The Wallflower Fan Fiction ❯ Like a Moth to a Flame ❯ What Happened? ( Chapter 1 )

 

Disclaimer: I do not own The Wallflower (AKA Perfect Girl Evolution and Yamatonadeshiko shichihenge).

 

 

It was a normal summer weekend at the Nakahara boarding house. Ranmaru was reclining on the sofa, considering his choices in female entertainment. Takenaga was in his room, reading some thick tome to pump up his already excellent grades. Yuki was at Kiddyland for the day with his little brother and sister. They were visiting for the weekend while his father had business here. Sunako was curled up with Josephine, Hiroshi and Akira watching “Freddy VS Jason, the uncut version”. Kyohei had decided that today was a good day to go to the arcade. There was a new game that just came out and he thought he would brave the crowds to try it.

As the day faded onto evening, Sunako prepared dinner. She decided the she'd make her famous shrimp tempura tonight because every time Kyohei-kun goes anywhere; he comes home in a bad mood. It must be his light that draws women to him, like a moth to a flame, but too many moths would surely smother a flame, Sunako mused. I wonder how the moth feels when it gets near flame. I can barely look at his face without a nosebleed and/ or fainting. There are times when I feel his radiance trying to break down my cloak of darkness and I want to give in. Those days, I really want to play with fire. It gives light, but at the cost of destroying something. If I could only harness the destructive power of fire, then, perhaps I could stand my life amongst these `bright creatures'.

In the lounge, the phone rang. Ranmaru grabbed the phone.

“Moshi, Moshi, this is Morii Ranmaru and you are…my sweet kitten?”

The caller wasn't one of Ranmaru's many paramours, nor a call anyone wanted.

“Is this where Takano Kyohei lives?” a solemn male voice asked.

“Yes, it is. However, he isn't taking calls at this time. If you leave a name and number and the nature of your call, perhaps he'll call you back. If he owes you money, I guarantee he won't call back” My goodness, I sound like a secretary. Ranmaru thought.

“This is Officer Fuuma; there has been a terrible accident. Takano-san was assaulted by a female mob after leaving the arcade on Takashita Street. We are unsure how or why it happened, but there was blood everywhere. He has several broken bones and has been trampled unconscious. He was transferred to the hospital. He looks like he's in bad shape. Can you please put me in contact with his parents?”

“Officer, to tell you the truth, he has next to no relationship with his parents. Do you know much about Kyohei's situation? They wish he was never born because all the unwanted female attention he gets. All of us at the boarding house are his family. We will be there as soon as we can”

“Morii Ranmaru is it? I think I've heard about you. None of it's been very good either. From what I hear, you are smooth talker, but nothing you say has value. From what I gathered about you, I would think you'd never believe in `Unwanted Female Attention' Is there a specific reason why you are withholding information about his parents?

 

“Sir, if you have decided that I am unreliable, there are other people in the house who could tell you why we would like to keep his parents out of it. I know that we would be respecting Kyohei's wishes to keep them away. Seeing that they will not be coming, what room is he in? I will gather our roommates and discuss this further.”

“Very well, I am only looking out for Takano-san's well being. He's in the ICU, and can only have one visitor at a time. We will talk then. Is there a sweetheart I should contact?”

“No sir, he doesn't have a `sweetheart' of any sort.”

“See you at the hospital.”

As Ranmaru set the phone down his mind was reeling. How could women, which he imagined as kittens, have claws? How could this happen? He goes to that arcade all the time, nothing has happened before. Well, perhaps he is pestered a bit, but such is the lot for handsome men. Why did they turn violent? We'll find out what happened when we get to the hospital. He called Yuki, and told him to take his siblings to the hotel and get back here as soon as he could. He decided that it would be best to explain what happened in person, and to avoid him breaking down in from of the kids. He ran up to Takenaga's room and told him what happened. He wanted to know what exactly happened, but Ranmaru restated that the details were sketchy and that it would be discussed more with the police at the hospital. Now to tell Sunako… he had Takenaga come with him for support. He found her in the kitchen busily breading the shrimp for dinner. It looked like dinner was going to be really nice. Too bad it was probably going to go to waste. He asked her to sit down for the news. As expected, she went completely crazy with the news.

“Someone has injured that `Beautiful Creature?' That is a sin against God! I can't believe it! How bad is he hurt?”

“As soon as Yuki returns and we tell him, we'll go over as a group” Takenaga and Ranmaru told her.

While Sunako was calming down, Yuki came in the front door.

“What's up? What's so serious that you couldn't you tell me earlier? The kids were so sad we had to cut our trip short, they don't get a chance to come to the city all that often.”

“Yuki…Please sit down. “ Ranmaru started.

He proceeded to tell Yuki what the officer had told him.

“Oh! I heard about some riot or something over that way. I never thought Kyohei would have been involved! Is he hurt badly? Takenaga, Sunako what do you know about these injuries? Do you think He'll be O.K.? ICU? That has to be bad. Poor Kyohei! You said he was mobbed? Why was this mob worse than the others? We all have girls chasing us, but they never got violent He does seem to attract the more forceful type though”

They all headed to the train station and headed to the hospital.

