A rare morning posting! Of course, I just wanted to give more to read for you all who hadn't caught up with the last yet. This is kind of a crazy chapter as I'm sure you'll tell from the title. Please enjoy. Chapter 23 – Egao YES NudeReina continued watching the lights, holding her eyes half-closed in a measure of half-sleep that she used quite often lately to recuperate some energy on the fly. Staying focused and calm as she needed to lately required quite a lot of energy – much more than the few short hours of sleep that she managed to get every night restored in her.
She slowly tilted her head to look at the phone she carried in her hand resting on her lap, and it flashed 1:28 back at her. It looked like she wouldn’t get much sleep tonight, either. She would be up at daybreak in a few hours to get in an early-morning workout before visiting a few of her business contacts. Maybe she would look into some other areas she might be able to expand into.
Eyes closing fully, she barked a soft laugh. Workout early in the morning, then off to the day at work. Finish it up with a night at the club… The schedule she now held was not so much different from her time in Morning Musume. Well, it wouldn’t have been if she had any sort of discipline then, that is. That made her wonder.
Have I really changed… grown… so much?She caught eyes peering at her through the rear-view mirror in the front windshield. “Is something wrong, Tanaka-san?” Daisuke asked from the driver’s seat, slight concern in his voice, but also amusement indicating his understanding of the hint of her mood.
Reina stayed silent a moment before responding. “Yes, as a matter of fact. Why did you accept the invitation to be my escort?” She did her best to hide the smirk that wanted to appear at the corner of her mouth.
“Someone as humble as me would be quite foolish not to take an opportunity like that offered by one such as you, Ma’am,” he responded. Reina grimaced. The boy almost sounded sincere!
“Opportunity, huh?” Reina mumbled. “Didn’t I tell you to not call me things like ‘Ma’am’? I get enough of that from all the sleaze balls working for me, so I definitely don’t want it from you…” She stopped after she said that, realizing she probably didn’t quite use the right choice of words just then.
Daisuke didn’t appear to notice, however. “That wouldn’t be proper, Tanaka-san. I could hardly be less polite when I was just assisting on your picture crews, so I definitely cannot now that you’re in your new… station.”
Reina thought for a second before sliding forward a bit on her seat and leaning up near the headrest of the driver’s. She noticed Daisuke’s eyes giving her glances through the rear-view mirror still, and she smiled back at him. The boy seemed to be getting nervous.
“Tanaka-san? What are you doing?” he asked. Reina noticed his knuckles pale slightly in the tight grip he held on the steering wheel.
“I’d
really like it if you just called me Reina…” she nearly purred, taking a decorated fingernail and gliding it up his shoulder and slightly onto his neck. The boy swallowed. “Are you sure you can’t do that for me? You keep saying you’ll do anything I say, after all…”
“Er…” he started, eyes no longer darting to the mirror and instead fixed hard on the road ahead. “I… I guess I could…” Reina noticed him shiver slightly as she blew softly against the back of his neck.
‘I’m sure you can…” she cooed.
“Yes, Reina,” he said quickly. “I’m not sure if I trust myself enough, since I definitely wouldn’t be able to speak that way when we’re not alone, but I’ll do my best.” His quick speech indicated a strong nervousness and desire for the girl behind him to cease her teasing. Reina decided she wouldn’t let him off that easily, though.
“And why would that be a problem?” She now lazily drew her finger to and fro across the back of his neck.
“If anyone heard it, I’m afraid they might get the…” He finally glanced back into the mirror, though his eyes didn’t look as afraid as his words. “…wrong idea.”
“Oh?” Reina murmured. “Let them.” With a last touch to his ear, she drew back into her seat, still staring into the mirror at his eyes. Daisuke’s held them for a moment before returning quickly back to the road. After that though, the car was silent for a few minutes.
Reina smiled softly to herself and gazed back out into the city. Harajuku buildings were beginning to come into view. It wouldn’t be long now.
