“I’ll wait right here for you. Take as long as you need.” He watched as the girl made her way to the entrance at a sluggish pace. She didn’t seem too concerned for her mom. Maybe she was used to this sort of thing. Or maybe she was still shaken up.
She glanced back with an indiscernible look on her face. She seemed to reach for him before dropping her hand and turning away.
“Ok, thank you.”
While he waited, Tetsuya texted Obara his apologies for ditching him, but he never replied. He was probably out with his model girlfriend.
Geez. If you wanted to be alone, you could’ve just said so.
He waited for what seemed like a lifetime. The sun was already going down.
His stomach growled, and he realized he hadn’t eaten since lunch. He was surprised by the homemade boxed lunch Matsuda had made him.
“Just shut up and take it, okay?” She had said when she handed it to him.
Tetsuya pulled the note she’d left inside. It was a sticky note with pandas stacked on the side.
“Thanks for not being a jerk the other day.” It read.
He almost drooled when he remembered the taste of the food. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something about her cooking he loved. He could eat it all day.
He wondered if her mom had taught her how to cook.
His mind wandered to a different timeline. One where Keiko waited for him to get home from work, with dinner on the table. One where she smiled just for him. She’d probably yell more than she laughed, but…
He’d take an angry Keiko over the silent and broken one he saw today. He never wanted to see her make that face again. He’d make it his mission. She would never have to cry again. He will fix what he’d done.
Maybe it’s silly to play matchmaker for a couple of kids. But if it’s that she wanted. If it’s what will light up her smile. Then he’d do it. Even if her smile wasn’t for him.
“Sir!”
He dug himself out of the mental hole he’d put himself in.
“SIR PLEASE!”
A nurse come charging at him.
“Please help her!” He grabbed his arm and pulled him into the hospital.
“Please help Ms. Matsuda!”
“W-what, I’m not a doctor, what can I do?!” He argued, though his feet were following the woman.
“Not her!” the nurse practically tossed him into the room.
His body acted before he’d taken in the scene.
The girl with the reddish brown hair stood by the bed. Her bloodied face looked at the roof with an oddly peaceful expression.
The woman kneeled on the bed in front of her, holding a metal pole.
Tetsuya lunged between the two women and held both his palms up, catching the pole before it could hurt Keiko. The woman’s grip on it loosened as the nurse injected her in the neck with a syringe.
Her eyes fluttered before closing completely.
“Stupid…girl.” She muttered.
He looked at the woman’s face. She had bags under her eyes. She was thin and had short, red hair. Redder than Keiko’s. She looked a few years older than him. Even so, her daughter didn’t look much like her other than her hair color.
Her hand twitched as the nurse settled her into bed and Tetsuya turned to face Keiko. She stood frozen in fear.
He needed to get her away from here as soon as possible.
He scooped her up and held her to his chest. He would make sure she left here safe this time. She was shaking as she rested her head on his chest. She gripped the collar of his shirt and hid her face from him.
I did this
Tetsuya exited the hospital and gently placed Matsuda on his bike. Somehow, his body felt heavy without her attached to him. He stayed leaned over her for what was probably an inappropriate amount of time.
But she didn’t complain, and he didn’t want to pull away and expose his tears.
I did this to her.
He tucked her hair behind her ears and examined her wounds before carefully putting her helmet on her.
This is my fault.
He took a minute to compose himself before asking for directions to her house. Luckily, he’d been to Matsuda’s place once before during a mixer. He knew the general area. He tried his best to drive with his tears compromising his vision.
He didn’t budge when the girl wrapped her arms around him tightly. He didn’t move when she sobbed loudly into his back. He stayed quiet when she hugged him so tight it almost hurt.
The guilt he felt at that moment was immeasurable.
I’m sorry…
He thought as he fought back the tears. He wanted to sob like a child, too.
I did this to you. I’m so sorry.
He thought the words he could never say out loud.
Neither of them moved when they got to her house. If he was being honest, he didn’t want to leave her. Her mother had abused her for who knows how long. How could he be sure her brother wasn’t the same way?
He thought about that for a minute. At the mixer he remembered Sosuke getting drunk off a single beer and crying on his shoulder all night over his ex-girlfriend marrying some guy in Germany.
He didn’t think he was anything like his mother. He was just an idiot.
Keiko slowly removed her hands from Tetsuya’s chest. He stepped off the bike and helped her down. He removed her helmet as he’d done before, this time much more carefully.
He inspected her face. It was bruised, but the antibiotics and bandages the nurse gave her before they left seemed to help. Keiko refused the painkillers, but he tossed them in her bag, anyway.
He walked her to the porch, but she didn’t go inside. Instead, she sat on the steps, cradling her knees to her face.
“You…gonna be okay?”
“I’ll be alright,” she made a joke he couldn’t hear over his own thoughts. She laughed a painfully awkward laugh, and it all made sense. Why she took the beating from the two bratty girls. Why she didn’t fight back.
“Uh…hey listen…I should probably talk to Matsuda.” Tetsuya tried to sound professional. He wanted to discuss Keiko’s safety. But he also wanted to interrogate her brother and make sure she would be safe if he left her there.
“Don’t bother, he knows.”
Tetsuya sat beside her on the porch, defeated.
He knows. He eyed the girl’s bruises. The scars on her arms.
I’m a damned idiot. Tetsuya cursed himself in his mind.
All these weeks she’d been coming in late or leaving early. How could he not see what was going on? He was trained for this as a teacher. Maybe because it’s never happened before. Or maybe it was because he never saw Keiko as his student. He never thought this could happen to someone like her. She was always so…strong.
Why didn’t she say anything?
He remembered yelling at her on the first day. He didn’t make himself very approachable.
She never mentioned abuse in her letters. The guilt returned. She didn’t want anyone to know.
“Was it always like this?” His voice cracked, but he didn’t care.
“No.” She leaned back, looking at the setting sun. “Mom went sort of crazy…”
He waited for her to continue.
“Since my dad died.”
He knew her father had passed, but he never really thought about it. He never met his own parents, so losing one was never really something he could relate to.
Her voice steadied as she told him about her family.
He sat and listened, cursing himself in his head over and over.
I did this. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
He let her vent her frustrations until she grew tired of talking. After a long silence, he said his goodbyes.
He couldn't bear to look at her once he mounted his bike. Tetsuya grabbed his helmet and put it on. He rarely wore his headgear, but this time he had little choice.
He waved in her direction without looking back. The image of her bloodied face was ingrained in his mind. The sounds of her crying rang in his head.
I'm sorry.
He let it out then. The tears he had been holding back since holding her in his arms.
I'm so sorry, Keiko.
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