@arisa03: MWA HA HA I make feels.
@risa_ai: hehehe i shall try to stay awesome
@rndmnwierd: hrm we'll see we'll see
@maikeatoot: hehe i will never leave you hanging! this story shall continue!
@MsSmigge: awww being at work during the new year must suck
i hope you had a chance to do some other things afterwards though!
Thanks for the comments~ hehehe
I was gonna update within a week but this chapter is a LOT longer than the other ones so I hope that makes up for it
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Chapter 17 – “It was a sleepless night for all” Michishige Sayumi was unhappy.
True, most people would say that the bunny was in a pretty bad mood most of the time but this was, in fact, false. It wasn’t that she was in a bad mood; it was just that she usually didn’t see any reason to particularly be in a good mood. Of course, the lack of emotion almost always came off as coldness but Sayumi like it that way sometimes. It saved a lot more effort on her part to be courteous and polite to every little human being in the world. Courting people wasn’t exactly her favorite hobby.
Unfortunately for her, however, tonight was going to be one of those nights that she would absolutely detest. After all, there were just three too many people in her home at the moment.
Reason number one to be upset: Niigaki Risa was here. As if her presence itself wasn’t annoying enough, she was completely plastered to her older sister’s side, staring off into space by herself. Her red face and puffy eyes showed signs of intense crying, which was understandable since she was going through quite the ordeal, according to her stepsister. Still, Sayumi’s natural irritation towards Niigaki Risa was much too present at the moment for her to feel bad for the woman.
Reason number two to be upset: that dog of a Mittsi-something-or-other was here. Sayumi’s feelings towards this girl extended far beyond simple irritation: it was actual hatred. Her first impression of the girl was far from good and she was sure the little brat felt the same way. Well, no matter. She didn’t particularly care too much about some little snot-nosed kid. But she couldn’t help but feel a certain level of anger simmer within her as she watched the girl standing straight beside Niigaki Risa, arms crossed, eyes firm and strong, like she owned the place. Bitch.
Reason number three to be upset: Kamei Eri was here. Normally, she would not have made it to this list since the girl didn’t really feed the bunny’s anger too much most of the time. In fact, she was considered by Sayumi to be a rather close acquaintance. An annoying one, but still closer than most. But their strange and unexpected interaction back at Tresor that morning had made the air between them a little awkward, at least, from Sayumi’s point of view. So she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the girl being in her house at the moment. Not to mention the fact that she absolutely had no reason to either. She had volunteered to come over after getting Ai’s call.
“So… that’s what happened,” Ai sighed, finishing her story as to what had happened up until now. “Needless to say, Gaki-san and Mitsui-san are here because they need a place to stay for a couple nights. We’re doing our best with explaining the situation to the bank but it’ll take some time before we see some results.”
“I see…” Eri said. “This must be hard for you, Gaki-san, Mitsui-san. I’m sorry this had to happen.”
“Thank you, Kamei-san,” Risa whispered hoarsely, lifting her head to acknowledge the turtle’s caring words.
“I think we’ll be fine,” Aika said, smiling a little. “I’m sure things will work out somehow. But no one needs to worry about finding me a place to sleep: I can just crash at my friend’s place in the dorms.”
“Are you sure?” Risa asked worriedly. “Your friend is okay with that?”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” Aika nodded. “I’ll crash at different rooms every couple days. It’s no problem at all.”
“Okay then, that sounds like a plan,” Eri said. “And Niigaki-san will obviously stay here, at Ai-chan’s.” Sayumi flinched at this, which didn’t go unnoticed by her older sister.
“Well, I want Sayu’s opinion on this, too,” Ai chimed in. “I don’t live here alone, after all. So, Sayu… do you mind if Gaki-san stays here for a couple days?”
Sayumi opened her mouth but no words came out. She obviously wanted to scream out her disagreement but… this was her sister’s personal request. If this had happened a couple months ago, the bunny would’ve had no qualms about telling Niigaki Risa to find her own place to crash at. But things were different now. She was trying this new thing called “being nice”—not that she had the heart to be cold to her sister anymore either. And looking around, it seemed everyone expected her to say yes. Niigaki Risa was looking away apologetically but her bratty buddy was staring straight at her with an eyebrow raised as if she was wondering why she hadn’t already approved of the plan. Eri just looked at her with big round eyes that half pleaded and half encouraged. And Ai… well, just looking at her nervous face was enough to make Sayumi come to a decision.