At the hospital, Kyohei was in surgery. They were going to simply admit him to ICU for observation. Now, he was showing signs of internal bleeding. The surgeon had to remove his spleen and repair his lacerated liver.

 

“The surgery went well, but he'll have a long recovery just from the internal injuries. It's too soon to know about brain damage. He's still in a coma. “the surgeon told Officer Fuuma.

“The young man seems to have a checkered past.” said Officer Fuuma. “I did some digging on him and he's been involved in several fights. He usually sends people to the hospital, not the other way around. The person who answered his phone at home insisted that we leave his parents out of it. I found that he was kicked out of his home because of all the unwanted female attention he was receiving. I believe it now, did you see the reception area? Ms. Nakahara, the owner of the boarding house, took him in and he hasn't been home since from what I can tell. I would suggest that you enforce the `limited visitors' policy with him. I wish I caught all of the roommates' names. I know there is a Morii Ranmaru that will be coming, but no women. He said there wasn't a girlfriend. Considering the mob that did this, I'd keep a close watch on even the staff that deals with him. I think I'll request a plainclothes officer to watch too. I will put out that he was transferred to another hospital, so perhaps we can minimize some of the traffic.”

The group got to the hospital and was told that he was wasn't there. Ranmaru spoke up. “Officer Fuuma told me to meet him here. We are Kyohei's roommates and want to see him.” The admissions clerk looked at the group and said, “O.K. you two gents can go upstairs. I will announce you, but your girlfriends have to stay down here.”

“What are you talking about?” said Takenaga. “We all are his roommates and we expect to be told what happened and what is happening.”

“I'll call Officer Fuuma to speak to you. But seriously, do you expect me to believe that you live in a co-ed dorm? I was expecting a group of young men, not two men and two ladies.”

As the clerk paged the officer, Yuki spoke up, “What are you saying? I'm a man! I have fine features, but I assure you I'm a man. Why does this always happen? “

Ranmaru added, “As far as the lady with us, she is our roommate as well. The niece of Ms. Nakahara, who I believe, is a benefactor of this hospital. I'm sure if you check out what I said, an apology will be in order”

As they were speaking to the clerk, a uniformed officer walked up to the group.

“Ah, Morii-san I presume?” said Officer Fuuma. “These are Takano-san's roommates?”

“Yes officer. May I introduce Oda Takenaga, Toyama Yukinojo, and Nakahara Sunako. I apologize for taking so long, but we figured it would be better to come as a group. Toyama-san was visiting family, so he had to take his leave of them. “

“We will discuss the dynamics of your home in a moment. I need to bring you up to speed. Takano-san has developed a complication from his beating. He had emergency surgery for internal bleeding. He is in recovery right now. I am sorry about the confusion about the clerk saying he's not here. We are trying to protect him. The hospital was crawling with young women. We spread the word that he was being transferred after we rushed him to surgery and the whole reception area cleared out. This is only a temporary fix I'm afraid. I did look into his past Morii-san, and found out that he does have a problem with undue female attention. I spoke to his doctors and we are trying to staff his care with men only. This is still not a guarantee he won't be pestered, but the hospital is going to try to minimize it. I have ordered a plainclothes officer to protect him with a list of approved visitors and staff. We have advised that he not receive visitors except his roommates. I had assumed that you all would be men. Ms Nakahara poses a problem. You ARE his roommate and not someone romantically linked to him?”

“Officer, I can hardly be in the same room as him and am unable to look him in the face without bodily harm. There is NOTHING going on between us. I do want to know what you are doing about the people that did this to him. Yes, you are protecting him now. What are you doing to get justice for him? Are there witnesses to question? Was he the only one injured in this incident? Kyohei is volatile, but he only gets angry when there's a reason to be. He would never attack a woman, say insensitive things, perhaps. If I were you, I'd be searching for facts on this case.

“Wow! Young lady, you are a firecracker! We are looking for witnesses, but we are getting a different story with each one. We thought the most reliable witness was Takano-san. That is why I'm here, I'm waiting for him to wake up to get his statement. There weren't really many other casualties, cuts and scrapes for injuries. A lot of nosebleeds. Do you guys know why this would happen? I've never seen anything like this before. Especially with his record of physical prowess.”

Takenaga asked, “ What did the people with the injuries tell you? I can't believe there isn't a common thread among their stories. “

“ We've pieced together that Takano-san had told the mob to leave him alone and stop following him everywhere he goes. He told them that he had no interest in any of them. He called them all harpies or something like that He said that no one truly understands him, and there's only one woman he can relate to because she's dead inside. He wished that he could turn off his emotions like she did. He told them that she's worth more to him than anyone in the crowd. Basically, it sounds like a whole lot of women were scorned at the same time, and he met their fury. I just believe there's more to it though”

Ranmaru asked, “Did he mention any names while he was being assaulted or while he was unconscious?

“No, but he said something about he should leave the light and join her in her darkness. Do you have any idea what that means?”

The guys looked over at Sunako and she just blanched.