The Chikamori Legacy (The Sanitized Version)

Chapter One: “Love and Loss” - Part X

Richmond, BC
https://i.imgur.com/MymlbPx.jpg
Haruo walked back into his own place without looking back. He was on his own and it happened to be just the way he liked it, nobody to answer to, no-one to nag him to death and above all, it was a place for him to be able to actually find some peace for the first time in his life. Grabbing the groceries he’d picked up on the way back home, he locked the door of the van, then carted the groceries to his humble abode. When he got the groceries into his fridge he was satisfied. He’d grabbed a burger from the local burger joint and had eaten so the groceries were more from the point of being able to cook something in the next few days.

Did he regret saying what he did to River? No. Because she would see in the years to come that it was the right choice for him. Why should he inflict the hurt and sorrow to her or others of connecting with someone who didn’t deserve the love that was offered. I’m not the right person for her, he kept rationalizing to himself. Getting into a relationship with me is the last thing she should even consider...if at all.
https://i.imgur.com/1jrmtoz.jpg
And maybe one of these days, he’d believe it deep down where he could shut off those negative emotions and feedback like a tap. He wished he could shut off the emotions of wanting someone to accept him for who he was and not try to make him over into something he wasn’t. Because ultimately, it wasn’t meant to be and maybe people should give up on him before they got sucked into the abyss. He felt like he should go through life alone. And if life chose to cancel him short of his due date, then so be it.

Haruo ate, then took a shower and went to bed; a rest that would prove less than fruitful because of dreams from the past and how he'd been psychologically tortured by Mayumi.

Flashback
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Sleep did not come quickly for Haruo considering the fact that he was harassed by dreams that took him back to his toddler days as a three year old with Mayumi perpetrating her cruelty on him by sticking him in a crib and letting him yell his head off because she would ignore him for hours, only after being sufficiently neglected, he would be fed and his mother would make it seem like the most onerous task in her life to have to take care of him. She had her teaching career and far be it for this worthless worm to keep her from achieving what she wanted in life.

The scene abruptly switched to his childhood, when River had stepped into his life for the first time. They had just come home from the park after playing for a bit after school. Since he was tired of doing homework at home, he’d worked on the homework during the course of the day trying to predict what the teacher was going to assign them and working on the problems during recess and lunch break just so that he could get some time to enjoy after school.
https://i.imgur.com/c1fKBPK.jpg
His body tossed and turned in sleep as he relived that afternoon.

By the time they got home to their house, they were sweaty and tired. But River had homework that she had to do so she set about doing it.
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There was nothing more boring than multiplication and addition tables, but well, that was how one learned back in 1977. Mimeographed sheets with blue ink that could potentially smear if it wasn't fully dry. And one could smell the ink used. It was a pungent odour that permeated the nostrils and that was the scent that told you that you have homework. But River being a diligent student sat at the table and no matter how boring it was, she put her effort into learning her addition, subtraction, multiplication and division tables. And the worksheet gradually filled up with carbon scoring as her pencil made lines and squiggles denoting numbers filling up the answers to the equations asked. And afterwards she was able to take some time to learn BASIC on the computer
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Haruo, on the other hand, having done his homework already lay on the bench and slept after a hard day of school and then playing soccer at the park.
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...and that was where Mayumi found him stretched out on the bench in the backyard asleep. "Just what do you think you're doing?!" Mayumi screeched. "Don't you have ay homework to do? Why are you being lazy and not doing your homework like…"
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"I DID MY HOMEWORK!" Haruo snapped back.
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"Don't you talk back like that at me...young man! I'm sure you're just lying to me. If your teacher didn't give you homework, I'll give you twenty sheets of equations that you can do."
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"...and you'll get that every night for a week until you learn to not talk back to your betters." Mayumi looked smug as she looked at him with her beady eyes. "No son of mine is going to lie to me." Haruo looked frustrated and angry as he had done his homework and the fact that he was being called a liar even when he was telling the truth made him angry beyond belief. "You can start your twenty pages of equations tomorrow but for now, you can sit on that chair on the porch and think about what you said and about your lying to me."
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Haruo could only fume impotently as he stalked off to sit down in the chair and wish that his mother could disappear. When River got finished her homework, he defiantly got up out of his seat and walked over to the bench to sit with River. River could tell something was wrong with Haruo. "Your mom?" was all she asked.
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"She thinks I've lied about doing my homework...and now I get to do twenty sheets of questions for a week...because she says that I talked back to her." Haruo aired his grievances about his mother to River who nodded patiently. River thought to herself that she was really starting to not like Haruo's mother.
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"River, I don't know how I'm going to put up with this for another twelve years..." Haruo frustratedly waved his hands and looked up to the sky. "It's like she hates me or something. It's not the twenty pages of questions...I have to do...but she's doing this so that I can't spend time with you." he looked over at her, anger on his face. "And she knows that I like to go to the park with you and everything. So she's trying to stop me from doing that. It's so unfair..." he said. "I don't think she even likes me."
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River nodded as she stared at the grass and contemplated Haruo's words. "I know you did your homework at school because I saw you in the school library before we headed to the park, but the unfair part of it is that even if I tell her she won't believe me." And that simple fact made River hate Mayumi too. She was always picking on her son, if not heckling him; out right denigrating him for even breathing the same air as she had to stand in.
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Trying to deal with this kind of harassment from his own mother would set anyone at the end of their rope and Haruo looked frustrated to the point where he was about to curl up in a ball and cry out of frustration. As a child of seven, he shouldn't have had to deal with this kind of behavior, especially out of his own mother. Mayumi wasn't fair and she had a chip on her shoulder and a focus for her negative behavior and River was sick of it. Even if she couldn't place a word on how she felt about Haruo as a friend, she was protective of him and only wanted him to be happy. It was a pity that his own mother couldn't feel the same way.
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"I don't know what to do..." Haruo said...sounding half as if he was about ready to break-down and half like he was about to go nuclear. And River understood completely.
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“I'm your friend, Haruo...When you feel like this...talk to me." River said. "That way you don't get so ticked off." She said, "I can't do anything about the extra homework, but I can be someone you can talk to.
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We can sit here together and dream about what it would be like to travel the world and see different things. If we were able to do that. Where would you want to go?"
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"...anywhere..." Haruo said, a hint of vehemence evident in his tone. "Anywhere away from here and away from my mother." River figured as much and Mayumi wasn't going to like the fact that she would be losing her meal-ticket. She sort of got the impression that Mayumi was just grooming Haruo in order to leech from him. She could see the distinct difference between how her mother treated her and Haruo's mother treated him. The difference was like night and day. Her mother treated her like the most precious thing in the world and Haruo's mother treated him like the dirt under her shoes.
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But to get her friend's mind off that she said dreamily, "I'd want to go visit France and the Eiffel Tower." she paused, "That would be like a dream vacation, y'know. Being able to see everything that France has to offer."

