One shot. TakaGakiKame. Enjoy
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“I can’t wait to try the dessert, a fruit salad!” Reina exclaimed, setting her tray down next to Kamei’s.
Kamei poked at her own plate’s slice of pineapple, “I think it’s the appetizer, not the dessert. Maybe you can have mine…”
“That’s no way to treat your food!” Sayu protested, sitting down across from her.
“They’ll get lonely if you don’t eat them,” Gaki added with a grin. She forked the pineapple and leaned towards Kame, “Say aaaaahh…”
Kame made a face but she complied, “Ok mama…aaaahhh~”
Ai chan almost dropped her tray at the sight of the scene. Gaki feeding Kame off the end of her fork?! And she’d though it couldn’t get any worse after seeing them the week before emerge from the same hotel room in the morning. She couldn’t bear to continue looking as she passed them, let alone join the foursome, so she sat down at a table by herself. A cheerful Linlin joined her quicker than she expected, followed by unsurprisingly, Junjun.
“Takahashi san!” they greeted her in unison.
Ai chan half grinned in reply. She got the sense it came off as an off-standish smirk though. Linlin tried hesitantly to induce conversation about their lunch, but with Ai chan’s usual lack of response, she quickly lapsed into Chinese with Junjun. Out of the corner of her eye, Ai noticed Mittsi leaving the cafeteria with Reina hand in hand, both giggling over some joke unknown to her, meanwhile Sayu abandoned her table to get more food, leaving Gaki and Kame conveniently alone. Ai gouged her potato as she felt her blood pressure rise.
Her eyes turned back to her table only to realize Junjun was watching her, and smiling. She smiled back politely and then realized her face must be flushed from her anger. Ai chan looked down at her food and felt Junjun nudge her leg under the table. She suddenly realized she had lost her appetite. The food in her throat was lodged like a stone. First seeing the GakiKame duo together, and now this- sending the wrong signals to the wrong girl. Ai chan quickly got up to dispose of her largely untouched lunch, she had never known food could be so painful to swallow.
Ai chan decided to take a stroll through the studio.
It was all shenanigans. The girls that surrounded her, and the foolishness that went on between them on a day to day basis. She would have liked to believe she was the leader, the most experienced one who could view incidents like a spectator and expertly evaluate how they should be handled, but it was days like these that made her realize she was more wrapped up in the thick of it all than anyone else.
She sighed. There was another hour to kill before the afternoon dance lesson, what was she to do? Before she could make up her mind, a pair of arms came around her waist and restricted her movement.
“Heheh…” said a familiar muffled voice, “I gotcha!”
“Aha! The thief is in sight!” said another voice from down the hall.
Ai chan craned her neck back to see an umbrella wielding, high heel inhibited Reina racing towards her, or rather the Mitsui Aika behind her.
“Eeeeeeyahh, stand back! I’m holding Ai chan hostage!”
Ai chan almost rolled her eyes as she watched Mitsui Aika wave a cream puff, obviously what Reina wanted back, at her mock menacingly.
“Unhand her at once.” Ai chan’s heart skipped a beat as she watched Gaki suddenly appear to snatch the cream puff away from Mittsi, who jumped back in mock horror.
Reina stopped before them, taunting Mittsi with her umbrella, Ai chan noticed up close that it was a hello kitty one. The childish antics they engaged in sometimes, she almost wanted to cluck her tongue.
“Here you go!” Gaki san offered the cream puff with a smile, “Just kidding!” she added, just as Reina reached out to take it. Ai chan felt Gaki take her hand and she found herself racing down the hall, with Reina calling out behind them,
“Eeeeeeehhhhh?!” and then as they turned the corner a faint, “I’m going to get you!!!”
Stumbling through rooms, and accidentally a Berryz Kobo filming, they happened upon their usual dressing room. Gaki steered her into a dressing stall and snapped the curtain closed behind them. They crouched down to catch their breath.
Ai chan’s head was swimming, she felt as though she had a run a marathon. She was thankful for the cover of their run though, her heart was pounding for another reason, and not because Reina had just stepped into the room; Gaki was still holding her hand.
Reina’s heels thumped rhythmically across the floor. Gaki exchanged a mischievous look with Ai, and she bitinto the cream puff.
Reina’s pace quickened, “Aha I’ve found you!”
Gaki cursed under her breath.
The sound of curtain being drawn back echoed in the room.
“Eeeeeeyah! Reina you pervert, I’m changing!” Sayu’s voice rang out in protest.
Gaki and Ai stifled laughter as Reina apologized madly. She left the room at once.
Gaki collapsed on the floor with a sigh of relief, she’d finished the cream puff without being discovered. “Sayu, you saved us!”
“Ehh? More perverts?”
