[STORY] Bittersweet Life - Verse 4
Note: I've decided to put OST for every chapters now, but sad I still on search for the OSTs of earlier chapters :p
So this is the OSTs for Verse 4 "Sayonara no Mae ni" and please don't forget that this chapter also contatin a tons of grammar mistakes, Enjoy!
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***
Verse 4
Birds in Cage
***
"Welcome to the shared house, please make yourself comfortable," said Akira's grandma to a new resident of the shared house.
Akira was only 6 years old back then. Akira lived with her grandma at the shared house.
There was a time when Akira parents had to work overseas. Akira's father who worked as a diploma was sent to Myanmar for duty,
but Akira couldn't stand the tropical weather and get sick easily.
That was why she lived with her grandma at Japan.
Akira always watched her grandma greets a new resident everytime they had a new one.
But her grandma was already too old to run the shared house alone.
And when Akira reached 15 years old, her grandma passed away.
"Akira, I leave the shared house into your care," that was Akira's grandma last words.
*
"That's not how you done it Claire," said Claire's mom.
"Take a look at your sister," Claire's mom was teaching her 2 daughters making a cupcakes.
Claire was 6 years old, her sister was 9.
They were mixing the dough, but Claire did it wrong, while her older sister did it perfectly.
After mixing the dough,
now it's the time to put it on a pan.
"Now kids, pour the dough to the cup, slowly oke, slowly," instructed Claire's mom.
Claire lift up the dough bowl and started to pour the inside to the pan, "Ah!" Claire messed up, she spilled out some part of the dough.
"Eeeeh, what are you doing Claire? I told you to pour it slowly," said Claire's mom, with a disappointed tone.
Again, she said, "Look at how your sister do it Claire."
Being a younger sister is a pain,
especially when you have a flawless older sister & always getting compared to her.
"How annoying", thought Claire for years.
*
"What a smart girl," said a lady.
"It must be reassuring to have such a smart child," said another lady.
"She's sure will grow up into a fine woman," said another.
Those are what Seii heard when she was in elementary school.
"You're our school pride," said the headmaster.
"Your achivement is no.1 without a doubt," said a teacher.
"You're the first again! How convenient, I wish I have a brain like you too," said a friend.
Those are what Seii heard when she was in junior high & high school.
"Don't let down our expectation okay, we have a high hopes on you," said her parents.
That's what she had to heard everyday.
*
"Akira, my deepest consolidation for your grandma, she has been always a great person," said a resident at the funeral.
"She took a great care of us," said another.
After the funeral Akira walked back alone to the shared house.
She visit the back yard of the house, the flowers are blooming beautifully.
Her grandma has been always a fan of flowers, she loves any kind of flowers,
but among those flowers she likes Sakura the best,
that's why Akira's gandpa planted a Sakura tree at the back yard.
Akira staring to sad spring sky,
the memories of her grandma was flowing,
filling both of her head and heart.
The last wish of her grandma are ringing inside her head.
Slowly, a tears coming down from her eyes, Akira cried in silence.
*
Claire was taking a note down of what the teacher said,
the class was pretty boring, the uniform was ugly, and her classmates are no fun.
"High school is the worst," said Claire inside her thought.
'RIIIIINGGGG!' the bells ringing, sign of the lunch break.
Claire bring her own bento and usually ate at the school's roof.
Today her mom cooked her a chicken karage and some salad.
"Can I have that?" asked a boy to Claire, but she didn't even try to listen to Claire's answer, and took one of the karage right away.
"And you're the worst, Kazuya" said Claire to the boy.
"Something happened?" asked Miyuki.
Miyuki Kazuya has been a friend of Claire since her childhood days.
He might be a little devil, but somehow his personality goes well with Claire.
"Not really, it just the usual matter," said the pissed Claire, "My nee-san is really.... annoying."
"She's pretty, she's smart, she's perfect," Claire pointing out all the 'plus' point of her sister,
"And yet, my mom always compared me to her, I wished they disappear."
"Oi oi, don't say something like that, besides there's no way you could make someone disappear," said Miyuki
'RIIIIINGGGG!' the bell sign of the end of lunch break has rung.
Now both of the students have to go back to their classes.
"Don't think to do something weird okay," said Miyuki before he went back to his class.
The class went boring once again.
Claire couldn't concentrate because she keep thinking of Miyuki's words, "you can't make someone disappear."
"I can't make a person disappear, but I can make myself disappear," she thought in conclusion.
