Upside Down – Alternate Destiny

When I open my eyes, I’m on the couch with my head in Mom’s lap and Chinatsu sitting by my hip. She’s staring over the back of the couch, looking as if she’s ready to kill something. Mom is looking at me with a worried expression and tears trickling down her cheeks.

I can’t see him, but I hear Dad’s voice roaring angrily, “I warned you, didn’t I?! My daughter is very sensitive right now! You need her cooperation to even get into that basement, and you do something that stupid before we even leave the house!”

“Your daughter? Don’t make me laugh!”

I hear a meaty slap and a heavy grunt.

“I dare you to repeat that! She’s as much my daughter as Chinatsu is! If you think I’ll let you touch one hair on her head without her permission, you’d better think again! Do you think you can do whatever you want just because you’re the director of a company?! Daiki and Ai made your company what it is!”

Condescendingly, he states, “Mr. Kobayashi, you are but one person. Whereas I have hundreds who work for me. One call, and I could have her dragged out of this house in front of you, and there would be nothing you could do about it.”

Dad’s voice drops low and takes on a menacing tone. “Try it. You won’t even get the phone out of your pocket before I snap you in half. That said, don’t you believe that I’m prudent enough to have made arrangements to guarantee my family’s safety? Who do you think I am? Even if I disappear, there are more than enough people that will step in to safeguard them as well as take not only you but your company down too. You’re seriously out of your depth here. I suggest you apologize and begin again before you lose everything you’re after. Remember, you need Sora’s cooperation to get anywhere.”

Akiyama loudly states, “Those nanites are the property of my company; that means we own her!”

I hear Dad sigh loudly. “I don’t know if you’re stupid or just arrogant. Either way, you don’t own her. One: Daiki and Ai developed those nanites outside of your company, so you don’t own them. Two: since they’re dead, it means Sora owns the rights to them, or, more accurately, my wife and I do until she turns eighteen. Three: you are a fool if you believe you can own a person. The only reason you even know of the nanites is because we thought your company might’ve been able to help Sora.”

Dad takes a deep breath and continues in an even more dangerous tone than before. “Now, if you want to continue acting like a complete moron, I’ll throw you out of this house, and you will never see a single word of the research notes Daiki and Ai made. If that happens, and I or any of my people see any of your people within 500 meters of my family, you will not live to see the next day. Am I making myself perfectly clear?” Akiyama apparently doesn’t deign to answer, so Dad tells him, “I asked you a question. You had best answer me.”

“Y-yes. ~ahem~ I understand.”

“Good. Now, I think you’d better apologize.”

“I apologize for my lapse and arrogant attitude, Mr. Kobayashi.”

Dad snorts, and I can hear the amused tone as he says, “You’re apologizing to the wrong person.”

“Eh?”

“You should be apologizing to Sora; you scared her to death.”

“Apologize to a child?”

“Of course. If you want her help, you need to gain her trust. As it stands, she’s afraid of you. I promise you, neither I nor my wife will ever attempt to persuade her otherwise. So, it’s up to you to gain her trust. Apologizing is the first step in that,” Dad says reasonably. A few moments later he looks at me over the back of the couch. “Sora, are you alright?”

I murmur, “Mhmm. I’m alright. He just scares me. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. Are you willing to talk to Mr. Akiyama?” Dad asks me.

My heart begins beating wildly again. Just the thought of talking to that man terrifies me, and I want nothing to do with him. Without another thought, I scream, “No,” leap off the couch, and run up the stairs to my room; I slam the door behind myself and lean back against it. Sliding down the door, I rest my forehead on my knees and begin crying again.

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[Eiji’s POV]

“You heard her. She’s terrified of you and doesn’t want to talk to you. Unless she changes her mind, which I don’t see happening, your involvement is at an end.”

Aghast, Akiyama exclaims, “You can’t allow that! This is far too important to leave to the decision of a thirteen-year-old!”

“Do you have children?”

“Eh? Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Try imagining that your child is terrified of someone, and that same person is telling you, ‘It’s too important to leave the decision to them. So, just turn them over to me.’ What would you do?”

“Well, of course, I’d take into account how important the matter was. If it was important enough, I would.”

“Bullshit! You would fight tooth and nail to protect your child. Unless… Do your children live with you?”

“No, I haven’t seen them since they were two, when their mother and I divorced. That was fourteen years ago. Why?”

I smirk at him. “Well, that explains it, then.”

Chinatsu interrupts the conversation when she asks, “Dad, may I say something?” I glance at her and nod. “Mr. Akiyama, from what you just said, you aren’t a parent. You’re nothing more than a sperm donor. You have no connection to the children you sired other than that. That’s why you would be willing to turn them over. I’ll never allow you, or anyone else, to touch my sister. Even if my Dad didn’t, I’d kill you myself, if that’s what it took to protect her.”

I chuckle at what she just said. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“How can you allow a child to speak to an adult that way?”

He barks out a short, sharp laugh. “Ha~ That’s easy: she’s right. Earlier, you said it was laughable when I said that Sora was my daughter. Are you going to tell her that Sora isn’t her sister after that? By the way, I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“No. No, I have no intention of saying something so ill-advised. You would hit me again if I did.”

Chinatsu scathingly says, “He wouldn’t have to bother, I would do it myself.”

His eyes fly open in surprise at her statement. Well, that’s more than enough of this.

“As it stands, this subject is closed. Unless Sora changes her mind, you and your people will not come anywhere near any member of my family. This house is watched around the clock, and my family have people watching over them at all times. Understood?”

