A Chance Encounter, A New Beginning

                                    

                                          
Kaori was all by herself, sitting on the bed of a room in the Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital. She found it hard to believe that she had actually attempted suicide but was stopped by her closest friends from even doing the deed. She just had a blank look on her face, looking quite placid, wearing a blue that was given to all psychiatric patients at the mental ward. She had voluntarily checked herself for observation due to her severe emotional distress. 
                          
The room she was in was awfully quiet. All Kaori could think about was why she even attempted to do this, why did she have to lose it over Kousei, and how her Saskatchewan Roughriders were doing. Why? I can't believe I did this. Attempting suicide over the death of this guy with PTSD and depression, that got into a lot of accidents. Kousei..... I hope you can forgive me. And how are my Riders doing? Since Kousei died, I haven't been able to check on them......
                          
Just then, a teenage girl with short hair and glasses showed up on Kaori's bed. She was also wearing the same gown and noticed the rather emotionally exhausted Kaori just looking down on her hands blankly, almost like a ghost.
                          
"You sure look like you've been through a lot." Kaori said to the girl, "Tell me about it. I've gone through so much: I lost the person I loved the most, and tried to overdose over it, and that's what's gotten me here right now." The girl said to her "Me too. Only thing was, I attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge, you know, the Rainbow Bridge in Odaiba?" Kaori said "Oh, yes, that bridge. What brought you here, if I may ask?" The girl said "Well, my parents noticed what I was going to do. Then a few police officers showed up and talked me out of it..... and here I am, under observation, like you, because I'm just so emotionally drained." 
                          
Kaori's mind then realized something. "Wait a second.... you're here too, because you attempted suicide because of Kousei Arima?" The girl said "Yes. I tried to jump off the bridge because of Kousei." Kaori then realized "So did I..... he was my love interest, and after he ended his life, I wound up going in an emotionally downward spiral...... it's amazing that we're here now? What is your name? My name is Kaori Miyazono, and I play the violin." 
                          
The short haired girl then said "My name is Keiko Tamura. I am also a pianist. I last saw Kousei in May at the gala. He was looking a bit frail, but nothing of the sort at that point in time that would even suggest he would end his own life.... let me tell you something about Kousei, Kaori. I saw him play when I was a young child. He inspired me, like so many other people I know like Emi Igawa." Kaori said, "You knew Emi Igawa, too?" Keiko nodded and said, "Yes. I was friends with her for a while, going back to grade school. You might say she was one of my best friends. In regards to Kousei, every time I saw him play the piano, it put me in a trance... he was just that good. Seeing him perform.... it made me want to play like him. Which I did. Granted, I wasn't as good as he was, but I was good enough. And then when he committed suicide, I felt like I was at my wit's end. Which is why I wound up in a deep depression, and even though I performed at his memorial concert, I was crushed deep inside. So, I decided to try and jump off a bridge, and as I said, my parents and a few police officers intervened. And here I am in this mental ward." 
                          
Kaori then said "Wow..... Kousei Arima really did touch so many lives here in Japan, and around the world. My story is that I saw him at a park, and I initially thought he was going to get a panty shot of me when he found my leggings, but they were actually blown up a tree. The guy was just living in his own bubble, which is why shortly after I met him as a friend, he didn't want to perform as my accompanist..... but he eventually gave in. I later found out that his mother had verbally and physically beat him up so often because of how such a perfectionist she was.... and that made me understand his situation a bit more clearer. After he met me, he felt, for the first time in a long time, very happy and optimistic. It was as if his whole world was starting to open up, and he found a light at the end of his tunnel. But then, he gets into three accidents, and along with the fact that he was diagnosed with the same disease that took his mother's life..... well, what do you do? He was just backed into a corner and found his whole world fading into nothingness..... and then he ends his life by his own hand. And then I tried to keep myself together..... but then I tried to commit suicide in the same way as Kousei, by overdosing. My parents and my friends stopped me, however, and here I am, in this mental hospital, just all messed up....." Keiko said "Well, damn. That makes two of us...."
                          
That night, both Kaori and Keiko were looking out the window of the mental ward and into the night sky. Even though summer had ended, and September was almost over, it was still fairly warm, and the sky was clear. Both girls had a moment of clarity with each other.
                          
Keiko started with, "You know.... why did I attempt suicide? What am I doing here? It was because I liked Kousei so much, and I was crushed by his death, so I went over to that bridge, but my parents and police stopped me from jumping over the bridge. Now I realize.... that is a cowardly way for me to have left this Earth. The same goes with you. Kaori, please, listen to me. Make yourself these vows: That you 1) NEVER ever think of suicide again, and 2) NEVER think about abusing drugs, legal or illegal.... I am sure you and me would like to see where you go, and where I go in the next twenty years. You have to live. You have to carry on. You have to make Kousei proud... in fact, we both have to make Kousei proud. Kousei would rather see us succeed and live for a long time to come. We should also keep playing music. I think I want to have a husband and two children later and make my parents happy and proud once I finish school.... It would be a great dream to fulfill." 
                          
Kaori also had a moment of clarity. Keiko was right about everything. "You're right, Keiko..... what I realize now is that what I did was rather cowardly. I shouldn't have thought about trying to overdose on sleeping pills. My life may be a wreck right now, but I need to, for Kousei's sake.... carry on, pick up myself back up, and get back on the violin and let me, be well, me again. Hell, I'd like to be a successful, world-renowned violinist, but that is years away. Keiko, I think you and I have become friends..... you've really struck a nerve with me..... and this means a lot......" Kaori shed some tears of joy over how Keiko had reminded her to carry on in the face of adversity. The two embraced each other, and Keiko said to Kaori, "You've got to be brave..... and I must be too. Consider me your new best friend, Kaori Miyazono." Kaori replied with "And you are my new best friends, Keiko Tamura...." Keiko smiled and said "That-a-girl. I'm proud and grateful to have met you here....."
                          

 Several days passed. October had begun, and Kaori had spent a week in the mental ward. She had been released, and as she left the psychiatric hospital, Keiko had some words for Kaori.
                          
"Kaori..... you're headed back to reality now. I hope we can meet again.... I think that in the week that we've known each other, we've become friends." Kaori smiled and said, "Thank you. I hope I can meet you again, too..... someday." Keiko and Kaori shook hands once more, and Keiko said "Thank you, Kaori. See you around...." Kaori was then headed home, where Hiroko Seto had some words about Kousei. Kaori was slowly becoming a changed woman again, about to gain a new sense of resolve in spite of all the adversity she had faced in the past six months; her life was about to undergo a new beginning thanks to a chance encounter with Keiko Tamura.