“I… I don’t mind…” she mumbled, crossing her arms. “It’s just that our place is small and… I just don’t want us to feel cramped… and stuff…”
“We’ll manage somehow,” Ai assured. “It won’t be too bad.”
“No, no, Sayumi is right,” Eri said suddenly.
Ai raised an eyebrow. “She is?”
“I am?” The bunny looked at the turtle in confusion.
“She’s totally right!” Eri smiled. “Your apartment is way too small to add in an extra tenant. So instead of squeezing all three of you in here, Sayu should come and stay with me!”
“What?” Ai remarked.
“WHAT,” Sayumi growled.
“That’d be rude of me,” Risa mumbled. “I could never—”
“Good plan! I like it!” Aika exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “Kamei-san, you’re so smart!”
“Thank you, Mitsui-san!” Kamei replied, also clapping her hands together. “I knew I liked you from the start!”
“Hey, wait a minute, I didn’t agree to this!” Sayumi interjected. “Why should I have to leave my own house?”
“She’s right,” Risa agreed. “That would be troubling Michishige-san too much. I can’t do that to her.”
“But Niigaki-san knows Ai-chan better than she knows any one of us,” Eri explained. “It’s only right that she stays here. It’ll be less awkward than having her stay with me. And Sayu and I are close anyway so it’ll be fine.”
“You’re sounding awfully logical today, Eri-chan…” Ai laughed nervously.
“It’s terrible logic!” Sayumi disagreed fiercely.
“I think it’s perfect,” Aika grinned.
“I guess it’s settled, then!” Eri giggled, linking her arm with the bunny’s. “Sayumin will stay at my place and Niigaki-san will stay here!”
“Ano,” Risa started, “I’m not completely comfortable with—”
“Kamei Eri!” Sayumi growled, “let me go before I—”
“S-Sayu…” Ai mumbled apologetically.
Sayumi stopped her struggling, taking a moment to meet her sister’s eyes before complete defeat took over her face. “I… I guess… if Onee-chan…”
“Let’s go, let’s go!” Eri continued to urge eagerly, pulling the bunny towards the front door.
“Hey, I’m trying to say something—” Sayumi started again.
“Aika, I’m more surprised at you,” Risa murmured softly at her friend. “I… I always thought you didn’t like me being with Ai-chan…”
The younger girl simply smiled at the confused bean. Then, she stepped forward and hugged her friend, holding her tightly. She whispered in her ear, “I just want you to be happy, Gaki-san. No matter who you choose, I just want you happy.” She stepped back and winked. “Ne?”
Risa slowly smiled, grateful towards her childhood friend. Aika was always watching out for her like this, even though she was supposed to be the younger one. There was no one else who quite understood her feelings the way Aika did. “Arigatou…”
“Can’t I at least pack my things?” Sayumi yelled at the pushy turtle who was still sticking to her like a leech.
“It’s getting late! We have to leave now!” Eri insisted. “You can borrow my things!”
“I should leave now, too,” Aika said, grabbing Sayumi’s other arm. “Michishige-san~ let’s have a nice friendly chat on the way out, shall we~?”
The bunny glared distastefully at the brat who dared to touch her as she asked nervously, “This… This is only for a couple days, right?”
“Sure~” Eri giggled. “Days… weeks… months… who knows?”
“H-hey, wait a minute—”
“Bye-bye, Ai-chan, Niigaki-san~!” Eri waved.
“Let me know if the bank calls!” Aika said, also waving.
With Sayumi’s struggling protests still echoing in their ears, the couple watched their three friends disappear through the door and eventually heard the sound of their voices drown out. Risa stared for a while, still with a guilty expression for essentially kicking Michishige Sayumi out of her own house, before Ai let out a great sigh.
“It feels like a tornado passed through here…” she mumbled, shaking her head. “I guess these people have that kind of effect… especially that Eri.”
“I feel really bad, Ai-chan,” Risa confessed. “I don’t think Michishige-san should’ve left for my sake. It’s really rude of me.”
“It’s fine, I don’t want you to feel that way,” Ai reassured. “Even though Sayumi is acting that way, if she really didn’t want to go, she would’ve said so.”
