bulubulbilu: I'd not say it's a deep love story; at least, it's not like those melodramatic love stories in heartfelt dramas. Rather, it's a story that's more closely related to what a real life love story would be. No climax, no misunderstanding, no romantic scenes, but still bittersweet nonetheless.
Here is chapter 1. Enjoy
. Comments are appreciated as always.
~Chapter 1: Before I Came To Realized~
Twice yearly on average, Atsuko would receive some news from Takamina; a long letter on her birthday hastily written on a train or car with incoherent words pushing each other following the natural spinning order of the wheel; usually, a phone call would follow suit a new months later. It had always taken place around the same time every year, but Atsuko never knew the reason behind those calls. For some god-knows-what reasons, Takamina would always feel lonely in November.
Occasionally, they talked to each other more often, though it was usually hard to coincide with Takamina's petite free schedule. This same issue also arose with her other friends. It always made her upset and angry having to leave another message in Mariko's voice-mail box. Nevertheless, it was also the reason which made their reunion more joyful. Last year, when Atsuko came back to Tokyo to celebrate her mother's birthday, she had gotten drunk altogether with Mariko, Tomochin and Miichan while joyfully chitchatting in their native language without feeling awkward and embarrassing as opposed to her new place. Although she had refined her English speaking skills after all those years, she would always try to speak every words slowly and clearly in order for others to understand.
She also got to reunite with Takamina in that occasion - though only for about half an hour - as Takamina was preparing to depart for France when Atsuko came back to Tokyo. They decided to meet at Narita, sitting together in the VIP room and drinking coffee. As much as Atsuko needed more than half an hour to catch up to her true happenings, that moment didn't last long.
Therefore, whenever someone asked Atsuko, the answer would remain as one: Takamina is busy, and still in good health.
When Takamina, out of the blue, called Atsuko on a day of July telling her that as she would be having a bit of free time, she would like to go visit her, Atsuko wasn't really sure what had caused this sudden surprise.
Atsuko could still remember very clearly that, during the time period of which she had made the decision of quitting PJ48 at 21, Takamina hadn't been able to talk to her in the next few months, supposedly two or three months due to the mountain of work for which she had to make preparations. One day before the official announcement, Takamina had come to give her encouragement, touched her hair and wished her great health; nevertheless, she still couldn't face her honestly. And that, coupled with Yuko's terrifying shock, Haruna's silence, Miichan's tears and Mariko's worry had made the world where she was about to step in an unfamiliar and dark place, like a desert with endless destinations occupied by demons and spirits. There was absolutely not a single trustworthy friend for her to lean on. Those feelings didn't last long as the excitement of traveling from one city to another had quickly replaced it.
Those first few months, if she had to speak honestly, were horrible. There were times she had to settle on inconvenient beds made of messy sheets and blankets at some cheap, boring inn meant for individual tourists. She lied there thinking about how it would feel like if her friends were here with her right now, even only Takamina or Mariko would do. If it was with Mariko, she would drag her to the bar engaging in chats with guys, pretending to be experienced at these frat parties befitting that of a debauched lifestyle. If it was with Takamina she wouldn't have to resort to that, because she could just tell her to get on the bed with her as she wishes and both of them would lie together on those itchy bed sheets.
In those months; Atsuko had been regularly sending mails to Takamina and the responses she received in return - although worded in different ways - always carried the same meaning: I'm fine, everyone's fine, I'll call you soon. But no phone calls ever came. She couldn't even call her because she never picked up. Until one day when Atsuko was in Brazil, when she couldn't endure these worries and paranoids anymore, coupled with a small green pill given to her by an elder woman on the same trip, she decided to dial Takamina's number. One call, another call, followed by many other calls throughout hours. As she squatted down on the floor beneath a sink in a female restroom at some bar, Takamina finally answered the call, just as Atsuko's strength had almost been drenched out of her body. She had spent two hundred dollars just to leave a message.
"Has something happened?" Takamina - who finally picked up the phone - asked. Her voice sounded tired, as if she was running out of breath. Atsuko could also sense a hint of anger in Takamina's words.
"You haven't been talking to me." Atsuko replied, leaning on the stone-laced wall. A woman was standing in front of the sink doing some re-touch flicks to her lipstick. She looked at her heels and saw dirty, twirly leather-made straps.
