Chapter Text
“Papa! Are you excited to go to the award ceremony?!”Ruby smiled as Hikaru brushed her hair while Aqua was waiting for Seijuro, Airi and Taiki to get home to be able to go together, “I bet you'll win the biggest trophy there is for your amazing acting, Papa!”
“I hope so. I want to make you two proud.”Hikaru smiled, placing the brush down and doing Ai’ Idol hairstyle on Ruby’s hair like she always had it. Once he was done, he smiled brightly and pecked Ruby's head, “There. All done.”
“Yay!”Ruby spinned around while Hikaru got up from the bed. He reached out and grabbed his phone, taking a look at the time, “Hm… they should be here by now. The ceremony will be starting in two hours. We have to be there to make sure everything is in order and everyone is there.”
“Maybe something happened on the way here, Father. It can happen with the traffic.”The six year old, Aqua, spoke, looking at his father. Hikaru stared at his phone screen, “That's true…”He mumbled, placing his phone down. Hikaru flickered over at the doorway, hearing a doorbell, “That must be them.”He said before leaving the bedroom and making his way downstairs.
“Coming! Hold on!”Hikaru called out, hearing the doorbell again. He reached out and opened the door, “Seijuro-sama–”He froze up, seeing a hoodie male standing in front of him. He was staring at him with eyes full of betrayal and rage.
It only took one good look for Hikaru to recognize who the man was.
“Ryosuke-kun?”Hikaru managed to say to him. Ryosuko immediately pulled out a knife from the pocket of his hoodie and lunged forward. Hikaru's eyes widened, feeling something cold cut through his stomach. He stared at Ryosuke with shock but stumbled back to finally see the bloody knife that was used. He slowly looked down at his button-up shirt to see blood straining immediately as the blood dripped down to the floor, causing a trail.
“You liar! You lied to me!”Ryosuke screamed at him, waving the knife in the air, “You lied to me about those kids! Those kids are yours, aren't they?!”
“How…”Hikaru muttered out, pressing his forearm against the wound and looking at the male in front of him.
“Tell me!!”He screamed. Hikaru didn't respond, which caused the unstable stalker to scream at him much louder, “Tell me!!”
“...Yes. The twins are mine,”Hikaru confessed. Ryosuke stepped forward, pointing the knife at him, “How could you?! You lied to me! I thought you were on my side with killing her that day!! You told me to kill her off at the hospital!! You told me to go and kill her!! You knew those kids were yours!! You fucking bitch!! You liar!!”
“Father!!”Hikaru heard Aqua's voice scream as the six year old appeared next to him and clinging onto him as the child was in full panic mode by the sight of blood and the armed stalker. Hikaru used his arm to shield Aqua from Ryosuke, “I apologize for lying to you. I apologize for manipulating you. I shouldn't have done that. I was in a very bad place back then. I was hurt,”He explained, “My mind wasn't in the right place. I tried stopping you. I tried contacting you to stop the plan, but I couldn't.”
Ruby walked down the staircase to see what was happening, but her body froze at the sight in front of her. The sight of her father bleeding out, her brother crying and panicking, and the stalker holding onto a bloody knife.
No… No!
“Papa!”Ruby cried out, running to Hikaru and clinging onto him as Hikaru shielded her as well.
Ryosuke gripped onto the handle of the knife, feeling anger, and betrayal, “You knew she was an Idol! She was perfect! You knew the rules of being an Idol!! She was pure! She was the perfect Idol!! You ruined her!! How could you do this to her fans!? To me?!”
“I didn't think things would go this way. She and I met when we were young. She and I understood each other. We were the only ones who understood one another and the suffering. She was the one for me. I was the one for her. I was happy with her. I was happy to finally have someone to depend on without giving something in return. She was everything to me. She accepted me. She loved me and I loved her from the bottom of my heart. Even if we are apart, I still love her.”Hikaru explained, holding onto his wound as his star eyes stared at Ryosuke with a small smile on his face.
Ryosuke stared back at the dying 21 year old with his eyes widened.