“Still…”
“I admit, I feel a little guilty, too,” Ai said softly, smiling sadly. “But… I also really just wanted to be with you alone. It’s selfish of me but that’s how I felt.”
Risa frowned. “You shouldn’t have done that…” She lightly punched the older woman’s shoulder as punishment but in truth, she felt incredibly happy that Ai had said something like that. And of course, Ai realized this too as she grinned.
“I’m sorry,” she replied. “I’ll apologize to Sayu later, okay?”
“Mhm…”
“You must be tired, right?” Ai said, moving on. “You know where the bathroom is. You should take a shower and go to bed. It’s been a long day.”
“I’ll do that,” Risa nodded, smiling. “Thanks.”
The bean headed straight towards the bathroom and shut the door. She was pretty familiar with the layout of her lover’s home after visiting a couple times in the past month. It didn’t completely feel like home but it was no strange territory either.
Stripping all the way down, Risa wasted no time in jumping into the bath tub and turning the shower on. The bathroom quickly filled up with steam as the hot water rained down on Risa’s aching body. Although she was much too tired to move speedily, she wanted to get through the shower as fast as possible anyway so she could get some rest. The faster this went, the sooner she would be in bed. With that in mind, Risa quickly rubbed some shampoo into her hair and lathered her body with soap at the same time.
I should still apologize to Michishige-san when I get a chance… she thought to herself.
But… I guess I’m kind of happy that it turned out this way, too. It’s nice to be alone with Ai-chan. And she said she wanted it that way, too. Just me and her, the two of us, alone… Stop. The bean’s motions came to a halt as she stood frozen under the hot water as her mind backtracked.
Ai-chan… and me… alone. With a loud gasp, Risa subconsciously clasped her arms around her chest as a result of some sort of self-defense mechanism as her cheeks blushed furiously red. It was just her and Ai. Here. For the whole night.
Alone. Panic started to rise. This had never happened before. Well, yes, they had been alone together before in both of their homes but it was usually in the afternoon on weekends when their respective flatmates were out for the day. Since they usually returned by night, Ai and Risa had never been alone together in neither of their apartments after sunset.
But what did this mean? Could Ai possibly be thinking about…
that? She did say she wanted to be alone with Risa… but that could just be a completely casually thing, right? But then again, Kamei Eri and Aika had both made such difficult effort to empty the apartment for them. Did they have
that in mind as well? After all, it was not such an unrealistic possibility: both Ai and Risa were healthy women in their twenties who happened to be in love with each other. It was completely natural for
that to happen
Then again, if
that was really coming into play, was Risa even ready? There was absolutely no doubt that she loved Ai but… had their relationship really escalated so quickly? True, it had already been a couple months since they met and about a month or so since they started this whole little rendezvous. But time just flew by so fast that it felt like it had only been a week, maybe even less. Were they really ready to carry this to a whole new level?
As the hot steam fogged up the bathroom, Risa found her mind naturally drifting back to a couple hours ago, earlier in the evening, when she was in the locker room with her flawless lover. The way Ai had raised her arms to put on her shirt, her perfect frame, the way she turned and smiled, the way she teased her, not to mention her—
“Gaki-san!” A knock came from the door. “I’m coming in!”
“Ee? A-AI-CHAN?!”
Risa whipped her head towards the door and saw a silhouette on the other side of the shower curtains. She immediately wrapped her arms around herself and tried to gather herself in the corner of the bathtub. But before she could fully grasp what was going on, she felt her foot step onto a soapy puddle, making her body fall faster than she could scream.
** ** **
“This is ridiculous. Why should I have to leave my own house? I want to go back! This is so stupid!”
Aika let out a low groan of frustration while Eri rolled her eyes. They had been listening to the bunny complain on and on, ever since they left the apartment complex and started to walk down the busy streets of the town. Despite her continuous whining, however, Sayumi had made no indication of actually turning back. After all, it was her dear sister who had asked her of this favor, no matter how much she despised it. As a result, she had no choice but to keep on venting to the two unfortunate women who were stuck with her in the mean time.
“I want to sleep in my own bed,” she complained again. “I hate sleeping in places other than my own house. Niigaki-san could’ve slept at your place. I had no reason to—”
“Oh, will you please just shut it!” Aika yelled, finally exploding. “Do you ever stop whining?”
