Chapter 14

Fall 12, 2003

It's early evening in Romana's Villa. Lumina has just finished reading the book “The Snow of Spring” and is now down to the last page. Feeling proud that she has finally read the entire book from front to back, she smiles and recalls all the romantic and touching moments between the main character, and the heroine.

She turns the page, and reads the epilogue of the story which tells what happened to the characters after the story is over. The last paragraph reads:

Several years has passed since Tom and Marla has said their vows in holy matrimony. They are now living in a peaceful country village sharing eternal love for one another. Their daughter is born not too long after they got married, She is now 5 years old living cheerfully with both her loving parents. Together, they made a family tradition of eating strawberry shortcake below a huge cherry blossom tree in a peaceful park together. And they lived happily ever after.
The end.

As Lumina closes the book, she smiles at the touching ending that fit the story so well. She closes the book, and places it back on her book shelf. She then sighs deeply and says, “Wow, that was such a great story. I only wish that Yuki can sweep me off my feet like the main character did in that story.”

She then turns around, and starts walking to her easel so that she can start practicing her art. But just before she takes a seat on her stool, she stops to think for a moment. She places a finger on her chin and says, “Now that I think about it, where have I heard a similar story as the epilogue to 'The Spring of Snow'?”

She then remembers that Spring day when Choco mentioned that she, Yuki, and her mother used to spend time below a cherry blossom. “Oh yeah, Choco did mention that she wanted to go back to the park and have fun at that tree. How strange, Yuki lived in a city, there shouldn't be any trees like that in a big city like that.”

“Lumina!” yelled the voice of Romana. Her concentration on the subject suddenly breaks, and she runs out to see what Romana wants.

“Yes auntie, what is it?” replied Lumina as she looks down from the second floor.

Romana answers, “Van just came over, and dropped off these chocolates. He said something about that you asked him to get them for you.” Lumina rushes down the steps to pick up the chocolates that she ordered. Romana stares at her holding the chocolates and asks, “What are they for? You're not that big of a chocolate fan.”

“It's not for me.” answered Lumina. “I think I have a plan to get Choco to like me. These are special imported chocolates that are supposed to be the best in the whole world. With this, Choco may like me enough to make Yuki like me more than just friends. I can already imagine Yuki offering me the blue feather already.”

“I see that you are still thinking about that boy.” commented Romana. “But please remember that you cannot force him to like you. Trying too hard will only push him away in the end. Remember that.”

Romana then walks back into her room where she can rest. Lumina runs back into her own room and gets ready to sleep as well. That night, she dreams that she is below the cherry blossom tree with Yuki and Choco like a perfect family.

Fall 15, 2003

At noon, Lumina walks to Yuki's farm to get Choco. She walks up to his door, and knocks on it. She stood there waiting for an answer. It didn't take long before Yuki opens the door, and finds Lumina standing there. He smiles and greets, “Hi there Lumina. What can I do for you?”

Lumina smiles back and says, “Hi, I was wondering if Choco can play with me. Is she home?”

“Yeah, she's in her room playing with her toys. Let me call her for you.” Yuki then goes over to Choco's room and tells her that she has a visitor.

Choco runs over to the front door, and finds Lumina. She smiles and says, “Hi lady!”

Lumina squats down to Choco's height and says, “Hi there Choco. Would you like to come to my house, and play with me? I have some new chocolates that you might want to try.”

Choco jumps up and down as she yells, “Okay!!” Lumina giggles at how cute Choco is behaving, then she holds her hand to walk with her back to the mansion. They sit in the patio with two kettles on the table. One of them has hot chocolate that Sebastian made with the chocolates Lumina received last night. The other had relaxation tea, Lumina's favorite flavored tea.

Lumina poured the chocolate in a tea cup for Choco, and relaxation tea for herself. Choco takes a sip and beamed, “Wow! It's great!”

Lumina giggled and explains, “I knew you would like it. It's chocolate from Italy, made from some of the finest chocolate makers in the world.” She then takes a sip of her tea and watched Choco enjoy the chocolate in delight.

As she enjoys Choco’scompany, she feels that just having a drink is not enough to seal the deal. She needs to have a nice conversation with her as well. Getting to know Choco better, and getting her to know herself is vital for her plans. She then thinks about what she was thinking about last night, so she puts her tea cup down and says, “So Choco, tell me more about your past.”

