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redthreadoffate · 2 years

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the day love expired (but it didn’t have a definitive date)

header by: @/earlgreymon

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know love had an expiration date.” - letters to juliet

i’m a little late but i forgive myself because i really just thought of this last week. i wrote this one in one sitting today, this wrote itself, and although i know it isn’t my best, i think it’s okay enough? you decide.

anyways, this is my january entry for my own monthly challenge it’s just like in the movies, it’s my second takari fic so let’s see how it goes! (and yes, i changed the title)

digimon adventure masterlist

it’s just like in the movies masterlist

Twenty-three.

Twenty-three years.

It had been twenty-three years since she last saw him. They were only eight years-old when they first met, but now, at thirty-one, he was back on her mind. Her first friend. Her first crush. Sometimes she wonders if he was her first love. Probably. Maybe. Perhaps. But who’s to say at such a young age?

But Hikari knew that she would never see him again. They lost contact at the age of fifteen when one of them—she could not remember who; well, more like, she did not want to remember who—had stopped replying.

A few years back, she had tried to look for him. After intensive research, including asking her friend Koushiro for help, she came up empty-handed. It was hard but she eventually moved on. Sort of.

She married one of her student’s uncles, a man named Tatsuya, and they had a son, Akihito, who was the spitting image of her. She was happy, although she did remember him from time to time. But she loved her family, she cared for them with every bit and piece. And her son was her world.

It seemed everything was in place until Tatsuya’s accident. For a while, she and Akihito drifted apart. He blamed her for what had happened. If she had not gone to see her friend on such short notice even though she was feeling sick, he would not have had to walk in the foggy rain where cars could easily lose control.

And she did blame herself. Her son was right. She was feeling ill when her friend asked her to come over for help, which in hindsight was with something pretty petty. But she was persuaded still and headed out. When Tatsuya learned about whereabouts, he instructed her to stay put and they would walk home together.

Hikari walked home alone that night.

She was worried about him, he was not picking up her calls nor was he in his parent’s house. It was not until the next day that the police arrived at their doorstep. She identified the body. Then she allowed herself to break down.

“It wasn’t your fault,” her mother would assure her.

But she could not believe that, and for the rest of her life, she knew she would feel guilty for his death. ‘If only I hadn’t…if only I hadn’t, if only I hadn’t.’ Those words were tattooed now, she knew it was going to be permanent.

It was now Tatsuya’s fourth anniversary and she and Akihito were paying their respects. They had grown closer once again, knowing that they only had each other now.

“Mama,” Akihito started in a low voice. Hikari’s eyes were filled with tears, her lips quivering, her whimpers getting louder. She felt herself shaking until her son held onto her arm. “It’s okay. Papa wouldn’t want this.”

Hikari sniffled. “I know.” She wiped her tears away and said, “I’m sorry.”

Her son gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s not your fault.” That was a far cry from three years ago. He had only begun allowing himself to reconnect with his mother. Being angry at her was his way of coping, he needed to let out his anger and grief and he lashed it out on her. She had no fault and he knew it. “It’s not your fault.”

When her own father had passed away, Hikari knew it was time to move on. Yes, she still felt guilty, she still felt that it was all her fault, but she needed to start again. She would never forget him, she would always love him, but she knew he would want her to have a new life. And that was just what she planning on doing.

One day, she was rummaging through some of her mother’s books in her childhood home. She nearly gave up looking for one of the photo albums when she found a tiny notebook. As she dismissed it and popped it back to its proper place, a photo fell out. It was a sepia-colored shot and she wondered what it was doing inside.

She took a closer look and her eyes widened when she realized it was her mother Yuuko and a man she did not know, a man who was not her father. And they looked happy, happier than she had ever seen her mom.

She scanned through the notebook and found that it was much like a diary, but more in the form of letters. She stood up from the floor and walked out of the hall and to her mother where she was cooking in the kitchen.

“Mama.”

“Mm?”