Sayumi blinked furiously at the younger girl, letting out a sharp exhale in disbelief. How dare this little brat talk to her in this way! “Excuse me? I beg your pardon—”
“Oh, I’ll give you my pardon—”
“Okay! Stop right there!”
Before someone’s fist could land on another’s face, Eri quickly jumped in between the two brawling girls and pushed them apart. “Let’s not get violent, now. We’re all mature adults here.”
Sayumi and Aika glared at each other for a couple more moments before they both stood up straight and calmed themselves down. Then, Aika smiled curtly as she spoke in a sweet voice.
“You’re right, Kamei-san,” she said. “I behaved horrendously. Will you ever forgive me, Michishige-san?”
Sayumi continued to glare at the little puppy dog face, secretly wanting to punch it in somehow. But she also managed to catch Eri at the corner of her eyes, who was raising an eyebrow at her, as if she was telling her to apologize back.
“There’s nothing to forgive, Mitsui-san,” the bunny replied just as pleasantly. “It was my fault. I apologize.”
“No, no, I completely understand your discomfort,” Aika said, smiling innocently. “Of course you would want to stay at your own house. But who can stop true love, right? Especially a bond as strong as the one between Gaki-san and Takahashi-san. I apologize in Gaki-san’s place; I hope Michishige-san will be kind enough to forgive her.”
Sayumi grit her teeth together. This brat was mocking her now. But what was worse was that her tactic was actually working. Sayumi could feel her anger boiling inside her, alone with a strong sense of loneliness that shot through her chest.
“Well, the dormitories are that way,” Aika said, pointing across the street. “This is where we part. It was nice seeing you today, Michishige-san, Kamei-san.”
“Yes! We’ll see you around, Mitsui-san~!” Eri said.
Giving a small head bow to both of her acquaintances (one of them arguably being her enemy), Aika crossed the street and disappeared around the corner. Sayumi stared intensely at the ground, clenching her teeth and fisting her hands tightly. She hated that she was letting Aika’s words get to her but she couldn’t deny the fact. A strong bond, huh?
“Sayu? Are you okay?”
The bunny looked up to find her friend looking at her with big round eyes. She gasped softly in surprise. She had been so preoccupied with the little brat that she had completely forgotten that Eri was still here with her! Which wasn’t a big deal, normally, but in their current situation… Sayumi had no idea how to deal with the turtle. She still hadn’t exactly figured out what was up with the girl earlier in the day when she was acting… weird. She didn’t feel very comfortable being left alone with her like this at the moment, not to mention the rest of the night.
“I… I’m fine,” Sayumi answered quietly, unsure as to how she should act around her friend. “Don’t worry.”
“Mou, Sayumin~” Eri said, giggling. “Stop being so grumpy! Come on, we can pick up some ice cream on the way. I think you need it, Nee?”
The turtle grinned brightly at her, the way her aho-self usually did. Sayumi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Eri was being her normal self again.
“I don’t want it!” Sayumi spat out, being her normal poison-tongue self in response to the airhead turtle. “Ice cream late at night will make me gain weight.”
“Ee~” Eri moaned. “Sayumin, you’re no fun at all. I know you’re worried and you want to go home and all, but I thought we could still have a fun sleepover tonight.”
“I’m not worried about anyone,” Sayumi grumbled, shoving her hands into her pockets.
“You’re so cold, Sayu,” Eri said, rolling her eyes. “Your heart seriously must be made of ice.”
With that, the older girl started to walk again with the bunny tagging behind her. Sayumi kept her gaze on the concrete sidewalk, letting her mind drift away into deep thought.
My heart’s not made of ice, she thought to herself.
It would’ve been better if it was. At least then, it wouldn’t be hurting this much.
I wonder what they’re doing right now…** ** **
“A-Ai-chan… Wait…”
“Gaki-san, you have to stop moving…”
“But I—Un! It hurts… and it’s—”
“Gaki-san, stay still—”
“Ai-chan!”
“Gaki-san—”
“IT’S COLD!”
Risa jumped at the shock of a freezing sensation on her head. She flipped around and leaned away from her lover who was holding a lump of ice, wrapped up in a towel. She rolled her eyes as she grabbed the bean’s wrist in an attempt to pull her in closer again.
“Gaki-san, your head is going to be swelled up even more tomorrow if we don’t put ice on it now,” Ai said. “I know it hurts, but just bear with it, okay?”
“… Fine.”
