GOSH YOU GUYS ITS BEEN A WHILE
I know I know I've been MIA for like... 4 months...? I'm sorry...
I have nothing to say if y'all hate me... shit i'd hate me too...
I've been so incredibly busy. I don't really live at home so much anymore so I was trying really hard to adjust to a new life haha
BUT this extensive break has (hopefully) helped me get over some MAJOR writer's block to FINALLY finish up the next chapter
It's winter break, I'm back in my parent's home, so I hope this means I'll get to write more... but I DO have a job to work
but fingers crossed!
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Chapter 14 – “O Cinderella, Cinderella, wherefore art thou Cinderella?” “No. Way.” The noodle slipped through the chopsticks of the dumbfounded Mitsui Aika and plopped back into the bowl. “Tanaka Reina…
the Tanaka Reina… bought you… a
dress?!”
Risa blushed as she silently nodded, swirling her chopsticks in her udon bowl, obviously having no intention of actually eating it. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to tell her young friend about what had happened at Tresor this morning, especially during dinner time, since the girl was now completely ignoring her unfinished food and directing her full attention to the bean.
“Wow, Gaki-san. I gotta say, I never knew you had it in you,” she breathed, “but you really know how to play the ladies, huh?”
“HAA?!” Risa remarked, looking at her friend as though she had lost her mind. “What are you talking about, Aika? You know I’m not like that. Besides, it was just a dress; she was doing it out of courtesy. I bet she’s going to give gifts to the other interns as well when it’s their turn to go out with her.”
The puppy narrowed her eyes. “How much was the dress?”
“2500 yen…”
“Not bad,” Aika nodded, grinning. “That says, ‘I’m kind of into you but I’m willing to take it slow so you don’t freak out’.”
“Since when does yen translate into the Japanese language…?” Risa muttered.
“All I’m saying is that she seems pretty interested in you, as more than an employee,” Aika clarified. “How do you feel about her?”
“… I... I don’t know…” Risa mumbled, her chopstick busily swimming in the udon bowl. “I mean, Tanaka Shachou is… she’s nice and all… She seems all tough and unbreakable on the outside but on the inside, she’s very… human. I like that about her.”
“But…?” Aika waited, sensing that there was more to this picture than she could see.
“But... there’s something between me and Ai-chan…” Risa admitted. “At least I think there is. I don’t know, it’s really confusing, but… I feel really safe when I’m with her. Like I know her. But then again, there’s also an uneasiness, almost like we’re at a standstill and we’re both too much of a coward to cross the threshold. I don’t know what to do. Plus…”
“Go on.”
Risa hesitated. “I’m just… worried about her, too. I mean, from what I can tell, it seems like… Tanaka Shachou isn’t exactly… fond of Ai-chan. And if what you said is true about Tanaka Shachou… you know… towards me? I’m scared that Tanaka Shachou might be even harsher towards Ai-chan. And I don’t want to be the cause of that.”
Aika gazed at the older girl for a while, watching her intentionally abuse the udon noodles now by cutting it off, limb by limb, with chopsticks. It was natural for Risa to be so troubled. On one hand, she had a sweet, casual, hardworking girl whom she had met through something that one would call fate. On the other, she had a cool, charismatic, yet sensitive girl-millionaire who seemed to be very attracted to her. Only having had a couple of teenage relationships that by no means were serious, Niigaki Risa was definitely not familiar with being stuck in this kind of situation. And whenever the bean was stuck, who else could help her other than her baby-turned-babysitter friend?
“Look,” Aika started, smiling warmly. “You know I only want what’s best for you, right?”
“Of course,” Risa chuckled. “I only heard that phrase once every day for the past, maybe, 10 years?”
“Then I hope you realize I’m saying this to your own benefit,” Aika grinned. “I want you to be treated well, Gaki-san. And if Takahashi-san isn’t jumping at the chance you gave her to be with you, then maybe you need someone better in your life. However, from what I can tell, this Tanaka Reina seems brimming with energy to fight for you. So maybe, if you give her a chance, you might wind up being happier with her.”
Risa bit her lips. “I… guess I see your point…”
“And if what you’re saying about Tanaka Shachou disliking Takahashi-san is true,” Aika continued, “maybe you two just aren’t meant to be. You’re not that far in the game yet, Gaki-san. Don’t jump into the water too quickly.”
“Okay,” Risa sighed. “I think I understand what you’re saying. Arigatou, Aika.”
“Glad I could help,” Aika grinned. “Now, are you going to finish your udon or should I start the dishes?”
