To Love's End | Shigure Sohma

Chapter Twenty Three

The next morning, Shigure woke up to find Amai wasn't in bed. He expected as much after the way he treated her the night before. But it was early, so he wondered how early she had woken up. Getting out of bed, he got ready for the day before heading downstairs. The kids were still asleep so he hoped that he would find her alone so he could apologise. But she was nowhere to be seen. He even checked outside but there was no sign of her.

He went back upstairs and grabbed his phone. There weren't even any messages from her. He quickly dialled her number and listened to the phone ring.

"Hello?"
"Amai! Where are you? I'm so worried," he said.
"Hello?" she said again. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
He blinked in confusion. "Hello, Amai? Can you hear me?"
"Hellooo?"
"Amai, it's-"
Then she laughed. "Just kidding. You're through to my voicemail. Please leave a message after the tone."

And then he heard the beep for the voicemail. He hung up and sighed deeply. He forgot that was her voicemail message. He tried calling her again but it went back to her voicemail. That time, he left a message.

"Amai, where are you? I'm so sorry about last night. I got jealous and I took it out on you. Please come home. I'm so worried."

He decided to wait for a response but he couldn't relax. He paced around the room, waiting for a message from her. He checked through her things and saw that nothing was missing. It was only her handbag and phone. As time went on, he tried calling her again. An hour passed. And then two hours. Soon, he heard the kids waking one by one and he knew they would be just as worried as him.

He would have gone out to search for her but didn't know where to begin. It was only a matter of time before the kids began asking where she was and he didn't know what he was going to tell them. It was all his fault. He had to go and search for her.

Making his way downstairs, he saw Tohru had already started on preparing breakfast and Yuki was helping her. Kyo was watching TV and he looked over at Shigure.

"Hey. Where's Amai?" he asked.

Shigure hesitated. Yuki entered with a tray of breakfast items, placing them on the table before Tohru joined them.

"Breakfast is ready," he told them. "I'll call Miss Amai."

He was about to leave before Shigure quickly stopped him. They all looked at him in confusion, all awaiting an answer from him.

"Uh..." He looked at each one of them, gulping nervously. "I don't know where she is."

Tohru gasped as her eyes widened and Yuki's brows furrowed together.

"This better be a joke," Kyo said in frustration.
"It's not." He sighed. "I woke up this morning and saw she was gone. I've been trying to call her but she's not answering. I was just about to search for her."
"But why would she leave like that?" Yuki asked.
"Well...we argued last night..." he admitted slowly. "And I made her cry."
Kyo jumped onto his feet. "You idiot! Do you just enjoy making her upset?!"
"Kyo, calm down," Yuki spoke calmly.
Tohru clasped her hands together as her eyes filled with worry. "I hope she's okay."
"Listen, I admit it's my fault," Shigure said. "But I'm going to look for her now. Just stay here and call me if she comes back while I'm out."

Without waiting for them to say anything, he left the house. He got into his car and began driving. He went to every place he could think that she would be. He checked the school, even though it was a Saturday, he checked the library, local cafés, and even her old hostel just to be on the safe side. He then checked the park, the hill where she enjoyed watching the sunset but she wasn't anywhere.

In that time, he continued to call her phone but it continued to go to her voicemail. Eventually it stopped ringing and would go directly to the voicemail message. It had been three hours and he wasn't getting any closer to finding her. He hated himself for making her leave and wished he could just turn back time.

He called the house to get an update but they said that she hadn't returned home yet. He contemplated on calling the police to file a missing case but before that, he had to call Hatori. There was a 100% chance he was going to be murdered but he didn't care. He needed to tell him. Staying inside the car, he dialled Hatori.

"Hello?" came Hatori's voice.
"Hatori. I need your help," he said quickly. "It's Amai. I can't find her anywhere. I made her cry last night and she left before I woke up. I can't-"
"Shigure," Hatori spoke in a surprisingly calm tone.
"What?"
"She's with me."

Shigure felt like jumping for joy but at the same time, he was confused and a little annoyed. He went silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

"She's with you? Since when? Why didn't you tell me?"
"She didn't want me to tell you."
"Oh..." He felt his heart drop. "How is she..?"
Hatori sighed. "Well, she's pissed at you. As am I. She told me what happened."
"I know. I was stupid and jealous and I really want to make it up to her. Please can you let me talk to her?"
"That won't be possible."
"Come on, Tori. I just want to hear her voice. I want to apologise."
"I can't do that," he replied just as stoically as ever.
"Why not?" Shigure asked with a frown. "Where are you anyway?"
"We're at the Sohma Estate."
He became confused. "Why would she go there?"
Hatori now went silent for a few seconds. "I think you should come here. We need to talk."