“How connected are we with UFW?” she asked after a time, not taking her eyes from the window. She could imagine the wide-eyed glances he gave her through the mirror, though.
“We aren’t, as far as I know,” he responded after the small hesitation. “I’m somewhat… independent. Call it a holdover from my university days.”
“You went to Tokyo University, right?” she asked. The boy didn’t respond. Well, she didn’t really expect him to. She could imagine the questions forming in his mind over how she knew that. In reality it was just a guess, but his silent confirmation dropped her into thought herself.
She knew she must have asked it a million times already, but truly, what had she gotten herself into? She’d seen movies and read stories about secret societies at the most elite colleges and even high schools, but she’d never really thought of it as more than fiction. Well, it was far beyond fiction now, and she was as tightly tied to it as the best of those Tokyo graduates. It made her want to laugh hysterically. For all her outward act, it was ridiculous for a small teenage girl from Fukuoka to think she deserved all of this. As the Hisuitora Mansion came into view from around a corner and she saw the small number of press still camped out at this hour across the street, her thoughts sobered. Whatever she thought, whatever she really deserved, this was reality.
Daisuke pulled up to a gate which fronted a large barred door at the side and punched a code into the mechanism beside them. As he pulled away from it, the gate slid slowly open and he drove up just past it, stopping as the gate closed and the door slid open. He then took them into the dimly lit underground car park, slowing and finally stopping beside an elevator door.
Daisuke didn’t speak since no words were necessary at the moment, and Reina put her hand to the handle. For some reason, she felt very antsy. Maybe it was the night’s work. Already turned as if to exit the vehicle, she turned her head back slightly to cast a glance up at what she could see of Daisuke in his seat. From this angle, she couldn’t see his face through the mirror.
She realized how vividly she felt her chest heave with her breath; her heart beating quickly. “Would you like to come up?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“…Excuse me?” Daisuke responded.
“Up,” she said simply, and in a voice a bit stronger. “To my rooms with me.” Her heart must be beating a million times an hour. What was happening to her?
There was a pause before Daisuke spoke again. “I’ll keep an eye out down here,” he said softly, “But I don’t think I should…”
“Of course,” Reina said quickly, and pushed open the door in a rush, swinging it shut and darting over to the elevator. Her heart didn’t stop pounding until its door slid open and she heard the car rumble slowly away.
Ducking in, she pushed for her floor and fell to the back of the carriage, laying against the wall and catching her breath, arms crossed tightly in front of her. Where did
that come from? Daisuke was certainly cute with his mid-length dark scattered hair, and quite handsome with his high cheekbones and all, and… She shook herself. She supposed she always had somewhat of a crush on him since her photo shoot, but she didn’t think it was near to the extent of inviting him up to her
apartment! He was her escort, after all. It just… It just wouldn’t be proper!
The door slid open again, and she walked out onto her floor. A large suited man was leaning against the wall not far from the elevator as always, and he gave her a look and a nod before returning to his intense study of the floor. She strode past and down the hall. She still felt like she wanted to jump out of her skin. She knew this feeling, but didn’t particularly like it right now. She thought she’d gotten rid of it since learning to school her thoughts and emotions, but obviously all that had fallen apart for some reason now. Maybe she shouldn’t have tried to be so amorous with Daisuke-kun to get him to loosen up with her…
At that thought she missed a step and blushed, quickening her stride until she reached her door, hurriedly swiping her card and slipping in, the lights flicking on automatically at her movement. She needed a cold bath. That made her think of Eri and the last time they shared a bath. That was the last time she’d felt this way…
She couldn’t make it into the washroom quickly enough.
An indeterminable amount of time later, she sat in her recliner in front of the flickering flames of the fireplace brushing her hair. She felt much better. That was definitely not something she’d let happen again. She glanced over at the clock which flashed 2:43 at her and sighed. She would get less sleep than she even originally thought tonight. Pulling the last stubborn knots from her precious hair, she set the brush on the end table and laid back, closing her eyes and just enjoying the coziness of her chair and the fire in front of her.