The bean looked down at her bowl and laughed. “They don’t exactly look like noodles so much now, do they?”
“No, more like macaroni,” the younger girl giggled, “after the way you obliterated them.”
“Hai, hai, sumimasen!” Risa apologized jokingly. “I don’t think I’m really all that hungry anyway. I’m gonna go work a bit more on my portfolio, okay?”
“Okay!”
At the point, the two girls split up into their own worlds and went about their business. The bean returned to her bedroom and turned on the dim lamp on her desk. Realizing that her curtains were drawn open and her room could be easily visible from the outside through the veranda, Risa walked over and quickly shut the glass sliding door and the drapes. When she turned around, she intended to get back to her desk and do some work but instead, her comfy bed just looked too tempting to pass up after a long stressful day. Without any more hesitation, the bean fell onto the soft bed sheets, lying in a large X shape, and exhaled heavily. No matter how many times she breathed in and out, she just couldn’t relax. There was a storm in her heart, and the cause of it was still a mystery.
I guess I should tell Ai-chan that I can’t meet up with her today for tea, she thought to herself.
Maybe it’s better to distance myself from her until I figure this whole thing out… A cute ringtone interrupted the bean’s chain of thoughts as her cell phone vibrated on her bedside table. Risa reached over to answer it.
“Moshi moshi?”
“Gaki-san? It’s me!”
“Ai-chan!” The bean immediately sat up when she recognized the voice.
“I’m calling about our tea plans that we arranged earlier,” Ai said.
“Ano ne, about that—”
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it to a tea shop in time,” the older girl said. “It’s the opposite direction from my house and frankly, it just seems a bit too far.”
Risa faltered a little bit at the unexpected revelation. “Ah… um… it’s okay, Ai-chan! I understand, really.” Although she was going to cancel their plans as well, she couldn’t help but be disappointed.
Are you… really stepping away now? “So instead of tea,” Ai continued through the phone, “I thought of a better place where we could meet.”
Risa raised an eyebrow. “Where…?”
“Here.”
A soft tap resounded from the veranda as Risa jumped in shock. The phone disconnected as the bean dropped it and rushed to open her curtains. Another soft tap resounded as a pebble hit the glass before Risa slid open the door and walked out. She looked around for a while, unable to see well through the dimly lit evening when a hushed voice came from below her.
“Psst! Down here!”
Risa looked down from the veranda and automatically broke into a huge smile when she saw the woman she had very much missed, standing outside, two level below her, waving her arms frantically to catch her attention.
“Evening, Gaki-san!” she greeted, laughing playfully.
“Ai-chan!” Risa exclaimed happily in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”
“To see you, of course!” Ai said matter-of-factly. “Hold on one second. I’m coming up.”
“Coming up?” Risa said in confusion. “What do you mean you’re coming up—O-OI! CHOTTO!”
As the bean broke into a panic, the monkey started to climb the first floor veranda and continue up to the second floor, using a nearby tree as leverage. She was rather quite nimble and agile in climbing, to Risa’s surprise. In no time, she was up on the second floor, hanging on to the veranda railings, facing the younger girl.
“Thank god you live only on the second floor,” she remarked, breathing heavily. “One more level up and I would’ve given up.”
“You should’ve given up before you even started!” Risa scolded. She slapped the older woman’s shoulder, hard enough to make a point yet gentle enough so that she won’t fall backwards. “That was dangerous!”
“Oh please,” Ai said, rolling her eyes. “I’ve seen my dad do much worse than that. But then again, he is an ex-yankii… There’s a lot he’s done.”
Risa’s eyes grew wide. “Should I be scared?”
“No, of course not,” Ai laughed. “His yankii days are ancient history; he’s not like that anymore… most of the time.”
Risa gulped. “Not sure if I feel any better…”
“Well I can leave if you want…” Ai shrugged nonchalantly as she backed away a little but Risa immediately grabbed her wrist to stop her.
“No!” she blurted out. Watching the older girl raise an eyebrow, the bean quickly restated, “I mean… stay. You’re here already, so… why waste the trip? Stay.”
“Well… only if I get to do this,” Ai grinned. She reached for the hand that was still holding onto her wrist and locked her fingers around it. The bean seemed a little surprised at the gesture as her cheeks turned pink. But after a moment, she pulled away. Ai looked up at her solemn friend and asked with concern, “Is… something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong, I just…” Risa drew back a little as she looked down. “I think… we shouldn’t meet for a while…”
There was a pause. “Did… I do something wrong?”