A long moment of furious silence came from Takamina. "Acchan!" she gritted her teeth "I've received 85 missed calls from you. When I looked at the phone, I thought that some respectful doctor had been trying to call me to announce about your death."
"Even if I really died you wouldn't care about it." Atsuko sulkily said, and Takamina immediately hung up. Next day, Atsuko had been trying to call her to apologize, intentionally leaving out the one fact about that little pill so that she wouldn't have to hear another lecture. Takamina had been gruntingly criticizing non-stop throughout that phone call but at the very least, she did answer the phone.
oOo
Atsuko was driving to the airport to pick up Takamina. It was a warm winter day with sunlight rays shifting through sluggishly floating clouds, brightening and filling the city up with a sentiment of happiness. It was better than Atsuko's last visit when the city was drowned in gloomy, despondent squalls of rain. Driving the ancient-styled Bon Jovi, she had been singing along the way until arriving at the parking lot. Takamina would most likely get mad at her late arrival.
When Atsuko had managed to slip through to the international exit, she saw Takamina stand there leaning on a pole near a magazine stall, her eyes covered by a pair of high quality black-yellow sunglasses. She was always tiny like that. Atsuko had never noticed this fact when they were still in Japan; but here, being surrounded by big abdomen foreign men and high-heeled, long-legged women, she looked to be even tinier, not to mention that she was also wearing a big fur coat. Her sunglasses slid off her nose as Atsuko called out her name, sprinting to her.
"Hi!" Takamina said, just in time for Atsuko to devotedly hug her.
Takamina immediately felt uncomfortable being engulfed in her arms, visibly uncomfortable, especially in this large crowd. But Atsuko didn't care. Her body emitted a strawberry-flavored perfume and that scent of Akihabara studio, just like when they were younger. Atsuko was rocking left and right, then she came to realize that Takamina was slightly shaking, her tiny hands tightly gripped on the leather jacket around her.
"Welcome to Australia." Atsuko spoke in English after releasing the hug with the same bright smile that would attract anyone to smile along.
“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.” Takamina replied, without bowing.
---
Takamina took a suspenseful glance at the inside of Atsuko's car, wondering how could a girl in her 20's be leaving such a huge mess in her car's back seat, what with all those shopping bags disorderly scattered everywhere. However, she only stayed silent about it.
"It's ancient style." Atsuko spoke after they had gotten into the car. That wasn't the truth though, but as Takamina didn't have much knowledge about cars, she would believe right away if Atsuko had told her that the worn-out car she used to drive in German was an incredibly rare model ceased to be produced since the 30's.
"I see." Takamina unsurely said. "It's very beautiful."”
It had always been like this whenever they reunited after a long time. Takamina would act politely and distantly, anticipating any signs from Atsuko regarding their previous relationship. But afterwards she would calm down and the sociable manner would then be replaced by small, non-relevant fights between them. They had known each other for 10 years. Atsuko suddenly felt admirable as she came to realize this obvious truth.
"I can't believe that you are now here." Atsuko said "I'm really happy."
"Thanks for picking me up." Takamina said in that same polite and careful tone. "I should have contacted you more frequently, I'm sorry for this inconvenience."
"Don't speak to me in that distant tone." Atsuko angrily interrupted, "There's nothing inconvenient about it."
"Simon is a stranger to me. " Takamina leaned her head on the car's window as it was leaving the parking lot, staring at the outside landscape. Atsuko remembered clearly the first time she had come here; she was trying to look for kangaroo and alligators everywhere. Takamina would never do that; and even if she did, she would not admit it. "I feel that it would become a nuisance for Simon just because of that short message." she said.
"Simon has been anticipating to see you." Atsuko determinedly said. "He was chirping to me the whole morning about what you can eat and what you can't, how fluently your english is, if you like animals, or kids, if you'll like elders, beach, dogs, if you drink beers, how you drink coffee, if you'll get cold, if you'll like a lavender-scented or vanilla-scented filled bathroom."
In all honesty, Simon only got to know a few of Atsuko's friends, which meant he only got to see Mariko once in less than a day when she came to Sidney for her photobook shoot, Yuko once when she stopped by for her next flight to New Zealand, and Tomochin once when they encountered each other in London by chance. This was the first time her friend had taken the initiative for a stayover, which was why he had been enthusiastically making preparations.
"Does he know about us?" Takamina asked straight to the point.