“I didn't care that she was an Idol. I wanted to spend my whole life with her. I wanted to get married to her and be a happy lively family, but… things didn't go that way with her. However… she gave me something special.” Hikaru's star eyes shimmered as his smile grew, “She gave me a family. My children are everything to me. Thanks to them, they saved me from that dark place I was trapped in. They are the reason why I'm here now. I'm trying my best to do better and to move on with life.”
Hikaru reached out his bloody hand, keeping a weak smile on his face, “I know that you're in a bad mindset, but I can help you. You and I are friends, aren't we? Friends always help each other, don't they? I'm here.”
“W-wha…”Ryosuke stumbled back as the anger and betrayal immediately disappeared.
“There's always a second chance to redeem yourself. I'm here to help you if you give me the chance to do so.”
“No… this wasn't supposed to…”Ryosuke held his head as his breathing became uneven, “No!”He screamed, panicking before running out of the house.
“Come quick! Please!”Aqua shouted into the phone as Hikaru leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor. Aqua dropped the phone and ran next to his father, “They're coming! Just hold on!”Aqua shouted, looking down at his father's wound.
No! His abdominal aorta! He-
Aqua's thoughts were interrupted by Hikaru's arm being wrapped around him, pulling him onto his chest as he did the same with Ruby.
“Karma gets you eventually, doesn't it?...”Hikaru mumbled, letting out a weak chuckle. Ruby and Aqua's eyes widened, listening to their father.
“Haha… I guess, this is my karma. I didn't think it would get me so early. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you two so early. I don't want to go. I want to be here with you. I want to see you grow up. I want to see what adults you'll be. I want to see everything.”Hikaru's eyes crowded up with tears, holding onto his twins, “I'm not ready to go, but I won't survive this. The abdominal aorta is something people can't survive without immediate care and surgery.”
Ruby's eyes watered as Aqua sat there, frozen.
Hikaru rested his head on top of theirs, “I hope that Seijuro-sama can forgive me. I hope that Taiki can forgive me as well along with you two for the things I've done in the past. I hope everyone in the award ceremony can forgive me for not being able to go. Hey… if I did win an award, can you put it on the shelf for me, my little stars? Right next to our family picture? It would look amazing to see it next to our picture of us together. My two stars and I.”
“We will, Papa…”Ruby mumbled out, letting the tears roll down her cheeks as her body trembled.
Aqua slowly nodded.
“I'm glad to hear that. You want to know something amazing? you two saved me. You two gave me the love I always wanted in my life. I finally was able to feel genuinely loved by someone. Thanks to you, I got the family I wanted and needed to be able to move on from the harsh reality of the world…”Hikaru spoke, “I'm so grateful to be able to have you two here with me. I'm so grateful to have such intelligent children that I'm so proud of. I wonder… what careers you guys will choose to go. I wonder… how far you two will go. How much I want to be there to cheer you on and see you two grow up into successful young adults. I'm not ready to leave you yet… I'm not ready.”Hikaru's voice cracked as the tears escaped the corner of his eyes.
Aqua's eyes crowded up with tears as Ruby quietly sobbed onto her father's chest.
Hikaru pulled away from the embrace and made Aqua and Ruby look at him, “ Ruby, Aqua, thank you for giving me that genuine love I've always wanted. Thank you for being my family. Thank you for giving me the hope I needed to move on. I love you two much more than you could ever imagine.” Hikaru leaned forward and pressed his lips against their foreheads, placing a kiss before pulling away and looking at the twins again, “No matter what, you two will always be my two stars.”
Aqua and Ruby watched their father caressing their cheeks with a happiest smile on his face.
“Papa…?”Aqua spoke out.
Hikaru's stars faded from his eyes as his hands fell limp. Ruby and Aqua stared at the sight of their dead father's smiling face, and dull and lifeless eyes staring at them. The twins immediately hugged their father's dead corpse, breaking down into heartbreaking sobs.
******
After what happened, the police made it to the scene, and tried pulling Ruby and I away from our father. Ruby was the toughest one to pull away from our father's corpse. Ruby fought a lot with them to be able to be with our father a little longer, but in the end, the police were able to pull her away and take us somewhere else, away from the scene.