Ai laughed softly. She leaned back against the mirrored wall, eyeing her reflection. Her face was flushed but she hadn’t even realized she was smiling. She guessed she was pleased in some way; pleased to be with Gaki, she couldn’t hold back a wider grin at the
thought.
Gaki was watching her. Why did it seem like people were always watching her? Waiting for her to react- perhaps it was because she was the leader. There were high expectations for her to lead everyone, and to do it well. She had never felt she possessed the right qualities for leadership, she wasn't like Yossie, she couldn't compare to Yossie, or even Mikitty, perhaps it was why her life was getting to be so hard. She had a difficult job to undertake, and GakiKame weren’t helping.
She felt that bitter emotion rip through her again as Gaki left the stall. The long haired girl had gone off to find something in her bag. As she fumbled, she knocked over Ai chan’s bag and a glossy soft-covered book slid out just as Ai joined her.
“What’s this?” Ai tried to stop her, but it was too late, Gaki’s binocular vision had already spotted and recognized the figure on the cover. “Ai chan… why do you have my ‘Happy Girl’ photobook?”
Ai was momentarily stupefied. She hadn’t expected her guilty pleasure to be found out. What was she to do... her mind came up blank for an excuse.
“Because Gaki san is so cute.” Kame’s chin and two hands appeared on Gaki’s shoulder.
Ai chan felt her blood pressure rise again. “That was my line,” she blurted out accidentally. She surprised herself. She knew she must be blushing.
Gaki san grinned in reply and Kame retreated to Sayu’s company with nothing but a sly smile. The rest of the girls filed in as Ai chan stuffed the photobook sheepishly in her bag. It was time for their dance lesson.
A few hours of invigorating dancing in the afternoon always held the power to make amends and heal the wounds of their conflicts. Ai knew she wasn't the only one with problems, she could feel it and see in the eyes of the other members. Junjun and Linlin's struggle to fit in, it was a difficulty shared by Koharu, the single seventh generation didn't have common generation members to fall back on. Mittsi was working hard to make a place for herself in the group and stand out, just as she was trying to constantly improve herself, as was Reina as well. And there was Sayu, whom she knew must share her feelings of the GakiKame problem, and Kame's own rise in popularity. What went on in between the two of them she could only guess.
Hot and sweaty as she usually was after the lesson, and wincing from numerous bumps from JunJun, Ai chan headed to the cafeteria kitchens for water.
Outside the kitchens, there was a refreshment table, where Ai chan found a plate of fresh baked cream puffs. She paused for a moment, thinking of Gaki san back in the dressing room stall, powdered sugar on her lips and a smile on her face. Then another image of her, with that inquisitive look on her face, holding her photobook. Ai chan shifted uncomfortably. She still couldn't get over the embarassment. Then there was JunJun, she couldn't begin to imagine how to break it to the girl that they weren't about to jump on the next love boat. Sounds from the kitchen interrupted her troubled thoughts, and she sighed.
It was Kame's voice, fawning over Gaki san as usual. They had evidentally gone ahead of her for water.
Ai chan grit her teeth, picking up a cream puff and almost crushing it. She had had enough. She picked up the plate and took a step towards the kitchen. She would settle this once and for all.
Except that there was someone in the way. Someone who had materialized during her reverie without her notice. She was being watched again, and this time with cat-like eyes.
Ai chan opened her mouth to speak, but then paused, she didn’t want to rude and brush the other girl out of the way.
Especially since Reina’s cheeks were turning a fair shade of pink. “Ai chan…” she began, shifting her gaze, “You brought those for me?” she was hesitant in her speaking.
Ai chan almost fell over. She couldn’t believe such a misunderstanding could occur, and to make matters worse, GakiKame had appeared together at the kitchen doorway, watching the scene unfold.
“Well…” she replied unsteadily, “I suppose you can have them.” And without further ado Ai found her face buried in Reina’s mass of damaged hair. As the girl clung to her, and Ai struggled for air, new shapes appeared in the cafeteria.
It wasn’t hard to make out that one was tall and the other short. As they drew near, Ai chan could make out the deep set frown on JunJun’s face. She groaned, eyeing the plate of cream puffs she was still holding. Sometimes she wished she wasn’t the leader, there were far too many problems to deal with, problems to resolve; but even so she had to gone on and endure. Ai chan collected her resolve and readied her edible arsenal, she was ready for the next match of wits.
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This ended up being a lot longer than I originally expected it to be. It also went through a number of title changes until I settled on this one, I went with the cream puff idea since it suits the randomness of the story and Momusu itself. Even so, I think I did a good deal of exploration of Ai’s leadership and the internal workings and conflicts of the group. Hopefully you liked?
Topic: Food For Thought (Read 4854 times)