There was one time when a classmate of Atsuko discovered a photo of her and Takamina together on her bed as she was nosily rummaging through Atsuko's stuffs. Those photos weren't really clear, not even a close-up, but those were not the flirting, fan-service type of photos usually seen on magazines. It was extremely intimate as Atsuko's face was snuggled up close to the exposing curves on Takamina's bare neck, they both looked happy. She didn't know about them. Consequently, despite Atsuko's every last effort to explain that they had stopped keeping in contact completely after that incident, the issue came to an end with a dramatic tear-filled scene accompanied by harsh words in front of Takamina's house. That time, Takamina didn't talk to Atsuko for a week straight.
"Well," Atsuko said. "He knows that I used to date girls. He has to know after all."
Atsuko and Simon met each other two years ago when she was in pursuing her roommate for discretely stealing the savings that she had brought along for traveling expenses. Simon had to comfort and suggested her coming to Australia for sightseeing, as well as helping him keep an eye on his house. After numerous challenges directed toward this new opposite sex friend to test his credibility, Atsuko decided to follow him, just because she had nothing else to do otherwise.
"Does he know that you used to date me?" Takamina frowned, a familiar gesture whenever she tries to control herself.
"I don't know!" Atsuko moaned. "He probably does. I'm not sure. He knows that I used to date girls, and he also knows that you're really special to me, so...probably a yes?"
"You should tell him." Takamina clumsily smiled. "You're not good at keeping secrets from the person you love."
...
A long trip, probably longer than two and a half hours if Atsuko had driven like a maturely experienced and calm driver, something she was trying to show with Takamina's presence in the car. But she wasn't fully conscious to notice anyway; somewhere out on the outskirts of Sydney, Takamina had leaned her back against the seat and fell asleep, her chin buried inside the fur coat. Atsuko tried not to glance at her too much, but every time when she checked on the rear-view mirror, that sight slipped past her eyes. A pang of vague joyfulness wiped over her. Takamina's lips pressed together showing a sign of nervousness, plus she seemed to be exhausted, as if she hadn't slept for a whole year straight. But now she was here and they hadn't gotten into a fight yet. Atsuko felt like a very important part of her family was sleeping peacefully in her car.
As they were about to arrive in town, Atsuko woke her up so that she could appreciate the ocean's blue surface spreading endlessly far into the horizon. Takamina rubbed her eyes, still looked sleepy and murmured something incoherent, but she was obviously impressed by the beautiful sight before her. Slightly straightening up her sitting position, Takamina traced her eyes along the gulls flying on the sunset sky.
"We should probably rent a surfing board. You may surf freely as you like." Atsuko sounded eagerly. She never learned surfing, not until Simon taught her. Atsuko didn't like doing what she's not good at. She only loved watching Takamina playing with the waves as her face became joyfully amused, hairs stuck with sands and sea salts, and shoulders turned a bright pink color inherited from the ocean sun. Meanwhile, Atsuko only liked securing a seat on the sand accompanied by a manga and an ipod next to a bag of food.
"Probably." was all Takamina said before falling into sleep.
oOo
The dog - Memory - was lying on the front yard with its eyes hidden beneath the plume of furs as Atsuko pulled the car in. Even though Simon had bathed it as Atsuko departed for the airport, a couple pieces of dry grasses still stubbornly stuck on its shaggy fur. Memory lifted its head and stood on hind legs as it saw a silhouette stepping out of the car while the two of them were trying to haul Takamina's suitcase out from the back seat.
"I didn't know you already have a child." Takamina suddenly asked.
"Nani?" Atsuko asked back, dropping her bag.
Takamina nudged her chin toward Memory, "It looks identical to you."
"Hey!" Atsuko resentfully screamed even though it was kinda true, well scratch that - it was entirely true. Even when standing next to Memory, she still looked tiny, or is it because Memory was too large? Atsuko wasn't really sure. Takamina broke into a laughter, walked toward the dog and leaned down scratching its ears.
"Kawaii!" Takamina exclaimed in her familiar childish voice commonly used when playing with kids or animals. Their heads were at the same level as the dog leaned up smelling Takamina's hairs, then to the collar of her fur coat making her stumble - almost tripping - which resulted in another bursting laughter from her.
Simon appeared at the door and smiled at Takamina tripping on the door steps without a word.
"Konichiwa, Takahashi-san." he greeted in a horrendous Japanese tongue.
"Hajimemashite." Takamina slightly bowed her head in response.
"Well..."He glanced over at Atsuko.