“Who’s Juliet?”

Her mother slowly dropped her arms, then placed the spatula on the counter, and lowered the blaze of the fire. “I forgot where I put those.” Yuuko turned around and smiled. A smile that Hikari could only describe as melancholic. “I never got to send those letters, Hikari. I was too scared, too nervous.”

“You haven’t answered my question,” Hikari said a little impatiently. If her mother was reminiscing about the past which did not include her father she had the right to know why. “Why do you have a notebook filled with letters meant for her? And,” she held up the photo, “who is this man?”

Yuuko sighed and turned off the stove. “Sit,” she ordered.

Hikari hesitated but then complied. She slid on a chair and waited as her mother took the one in front of her.

“In Venice, there’s a group of women, Juliet’s Secretaries, who would read and respond to those who wrote letters to Juliet. They would stick their letters to their wall and the secretaries come to collect them then send out their responses.”

Hikari did not react.

Yuuko sighed. “Long before I met your father, I’ve been with a man named Tomoki.” She smiled and bowed her head. “I loved him and we were to be wed.” Then she sighed. “But he had to leave for Venice, his parents were stationed there and they wanted him to go with them. Tomoki asked me to go with him, but I couldn’t just leave your grandparents.”

Hikari lowered her eyes. “Oh.”

“I went to Venice, remember that? I went to Venice with my friends as a celebration for—ah, what was it for again?” She chuckled. “We went to Venice and when I found out about Juliet, I wrote to her. I was hoping she could tell me what I could do. But I thought it was a lost cause so I didn’t bother. I’m going to be honest, I looked for him. I looked for Tomoki, but,” she shrugged, “it just was never meant to be.”

There was a wave of sadness that filled the room, and against her better judgment, she felt bad for her mother.

Yuuko nodded slowly. “You don’t mind if I keep the notebook and photo, do you, Hikari?”

It took a while for her to answer. But now that she listened to her mother’s story, what right did she have? Yes, she was a little angry about her mother loving someone who was not her father but…her mother had done nothing wrong but love a man.

And then it hit her, she and Yuuko were two peas in a pod.

A school choir competition in Venice was all she needed to remember everything. During their free time, she and Akihito would roam around; but what she was really trying to do was prepare herself to walk to the the famous alleyway. She had wanted to go since day one, but she also wanted her son to have some fun.

“Where do you wanna go tomorrow?” Akihito asked, a knowing smile on his face.

Hikari giggled. “You got me.”

And as they walked along the long stone wall, they watched as people stuck their letters of different colors and different designs. She smiled and clutched her purse. Licking her bottom lip, she let go.

“Stick it before they get it,” her son said suddenly. “Hurry.”

She exhaled, a soft laugh came along with it. She stood up, took the pink envelope from her bag, and stuck it to the wall. She may never get their response, given she put her home address in Japan, but with her son’s encouragement, she knew it was going to be alright.

As they were driving back, they passed by a small vineyard. They were taking a long way detour, thus they did not see it earlier. She rolled down the window of the rental car and sniffed the air.

“When I’m older, I’ll be drinking a lot of those,” Akihito joked, and she laughed.

She saw the grape farmers picking the fruits, examining them, and then placing them inside their baskets .

But then she came to a halt, surprising her son and even herself.

“What’s wrong?”

Hikari put the car in reverse, stopped, and stared at the man a few feet away. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she told her son to stay in the car as she opened her door and walked towards the vineyard.

She walked slowly, carefully. But as she neared, the man looked up at her. He looked confused, and really, she could not blame him. He spoke in Italian. Hikari blinked. It seemed like he was asking her a question but she did not understand what he was saying.

“May I help you?” he spoke again, this time in English.

“Yes,” she replied in English. “Do you know a man named Tomoki Chidori?”

The man looked even more puzzled. “He’s my grandfather. Why?”

