ALL NOVEL Hanako
As I walked in, I could see Hanako sitting elegantly. She stood up with a smile on her face as she saw me coming.
Hanako was wearing a traditional floral kimono with white, red, and gold themes, giving off an impression of elegance, wisdom, and serenity. Of course, Saburo, old friend, you were lucky to have Hanako as a daughter, not like that unfilial son, Yorinobu. I didn't trust him and his supposed return to the family after his supposed rebellious phase.
"All right, Musashi-san? You seem worried about something," Hanako said with a serious face. At my lack of courtesy in not greeting Hanako first, I made a 90-degree bow with the ground, leaving me parallel to the ground, and said,
"I am honored to be able to see you, Hanako-sama. Forgive my lack of tact earlier; I was just stunned by the beautiful lady you have become."
With a small smile, Hanako affirmed as I finished my most respectful ojigi I could do.
"Please, Musashi-san, don't call me Sama. I don't like when others call me that, let alone you. To me, you are like part of my family, like a strict grandfather, but with a good heart. Besides, I am in front of you right now only because of the sacrifice of... Minamoto."
When she said Minamoto's name out loud, I could only nod my head. Even though it's been years, every time I think of my children, it hurts as if it was the day they left.
Hanako, upon seeing the change in my expression, closed her eyes, and when she opened them, a noticeable change had taken place, as if she had made a decision to the doubts that had assailed her before speaking. Before she spoke, she turned to her assistant and signaled with her fingers to leave us alone.
"Musashi-san, I need your family's help once again. It may be selfish of me, and you may think I am taking advantage of your beliefs, but I can only count on you on this. For me, what I want to trust you with is more important than my own life. So, Musashi-san, I need you to swear to me that whatever you decide here, you can't tell anyone what I am going to tell you."
Without understanding what Hanako was referring to, I closed my eyes to tell myself before saying anything because I knew that once I made a decision, there was no turning back.
"Hanako-San, I won't say anything you tell me."
Hanako stood up and left the room. When she came back a few seconds later, she was carrying a sort of semi-spherical object covered with an elegant black cloth.
"Musashi-san, before I tell you anything, I have to ask: do you remember what happened when I turned 18?" said Hanako as she put the semi-spherical object on the table in front of us and sat down again.
"Of course, Hanako-San. It was the only time you disobeyed your father's orders. You wanted to leave Japan for the first time and see the world. Faced with Saburo-sama's refusal, you ran away and were unaccounted for 8 days, during which Saburo-sama did not send for you."
"Yes, when I turned 18, I felt that I had grown up in a beautiful cage that did not represent the truth of the world. I wanted to know the truth, I wanted to see how this world was, I wanted to stop being a spoiled ignorant, or my father's toy that reminded him of his beloved wife."
Hearing how Hanako felt, I did not know how to respond. On one hand, I understood that the young Hanako of 18 years old was eager to know the world. But on the other hand, I understood Saburo's feelings in wanting his daughter not to know the hardships of this life, even if the price of that is that she feels imprisoned in the most beautiful cage one could imagine.
"When I escaped at 18, I hacked and stole an AV, but I didn't know where I could go that my father wouldn't find me. So I went to the only place I knew where Arasaka couldn't control, not quite."
When I heard that from Hanako, I had a bad feeling because of the place she had chosen, and this feeling was confirmed when she continued with her story.
"I went to Night City... I can't say it was the brightest idea that ever occurred to me, but that's how things happened. When I arrived, I left where I could the AV and went to know the city. I tried the local food—didn't like it—I moved around downtown, even went shopping. I couldn't imagine how good the freedom felt. Intoxicated by this feeling, I wanted more, and had more than I could handle."
Somewhat nervous about what might have happened to Hanako, I waited for her to continue.
"Too excited about the new experiences I was having, I ended up near an abandoned warehouse where supposedly a concert was going to be held that according to a green-haired madman who had given it to me in a pamphlet would be the greatest concert I had ever experienced in my life. And so I ended up in a bad neighborhood with 3 men more machines than humans pointing at me, giving me some dangerous expressions."
"HANAKO-SAMA, tell me nothing happened, please," I said, unable to contain myself for events that, as the head of security of the Arasaka Family, I could not forgive myself if I had touched a single inch of Hanako's body.
Seeing me so upset for her well-being, Hanako smiled calmly at me and said,
"Calm down, Musashi. Someone saved me from that bad situation. He chased away the Maelstrom—I think he told me they were called; I didn't pay much attention to the name of the group. He even consoled me, saying I was officially a citizen of Night City, since it is mandatory that someone tries to rob you to be one."
"Uf, please remember when you finish the name of the person who helped you. If I can, I have to give him a reward for his selfless action and my absolute gratitude."
When I said that, Hanako made a face that looked like she was amused by what I had said and continued talking.
"I take you at your word, Musashi-San, but I think you will regret what you said when I tell you what his name is."
The way she said it, I believed her, but I couldn't understand what she was referring to. Making me have another bad feeling for the person who saved young Hanako.
"After saving and comforting me, when I was shaking with fear, still remembering the gun barrel on my face and the disgusting expression those men were making. The man who saved me took me to the nearby warehouse. There I found out that he was the singer of the band that was going to give the concert I had been looking for.
When I told him 'that,' he asked me 'if I was one of his fans.'
I couldn't answer; I was puzzled. 'I didn't even know what the name of the group was, let alone one of their member.' When I told him the same thing, I annoyed him. Making him, with a cocky smile, say to me 'That I just needed to stay until the end of the concert to be one of his fans.'
After hearing such a smug comment, I stayed at the concert just so I could tell that presumptuous, womanizing singer that he was wrong about me. But... when I heard how he sang, the pain and sadness he expressed with every lyric he tasted in his songs, something inside my 18-year-old self was duped.
When the concert ended, the man, seeing that I had stayed until the end, approached me again, with his cocky smile, waiting to know what I thought. Contrary to his expectations, as I looked into his eyes and remembered the way he had sung... I cried.
Seeing me cry for the way he had sung, the man was surprised and started caressing my head as if I was a little girl. After my tantrum, with him pacifying me, I..."
Hanako interrupted her story as she looked into my eyes somewhat excitedly and said,
"I spent the next 7 days with that man. They were the happiest and freest I have ever lived, even making me think about abandoning my name, Arasaka," Hanako said quickly, creating the first glitch in my brain.
Before adding, "Until I overheard a conversation 'John' had with a tall blonde woman. In that conversation, she was telling him about the horrible things Arasaka was doing on the net, how she had created something that allowed him to discover proof of the horrible things we had done."
When I heard what Hanako was saying, how she named a 'John' and the tall woman Hanako described along with the something she had created, my expression changed, and Hanako also noticed it and stopped her story.
"Hanako-sama, please, don't tell me that you had intimate relations with that man!" I asked almost begging.
Hanako didn't answer at first. She just moved her hands to the object covered with a black cloth that, at this point, I had forgotten about its existence. She uncovered it, showing a sort of urn with an orange crystal, in what seemed to be...
"HA-HANAKO-SAMA... HOW? HOW CAN IT BE?! HOW COULD YOU HAVE HAD A CHILD WITH HIM?! OUT OF ALL THE MEN IN THE WORLD! WITH THE DAMNED JOHNNY SILVERHAND!"