Complying reluctantly, Risa returned to her original position with her back to the older woman, putting her head down. The two women were sitting on Ai’s bed, trying to treat the wounds that the younger woman had attained in the bathroom. Ai gently pushed the icy towel to the back of the bean’s head again, eliciting a low groan of pain from her. Wishing she could help somehow, Ai reached around Risa’s waist to hold her hand. Risa breathed out slowly, seeming to relax a little.
“So tell me again how you fell in the bath tub?” Ai asked.
Risa sighed. “I already told you… I slipped because you scared me.”
“I was just coming in to leave you some towels.”
“You just shocked me a little, that’s all,” the bean mumbled. “I was… preoccupied.”
“With what?” Ai laughed, curious as to exactly what had kept Risa so busy during her shower.
“With… whatever, it doesn’t matter!” Risa said quickly, blushing. She couldn’t very well tell her lover that she was imagining her half-naked.
“Okay, then,” Ai sighed, chuckling to herself. “Now, take your shirt off.”
“WHAT?!” Risa immediately wrapped her arms around herself again and looked back at her lover with a shocked expression.
“I said, take your shirt off,” Ai repeated calmly. “You hit your shoulder, too, right? We should get some ice on there as well. Take your shirt off.”
Risa opened her mouth as if she was about to protest but then she shut it, unable to think of a plausible reason to keep her clothes on. It was just Ai anyway; it wasn’t too big of a deal to be topless in front of her, right? It wasn’t like they were going to be doing anything… It was just so she could treat the bean’s bruise.
Slowly, Risa removed her shirt, leaving her to sit on the bed sheets solely in her bra and a pair of shorts. She shivered in the cold as Ai carefully pressed the ice against her bare back where a red mark was visible.
“I don’t even understand how it’s possible to hurt yourself here, Gaki-san,” Ai said, shaking her head. “It’s very unlike you to be… clumsy.”
“I’m a pretty clumsy person, actually,” Risa admitted. “I’m usually together, I guess, but I’m not perfect. I have my moments.” She paused, wondering if she should continue to divulge her thoughts. “I… I think being alone for most of my life made me stricter. No one else was going to take care of me except me. I had to grow up.”
“Well, I like it that you’re mature and poised,” Ai smiled, leaning in over her lover’s shoulder, “but I like it when you’re clumsy and easy to catch off-guard, too. It makes teasing you more fun.”
Risa blushed at this as she mumbled something about Ai being mean or whatever. Kissing the bean on her cheek, Ai stood up and walked over to her desk where she dropped the wet towel in a bowl filled with ice. As she headed back towards her bed, she saw Risa reaching for her shirt.
“Keep your shirt off,” she ordered, taking the clothing away from her lover’s hand.
“Why?”
“Because you saw me shirtless today already,” Ai grinned. “So now I get to see you half-naked.”
As the older woman started to make her way back onto the bed, meticulously placing herself on top of the bean, Risa nervously backed away until she realized she had reached the headboard and ended up dropping her head down on the soft pillow. She stared up at her lover who was now hovering over her with a gentle gaze and a small smile. She leaned in closer for a kiss to which Risa complied to willingly. It was embarrassing being the only one without a shirt on but Ai’s actions alone were convincing enough that she could ignore that uncomfortable fact and carry on with what they were doing.
“Is your head okay?” Ai asked through the lip lock.
“Un… I’m fine,” Risa mumbled. She then quickly kissed her lover again, wrapping her arms around her neck, wishing to continue with what they were doing. Her head was perfectly fine. She could forget about all kinds of pain as long as Ai was with her.
Finding Risa’s daring action rather seductive in a way, the older woman kissed her back passionately before tracing down her neck line with her lips. As she gently bit on the soft skin, the younger girl let out a small moan, a shiver running through her body. But Ai didn’t stop there. She further traveled down to Risa’s chest, kissing the area between her two perfect molds, eliciting another soft cry. Feeling very charged all of a sudden, Ai raised herself up and quickly removed her own shirt and dove back down to kiss her lover. Risa could not hide the blush that was rising up to her cheeks, passion and desire mixing together. She felt a cold hand land on her stomach and gasped, her muscles tightening. But the gentle stroking motions on her skin that soon traveled down to her thighs were comforting somehow, especially knowing it was Ai who was doing it.
