Ok there is no way that my brain can handle comment replying at this particular moment, so I'm really very sorry to everyone for not being able to do personal replies! *bows deeply*
Brain...hurts....
But, できた！やっとできた！Number 16! My brain feels funky.
Without further ado, let's post it!
=========================================================
File #16
Few things troubled someone like Takahashi Ai. Even if certain things merited a certain amount of justifiable worry, she had since learned to maintain a facade of poised calm, regardless of what she personally felt about it.
Right now though, she was troubled. Well, perhaps the term was a little strong for what she currently felt. In any case, Ai deemed it a matter worthy of some consideration, especially considering the nature of her mission.
Then again, it wasn't really a problem to begin with. Not really, anyway. After all, who would consider having an attractive girl practically begging for your attention a problem? Certainly not anyone who enjoyed female company. And Ai definitely fell into that category.
The real issue then, was not the fact that a certain Kamei Eri was currently right on top of her and being 'educated' in the fine art of exchanging bodily fluids through some very physical means. No, it was definitely not a problem. Not that particular incident anyway.
No, it was just the fact that their current location was a little less than ideal for the erstwhile assassin. For one thing, they were in Eri's house. For another thing, they were right out in the open, and if one may emphasize again, in Eri's house.
Oh, the servants were hardly of any consideration. They were highly efficient and incredibly discreet, able to vanish into the proverbial background with hardly any visible effort. They would not prove much of an obstacle as they would not appear unless called for. And neither girl was of any mind to call for an obstruction to their activities, much less be in a position to actually do so.
Nor was Yuuka going to be a problem. If anything, that little girl was even less obtrusive than any one of the servants, or to wit, any one of the various vases taking up space in return for asthetic pleasure to the viewer. In fact, she was even less invasive than that, being conveniently elusive and happily absent from the luxurious sitting room where her sister and her newfound 'friend' were currently engaged in intimate contact.
What was a problem though, was the fact that Ai was acutely aware of the fact that at least half a dozen well hidden cameras were on them at any given point of time when they were in Eri's home, and that her paramour's father would most likely have an apopletic fit as and when he were to review the footage. Well, if that happened she would most likely save herself a great deal of trouble, Ai mused idly as her hands wandered over Eri's curvaceous body.
The young woman was fully tempted to flip her younger partner over and take charge of the proceedings, but resisted the temptation to do so. In this position, she would still maintain some sense of plausible deniability, since this particular encounter was most definitely not of her instigation. Rather surprisingly (or possibly not), Eri had taken the initiative to nuzzle and tease her 'teacher', which had rapidly escalated into a full scale make out session as expected.
Ai was not complaining. Eri was very affectionate towards the people she liked, and Ai saw no trouble taking advantage of the fact. In fact, despite knowing that one Kamei Otosuke would be due back from his business trip soon, she did not do much to discourage Eri from clinging to her like a remora. One that was currently fairly intent on leaving some visible marks on her neck. The turtle had sharp teeth, Ai thought with some amusement.
"Eri, stop." Ai ordered briskly, gently but firmly pushing the pouting girl just enough away so that she could sit up properly. Eri looked at her through lidded eyes, like an indignant child separated from her candy. Ai smiled and patted the taller girl on the head, planting a soft kiss on her forehead to placate her.
"I was having fun..." Eri whined as she leaned her head on Ai's shoulder, nuzzling the spots she had bitten earlier. Ai chuckled, shaking her head.
"I don't mind experimenting with you, but I don't intend to be a mere plaything for someone engaged to be married within a year." There was a thinly veiled edge to Ai's offhand tone, a tone that brought Eri up short as she pulled away to look up at Ai.
"Are you jealous?" Eri sounded rather pleased with herself, pressing her cheek to Ai's. "That's so cute, Ai-chan~"
Ai laughed despite herself. "You're adorable, Eri."
"Of course I am." The smug confidence of that statement prompted an eye roll from the older, which in turn drew a pout and poke from the younger. The chain of action and reaction ultimately led to a cushion fight, for lack of pillows in the immediate vicinity, and would have gone further and on to the activities they were engaged in previously, but for an untimely interruption.
"What is going on?"
The girls froze, Eri dropping the cushion on Ai's face and scrambling off the older girl in a hurry. Ai sat up slowly, pushing her hair away from her face as she calmly eyed the latest development.
Kamei Otosuke regarded the situation he had walked in on. He had been keeping up with what had been going on in Eri's life, as he was always wont to do, and he could not help but notice that his daughter had been getting unwholesomely attached to one Takahashi Ai. He did not particularly like that turn of events, although he had to admit that Eri did look a lot happier when Takahashi was with her.
