Chapter 12: Chapter 12

"Nao seemed to be at ease with you,Van. She's always in her true self whenever she's with you. That's why you have the right to do this." Doctor Nishikawa spoke again.

"I'm willing to listen, Doctor Nishikawa." Van responded.

"I went to Tokyo to do a symposium on childcare. One of the medical schools there

asked me to be their spokesperson. After the lecture, one of the activities of that said program is to visit a foster care home. And that where I found Nao. I've never seen a girl looking so frail. Girls at her age should be enjoying their life, but it was different for her, because of what happened to her family..." Doctor Nishikiawa relieves the past.

"What happened to her family?" Van started to ask.

"Her father died in a plane crash. Nao and her mother didn't know he left a huge amount of debt, much to Nao's mother shock and despair. Her mother suffered from a nervous breakdown that lead her to overdose herself with sleeping pills. Her mother tried to kill herself. She did numerous cuts on her wrists. She almost killed Nao, too." the doctor relayed.

Van tightly closed his eyes. He can clearly imagine Nao's sufferings.

"Once I saw her, I had this strong urge to protect her and make her feel loved. So that's why I decided to adopt Nao, and love her as my own child."

There was an ear-splitting silence between Nishikawa-san and Van.

"Nao's very lucky to have you as her mother, Doctor Nishikawa. And it's obvious that Mika's doing her best to be the best sister for Nao as well." Van said what's on his mind.

The old woman smiled wistfully at the young man.

"And she's very lucky to have you as well, Van. Please, take care of her..." Doctor Nishikawa replied, while tenderly smiling at him.

"I promise I will." Van seriously answered.

======================

The next morning.

Van vigorously pedalled his bike on his way to school.

Once he reached the school grounds, he quickly parked his bike to the designated

parking lot. He went inside the classroom and walked towards Nao's desk and grabbed her bag that she left behind yesterday.He blaced it beside his bag.

After a few minutes, the students started entering the room. He securely hid Nao's bag.

=====================

They are already on the 3rd period of their morning classes. Their are currently having an English class, the teacher is discussing and writing at the board at the same time.

The students named the teacher "Mr. Eraser" because he has a habit of erasing the writings on the board as fast as he could.

Van needed to write everything on his notes, so that's why he's doing his best to write as quickly as he can. He's planning to give all the notes to Nao so that she won't be left behind...

"Ah!" he lets out a frustrated cry when their Math teacher immediately erases the writings on the .

"What's the problem, Van?" their teacher asked him, while frowning.

"N-Nothing." Van muttered in return.

"Don't disrupt the class." the teacher reprimanded him, as he resumed writing on the board.

Van helplessy sighed while staring at his notes.

"Well, I'll just borrow Reiko's notes later." he mumbled to himself.

=======================

Lunchtime.

Van craned his neck while he's looking inside the 3-A classroom. He's busy looking for his bestfriend, Reiko.

He then saw her at the corner, having lunch with her classmates.

"Reiko!" Van called out for her, while waving his hands in the air.

"--Look, that weirdo is calling you, Reiko."

Reiko looked outside, and she lets out a smile when she saw Van. She stood up and walked towards the window where his friend is waiting.

"What's going on,Van? Are you finished with your lunch?" she inquired, while smiling at him.

"I'm not hungry. By the way, I have a favor to ask you. Please say yes." Van relayed.

Reiko frowned in confusion. Van's acting very weird today...

"Can I borrow your notes in English? You have the complete lessons, right?" Van pleaded.

"Of course. Why, you can't keep up with Mr. Eraser?" Reiko jokingly asked him.

"Well, you can say that. So,can I have it?" Van insisted.

"Sure." Reiko went back to her desk and pulled the notebook from her bag. She handed it to Van.

"Here." she said.

Van reached out for the notebook.

"Thanks! I owe you one!" Van happily said, while scanning the notes.

"You're welcome." nodded Reiko.

"See you later!" Van finally said, and then he scurries off.

Reiko's eyes followed him until he was out of sight.

====================

Weekend.

I'm now making my way towards Van's house. My mother asked me to deliver a box of sweets to Van's family.

After a few minutes, I am finally standing infront of Van's family house.

Since there was no doorbell, I decided to call Van out.

"Van?" I called out, in a loud voice.

I was about to call him again when the door finally opened.

"Oh, hello there, Nao!" Van's younger brother, Ren, greeted her.

"Hi, Ren. My mother asked me to give you all these sweets. And is brother home?I need to return these notes to him." I asked him, while carrying two paperbags. One is for the box of sweets, and the other paperbag is full of notebooks.

"He's in his room. Please come in!" he chirped, as he opened the door for me.

I timidly walked inside the house.

I saw a typical Okinawa-styled house. It was so different from the huge, concrete and stylish houses back in Tokyo, but there was a homey feeling in this house.

"Please take a seat while I get you a drink." Ren offered me to sit in their couch.

"Thanks." I responded.

Before Ren could make his way towards the kitchen, he first called out for his brother.

"Van, you have a visitor!" he yelled.

"Okay! I'll be right there!" I heard Van yelled back.

Ren was grinning from ear to ear when he turned his attention back to me.

"Excuse me for a second. Please, make yourself comfortable." he said, and afterwards, he went to the kitchen...