Cinderella Complex
"Oi! Tanaka! Watcha wanna do next?"
A boisterous group of teenagers, mostly boys and all dressed like punks (albeit fashionably so, if that made any sense), surrounded the girl of the moment.
"Whatever." Reina stuck her hands into her pockets and slouched against a railing, glowering at random passerbys for doing nothing more than cross her field of vision.
Her gang of friends exchanged concerned looks. They had not been able to hang out with Reina as often as they used to back in middle school, where they always got into trouble pranking people and the like. Rebels, every single one of them, though not one of them actually did anything illegal or dangerous. Everything was done in the spirit of fun, so despite the negative image others would imagine upon seeing them for the first time, they were actually not that bad.
"Tanaka, you got sick of us after getting scouted? Is that it?" Fuji, one of the older boys, spoke up first.
"Too good for us now?" His girlfriend, her hair dyed a stunning platinum blond, followed up.
Reina eyeballed them. "No."
Yabara, with his ever smiling face, stepped up to defuse the tension. "Oi oi, today is Tanaka's birthday yo! No picking fights!"
Kneeling down in front of the sulky Reina, the tall joker of the group made a funny face at her, trying to get her to smile. A twitch crossed Reina's lips. Yabara was a funny guy.
"C'mon Tanaka, let's go karaoke! That always makes you feel better!" Yabara's sidekick, Ishihara, joined in. He slung one arm familiarly around Reina's shoulders. "Let's go, let's go!"
Unable to resist the urgings of her friends, Reina just let herself be pushed along with the crowd. The bright noon sun erased all shadows, reducing them to mere blots beneath them.
If so, then why do I feel like I can't see anything?
~*~*~
"I'm so sorry Reina, my manager made plans without informing me beforehand, and they rescheduled the rehearsal times, so I don't think I can spend your birthday with you as promised. I'm so sorry! I'll make it up to y--"
Just a hurried voice message left in her inbox. Apparently, Ai had been too busy the day before to even make a proper call. Knowing her manager, Ai had probably snuck a moment out of her schedule to use the phone, only to promptly get it taken away by that slave driver.
Sighing halfheartedly, Reina flopped back after relinquishing the microphone to some of her friends. Not even belting out her favorite hits could rejuvenate her, although she did pour a lot of energy into those songs in an attempt to distract herself.
It only struck her now how long it had been since she was with this particular group of friends. They were great people and fun to hang out with, but in the past few months her entire time had been taken up by the agency...or to be more specific, a person from the agency.
Reina didn't even know how much she was around Ai until Ai was not there with her. Even on days when they were not physically together, they would spend quite a bit of time on the phone. Reina didn't know how Ai could spend over 2 hours in the bathroom without passing out in the tub or something. Then again, given what she heard in the background, the older girl was probably playing some portable handheld while talking to her on speaker.
What a way to multitask... Reina resisted the urge to slap herself as her thoughts inevitably wandered to Ai again. Could she not spend time away from the older girl without thinking about her?
Reina hated clingy people. She couldn't imagine herself being clingy either...until now. It was quite unthinkable. It wasn't like Ai was particularly interesting or anything; she wasn't funny like Yabara, a loud moodmaker like Ishihara, or even someone she could squabble with, like Fuji. If anything, Ai treated her like a kid, and Reina hated being treated like a kid. Or so she thought.
"She confuses me..." Reina muttered out loud, folding her arms and staring blankly into space.
"Who does?" Yabara's voice came shockingly close to her ear, like a hiss under the ballad that Fuji and his girlfriend was singing together at the moment.
"My senpai." Reina did not volunteer more information. Given the lack of gender differentiation in the way she had expressed herself, it could just as easily have been a guy she was referring to, and Yabara obviously took it that way.
"Oh so you finally decide to stop being one of the guys and remember you're a girl? Who's the guy?" Yabara grinned evilly. Reina flipped him the finger.
"I've always been a girl, you idiot!" Reina flared. "But I'm also a girl that can kick your ass, don't forget that!"
"And that's the Tanaka we all know and love." Ishihara slid in on the opposite side of Reina. If Reina didn't know better, she'd think that those two were joined at the hip or something.
"I'm going to the washroom." Reina stood up abruptly and slipped out of the dark room, feeling oddly confined in that familiar space. It disturbed her to feel that way.
Splashing her face with water, Reina looked into the mirror. As usual, her wonky eye refused to focus right, and the water still dripping down her cheeks made her look like a bedraggled kitten.
Yeah, like the one I found abandoned in a box that time.
