Chapter 5
 
Hanako and I return to our regular routine before long, but not without hitches.  She continues to skip classes a few times a week.  
 
A couple of months later, I drop out of the student council.  I'd be lying if I said that my worry over Hanako wasn't a factor in my uncharacteristic aloofness during duty and unwillingness to continue on with it.  I'd never seen Shizune so mad.  She actually audibly scoffed at me after I tell her.  I hope I can explain things properly to her one day.
 
Other than that, life continues at a regular pace, that is, until the middle of the next school year, when a new student would stumble into the empty classroom Hanako and I use for our tea conversation.
 
Hisao is gentle and caring, and not caustic in the least.  I feel like he's a good match for Hanako, but he always seems so worried over everything.
 
Despite my best efforts, it turns out I can't help him, either.  Maybe, in the end, helping myself is all I can do.  It's an extremely depressing thought that I can't get out of my head.
 
 
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
 
 
So here I find myself, in my present situation, in Scotland with my family.  It's been a good time to reflect on the past and think about the future, outside of the noise of classes and class representative work.
 
"It sounds wonderful, thank you for catching me up on all the details," I respond to my mother and father's collective speech about the expansion of their corporation here in Inverness.
 
"Well, Lilly," my father says in a more solemn tone, "we've already talked to Akira about this... she wants to be here to help out with the business, and we would like you to be a part of it, as well."
 
If it weren't for a years-old fear of being smacked upside the head with a meterstick, I'd have spit out the tea I was in the middle of drinking.  I'm completely silent for the moment, as I try to consider what has just been told to me.  I had thought about being a teacher, but the oppurtunity now presented in front of me is far from dismissable.  Technically speaking, I wouldn't prefer one line of work over the other.  However, there is the issue of Hanako.  I'm not sure that Hanako would forgive Hisao, not for a long time, at least, and during that time, she would be alone.  Alone and scared, when she absolutely needs to set a path for herself and truly start her life.  If I leave now, I'm leaving her for dead.
 
This is all too much.  Fate is truly cruel if it would seek to set so much weight on my shoulders within the course of a few days.
 
I won't do it.  I can't stand to admit it to my parents, at least, not at the moment, though my heart tries to urge me to be honest.
 
"I... I'm not sure.  I'll need some time to think about it.  At this point in time, I've already considered plans for my career in Japan."
 
My father groans.  Seconds later, my mom chimes in "I understand, Lilly.  Please, think about it, but don't take too long, we'll want you and Akira back here in a couple of weeks."
 
 
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
 
 
I return home.  Or rather, what has been my home for a couple of years now, the Yamaku dormitory that's just one door away from the end of the hall.  It's late evening by the time I arrive.  I consider approaching Hanako now, but decide against it.  She'll come out.  I simply decide to write her a note, which is simply a signature of my name, a well-trained set of calligraphy that I'm told looks quite clean.  This should give her the message that I've returned.  I quietly slip it under her door and then proceed to my own room.  At the very least, I know she's there, based on the subtle movements I can hear through the wall between her room and mine.