Haruo nodded, even though he was more of a homebody, he thought about going sightseeing around the world. However he was more cautious about things. The only people he trusted in his life were his father, River and Fiona who behaved more like a mother should to him as well as to her own daughter.

There were other instances of abuse. Pyschological mind-twisting, telling him that he wasn’t intelligent, constantly comparing him to others to split him in his mind from others. Isolating in order to keep him from having any sort of supports.
https://i.imgur.com/Emr17Us.jpg
"I don’t care if she lives here, you stay away from that McIrish girl. She’s not a good influence." Haruo’s sense of justice versus his mother’s treatment of him and her denigration of all his friends warred with his mental stability and his sense of self got diminished to the point where he just became a unwitting pawn of whatever his mother wanted. But River didn’t want to stay away from him and made it a point to make sure that she was always there at lunch and at recess and as they grew into their high-school years, their study blocks. Even if they were unable to hang out the way they used to back when they were little kids, before Mayumi decided that she was going to do whatever she could to make Haruo’s life a living hell. And Haruo made it a point of sneaking away from the house sometimes on the weekends, while River would casually ask her mother if she could step out of the house and head over to the park or to the playground for a while. Fiona nodded knowingly as she knew that was where Haruo was going to be.
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Snapping back to the present day, Haruo came awake as he heard the alarm go off, uttering a pungent oath that could curdle milk. He did not like mornings at all, especially not after the last day he had. Taking a deep breath he gathered himself up from out of his blankets and yawned deeply as he realized that the time was almost five in the morning. If he was going to make his new property work for him, he would end up having to get up early and work hard to make his property viable. The property was large enough that if he picked the right crops to plant, he could make a decent amount of a living from the sale of the crops. I need a shower. Haruo thought to himself as he pulled his legs towards him, shifted to get up and placed both feet on the floor. It was an annoyance, what he’d gone through yesterday and he was still annoyed to a certain extent. But as his father had promised him, the double-wide was his refuge that he had sole occupancy of. After all, Haruo had purchased it with his own money and he didn’t want other people living in there at all really.
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Then getting dressed he made his way to the kitchen where he made his morning breakfast of orange pancakes. It was one of the morning staples that invigorated him; the aroma of oranges and a little dash of orange zest permeating his little space of a double-wide. His first true home that he could call his own.
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He took a long moment to gaze at his nearly empty living room. He was going to have a major problem when it came down to buying furniture. Or he could just scrounge it from the local dumpsters. Others were in a habit of throwing out perfectly good furniture when it no longer fit their aesthetic – so why not take advantage of the situation and snag some pieces at a good price. And it couldn’t get any better than free.

Chapter One: “Love and Loss” - Part XI

The Previous Evening
Yasunobu’s House; Downstairs Suite

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“Maybe moving in with him isn’t the best idea.”
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River sniffled and said sarcastically, “Understatement of the year! Mom.”
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There was a knock at the door,
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“Yasunobu…?” Fiona said.
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“I hear my son not want you in his place…”
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“Well, understandably, I sprung it on him suddenly without any consultation and well. I can see why he wouldn’t be too happy about it.”
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“If, OK, you stay here.”
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“Won’t that annoy your wife?”
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Yasunobu grinned, “No concern. I control. She no can say anything more. My money my house; she make trouble, you tell me...I kick her out.” he gestured to take in his surroundings, “My decision. I call Haruo and tell him you stay here.”
https://i.imgur.com/YuIc5D5.jpg
Fiona was relieved. Mayumi was unable to kick them out since Yasunobu was thoroughly in charge of what went on in this house. And she didn’t have to administer an uncomfortable truce between her daughter and Yasunobu’s son. “Thank you, Yasunobu. That’s so kind of you.”
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“OK, you no need pack, you stay here and I keep wife quiet.” He grinned.
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River was looking quite relieved at the thought of not having to be around Haruo after the hard rejection of her admission. She wasn’t sure how to feel other than hurt and angry; not just at the rejection but the assumption that she would think that because of what he went through with his mother that he’d receive more of the same from her.

