How Far Chapter 9: The Dove takes flight

	“Lilly.”

	A gentle and familiar voice permeates my mind. There is no sudden wakefulness that fills me, no last grasps of any sort of feelings of dreaming as I awaken to the sound and touch of my sister lightly shaking me as she sits on the bed next to me.

	I groan slightly out of protest as I slowly come to. “Come on.” Akira says. “It’s time for us to leave. Jigoro has the car waiting for us.

	I fight back the urge to groan again at the idea of a car ride with that man, and only barely succeed.

	Akira’s right, I think to myself. It’s time to finally be on our way.

	I sit up, and can tell my hair must have gotten tangled again as I slept by the way it falls around my face and body. Akira lightly laughs as she stands up.

	“Come here, you.” She says as she walks off. Silently, I swing my legs over the edge of the bed. I can taste what tastes like soap in my mouth, but I know it’s just from the light and disturbing sleep. Akira’s feet thud against the carpet as she returns, and she begins working a comb through my long and untidy hair. “We can’t let the old man see you with your hair like that, can we?”

	“Heaven forbid.” I say, more acidly than I meant to sound, but I don’t honestly care enough to apologize. The comb catches in my hair, slightly tugging it. “Owch. Akira…”

	“Sorry, sorry. I don’t understand how you could ever maintain this thing, it’s nearly to your waist, you know. Do you ever think about cutting it? It’d be easier to manage.”

	A sudden sensation goes through my mind. The feeling of hands running through my hair. Loving, caring hands.

	“No, I like it like this.” I reply shortly.

	“Suit yourself. Here, I have your ribbon.” I lean forward and she ties my hair back in its usual pony tail. My bangs fall into my face, one lightly brushing against my closed eye lid. Akira brushes my hair to the sides around my face, but allows for the few pieces to still frame my as they usually do.

	“Are you going to wear that, or will you be changing into another outfit?” Akira asks.

	“This is fine.” I say.

	“Alright then. Let’s get going.”

	“One moment. Can you please grab my necklace out of my bag?”

	“Oh, I didn’t even notice… Sure, Lils.” She stands up and walks over to the spot where my luggage lays.

	“It should be in the front pocket.”

	She finds it with apparent ease, and comes back. “You know, I don’t even remember the last time I saw you with this off.” She says, handing it to me.

	“I take it off to sleep, but I just haven’t felt like putting it on until now.”

	I wrap the cool metal chain around my neck and feel the cold metal of the cross between my collarbones.

	“Okay. I’m ready.”
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	After assisting me with my luggage, Akira rides along in the back seat of my uncle’s car with me. Jigoro himself has decided to ‘grace’ us with his presence as the driver, while both of my cousins stayed behind. They hadn’t even come to say goodbye to us, although I guess that’s as much as I can expect from Shizune, who's so bitter about anybody choosing what to do for themselves instead of listening to her, and Hideaki, who had probably spent most of the day with Akira already and figured what happened earlier was as good as a goodbye to me.

	What do I care? I think to myself. I already said goodbye to my family here.

	Most of the ride passes, thankfully, in silence. Akira and I sit in the back of the car close to one another, with her holding my hand.

	Only after a while, though, do I think about how odd this is. My uncle is many things, a quiet man is not one of them. The silence feels… unnatural.

	“Uncle Jigoro?” I speak up, intending to ask him a question, but Akira silences me by squeezing my hand tightly.

	“Yes?” He asks from the front, and Akira lets out a sigh.

	It’s then that I realize that the silence is a manufactured one. I quickly fill in the blanks of why the two fiery personalities might be avoiding speaking to one another. They’d been fighting.

	“Nothing. Please, forget I spoke.” I say, but I already know that it must be too late.

	“No, go on Ms. Satou.” Jigoro nearly spits the name. “Please, speak your mind.”

	“Uncle-” Akira tries to cut in.

	“Silence!” Jigoro shouts, and Akira recoils into her seat. “I will pull this car over and you will walk to the airport if you interrupt again, Akira Satou. Lilly, speak.” He orders.