Her heart was beating faster and she could hear the pounding in her ears, she could feel her nerves, yet, she was very excited. The man in front of her looked exactly like the man in her mother’s photo. ‘He must be the one’. “My name is Hikari Tanaka. Could you…could you tell him I know someone named Yuuko Nakamura.”

The man eyed her cautiously before nodding and walking away.

She watched him until he disappeared before exhaling. ‘This is interesting.’ She walked back to the car and then parked by the side.

“Is everything okay?” Akihito asked, worry evident in his voice.

Hikari stared at the wheel before nodding. “I have to tell you something.”

And it was a year later when the wedding of Tomoki and Yuuko was about to commence.

Akihito, along with his cousins, would tease their grandmother, telling her she was a little too old to be getting married again. Yuuko would laugh and kiss the top of their heads. “I know.”

As Hikari arranged all the last-minute details, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hikari Yagami,” the person said her name softly.

“Hm?” She tilted her head. “Tanaka,” she corrected before spinning around. “Hikari Tana…ka….”

And there, in the flesh, was Takeru Takaishi. They both grew up, they had both changed. But she knew it was him. She knew. She would always know.

He had a small, shy smile on his face. “It is you.”

She nodded. “And it’s you.”

He nodded. “Uh…Tomoki is my father’s friend,” he explained.

“Yuuko…,” she stopped. He knew that.

“I heard it was you who brought them together.”

“I suppose.” She swallowed. “I looked for you. Everywhere.”

He lowered his eyes. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t stand not being able to see you…so I thought, might as well, right?” He scoffed and shook his head. “Teenagers.” He sighed. “But I thought you would be happy by then so I let you go. I got married, you know. But um…didn’t work out.” Hikari realized that he was rambling. “I have a son, Tenma.”

“I have a son, too, Akihito.”

He smiled. “I think they’re about the same age.”

She smiled. “Playmates then.”

He chuckled. “I’d love to meet your husband.” He looked around. “I think I saw Akihito earlier so I guess he doesn’t look like his father.”

Hikari bit her lip. “He passed away a few years ago.”

“Oh.” He paused. “I’m so sorry, Hikari.”

She nodded. “I miss him, but I don’t want to ruin this day. I’m sure he wouldn’t want me to. This is for my mom and future step-dad,” she gave him a tiny smile, “nothing’s going to ruin it.”

“I don’t know him but I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to ruin this day either.” He grinned.

She looked at him. “I missed you, Takeru.”

“I never stopped thinking about you,” he admitted. “I mean, my pen name is Nozomi Hikari.” He gave an awkward, nervous laugh when Hikari’s eyes widened.

“You’re Nozomi Hikari?” She gasped. “I didn’t—”

“I keep a low profile,” he said. “I was able to ask a few people to work around it.”

“Not even Koushiro could find you.”

“Eh…I don’t think that’s true.”

“What do you mean?”

“Koushiro emailed me once, asking about my life. I figured that this guy wasn’t going to sell me out or anything, so I told him my life story. Then he mentioned you…and I asked him not to say anything.”

Hikari’s mouth dropped. “Takeru.”

“I’m sorry, Hikari.”

She bowed her head. Before she could say anything, the wedding coordinator was calling everyone inside. “The ceremony is about to start.”

It was not until the latter part of the reception that Hikari finally talked to Takeru. He slid beside her and gestured towards the back where Akihito was playing with whom she was sure was Tenma, he looked exactly like the man beside her.

There was a cheer and Tomoki and Yuuko complied.

Hikari smiled.

Takeru cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know love had an expiration date,” he said. “I quoted that in one of my books.”

She smiled. “I know, I read it.”

He smiled. “They’re wrong. Love has no expiration date.” He turned to her. “That one I’m sure.”

She turned back to him, a smile still on her face. “I agree. Love…has no expiration date.” And she was sure of that. She was very sure of that.

#hikari yagami #takeru takaishi #takari #takeru x hikari #takeru takaishi x hikari yagami #diigimon #digimon adventure #type: eve writes #type: eve writes digimon

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