Still, there had to be limits. He narrowed his gaze at his shifty-looking daughter. Eri looked terribly awkward, as if she had been caught doing something inappropriate. Takahashi, on the other hand, was still looking as if all was well. However, his sharp eye caught the fact that the other girl moving her hand over his daughter's in an almost reassuring manner, which appeared to calm Eri down a little. Otosuke decided that it was about time he had a chat with the girl.
"Takahashi-san. Come with me to the study." His tone held a peremptory note of command, and he did not miss the flash of panic that flitted through Eri's eyes. Their joined hands tightened, Eri obviously unwilling to let go, but Ai shook her head and pulled away, standing up and straightening her clothes.
"Of course." The tiny young woman fell into step obediently beside the imposing male figure, glancing back at Eri as they walked up the steps.
She was rather surprised by the bubbling pot of emotions contained in Eri's dark eyes. Fear and resentment directed at her father's back, her lips drawn into a thin line, flat with unexpressed anger. When Ai met her eyes though, she wondered if she had been imagining things as Eri looked at her with pleading, hopeful eyes. As if hoping that Ai would rescue her, and not abandon her.
Ai returned the gaze with as much sincerity as she could muster in a nanosecond, before turning back to catch up with Otosuke. A self-mocking sneer played ghost-like on her lips before reverting to her usual impassive mask.
I'm not going to be your hero, Eri. I never was.
~*~*~
Three weeks of not having to spend late nights out for all the wrong reasons should have done one Michishige Sayumi a world of good. In fact, it did, to some extent.
However, she had had another thing with which to occupy her time, in the form of her senpai, Niigaki Risa. Sayumi might have been a narcissist and a very good one at that, but she wasn't so self interested as to ignore the suffering Risa.
The bunny girl did her best to cheer the depressed Risa up during that time when Ai had been all but incommunicado, both to her and to Risa. Despite her best efforts though, Risa had still been quietly withdrawn, her eyes sunken in and her entire frame always seeming to turn inward on herself. The fact that Ai had not made any contact with her during that time only seemed to worsen her condition.
Sayumi had tried to turn Risa's attention away from her obsessive fixation on Ai, but to little avail. The only benefit(?) that had sprung from that pointless venture had been a veritable wealth of information of how Ai had been when they were children.
Apparently, she wasn't always a monster... Sayumi thought laconically. Risa's childhood memories of Ai had been multifaceted: earnest, serious, crybaby, dependent yet dependable. Nothing like the somewhat flippant and coldly uncaring adult she had grown into. Sayumi wondered what went wrong in between.
At least Risa hadn't expressed any more suicidal tendencies during the time she had been keeping watch on her. Sayumi felt some small relief at that. But for the lack of cheeriness, Risa was fully functional as a student. She went to classes, did her homework, and ate and slept enough to continue functioning.
Unfortunately, that was also all she was doing: functioning. She did not socialize beyond what was strictly necessary, did everything she had to do and then went straight home. Sayumi had followed her back on a couple of occasions, discreetly looking around the scrupulously neat apartment. There had been a bottle of sleeping pills by the bed, but Risa had reassured her that she never went over the limit in using them to help her sleep at night. Sayumi had only been half convinced, but she couldn't very well flush the pills away or force Risa to stop using them. She couldn't, even if she wanted to. She didn't have any right to do anything.
Still, she tried her best. Sayumi cared about her friends, and would do anything to help them out. Besides, a Gaki-san that wasn't genki just wasn't Gaki-san at all. Sayumi just wanted her cheerful senior back. Was that too much to ask?
It all came back to Takahashi Ai, of course. It was all her fault. Sayumi believed in that. That idiot was always just following her own desires, doing whatever she liked without caring about others around her. Sayumi herself had also been the recipient of such capriciousness, so she knew.
Yet, Gaki-san was still so foolishly attached to her. Sayumi repressed a sigh; was she not also attached to Ai, albeit in a very different way? They had a peculiar relationship, if it could even be called that. There was a peculiar understanding between them, and Sayumi was certain that she had peeked into a world that Ai had never shown to Risa, and if her intuition was right, Ai would never let Risa anywhere near that world either.
It was not safe. Sayumi knew it, had brushed past it in her business dealings, and didn't want to know any more than she already did. It was tough enough having to live a double life as an escort and a normal student; she didn't want to have to deal with the underside of Tokyo any more than she already did.
"Sayu, are you alright?" Sayumi blinked, almost upsetting her juice.