Upon returning to Tokyo, she and Ai met with a representative of Ai’s “sect”. Apparently somehow he had learned of Reina’s new position already, and he explained that he’d arranged a condo at Hisuitora for her. She was shocked, and at first couldn’t understand it. Aside from the obvious upgrade to her current Tokyo hotel room, she wondered how she could keep a low profile at such a high profile residence. She gave it a try however at his and Ai’s insistence – and Ai’s calm comment about how she herself lived there, in fact just down the hall from where Reina was now – and once she learned what kind of security they had here, she couldn’t turn it down. It had also been quite a surprise when, at another meeting, she found Daisuke as part of the crowd. Soon after, after both of them shared moments of surprise, Reina suddenly asked him if he’d be her escort, since Ai told her she should choose someone she trusted to accompany her and to act as her “bodyguard”. She distantly felt herself smile at that. If push came to shove, she had a good idea who would be whose bodyguard. Of course, Ai didn’t tell her who her own was, if she had one.
The soothing sounds of the crackling fire reverberated in her head, and her mind wandered. She thought of the moves she would practice in the morning. Knives appeared in her mind and flew around in chaos. One, guided by her hand, sliced the back of a knee not unlike earlier that night, though much more blood spurted in her vision than in reality. That blood then washed fully throughout her head, and faces rose up out of it. First Aya’s, which stared warmly as the friend she’d known shortly after Miki’s death, and then Miki’s herself. Those eyes, however, glared. Reina felt a yelp in the back of her throat at that, but it never made her lips…
…
Reina’s eyes opened to the dark embers of a dead fire before her. Bright white light reflected off the mantle, and she tenderly twisted her woozy head toward the source – the sun, shining in through the large window near the entrance to the kitchen. Her eyes widening, Reina sent jolts through her reluctant muscles and jumped up from her chair, nearly unable to stop her momentum from running her right into the opposite wall.
The sun was shining! What time was it?? She looked at the clock near the mantle and squinted her eyes to make out its dim glow against the sunlight. 11:15 it blinked slowly back at her.
“Shit…” she mumbled, and stumbled into her room trying her best to avoid tripping on her robe. Once in there she walked up to her dresser, but just stared at it.
So she overslept. She didn’t get up at 7 and work out like she’d hoped. She didn’t make her rounds of the businesses she dabbled in lately. So… what? There was no rule stating she had to work out at 7 – it was her own rule that she would do it. The businesses would run fine. They were all run by very capable people who knew what they were doing long before they knew anything about Reina Tanaka. Sure, they were doing things differently now at her discretion, but they would do it no matter whether she checked up on them or not – they knew what would happen if they broke one of her rules. Her rules…
Reina leaned over the dresser and laid her cheek on it, sighing. What did she do anymore that was not by her rule, her order? The council and the Chairman were her superiors, but they didn’t bother her. Ai never really bothered her since Kobe, either. All the meetings she’d joined her at were by polite invitation as between equals. She truly had free rein. For some reason, she felt like hugging herself. She wasn’t sure how much she liked that. Everyone always says they want to have no rules, do whatever they please, but now that she seemingly could… Why did she suddenly want to be told what to do?
Unthinkingly, she walked back out of her bedroom in her bare feet and robe, unconsciously tying it tighter around her waist. She grabbed her key card from the table next to the door and went through it out into the hall, looking around dazedly before walking down toward the elevator. The man at the end of the hall gave her a short gaze, but his expression betrayed nothing more and before long he dropped his eyes once again to the floor.
Before she knew it, Reina was walking along the street past stores a few short blocks from the mansion. A few people gave her a short glance as they passed, but most didn’t look and just kept to their business. She stopped in front of the Chanel store and looked at some of the hats they featured in their window. A sales clerk standing beside the front door gave her suspicious glances, but seemed content to leave her be as long as she stayed where she was. People continued passing by without any more glances than before until she sensed two small forms come up slowly to her and stop barely a meter away.
