Chapter 14
After my first day on the job, I went home and told Aya all about it. I went on and on about Tsuyoshi and Katherine and their wonderfulness, and about Kuniko The Lesser and Ohashi the Ass and their horridness. Aya told me several times to shut up (in those exact words), but I paid no heed to her and kept talking, resulting in her falling asleep and me getting angry and shaking her awake in a way that could not be described as gentle.
Two weeks passed. I balanced my convenience store job and my secretary job skilfully. After the first week and a half, Tsuyoshi cut his work hours in half so that our work times would coincide only three times a week. On the other hand, Kuniko The Greater and I got to work together a lot, which was nice because she kept me sane. Sort of. She'd do and say childish things and I'd ignore her or badmouth her, and then we'd laugh. If one didn't know, one would think we really were sisters. She made working at a convenience store not as terrible as it could be.
Back at home, my parents complained about missing me. They called me and told me the house was quiet without me, and that even Baachan had been around complaining that her new hired help wasn't half as good as I had been. But they were happy to hear that I was finding my way, although I could hear the disappointment in my father's silence when I told him I was working as a secretary at a record label. "My daughter can do better than that," he probably thought.
My mother gave me an update about everyone I knew, including Hiroshi, who I surprisingly hadn't thought of in weeks. His birthday had passed, and I had, as he had requested, not phoned or e-mailed him. My mom told me he had come by to the house twice just to chat with my parents, and my mother's evaluation was that he missed me like crazy and wanted me to come back. I stood firmly on my decision, though, and told my mother that if he wanted to contact me, he could go ahead. I'd be glad to talk to him. But I wasn't going to go back to the way things had been before.
Several mornings after that phone conversation, I was called in on another emergency shift at the store. Aya had the morning off and only a meeting to attend at lunch, so we'd slept in a bit and then stayed under the warm blankets, neither one of us daring to brave the cold that had enveloped the apartment overnight. That was okay. We kept occupied. Until, of course, my phone rang. I grumbled as I rolled over the side of the bed to grab the little machine.
"Don't answer it," Aya whined, trying to pull me back.
But we both knew it could be important. Although how important it could get for a part-time secretary, part-time convenience store worker was a mystery to both of us.
I checked the display and there was Fukuda's name.
"Boss," I mumbled aloud, clearing my throat and answering. "Hello!"
"Fujimoto-sama-sama!!" he cried as if the world was ending.
I wonder what part of the body Jerk broke this time, I thought with a laugh.
Hasegawa had returned to work several days after breaking his wrist, although his duties had been limited. I wish he'd taken a longer break, but such was life.
"Yes, Fuku-chan?" I said cheekily.
I'd learned over the weeks that Fukuda didn't mind joking around, so when he praised him, we lowered his status. I'd never heard of a boss as easygoing as him, but I thanked my lucky stars. Fukuda was particularly fond of the double sama, especially when talking to me and Kuniko. I was pretty sure we were his favourites. We never made any mistakes.
"Hasegawa-san has caught Avian Influenza. Can you please come and do his eleven-thirty shift?"
I almost burst out laughing. Avian flu?! Since when did Jerk hang around sick poultry? How the hell had he managed to catch a chicken disease? Despite the threat to Jerk's life, I couldn't help but be amused.
"Sure thing. Let me get out of bed and I'll be right over," I said, stifling my laughter.
"Are you with your boyfriend?!" Fukuda demanded suddenly.
He was young, but he seemed more like my father than a jealous suitor. He was married, after all, and he was extremely loyal to his wife and his one year old daughter.
"No, I am not with my boyfriend," I said loudly and clearly into the phone, looking at Aya pointedly.
She smirked back at me.
"Good. You're too precious of a girl to go around getting knocked up by random strangers from this city," he huffed defensively. "Tokyo men are all pigs. You hear me? All of them. So be careful!"
"But aren't you from Tokyo?" I asked sweetly.
There was a stiff silence.
"With a few exceptions," he amended weakly.