	Trapped, my mind searches for any question possible to not set him off.

	“I was wondering,” I quickly lie, “What you and your family will be doing for the Summer?”

	“We will be going on a vacation, and attending a Tanabata festival.” He replies shortly and honestly. He couldn’t possibly know the meaning to me, but Akira must have noticed me react in some way because she squeezed my hand. “I have been hoping to talk to you today, actually.” He starts. I hear Akira open her mouth, but this time it’s me who silences her. I try my best to shoot her a look, something I’ve more had described to me in books and stories than in practice, but she seems to understand.

	“Yes, Uncle?”

	“What is your opinion on this?” He asks. “My brother in law has called you to return to his home, his family, after so long a time, and both of you accept as if he had not left you here to fend for yourselves. You know, not even your aunt Mayoi was asked to care for you?”

	“We didn’t need her help” Akira whispers under her breath, but Jigoro seems not to hear her.

	“You father, Hiroyuki Satou, is a coward. He has always been, and always will be. Even you, Akira, cannot fight me on this.”

	Akira is shaking, but keeps silent. I cannot tell if it is out of rage though, because there were nights when we were young that she spoke much the same.

	“The things he has done… He is lucky that Mayoi loved the both of you, or I would have turned you onto the streets, and cared so little as to not even mention it in my autobiography.”

	“WE NEVER NEEDED-” Akira starts, but is interrupted by the screeching of breaks as the both of us are thrown forward against our restraints.

	An uncomfortable silence takes over the car as outside people begin blaring their horns.

	“The airport is a twenty minute walk from here.” A loud *chunk* pierces the quiet as the doors to the car unlock. “You better begin walking if you hope to make it to your flight.”

	“Uncle plea-” I begin.

	“Fine!” Akira states. Let’s go Lill. Pop the trunk, Jigoro.”

	Before I can further protest, she opens the door and her fingers fall from mine, and she slams it shut behind her.

	“Uncle…” I start, but I don’t know what to say.

	“You will understand. You have never lived with your father, but he is no man. Your Aunt could have attested to that.” Jigoro says. Before I can ask what he means, my door is opened and Lilly reaches in to take my arm.

	“Goodbye, girls.” Jigoro says before the door slammed closes.

	“Fuck you.” Akira mutters, before gruffly taking my hand. “Come on, Lilly. Let’s go.”

	We walk in silence as I try to wrap my head around what just happened, but even then I feel distracted. My arm is wrapped around hers, and I can tell that she’s fuming. I want to address her severe language, but I also know that she’s at her boiling point right now and it will bubble over if she’s pushed. Even by me.

	She’s giving up a lot too, after all…

	Akira wheels my suitcase behind us as we walk, and I assume she has her own bag along with it. She always insisted on leaving that stuff to her, and I honestly have always appreciated it. It’s something I grew to appreciate in Hisao as well, when he carried our groceries. My mind flicks back to him, wondering what he’s doing at this very moment, and it quickly becomes easy to ignore the growing crowd around us.

	I try picture him lying in his room, but something feels off… I find myself hoping he’s alright. For some reason, a growing sense of unease has taken ahold of me. As much as I am trying to picture him lying still, breathing easily in his sleep, I simply can’t, and a part of me just knows that that can’t be the truth.

	“Akira?” I ask, hearing the shake in my own voice. She must have heard it too, because she stops and I can feel her shift as she looks at me.

	“What? What’s wrong?” she asks, concerned.

	“It’s just… What do you think Hisao is doing right now?”

	“Oh. He’s probably reading, or something. Maybe he’s with Hanako. You want to give her a call?”

	“No… No, she might be sleeping. What time is it?”

	“It’s just past llpm.”

	“No. I’m sure everything’s alright and I’m just worrying. I’ll call her when we land.”

	“Ugggghhhh.” Akira groans. “It’s supposed to be 3am by the time we get there. I hate flying, so I’ll be up the whole ride. It’s a 14 hour flight… At least we’ll be in first class, you won’t mind if I drink right?”

