I really enjoy procrastinating... I'm so screwed for school. As per request from the Dino I'm going to post up the fic that I wrote for her.
Mata Ne - Nonaka Misato, Matsui Sakiko, Umeda Ayaka
It was a rather normal day at the theater, nothing out of the ordinary. Except tonight was Team K’s performance and all the members but Nonaka Misato was here for rehearsal. “Have you tried phoning her?” Sayaka asked concernedly, the thought running through her mind being ‘It isn’t like Micha to skip rehearsal.’ “I tried; it keeps on giving me the voicemail.” Umeda said while continuing to frantically phone her best friend. Everyone was huddled on the stage trying to figure out where Misato was. That is everyone except her other best friend, Matsui Sakiko.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this… Something just doesn’t feel right.” Sakiko muttered to herself while sitting at the back of the theater, away from the others. “We can’t postpone the rehearsal any later. We will just have to call someone to fill in for her tonight.”Announced Togosaki ushering all the girls to get ready, while he phoned one of the Team 4 members to substitute for Nonaka.
With the arrival of Abe Maria, the rehearsal kicked off despite the worried looks that everyone shared. There was an uneasy air that filled the theater no matter how much Sae and Yuko tried to distract everyone. Rehearsal ended and everyone fell into a web of silence, nobody was willing to talk about the thoughts that were running wild in their heads at that moment.
The time of the performance slowly creeped closer as they each tried to push out whatever thoughts filled their heads and put on a smile for the viewers. “Come on guys! We still have to perform, put a smile on your face.” Sayaka said trying to cheer everyone up. “She’s right…” muttered Sakiko from next to Umeda, they were holding hands tightly. Everyone turned their attention to the two, who tried their best to put on a smile and slowly everyone else around them put on their brightest smiles. It was work time.
Everything was going well, until the MC portion of the performance when Togosaki walked onto stage interrupting Yuko who was in the middle of a joke. He had a serious look on his face, and all the members knew what the announcement was going to be about. Everyone else below the stage looked on with anticipation but little did they know the words to leave his mouth were, “This afternoon, a little after 2:00pm one of our members were involved in a fatal accident. As management, we believe that it would be best to cancel the theatre performance for the sake of the members. The one involved in the accident, was our own Team K’s Nonaka Misato. Who was announced dead on arrival from her injuries, I am truly sorry and offer my condolences to everyone.”
A little less than 3 hours ago -
Nonaka Misato was staring at her cell phone, it was almost time to gather at the theatre and she was going to be late at the rate that this taxi was going. “Do you think we could go-“ She started to ask the taxi driver beside her, but suddenly felt her body jerk forward hitting the dashboard of the car. “Ugh, feels like I had too much to drink again.” She muttered to herself, trying to pull herself up but she felt something crushing her body. “W-what’s going on?” she thought to herself while beginning to freak out, she could feel blood trickling from the side of my head. The taxi she was in had been rammed into by a bus hitting Micha’s side of the car. It had effectively deformed the shape of the car and on impact Micha’s head had hit the dashboard at an alarming rate. ‘Am I going to die? Here? Now? I pray to the gods that they wouldn’t take my life away so soon, I still had so much more with life.’ She thought to herself, finding that it was getting hard to even keep her eyes open. People started to flash through her head, Mom, Dad, Ayaka, Sakiko. ‘I-I can’t die now, Sakiko still owes me a meal! I still need to beat those two and become center of senbatsu! I-I still have so much things to tell them.’ With that thought she felt herself getting dizzy and falling into a slumber, an eternal slumber.
-
“No. We’ll continue with the performance.” Sayaka said strongly despite the tears gushing out of her eyes, “We’ll continue for Micha’s sake, she wouldn’t want to see us stopping midway just to grieve for her.” Everyone else just nodded their head, afraid that they would break down if they were to even say a thing.
“Thank you all for coming tonight.” Concluded Sayaka who was the only one who had stopped crying by the end of the show. Bowing one last time, the performance for the night ended and everyone rushed back to the dressing room. Back in the dressing room everyone broke down into tears once again, hugging whoever was closest to them and trying to seek words of comfort. That is everyone but the two best friends of the deceased; they just stood at the door staring lifelessly into the eyes of one another.
Yuko looked up from the crying Tomomi who she was trying to calm down and noticed the two lifeless members. “Tomomi, everything’s going to be alright. Go to Sayaka, I need to talk with Umechan and Sakippe.” She whispered into the whimpering Tomomi’s ear before gently guiding her to Sayaka. Taking a deep breath she walked towards the door where the two were standing.
Putting a hand on Umechan’s shoulder she asked the two if they were alright only to get no reply. After trying to coax a reply out of the two a couple more times, Yuko walked back towards Sayaka and whispered into her ears, “It’s like they’ve set up a shield for themselves, and won’t allow anyone through it. They won’t reply to me at all.”
No matter what the other members tried to do, they just continued to stare at each other as if they were in another world. They just stood there staring at each other and ignored every one of the members, only slightly moving aside when one of the members gave up and left. It didn’t matter if the members left, they weren’t being disrespectful, and they just all had their own way of coping with the loss of a dear friend.