"Ah, Gaki-san, I'm fine." They were out, mostly because Sayumi had insisted and Risa could have no room for disagreement. She was not yet fully alright, but she was less depressed now as well. Baby steps, Sayumi thought wryly. Some improvement was better than none.
"Did you know, Ai-chan only drinks 100% orange juice? She spits it out automatically if someone tries to pass anything other than that off to her. Really, she's always been so picky..." Again with the random trivia. Sayumi hid another sigh. No matter what they did or where they were, Gaki-san could always bring up something related to that woman.
I'm sure I know a few things about her that you don't... Sayumi thought a bit ironically. Secrets in bed really shouldn't be shared though. Without really thinking about it, Sayumi looked across the street from the cafe they were seated at. Instantly, something caught her eye, and before her mind had processsed it, her mouth was already working.
"Is she always popular with girls or what?" Risa blinked. "Huh?"
Sayumi shook her head and quickly looked back down at her juice, fiddling nervously with the straw. "Um, nothing, just..."
"I know." Sayumi looked up sharply. Gaki-san was smiling sadly.
"Ai-chan likes girls. You know too, right?" Sayu gaped at her, straw slipping from her fingers. Risa looked down. "That time we were at the ice cream parlor, you looked like you knew about it. Maybe you saw her with someone? That's what I thought..."
I did more than just that... Sayumi thought faintly. I was one of those someones. Gathering her wits together, she tried to focus on Risa and not on the couple just across the street and thankfully, out of Risa's direct line of sight.
"Isn't it hard for you? You like her, but she's always with other girls...?" Sayumi couldn't believe they were actually having this conversation, right here and now. Somehow, they had managed to swerve around it during all those weeks that Sayumi had been trying to rehabilitate her senior.
"So you're not weirded out?" The question seemed important to her. Sayumi shook her head.
"Not at all. It's just...different." She couldn't very well say anything else. Anything else would simply brand her a hypocrite, even if Gaki-san didn't know about it.
Sayumi was feeling incredibly uncomfortable at the moment. Her personal issues aside, the fact that the object of their discussion was currently just across the street with a very hot girl on her arm made everything even more awkward than it already was. Right now, she had to prevent her still oblivious senior from noticing them before it was too late.
Risa was still talking, and Sayumi tuned back in quickly.
"...I'm just happy that Ai-chan still takes time for me. She's changed a lot, but somewhere inside, she's still my Ai-chan." Such belief. It was almost touching. Sayumi was half tempted to retch, slap Risa, turn her around, and point her right at where one Takahashi Ai was currently flirting with the slightly taller girl clinging to her, and apparently, having a lot of fun.
Sayumi was under no illusions about what kind of a person Ai was now. The Ai that Risa had described to her; that gentle, earnest little crybaby, she didn't exist anymore. That was what Sayumi believed, but how could she tell that to Risa? How did one break another's illusions in a gentle way? Was it even possible?
Her own situation was somewhat different. She knew full well that she was one of Ai's many girls, although she also knew that Ai favored her because there were only so many girls who would put up with all the games that the demon liked to play, and was good at keeping secrets at the same time. She had a peculiar kind of affection for Ai, something born out of repeated intimacy, but it was a different kind of attachment from the kind that Gaki-san had for her.
"Sayu? Is something wrong? You keep spacing out..." Risa waved her hand in front of Sayu, who jolted with a start, and did manage to spill her drink this time.
"Ah!" The juice did not splash onto her, but the damage was done. The liquid soaked into the thick tablecloth, disappearing into the heavy material and discoloring it. Just as the secrets she bore did with her.
Smiling faintly at Gaki-san, Sayu continued to entertain her senpai, her gaze travelling fractionally upwards and off to one side...
...and met a familiar chocolate gaze, tinged heavily with mirth. The demon had become aware of her, and Sayu sucked in a deep breath, averting her eyes and fixing it on the concerned face before her.
"It's really nothing...I just haven't been getting proper sleep, that's all...nothing at all..."
Across the street, Kamei Eri leaned on her shorter partner, their hands intertwined together. Ai was looking across the crowd, the edge of a smile haunting her lips, before turning back to the spoiled rich girl on her arm.
"Let's go back. We can have more fun hanging out at your house."
"Un!"
==================================================================
Sorry about the delay. But it's here!
About the layout of this chapter, the bottom part happens right before the top part. Just so no one (and myself) gets confused. Lol.
Freaking tired. Class in a couple hours. No sleep at all. Brain breaking down...
Please forgive any mistakes in the chapter. I'll fix it later. Eventually. Will help if you guys pointed out any mistakes. Ja!
Topic: Nocturne [13/02 - Epilogue (END)] (Read 112402 times)