I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"Whatever. I'll be over in an hour. Okay?"
"Much appreciated. The shift is until five-thirty. Thank you!"
We ended our conversation there, and I burst out laughing.
"Jerk got the bird flu and I have to go in to replace him!"
Aya stared at me.
"You're a horrible, horrible person to laugh at something like that," she stated.
"Oh, come on. This means he'll be away for a while and that I won't have to put up with his rude behaviour. It's great! Besides, Hasegawa's a beast. He'll threaten the virus to get out of him. He'll live."
Aya decided to agree silently with me. I could tell because she tugged me back under the covers.
"I have to be there in an hour," I reminded her.
"Come on. The day I have the most free time, you get called away. That's not fair."
"Sorry," I said in a cute voice, poking her nose. "But duty calls."
I slipped out of her hold and out of bed, far too happy for my own good. My relaxing morning with Aya may have been interrupted, but I'd gotten plenty of sleep and plenty of cuddling (which I still refused to admit that I liked) and was thus in an excellent mood. As Aya lay in bed occasionally calling out to me, I took a shower and got ready.
Only when I was completely ready to walk out the door did I jump onto the bed to hug her.
"You should get ready, too. Don't you have that meeting?" I reminded her as I squeezed her tightly.
"Blah," she replied.
"Don't be such a grump," I smiled. "It's unbecoming."
I let go and left before she could latch on and not let go.
"My shift ends at five-thirty. I'll be back soon after. Bye bye!"
I ran out the door before she could entice me to be later than I'd promised Fukuda.
I got to 7-Eleven right at a busy moment at twenty-five past eleven, said hello to a grovelling Fukuda, and then went out to take care of customers. Kuniko was also working that day, and she had given me a surprised look when I walked in. When I joined her at the counter, she smiled a hello as she rang up a customer's purchase.
We didn't get a chance to talk for another hour.
"So Fukuda called you, huh?" she asked conversationally as two customers stood at the magazine stands reading.
"Mmhm," I replied.
"I hope Jerk stays in the hospital for twelve years. I wouldn't mind never seeing him again."
"He's going to hate me even more when he finds out I'm the one covering for him again. He's not the type to feel like he owes anybody anything, right?" I snickered.
Another hour passed during which we were busy as ever. It was an unusually active day at our store.
Things quieted down for fifteen minutes, during which I took a quick break, and then everything was busy until three. After that, the shop became a ghost shop. No customers entered, and I wondered why they had to come in huge, unmanageable clumps.
Despite how busy we had been, I was perkier than usual. I stood there stacking containers of salad up in the fridge and almost humming aloud.
"Someone's happy today," Kuniko called out from the counter. "And I'm sure it has nothing to with lettuce."
I put the salad down and turned to face her.
"You know when you wake up in the morning and you're just in a good mood for no reason? Like... when you feel like you're on top of the world?"
Kuniko nodded.
"That's how I felt this morning," I told her.
I went back to my job.
"Are you sure nothing else happened? Like last night or anything?" she pressed on.
I shook my head.
"Life is generally good now. I have a place to stay and Aya-chan's really easy-going. She lets me do what I want. And you guys are all fun to work with - minus Jerk. And my other job is much better than expected."
"Hey, when am I going to meet this Aya-chan of yours? You know we love to party. There are lots of opportunities to bring her along."
I couldn't pretend not to have heard. I had to answer.
I didn't think Aya would want to hang out with a bunch of part-time convenience store workers. Her schedule was so full, and she had to think of so many more things. Consequences. Hanging out with a group of unknown people, taking pictures, talking openly... These things were all potential risks for her. One dishonest person and her secrets might be spilled and spread around the city. It was then when I wondered for the first time how many non entertainment industry friends Aya had made since moving to Tokyo. How many besides me?
"Ah, maybe sometime. She's really busy," I replied evasively.
"Okay. Fine. Where does she live? I'll drop by one day," Kuniko insisted.
"Eh?" I asked, surprised, then quickly going into annoyed older sister mode. "You can't do that without an invite, you rude girl."