	“Hmmm,” I say, smiling. “Only if you don’t get me something as well.”

	She laughes and we start walking again. Just like that, after a few moments, both of us seem to have lost a lot of tension, which I am extremely thankful for. I’m suddenly aware of all of the voices surrounding us, and realize we must be near the airport. It seems extremely busy for the time of night, but all the same we continue on.

	As we get closer and closer to the gate, the amount of people seems to steadily increase. I’ve never really admitted to anyone, but I really dislike crowds of people. There’s so many voices, and due to my blindness I have an advanced sense of hearing. It’s hard to tune out so many conversations… I can hear people talking in all sorts of languages, and it’s almost a sensory overload.

	At one point, a man brushes past Akira and I whilst loudly shouting into what I can only assume is a cellular phone. I find myself concentrating on that man as he walks past us and away from us, loudly bumping and busting into people as he went. What a rude man…

	In a moment, I feel the fresh air conditioning of the airport, and know we just crossed the border. There’s no turning back now.
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	After some time, Akira and I finally make our way to the plane. The baggage checker seemed happy to hold our flight for us for a few minutes in order for us to make our way there. Part of me wished she had simply told us ‘you’re too late, go home and come back another day.’ But no. The Satou name seems to pull weight even here.

	As we walk down the terminal and into the plane, the group of people seems to lessen and lessen, until it is just Akira and I walking. Outside, I can hear the howling of the wind against the thick glass of the terminal.

	They say that a plane can be brought down by any amount of circumstances. Turbulence is a common factor, and lightning strikes planes all the times, but rarely does it ever cause issue. More often it’s a mis-manufactured mechanical part that finally falls flat. A screw comes loose in the engine, a bolt falls off of a wing. Air travel is usually safe, but the feeling of unease I had earlier has yet to fade. The urge to call Hisao is strong in me… even if it’s just to say goodbye.

	“Akira, wait.” I say, stopping us.

	“What’s up? The planes about 40 feet from us, and one of the ushers is waving us forward.” She says, but she patiently stops to explain anyways.

	“I need to call Hisao. Something’s not right, I just can’t… I don’t know. This isn’t supposed to be happening.”

	Get ahold of yourself. You’re having a panic attack.

	I ignore the voice in my head though, and feel my breath catch as Akira lets go of my arm. “Akira?”

	“Hang on,” she replies. “I’m grabbing my phone.”

	I hear the zipper of her carry on case unzip, and feel myself marginally relax.

	“We’ll be just a moment.” She says loudly in English, addressing the boarding assistant.

	“Of course, Ms. Satou.” I hear a male voice reply obediently, and place his accent as British. A disconnected part of me wonders how he knew our name, and how he was okay with us making the whole plane wait so long.

	“Here,” Akira says, taking my hand in hers, and deposits a cellular phone into it. My fingers skate over the unfamiliar keys, quickly committing their placement to memory.

	I’ve never been the best with numbers, but I was easily able to commit Hisao’s number to memory after he had called on me in Scotland. I had my mother read off the caller ID, and my slight precaution was already proving to be a boon.

	I dial the number quickly, and the phone rings once before a voice comes on the line.

	“Hello, you’ve reached Hisao Nakai. I cannot answer my phone at the moment, so please leav-”

	I flip the phone shut, silencing the machine, and proceed to open it up and dial it again.

	“Lilly…” Akira says, as the phone goes to voicemail again.

	She can wait. They all can wait.

	The beep signals the start of the message, and I take a deep breath before slowly speaking into the phone.

	“Good evening Hisao. Or, rather, morning, since you likely won’t get this message until you awaken. It’s Lilly. But I’m sure you already knew that. Akira and I are about to leave on our flight… I just… needed to call you. I’m sorry. I hope everything is going well. If you ever need to reach me about anything, anything at all, this is Akira’s personal cell phone. Call this, or the number I gave you for our home. Even if you don’t have any reason, please. It’d be… nice, to hear from you. Goodbye, Hisao.”

	With that, I flip the phone closed, and hand it back to Akira. I feel my eyes tearing up, but I remember my vow and blink in an attempt to clear them.