Reina was loved, unlike that poor lost kitten. Her parents showered her with gifts and attention, the latter usually when they had the time to be at home. Being famous architects meant that they had a great deal of projects, and it could probably be said that they saw those buildings more often than they saw their own child. She lived with her grandparents for half her childhood, moving out into the city to be able to spend more time with her parents when she got older (and to go to better schools).
To be fair, Reina knew that her parents always gave her as much time as they could spare, even taking time off projects to bring her out to dinner or even the occasional trip to the amusement park. She lacked nothing in material goods, and what she wanted, she usually got.
Her rebellious phase, such as it was, helped a little in getting the one thing she really wanted more of: her parents' attention. Reina knew it was a little underhanded, but surely they'd pay more attention if she did outrageous things. Which they did, and although the punishments were not always pleasant, at least they were there.
But she was loved. Reina knew it. It was just that the heart had a little trouble agreeing with the head, and what child would not jealously want to keep all of their parents' attention on them?
Right now however, staring at the stained mirror on the wall, Reina could vividly see the abandoned kitten all over again, and wondered just when her priorities had decided to shift.
~*~*~
The screen blinked and switched to another image for the nth time that evening, before Reina gave up entirely and turned the television off. The screen went blank, and the arm holding the remote control slumped to her side as she stretched out on the leather sofa, staring at the ceiling.
The house was big, bigger than necessary really. It was really only just for her and her parents, with rooms for her grandparents when they came to visit. It used to be great for hide and seek though, whenever her cousins came over in the past. Now that she was older and alone, the space seemed awfully empty.
Her parents had been around two days earlier, before they had to fly to another prefecture to oversee yet another project. They would not be back until the end of the week, which gave her another three days or so to be utterly alone in this huge emptiness.
Granted, the neighbor lady came over to make sure she was ok every day, but that was only for an hour or so while she tidied the place up (her parents had paid the lady to watch her and the house).
If she had school it would be bearable, but this was a weekend and she was bored to tears. Even with the attempt at celebrating her birthday her friends had made for her, Reina could not find it in herself to muster any interest in it. In fact, she had given them the slip with that bathroom break excuse earlier. Hell, she had even gone through her homework twice in an attempt to distract herself. The only thing that did was to make sure that her homework was spotless, perfectly spaced, and probably mistake-free. Not even Ai was that anal...
...and there it was again, the inevitable linkage back to her mentor. Reina resisted the urge to bang her head on the coffee table.
Rolling off the couch, Reina padded over to one wall where glass windows stretched from ceiling to floor, giving her an excellent view of the district below. The lights blinking below seemed quite insignificant from this height, a poor mimicry of the stars hidden overhead.
This was supposed to be her birthday, but Reina could not even summon enough enthusiasm to generate some kind of cheer over the presents her friends and parents had given her. They lay abandoned on the floor of her room still, while she sulked over the fact that her new favorite person was too busy to give her the time of the day.
Dejected, Reina sank to the floor, hugging her knees to herself as she lay her head against the spotless glass panes. It was evening, the sun long since set, and there were only a few hours before her birthday was officially over.
Reina closed her eyes and tried not to think. Eventually, she ended up asleep.
~*~*~
The bell ringing jolted Reina out of a perfectly good nap, making her yowl in pain when her neck protested the sudden movement. Clearly, sleeping in awkward positions was not a good way to avoid muscle aches. Grumbling, Reina got up and dusted herself off.
11.55pm. Reina's eyes passed over the clock on the mantle as she headed towards the door. Without really thinking about it, she opened the door, prepared to chase whatever unlucky soul who dared to bother her at this hour away.
The words died in her throat before they even made it to her lips. Standing in her doorway, a very bedraggled and exhausted-looking Ai stood panting and shivering from the cold. The older girl was drenched, and her teeth were chattering. Belatedly, Reina realized that it was raining outside. It had probably started while she was sleeping.
"Thank goodness, I made it." The words spilled out of Ai's lips as soon as she looked over Reina's shoulder to check the clock behind her. WIth a sheepishly awkward grin, Ai produced a package she was hiding inside her coat with a flourish.
"Happy birthday, Reina."
Reina's jaw twitched, but she was unable to produce a coherent word for the moment. She accepted the gift regardless, before finally blurting.
"But you're supposed to be out of Tokyo?" Ai blinked, before rubbing at her eyes.
"Yes, well...I took the Shinkansen back?" The older girl scratched at back of her head awkwardly. "I wanted to be here for you for your birthday, so I tried really hard to get everything right at the rehearsal until the director was happy enough to let us go."
Reina stepped back and gave Ai a once over. In addition to being drenched, disheveled and exhausted, there were also some very obvious signs that Ai had in fact been in rehearsal right before this.
"It wouldn't happen to be a full dress rehearsal, would it?"
