@yellow if I didn't do it already, it will be on my next list away from this fic
Chapter 11
Ai awoke to a loud clang. She shot up from her futon looking toward the kitchen. Eri stared at Ai with an innocent smirk on her face before picking up the pan. Ai looked to her right to find Risa out cold and stood up to help Eri with breakfast. She observed the younger woman having no clue in what Eri was doing and she was casted to rice duty which a million questions seemed to be shot like arrows from an automated crossbow.
After running out of ammo, Eri quietly went to the sink to wash the rice under Ai’s watch. The white pellets were drowned by the water from the faucet. Eri stopped the water and mixed it slowly, picking up hundreds of grains with her hands.
“Risa never watches over me.” She directed to Ai as she kept her attention to the rice pot.
“Risa is not your mother. I’m just helping because I want to.” Ai replied as she looked over at the instant miso soup near the stove. “Do you feel threatened?”
Eri grabbed onto the clump in her hand feeling the nails dig into her skin. She never expected Ai to say it especially with the day before but readied the pot for the cooker and turned it on. She turned to Ai, who was looking down into the murky 2 liter pot. The turtle had a weird urge and glanced at the sink again, a ticking that seemed annoying, and the only thing seemed to be to kill the ticking.
“Eri, can you turn on the cooker?” Ai asked, breaking the concentration of the turtle. Eri walked over to the cooker and pressed down the button. She looked over at the bed seeing Risa opening her eyes for the first time, Eri walked to the bed and took a seat next to her.
Ai saw the soup boiling in front of her and put it to the side as she saw the two on the beds. Ai felt anxious to what Eri was going to do and took a step forward before stepping back to her original spot. The eyes were of red lasers as Risa yawned, giving Eri a chance to sneak in a chance. She pressed her lips onto Risa and Ai could see her eyes grew as wide as oranges. Risa pushed her away in shock leaving the turtle sprawled on the floor.
“Eri! What was that about?” She shouted at Eri as she struggled to stand on the beds.
“I thought you were my girlfriend.” She replied as she faced up to her. “That was the reason why you moved in here for remember?”
Risa loosened up her fists as she began to digest the information. She remembered when she did move in after the terrible breakup with her last boyfriend. She was paler than usual and her stomach was in knots as she dropped off her luggage onto the floor.
Eri had lost her roommate a day earlier after an argument about aliens and when rent was due to her landlord. Risa handed over her half plus a loan of 60,000 yen for back rent to Eri. She paid it with no problems as her steady job got her enough but was laid off with a downsizing move. Risa found their current jobs which helped them with their situation but the problem was showing affection.
They were friends but not that close to be intimate unless they were bored or by chance were in the mood to not look for others to mingle with, which happened more times than usual. However, Ai was a challenge that got both rattled when they met her a month earlier.
Risa had her submerged feelings come out that night as she opened a picture book of both of them ten years ago. She felt that Ai was gone forever but knew she wanted to move on. Risa was over Ai when she did start dating men but Eri was terrible at advice so that lost feeling was frustrating. By the end of the second day, she couldn’t hold back anything from her roommate and spilled everything about Ai.
Eri was angry that Ai had returned. The turtle didn’t want to see the picture book for every reason to hurt Risa but respected her friend’s memories. Eri left the café with a bitter taste of Ai as it seemed that there was no pain for the ten years since she had ran away. Work was a distraction for her as she kept up but knew it wouldn’t last long so she left early one day to seek a person to confide in.
She explored the city for a doctor who she could talk to not thinking of the type of doctor. Eri was at the end of the tour when she saw a woman at a ramen shop alone. Her long, straight black hair was a charm point that caught the turtle’s eye and walked into the shop with little thought to why she was alone.
“May I join you?” The woman nodded as the bowl was only filled with soup.
“Do you bother people who are on lunch?” Eri shook her head.
“No, I was wondering why you are alone.” The woman smiled as she took a sip of her ice water. “You seem to be nice.”
“I guess it’s just I am beautiful don’t you think?” Eri smiled at the statement but didn’t want to influence the conversation that way and ordered a salt ramen.
Eri turned towards her noticing the mirror in front of her. Eri watched her pointing out her small blemishes before putting the mirror back into her purse. She paid her bill and took the seat to Eri with the intention of picking up the conversation a few minutes earlier. “What is your opinion?”
“I think you look great but…” Eri received a stare from her as she thought she was saying something wrong. “You are just too hard on yourself.”
She calmed her expression to a smile. “I guess so… but do you like me better if I don’t look self-conscious.” Eri nodded as her hot ramen came to her.