“Yes, Mr. Kobayashi.”

“Let me make it clear to you. If I hear even a rumor that you plan to do something to my family, I’ll take my time killing you. By the way, that isn’t a threat. It’s a promise. Even if I don’t, someone else will. If it takes us killing you and burning your company to the ground to keep my family safe, that’s exactly what will happen.”

“I understand perfectly. I’ve never wanted to hurt Sora anyway.”

Chinatsu shouts, “Liar!!! You said you owned my sister! People who mean no harm don’t say things like that!”

“Settle down, Chinatsu. Go check on your sister. I’ll deal with this.”

“Okay.”

Before she leaves, she looks at Akiyama again. If looks could kill, he’d be dead.

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[Chinatsu’s POV]

Once I reach her door, I tap on it and call out, “Sora?” I wait a few moments without hearing a reply, then try to open the door, but it won’t move. “Sora, would you let me in, please?”

A few moments later, the door opens, and Sora’s standing there with her eyes puffy and tear stains on her cheeks. Seeing her like this makes my heart ache, and I want to go back downstairs to kill that man for doing this to her. She’s trying her best not to show it to anyone, but I know she’s barely been coping with all the changes. I’m afraid this might be the final straw that breaks her.

I don’t know how to help her, other than being here for her. The problem is, I have to go back to school on Monday. I have no idea how she’s going to react when I do, either. I know Mom will be here with her, but it’s not the same. Even Mom knows it because she’s said as much before. Mom has always said that Sora and I are two sides of the same coin, and I agree with her.

As far back as I can remember, Sora and I have always been together. He was the gentle brother I never had. When the other kids wouldn’t play with me because I was too rough and tumble, even for the boys, he was there. When I was six, I fell out of a tree and broke my leg, and he carried me to the house. He never complained about anything. Whatever I wanted to do, he was fine with. I could go on and on with everything he’s ever done for me.

He was my first and best friend. Even when people tried to tell me that it would be better if I stayed away from him, I quit playing with them rather than stop playing with him. He was always there for me. No matter what. He needed me, and I needed him. I have other friends now too, but even so, it’s still that way to this day. I don’t see how that could ever change, especially now.

Stepping inside, I close the door behind me and hug her tight as she shakes like a leaf. She wraps her arms around me and buries her face against my neck to begin crying again.

Tears of frustration fall unceasingly from my eyes. I want to help her so much, but I haven’t a clue what to do in this situation.

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[Eiji’s POV]

“I’ll walk you out, Mr. Akiyama.” He just bobs his head at me as I follow him out the door to the gate.

“Allow me to reiterate what I said. This house and my family are watched over, at all times, and just in case you have any doubt about what I told you…”

I let loose a piercing whistle, and fifteen laser dots appear on Akiyama’s chest as he looks at me, puzzled.

Smiling, I clear up his confusion as I matter-of-factly state, “Look at your chest,” which makes him look down at his chest, and his head pops back up as if it were spring-loaded to look at me. “I suggest you remember what I told you.”

“I-I’ll remember, Mr. Kobayashi.”

“Well, have a good night and drive safe. If Sora ever changes her mind, I’ll call you, but until that time, you’re not to have any contact with my family.”

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[Chinatsu’s POV]

I finally got her to move to the bed and sit down. It wasn’t even fifteen minutes later when she fell asleep. It’s no wonder, given how stressful this evening has been. All because of one idiot!

I don’t want to leave her, but I need to get Mom so that she can help me change Sora into her nightgown. She can’t sleep like this.

Gently laying her down on the bed, I watch her sleep as I wonder, ‘Why did this have to happen? She was starting to do better after we talked. At least, I’m fairly sure that had something to do with it. I’m darn good at reading Sora, but some things are a little harder to get a solid feel about.’

I stand up and move quietly out of the room, so as not to disturb her. As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I hear Mom’s voice and stop. “Do you think he’ll leave us alone?”

“I’m pretty sure he will. I scared the hell out of him. People like him are cowards. They’re fine as long as there’s no risk to themselves. Since he knows that no matter what happens to me, he’ll be killed, I seriously doubt he’ll try anything.”

“Why is Sora so afraid of him?”

“I have no idea. All I know is that she’s terrified of him. She may not even know, herself.”

“I’m worried, though. We’ve made good progress in getting her used to being a girl, and she was starting to come out of her shell. You had to have seen her when she helped me make dinner. We may have just lost all of that.”

“I did; she was happy. Very happy, actually. Far more talkative and boisterous than I’ve ever seen her before.”

She sighs, then plaintively asks, “What do we do?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Other than making sure that she knows we love her and will always be here for her. When she’s ready to talk about it, she will. Although that will most probably be with Chinatsu rather than one of us.”

“True. Those two are almost joined at the hip.”

I could hear the smile in her voice when she said that. Well, enough eavesdropping. They notice me immediately when I walk into the living room.

“How is she?” Mom asks with a concerned expression.

I grimace for a moment, then reply, “She cried until she fell asleep. Mom, I feel so useless. I want to help, but I have no idea what to do. I’ve never seen her so terrified of anyone or anything before. This is far worse than any of her panic attacks I’ve ever seen.”

She sighs again and then shrugs. “We’re at a loss, ourselves. I wish we knew what to do or say. All we can do is be here for her.”

It’s more than a little depressing that I have to admit that she’s probably right. I look upstairs for a moment, then state, “That aside, I need your help. She fell asleep in her clothes. Can you help me get her changed?”

“Sure, I’ll be right up.”

“Thanks, Mom.”