Just where does Haruo get off thinking that I’m going to be a witch to him just like his mother did to him? I wouldn’t but the fact that he thinks that way…he’s been hurt terribly with no place to turn because his mother didn’t lay a finger on him - the cops wouldn’t do a eff'n thing because well they wouldn’t believe that words didn’t cut to the bone; that psychological damage was just a virulent and probably more insidious if you had no proof of being battered. It’s all in your head; just get over it and man up.
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River felt again like she was about to burst into tears, not for herself but for the man she still loved regardless of his rejection of her. He didn’t have anyone to turn to so he was going to cocoon himself in a blanket of solitude in order to evade the hurt and pain that he was going to have to face in order to deal with the years of mental abuse that had come down the turnpike from that witch of a mother of his. He was going to have to deal with years of complex post-traumatic stress disorder with a counselor from years of dealing with Mayumi’s bull.

And the hard question in her mind was could she crack open that cocoon that he’d erected to protect himself.

The part of her heart that had been sorely wounded by his callous behavior told her to run away as fast as she could. Avoid ever having to deal with him ever again.

But the part of her who had spent so many years with him as a friend, said, you can’t leave him like this if you’ve ever considered him your friend because you’ll prove right everything he believes is true if you do. He believes that he’s not worth anything to anyone; and I have to prove to him that he is worth something to me.

She said to herself, I’ll give him a few days to get used to the fact that he’s on his own then I’ll go see what he’s doing. I’m not giving up on him. She resolved to herself as she looked out the window at the darkness.

But was she going to be able to withstand the veritable windstorm she was going to end up unleashing? All the years of pent-up frustration and anger held inside of him in a tight grip so that he would never let it get out of control. He needed to release all that to heal, River understood, but would she be able to withstand that fury if it was directed at her? He needed to gain closure, to heal from the multiple dripping emotional wounds that still covered him. To do that, he would have to face pain like he’d never felt before: the realization that his mother never loved him nor had she wanted the responsibility of raising a child to adulthood along with its accompanying bumps in the road of child-rearing.
https://i.imgur.com/j7Nm0NV.jpg
River contemplated how Haruo would feel throughout the process. Uncovering the raw wound that ate at him. The simple fact was that Mayumi quite possibly used Haruo as a means to an end; to gain acceptance from her father; Haruo’s Grandpa who had been a hard man to please. After all, this was pre-WWI and WWII and post-WWII was coming to grips that they had to rebuild their future so there was no time for the Miyagawas to even contemplate having a moment to rest and think. The children were expected to perform in their academics at a high calibre or run the risk of not being able to cement a stable future. And that extended to the grandchildren too. And Haruo’s mother, Mayumi spent most of her time dumping all over her son; probably as a result of being dumped all over by Grandpa Miyagawa. That still didn’t excuse Mayumi for all the pain that she had inflicted on her son, River pondered. Her abuse was the main reason why Haruo reacted the way he did to any sort of stressful situation. He ended up cocooning himself to keep from being emotionally hurt again. That way, he could get through the everyday things that one needed to do to make a living. But it was avoidance of those painful memories that was preventing him from healing, that made his life so raw whenever stressful things were brought up.

But if he wouldn’t go to therapy...this was going to be the crux where she would have to decide if she had to leave him. He needed help; his anger was a cry for help and River was going to insist that he get therapy to deal with the things his mother had done to him.
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A tear spilled out from her filling eyes, otherwise...we don’t have a future together.

Chapter One: “Love and Loss” - Part XII

Sunday Morning
Haruo’s DoubleWide

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Haruo sighed deeply as he looked over at the large number of insect terrrariums that he had stacked in the corner of the living room. A lot of fireflies, butterflies and other insects that he had managed to come across in his rummaging through the dumpsters. He rolled his eyes. Hopefully none of the things would get loose, especially the termite or he would have major problems.