Days continued and everyone soon came to understand that their tears would do nothing to bring back a beloved member. Many of them choose to be like Umeda who put all her emotions into dance practice and schedules hoping that it would be able to numb away the pain. Umeda knew that she and Sakiko had to continue on for Micha’s sake, they were the ones left to fulfil her dream. Although it was criticized, AKB48 continued with their performances and activities despite the loss of a member. The only thing that changed was that every single member in AKB48, even a lot of the members from the sister groups started wearing a pin on their chest. The pin was created by the only remaining member of 6th gen, Takajo Aki of Team A. The design was simple, a hand drawn lily with “美”written on top of it.
While Umeda was working herself to death and making everyone worry about her well being, Sakiko had chosen another way of grieving. She chose to lock herself at home in the piano room that Micha and her often spent their days in. Skipping class, lessons, and her few schedules she continued to furiously play the music that she had once played for Micha. They both had their own way of grieving but like all the other members, they made it there for performances. That is because every single one of them knew that Micha who was always there for theatre shows would not want them to cancel them just for her sake.
Theatre shows continued and if anything, the two shined even more brightly than before because they were no longer performing just for themselves and the audience. They were also performing on behalf of Micha, who although was no longer physically by their side they both firmly believed that she was watching over the both of them somewhere. When invited to Micha’s funeral they both politely refused with the reasoning that they would not be able to live on if they had to see the last moments of their best friend.
It was another one of those days, the day of Team K’s performance but this time both of them put far more effort into their dance. That was because of who they saw the back of the audience, to any other member it would have just been plain strange to see a middle aged woman alone in the crowd but to the two of them who knew her it meant to try even harder than before. The performance ended without a problem like many of the performances nowadays and everyone returned back stage.
“Umeda-san, Matsui-san can I please have a word with you?” the unknown woman accompanying Togosaki said after entering the dressing room where everyone was once again watching the two in silence. It was almost habitual for the members to watch the two stare at each other lifelessly after performances, as if they were able to talk to each other with just their eyes. “Nonaka-san…” They both greeted with a slight nod before walking towards the woman.
Togosaki lead the three towards an empty staff room before bidding the three goodbye, knowing well of who would be brought up in the conversation they were to have. “Are you two doing all right? I know you two refused to come to the funeral, it must be hard for the two of you.” Mrs. Nonaka said trying to comfort the two girls. “Misato always talked about you two a lot, she was very fond of the both of you.” She continued without thinking and without noticing how hard Sakiko was clenching onto Umeda’s hand.
“Misato’s a wonderful girl; she will definitely be missed but think of it this way she’s in a better place now. We were sorting through her stuff as per her wishes and we found these two letters in her drawer. She had a habit of writing letters whenever she felt like it but never sent these two. I thought you might want to have it, see what she had to say. Everything will get better.” She said with an almost detached tone as if she hasn’t just lost her daughter less than a month ago.
“Don’t you think you’re getting over it too easily?!” shouted Sakiko who couldn’t stand the woman any longer, speaking as if she was already over the loss of her daughter.“You aren’t the one who lost their only daughter. I don’t think you have any right to say anything. For my daughter’s sake I’ll forgive you. But stop your weeping and think for a while. Young ones don’t know how to use their brains anymore.” Mrs. Nonaka replied calmly, but inside she was dying just like the two standing in front of her.
The memories flooded her, the memories of Misato as a baby, as a child, having her cling to her dress when she tried to drop her off at preschool. When Misato made her first friend and proudly told her mother, or when she boasted about her crooked drawings that were praised by the teacher. Each and every memory of her only child would flood her memories at night, bringing with them never ending tears and nightmares. The only reason why she could be strong right now is because of Micha, her child would never want to see everyone so depressed, so in pain over her.
Mrs. Nonaka gently placed the two letters on the table before turning around and walking out of the room leaving Sakiko speechless. “I did something wrong didn’t I?” Sakiko asked the air next to her, as if Micha was there. While Sakiko was talking to air, Umechan grabbed the letter with her name written on it with hearts. Her hands shaking as she struggled to open the envelope without ripping it. Sakiko just stared at her as she read it as if contemplating if she would be ready to read her letter too.
Umechan,
I’m not too sure what to write about; in fact I’m not too sure about why I’m writing. I dreamt of you the other day, we were fooling around in a school. We pushed Sakiko off the stairs and she was chasing us through the whole school for revenge. You and Sakiko are both so precious to me; I want us to be friends forever. No matter what happens, we’re going to be old married ladies that meet up for tea times while making our children play together. I really look forward to all of that, honestly I never thought we’d become such good friends you and I. It felt so weird at first when we started to get close to each other because I felt like you weren’t willing to accept us or the new Team K. It’s understandable though as an original K member, but over time you opened up and we were allowed to see a different side of you. Not just that cool dancer who was always there to offer advice but never around to chat with.