[Years after]
Claire finally graduated from her high school,
Her childhood friends which has become her boyfriend decided that he'll go for pro baseball.
And Claire herself already decided the next path she'll take.
But her mother couldn't agree with her decision,
the reason was because the major Claire wanted to take doesn't as flashy as her sister's major.
Her sister went to Economic study, while she just take a public relation study.
"I can't make a person disappear, but I can make myself disappear," she thought.
Claire finally left her house,
without noticing anybody else.
She ran away from home.
*
Seii went to a junior high that her parents decided for her.
She also attend to a high school her parents decided for her.
and Now, she's attending a collage that her parents choose for her.
Even the faculty she's attending was chosen by her parents.
She never refuses with what her parent decided for her,
because in her mind she think that whatever her parents decided for her is the best option.
"Seii, we're going to renovate our house," said her mom on a certain morning.
It was around the time when Seii just enrolled to the collage.
"Means that we have to move out for a while," her mom continue,
"Your aunt let us stay at her house until the renovation done."
"Ok," Seii answered shortly and left for collage.
The class went boring,
She hate this major the most yet her parents choose this major for her,
because on their view 'Business and management' major has a lot of promising future.
This isn't what she want,
yet she doesn't know what she wanted.
She's not satisfied with her current life,
but she doesn't know what's missing.
She has always thought it's fine to live the life that her parents decided for her,
but now she wondered,
"Is it really okay for me to life the future that has been decided by someone else & not me?"
On her her way back to home,
Seii dropped by to a stationary store.
Year end is coming close, she's planning to give a present to her boyfriend,
but she's missing the wrapping paper.
While choosing the warping paper, 3 girls walked in into the store,
the girls make some noisy noises, which made Seii could overheard their conversation from another block.
"I wanna go back to my room," said a girl.
"Seriously panda, you should stop complaining," said Red.
"I already hate the fact that I had to move out in this time of the year," whinnied Panda.
"Well........ this is sure a weird time to move out right?" said Vanna to both of her friends.
"Thank you for purchasing," said the cashier to Seii.
"I think it's a perfect time to move out," said Seii to herself as she leaves the store.
*
"Welcome!" said Akira to a new resident.
Few months after funeral, the new people started to came, while some old resident slowly left the house.
From today onwards, Akira promised to herself that she'd do her best,
to replace her grandma, taking care the shared house & the residents.
Day by day,
year by year, has passed.
People keep come and go,
Akira wondering how long she should stay like this.
Saying the same world everytime they come and leave.
Smiling happily when a new person came.
And put on a sad face when someone leave.
Once she used to smile purely,
but now, those smile on her face were just a fake smile.
Words like 'I'll listen to your problems, we're family after all,'
or 'if you need anything please just call me, I'll gladly help you,'
are now nothing but a words of formality.
Until oneday,
a black haired girl called Claire came to the shared house.
"This house is old," said Claire.
"Huh?" Akira thought she misheard something.
"I said this house is old, but it's perfect for my hideout~!" Claire somewhat happy.
"Ah, I see........" Akira trying to hold her nerves.
"Anyway, I'm Claire~ Owner, please take care of me well, okay," Claire introduced herself.
"ha, ha, ha, I'll try to do my best," said the pissed Akira.
Then few months later another girl moved in, Carly has a blonde hair and somehow,
this girl saw Akira as a scary old lady, which pisses her off once again.
Shortly after,
a curly haired girl moved in.
At first Akira was okay with her,
but somehow, this girl liked to prepare for breakfast and all she could make was only a toast.
"Eve, you seriously need to learn how to cook," Akira started to feel sick with this girl.
Winter was a weird time for someone to moved in,
especially when a Christmas about to come,
but here, Akira stand at the front door, facing 3 energetic ladies who were going to stay from now on.
"......what a noisy people," Akira whinnied in her thought.
A week after new year another girl came,
"Welcome! My name is Aki---" Akira hasn't even finished her introduction.
"I'm Seii, I wanna go to my room, can you show it to me?" asked the new girl coldly.
"Mm, sure!" said Akira, trying to pull off her fake smile.
This was the first time someone cut her off before she finished saying her introduction.
"Thank you Aki-san," said Seii when they finally arrived at her room.
"Mhm! You're wel---", Akira hasn’t even finished her replied but Seii closed the door already.
"This girl is the worst," Akira feels like she's ready to kill this new resident.
And lastly,
Akira had to greet to a new resident on Spring.
She was a clumsy girl, she even had no idea what to do,
and from her age this new girls indeed younger than the other girls who had moved earlier.