Ai blinked at her. "Well, yes it is, but how did you know?" She shivered again, rubbing at her arms. Reina giggled.
"Because you still have some stage makeup on your face, silly!"
"EH?!" Ai's hands flew to her face, her pale cheeks flushing a vivid crimson from embarrassment. Reina laughed lightly and pulled Ai into the house. No reason to keep the older girl standing in the doorway any longer.
Reina couldn't stop smiling even as Ai obediently followed her in. For some reason, her previous bad mood had all but disappeared. Setting the gift carefully down on the table, Reina then led Ai to the bathroom, where she carefully wiped the remaining traces of makeup away from the older girl's face.
She must really be tired. Reina mused as she fussed over the older girl, helping her out of the wet coat and practically helping to dry her with a towel. Ai, for her part, had her eyes half closed, blissfully letting Reina take care of her. Grinning to herself, Reina prodded Ai's side, making the older girl squeak and jump, her eyes flying open at the shock.
"Reina!" Ai pouted, rubbing at her eyes sleepily.
"You were practically asleep standing up." Reina teased, before hugging Ai tightly. Ai purred softly and nuzzled, Reina's warmth seeping into her chilled skin.
"I'm so glad you came." Reina confessed, whispering into Ai's ear.
"I promised you, didn't I?" Ai murmured her reply, her eyes barely open right now.
Reina didn't reply to that for a moment. She had had too many memories of when her parents had to renege on a promise to go out because something important came up. Sure, they made it up to her afterwards, but a broken promise was a broken promise. That Ai tried so hard to make it in time, even if it was just a little time left until the end of her birthday, made Reina feel all warm inside.
"Ah!" Ai suddenly jerked away, slapping herself on the cheeks rapidly to wake herself up. Reina stared in incomprehension, before she found herself dragged by the arm out of the bathroom.
"What are you doing?" Reina managed to ask. Ai was hopping from one foot to another, like a restless chipmunk. Or monkey, as befitting her image.
"It's a surprise! Don't take your time, we might still make it if we hurry!" Ai pulled insistently at Reina again, and the younger girl barely managed to pull on her coat and boots before being hauled out of her own house.
"What's going on?" Reina tried to ask a suddenly rejuvenated Ai, who flagged down a taxi, shockingly enough. Ai never took taxis unless she was in a dreadful hurry.
"You'll find out when we get there." Ai grinned and flicked Reina's forehead teasingly. The yankii pretended to growl, but found herself growing excited from the anticipation as well.
The rain slowed as the taxi sped through the dark streets, soon leaving familiar ground. Reina snuggled into Ai, the older girl wrapping an arm absently around her shoulders as they cuddled together.
The ride was over sooner than expected, and Ai paid the fare hastily before dragging Reina out and up the still wet trail. Reina looked around fearfully. She did not like the dark.
After a decent trek in which Reina found both scary and squishy (mud was not kind to her boots), they ended up on top of a hill, where the lights of the city were but faint specks in the distance.
"Why are we here?" Reina asked, curiosity slowly giving way to exasperation since she didn't understand why Ai brought her here. The older girl, however, was looking up and ignoring her question.
"Ai..." Reina warned, her voice lowering dangerously.
"There! Look, Reina, look!" Ai cried out excitedly, pointing at the sky. Reina followed her direction irritably, before her impatience melted away entirely at the sight.
"A meteor shower..." Reina's voice was awed. Ai smiled radiantly.
"I heard about it in the news. We could probably see it in the city too, but not very well because of the light pollution." Ai turned her gaze up again.
"It's a lot clearer from here."
"It's beautiful..." Reina whispered. Ai smiled.
"I'm glad you like it..." In the gloom it was hard to see well, but there was no mistaking the choked sob that Reina valiantly tried to hold back.
"Is something wrong, Reina?" Ai panicked, reaching over to grip Reina's other arm worriedly. The younger girl all but fell into her arms, clinging to Ai tightly and burying her face in her chest.
"Reina is so happy..." Reina admitted quietly, letting Ai pet her comfortingly.
"I'm glad." Ai said simply, letting a relieved smile show on her face. Reina suddenly chuckled into Ai's chest, drawing a puzzled look from the older. Reina giggled, but did not explain. She had simply just remembered something about the clock in her house.
It was 5 minutes slow. That meant that Ai was actually late with the present, but Reina couldn't very well tell her that, could she? She could just imagine Ai falling all over herself apologizing, and Reina didn't feel like breaking this moment with that.
In the end, none of that really mattered, as long as Ai was here with her.
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Lalala~ Merry Christmas to all~
Topic: Destiny Love [16/02 - In My Own Time] (Read 68881 times)