Tomoharu's Redemption V

"Do you have any regrets?"

Igarashi leaned back in his chair as he thought on his brother's question. Regrets? He had so many that he had spent the last three years awaiting his execution by counting them in his head. They had piled up enough that he could suffocate beneath the weight of them.

Finally he gave Fujihara a bitter smile. "I feel like I have one less regret since you found me. Seeing the pictures of your wedding was more than enough to bring me a sense of satisfaction. I can die in peace now."

"Before you say that, I actually have a secret I have been keeping from you."

"A secret?" Igarashi echoed back in surprise.

A smile cracked over his brother's lips as he turned toward the door, which slowly cracked open. A toddler waddled inside, followed by a tall, slender figure that Igarashi immediately recognized from the pictures he had seen – Fujihara's wife. However, he found himself far more intrigued by the little one that hurried over to her daddy's side and tugged on his sleeve.

"Say hello to your niece," Fujihara said with a chuckle, leaning down to pick her up and plop the small girl on his lap. "Why don't you tell your uncle what your name is?"

Those innocent brown eyes gazed at him as a smile cracked on her face. She lifted a hand toward him and made a grabbing motion. "Uncle!" the little girl exclaimed excitedly. "Name is... Akemi!"

His eyes grew wide in response. "A...Akemi?" Somehow his throat felt strangely dry as he forced the name out of his lips. Those warm brown eyes gazing at him made his heart ache as he pressed his hand against the glass, wishing for a moment that he could feel the warmth of those little hands even once.

"The next one is going to be a boy," the woman standing behind Fujihara spoke up, placing a hand against her stomach.

"You don't know that for sure, Nadeshiko," Fujihara argued.

"No, I know. I'm the one that's pregnant," she snarked back at him. "Stop whining just because you want all girls."

Despite the tears in his eyes, Igarashi couldn't help but smile to himself. "The two of you still sound like happy newlyweds. I'm glad." Although, in the back of his mind he could not help but wonder if a marriage with Kazuki would have been much the same. His eyes closed for a minute as he swallowed back those thoughts, shunting them to the back of his mind.

All of a sudden, Nadeshiko gave her husband a nudge to the shoulder, whispering something that Igarashi didn't quite catch. She gave him a gentle smile before lifting Akemi off of Fujihara's lap and heading toward the door to leave.

"Mommy... give uncle... goodbye hug!" she wailed in complaint, trying to crawl over her mother's shoulder, her hands making a grabbng motion at as she was carried off. The slamming of the door quickly silenced her cries of protest.

"I was worried," Fujihara confided quietly in a shaky voice. "I was worried that you might blame me for convincing you to turn yourself in." His hands curled into tight fists on his lap, knuckles blanching from the force of his grip.

Although his execution was only a few hours off, the expression on his face conveyed a sense of resignation – or perhaps it was inner peace. Either way, a smile broke across his face as he let out a soft chuckle. "There's no reason for you to worry. I'm glad to have had this time to spend to get to know you. The outcome may have been the same but the time I spent getting there – I feel like I have repented some. Although I can never undo the things I have done. But maybe... I can make amends in my next life."

"Oh, my wife wanted me to tell you..."

"Hm?"

"It seems like Fallon and Goto are already expecting their first child. They sure got busy, huh?" He chuckled.

Igarashi's eyes widened slightly. That was surprising news but he found himself joining in with a short bout of laughter as well. He could scarcely imagine that stony faced Goto cradling a baby in his arms – though it did relieve a weight that had been sitting on his heart since Fallon's visits several years ago. "I'm glad," he mumbled quietly, "That he was able to move on."

"Nadeshiko wanted me to tell you that. And we'll visit Kazuki and Akemi's graves in your absence. So please... don't have any lingering regrets when you go."

"Wow, I sure have a thoughtful brother, don't I?" Igarashi lifted a shackled hand to rub at the side of his neck, feeling a bit awkward. A brother that he barely knew – but Fujihara had always gone out of his way to bridge the gap between them. Even now, the weekly visits, the promises and the assurance. Igarashi smiled to himself. "I wonder what I must have done in my last life to deserve having someone like you as family."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Igarashi responded dismissively, suddenly lifting himself out of his seat. "Well, visiting time is almost over anyways. You should get back to your wife and your daughter. Please, take good care of them. That's the best thing you can do for me."

Fujihara suddenly tilted his chin up, as though trying to swallow back the tears forming in his eyes. "Yeah," he managed in a strained voice, as though speaking any more than that single world would push him over the brink.

Turning his back to his brother, Igarashi made toward the door. Each step felt heavier than the last. He felt like there was more he could say, more that he needed to say. But hadn't the time for words already passed? There was no point in lamenting the time that they missed, in expressing remorse over a future they would never have together as family.

They had made memories, however short, however temporary. And whether Fujihara knew it or not, he had saved Igarashi – where Akemi and Kazuki had tried so desperately to pull him from the darkness that had swallowed him, it was Fujihara's outstretched hand that finally awakened him.

Goodbye... my brother.

—

"Jeez, mom, there's no point in fussing over my uniform when I go to practice. So lay off!"

She huffed at his obstinate behavior, hands poised on her hips, although she felt inclined to bonk him over the head for his disrespectful attitude. Nonetheless, Nadeshiko found herself turning her back on her teenage son. "Fine, Kazuhiko, it's your first day but if you want to act like that, I hope you're late catching the train."

"Aw, fuck, I am late!" he cried out, darting past her to make it to the door.

"That language—"

"See you after school mom, I'm taking off!"

"Honestly..."

It was a race getting to the station and he was completely out of breath by the time he managed to narrowly stumble in through the closing doors. A few flyaway strands were hanging in his face and despite numerous attempts to comb them back, it seemed ultimately futile. And alas, since it was a morning commute, all of the seats were taken.

Relegated to the grasping one of the dangling handles that scarcely afforded him some way to balance himself, he reached up only to find his hand colliding with someone else's.

"Oh... I'm sorry," a feminine voice muttered quietly.

His eyes landed on a girl wearing a uniform identical to his. At first glance he would have passed her off as surprisingly plain – straight jet black hair and a layer of bangs that nearly covered her eyes. But he soon caught those gray irises peering up at him. It was an unusual color and he found his breath hitching in the back of his throat.

"You go to my school?" she remarked in surprise, flashing him a smile. "My name is Goto. Haruka Goto. Today is my first day."

"O-oh... yeah, me too. I'm Kazuhiko Fujihara." The loud thrumming of his heart nearly drowned out the sound of her voice as she continued to speak to him. It was idle banter but he found his palms unusually sweaty. It was the first time he had ever looked at a girl that way.

And when their stop came, they stepped off the train together.

"I hope we are in the same class," she told him, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.

"Y-yeah. That might be... nice." He turned his head away, awkwardly rubbing at his neck.