“Reina?” she heard one ask. She tilted her head to glance at the girl who addressed her and stared.
“Why am I not surprised to find you near here?” Koharu said with a furrowed brow. “I knew you and Takahashi-sama hadn’t gone
missing and been
killed. Though, I hadn’t heard word from her lately… Tsunku is in quite a state, you know.”
Reina stared at her for another moment. “You know you should call me
Reina-sama now,” she said blandly, provoking widened eyes from the younger Musume.
After she spoke she heard a giggle from next to Koharu and turned fully around to view both girls. Aika stood with a smile, eyebrows raised in disbelief. “I know I don’t know everything about being in Morning Musume yet,” she said, “but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to start going around and calling you Reina-sama! Even if you did rise from the dead…” She tilted her head at that and acted as if she wanted to poke Reina to see if she was real, giving her queer looks up and down.
Reina looked herself up and down and seemed for the first time to realize she was barefoot in a dark robe with cherry blossoms printed all over it. She looked back up at the two girls. “
You’re not going to be calling me anything, Aika-chan. As far as you know, I’m dead and out at the bottom of the sea somewhere.” The youngest girl seemed to feel her feathers ruffled by that and stuck out her lower lip, opening her mouth as if to argue, but her companion interrupted her.
“You??” Koharu nearly shouted. “I know Takahashi-sama always favored you for some reason and you had your own insane thoughts, but I can’t believe…” She said the last words over the newest Musume giggling at her way of saying Ai’s name again.
Reina opened her mouth as if to put the girl in her place, but stopped herself and suddenly smiled. “Actually, I don’t care what you call me. All you need to remember is to not tell anyone that you saw me. You know what Ai-chan will do if you were to blow her cover…” Koharu’s face paled at that. Reina actually wasn’t sure if Ai would do anything, but apparently the threat was good enough for the girl’s too-vivid imagination. All those stories in her head were apparently working in Reina’s favor finally… “And make sure to keep the lips of our newest friend here sealed just as well!” To go with her words, she patted the new girl’s head. Hard.
“Hey!” she retaliated, pushing Reina away before smoothing her hair. “I’ll tell whoever I want to t-
mmm mmhhmm hmmm…” Whatever else the spunky girl was about to say was muffled by Koharu’s hand suddenly over her mouth, and her other arm quickly wrapped around the younger girl’s waist, Aika reacting to being restrained literally kicking and, well, attempting to scream.
“You tell Takahashi-sama we won’t say anything,” Koharu said with a cute glare at Reina, taking care to emphasize the name of the girl she apparently stood in awe of, and looked down at her younger companion. “Come on,” she told her, beginning to drag her back down the sidewalk. As they stumbled away, Reina heard Koharu continue mumbling,
“I’ll have to have a talk with Miss Niigaki. It’s good to be assertive, but this is ridiculous…” If she said anything else, it was drowned out in the low murmur of the surrounding crowds and the growing distance between them.
For Reina’s part, she spun around and strode confidently back toward the mansion, her robe billowing slightly around her legs, which didn’t feel the cold at all. When she found her room once again, she picked up her phone and looked at the last text message she received early yesterday. It hadn’t made sense to her at the time, but the sudden revelation she had while in front of the Chanel store in her cherry blossom robe and bare feet while talking to her two former kouhai seemed almost too outrageous to be true. She was only guessing, but if it was true, she could have kicked herself for not realizing it sooner. Actually, kicking was not a strong enough response…
Clearing the text, she brought up her list of recent calls and stared a moment at a number that had no name next to it. Calling it, she listened to the other end ring four times before a click and a small voice tentatively saying, “Hello?”
“Ayaya,” Reina responded. “It’s Reina. We need to talk. I’ll also be bringing along a detective. His name’s Kitamura.”
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Micchi