@XxRoByNxX78 : I appreciate the feedback <3 I wouldn't be able to follow those rules either, it's just... mean. LOL
@MsSmigge : Thank you!
Awh, I'm so glad to see someone as excited for this pair as I am
And as for your questions, all the answers are inside this very chapter!
@rndy : lol good one.
actually there's even enough time for things to get swampy (?)
And I'll update a bit more slowly from now on, just to balance my studies and give you guys enough time to read them too x3
@alwaysYou : Badass Miki on the way!
Haha, as I said...
no more friendly Mikitty from now on @H!PShipper : Firstly, thank you for the feedback!
And secondly, hm... good vibes you're getting there
This next chapter was deliberately meant as a semi-introspection. More 'profound' things (so to say) happening
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mean Girls -Chapter 4-
Aside from the knots she was feeling at the pit of her stomach, the new student could not think of another reason as to why she had locked herself in Mikitty’s bathroom. Even though muffled laughters could be heard from behind the door at whatever the three girls found amusing, the bean could not get rid of the subconscious need to frown, bite her lip or walk without reason in the tight space.
From the four of them, she was the only one to realize the oddity of her sudden behaviour. Gaki never found herself in the situation of wanting to turn and run out the door at the mere sight of a photograph. What was it that troubled her so much? she thought. Surely Gaki was not the type to criticize same gender relationships; she was more open-minded than that.
And yet, the uncomfortable feeling did not cease to tug at her insides, making her heart sink and her stomach to tumble, ready to throw out whatever small meal she had had that day.
Was it because of Takahashi Ai? the bean wondered finally. How could she be so upset at the sight of the woman she had dreamed about for the last days… in the arms of another one?
Gaki’s usual indolent logic was nowhere to be found; moreover, the unknown feelings had overwhelmed her and she had no idea how to deal with them.
“Gaki-san, are you feeling better?”
Miki’s sharp inquiry pushed Gaki even further towards panic. “Do you want me to come in?”
“N-NO! I’m fine, it’s just… I’ll wash my face and then be right out!”
There was a short silence, but the door knob did not move. “Well, we’re going to start the movie soon, but take your time.”
Gaki sighed deeply and reached for the phone in her pocket. Only one person could be able to help her; there was no way Gaki would come out of the bathroom only to see that sickening picture again without having some answers first.
She turned the tap on, letting the sound of the water mingle with her whispers.
Come on, pick up… pick up already!
“Hello?”
“Michishige-san!” the bean hissed a bit too loud before bringing her palm up as a shield. “I’m at Fujimoto’s place.”
“Oh, it’s you. You startled me a bit.”
“Hey. Listen to me, I have a question. Why did you not tell me that Takahashi Ai-san was…” not even knowing how to put into words the disturbing thought, without even knowing why it was even disturbing in the first place, the bean squeezed her eyes for a second. “…someone else’s?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know what I mean! Two minutes ago I looked at this picture of them making out. It’s on Mikitty’s nightstand, right where everyone can see it.”
“Oh… well that’s both unexpected AND interesting.” The bunny said more to herself “I had no idea Fujimoto was so weak as to-”
“Listen, I’m freaking out without reason! Is that even possible? Soon enough they’ll start to ask questions and I can’t hide this… this… sadness. I’m losing it.”
Sayumi gasped softly, taken by surprise by the desperation in her friend’s whispers.
“Whoa, calm down now. They’re not together anymore.”
“What?” Gaki’s frown creased her forehead even deeper; knowing that detail alone was no reassurance at all. “Then how come…? But the picture!”
“There’s no way that picture is new. The last time they were seen together was more than a year ago; they broke up, end of story. What you need to do right now is to calm down. Do not let them know of your mini outburst. You did very well so far, if you could just-“
“Gaki-san, you’re starting to worry us!”
Without even saying goodbye to her friend, the new senior hang up on her before shoving the phone back into her pocket, just in time for the door to open.
Kamei’s head popped in, her confused eyes falling on Risa’s back as she turned off the tap.
“Daijobu ka?”
From the stress, the bean did not even realize her face was perfectly dry until she turned around. But then, Kamei’s brightest smile proved yet again how oblivious she was as to what Gaki had been doing alone in the bathroom. She was only glad that her newest friend was looking good enough, contrary to what she had imagined.
“We thought you flushed your head down the toilet, Gaki-san! Did you throw up?”
“… No, but I think I’m about to.”
“Eeeh?”
Eri’s eyes widened as she made room for Gaki to come out; her other two companions left the DVDs they were browsing through to the side, eyeing the short-haired girl curiously and silently.
“I should be leaving” she finally announced, not needing to fake the uncomfortable feeling as she clutched at her stomach because, in the end, it was all too real. “It must have been a food poisoning. If I go home now, my mother will take good care of me.”
***
The new senior leaned against the soft seat, waving goodbye at Kamei, the only one to see her off out of the three even though Miki was the one to call the taxi for her.
As the car drove off, Gaki’s unsettling feeling started to flatten out, most likely because she was getting further and further away from the company of those three girls and from that particular house. At that precise moment she realized just how different that territory was from her own roots and what a big illusion that glimmer of sense of belonging was. She definitely did not belong there. As a certain photograph kept popping in front of her eyes, Gaki literally shook the image away using her right hand, receiving a quizzical look from the driver’s mirror.