He had been relieved last night when his dad had called him to tell him that he was going to clamp down on Mayumi and that he wasn’t amenable to Mayumi throwing Fiona and her daughter to the streets. As long as he had control of the house, he was going to make sure that Mayumi toed the line. This meant Haruo could live in his trailer without having to worry about anyone else. Sitting down at the kitchen table to eat his apple pancakes in peace and quiet, he thanked whatever deity that passed along that good fortune. He would enjoy his peace and quiet and maybe eke out a living in gardening, fishing and cooking. Nobody to pester him, nobody to make demands out of him that he was not prepared to meet and this way he was able to ease his wounded soul even if he wasn’t healed.
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First of all, after breakfast, he headed out to the mailbox. He had figured that bills were going to show up on either Monday or Tuesday and that he figured he needed to make sure that was paid before the taxman sent the repo-man and the repo-dude decided that it wasn’t necessary for Haruo to eliminate liquid waste or defecate and repossessed the toilet. Let’s just say that would not be good for him or his internal digestive and waste system. It was Sunday anyways so he just enjoyed his little walk out to the mailbox. Tomorrow he’d start searching for the bills today, he would have to drop by the grocery store and pick up some apples. He also decided that he would do some hunting for some wild game as well as wild plants. He had four apples left and he would be good for another few days so he would leave one of the four apples in the fridge and plant the other three. Those three trees would give him a decent bumper crop of apples to make more apple pancakes with. He had enough money to get a few more crop plants that could be used to make money. This way he could get plenty of crops to sell to the grocery stores and make a tidy sum of money with which to support himself.
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And perhaps, he should get into martial arts as well. It was reputed that once you got high enough in ability, you could break apart space rocks and uncover the gemstones within. Maybe he should stop by Mai Liang’s martial arts shop in Chinatown and pick up a muk yan jong and a breaker board. And maybe get Sifu Hu Dun Ly’s martial arts teach-yourself Sim Fu for Beginners course. Break your way to Financial Riches? Well Haruo could certainly live with that plan. After all, all he had to do was get one tiberium. Evidently the going rate for that radioactive gemstone was at least §38,000-43,000 simoleons. And that would get him to the point where he could seriously think about making this house a real house instead of just a double-wide mobile home. Since he’d already borrowed money from his dad and bought a gem-cutter and a Lord Vladimir’s Conjuring Cauldron – Frankly that could conjure a lot of things including gemstones. Trying to conjure gemstones involved a lot of invoking and big headaches, especially when he’d conjured too much and hit the floor.. He did actually conjure a soulpeace from that cauldron which put him over §101,000 simoleons putting him in a financially secure category and he’d conjured several other gemstones as well as cutting the ones that he’d managed to find while dumpster diving. Other avenues he could choose would be to turn around and get a science station. That way he could clone samples and be able to keep himself in high value gemstones.
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That was it. He had to become a gemstone broker that catered to the wealthy. The wealthy would buy the high value cuts off him that made the most amount of money. He knew that the diamond brokers were very vicious about anyone new horning in on their line of business. The diamond brokers were known to consort with Cartel and Mafioso to flout duty and import taxes into the United States and Canada and had no compunctions about spilling a little blood along with their dealings if it made doing business a little smoother. So Haruo would have to become equally ruthless to survive. But he was already hard-bitten and hard-nosed. Could he get the necessary paperwork to conceal-carry in Canada due to dangerous occupation? Perhaps. Or maybe even cross border-lines considering who he would be dealing with. Or maybe he should stick with the lower end gemstones that would get him what would amount to pocket change yet would keep him safe. But Haruo’d had it with his mother who had financially held him down and he was going to make himself financially secure if it meant selling diamonds, soulpeace and tiberium. And if anyone got in his way…Watcher help them, because he would show no mercy.Now that he had a game-plan he would have to execute it. There were two ways to get the kind of money to get an unlocked gem-cutter and that was to either steal one or make enough money to buy a cheap one and start unlocking the cuts himself. The third was just sell cheap cuts that he cut at Aleister’s till he managed to make the 50,000 simoleons needed to buy the expensive gem cutter and thus would be able to cut his gems at home having a finer calibrated blade and polishing feature so that he could get the gemstones looking of highest quality. At least this way he would be able to get started and not have to worry about the front end investment costs.
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There was also the matter of having to deal with having to go down to Aleister’s every time he wanted to cut gems but at least consigning them would allow him to get a somewhat decent return on his investment of time and skill.
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That was until his dad had just shown up with a smile on his face and another expensive gem-cutter on the back of his truck and an innocent query of could Haruo please help him get this thing off the back of the truck mainly because he wasn’t sure what to do with it and maybe Haruo could find some use for it? It was his dad’s way of telling him that Haruo was loved and that his dad only wanted the best for him.
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Haruo grinned to himself. He was going to be a very rich man. His train of thought was promptly derailed by the fact that he did need to get a few more items other than the stuff that he had in his fridge if he wanted to eat well for the next week. With the basic fridge things got raunchy after about three days. So making eight serving meals probably wasn’t the wisest course of action - green fumes and flies didn’t help foster a hygienic environment.What he needed to do was build a financial base and make certain that he was able to build it up so he didn’t have to worry about financial security. The only caveat here was how much of a cushion defined financial security for him? 10,000? 50,000? 100,000? But every bit of that cushion mattered because it would help him to launch into the upper stratosphere of financial net worth.

Haruo sighed as he looked at his watch and realized that daydreaming had cost him about two hours that morning. He had to go plant apple trees. So that he wouldn’t have to keep going to the store to buy his apples. On top of that he was going to have to get a few more fruits to start an orchard. Maybe some peaches or some limes or maybe even an orange tree. Hmmm. If he built a greenhouse he could grow bananas. Well, let’s see what we can do. Haruo thought to himself as he put on a light summer-weight jacket and headed out into what was a Pacific Coast drizzle.As he headed into downtown to drop off the rental vehicle, he noted that he would need to look into getting a vehicle of his own. He didn’t have a big budget for that since he was living on his own. Even one of the small compact cars could set him back almost 10,000 simoleons. Since he was in town, he might as well look at one of the dealerships and see if there was something that he could purchase that was reliable and cost-effective.He would take a taxi back home if he couldn’t find what he was looking for a nice subcompact with enough room for a bag of groceries.
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Would he decided to stay here in Vancouver or move to the island? Upon checking his bank balance, he realized his gem sales had essentially put him personally over the §1M range so he was able to buy something decent in terms of a house; maybe it was time to move to the Island. So he had options. Would he decide to stay in Vancouver or put some distance between him and his family (as much as he hated to do that to his father and to his grandmother, perhaps distance and separation was the best thing to do in his life)? But he couldn’t make that decision just yet because he had tiberium growing so the best thing for him to do was to wait until those spires had grown and he could reap the benefits from that before he made a decision on whether he was going to uproot and move lock-stock and barrel out of town. Perhaps the best thing was to find a place on the Island and settle down.