The two women talked about their lives and came to a common point of being misunderstood and brought up Ai by natural progression which caught the woman’s attention. She seemed in tuned to the description and the mention of the woman’s name made her ask about her but Eri wasn’t too sure. The turtle managed to finish while it was lukewarm and paid the bill.
Eri wished her good luck but asked for her name.
“Michishige Sayumi.” Her last answer before walking away from the shop which seemed to interest Eri at the moment but only now she got it back from her memory pool.
“But we are friends, Eri and you knew that Ai was my neighbor.” Risa explained.
“The thing was you couldn’t say you liked her because of the policy so when she did leave you, you thought she was gone forever.” Risa shook her head as she stared at Risa for a second.
“Sayu-chan was an acquaintance right Ai?” She twisted towards Ai with her lips curled. Ai nodded as she acknowledged the woman’s name but Risa was still unchanged in her stance.
“Yes, I met her when I returned to Fukui.” Ai stated.
“The thing was she knew the truth to why you ran away and she came to tell you that you shouldn’t hide anymore.” Risa swung her attention to Ai as she was now frozen in place. Ai couldn’t tell she was bluffing about the story but the name seemed familiar to her. A quick description made the situation dire to excuse her from and she sat on the chair with Risa looking over her.
“It all started ten years ago…”
Ten years explained in an hour. Ai spilled out everything to both of them, seemingly an epic of a story of that night she had run away and her stay in Fukui. Everything was shocking to both of them and to come to the moment where Risa could only nod as Eri was trying to console her friend in her arms.
Ai never strayed away from Risa for a moment as it unfolded to her and only paused for a few breaths expecting a comment or two but Risa obediently waited for the story to be over. Ai wasn't sure of the reaction and just nodded her head when she was finished. Risa stood up breaking Eri's grip and stood in front of her former neighbor.
The sound of a smack came across of Ai's face as she held over the red spot that had formed and then Eri received one across her face as she was in shock for the abuse. Ai watched her walk up and removed the hand from her face, seeing the mark form in front of her eyes.
"I heard about the murder but never expect you to do anything like that, especially going as low as TaKo to make your money." She muttered as Risa collapsed into Ai's arms. "The thing is... I had hid something too."
Ai brushed through her hair as she looked at Eri, who was still holding her cheek, stunned from the slap. She didn't expect Eri to dig up such information but Risa was turning into a wreck and landed on the floor gracefully.
"Eri... I'm sorry for all this." Ai said apologetically as she looked at the bed and started to roll it up before Eri grasped her shoulder.
"Ai-chan, why did Sayu tell me about you? What did you do to her?" Eri glared at the elder woman.
Ai glanced back at Risa before turning her attention to Eri. Her stomach turned as the answer was written all over face. Sayu was known to manipulate people at their needs and it made her great as an enemy but Eri was sure that the answer wouldn't be suffice for her mouth.
"Sayu was too needy for me and she left because I couldn't handle her anymore." She explained with her concentration still on Risa.
"I agree." Eri looked down at the bed. "That's why I did what I had to do."
Ai tilted her head to the side in confusion as Risa looked over at two. She was trying to comprehend the situation as Eri had a big grin on her face. Ai suddenly thought about the meeting between them two and how Sayu was able to get the story to her. Then, it finally clicked in her head.
"I saw her during the night after our meeting and took her to the park for drinks." Eri paused as she looked over at Risa. "I knew she was drunk and I felt if it was an accident, I can hide your past."
Ai shook her head furiously as she turned on the television with the news of a body found in the park as she said. It was assumed it was done the day before she was released from the hospital and Ai being prohibited to gain access to the outside world made it difficult to know the killer in the first place.
She looked back at Risa, who was now crawling over to them, suddenly felt a chill down her spine, and bowed towards her.
"Ai, I'll be going with you guys too." Risa confirmed as she showed a bottle to her.
"You poisoned her?" Ai shrieked as she nodded.
"I was angry at her for a long time and when I saw her again, I had to formulate a plan to rid of her." Risa sat down on the floor crossing her legs. "Then, I went to the police station sliding by as a janitor." Ai lifted her hand up to stall the conversation.
She was beginning to feel the chill again. It was an odd feeling for ten years to pass by and the two people who were by her side at the hospital was helping her rid of the demons but she knew that it wasn't going to end on a great note. Ai looked at both of them and rung their heads in her arms.
"Thank you." She whispered.
An hour later, they all reported to the police station with their violent acts and thus ending the time capsule of their torture.
Topic: Time Capsule Chapter 11 10/28/12 (Read 13059 times)