At the eye contact, Gaki leaned forward instinctively.
“Sir, could you please drop me off at Nakano High School instead of Yokohama?”
Not only did the bean not have enough money for such a long fare to her neighborhood, but the insides of her mind kept fidgeting for some reason too. She just had to check if the sports star was at the Friday afternoon training (since apparently that was the schedule), she just had to talk to her, even for a bit, she had to make sure if her own feelings were true or if they were yet another illusion which this new, strange city was laying in front of her.
“Sure thing, miss. Nakano is much closer.”
A couple of minutes later, with her head resting against the window Gaki realized they were almost there. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was clear in between the almost bare tree branches, since the latest storm had managed to pluck out most of the leaves. As Gaki got out of the car, she wondered: were her feelings as helpless and as yielding as the autumn leaves facing the unpredictable whims of the wind too?
Was it because of this particular city, confusing her to the core, that she had forgotten to sort out what she wanted from this new life? Was she really going to play a two-faced pawn forever? All the strong characters that she had met up to that point demanded something from her; a most uncomfortable feeling that she felt tied to, in order to survive.
With one exception: the volleyball player that knocked her over with her beauty and simplicity. There was nothing to be suspicious about when around her, nothing else for Gaki to feel but the sheer joy of so many positive emotions invading her body for the first time. Staying in her company was quite possibly the simplest thing of them all ever since she had arrived in Tokyo; even if it did not last for long, even if she did not have the courage to pop at the gym again the following mornings, Gaki now had the excuse she needed in order to see her again.
Before touching the door handle, she took a deep breath. If Takahashi Ai was inside and they got to talk again, if her presence had the power to make the bean happy for the first time in what seemed like ages among all the selfless strangers, then Gaki would have the answer she needed.
As soon as she opened the door to the hallway, the sound of the walls vibrating from the powerful volleyball serves brought a smile on her face; apparently her friends were not wrong about the schedule. She took a couple of skips to the main indoor court hall from where the screams and the laughs and the bouncing sound of the balls came from, not wasting more time before opening that door too.
There she was, taking her serve position professionally before hitting the ball right across the opponent side of the court, for which a slower teammate of hers was no match. One would not even guess that such a small body would be able to raise the bar so high for the rest.
A barely visible smile cornered her lips at her success as she straightened up, but that smile quickly transformed into a wide, curious smirk as she realized she had audience.
Gaki blushed a bit, beckoning her to come over.
“Good job everyone; you can take a break now.” She threw the towel over her shoulder, grabbed her bottle of water and headed towards the unforeseen visitor. “I’ll be right back.”
***
“My my, if you were thirty minutes earlier, you might have caught me half naked again…” the older teased before closing the door behind her. At the sound of Ai’s quick paced breathing, Gaki’s ears and cheeks felt warmer.
“I just wanted to stop by and…”
“And?” the older woman brought the bottle to her lips and started drinking heavily, sweat trickling along her smooth neck and underneath her chin.
“And I wanted to… apologize again.”
What?! Not again…
The older woman snatched the bottle from her mouth and almost choked at the furious blush that seized Gaki’s whole face, ripples of laughter raking her body at the girl’s innocence. “Again? ‘took you some time to do it.”
Gaki’s embarrassment was half replaced by the surprise of hearing someone from Tokyo unwillingly let out a different accent.
“Man, you’re cute. And hilarious at the same time” she added before bringing the towel to her neck, breathing in deeply as to calm herself. “Now tell me the real reason. Do you want private lessons?” She brought the towel to her face, rubbing slowly against her skin and failing to see Gaki’s eyes pop open. “I’ve had requests from a couple of junior fan boys…” the words were muffled by the towel in the most adorable way “…but I rejected them.”
Before Gaki got to calculate her reply, the towel dropped from Ai’s face on her hand, the intense stare catching Gaki off guard as well as the sweet tone: “I could give them to you though. You have potential.”
“...We only played for two minutes.”
Gaki’s genuinely confused mumble brought a smile on the woman’s full lips again, and as she drew closer to place a hand on the younger girl’s shoulder, she felt it tense underneath her palm. “Hey, don’t be scared; I don’t bite. I just happen to have a sharp eye for talent, trust me.”
During the couple of seconds surrounding the closeness between them, the woman’s feminine scent and the warmness of her wet skin both made their way to Gaki’s face, completely shutting down her logical reasoning. What ran through her body was a feeling of anticipation, tingling at the back of her head again. It was all surreal. Her heart started pounding. Sweat was starting to form on her palms whilst her lips dried up.
“Wasn’t that what you wanted to ask me?”
Gaki licked her lips and nodded slowly, shrinking a bit under the intent gaze. “That is p-precisely the reason why I… came looking for you.”
The older woman smiled gently. “Good. You’re interesting to play with.” She took her hand away and headed for the door “Volleyball I mean.”
Gaki on the other hand, found her eyes glued to the floor, trying to focus on the language that her body was trying to speak for the first time. Whatever she was feeling was not uncomfortable whatsoever; even the bits of embarrassment that made her blood pressure rise were delicious. Gaki had the answer she was looking for, and she was so very pleased with it.
“Thank you for your time.”
***Sorry if there are any grammar errors x_x Even though I proof-read and ran through the chappie so many times, errors might have slipped cause I'm so tired D:
Tension ready to unfold, starting with next chappie
Any thoughts?