But one of the first things he needed to do was to return this rental and purchase a vehicle of his own, since he now had a decent amount of money with which to do that. When he got to the rental place, he found that they had a decent selection of pre-owned vehicles that they were selling so that they could take that older inventory and turn them into cash so they could restock newer models in their rental inventory. When all was said and done with a handshake, Haruo walked out of the rental place, the brand new owner of a Vorn P328 pickup, like his dad’s except his dad’s was white and Haruo’s was blue.
https://i.imgur.com/q4MZvOe.jpg
Guess the next thing I should do is figure out whether I’m going to keep the property or offer a deep discount to my dad so that he can buy it off me so that I can make a clean break of it and find a place somewhere quiet to live. Haruo thought. But that meant calling up his dad and seeing the potential fall-out from his choice. But he needed the mobile home maintained. And if he wasn’t going to set his roots in Vancouver, then he would have to sell the property.

One point four-five wasn’t technically the threshold point for being classified as rich. But it certainly was considered well-off. And if he wanted the financial freedom to move around as need be, then he would have to have a value in the high tens.

What about his long-term friends? Phil and Noel? He looked at their situation with pragmatic eyes. They had graduated school. They were into their adult lives and busy trying to build up their own personal wealth. They had jobs, they would be alright. Haruo knew that the friendships that were so important while they were all in school no longer were primary in their minds as each person negotiated their journey through life. What mattered was family. And the only family Haruo had was his father and his maternal grandmother.
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And that was the bittersweet part of growing up. Maintaining childhood friendships were no longer number one in his life. There were some who would come back to you, but on the whole, most wouldn’t and that was just part and parcel of growing and maturing.

And Haruo was prepared to make sacrifices for his own personal peace of mind. Because even at nineteen, he’d realized what was important to his own personal happiness: a quiet life where no-one could bother him. A life where he was alone to contemplate life and his role in the grand scheme of things as an insignificant cog in the realm of capitalism. Yay for fiduciary vision.
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Over the next two weeks, Haruo made his preparations quietly, finally selling off his tiberium and seeing a tidy profit as well as some other conjured jewels. His dad and grandmother were not happy about his wanting to leave for Vancouver Island, but they understood his reasons and promised to hold their silence.
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One week later

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River had made excuses to herself to not go and see him at his new property. And she’d talked herself out of it multiple times. He doesn’t want to see me. I don’t think he’d be amenable to talking it out. I need to get a better argument together before I approach him with a suggestion to get counseling. And it was at Bebe’s urging that she finally got up the gumption to go out and see him out in Richmond. And that was mainly because Bebe threatened to drag her over there.
https://i.imgur.com/sUKT6GL.jpg
“He’s not going to go to counseling on his own, you’re gonna have to drag him there.”
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As Bebe crested the hill and came to a stop at the manufactured home that was or used to be Haruo's home, all they saw was an empty driveway and a large real estate sign on the property - the sign on the property said SOLD. River’s heart fell into the pit of her stomach. “No…no…no…”. She repeated, her heart shattering into pieces, not noticing her vision misting.
https://i.imgur.com/b8bLuY9.jpg
“Oh, no…” was all Bebe could say as she turned to see River in utter agony, tears spilling from her eyes. How could Haruo do this? He hadn’t even bothered to say good-bye.
https://i.imgur.com/NXRhcOO.jpg
If River had thought that rejection of her overtures hurt, nothing compared to this. Haruo hadn’t even bothered to tell her he was leaving. He’d never even left a forwarding address. Fourteen years of friendship had meant absolutely nothing to him? So many times where he’d been longing for release from his situation with his mother and when it came down to it, River had wanted to give him that freedom from having to deal with his mother; that they would gain their freedom together, at least that was her hope. They’d made plans together through elementary school and high-school.

The deep hurt within River coalesced flaring into a sheet white cold anger. This was betrayal at its worst.
https://i.imgur.com/5HwRZLE.jpg
And betrayal did not warrant forgiveness.

End Chapter One

The Chikamori Legacy
Chapter Two: "Escape" - Part I

Two Weeks Later

Haruo had a grand total of §1,800,200.00 in his bank account after making some preliminary gemstone sales which came from pure dumb luck, that was after leaving his father §225,000 to survive on and frankly, that would be enough to take care of Grandma and himself and Mother if she was still going to be around with Yasunobu after he went ballistic on her for having chased Haruo out of the family home. It was enough to allow Haruo to figure out a plan of action to make a decent amount of money. It appeared that with his mother’s ghost on his heels, he chose to run as far as he could, potentially banking on an idea of becoming a gem merchant. Haruo’s mother had done her best to emotionally break Haruo as much as possible. Weeping psychological wounds on his person and not feeling as if he was capable of doing anything worthwhile, his self-esteem was at its nadir. So instead of staying and dealing with the ever-present sense of inadequacy, Haruo chose to run away and find himself some peace whilst remaining damaged. It wasn’t a pathway to healing, that much was certain.
https://i.imgur.com/ZsfGK9t.jpg
Cape Garner Islands was a system of islands in the Juan de Fuca strait staring straight at Texada Island. It was quite a ways up from the Lower Mainland. It was northwest of Sechelt and Haruo felt a sense of peace for the first time in his life when he set foot on the island. His first plan of action was to get himself a place to live. With the kind of money he had at his disposal, he would have no problems in finding a place to set up himself on the island.
https://i.imgur.com/D0hNRdA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bYt8FtQ.jpg
A quick call to the real estate agent got him started at looking at homes on Cape Garner.
https://i.imgur.com/ueaImhQ.jpg
If one wasn’t prone to sea-sickness, one could get started in a floating home. Haruo wasn’t sure that living in a houseboat was such a wise idea when the seas got rocky in winter-time. Then sleep would be impossible.
https://i.imgur.com/yM0HSvI.jpg
Another home that was suitable was a multi-storey country home. For a small family, it was nice and close to town; something Haruo didn’t want as he was looking for something much more private.
https://i.imgur.com/jrYt0wp.jpg
In the end, Haruo settled for a half-million simoleon home that was upscale and suitable for someone who had seven figures in his bank account.
https://i.imgur.com/9Xq5PNs.jpg
It also came with a nice vehicle as Haruo had sold his pickup while he was still on the Lower Mainland and was now essentially vehicle-less. The color though was a horrid green. When he was finished the house tour, he wrote up a contract and was soon the proud owner of 20 Channel View Bluff. In quick order, he’d sold the SUV that came with the house for §85,000.00 recouping back 16.35% of what he’d spent on the house, which went back out in short order as he bought himself a Mercedes. Finally getting a chance to sit down in his newly furnished house, he took a deep sigh of relief.

