Pearl remained sitting beside me, but she no longer looked like the cheerful woman who had been throwing pillows at my face only a few minutes ago.
Her eyes were red, her hands were trembling, and there was a strange heaviness in the room that made it difficult for me to breathe.
I kept staring at her. "Pearl…" She didn't answer. "What did you mean when you said you and Akira had been hiding something from me?"
Pearl lowered her head. For a few seconds, she seemed unable to speak. Then she finally whispered, "There is something about your past that you don't remember." My heart tightened.
"My past?" She nodded. "When you were about five years old, your father had a very close friend. They spent a lot of time together.
He used to visit your house quite often, and he usually brought his son with him." I frowned. "His son?" Pearl looked directly into my eyes. "Kento." Everything inside me suddenly became still. "Kento?"
"Yes."
I stared at her in disbelief.
"You met him when you were a child." A strange memory suddenly appeared in my mind. A little boy. Messy hair. A bright smile. Someone who used to stand near the doorway of my father's house, watching me from a distance.
I pressed my fingers against my forehead. "I…" Pearl waited.
"I remember." My voice became quieter. "There was a boy." Pearl smiled sadly. "Yes." "I didn't know his name." "You wouldn't have. You were too young." I looked down as another piece of the memory returned. "He used to come with his father." Pearl nodded. "He noticed you immediately." I looked at her. "What do you mean?" "You were always working."
My expression changed.
Pearl continued. "Your father was strict with you.
Even though you were only a little girl, he expected you to work all day.
Cleaning. Carrying things. Doing whatever he ordered." My hands slowly tightened into fists.
"I remember…" The memory became clearer.
A little girl sitting quietly in the corner. Small hands carrying things much heavier than they should have. A boy standing nearby, watching.
Pearl continued. "Kento didn't understand why you were treated that way.
He was just a child, but he knew it wasn't right. He used to ask his father why you had to work so much." I swallowed. "He felt sorry for me?" "Very much." Pearl smiled faintly. "He wanted to talk to you, but he was shy at first." I almost smiled. "That doesn't sound like Kento."
Pearl gave a quiet laugh through her tears.
"He wasn't always the loud idiot you know today." For the first time, a tiny smile appeared on my face. Then another memory came.
"He fell." Pearl nodded. 75 "You remember?"
"He was running." I closed my eyes. "I remember a boy running through the yard. He tripped and scraped his arm."
Pearl smiled. "You bandaged him." I opened my eyes.
"And he kept wearing that bandage." Pearl laughed softly.
"Yes." I shook my head.
"He was ridiculous. His wound healed in a few days, but he refused to take the bandage off."
"He wanted you to think he was still hurt." I stared at her.
"Why?" Pearl's smile became knowing.
"Because he liked you." I froze. "What?"
"He had a crush on you." I looked away, embarrassed despite myself.
"That little boy…" Pearl nodded. "He talked about you constantly. Every time he visited, he wanted to know where you were. He would ask Akira and me about you." I couldn't help smiling.
"What did he say?" Pearl laughed quietly.
"He wanted to protect you." My smile slowly faded. "He was just a child."
"I know." Pearl looked down.
"But sometimes children notice things adults pretend not to see." She paused. "He knew you were unhappy."
My eyes became wet.
"He knew your father was hurting you." I said nothing. Pearl continued.
"Kento used to tell Akira that one day he would become strong enough to protect you."
A strange warmth passed through my chest. "Akira knew?" Pearl nodded.
"Akira teased him about it." I could almost imagine it. Kento, standing proudly in front of Akira, declaring that he would protect me. Pearl smiled. "Akira once told him, 'Study hard, become a strong man, and maybe one day I'll let you marry her.'" My eyes widened.
"He said that?" Pearl laughed.
"Yes."
I covered my mouth, and for a moment I almost laughed. Then Pearl's expression changed. "But life didn't go the way we thought."
The smile disappeared from my face. "What happened?"
"Our father died."
Pearl looked toward the floor. "After his death, everything changed. Kento became very quiet. He stopped talking about you."
I listened carefully. "He blamed himself for not being strong enough. Eventually, he left for Germany to continue his education. He studied there for years. He also trained with the military."
I thought about the Kento I knew. The ridiculous general. The loud soldier. The man who could make an entire camp laugh. "He became a soldier…" "Yes." Pearl wiped her cheek. "But he never completely forgot you." I looked at her. "Then why didn't he come back?" "He was supposed to."
Her voice became heavier.
"But the war began."
I felt a chill move through me.
"He couldn't return to Japan because of the situation. By the time he finally had a chance to come back, everything had changed."
Pearl took a slow breath. "And then Akira made a decision." I looked at her. "What decision?" "He wanted to surprise Kento." My eyebrows drew together.
"How?" Pearl's eyes filled with tears again. "By saving you." I stopped breathing. "Akira had heard about your situation. He visited your father." My heart began pounding. "And that's when he met me?"
"Yes." Pearl nodded. "For the first time."
I remembered Akira. The way he looked at me. The way he spoke to me. The way he had treated me like I was a human being when I had spent years feeling like property.
Pearl continued.
"Akira became furious when he saw how your father treated you." I looked down. "He couldn't understand how someone could treat their own daughter like that." My eyes burned.
"So he bought my freedom."
Pearl nodded.
"With more money than your father deserved." My hands began trembling. "He took you away from that house." I whispered, "I thought he simply wanted me." Pearl looked at me. "He did." I looked at her. "But not at first." Her voice softened. "At first, he wanted to save you." I swallowed. "And then?" Pearl hesitated. "Then he began falling for you."
My eyes closed. I remembered Akira's eyes. His smile. The way he used to look at me when he thought I wasn't watching.