“No! You didn’t do anything wrong!” Risa reassured. “It’s just… we’re both working people and I just thought that maybe it’s better for us to concentrate on our jobs for a while instead of our social life—”
“Gaki-san, I can take anything else you throw at me,” Ai interrupted, staring at the younger girl intensely, “but please… don’t lie to me.”
Risa looked back at her friend, feeling her gaze dig deep into her. No matter how many times they made eye contact, there was always the same spark; the same trigger that connected them together. Risa knew she couldn’t deny this. “I… I’m scared.”
“For what?”
“For you.” The bean exhaled as she stood with her back straight, properly addressing the older woman. “I’m scared for you. I’m scared that… if we get any closer, it won’t end so well for either of us, but especially you.”
“Why do you think it won’t end well for us?” Ai asked.
“It just seems like the likely option, okay?” Risa groaned. “Look, remember when we were eating together in the lobby? And Jun-san caught us? I see that woman every day at work but I’ve never seen her that harsh before. And today, at Tresor, Tanaka Shachou definitely wasn’t pleased to see you. And Kamei-san backing you up like that didn’t really help either. And even before that, in the car, she was talking about how she was disappointed to hear that we slacked off to socialize. The world just wants to pull us apart and I think we should let nature do its job unless we have some masochistic wish to get in some serious trouble.”
At this point, Ai’s expression had turned very grim. “So you’re saying… we can’t meet anymore. Not even as friends.”
“Oh is that what we are?
Friends?” Risa remarked, letting out a tired laugh. “Come on, Ai-chan. Don’t tell me that’s how you’ve thought of me all along. Because it most certainly didn’t seem like it.”
“We
are friends—”
“No we’re not!” Risa shot back, her words starting to pour out uncontrollably. “You know why? Because
friends don’t hold each other’s hands unless they’re shopping together or something.
Friends don’t dance together at the club the way we did. And
friends don’t climb each other’s balconies when it is clearly after sunset. We are not
friends, Ai-chan. I don’t know what we are, but we’re
definitely not
friends.”
Silence ensued. Risa stood in her place, breathing hard from her previous rant, watching for the older woman’s reaction. Ai was frozen still on the balcony ledge, her eyes blanking out. Patience was obviously not one of Risa’s strong points, the bean realized, since she lost control of herself so easily like that. It was a shock, even to herself, how much emotion she had pent up within her.
Unable to take the heavy atmosphere anymore, Risa just shook her head as she started to turn away. “Good-bye, Ai-chan.”
Suddenly, the bean’s arm was grabbed and her entire body was spun around. Risa barely had any time to react before a forceful lip planted itself upon her own, kissing her. She felt one hand of the older woman rest upon her cheek as the other grabbed her wrist and put it around Ai’s waist. Before Risa could push herself away, however, Ai reached up and placed both of her hands on the bean’s face, completely relying on Risa’s one arm hugging her to not fall to the ground. Realizing this, the younger woman quickly put her other arm around her friend as well, pulling her into a complete embrace as they continued kissing. As Ai’s soft lips worked around hers, Risa’s entire mind started to blank out. A single thought remained in the very corner of her brain, and that was how sneaky she thought Ai was to put herself in a position like this where she had to accept her advances if she wanted to keep Ai from falling. But she couldn’t quite think that she hated her for it.
Finally, after having enough, Ai stopped kissing the younger woman and stared deeply into her eyes. Risa also gazed back, her arms still tight around Ai’s waist, but tried to stay in control this time.
“What… the HELL do you think you’re doing?!” she hissed angrily.
“I don’t know what you’re doing but I was just kissing the girl I’m in love with,” Ai said coolly.
“I’m not talking about that!” Risa retorted. “I’m talking about how you just almost let yourself fall two stories—wait… You… love me?”
Ai smiled. “That, I do.”
“… You’ve got to be kidding me,” Risa said doubtfully.
“Hey, it’s like you said,” Ai explained. “Obviously, I don’t like you as a friend. So I must like you as something more. And I think… I really do love you.”
Risa’s heart started to race as she stared at Ai smiling so close to her face. “I… I need a-a moment… I-I think…” She mumbled to herself as her body started to feel limp. Her arms shook weakly as Ai started to fall backwards when there was nothing to support her weight anymore. Risa let out a short shriek but Ai grabbed on to the veranda railings just in time to pull herself upright again.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Risa apologized frantically. “I totally forgot, I-I-I’m sorry!”