But was this peace? And would he find it?

He took a brief moment to dash off an e-mail to his grandmother (who surprisingly was quite the technophile and quite savvy about computers for someone who was born in 1892 and was now 96 years old), he did let her know where he was and that he was settling into his house.
https://i.imgur.com/8eRw7sU.jpg
The house came with a baby grand piano, a six-footer. And Haruo went downstairs to practice piano which perversely offered some sort of comfort. It was his refuge when his mother decided to be a complete and utter spiteful witch. At least when he was practicing six hours a day, he was free from his mother’s kvetching about inconsequentials. J.S. Bach’s English Suites were a great disincentive for Mayumi to come annoy him. On one hand, practicing for six hours a day was probably one of the more boring things that non-musicians could think of; on the other hand, Mayumi couldn’t complain because her son was doing what was expected of him
https://i.imgur.com/pF4YHYN.jpg
Now, with the background of an empty house, other than furniture, a tranquil place of solitude, he could lose himself in the music. The technical intricacies of Bach astounded many a listener, but to really get into the nuts and bolts of the music was a task known only to musicians. The notes of the book on the music rest on top of the grand piano were seen through Haruo’s eyes, understood by the brain, the fire flowing through his synapses from his brain to his fingertips, tranformed with Haruo’s light touch on the keyboard into audible sound. Bach...Glorious Bach. Letting the music flow through him, soothing Haruo and allowing him to lose himself to the auditory magnificence of the Great Master. It was just him and Johann Sebastian locked in an embrace of talent and desire for release from the tension that had plagued Haruo for the past eighteen years.
https://i.imgur.com/IXP7PuV.jpg
But music only soothes so far. And eventually, Haruo’s brain and fingers got tired. Going upstairs to his room, he conjured at the Lord Vladimir’s Conjuring Cauldron, which gave him a Sunstone, a Fluorite and a Quartz stone.
https://i.imgur.com/ogrVbFi.jpg
He decided to take a nap and when he was refreshed enough, it seemed that the best option would be to go out and eat. The kitchen that he had was quite nice, however, he’d left his cooking books back in Vancouver and he was loathe to make a trek back to go get them. It would mean running into River and that was yet another bridge he wasn’t ready to cross.

But what was Haruo to do with his newfound freedom and an enormous house that he had all to himself. He had no idea yet, but he was going to enjoy himself. Maybe take up photography and music collecting. Despite the joy that he felt in the newfound refuge of the island that he had moved to, there was still his mother’s endless recriminations ringing in his ears – you’re not capable, if you had freedom you wouldn’t know what to do with it. You were meant to be controlled and you’ll amount to nothing if you ever slip my leash. You’re a failure. Distance would never silence his mother. Because he carried her in his head.

The Chikamori Legacy
Chapter Two: "Escape" - Part II

https://i.imgur.com/zPTjYEG.jpg
Perhaps he needed to go to the bookstore and find some therapy books and while he was there he should also get some cooking books and perhaps a few recipes when he got up. He was more tired than he thought from all that travel and ended up asleep till around 2:35 in the afternoon.
https://i.imgur.com/0fmGv5O.jpg
Maybe I need to run over to the consignment shop and drop off those gemstones. I really should cut them into large spires. And maybe the quartz should be a skull to maximize profits. It was making certain that he thought about what cuts would bring him in the most money that would enable him to get to the stage where he wanted to get to.