Pearl continued.
"He knew Kento had loved you since childhood. So Akira tried to bury his own feelings."
My chest hurt.
"He thought Kento deserved you." I whispered, "But I fell in love with Akira." "Yes." Pearl's voice broke slightly.
"And Akira fell completely in love with you." Silence filled the room. I couldn't speak. Everything I thought I knew about my life was changing. The man I believed had simply entered my life during the war had actually entered it while carrying someone else's promise. Kento had known me before I knew him. Akira had known Kento loved me. And yet Akira had still become the person I loved. I wiped my eyes. "If you knew all of this…" My voice trembled.
"Why did you let me meet Kento?" Pearl didn't answer.
"Why?" She looked down.
"You knew it would hurt him." Her lips trembled.
"You knew he loved me." She remained silent. "Then why did you tell him it was me?" Pearl's eyes filled with tears. "Why did you let him believe that I was the girl he had loved all those years?" "Amane…"
"Why?" My voice rose.
"Why did you do that to him?" Pearl started crying.
"I can't tell you." Something inside me broke. I grabbed her by the collar. Tears were already running down my face. "Why?" Pearl stared at me. "He's your brother!" My voice cracked. "Kento is your youngest brother!" I shook her. "How could you do that to him?" Pearl cried harder.
"Amane, please…"
"You knew!" I could barely breathe.
"You knew everything!"
Pearl finally screamed.
"IT WAS AKIRA!" I froze.
Pearl's entire body was shaking.
"Akira wanted to see you and his brother happy!"
Her voice broke apart between the words. "He wanted Kento to have the life he thought Kento deserved!" I stared at her.
"He stepped away." Pearl sobbed. "He told me to help you and Kento find each other." My grip slowly loosened.
"He wanted you to forget him." I shook my head.
"No…" "He wanted you to love Kento."
"No."
"He wanted his brother to be happy with the woman he had loved since childhood." "Stop." Pearl's tears fell freely.
"He told me to make you forget Akira." I screamed.
"It's a lie!"
Pearl flinched.
"It's all a lie!"
I backed away from her.
"Akira is dead!" My voice echoed through the room.
"How could he tell you any of this?"
I was crying so hard that my words barely came out. "Stop hurting me, Pearl." I pressed both hands against my chest.
"Please." My voice became small.
"At least not you." Pearl stared at me.
"You're the only friend I have left." She covered her mouth, crying.
"Please…" I shook my head.
"I can't lose you too." Pearl stood there trembling. Then she whispered something I almost didn't hear. "Amane…" I looked at her. She took one step toward me. Her face was completely broken.
"Akira is alive." The world stopped.
I stared at her. "What?" Pearl's voice cracked.
"Akira…" She swallowed. "…is alive." My knees suddenly became weak. I stumbled backward. "No." Pearl cried.
"We saved him." My vision began to blur.
"No…"
"We saved him, Amane."
I couldn't hear anything properly anymore. The room seemed to stretch away from me. Pearl's voice sounded distant.
"We didn't tell you because…" She struggled to speak. "…because Akira knew." I stared at her through my tears. "He knew one day he might die in the war." My breathing became faster. "He received a letter from the government." Pearl wiped her tears.
85JUST ONE MORE GLANCE • VOLUME 2
"He had been chosen to lead the Japanese army."
My ears began ringing. "He knew what that meant." Pearl's voice cracked.
"He knew there was a chance he would never come home." I shook my head.
"Then why…" "Because he wanted to protect you."
I couldn't breathe. "He wanted you far away from the battlefield. He wanted you to have a life without war. He wanted you to survive even if he didn't." Pearl stepped toward me. "And when the war happened…"
Her voice became almost impossible to hear. "We made everyone believe he died." My eyes widened.
"What?"
"He was badly injured." Pearl was crying again. "But he survived." I couldn't move. My entire body felt numb.
"Why…" "We couldn't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because Akira knew the enemy was still searching for him." She shook her head. "If they knew he survived, they would have hunted him again." I stared at Pearl. "So…" My lips trembled. "The funeral…" "There was no funeral."
My heart slammed against my chest. "The soldiers…"
"We made sure everyone believed the worst." I could barely understand the words. The battlefield. The explosion. Akira falling. His blood. His final look. All the memories I had carried for so long suddenly felt like pieces of a nightmare. I grabbed Pearl's shoulders. "Where is he?" Pearl closed her eyes. I shook her. "Where is Akira?"
She didn't answer. "PEARL!"
She opened her eyes.
"He's alive."
Those two words destroyed everything I thought I knew.
My legs finally gave out. I fell onto the floor. Pearl dropped beside me and tried to hold me, but I barely felt her arms. My hearing became distant. Her voice faded. The room blurred. The floor beneath me felt like it was moving.
I could hear only one thing. One name. The name that had lived inside my heart every day since the war.
Akira. Alive. Alive. Alive.
The word repeated inside my mind again and again. I pressed my hands against my ears. "No…" But a broken sob escaped me.
"Akira…"
Tears poured down my face.
For ten days after the war, I had slept. For months afterward, I had cried.
I had trained because I thought I had lost him. I had learned how to breathe without him. I had learned how to smile without him. I had learned how to stand while carrying his memory. I had even begun to understand Kento.
And now… Now Pearl was telling me that the man I had mourned was not dead. My entire world had just shattered again. But this time… There was something buried beneath the pain.
Something I had not allowed myself to feel for years. Hope. And somehow, that hope hurt more than grief. I looked at Pearl through my tears.
My lips trembled as I whispered the only words my mind could hold. "Akira is alive…" And then everything went black.