"A kid? I hope I don't need to babysit her," Akira whinnied.
[["Akira, I leave the shared house into your care," that was Akira's grandma last words.
"But I, I wanna see the other side of world," even though she didn't managed to say it to her grandma,
but that was Akira's answer.]]
*
Claire was lying on her bed,
gazing to ceiling of her new room.
It has been a month since she ran away from her house,
without her mother and sister around she feels like she has been freed from a chain that bind her for long.
She threw away her phone and get a new one,
so no one could reach her,
she only told Miyuki where she lives now.
Few days ago, Claire went on a date with her boyfriend.
Miyuki told her that Claire's mom come to visit his house,
asking if he knows about Claire's whereabouts.
Even Claire's mom know that Miyuki is Claire's friend,
but she never know if they dated each other.
No matter what kind of news she get about her mom or her sister,
Claire never give a damn.
"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" asked Miyuki.
"Of course, I've never been this happy before," answered Claire, satisfied with her decision.
*
After undergo some hard arguing time with her parents,
Seii finally got a permission to left the house,
and live at the shared house.
The reason was silly,
she said that her aunt's house was far from her collage,
and it'd be a trouble for her study.
With Seii's study in mind,
her mom has no choice but agreed to Seii's request.
Seii is standing at her room,
looking to the Sakura tree at the back yard.
She just moved in today,
not sure if moving in here was a right thing to do or not,
She's seeking for something,
and she hope this could be the start of her search.
**
"WELCOME TO FUKUOKA CITY!!" Akira shouted loudly in front of a group of tourist.
"Everybody, please let me introduce myself first," she said, "My name is Akira, and I'll be your guide for this tour."
"Please rest assured, I'm a pro~ I know Fukukoka City better than my house~ so, now please enjoy your journey!"
Akira couldn't count how many times already she visited Fukuoka for a tour.
The current Akira has changed,
She's now not having any problem with weather,
She's now greetings a larger scale of people,
and most importantly She's now using neither the fake smile or the formality words.
She's doing her job whole heartedly,
because she has changed,
she has grown up,
her 'unexpected' new family changed her.
"Yaaah~ Akira, today's tour was a success, thanks to you," said Akira's manager.
"Ahaha, it's nothing sir, I just do I have to," replied Akira, still full of energy.
"You're sure a cheerful girl, I wonder what's your secret to keep that cheerfulness of yours?" asked the manager.
Akira smiles, "That because, I have done crying."
*
Claire had finished her meeting,
The company found out the cause of the leaked information,
means that Claire position is now safe & sound.
'Clak,' she opened the door, and walked in to her office.
There is a young man sitting on her chair, an uninvited guest.
"Kazuya? What are you doing here," said the surprised Claire.
"I'm waiting for my girlfriend to come back from her duty~" said Miyuki cheerfully.
"No joking around, kiddo," said Claire and slapped the top of Miyuki's head lightly with the document she bring.
"So~ ready to go out?" actually Miyuki and Claire had an appointment,
but Claire seems to forget about it.
"Oh no! I forgot about our appointment!" Claire panicked.
"Ck seriously," said Miyuki, "anyway, are you sure it's fine for me to come along?"
"Mhm! It's okay, my mom & my sister said ok already!" answered Claire.
Today, the couple will help Claire's sister to choose the wedding dress.
Claire's soon to be brother-in-law will be there too,
that's why she wanna take Miyuki along with her.
"I really, wanna pick the prettiest wedding dress for my sister," said Claire happily.
*
"What is she doing?!" Panda getting mad to her phone.
"Panda, this is still 7 at the morning and you're mad already," Red walked out from kitchen with a cereal box with her,
"What are you mad about?"
"I'm trying to contact Seii since yesterday, but she's not pick up my call, even for once!" said the angry panda.
"Useless, it's pretty troublesome to contact her ya know," Red pour the cereal to her breakfast bowl,
"just leave her a mail, she'll read it for sure, and she did reply to mail."
"I can't! I have something to asked her directly!" Panda still trying to call Seii's phone.
"What's wrong? it's rare to see you wanna talk to Seii that badly," Red found this unusual.
"Well, actually...........," Panda tell Red what she heard from Isashiki last night.
"Hmm, I see," Red responded calmly.
"What? Why are you calm??!" Panda can't believe Red's calm reaction, because it was rather surprising for her.
"Well, it was a surprise, but every news related to Seii has been always surprising so, I think I'm used to it," said Red.
