It's here, the final chapter of the Michael fic! It's been a good run! I hope you enjoyed the story!

Some of you wondered whether or not this will also include parts of the Summer Princess. Well, sorry, but no. I don't really feel like rewriting the story from Michael's point of view. I think it is not that hard to figure out what he must be thinking, though :) the point of this fic was just to get a glimpse of Michael's life in Japan, which, I hope, I accomplished more or less successfully.

As of whether I will write about Michael again in the future…. I don't think so, to be honest. I find Mia more fun to write. Probably because she is crazy and neurotic.

Besides, I have no idea what else Michael could be up to.

So, to see what follows the end of this – and why is Mia so late – go read the Summer Princess.

A big thank you to everyone who has been following Michael's journey.

Now go leave me some love in the review box!

Till next time, w.

June

(1)

The start of June the fifth was completely normal.

I woke up to my alarm clock screaming, once again promising to myself to start working on getting more sleep. Something had to change, I couldn't go on having only four, five hours of sleep per night with my schedule.

Of course I knew it was yet another promise I would not keep.

I dragged myself to the bathroom, and let the shower wake me up.

While making a cup of coffee in the kitchen, I turned on the radio and listened to the morning news. The more news they read, the more depressing the tone got, so I gave up. I opened the window and listened to the birds tweeting in the morning sun.

I ate a toast and answered the emails and texts that came during the night.

When I had decided to take a cooking class, Henry laughingly told me that cooking was for chicks. But after he tasted my sushi, he silently changed his opinion, never missing a dinner I was preparing for the band. Tomorrow night seemed to be no exception; his confirmation of coming reminded me to check if I even had the ingredients, and looking into the fridge was a reminder that I would need to stop at the store on my way from work.

Then it was time to go. I picked up my keys and headed to the lab, listening to our demo on the way. Once there, I left my phone in the locker, like every day, not wanting it to distract me from my work.

When I checked the missed calls during the break, I saw Lilly's was among them.

I called her back, and she answered immediately.

"Are you home already?" she screamed into my ear.

"No, I'm in the lab," I said. "Is there something wrong?"

Lilly didn't exactly have a habit of keeping her phone close by at all times. Not when she wasn't expecting a call she could potentially benefit from.

"Why would there be anything wrong?" she swiftly asked.

"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe it's because it's, what, eleven at night in New York, and you keep your phone this close by?" I said, suddenly feeling worried.

"I'm waiting on a very important email from my producers and I'm bored," she said. "That's why I answered immediately. Besides, I have no idea why you would think there's something wrong. Everything's fine. But anyway, there is something more urgent to discuss. Is this really the first break you have had since I called you?"

That girl knew how to change the subject.

"Yes."

"Oh. Well, let me just tell you, as someone who has experience fighting for workers' rights, you are entitled to have a break more frequently. When do you get off work?"

"Well, if you're so interested, Lil, I usually go home at about eight. Today, though, it will probably be around five. I have to stop at the store. I am cooking dinner for the guys."

"Dinner? For the guys?" she screamed. "I thought you had that tomorrow."

"Yes, I do," I frowned. "Why? What's going on?"

"Nothing, I told you." Then she paused. And if that silence wasn't an eloquent sign that something was up, then I didn't know what it was. "I just … miscalculated the time difference, that's all. I thought by now you'd be home already."

"Why would you need me to be home now?" I asked carefully.

"I just figured we could chat while …. Oh. Oh, my god, it's here, the email I was waiting on! I have to go, Michael, thank you for keeping me company. You are the best brother ever. Bye!"

And just like that, she hung up. Of course, I should be alarmed by the call. But this is Lilly, and I am the first to admit that my little sister is weird most of the time.

So I just returned to the lab.

The next call, though, I couldn't just ignore.

Midori cut herself on her finger. She left the lab to go get herself some plasters, and when she returned, she gestured me to speak with her in private. I was in the middle of the work, so I just said we'd talk later. But she insisted.

"Fine, what is it?" I finally gave in, annoyed.

"I'm not really sure," she carefully asked. "But I think something is wrong."

"Wrong with what?" I frowned.

"Well, as I went to get something for my hand, I walked past the admission counter. And the lady there said that a woman had been calling for hours, trying to get to you, but you said you weren't taking any calls."

"That's right," I impatiently nodded. "If she left a message, I'll call her back after work."

"Yeah, well, she was told that, but she keeps insisting that it is an emergency and that she needs to talk to you now. She's quite persistent, they say."

I sighed, glancing back to the work I was missing out on.

"And are you sure it's not my mother?"

"No, they say they know her by now."

Which other woman could be so desperate to reach me? My mind was blank.

"Did she say who she was?" I asked, not expecting an answer.

But I got one. And I didn't like it one bit.

"Yes, Helen something," Midori shrugged.

I felt my heart stop. All the air got knocked out of my lungs. My legs suddenly felt weak, and I was sure I was about to collapse. I grabbed the nearby table to prevent myself from falling.