The ambulance was able to take our father's corpse away to examine the cause of his death while the police investigated the scene. The screams and sobs of Seijuro-sama were burnt into my mind when he found out that my father had passed away. He broke down. He pleaded that it was a misunderstanding and hoped that my father was still alive, but when he saw the body of my father to identify him, it really hit him that he was gone. The screaming and sobbing from that room haunts me to this day.
Ruby's shine was gone. She was silent the whole time of the investigation and questioning. She also witnessed the screams and sobs of Seijuro-sama. Something that haunts her as well.
The stalker… he disappeared. It's as if the world ate him alive. The police are still trying to find the man, but so far, they have had no luck on finding that stalker. Who knows if he'll ever be found.
Ruby and I have taken victim counseling and therapy for what happened and helped us through the trauma of seeing our father die in front of us for quite some time. I'm not really sure if it was working.
My father's death was all over the news. Many people sympathized with us along with famous actors, who were going to attend the award ceremony that was canceled, but there's always people who would use my father's death for attention.
For Airi-san and Seijuro-sama, they adopted us. They took us in. I'm sure that's what my father would have wanted. Even with him gone, we still have a family to look after us and love us as if we were their own children.
Aqua glanced up and stared at the picture of his father and his white casket his body was in as his casket was surrounded by flowers, and candles. The family stood in front of the casket as Seijuro held onto the flame that had Hikaru's picture.
Aqua glanced up at Seijuro. Seijuro had a tired, blank expression, with his eyes puffy from crying for the time that had passed. Aqua knew that this man was broken, mentally and emotionally. Seijuro had always seen Hikaru as a son since the moment they met in Lala Lai. After all, he did see him grow up into the man he was.
“Why did this happen…? Why? If we were there earlier…”Seijuro spoke out before his eyes crowded up with tears, “This wouldn't have happened…”He mumbled out as he quietly sobbed, letting the tears fall from his face. Airi wrapped her arms around him, comforting her broken husband while Taiki did the same, trying to comfort his father.
Ruby stared at the casket emotionless, “Papa really did shine bright, didn't he?”
“Yeah…”Aqua responded.
“Why did this happen?”Ruby glanced over at Aqua as if her brother had the answer to her question, “How did that man know where Papa lived?...”
“I don't know, but our father and he knew each other. Our father said that they were friends, but he never spoke about him to us or even mentioned his name. I don't understand how he got his address. Unless someone told him.”Aqua said, looking over at Ruby.
Ruby paused, thinking to herself before speaking, “But Papa doesn't have family members or friends. He was never really close to anyone outside of the family.”
“Besides… our mother,”Aqua added in, “Our father said that our mother's an Idol. He said that she and he met when they were younger. He said that things didn't go the way he wanted it. Things didn't work out between the two. That stalker…”
Ruby's eyes widened, “That stalker is a fan of the B-Komachi. I remember seeing him there when our Papa took us to one of their concerts. He was there in the crowd.”
“If our mother is an Idol, that means one of the B-Komachi girls is our mother,”Aqua concluded. Ai. She had children. She didn't tell me or her guardian who the father was of her children, but that can't be right. Ai had her children. Her children are with her. She can't be our mother. It has to be someone else.
“What does this mean…?”
“It means one of the Idols leaked his address to the stalker. That means his death was planned. That means that Idol could be our mother. No one knows anything about the personal lives of the Idols of B-Komachi. No one knows the lies they could be hiding behind those smiling faces. One of them was behind the reason why the stalker came and killed our father, and that person could be our mother, Ruby.”
Ruby stared at Aqua with widened eyes.
“One of them is at fault for taking our father away from us and making him die the way he did.”Aqua said as his white star turned into a pure black star. Ruby's hands turned into fists as her bright, white star turned into a pure black star like her brother's, “She took Papa away from us, but why?”Ruby's eyes crowded up with tears.
“ I'm not sure, but she won't get away with it. I'll make sure that Idol and that stalker pay for what they have done.”Aqua smiled widely as his black star grew, “I won't give up until I find them.”