"He actually doesn't speak Japanese." She told Takamina. "Just showing off."
"I see", was Takamina's reply.
oOo
Takamina had brought along a slightly expensive Shochu and Atsuko's favorite daifuku purchased from a small store located on the ever-familiar road on their way home since childhood.
Atsuko disappointingly asked "This is all you brought me?"
"I don't even know if you deserve to have these things." Takamina rolled her eyes, as if Atsuko was a naughty kid who only deserves to get a piece of charcoal on Christmas' Eve. "Hold on!"
She disappeared into the guest room and returned with a Louis Votton bag which looked similar to those used by elderly women, only bigger. As she started pulling out a multi-color shirt from within the bag, Simon stepped out from the kitchen with a tray holding coffee mugs acquired from different clubs on his hand. He placed down a mug of a slantly printed logo of a surfing club in faded red lettering.
"Thanks." Takamina said in English. For a moment, that unnecessary high register voice made Atsuko feel that if she had only looked outside the window, she would catch a glimpse of the previously familiar studio in Shibuya .
Takamina pushed the bright red present toward her. It was from Mariko consisting a bunch of photos, a shirt and a few jewelries from Tomochin's latest collection, in addition with miscellaneous things from her mother. She couldn't believe that her mom had made Takamina bring these things over from the other half of the Earth: socks, underwear, small magazine pieces cut out from local newspapers reporting on her high school friend's marriage. She had started sending such things to her since a few months ago, hoping that she would be able to quickly find a good man (Japanese)for marriage and have adorable kids, then settling at Tokyo.
On the contrary, the present from AKB48 looked like it had been tossed away in the costume room for months, probably because no one remembered to send it to her. A letter from Sayaka dated from three months ago, a CD with numerous scribbling signatures from members on the front, a recent drama DVD of Rena and Jurina, a high quality copy of Mayu's acoustic solo, a non-mistakenly Yuko-styled T-shirt with bright red petals dancing around a guitar, and a bonus of her and Haruna's son's one-inch thick photo album plastered by his smiles which looked exactly like his mother's.
"Thank you." Atsuko said and taped a photo of the boy Oshima Kenji on the fridge door.
...
Ignoring Atsuko's full disappointment, Takamina excused herself and retreated to her room at nightfall. The guest room appeared dead silence behind that closed door.
"Well that really killed the mood." Atsuko moaned. She sat on the floor leaning against Simon's feet as he was sitting on the couch. Using a remote, her hand lazily switched TV channels at a constant pace. The local TV channel was broadcasting a long serious of reality show about nurses and their burdens. Atsuko liked it because scenes of nurses walking out to the beach in a bikini reminds her of her days with the group while Simon liked it for its beneficial medical knowledge.
"She must be tired after a long flight." Simon said with a slight tone of reprimanding. Takamina and he had struggled in limited conversations restricted within the framework of sign language and difficult pronunciations . Takamina's vocabulary was better than Atsuko had thought, but it was still the same old way of forming a sentence by connecting words together, or repetitions of the same word and pointing at various subjects as a point of affiliation. There was no need to comment on Simon's Japanese; it was horrible and meaningless. However, he was really good at word-guessing game.
"Well...it's not that there hasn't been any changes." Atsuko sounded disagreeing. "Within all those years of knowing each other, I had never seen her sleeping more than 4 hours a night, so why this habit now?"
"Her energy must have been drained out from all those works." He laughed out lout, reached up to grab the remote control out of her hand from behind. At this close proximity, she smelt a strange odor of body wash coming off of him. It made Atsuko keep thinking about Thai cuisines.
"She was sleeping the whole time on our way home, plus almost the entire time on the plane previously. She's probably planning to sleep into a coma."
"She really is a bad kid." Simon commented, angry that he didn't get the attention as desired.
"As long as she's staying in this house she will have to pay attention to you." Atsuko pouted. If Simon wasn't here, she would have crash-jumped into that room, pushed Takamina down with her own weight, and snuggled her face into her chest to sleep. But even so, she didn't want to do it now as Takamina was very tired while she wasn't, and she never liked to be alone.
Simon burst out laughing and pulled her ear while humming. "You love her...You want to marry her..."
"Yeah," Atsuko suddenly answered affirming the fact, then turned silent. Her silence only made him more confused.
"Oh...really!" He was still in the surprised mode after this discovery by chance, and all he could do was to say "Oh"
"Yeah..."