One of the things he needed to do was to make some money. Sure, consignment of gemstones was alright, but where was he going to stick that money he earned. He would check and see what his twice-a-week bill payments were like on this half-million simoleon house then decide where to stick his money into investments. Maybe mutual funds, or maybe some fixed-income funds. He could get 7.21% out of a 30% Equity/70% Fixed Income Monthly Income Plan which would generate enough income to get by.
https://i.imgur.com/KQ9z55o.jpg
When Haruo managed to get out of the house, he headed first to the consignment store, where he dropped off the cuts that he’d managed to do with the expensive gemcutter. Discussing numbers with the clerk was clearly a definitive win as Haruo managed to get a good cut of his earnings back with the store only taking a small percentage of fee to cover the costs of consignment. This meant that he would have enough money to start investing. Having talked with a financial advisor, there was the distinct possibility of returns of up to 7.5%, he decided to invest with Fidelity. He would get a weekly amount of §5,407.50 which was quite considerable for the amount he’d decided to invest which was $1,200,000 leaving him only §296,074.00 to work with in his personal account. Everything else was being thrown into investments.
https://i.imgur.com/gvOoM2C.jpg
He also dropped by the bookstore and bought almost §4,000.00 worth of books which would keep him quite busy, if he ever got a chance to read them considering that he had a daily task of going hunting in the mornings and rustling up harvestables. The bookstore, for a small family-run shop had a rather sizable selection of tomes. And the owner said, that as the only game in town for books, he had to make sure that he brought in the latest publications and novels as well as anything literary of interest to the community.
https://i.imgur.com/FbJW8DU.jpg
When he was done at the bookstore, he headed to the diner next door as he was getting rather peckish and the hunger was starting to knot his stomach. There was quite a decent menu selection at the diner and Haruo was hard-pressed to figure out what he really wanted to eat. He just settled for a hamburger and a side order of fries. At least it would keep him going for what he had to do next.
https://i.imgur.com/jcv3gpa.jpg
After stepping out of the diner, he looked in his pocket to see a rather disheveled rainbow butterfly sticking its feelers out rather forlornly. That poor insect had come all the way from Vancouver and was still in Haruo’s pocket. He’d never gotten a chance to drop it off at the Vancouver Science World for the scientists there. “I guess I’m going to have to take you to the local science center and deposit you off. I don’t think you’re liking hanging out in my pocket.”
https://i.imgur.com/NxQBcwo.jpg
It wasn’t certain if the rainbow butterfly understood him, but it hopped out onto the dash of Haruo’s Mercedes and off they went. Evidently it was exceedingly rare and Haruo got nearly §1400.00 for it, even surprisingly in the condition it was in. The scientists were pleased as Punch though.

The fridge was empty and Haruo had a few things that he’d brought over from the Lower Mainland. It meant that he was able to cook something for breakfast. He figured flamefruit pancakes was the way to go. Then it was time for a pick-me-up at the bar in his home. Evidently the bar was well-stocked by the previous owner, something that figured into the expensive sale-price of the home. But hey, it was well-deserved after a fruitful accomplishment in one day from setting foot on Cape Garner Island and going from not having a home or a vehicle to buying a home and vehicle in short order.
https://i.imgur.com/bVVC14Y.jpg
After doing a round of conjuring to give him stuff to cut and consign tomorrow, Haruo, completely exhausted passed out on the bedroom floor. Luckily he didn’t scramble his braincells too much hitting the floor. Of course that wouldn’t do well for him in the long term, but at the age of 18 and worth over a million simoleons, what’s a few injured braincells? Right? They regenerate...via neurogenesis. Something to do with neural stem cells being assigned jobs to function as neurons. Only problem is: there’s a limited number of stem cells…and too many hits to the head will probably make Haruo run out of ‘em. Then he’s hooped. He did wake up long enough to plant his carcass in his proper bed.
https://i.imgur.com/MaRwfP4.jpg
Of course that didn’t last more than two and a half hours since his burglar alarm went off. Evidently this particular burglar was exceedingly dim-witted or had a desire to be terminated since Ms. Robocop came in armed with a nasty looking rifle. Yeah, might be a good idea to just get down on your hands and knees, don’t move a muscle and pray to whatever deity you believe in that she doesn’t happen to have an itchy trigger-finger. Haruo was particularly happy that the cop had everything in hand. Since he’d just bought the place and didn’t relish the idea of losing any of it. Hey, next time, all the good stuff’s upstairs. And by the time you get around to doing another heist on this place Haruo probably might have a Rottweiler protecting it too.