The kisses soon got even rougher as Ai took full control of their activity. Risa’s small moans grew louder by the minute as she felt her sensitive skin being attacked from every part of her body. Her previous thoughts on having doubts about this were long gone. Everything went white in her head. All she knew was that she didn’t want this moment to stop.
But then, Ai’s hand slowly started to slip under the waistband of her shorts. Risa gasped softly but didn’t protest. However, the hand stopped before reaching its destination anyway.
“If you want me to stop,” she whispered sincerely, “all you have to do is push me away.”
Risa’s eyes connected with her lover’s, sending another shock through her body. The way Ai was looking at her—with love, with caution, with desire—was simply mesmerizing. Her face tinted pink and her heavy breathing was enough to let Risa know that she was truly wanted by this amazing woman. And the feeling was undoubtedly mutual.
“But if I ever want something from you,” Risa said softly, “all I have to do is ask… right?”
She raised her head a little to kiss her lover slowly and lovingly, trying to convey all her feelings through one single action. “I want you,” she murmured. “Can I have that?”
Ai smiled at this, feeling more than happy to hear those words. She kissed the bean back with an equal amount of love, if not more. Nothing could hurt them now. Ai’s restless days, Risa’s recent losses… nothing else mattered at this point. They were together, and everything was to be devoted solely to this moment alone. As Ai started to continue with what she was doing before, she whispered softly in Risa’s ear.
“Yes. You can have that.”
** ** **
Michishige Sayumi quickly splashed the last handful of cold water on her face before turning the squeaky faucet off and looking at herself in the mirror. Never did she think that she would ever say this about herself but… she looked
terrible. Like, really terrible. Her pale face was even paler today, bringing her to paleness level of a week old dead body, and it only made her excessive dark circles even more noticeable. Anybody could tell that the girl obviously had not gotten enough sleep last night.
And she hadn’t; all she could do was roll around on the futon beside her turtle companion (who was sleeping like an animal in hibernation), unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in. She spent the entire night, lying on her back, staring at the ceiling, fighting with her brain that refused to fall asleep. Something had kept bothering her. She wasn’t exactly sure what but she couldn’t get the horrible feeling that something bad had just happened out of her mind, which only increased her worry about her beloved older sister. As a result, the bunny had gotten absolutely no sleep throughout the night, giving her a horribly tired appearance the following morning, which suggested a strange resemblance to Sadako from The Ring.
Patting her face dry with a towel, Sayumi left the bathroom and entered the joint living room and kitchen. She looked around for a while, wanting to feed herself some breakfast. But she had absolutely no idea where anything was in the unfamiliar kitchen. Realizing her only choice was to wake up the sleeping turtle, the bunny reluctantly made her way back into the bedroom.
In the dimly lit area, Sayumi could see a large lump of futon right in the middle. How did the girl even get under there? Guessing it was a feeble attempt to avoid the sunlight that was peeking through the blinds, Sayumi marched right up to her friend, crouched down, and started to poke the blanket lump.
“Eri.” Poke. Poke. No response. “Eri.” Poke. No response. “Eri, wake up!” Poke, poke, poke.
“Just five more minutes…” the turtle mumbled, barely coherent.
“Eri, I’m hungry,” Sayumi said, getting slightly annoyed. “Eri!” The bunny then pulled off the covers, revealing a sleeping tired balled up in fetal position.
“Sayu~!” she whined. “It’s too bright!”
“Get up, it’s morning,” the bunny said. “And I’m hungry.”
Groaning, Eri unwillingly pulled herself up into a sitting position and started to open her eyes. “I just wanted five more min—GAH!”
The turtle fell backwards onto the futon as Sayumi gasped in shock. “What was that for?!” she yelled.
“Sayu…” Eri gasped, her eyes big and wide, “what… happened to your face?”
“What about my face?”
“Well… you look terrible.”
Sayumi scowled, feeling something crack within her. It was probably her ego but she tried not to think about that too much. “If you won’t get up,” she said, threateningly, “I’m just gonna leave and go home!”
“Okay, okay, okay, I’m sorry~” Eri apologized, laughing. “I didn’t mean it. You’re always kawaii, Sayumin.”
Putting her arms across her chest, Sayumi looked away from the turtle with a humph, the aforementioned ego refusing to let her accept the apology too quickly. But she felt a hand on her shoulder and from the corner of her eyes, she saw Eri grin brightly at her.