"So...you and her were?" Simon asked in his non-timbre high voice.
"Kinda..." She moved her feet on the floor mat, trying to cause a distraction.
"How...well, for how long?"
"I don't know." Atsuko answered " On and off.."
"On and off, for how long?"
She tried to pull out a number without success. They quarreled many times over Takamina's undivided attention to work once she had dived into it. It was also because Atsuko loved adventures, as well as loved spoiling herself with tons of plans planted in mind needed to be accomplished. On the contrary, Takamina only wanted to live a stable, peaceful live with her family and millions of fans. There were times when they would not be speaking seriously to each other for months as Atsuko was busy with her filming schedules or Takamina was fully engaged to her upcoming PV promotional plans. Then one day, Atsuko would only need to make a phone call and ask "What are you doing?" and everything would go back to normal.
"We met each other when we were 14.."Atsuko started reminiscing. Simon's face didn't bear any expressions which made it difficult to tell if he was feeling miserable or just merely being uncomfortable. Usually if he feels down, he would caress his skull-faced necklace and scream into her face. Atsuko wasn't so sure about it though.
"You two slept with each other at 14." His voice sounded surprised, with a hint of suspension mixed in.
"No." Atsuko almost shouted "No, that's ridiculous. Takamina was still very innocent back then!"
"You're just avoiding it." Simon also shouted, the method he always used when Atsuko loses control. Atsuko scowled at him as he continued asking: "Then you two were...lovers?"
They weren't lovers, they never were. Takamina had always said that they were no longer a couple. Expired existence was good. They weren't supposed to go any farther.
"I don't know, not quite." She said so because Takamina belonged to her in a way in which she would never understand.
This probably was the most clumsy conversation ever in her life up until now. She had never explained to anyone about her and Takamina's previous relationship, nor had she ever defined it herself. Takamina was Takamina, Atsuko was Atsuko, and they were Atsumina before they even wanted, even before Atsuko came to understand the reason.
"When was the last time that you two slept together?" He finally asked without hesitation.
"It was a long while ago." Atsuko lied. "I don't remember either."
...
A couple of years ago, Atsuko and Takamina met each other in Osaka, after Atsuko had almost gotten on her knees to beg Takamina for them to meet somewhere with just the the two of them. They went as far as renting a poor, shabby inn near city central consisting of a shared bathroom/toilet with scraps of paint flaking off the wall's surfaces pieces by pieces, like lesions on a patient suffering from chronic skin infection.
"Just standing here is already enough to make me sick." Takamina said as she walked through the entrance door, her roughly-made woolen bag conveniently got dropped off on the bed. They went to grocery stores and bought three-day worth of foods, then stayed shut in their room for that same amount of time while surrounded by funky-looking pink bed sheets. Occasionally, they would take a stroll around the city at night to avoid attention. Atsuko liked those times a lot because Takamina never rejected her from intertwining and squeezing their hands together under the excuse of precautious measures against perverted jerks hidden behind dark alleys with the intention of sexually harassing young, beautiful girls...like herself, for instance.
If she had to go to strange, faraway places, Atsuko liked to go with Takamina as she wouldn't have to put on a courageous front. It was good to be scared.
oOo
Atsuko woke up early in the morning to take Memory out for a stroll at the beach. The golden sunlight gradually appeared in the grey sky, signaling the arrival of a new day. The puppy loved to run around her, allowing the morning breeze to sneak under its fur. It barked at Atsuko and started digging sea shells buried beneath the sand. Atsuko made a long, happy whistle, or at least, she tried to make it sound happy. She was never good at whistling. By having her lips squeezed against each other, she blew out a whistle but the air only got out halfway, like those little birds learning how to chirp in anime films. She gave up after a few hours, fully satisfied lying on the sand and humming some chorus she could still remember from one of AKB's old songs.
When she came back, Takamina was standing besides the long stool in the kitchen. She was wearing a long hooded, woolen sweater stretching all the way down to her knee and a soft-clothed pajama trouser which, altogether, had completely blocked her toes or fingers from sight.
"Hi," Takamina lazily greeted in the exact same sleepy tone she used to whisper into Atsuko's ears when they woke up in the middle of a tour trip or when their bodies tightly pressed against each other on a shared bed at a hotel. Sleeping with Takamina made even the blankets and mattress having a home-made flavor.
"Hi." Atsuko replied, walking over to the fridge for some milk and orange juice. "Waken up already?"