“I’m fine, Gaki-san, calm down!” Ai assured shakily. “Really, I’m fine!”
“No, you’re not fine!” Risa babbled on, digging her hand into her hair in search for something to hold on to. “You almost fell! I let you go! I-I-I never should have… let you go…”
A gentle hand touched the bean’s tense arm as she was pulled back towards the edge of the railing. Risa took a breather as she let her hands slip back down to her sides, one of them ending up in Ai’s grasp. The older woman pressed her lips against the younger’s fingers.
“Then don’t let go,” she murmured. “Never again.”
Risa swallowed as she felt her eyes automatically connect with Ai’s, unable to break out of her gaze. She felt herself being drawn to the woman by an unknown force, just like the one she always felt when she was being looked at like that by this person. Risa slowly leaned forward, closer to Ai’s face, until their lips gently touched. Ai’s lips trembled a little, waiting in anticipation. She wasn’t going to kiss her again until she was absolutely sure Risa wanted it; it was on her this time. Realizing this, Risa slowly leaned closer until her lips pressed against Ai’s more and kissed her sweetly. A sigh of relief and satisfaction escaped Ai’s lips as Risa whispered softly.
“I won’t let you go. Ever.”
Ai smiled at this as she eagerly kissed her love again, relentlessly expressing the feelings she had kept hidden until now. Risa kissed back with the same passion—her childhood friend’s words long forgotten, her previous resolution destroyed—with only a single thought in her mind withstanding: she loved her. She loved Takahashi Ai and that was all that mattered. She didn’t know how or why but just that she wanted to be with her. She needed to be with her. All this desire was being conveyed through this kiss.
“Gaki-san! Can you come over for a second?”
The two women backed away in a startled manner, seeming to finally remember that the bean did not live alone. After staring at each other in panic and loss of words for a couple seconds, Risa finally raised her voice.
“U-Un! Coming, Aika!” she called back.
“I should probably go,” Ai whispered.
“Yeah, you should… probably,” Risa agreed.
The two stared at each other again, their fingers still entwined together. In a spark of passion, the two started to kiss again, a little more rushed this time, until a knock resounded from behind the door.
“Gaki-san? Are you okay in there?”
“Y-yeah!” Risa yelled, quickly breaking away from the kiss. “I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m coming!” She quickly turned her attention to the woman hanging on her veranda. “Can you get down okay?”
“No sweat,” Ai replied.
“Gaki-san?” Aika called again. “Can I come in?”
“J-j-just a second!” Risa stuttered. As the bean turned towards the older woman again, she found her lips being stolen one last time.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, princess,” Ai grinned before making her way back down.
“Gaki-san, I’m coming in!”
Risa breathed shakily as her bedroom door flew open, just as her older companion disappeared from the railings. She whipped around to face her confused flatmate who was carrying a carton of milk.
“Was someone in here?” Aika asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No!” Risa blurted out, answering a little too quickly to ease her friend’s uncertainty. Well, technically, Ai hadn’t been
inside her room…
“That’s funny. I thought I heard voices…” Aika said. “Were you on the phone or something?”
“No—yeah!” Risa stumbled. “Yes, I, uh, was just on the phone. Very, very, important phone call. From… work.”
“Oh, okay, for a moment I thought you were talking to yourself in there,” Aika chuckled. “I was just gonna say this milk tastes a little funky. Should I throw it out?”
“Yeah, sure,” Risa nodded. “I’ll get a new one tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Aika said. “You should get in and close your veranda. It’s kind of chilly in here.”
“I’ll do that,” Risa nodded. “Thanks.”
Shooting her oddly stiff friend one more suspicious glance, Aika walked out and closed the door. Risa immediately let out a huge sigh of relief as she started to sink down to the ground. But then, she remembered her visitor and immediately turned around to look down below her veranda.
“Ai-chan?” she yelled in a hushed tone. “Ai-chan!”
A figure popped into view from behind the tree as it slowly made its way to an open area on the sidewalk. She waved happily with a smile, like a little child would, allowing Risa to laugh.
“I love it when you laugh like that,” Ai chuckled.
“Go home,” Risa ordered, rolling her eyes at the sweet words. “It’s getting late.”
Ai nodded. “Sweet dreams,” she said. “And don’t change your mind!”
Risa smiled, waving goodbye. “I won’t,” she reassured.
I won’t let you go. Never.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MEHEHE I hope that earns me some forgiveness..
Topic: Juliet and Cinderella ~ [UPDATE - Chapter 22 - (10/28)] (Read 82096 times)