“My past?” asked Choco.

“Yeah. A while ago, you mentioned that you and Yuki used to play around a Cherry Blossom. Tell me more about that.” She then continues to drink her tea as she waits for an answer.

Choco things very hard before answering, “Let's see. Mom and dad would take me to the cherry blossom tree in the park after I was born. . . And we used to eat strawberry shortcake all the time!”

“I see, that’s so odd,” said Lumina. She thyen takes a sip of her tea, then realizes something. She coughs spraying tea all over the table.

Choco looks at Lumina and yells, “Eww, that's nasty! Why did you do that!?”

“I'm sorry, I was just shocked.” After she catches her breath, she asks,“But Choco, did you say that you used to eat strawberry shortcake?”

“Yes I did,” Choco said proudly.

“With Yuki?”

“Yeah, dad, mom, and I ate strawberry shortcake. It was our little tradition.” answered Choco.

Lumina thought for a moment and says in her head, “Wow, that’s an amazing coincidence, it's almost exactly like my story. But something seems strange here. Yuki can't eat strawberry shortcake!”

“Is something wrong?” asked Choco.

Lumina looks back at Choco and says, “Nothing, I was just lost in thought.” She then stands up and continues, “I have to go do something quickly, wait for me right here.”

Choco nods, and Lumina goes inside the mansion calling for Sebastian. He walks out of the kitchen ans says, “Yes Miss Lumina, did you need me?”

“I need you to do me a little favor. Can you please bake me a strawberry short cake?” asked Lumina.

“Yes, I can do that. But why do you need me to do that so suddenly?”

“I just need to confirm something.” answered Lumina. Sebastian is not sure what she meant, but it's not his place to ask questions. So he heads back to the kitchen to start making the cake.

Choco waits outside, but gets bored too quickly. She looks around, and notices something odd next to the mansion. A large old wooden hut stands close to the mansion. It is covered in moss and vines and the grass is overgrown. Such a difference in the well kept mansion. She is not sure why, but she is drawn to the old hut. She stands up, and slowly walks up to it. The old worn door doesn't seem locked, so she reaches out to see what's inside. Just then, Lumina walks out, and sees Choco near the hut.

“Choco!” called Lumina. Choco pulled her hand away from the door, and turns back to look at Lumina. “Please stay away from that hut.”

“Why? What's inside?” asked Choco.

“I don't know to tell you the truth.” answered Lumina. “But auntie Romana tells me that nobody should go near that hut. It's cursed or something like that. It’s been here longer than this mansion was ever built. Why don't we go into my room instead? I have lots of things I want to show you.” Choco takes a second look at the hut before she runs off to join Lumina.

Inside her room, Lumina shows Choco lots of portraits that she has painted over the many years she has been living in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Choco is impressed at how well Lumina can paint, and wishes that she can do art as well as she can. Lumina then shows Choco several photographs of when she was younger. Many of the photographs are of her either painting, or playing the piano.

Choco does not recognize Lumina in the older Photographs. Unlike now, Lumina is wearing more tomboyish clothes like jeans, shirts, and sneakers. Her hair was longer when she was younger as well. As she turns the pages in the photo album, Choco starts to find Yuki in some of the photos. In those photographs, Lumina is smiling more than in the older ones.

Several hours later, Sebastian is done baking the cake and he calls Lumina over to get it. Lumina requests that he places the cake into a small gift box. She then takes the cake to Choco, and gives it to her. Choco looks at the gift box and says,“What is this?”

“It's a present for Yuki.” answered Lumina. “But don't tell him that it's from me. Tell him that it's a gift from you.”

“Okay!!” cheered Choco. She then says her goodbyes and walks home carrying the package for Yuki. Just as she leaves, Lumina follows her back to the farm. She quietly hides so that Choco doesn’t see her. Choco walks into her house without a clue that Lumina is following her. Lumina sneaks into the side of the house, and looks through a window where she can watch Yuki's reaction to the gift.

Choco walks up to Yuki and says, “Hi dad! I have a gift for you!”

“Really for me?” answered Yuki. Choco then opened the package to reveal the strawberry shortcake to him. As soon as Yuki sees it, he screams and falls on his back. Choco walks up to him, and he crawls away yelling, “Choco! Get that thing away from me!”

“Huh? But why?” Choco looks into the package and says, “Oh wow! Strawberry shortcake! Dad, let's have some!”