So let’s be best friends forever, okay? I sound really childish writing this and surely you would laugh at me that’s why I’m going to wait a while before I send this, maybe when you stop teasing me over every little thing. I know that’s just your way of showing your love to me though and I love you for it. I don’t want you to change in any type of way, so stay the same forever, I like you just the way you are. I’m going to definitely get into senbatsu next year and you better be there too! Can’t let you and Sakippe have all the fun now can I? I’m going to definitely outrank the two of you, watch it Umechan I’m going to be the center of undergirls!
Your absolute best friend
(You know you love me most, even more than Sakiko!)
Nonaka Misato
By the middle of the letter Umeda had tears flowing freely down her face and by the end she had fallen on the floor as her legs collapsed from under her. All the tears that she had been trying her best to hold back were gushing out. Sakiko went to hug her but was pushed away, “Read your letter.” Umeda choked out. Looking at the letter on the table and back towards Umeda she shook her head, “I can’t do it.” Sakiko feared what would possibly be written in her letter if the usually reserved and calm Umeda has broken down. “I’m not ready for it.” She continued before walking out the door. “You’re going to regret it.” Umeda said watching Sakiko leave the room without the letter.
Another week passed by without the mention of the letter but Umeda had started to stress herself less and was slowly but surely returning back to normal well as normal as she could be. Sakiko on the other hand continued with her irresponsible acts and her condition was only getting worse.
“When was the last time you slept properly?” Umeda asked as she approached the sluggish Sakiko after rehearsals. “…Not since…” Sakiko replied hinting towards a forbidden topic, nobody in the group dared to mention the name of Nonaka Misato anymore, at least not with the two of them around. Sakiko looked up tiredly wondering if the gods were punishing her, the nightmares had gotten more and more frequent and each time she woke up more fearful than before.
Umeda shook her head before walking back into the dressing room and leaving Sakiko alone on the stage. Being left all alone on the stage Sakiko allowed herself to fall onto her back and closed to her eyes in hopes that she would be able to have a nap. Her built up fatigue soon hit her and she fell into slumber.
For the first time in what felt like forever it was actually a dreamless sleep, in the midst of her slumber she felt someone moving her head into their lap but she shrugged it off and continued sleeping. Only a little later she felt someone patting her head and she jerked up in shock. “Micha!” she shouted only to be disappointed to find that it was just Umeda.
“I’m sorry I’m not her, but I still think you should read this and stop torturing yourself any longer.” Umeda said while handing her the letter she had left on the table a week ago. On it wrote, Matsui Sakippe with all sorts of kittens drawn everywhere.
Looking down at the letter and back at Umechan she decided that it was time, she couldn’t handle this anymore. If Umechan could find closure with her letter, she could too. Placing the letter into Sakiko’s hands, Umeda lifted herself up and walked back to the dressing room to give Sakiko some privacy.
She felt strangely calm holding onto that letter, it was as if Micha was right beside her urging her to read it. She pulled out the letter and started to read.
Sakiko,
You still owe me a meal, I just need to write it down somewhere because I know I’ll forget about it and you’ll get away with it. You were really awesome during the performance today, is it just me or are you getting prettier. Maybe it’s just me getting used to your ugly face. I joke, I joke, or am I? It’s your own fault for calling me horrendous the other day. You and I have to stop insulting each other; imagine how the fans would react if they ever found out. You know we have to keep up our images, so would you stop derping everywhere on Google+? Soon enough your cat will be scared of you and run away to me.
We sure have come a long way from being research students. I never would have imagined that I would be on the same team as you, always saw myself in Team A instead, you know, far away from you. Who knew we’d become such good friends… I mean I sure didn’t expect it when I first saw you 7th generations. I guess it’s a good thing, I mean I sure can’t imagine myself derping around with anyone else but you. Okay that’s a lie, maybe Umechan too. I think the 3 of us should grow old together, you know keep in contact even after we graduate from AKB48. Don’t you think it would be fun meeting up once in a while and being like ‘Micha I missed you, save me from my evil boss of doom!’ I think it would be fun!
So make sure that no matter what you don’t go losing my phone number okay, or I’ll hire a private investigator to hunt you down~ Oh and stop abusing your poor cat, you know how much he hates being nibbled. Why are you such an S, why do I even know you? Must be one of those bad life choices that mother keeps on talking about, guess have to stick with you a little bit longer though. I love you anyway, I guess.
Your only best friend,
(I seriously mean it, you have no friends.)
Nonaka Misato
She didn’t know if she should cry or laugh, it was as if Micha had never left. She started laughing to herself, they were right Micha wouldn’t want to her to be crying. The members all rushed out when they heard her break out into laughter worrying that the stress made her go insane. Seeing all the members stare at her with bewildered eyes, Sakiko stop her maniacal laughter and told them, “I’m back, sorry for all the problems I caused you all.” Taking a breath of relief Yuko screamed “GROUP HUG!” and everyone under their center’s orders jumped onto Sakiko to welcome her back.
Sakiko just stared at one of the spots in the theatre and smiled, she had seen Nonaka Misato finally smiling back at her.
Wherever you are in the Heavens,
I hope you’re happy.
I’ll be down here fulfilling both our dreams,
Until then we can’t see each other yet.
One day I promise, when I’m old and filled with life stories,
I’ll come and join you.
We can fool around then.
Till then,
Mata ne, Micha.
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