The Chikamori Legacy
Chapter Two: "Escape" - Part III

November, 1988

“River, you’re almost done with your schooling. You’ve managed to do an entire year in half a semester.” River’s mother enthused, excited for her daughter’s prospects in university. “And you’ve kept an honour roll status doing it.”
https://i.imgur.com/0CKLX6p.jpg
“Yeah, Mom…” River sighed, “It just doesn’t seem the same…” she looked out the window as she trailed off. For six months after the acrimonious split in friendship between Haruo and River, River had been disconsolate; instead of going out with friends, she had poured her heart and soul into her schoolwork and painting and she’d had a unhealthy fascination with heart-break songs. She’d joined choir in high-school to feel closer to Haruo and his interests. Yet, Haruo had tossed all his interests out the window and had buggered off to parts unknown and if the Chikamori family knew where Haruo was, Yasunobu wasn’t telling. Fiona couldn’t help but be sad for her daughter. She had aged up into a young adult and she had blossomed into a beauty, wearing her hair stylish, long and flowing. River had started applying makeup and that had attracted the attention of many of the males at school but she had no interest in any of them. Even though Bebe and Fiona encouraged her to move on, she refused.
https://i.imgur.com/sjKdmat.jpg
They don’t understand. I’ve lost half of my soul.
https://i.imgur.com/vnXqFws.jpg
“Are you going to university?” Bebe asked.
https://i.imgur.com/cJXgEZY.jpg
“I don’t know…” River prevaricated. “I want to take the other half of the year off...I’ve put too much effort into getting through this schooling quickly because I just don’t want to deal with the school gossip, y’know.”
https://i.imgur.com/70aKUMM.jpg
Bebe rolled her eyes, “Look, you can’t put your life on hold for him.”
https://i.imgur.com/ewwtBFI.jpg
River snapped in exasperation, “I’m not ready to put Haruo in the rear-view mirror; NOT without a fight!” she looked angrily at Bebe, “I’m prepared to fight for him, if that’s what it takes. Plus, I’m spent, I don’t have another drop of my energy for studies to go straight into university. I want time to recoup what energy I put out to get through Grade 12 in half the time it takes to complete it.” Nobody bothered correcting her that she had only taken a quarter of the time that it took to complete the school year. They knew what she meant. She was zapped, completely wiped out: mentally, physically and emotionally.
https://i.imgur.com/4AW6KLj.jpg
“So what do you plan to do?” Fiona asked.
https://i.imgur.com/GDIknIg.jpg
“I’ve been thinking about traveling Vancouver Island and the surrounding islands just for something to do. Maybe take a few weeks in each place and take in the ambiance. I’ve always wanted to see the islands.”
https://i.imgur.com/3MFa62b.jpg
“I’d love to join you…” Bebe said, “But work hails. The only time I can get off is professional education...namely university and that’s a straight four year run plus my undergraduate courses that I can complete in an year. So it looks as though you may have to go solo if you’re gonna go…”
https://i.imgur.com/2kqIyTm.jpg
River didn’t want to say the real reason why she was going out to the islands. She was planning on tracking down Haruo and getting an answer out of him once and for all. And it’d better be one that I see reason for. Saying he’s not good enough for me isn’t a good enough answer. Nor is any answer that can be helped through therapy. River had never wanted to hurt Mayumi so much insofar as the way that Mayumi had treated her son. It was the reason he ran away rather than faced his own demons. And if Haruo didn’t face his demons, he wouldn’t be able to become a success. His mother’s voice would always fuel his perceived inadequacies and would haunt his very footsteps hindering any chance at getting past the deep emotional wounds that were always present.
https://i.imgur.com/SxVi0P1.jpg
...and he didn’t seem to want to do anything about it. A deep pit of despair opened up for River McIrish as she wondered what it would take to get through to the man that she loved deeply. Whatever plans she had in life had always included him and she didn’t want to do those things without him. I’m not giving up on him, he means too much to me.
https://i.imgur.com/SmCuUh7.jpg
But she also saw the path that decision would lead her to. And such was why she intended to give it her best to convince him to do what was necessary to heal himself so that at least he could have some semblance of a normal life. The simple fact was that he needed to break out of the self-recrimination and the constant Mayumi-inflicted mental tapes that kept running in his head. And the only thing that River knew was a potential solution was to convince him of the need that he needed therapy to heal and live a normal life.

The simple fact was that she didn’t know where he was and where to start looking. Her gut feeling was that he had headed for the islands. The only problem was that she didn’t know which one. The big main island of Vancouver Island was far too crowded and full of people for that to be a potential place for him to settle in. Haruo did not like being around people. He wasn’t social in the slightest and having to be around people was a source of absolute discomfort for him. The reason behind that was that he was highly suspicious of others and what they could potentially do to him. It wasn’t surprising after someone who supposed to unconditionally love him had treated him the way that Mayumi had. River suspected that Mayumi had absolutely no mothering instincts at all. Haruo had just been an achievement for her; a way to gain stature and recognition in the community. And once that was finished, she couldn’t care less about whether Haruo’s emotional needs were met.
https://i.imgur.com/SlyFFD9.jpg
I’m just going to have to track him down, island by island. She had no idea what it would take or how long her limited funds would last in order to search for him. She had maybe forty thousand simoleons, but traveling would take a large chunk of that and food and accommodation. She needed to pick the islands that seemed to have a small community, yet not too large.

Her sleep was getting seriously disrupted these past few days. She could overhear loud arguments coming from upstairs. Most of it was Mayumi belly-aching about her son and it reached a crescendo last afternoon. It appeared that Yasunobu was absolutely fed up with Mayumi’s behavior. He was tired of the way that she had treated his son and took out his anger on her.
https://i.imgur.com/06ekoOO.jpg
There was finally an explosive shout in English, “GET OUT!!!”. It was a male voice and it was definitely Yasunobu’s, followed by a flurry of Japanese “Shuppatsu shita, modotte kitara koko de anata aitaku nai!!!”, a slammed door and then deathly quiet. Even the sound dampening built into the floors and walls had failed to silence the screaming and yelling coming from upstairs.
https://i.imgur.com/KLAoS2p.jpg
River could hear the truck starting and she glanced out the window to see Yasunobu driving off. The flurry of colloquial Japanese words had set her on edge and that had translated into River’s unsettled frame of mind. Yasunobu’s returning late that evening had resulted in another major argument.
https://i.imgur.com/KieVdap.jpg
“Doko ni ikeba desu ka?” Mayumi had asked, her piteous tone just an Oscar-winning performance by an actor.

Yasunobu’s reply was chilling cold, “Sukina tokoro ni, Mō kinishinai” River didn’t catch a direct translation, but the meaning was clear – it meant that Yasunobu was done with the relationship. That was how ticked off Yasunobu was.

There was another flurry of words, that River hadn’t caught because it was muffled by two walls and a floor upstairs as well as several walls and a bathroom and a clear slamming of the door and Mayumi was the one leaving this time, dragging along a suitcase headed towards the Skytrain.

Due to the impending notification of Sims 3 Forums being shut down on July 2024. For further info on this, please read @EA_Cade's thread regarding the future of these forums https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/1012877/an-important-update-on-the-future-of-these-forums and threads having to be "nominated" to be ported over to the new site. This story may or may not be ported. So this story is being suspended as of right now.

It will be updated on another forum site however and updates will continue there.