Chapter 338: Stronger Resolve
"Jin? It\'s not Jin, it can\'t be him." She said mechanically, not really in control of what she was saying or thinking.
"I\'m so sorry mum." He moved in to hug her, but she was still processing it. Everything had gone blank for her.
All of them wore gloomy expressions. Like children being scolded, they didn\'t quite know how to insert themselves into the conversation but they decided to leave it to Hiro. As much as he said he couldn\'t lie to her, he was doing a pretty good job keeping himself composed.
"Jin isn\'t dead, he\'s just missing, just missing." She said her mind not all there yet.
Hiro didn\'t like seeing his mum in that much emotional distress, he wanted to cry with her but it wasn\'t the time. He\'d had his fill, now it was time to hold his mother while she grieved for her husband.
"You won\'t recognise him at first, but it\'s him." He told her softly, guiding her to the back of the vehicle.
"I\'m sure you\'ve been watching the news, I\'m sure you saw the video about what has been going on, well mum dad was part of the kidnapped. They did something to his body so it\'s bigger than you remember.
"He died trying to save as many kids as possible. In a way, it was honourable. He was the Jin you loved and married until the very end." His eyes were teary at this point.
His friends simply watched without saying anything. Nikolai was especially emotional at the scene before him, he\'d lost his mother way too young but he still remembered her love and her death that was right in front of his eyes.
He caught himself shedding a tear, which he quickly wiped away. Felix saw this and squeezed his shoulder for support.
They watched as Hiro opened the back of the car and then the transparent casket Jin laid in. It took her a second to absorb it all, then everything hit her at once, a blood-curdling scream that tore through their hearts was heard.
Hiro tried to hold on to her but she pushed him away, trying to walk towards the body on her own she fell on the thinly veiled by snow asphalt road.
He stumbled towards her trying his best not to cry, seeing his mother like this shattered his heart into a thousand pieces. He knelt down in front of her and held her into a tight embrace. Doing what Kiro did for him, trying to calm her down.
Kiyoko\'s cries didn\'t die down once. It was a wonder the neighbours couldn\'t hear, though it was expected, the estates were very large and people mostly kept to themselves.
It took her several minutes to want to get up again, Hiro helped her up and walked her closer to the body. She extended her hands to touch his body, it wasn\'t anything she remembered because it was hardened but his kind expression was still there, she wouldn\'t mistake that for anything.
He looked really bad, it was clear he\'d went through a lot. The gashes, the cuts, old and new made him look like a different person.
"He\'s not dead, he\'s just resting, right?" She asked unconsciously tears streaming down her face.
"Yes mum. He\'s resting now." A lump cought itself in his throat as he said.
Hiro nodded to his friends, he walked towards their house, ushering his mum. He didn\'t trust that she could do it on her own.
Kiro called his mother over first, they then held the casket together and walked towards the Misaki estate. It would be a hard weeks or even months ahead for them, but this was closure instead of never knowing where he ended up.
"Ki, why aren\'t you at school, what\'s happening?" Freya clearly ran because she was almost out of breath.
"Something bad happened, she needs you." He pointed to the house.
She looked at the house, then the casket, then her son sceptically. She walked in anyway and understood immediately when she saw the state Kiyoko was in.
"You can go baby." She told Hiro while embracing him.
Hiro left them. They had to prepare to bury him, his mother wouldn\'t be able to do anything, he was sure of that. He felt relief that Freya came, he was just a child too the emotions were too much for him. He was glad Isao wasn\'t there at the moment.
Jin Misaki was buried in the estate the next day, dying at just 35 years old. Yuri had to be pulled out of school for the funeral. The only families apart from the Waynworths that came were Khans and Silvas.
The funeral was kept concealed for many important reasons. The most important being that, the man who kept Jin and experimented on him lived in the same neighbourhood as them. Finding out about this would prove difficult for Kiro and his friends, there would be questions and suspicions.
"I can\'t believe he\'s really gone." Hiro sighed, standing next to Kiro having a drink.
"This will sound cheesy but as long as you remember him, he\'ll still be alive for a long time." He said taking a swig of his drink.
"You\'re right, that was cheesy." He chuckled.
Kiro smiled, glad that his friend could still crack jokes despite what him and his family were going through. They stood at the balcony of the back complex building, looking down at the service that was done by now, people were just helping tidying up.
"Hey Ki, about what my dad said, about your grandfather—"
"It\'s okay," he cut him off, he didn\'t need to hear an apology not from him. "Lil and Zak told me that it was something my grandfather wished for." He tried to soothe his guilt not wanting anything to change between them.
"I don\'t want you to doubt my resolve. This experience makes me want to do more to ensure someone else doesn\'t go through this." He mumbled.
"I know you do!" He hit him on the back.