Sayori (Chapter Two)

-Chapter Two-

*Sayori*

The thing about my family is that we never talk about unpleasant things. I think that’s why my father hardly ever talks about my mother. She died when I was three and all I really know about her is that she was the most beautiful woman on earth… or so my grandfather says.

“You’re mother,” he would say, while I stuffed myself with sweet cakes, “had the strangest eyes. The color was a light brown, with hues of green and grey. They changed colors very often, depending on her mood. You, Sayori, have her eyes.”

I laughed when he said this. “Mother couldn’t have been beautiful if she had my eyes, grandfather! All the kids say I have demon eyes.”

He shook his head and sighed. “Demon eyes? You must ignore them, Sayori. Children are cruel, but you mustn’t let them break your spirit.”

I didn’t really know what to make of all this. To me my tanned skin and queer eyes were a curse but grandfather said they were a blessing. He told me that being beautiful didn’t necessarily mean that I had to look like everyone else. Still, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to have the magnolia white skin of the other girls and their plain brown eyes.

But one day, someone who over the past few months had become very dear to me told me that I was beautiful. And I believed him. I don’t know why I did; maybe because he was closer to my age than grandfather was. And maybe because he was popular in our class.

It was raining that day, and I had to stay after-school to audition for the play. It was a musical so I was nervous. The only people I’d ever sung in front of had been my family. Father didn’t approve of my trying out for the play, but since it would look good on my transcript, he gave me his permission.

When my turn to audition came up, I was terrified. My stomach was full of butterflies and the palms of my hands were sweaty. I felt sure that I wouldn’t be able to read the words, much less sing. Our music teacher, Taka-sensei, was seated before the piano and our drama instructor, who happened to be Akatsuka-sensei, was standing before the stage, with my script in her hand.

“Hurry up Sayori,” she said, sounding slightly impatient, “the other girls want to try-out too.”

Nodding quickly I made me way over to her and took the script from her hands, murmuring a quick thank-you. Then I climbed the steps and stood up on stage for the first time in my life. There was a sea of faces in the crowd, but my eyes were drawn to the back, where that boy Nakata was seated. Yumiko was sitting two seats across from him, and she had a frown on her face.

“Ready?” Taka-sensei asked politely.

I swallowed. I knew all the words to the songs in the play, but for some reason I suddenly couldn’t remember a thing. My mind had drawn a blank.

“Alright, from the top then,” Taka-sensei said. I hadn’t even taken my first breath when she began playing. She stopped after a few seconds though, when she realized I wasn’t singing, and peered at me over her gold-rimmed glasses. “Something wrong, child?”

A few people laughed in the audience.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Akatsuka-sensei called. “Take a deep breath and we’ll start again, Sayori. It’s okay to be nervous. You’re trying out for Maria right?”

I nodded, blushing harder than ever.

“Well, you’ll need lots of confidence for that,” Taka-sensei said with a smile. I looked at her. She was old and she had kind eyes like grandfather. I squared my shoulders and told myself to ignore the kids in the audience. I was going to show them.

“Now, let’s try again,” Taka-sensei said with a small wink. I grinned. “We’ll start at the top again, shall we?”

The music started. That’s when I realized I couldn’t do it. There were so many eyes boring into me, and all of them looked cruel. My heart was no longer pounding, it was positively quivering. I could hardly breathe, much less sing. Letting out a tiny whimper of terror, I fled the stage.

Blinded by tears of mortification and shame, I found my way to the bathroom and shut myself into one of the stalls. It was the girl’s bathroom and that’s was why I was so surprised when I heard Nakata-kun’s voice on the other side of the door.

“Sayori-chan?”

Instantly my sobs died away. Is that who I think it is? I wondered, my tears forgotten.

“Sayori-chan are you there?”

“Nakata?” I called, uncertainly.

I heard his familiar, unmistakable laugh. “Do you want to get out of here? I kinda feel awkward in a girl’s room. Though I have to say, it’s much cleaner in here than it is in our bathroom. Smells better too.”

I found myself smiling, inspite of the fact that I still felt awful. “So are you thinking about coming out yet?” He asked.

“I can’t,” I mumbled. “Everyone’s laughing at me.”

“So? Don’t be a baby. Sometimes the best you can do is laugh along.” He sighed. “Why don’t you try again? I’ve never heard you sing before you know.”

“You’ve never even really talked to me before,” I found myself saying.

“That’s because you’re always so shy.”

I smiled. He’d noticed. “Fine, I’m coming out but you have to promise not to make fun of me for running away like that.”

“I swear,” he said and then I carefully unlocked the door and stepped outside. There was a mirror directly behind him, so I could see how red in the face I was. My hair looked alright though. Less crazy than usual.

“I even look funny,” I found myself saying.

“You look beautiful.”

Those words made me feel incredible. It was like one minute I was as down in the dumps as possible and the next minute I was on top of the world. Nakata walked back into the classroom with me, and stood by my side while everyone was staring and whispering. He even told Akatsuka-sensei that I’d like to try again. I did. But this time, I sung my heart out.


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*Emma*

February 17, 2006



It was just after eight o’clock when Keishiro-san walked into the office, a cup of hot coffee in his hand, late as usual. I rolled my eyes at him as he smiled at me and wished me a good morning before taking a seat before my desk.

“Find out anything interesting?” He asked, taking a sip of coffee.

“Well,” I passed him a stack of papers, “I’m still sorting through all this information. So far all I really know is that Soichero is out of town, so he couldn’t possibly have done it.”

Keishiro snorted with disbelief. “How do you know for sure? Not that it would surprise me if he really was out of town. His sort prefer to hire hitmen to do their dirty work.”

I sighed. “What I meant was that he was out of the country. I know because the paparazzi surrounded his hotel in Berlin earlier this morning when they heard about Sayori. Everyone wants to know how he’s reacting.”

“Any pictures of that in the paper?” He asked skimming through the sheets of information I had given him. “I’d like to see his reaction too. Guess he’s not so much of a hotshot now.”

“That’s a mean thing to say,” I said, shaking my head. “If he really wasn’t behind all of this, I’m sure he’s hurting.”

Keishiro smiled. “Even better. Now he knows how other people feel.”

“Maybe your right, but still you’ve always had a grudge against the Koizumi’s. Don’t think nobody noticed how emotionally involved you were with Sasuki’s trail.” I tossed the morning newspaper at him. “Anyways, it’s front page news. Story continues on page seven. There’s pictures and everything.”

Keishiro sat up straighter and leafed through the newspaper, stopping at a picture of Soichero that took up half of the second page. In it he was dressed in a black suit and crisp white button down shirt. His eyes were covered with black shades and the expression on his face was grim. In black bold letters next to the picture were the words: Soichero speaks out about murder of famous girlfriend.

“He looks crushed,” I pointed out.

Keishiro looked skeptical. “It’s called acting, Emma.”

I rolled my eyes, and he laughed. “Keep rolling those eyes and their bound to fall out. Which would be a shame, since their so pretty. I love green eyes, did I ever mention that?”

I groaned. “Shut up, can we not talk about this now? You always hit on me during the most inappropriate times.”

He grinned. “I apologize sincerely, then. Anyway, there’s no point just sitting around here poring over these papers. I think it’s time we went to have a little chat with Mr. Koizumi Sasuki. I bet you anything he knows all about this already.”

I sighed and pushed myself out of the chair I’d been sitting in for the past two hours. “Fine but you have to buy me breakfast. I’m starving.”