	“Come on, Lills.” Akira takes my arm in hers. “I’ll be with you every step, just like always.”

	“Of course.” I say back to her. After all, we’re sisters. And sisters would do anything for one another.
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	The cushioned seat of the first class flight is extremely nice, and does help alleviate the stress and worry that seem to be bearing down on me, although only slightly. I still feel that something is wrong.

	“Hey,” Akira says, and I can hear her leaning from her own seat over to my own and taking my hand. “Would you like a drink? You seem pretty tense.”

	“Don’t they not serve until take-off?” I ask in return.

	Akira scoffs at that, and I hear a little ding as she presses the attendant button.

	In a moment, I hear a female voice coming from the center aisle.

	“Can I help you two? We’ll be taking off shortly.”

	“Yea, can we get two drinks? I’ll take a beer and my sister here…”

	“I’ll have some wine please.” I reply. I may as well, as long as Akira is…

	“Well, madams, we actually don’t serve anythi-”

	“Migumi!” cuts in a harsh voice. I recognize it as the same voice of the boarding agent. “Excuse me, Ms. is there any issue here?” I can tell he has moved close, and must be standing right next to the attendant.

	“Not at all,” Akira says. “We were just ordering drinks.”

	“Ah, of course. Right away, we will give you contained cups to ensure they do not spill during takeoff.” The man replies hastily, and judging by the direction he seems to be bowing.

	“But sir, I haven’t even checked them for IDs.” The woman, Migumi, says back to the man.

	“The SATOU sisters are to receive anything that will make their flight more comfortable.” He growls at her, emphasizing our last name.

	“Do you understand?” The tone of his voice makes it apparent the last section is an order rather than a question.

	After a moments silence, she replies. “Yes sir, right away, sir.” And I can hear her feet as she quickly walks away.

	“I apologize about Migumi,” the man says, and I can tell he is bowing again.

	“Oh, it is really is no issue…” I say, feeling bad for the young woman. “She wasn’t wrong…”

	“Your kindness shames us.” He says, bowing even lower. “I will ensure this does not happen again.
Before I reply that it really is not a problem, Akira cuts in. “See that it doesn’t,” is all she says, and I hear the man walk away after an affirmation.

	“Akira!?” I say, rounding on her. “That was very rude of you!”

	Akira says nothing for a moment, and in the background I can hear a man asking if he can get a can of beer too. The man tells him he will have to wait until we are at cruising altitude.

	“She would receive a harsher punishment if we were kind to him.” Akira finally states. “Just… trust me on this Lilly. People who know who we are, and believe me that guy knows, it’s better to just let them think we’re above it all.”

	“Well that seems rather dark…” I say, pouting at her. “I’m not going to change my mannerisms just because of our name, I hope you know.”

	“It’s more than that… just trust me, okay Lilly?”

	“You seem to be asking for that a lot today.” I retort.

	I hear high-heeled footsteps coming back up the aisle. “I have your cups.” Migumi says in a polite tone.

	“Thank you very much,” I say, outstretching my hand. She puts a Styrofoam cup into it, and I can feel the liquid slosh around and am thankful for the lid. “You’re very kind for doing this for us, we’ve had a long day.”

	“Lilly-”

	“In fact,” I continue, unabashed. “My sister would like to give you a tip for your services. Isn’t that right Akira?”

	“Oh,” the attendant begins. “That’s not ness-”

	“Please. On behalf of the Satou family.”

	Akira grumbles, but complies, and I hear her pass the bank notes to the waitress.

	“Enjoy your evening. I may need another glass once we reach cruising level.”

	“Yes, of course Ms. Satou. Thank you.” Migumi says, quietly.

	“Please, call me Lilly.” I reach my hand out and she takes it in her own, giving it a squeeze. She has soft, unwrinkled hands. She must be very young, perhaps this is even her first job.

	She walks away and Akira grumbles next to me. She’ll get over it.