"Yeah." Takamina turned around, leaning on the long stool facing Atsuko, one of her arms crossed in front of her chest, the other dangling on the side of her waist.
"I thought you had fallen into an eternal sleep without ever waking up." Atsuko said
Takamina slightly laughed. "I intended to do so."
Atsuko was making coffee blended by three teaspoonfuls of salt and half-a-cup of milk, like her own little 14-year-old self years ago, but Takamina crinkled up her nose asking herbal tea.
"For sure?" Atsuko asked reaffirming.
Takamina stared at Atsuko emotionless. She did use to drink coffee frequently. Starting the morning with a large cup of Starbuck coffee would fill her up with enough strength for that day's work. Occasionally, when she had to spend a sleepless night learning songs and choreography, she would become drowsy or wacky due to the body's inability to absorb all those caffeinated ingredients residing in her bloodstream.
"Drinking a lot of coffee won't do any good to your health." Takamina said in a serious tone.
Atsuko then proceeded to make her a cup of minted tea which she had found in a bag hidden behind the food stall. She had given up her tea-drinking habit since leaving Japan whereas Simon thought that drinking tea wouldn't yield any benefits.
"I've told Simon about us." Atsuko said after finishing her coffee. She walked over to the sink to wash the mug. "Something like that. What I meant is, it's difficult to clearly explain everything."
"That's true." Takamina replied, her hand cupped around the white China mug, eyes focusing on the watery substance inside as if she was trying to read something out of the tea leaves. Her cell phone - which was laid on the table - started vibrating; however, she paid no attention to it. "Sometimes I wish that someone would be able to explain it to me."
Sometimes, Atsuko would find Takamina's serious way of talking funny and tickling, as if someone had grabbed the two kidneys and twisted them as one would to an educational model type used in Chinese medical universities.
"I will explain to you." Atsuko concluded in a silly, flirting tone which clumsily found its way into the solitary wall built up from Takamina's nerve-wrecking silence. But when Takamina glanced up looking at her in a suspectful way, she could only remain quiet while showing a toothy grin.
"Acchan, that's too bad." She slowly said, "With my principle I shouldn't have dated you."
"That principle should have kicked in since you were 16, 17. I like your easy-going way more." Atsuko pretended to sigh.
"It's because you were a lazy brat." Takamina carefully sipped her tea as if she had never gone through that dreamy 17-year-old teen-hood, as if she had never - even once - pulled Atsuko behind the curtain to steal a kiss.
Atsuko laughed out lout and turned away. "I'm taking a shower. Have to go to work afterwards."
"Okay." Takamina replied, "Hey." her vocal range suddenly rose. "I want to talk to you about something. Are you free after work? I'll treat you dinner."
Atsuko frowned. She didn't like how Takaminan had been holding the mug by her mouth and the wavy liquid lingered at her lips. "What is it?"
Takamina placed down the mug "Nothing much. You're almost late for work."
...
Three days a week, Atsuko would go to a small primary school to teach music. She used small games and simple lessons as was taught in her early days at Akihabara, only skipping the hair-styling part and make-up methods on how to appeal attractively when singing. Atsuko played piano for the kid's harmonization in happy-go-lucky songs like "Merry-go-around" or "Twinkle Twinkle Stars". She came to a small drinking pub in town few times a week, although she honestly didn't like that place much either.
Right now she was taking a break after a morning class - a class consisting a mix of second, third, and fifth grade students. A small incident from the previous class was giving her a heavy headache. As a result, a keyboard suffered her full wrath as she was checking for e-mails.
A message from her mother reminding her not to forget her grandmother's birthday, a few gag mails from Yuko, an Asahi magazine long-term order to which she had applied since who-knows-how-long but never read. As she was about to delete everything, Takamina's name popped up at the title header and she hurriedly clicked on it before finishing reading:
"Idol Takahashi Minami (26 years old) has been diagnosed of a strange disease."
AKB48's representative has recently confirmed the news of Takahashi Minami being diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma. This pillar star of AKB48 has secretly left the company without leaving any trace of her whereabouts behind. Her friends and members from the band still put their firm believe in Takahashi-san's ability to overcome this life-threatening disease and are calling out to the public to respect Takahashi-san's family privacy in their time of hardship."
Topic: [G - Trans] Filling Up Memories (AtsuMina) - COMPLETED (Read 16836 times)