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The truth is he had heard it from Mimi-chan only a couple of hours earlier. If he was being honest to himself the news were as surprising to him as they had been to the younger girl. Always the emotional, Mimi was simply heartbroken Meiko was returning to her hometown and leaving Odaiba now the worst was finally over. Now they had finally been given the chance to return to common routine. No infection, no fear of loosing the world as they knew it.
All things considered, if this were him Taichi would have wanted to take time for himself too. To stop, to think, and to recover. Hell if he could he would. He didn’t know for how long she would be gone, maybe Meiko was forced to by the Mochizuki family to take a break and to re-renergize — God knew the girl needed it.
But that Meiko was leaving from Odaiba for good only really hit Taichi the moment he stopped his red bicycle in front of the entrance to his own building. He watched the huge white truck parked to the side of the road. The sight was oddly familiar to him, almost like a déjà vu.
The pale girl with long dark hair stood in front of him and she looked almost frightened. Like she had been caught doing something unforgivable. That was the moment Taichi knew. He didn’t know how — he just did. There was something about how the furniture and her belongings pilld up in the truck this time. Two men in white suits apologized to him for getting in the way but he didn’t hear what they were saying. The only he noticed was now Meiko didn’t even dare look at him in the eye.
So this was it.
Taichi didn’t know what he was expecting.
She really was leaving.
“Mochizuki…”
She was leaving, without saying anything to them whatsoever. Like a storm, passing and shaking the world around them, only to vanish and leave them to deal with the consequences.
The girl in front on him was looking at her feet. Silent. Guilty. Remorseful. Taichi realised how awfully familiar with those eyes he was by now. It was the look she held on her features everytime she wanted to tell someone she was sorry, unable to shake some terrible invisible burden off her tiny frail shoulders.
Taichi closed his eyes and sighed. He took his time to get off his bike. He wasn’t quite sure what to tell the girl but having her leave without saying anything — it felt… weird.
Was that the reason she was leaving without saying anything? Perhaps she didn’t know what to tell them? He could respect that. Except it felt wrong. He had to say something. Anything.
To his surprise, it was her to broke the silence between them.
“I should apologize…”
Taichi raised his head to watch her. Even though she was talking to him her eyes kept avoiding looking anywhere near where he was.
“But this is for the best.”
“Why?”
The words left him before he could stop himself. Heck, now it was him who avoided her. He sounded way angrier than he actually intended to.
“…I thought… I should return home. To the place I’ve met her“, she said.
Of course…
By her, she meant Meicoomon.
“…“ Taichi hesitated “Sorry.“
When he didn’t get any reply, he added.
“I’ve been angry at a lot of things lately…” he felt a painful lump form in his throat.
Maybe he should leave. It was dumb to blame her for leaving when he was now starting to want to be left alone too. If she wanted to go… she had every right to, right?
“I…”
“Ignore what I’ve sa-”
“I'm glad” she interrupted him.
Taichi gave her a behildered look. The girl was now keeping her head low, the bangs of her hair hiding her features. He couldn’t read her facial expression, but her voice sounded so desperate he didn’t dare finish his sentence.
“When I told Takeru-kun the truth…” she paused a moment to keep her voice from shaking “…about Mei-chan. I… I wanted him to yell at me. I felt worthless of his kindness. Of everybody’s kindness. I deserved everybody’s hatred, not… not what I’ve got… from you…”
He almost tried to keep her from talking, but as if on cue Meiko raised her voice and kept him from interrupting her.
“Everybody was so kind. It was almost unbearable. Suffocating. I’m grateful and yet at the same time I… I couldn’t stand it. I wanted someone who yell at me. I needed someone to.”
Meiko was staggering and now she was clearly too nervous to face him. Taichi panicked when he realised she was trying to hold her tears, but she didn’t stop and at this point he was too nervous himself to react.
“I’m glad I’ve met Mimi-san, Sora-san, everybody. I’m glad I’ve met Agu-chan and your partners too, but…”
She lowered her head ever further and Taichi jolted when he realised she was bowing her head to him.
“Mochizuki, I’m sor-”
“But you yelled at me when noone else did. Thank you.”
The silence that felt between them was deafening.
Taichi opened his mouth, but nothing came. Had he heard her right? She was thanking him? He was at loss of words at her words. He stopped thinking. Then, she finally raised her head to look at his in the eyes. She was crying, but she was also smiling. An honest tearful smile.