	For the first time in a long while, I feel collected and truly myself as I lean back in my chair and begin to sip on my wine.
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	Shortly after we took flight, I got the carry-on bag from Akira and withdrew one of the books I brought along for the flight. Migumi has been very attentive on us, and I’m already on my third glass of wine. Akira and I haven’t spoken, but that’s fine with me as she’s going to act in the manner which she has.

	I had just begun to think about how hungry I was feeling when we were asked what we would like for an in-flight dinner. Given that I couldn’t read the menu, I had Migumi dictate it to me, and ordered a pasta dish, as well as a fourth glass.

	Part of me knew I was in danger of overdoing it, but the reality of the situation is that I simply do not care. I’m giving up everything for this, I’ll forgive myself for indulging tonight.

	Hours went by as our plane hurried against the rotation of the world. At one point, I began to doze off, the feeling of fullness from the rather large pasta dish as well as the inebriation were catching up to me. Not being able to look at a clock had its upsides, and before I even realized we were making our descent towards a stop along the path.

	We had to make a single stop in Paris, but Akira and I were permitted to simply stay in our seats as other passengers switched about or left. Apparently Migumi had also departed at the Paris stop, because a new flight attendant, this one male, seemed to take us under his care for the rest of the flight.

	It wasn’t too long after that until we began our final landing, and we arrived in Inverness. The captain relayed to us that we arrived slightly ahead of schedule due to good weather conditions throughout the flight, and wished us all a goodnight.
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	It had been nearly 11 hours since Akira and I had spoken to one another, and she didn’t exactly seem to be in a talking mood whilst we departed.

	“Come on, Arthur will be grabbing our bags and waiting for us, he said he’d be checking up in case we were early or late.” She says, and instantly begins walking. I follow the sound of her walking alongside all of the others around us, for lack of her guiding hand as well as my cane. I remember the airport well enough though, and found no other issue to impede me.
I’m not about to allow you this petty victory, no matter how mad you may be I will not apologize for being myself.
However, within a few minutes, I could hear her drop back and she places her hand on my back. I smile at her, to which point I hear her let out a bark of laughter and I feel myself laughing along as well.

	“Come on, little sister. Arrivals should be just out here.” The fresh outside air came from up ahead, and the constant noise of the din of people was concentrating there as we made our way forward. “I’ll call Arthur and let him know we’re here.” says Akira, and she shifts her body as she goes through her pockets for her phone.

	There’s a small jingle as her phone starts up as we finally reached the outside. Breathing deeply, I’m extremely thankful for the welcome, clean scent after the long flight.

	“Huh… I have a few missed calls.” Akira says, sounding puzzled.

	“Did Hisao call you back?” I ask. The feeling that had evaded me earlier slammed back like a truck, and instantly I could feel the sobering tension in my shoulders take over. It had to be around 10am back in Japan right now, and he was sure to be awake by now.

	“No… It doesn’t look like it. I’ve gotten 4 from Hanako though, and one from your school… Hang on.”

	As if by fate, the faint sound of sirens began piercing the air. Akira probably couldn’t even hear it, but to me they were as loud as if they were screaming directly in front of us.

	“Akira?” I ask, my mouth suddenly dry. My hand goes to the cross tied around my neck.

	“I said hang on. They both left voicemails, I’m getting them now.”

	The sirens came closer to the arrivals zone, and apparently other patrons of the airport began to take notice. Car horns could be heard closing from the distance now.

	“What?” Akira says to herself. “That doesn’t make any sense…”

	“What doesn’t?” I ask, a cold sweat taking over.

	“Hanako sounds almost hysteric, I can’t understand her... Something’s going on, hang on the school one’s playing now.”

	What could possibly be wrong? Hanako has been doing better than ever now, and she seemed accepting of my needing to leave…

	The vehicle must have pulled in right ahead of us, as the sirens blared loudly before being cut off.

	English voices began shouting to clear the way as the crew disembarked. Behind us, through the interior door, I could also hear shouting, but it wasn’t all English voices.

	‘Heart attack,’ a voice was shouting frantically in Japanese.

	A familiar, hysteric voice.

	“Oh my god…” whispered Akira.