“No way! Are you crazy?! Are you trying to kill me!?” yelled Yuki.

Lumina watches Yuki continue to freak out for a while. She then looks away from the window and says, “I knew it! Yuki couldn't possibly be eating strawberry short cake when he was younger. Yuki is allergic to strawberries! I once gave him some chocolate covered strawberries a long time ago, and I sent him to the clinic. As far as Choco's past resembling the story in my book is odd enough. But this alone proves that Yuki isn't Choco's father after all.”

Lumina leaves the farm, and walks back to the mansion. On the way back, she says to herself, “Choco clearly remembers eating strawberry cake with Yuki, but Yuki cannot eat strawberries. Could Choco have confused Yuki with someone else? Someone who actually likes strawberries, but looks very alike to Yuki?” She continues to think about the situation, and then continues, “But then what about the paternity test? That test said that Yuki really is her father. . . But, the test is not 100% accurate. Even if the test is 99.9% accurate, there is still a 1/1000 chance that it could be wrong.” Lumina sighs and concludes, “what do I do? Should I tell Yuki that he really isn't Choco's father after all? What would happen if I did tell him?”

Fall 16, 2003

Early in the day, Lumina pays a visit to Yuki's farm. She knocks on the door, and Yuki answers it quickly. He is surprised to see Lumina over a second day in a row, but he is more surprised that Lumina is not as cheerful as usual. He invites her in, and makes tea for her. Lumina just sits in the table with something that weighs heavily on her mind.

Yuki serves Lumina some tea, but she still looks worried. Yuki sits down and says, “Is everything OK Lumina? Is something bothering you?”

“Nothing is bothering me, I just thought I could talk to you, that's all.” Yuki doesn't understand why is Lumina acting the way she is, so he just serves himself some tea, and waits patiently for her to say something. After a while she finally says, “Is Choco here?”

“No, she's out playing with Kate and Hugh. She's really become close friends with them.” Yuki then takes another sip of his tea.

She takes a deep breath and asks, “Yuki, what if you were to find out that Choco really isn't your daughter?”

Yuki puts his tea down and asks, “Why did you ask that?”

“I'm just curious. Not many things actually make sense about Choco, and there still may be a chance that she may not be your child after all. I'm just wondering how would you react if that were the case.”

Yuki looks out the window for a moment. Remembering all the hard times that he had with Choco along with the good times flood his mind. He then answers, “You know, I don't think it would matter anymore.” Lumina looks at Yuki with a shocked look on her face. “I've been thinking about the same thing every once in a while. What if Choco really isn't my daughter, what will I do with her. But after a while, I remember Choco's situation. She doesn't have a mother, and if I am not her father, then she is just an orphan. But even so, Choco has been living with me for a while, she practically is family anyway. She may be troublesome, energetic, and a pain in the neck sometimes, but everyone loves her. I even took her to Mineral Town the other day, and everyone was more than willing to accept her. Once you think about it for a while, she is a member of our little community known as Forget-Me-Not Valley. So if I do find out that Choco is not my daughter, I'll still raise her as my own. After all, she still needs a father, don't you agree Lumina?”

Lumina smile and nods in agreement. Just then, Choco walks into the house and yells, “Dad, I'm Home!” She then notices Lumina in the house and says, “It's the lady from yesterday! Did you come to play?”

“Yes, I did come to play.” answered Lumina. Lumina then had an idea and says, “I still have some of that chocolate back in the mansion. Why don't you come over and finish it?” Choco then cheered loudly and leaves the farm with Lumina.

Back at the mansion, Lumina thought she was going to have another peaceful day to get to know Choco a bit better. But Romana has other plans for Lumina. She waited for Lumina to return to the mansion with an upset look on her face. Romana lifts her cane and yells, “Lumina, where have you been young lady! You know you have to practice the piano before leaving the Mansion!”

Lumina forgot all about her practice that day, but since she already brought Choco with her, she thought that she can excuse herself for today. “I'm sorry auntie Romana, I forgot all about it. Can I practice tomorrow instead? I brought Choco over to play.”

Romana lifts her cane again and exclaims, “I don't care if the queen of London came over, you're still going to practice!”

Lumina sighs and says, “Okay, I'll practice right now.” Romana then goes back inside the mansion. Lumina looks down at Choco and says, “I'm sorry Choco, but I need to practice the piano right now. Please go home on your own, we'll have that chocolate tomorrow.”