"Anyway, have you contact Akira? Akira said she's in Fukuoka now," Red make a suggestion.
"No I haven't, but why Akira?" Panda doesn't really get what's Red trying to say.
"Sanada is playing for a baseball team at Fukuoka right? if we can't contact Seii, maybe we should try the other way," Red was right,
Sanada played for a baseball team at Fukuoka prefecture,
even though he's living far far far away from Tokyo, but he's still easier to reach than Seii.
"Seriously, what a troublesome person Seii is," Panda whinnied.
Even so she still called Akira, and do what Red suggested.
*
Akira's phone ringing.
She got a call from Panda.
"Yo! What's up?" Akira picked up her call.
She just noticed that she has many missed calls since this morning,
she was busy working so she couldn't pick up the calls.
"Hm? Say WHAT?!! HAHAHA PANDA I'M GONNA CRUSHTHAT GIRL DOWN DON'T WORRY!!"
"I'm gonna find him! Don't worry, I know Fukuoka better than my house, well then, SEE YA!!"
Akira ended the call.
Now she had to changed her schedule after work and headed to Fukuoka Dome,
Where a baseball game will be held tonight.
Mean while at Tokyo,
Seii can't stop sneezing since this morning.
"HACHIII!!" She sneezed hard.
"Seii, you sick?" asked a friend.
"Hmmm, no......," she answered.
"Someone must be talking about me," she said, ".......and someone probably going to kill me, because i just get a weird chill right now."
*
"Calire, wanna try some dress??" asked Claire's older sister.
"Eh?! But," she resist.
"Pleaseeee? I wanna see you wearing one," beg her sister.
"I wanna see it to~" said Miyuki as he already prepared a camera.
"You bastard," Claire glaring to her boyfriend,
and since both of her sister & her boyfriend said they wanna see her in the wedding dress she got no choice but to try one.
Claire take the wedding dress that her sister choose for her,
and walked to the dressing room.
After a while Claire walked out from the dressing room, shyly.
"Ho, how do I look?" asked Claire to everybody present.
"Claire you look pretty!!" said her Sister satisfied.
"Woooh!! You look stunning!!" said Miyuki. He soon take a pic of Claire wearing wedding dress.
Claire is really happy to hear that,
sad she couldn't stay for too long because she need to head back to her office,
but before that she took a picture with her mom, her sister, her soon to be brother in law, and her boyfriend.
Claire has changed,
her family changed,
ever since that day, everything has changed.
*
"Yo! Sanada-kun!!" called Akira to a fine young man.
He turned his back, to face the person who called him.
He saw a girl which he remembered as one of his ex's friend, "Akira-san?"
"Yep that's me~!" replied Akira, "that was a wonderful match, congrates!"
"Mh! Thank you," Sanada showing his gratitude.
"Anyway, I have something that I wanna check, about you & that troublesome girl," Akira get straight to the point,
she need to confirm this fast.
Sanada took Akira to the dome's field.
"She didn't mention anything at all?" Sanda started, "Well, it's an old story on our side."
"If she had said something I won't be here," answered Akira.
"Hmm, I see," Sanada responded.
"So yeah, we did break up," said Sanada.
He stares to the dome's empty seat, "It has been 3 years, yet I still whished that she'd come to watch my match."
"In the end, she never came, not even once~!" Sanada acting like he's fine, "so How's she? is she doing fine?"
".......you can talk all high and mighty, you might be talking like a you're fine already," Akira started,
"don't show me those fake act, I did it better than you!" Akira suddenly explodes of anger.
"You must be know that she's in Japan already! There must be something you could do right?!"
Akira not sure why, but she's pissed right now.
"yeah, I did see her, once, here," said Sanada.
He did meet Seii once but instead of met it was more like they passed each other.
"I don't know why but I'm so mad right now, the more I hear your story the more I got mad," Akira revealing her current state,
"Why? Why does it feel like she hasn't changed, and we left her behind?!"
"Akira-san," Sanada facing to the girl who stood in front of her,
but then he smiles, "Akira-san, I guess you're wrong."
"She has changed, I know it for sure, because by that time I saw her, she was smiling happily," explained Sanada.
To heard that Seii has also changed calmed Akira's anger.
"Sanada-kun, this saturday, please make sure to come by to Shared House," Akira invited Sanada to the reunion,
"You shouldn't left things unfinished, right?"
**
[3 years ago]
This was during Akira's 2rd terms of collage.
It was a fine afternoon, Akira was sitting with her boyfriend at a cafe.