“I…” he croaked, his own voice sounded pathetic to his ears. He mentally kicked himself to say something. Anything. The girl had just pushed herself into this situation and it obviously took every inch of her strength to overcome her shyness and embarrassment to do this. But Taichi had absolutely no idea what to do.
Then she wasn’t smiling anymore. She avoided his eyes instead, and before he knew she was blushing again.
“Truth is… I almost envied you and Yamato-san.”
Of all things, this was something he didn’t expect. Where did this outburst came from anyway?
“What?”
“The way you talk to each other. Yamato-san never holds back when he talks to you. That’s why, when you talked to me and you raised your voice… when you yelled at me that night, I…”
If he could judge by her look she was brutally ashamed of her lack of eloquence. She grasped her green skirt with her hands as if to keep them from shaking. Taichi couldn’t stand this anymore.
“Mochizuki, stop.”
She avoided his gaze, but her silence was enough for him to know she was listening.
“Look… I think I know what you mean, but… it’s not like that. I don’t think I was wrong being mad at you for wanting to give up your life, I still am, I just shouldn’t have yelled. Don’t bring up Yamato into this, he’s a pain in the ass anyway…”
She made a noise that he could swear it was her making an effort not to giggle.
Taichi stared at her.
“I envy you. You… all this time we’ve been friends, but you have never said such things about me.”
Meiko’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her right hand immediately. Taichi found himself at loss of words again. He panicked again when he realised she was embarrassed beyond repair, with at least three shades of pink reddening her cheeks.
He desperately wanted to say something to make her comfortable but his mind went blank again. What the hell?
“I mean, I don’t mean you you, I mean… everybody, in general… you know, I mean… a-anyway” Meiko almost shouted in front of him as she rambled; before he knew it she was bowing her head ever lower, and she tried to leave as fast as she could “I just wanted to thank you. I should be going-”
“WAIT.”
He didn’t know what he was doing, Taichi just grabbed her wrist on sheer instinct. One moment she was turning her back on him with a blush, the another he was keeping her from moving away another inch. He knew he had dropped his bike in the process but he didn’t exactly care; he forced her to turn and to look at him.
She wasn’t crying anymore, but she did look almost frightened. Regret burnt his stomach, he almost released her that same instant, but a stronger urge to talk to her told him there was no way he was letting her go just yet.
“You’ll come to us one day, won’t you?”
First, she stared, confused. Then he saw Meiko’s features relaxing somehow. She kept her gaze on him as if studying his intentions. She looked away, perhaps unable to keep her eyes on him without lying, and Taichi felt something dying inside of him.
Three long and unbearable seconds later she was still silently looking at the floor.
She nooded.
He let out an heavy breathe he didn’t know he was holding.
He felt uneasy to let her go. He hadn’t just yelled at her because he was angry at that time. It was the fact this odd girl in front of him seemed to have a strong desire to punish herself for every and any mistake she committed. Hell, she had tried to throw herself in the path of danger how many times by now? He feared if he let go he would never really see her again. Maybe she wanted to go somewhere they weren’t watching just so noone would be able to stop her the next time she remembered the mess Meicoomon had caused, when she felt the urge to…
“I will.”
Her ears were bright red.
She didn’t pull away, but she was now very uncomfortable and it took a second for Taichi to realise he was still holding her wrist. He cursed.
He let go and felt himself blushing furiously.
He kept mentally cursing himself. She probably thought he was a weirdo now, she would probably avoid him next time, if there was a next time. Hell, even if she did return to Odaiba one day she would probably feel awkward and…
Meiko didn’t move. She kept avoiding his gaze as if the floor on her feet was the most fascinating piece of concrete on the world. Taichi didn’t stop looking at her, but at this point he was gazed.
Her blush was still there, but suddenly… a smile. The kindest and the most humble smile he had ever seen on her lips yet. She seemed different. Relaxed. Fond, even.
He felt a weird sensation on his stomach that had nothing to do with the lunch from earlier.
“Until next time, Yagami-kun.”
With that, she bowed one more time and she turned her back to leave, with elegance.
He allowed himself to watch her. She walked way, the gentle breeze playing with the strands of her long, dark hair. Taichi didn’t now why… but he felt himself a bit relieved.
He would see her again after all. And perhaps things would be different that time.