Choco looks back at Lumina and asks, “can I watch you practice?”

“Umm, sure if you want to,” said Lumina surprised to hear Choco ask to keep her company while she plays. So they both enter the mansion, and they sit side by side in front of the piano. Lumina then sets the score sheet, and begins to play the beautiful melody on the piano.

Choco sits next to her, and listens to the blissful music rocking her head side by side. Somewhere in the middle of the song, she misses a key and stops. Choco then looks at Lumina and says, “Lady, why did you stop?”

Lumina sighs and says, “Sorry, but I missed a note and I have to start over.”

“How do you know when you miss a note?” asked Choco.

Lumina points to the score and says, “I use this to tell me what keys I have to press down in order to make the music I want. When the score says to play E flat, I have to push the E flat key.” Lumina then presses the key on the piano to demonstrate what she's talking about.

Choco nods. Just then, Romana's voice calls, “Lumina, can you come here a moment? I dropped my medicine, and I can't bend down to get it!”

Lumina huffs and tells Choco, “please wait right here. I have to help my auntie for a moment. I will be right back.”

“Okay!” answered Choco. Lumina then runs over to Romana's room to help her with her problem. While Lumina is away, Choco stares at the score for a moment. She compares the notes Lumina was playing earlier to the score sheet in front of her. Using her memory, Choco begins to touch the keys one by one playing the music Lumina had just played.

In Romana's room, Lumina picks up the medicine her aunt dropped, and hands it to her. Romana then says, “Thank you dear. How is the practice going?”

“I missed one note, but I'm sure that I'll be able to get it by tonight.” answered Lumina.

Romana smiles and says, “That's great. You're really getting better that that piano Lumina. I'm sure if your mother was here, she would be proud, and-” Romana then hears someone playing the piano. “Is my hearing going, or is someone playing on the piano?”

Lumina turns around and notices the sound of the piano as well. “That's odd. There was nobody else in the piano room other than me and. . . No way!” They both rush over to the den to see who is playing on the piano. They both gasp to see Choco playing the same exact melody that Lumina was playing. Lumina is also shocked to see her playing past the point where Lumina stopped earlier. She is also not making any mistakes either.

“My god! That's amazing!” yelled Romana.

Choco suddenly stops after hearing Romana's voice. She looks back and sees the shocked expression on their faces. Choco panics and says, “I'm sorry! I didn't mean to touch the piano! Please don't tell dad!”

“No! It's okay! You didn't do anything wrong!” yelled Lumina. She then walked up to her, and patted on her head to show that she is not in trouble. “But Choco, where did you learn how to play the piano?”

“You taught me.” answered Choco.

“I did?”

“Yeah, remember?” Choco points at the score sheet and says, “You told me that if I follow the paper here, I can play the music. You showed me that this button is E flat.” Choco then pushed the key that Lumina showed her. “Then I just remembered what buttons you pressed, and matched the dots on the paper. Using what I learned from you, I just played the song.”

Lumina couldn't believe what she is hearing. In only a few moments, Choco has mastered a skill that Lumina spend half her life trying to learn. She thought for a moment, and ran to her bedroom to find several score sheets for different songs. She brought them back to the piano and placed one of them on the piano. She then asked Choco, “Can you play this one?”

Choco stared at the sheet, but the notes are not familiar to her. She shook her head no, so Lumina started playing the first half of the melody. Choco is able to memorize it, and starts to play the song along side with Lumina. After several songs are played, Choco is then able to play any song that Lumina can put out for her.

Several hours later, it's becoming dark and Choco needs to return home. Neither Lumina or Romana has seen anything so amazing as a child who can master the piano in a single day's worth of practice. Choco had a lot of fun playing the piano, and she asked Lumina if she could be her instructor from then on. Choco's talent inspires her to practice a little harder so that she can be the best instructor for Choco.

Fall 17, 2003

That afternoon, Lumina takes the book titled “The Spring of Snow”, and walks to Yuki's house carrying it. As she walks, she says to herself, “I'm sorry Choco. But even if you're going to hate me for this, Yuki still has to know the truth. Yuki is not your father, and only I can prove that. But even so, everything is going to be okay. Yuki told me that his feelings are not going to change. But I still have to let him know.” When she arrives at his house, she finds a note on his door saying that they have gone fishing. Lumina knows that the only place Yuki likes to fish is at the beach. So she turns around and starts heading there.