"He-Helen?" I repeated, with my voice barely present.

"Yes," Midori said, confused my reaction. "Do you know her?"

"That's Mia's mom," I said, and hurried to my locker. My fingers were trembling, and I barely managed to get a hold of my phone. How I managed not to drop it, I don't know. All I knew was that I suddenly felt chills over my entire body, similar to the ones I felt when Phillipe called me when I was in New York.

Maybe panic paralyzed my mind, I couldn't think of any reason why Helen would call me all the way to Japan. Helen, of all people. I knew her long enough to know that cellphones were not her strongest point, yet alone figuring out how to call a number in Japan. The woman even failed to pay the bills on one than just one occasion simply because she forgot she had stuffed them into a salad bowl. Something told me she must have a damn good reason to be calling. And somehow I found it hard to believe that the reason was a good one.

I sat down on the bench, dialing her number. Midori stared at me, with her arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"Michael, finally," Helen said after picking up.

"Helen," I said. I wanted to ask her how she was, or maybe even ask right away what was wrong, but I couldn't get the words out. She didn't seem to notice my hesitance.

"Michael, is she there?" Helen asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Mia. Is she there, with you? She was supposed to call me hours ago, but I haven't heard from her."

Her words didn't make any sense, at all.

And yet my heart must have caught the underlying meaning, as my heartbeat increased again. In a good way, this time.

"Mia? Here, in Tsukuba?" I gasped.

"Yes."

"Why would she be here?" I tried to make some sense of it, trying to remember if I read anything, anywhere, about Genovian Royal Family visiting Japan. I knew this was news I wouldn't have missed, but what else could it be, really?

"To see you, what else," Helen sighed. "She was supposed to call me when her plane landed, but I still haven't heard from her. She's not picking up. I figured I'd call you, just to see if, you know, she just forgot to turn on her phone or something. She is my daughter, after all."

Mia? In Tsukuba, to see me? Feelings overwhelmed me, and I collapsed onto the bench again. Why would she come here to see me? I knew what I wished the reason to be.

I almost forgot that Helen was waiting on my response.

"I'm not home, actually. I am in the lab. She's probably waiting at my place, for me," I couldn't help but to grin at the last words. Mia. Mia, here. "I'll… I'll go home to check. I will call you back, alright, Helen?"

"Please, do. I would like to tell her a word or two about motherly worries," Helen groaned.

After hanging up, I needed a few deep breaths to calm myself down, so that I could stop thinking about anything other than what I had just been told.

"I have to go," I told Midori.

"You know, I sort of noticed that," she beamed. "Oh, my god. Mia, THE Mia, is here?"

"My Mia," I laughed.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Midori exclaimed, grabbed my arm and started dragging me out of the room, to the door. "Go get her! And don't you dare come to work later!"

And so I left the lab and ran home, so excited I was practically tripping over my own feet the entire way.

I remembered Lilly's call. In hindsight, many things made sense.

I called her again.

"What the fuck is going on?" I grinned after she picked up, this time too practically immediately.

"So she made it to your place?" Lilly exclaimed, sounding more excited than I'd heard her in a long time.

"I'm on my way home to check if she's there."

"Oh. Then how do you…"

"Helen called me. Just to, you know, check if she got here alright."

"Helen wasn't sup…" Lilly started.

"So you two are on this together?"

"No. Well, yes. At first it was just Lars and me, then we figured we'd need Helen's help. And she was glad to join in on the plan."

"Now will you tell me what the plan is?"

"Aren't you supposed to be this super genius inventor of revolutionary medical equipment?" she sneered. "We sent Mia to you. You want me to spell it out what you are supposed to do from now on?"

"Why did you even…"

"Because Lars is tired of her longing gaze, and I am sick and tired of listening to your demo which just screams out her name, not to mention listen about your culinary escapades and overall lack of life. So after you came to New York and I got to see that you are still as much in love with Mia as always, I paid attention to her in school, and came to a realization she too doesn't look like the happiest kid in the world, so I met up with Lars, and he confirmed my suspicions. And since it was then obvious both of you were miserable and yet unwilling to make the first move, we figured that move would need to be done for you again. We went to talk to Helen to see if she agreed that something had to be done, and she said she had enough of watching her daughter write three-page long essays about BAMBOO which is, interestingly, not even part of the school curriculum. Bamboo, Michael, really?"

I didn't think it was smart to tell her that our discussion about bamboo had now changed into tribal languages.

"If you look at this from an environmental angle, you see why it is important for people to discuss it," I said instead.

"Bullshit. How neither of you has managed to see through this pathetic façade of meaningless rambling is beyond me. I thought both of you were supposed to be at least moderately intelligent individuals. But then again, if it wasn't for me or Tina, you probably wouldn't even figure out yet that you like each other. Which, actually, might not be such a bad idea, given you most likely wouldn't have set out on this revolutionary mission of yours, thus I wouldn't need to take of your dog, Michael. Which, by the way in case you haven't noticed yet, drools a lot."