"Being an 'onee-chan' is hard, isn't it?" teased Ryousuke.
"Mhm, being an 'onii-chan' is also hard, right?" Akira teased her boyfriend back.
"Well... it supposed to be my line too," said Ryousuke.
"...but I think, it's not that bad, to be an onee-chan," said Akira.
"Hm?" to hear those words coming from Akira's mouth, it was a surprise for Ryousuke.
"What was that? Did something happen??" asked Ryousuke.
"I'm not sure, but, something did happen," said Akira with a happy smile.
"Hmm, I got it," by that time Ryousuke knew that Akira really loved her new family.
*
Claire, Mai, Vanna, Red, Panda, Carly, and Eve were at the living room,
each of them were taking turns to play a baseball video games.
"You sucks~!! hahahaha!" Claire laughed at Vanna's total defeat from Mai.
"Oh, Shut up! You lost yourself," protest Vanna.
"SO what? I did lost but I lost with pride~" answered Claire proudly.
"What's that? Lost is lost," added Red.
"If Seii was here all of us probably done already," said Panda.
"Glad she's not home yet," Claire already hate of losing, yet every time she played a game with Seii,
Claire always get an utter defeat. No matter how much she asked for a rematch the result is the same.
Claire stood up from the couch and walked to the kitchen to get a drink when Mai came to approach her,
"What's wrong?" asked Claire.
"Claire, you're not coming back to your house right?" asked Mai bluntly.
"What's this? Out of sudden??" Claire would never guess that she would hear such a question coming from Mai's mouth.
"No, it just because, I have this weird feeling from this morning," revealed Mai.
"Hahaha, don't worry I won't come back to my house," answered Claire, "this is my house, I ain't move anywhere."
It has been 2 years since Claire ran away from home,
and moved to the shared house.
She had a hard time to fit in when the other girls moved in,
but now she's doing fine,
her heart has gradually come to love each of the girls.
Ran away might sounds wrong,
but she believed that it was the right thing to do.
"Tadaima," said a voice from the front door.
"Ah! It's Seii," Mai hurriedly ran to the front door, "Okaeri, Seii!"
Mai greeted her cheerfully,
but there's something different about Seii.
"Has everyone at home yet?" Seii asked to Mai.
"Not yet, Akira hasn't here, why?" asked Mai, a little bit worry.
"There's something I wanna tell to everyone, but it has to wait until everyone gathered," answered Seii.
"Seii, what's wrong, you're making me worried," Mai wondered if this has a relation to the weird feeling she feels.
"Don't worry, you're thinking to much," Seii rubbed Mai's head and left for her room.
*
2 hours later, Akira finally come back home.
"I'm home!" Akira finally arrived at home, she sat on the floor, took off her shoes and changed it to house sandals.
"Akira! Hurry up! Hurry up!" Eve came running to her.
"What's wrong?" Eve looks panic and Akira has no slightest idea of what happened.
"Just hurry!" said Eve.
The clueless Akira followed Eve to the living room.
There she saw all of the girls are gathered already.
Seii sat at the single sofa,
while the others sat on another sofa, gathering around her.
"What's wrong?" asked Akira, she felt uneasy, it was like something bad is happening.
"Please take your seat," said Seii.
"I've something to tell to eveybody, that's why I gathered all of you here," she continued.
Akira is getting even more uneasy,
the feel was similar when the doctor told her that her grandma has passed away,
though the situation is different but the uneasy feeling was the same.
"I'm leaving this shared house," announced Seii.
*
"Goodbye, I hope had a great life out there."
"Don't forget to contact us once in a while, ok."
"It's sad to see you leave, you're just like my own daughter."
Those words are the words that Akira's grandma always said when someone left,
sometime her grandma even cried, because she was very sad to see a resident left.
Maybe that's why, the resident really really loves her grandma.
Because she always nice to everyone,
because she always took a good care of everyone,
because she always mean her words.
"Goodbye, I hope a good fortune will always be with you."
"Now that you leave, I'll feel lonely."
"feel free to visit here anytime, my door is always open for you."
Those words are the words that Akira always said when someone left,
but she never shed a tears even for once,
because, those are just a words of formality.
"Which words, wich words I have to use to bid you a farewell?" a sudden thought came up into Akira's mind.
**
A wise man said not to love something too much because you might hate it later,
and not to hate something too much because you might love it later.
While ones said not to love something too deep,
because it'll be hurt so much when you lost it oneday.
*** to be continue - Verse 5 [This is how we end our day, but our story hasn't ended yet] ***