The Witch Princess has a free moment, so she decides to check on Choco. She waves her hand over the crystal ball, and sees that Choco is at the beach with Yuki. She smiles knowing that Yuki and Choco are bonding. But on the edge of the crystal ball, she notices Lumina hiding behind them.

She moves her attention to Lumina to see what she's doing. She panics as soon as she sees the book hidden behind her back. “No! Not that book! If Yuki reads that book, my plans will be ruined!”

Lumina remains hidden for a while watching Choco and Yuki fishing together like a father and daughter activity. Just before she decides to move closer, Choco's line catches a bite. The catch was too big for Choco to reel in alone, so Yuki grabs her rod, and helps her pull the fish in. A huge dorado measuring over a meter in length flies out of the water, and into the land where Yuki and Choco are sitting.

Yuki pats Choco on the head and says, “Great job! This will make an excellent dinner tonight!”

Yuki and Choco laugh cheerfully. At that moment, Lumina completely changes her mind about telling Yuki the truth about Choco. Even if Choco is not Yuki's daughter, Lumina has no right to take their happiness away.

Choco looks back, and notices Lumina standing there. She waves at her and says, “Lady! You came!”

Yuki looks back, and sees Lumina as well. “Hi there! You looking for us?”

Lumina holds the book tightly behind her and says, “No, I was just taking a walk. This was just a coincidence.”

Choco runs up to Lumina, and notices that she is hiding something behind her back. She quickly takes a peek and asks, “Is that a book you have there? Is it a good book? Can I read it?”

Lumina laughs and says, “no, it's just a boring old book. If you want, I can show you a really good book back at my home.”

Choco looks back at Yuki and says, “dad, can I?”

“Sure you can,” answered Yuki trying to wrestle with the fish. “I need to get this big fish home and cook it. Make sure you're home in time for dinner.”

“Okay!” cheered Choco, and then she walked off with Lumina back to the mansion.

Back in the Witch Princess' hut, she lets out a sigh of relief after seeing that Lumina is not going to show Yuki the book. She sits on her bed and says, “That was a close one. Who would have ever guessed that after all that time, Lumina would read that book again. But as long as Yuki is still clueless, I'm still satisfied.” She then takes a moment to think, and continues, “But I wonder what's taking that kid so long? Yuki should be suffering by now. . . I think I should check on things just in case.”

The Witch Princess walks over to her library of books, and pulls out a book labeled “Arcane Alchemy”, better known as “Black Magic”. She reads the incantation she needs to perform, and starts to set everything up. Using red chalk, she draws a demonic looking pattern inside a large circle. She then walks over to a caged rat and pulls it out. Using a knife, she stabs the rat in it's belly, and allows the blood to drip in the center of the circle. She drops the dead rat after the blood stops flowing, and reads the spell out loud:

“Oh Haljia, master of darkness and the realm of the dead. I call upon you to appear, and answer my question. I offer you this small sacrifice, so appear now!”

The center of the circle starts to radiate a dark cloud that consumes the dead rat. Slowly, a shadowy figure that takes the shape of a huge cloak appears. In the hood, a skull appears and skeleton hands appear from the sleeves. A giant sized dark colored sickle appears in it's right skeletal fist. No matter how frightening the shadowy master of death appears, Witch Princess is not afraid.

Two crimson colored glowing spheres appears in the eye sockets of the skull. The shadow figure looks at Witch Princess, and says, “Well, well. High alchemist Witch Princess, it's been a long time since we last met. What can I do for you?”

“Haljia, master of death. I have summoned you to answer a question.” said Witch Princess.

“I see. But I must remind you that there are several questions that I cannot answer. First of all, I cannot tell you the lifespan of humans and. . .”

The Witch Princess becomes annoyed with his disclaimers, and yells, “That's enough! I already know the rules from last time you were here. Now stop wasting my time, and tell me what I need to know!”

There was a pause for a moment, then the shadow figure says, “Very well then. What is your question?”

Witch Princess smirks and says, “The homunculus named Choco. I wish to know her remaining lifespan.”

The shadow takes a moment to think. It then answers, “The homunculus named Choco can only live a maximum of only 38 more days.”

Witch Princess nods and asks, “What about the minimum?”

“The minimum number of days that the homunculus named Choco has left to live. . . Has already expired.”