Hattori snarled at them. “Well, it’s her fault! She’s the one who kept avoiding us! We only wanted to ask her!” said Goku. “By force, is that it?!” Hattori snarled angrily. Yuuri looked at Hattori gloomily. She never saw Hattori being like this before. “She won’t answer when we asked nicely! So what other choice do we have?!” said Yui. “And you called yourself her friend? Haaa! If you are her friends, you should know that you have no right to know all your friends’ problem!” said Hattori. Yuuri can’t bare her pain anymore. She held her bandaged arm and moaned painfully. “Hattori… my arm…” Hattori looked at her and held Yuuri’s bandaged arm gently. “Tsk! Whatever! Fine! Be that way! We don’t care about that selfish girl anymore!” said Yui. “We won’t even care about her at all!” said Gojyo. “This ‘friendship’ is over!” Hazuki screamed. Yuuri was dumbfounded and hung her head low. She can’t believe that her friends would say those harsh words, as if they never met her or know her at all. The pain in her heart was more crucial than her arm. She felt as if her heart was bleeding as it was thorn by a sharp knife. Hazuki, Yui and the boys left them angrily.

                             Hazuki, Yui and the boys were at the cake shop. “Don’t you think we’re a bit harsh with her?”Gojyo asked. “Why even bother about it?! She always did bad things to us. She even forced us to our problem to her.” said Hazuki. “But still… she did help us quite a lot too.” said Hakuren. “Which side are you are?” asked Sanzo angrily. “Whatever! She pissed me off a lot.” said Goku. “Let’s not talk about this again, okay?” Yui asked. They agreed and nodded.

                             In the rest room, Hattori was nursing Yuuri’s arm. Yuuri only sat on the bed quietly. She still in shocked about what had happened. Hattori tied the bandaged. He stood up and patted Yuuri’s head. “Let’s go home.” said Hattori. He was going to keep his white coat when Yuuri pulled his long sleeve white shirt. Hattori put his coat on the chair. Yuuri’s eyes became watery. “Hey, Hattori… am I doing the right thing?” tears started to roll down. She hung her head low and started to weep. She released her gripped. “If it is… then why is my heart felt like its bleeding. Hattori looked at her gloomily and sighed. He wiped Yuuri’s tears with his hand. “Stop crying… you’ve promised not to cry in front of me, remember?” Hattori asked as he sat beside Yuuri. “I know… but… but…” Yuuri couldn’t control her emotions anymore. Hattori patted her head gently. He held Yuuri’s face with both of his hands and kissed her forehead. Yuuri’s tears stopped flowing down. She looked at Hattori while dumbfounded and blushed. Hattori hugged her, crushing her into his chest. Yuuri could smell the mixture of cigarette and a strong fragrance of peach, running through her nose. “The smell… it’s the same… just like father…” Yuuri whispered. “I’ll give you a chance to cry now. Don’t cry your lung out about this again.” said Hattori. Yuuri nodded and started to cry in Hattori’s reassure arms. Hattori stroke her hair gently with full of care and smiled calmly. “Don’t worry… everything will be fine. I’m here for you.” Hattori whispered with a soft and soothing voice. Yuuri felt like she’s hugging her own father. She felt as if she found the warm and caring hugged that she logging for. “He feels warm… just like father…” Yuuri whispered to herself. She cried openly in a wee hour. She was soon fast a sleep through sheer of exhaustion. Hattori piggyback Yuuri and went home.