“Hey, I’m really sorry, okay?” she said. “I’ll make it up to you with breakfast. How does waffles with strawberry sound?”
Sayumi hesitated a little, the food offering sounding a little too good to pass up. “… Well, it’s a start.”
Eri smiled in response as she got up and stretched, getting ready to make the best breakfast that she had ever made for the very special bunny.
** ** **
“And here are last month’s sales on the Bijou magazine. There’s was a slight decrease but it’s not too critical.”
Junjun finished up her morning report as she placed the final packet of paper on her employer’s desk. She watched her boss go through the papers quickly but efficiently, her eyes landing on every single number printed in a matter of minutes. How professional.
But her appearance today was something quite out of the ordinary. Her outfit today wasn’t as nearly fashionable as other days. Not that she was underdressed either. After all, Tanaka Reina didn’t follow fashion, she made it. She could put on a pair of sweats and still look glamorous, increasing the reputation of sweat pants in the process. No, she definitely wasn’t poorly dressed today, but she had done better. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun—something that the fashionista didn’t do often—and she was only wearing a simple knit sweater with a miniskirt. The excessive amount of accessories that usually adorned her neck and wrists was nowhere to be seen.
“Thank you, Junjun,” Reina said, turning around to remove her reading glasses and put on a different pair. “Don’t forget to scout candidates for next month’s cover. We’re going to discuss it in this week’s meeting.”
Junjun nodded in response, unable to help raising an eyebrow to look at her boss oddly. Other than the kitten’s unusual outfit, the strangest of all was those glasses. Tanaka Reina usually wore glasses when she was reading something but otherwise, she didn’t have much use for them. But today, she would wear her reading glasses while going through her papers and afterwards, she would quickly take them off and put on a different pair of glasses that had no prescription. True, glasses were a common fashion item but the president hadn’t really utilized them in this manner before.
“Ano… Shachou?”
“Yes?”
“Is there something bothering you?”
Reina looked up from her computer screen to face her secretary. “Why would you say that?”
“It’s just unusual for you to wear glasses, I suppose,” the panda replied. “While you’re not reading, I mean.”
Reina sighed and smiled wryly. “No one knows me like you do, Junjun.”
She reached up and took off her glasses and motioned for her employee to lean in closer. Junjun did so and as she did, she realized why her boss was wearing those glasses. Below Reina’s eyes, under all the thick makeup, was a pair of very noticeable dark circles, heavily weighing down the delicate skin. Even with all the cover-up, one could see the purple tiredness that was evident under the kitten’s eyes.
“What happened?” Junjun asked, surprised.
“I didn’t sleep last night,” Reina answered, putting her glasses back on. “I just couldn’t fall asleep for some reason.”
“But for your eyes to get like that…” the panda said worriedly. “You usually don’t sleep that much but this had never happened before.”
“I don’t sleep much but I do sleep,” the president sighed. “I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night. Something was on my mind.”
“What was that, may I ask?”
“That’s the thing, I don’t know,” Reina mumbled, crossing her arms. “Something just felt… off. Like something very unpleasant was happening. I just couldn’t fall asleep.”
“… Well, maybe you can catch a quick nap later,” Junjun suggested, picking up a couple of the manila folders that were scattered about the kitten’s desk. “Your meeting will be over by noon. I’ll finish these up for you so you can rest, Shachou. You can probably hide out in one of the conference rooms. I’ll make sure no one finds you.”
Reina smiled. The panda could be devious when you needed her to be. And that’s what was so great about her a secretary. “You’re an angel, Junjun. I hope nothing bothers my sleep this time.”
** ** **
Two naked bodies remained tangled together, relying on each other for warmth under the thin blanket. Their foreheads were touching delicately, only wish that they could get even closer, if possible. One soon opened her eyes, followed by the next. Both lips curved into a smile of bliss and relief. Relief that they were still there. Both of them. Together.
“Ohayou, Risa.”
“Ohayou, Ai-chan…”
Their greetings sounded more liked whispers of love than what they were in reality. As the sun shined brightly into the room, the two lips met together again in pure oblivion as to what was to come.
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omgeezzz i hope that was enjoyable
gosh now i have to go plan/write the next chapter before i forget what i was gonna do
Topic: Juliet and Cinderella ~ [UPDATE - Chapter 22 - (10/28)] (Read 109057 times)