"I'm paying you, Lil," I reminded her, while crossing the road despite the red light. I couldn't wait. Any second I wasted now could be a second I spent with Mia.

"Yeah, forty bucks per week," my sister snorted.

"That's twenty more than last year."

"And I deserve every penny of it. Not to mention, a Christmas bonus for fixing your mistake. I have to say, though, that I am appalled by you not seeing through the whole address ting. Did you really think Kenny would suggest we go to Delaware on a road trip? Road trip to him equals anime marathon, Michael. I thought you'd know his girlfriend skills better than this, as you were paying a lot of attention to them a few years ago."

"My love for you is distracting me from remembering how manipulative you are at times, Lil," I laughed.

"Manipulative? Me? Are you sure you are not talking about Clarisse?"

"Gotta go, Lil, I'm here," I said, seeing my apartment building.

"Alright. CALL ME."

I ran up the three set of stairs, with my heart wildly pondering in excitement.

For nothing, as it turned out. Mia wasn't waiting in front of my door.

It was only then that I remembered she didn't have the keys to enter the building.

So I ran down again and looked around. She wasn't sitting on any of the benches.

Maybe she went to eat while waiting, I thought. I checked every bar, every restaurant, the cafes and the McDonald's around, but I couldn't find her.

Lilly texted me the flight she took to get to Tsukuba, and I checked its status. It was delayed, so I got into the car and drove myself to the airport. I reached the gate just after the plane landed, so none of the passengers escaped me.

She wasn't there.

She didn't come with the plane she had a ticket for.

That was when I tried calling her, but my call went straight to voicemail.

I decided not to call Helen yet. I tried to convince myself that there wasn't a reason to panic. She could have just missed her flight and would come with the next one. So I hung around the airport until the next plane from Tokyo landed.

She wasn't on this one ether.

So as far as I knew, she had landed in Tokyo, but never made it onto the plane bound to Tsukuba, though it took off from the very same airport. She couldn't possibly get lost in the airport, could she?

Did something happen to her there?

I checked the news, but no one reported about any incident at Tokyo International Airport.

I don't even want to think of how that would make me look, Mia getting hurt or attacked while in Japan to see me. I doubted her father, and especially her grandmother, knew what Helen dared to do. Cardio device or not, I would never be forgiven.

I would never forgive myself either, even though it wasn't really my fault.

Why didn't Helen call me before Mia took off? I would go to Tokyo to wait for her there, that would have been the safest.

But I knew better than dwell on the past I couldn't change. Something was still keeping Mia in Tokyo.

Maybe she changed her mind about you, a little voice in my head said. Maybe she realized she didn't want to see me anyway.

As much as the thought hurt, it was still better than the alternatives rambling around my mind. I pictured her cooped up in the ladies' room, hyperventilating and writing in her diary. If she still kept one, that was.

I decided to go back to my flat and wait for her here, in case she still planned on showing up. If she wouldn't within a few hours, then I might drive myself to Tokyo and try to find her at the airport, while telling Helen her daughter might have flown back to New York instead of connecting to Tsukuba.

But I had no idea how many hours I should wait.

I sat down in front of the television, but nothing grabbed my attention. I kept glancing at my wrist watch, getting up and walking to the window, hoping to see her with a suitcase, looking for my building.

Two hours passed without any sign of her and I got really close to calling the hospitals in Tokyo to see if she was admitted. I took a quick shower to calm myself down.

Looking through the window, I could see the sky changing from its normal blue into ominous darkness. A storm seemed to be nearing. According to Helen, Mia should be here eight hours ago, but there was still no sign of her.

I couldn't just wait around any longer. I had to do something.

I decided to call Midori and ask her to come over. She'd stay here, just in case Mia showed up, and I'd drive to Tokyo to try to find her. If she was still there, of course.

And so I phone Helen again to tell her of my plan. She considers my words.

I pray that she doesn't regret her decision to send Mia to me.

"Okay," she says. "I think your theory about her being in the bathroom is more than plausible, Michael."

"Yeah, let's hope so," I sigh, grabbing the car keys again.

"It's not about you, Michael," she goes on. "I tell you, she still cares, a lot, about you. If doubts are what's keeping her there, they are not pertaining to her feelings for you. She just … she just has trouble vocalizing what she feels, and, um … yeah."

"Yeah, she has…" I start, but the sound of knocking stops me in my tracks. At first I am not sure whether I heard right, or my head is playing tricks with me, making me hear what I desire most right now. A few seconds later, I hear it again, and this time there is no doubt.

I feel my heart flutter, as if it knows who it is.

"Just a second, Helen," I say and run to the door.

I take a deep breath, then I grab the door knob.

I open the door.

And there she is.

Mia.

My Mia.

The End.

Broughttoyouby:::winter.