"Fine," she said. "Invite me."
"No!" I exclaimed.
"Why not?" she whined.
"Because," I said, my tone telling her to stop.
"Come on, Fujimocchan," she whimpered like a puppy.
"Welcome!" I called out desperately as a customer walked in.
Kuniko turned around, putting on her professional air and rushing to the counter.
I finished with the salad as Kuniko took care of the customer. I moved to the back where the drinks were and did some pointless busywork there, arranging the bottles and cans neatly so that the labels all faced forward.
"So how about tomorrow?" Kuniko called out as she closed in on my position again, finished with the customer.
"No!" I barked.
She skipped up right behind me.
"Day after that?"
"No!"
"And after that?"
"For the last time: no!"
"Oh, come on. You're being so difficult. It's like this Aya-chan doesn't even exist."
"She exists!" I cried out defensively.
"Then why won't you let me meet her?"
"Because," I groaned. "She's busy."
"She's a mirage!" Kuniko sang off-key. "A mirage! A hallucination. An imaginary friend!"
"No she's not," I growled angrily.
"Then prove it. Show me a picture of her."
"I don't have any," I sighed.
"Come on. You guys live together and you haven't taken a picture together? What kind of friends are you? What's in your mobile?"
"No pictures of her!" I exploded.
"You're no fun," she deadpanned, walking back to the front.
I huffed out a sigh. I didn't want her to become genuinely angry or anything.
"Maybe next week," I said because I could stop myself.
I was too nice. Her face lit up brilliantly.
"Really? You mean it?"
"Maybe," I repeated with a glower. "She's busy."
"Ahhh, thank you! Thank you, thank you!" she squealed, running up to me and tackling me with a hug.
"Why do you want to meet her so much anyway?" I grumbled as I tried to shake her off.
"Because she seems really nice, and you seem to get along with her very well. I want to see what kind of person you look for in a best friend so that I have a shot," she giggled.
Of all the...
How could I be annoyed with her if she thought a sweet thing like that? The way she worshipped me like her idol was not invisible to me or the people around us, but wanting to be my best friend was just too cute. My exterior softened tenfold to this girl who I could honestly call my little sister.
"Okay, okay," I conceded. "You can come over next week and hang out with us."
What am I doing? I thought. I hope Aya's okay with that.
She probably would be. Kuniko was a friend of mine, and if I could trust her, then Aya should be able to trust her, too. Then again, I hadn't known Kuniko that long...
We heard the door open as a customer walked in, and Kuniko detached herself from me (she was still holding me in a very awkward bear hug that had seriously begun to annoy me), and I pushed her away towards the drinks as I made my way down the aisle to go and greet the customer and man the front.
"Welco-" I started and then pulled back in surprise, a huge smile gracing my lips. "Aya-chan..."
Aya smiled and walked further into the store as I walked up to face her.
"I wanted to see you in action," she laughed. "And I got hungry and needed a snack."
She began to walk to the display fridge where I'd recently been arranging salad, and I followed her, standing in front of the display area as she tried to look behind me.
"You're a liar. You just wanted to laugh at me wearing this stupid uniform."
She looked at what I was wearing and raised an amused eyebrow.
"Okay, you got me," she said with an exaggerated defeated air.
"You shouldn't make fun, though. I'm earning money here. Money that'll get me out of your hair by next month."
"Aw, but I don't want you to move out. I'm having too much fun with you around," she said cutely.
I hoped she was being serious because I didn't want to move out either. Besides moving all my things being a pain in the neck and wanting to avoid that, I had grown enormously fond of living with her even though she was very busy and rarely at home. I'd be lonely and depressed if I went to live in some shoebox apartment all by myself.
"Thanks," I grinned. "How was your meeting?"
"I almost fell asleep," she groaned, and I giggled at the mental image of Aya nodding off into a bowl of salad.
"Fujimocchan, friend of yours?" Kuniko asked, suddenly walking up from behind Aya.
"Kuniko," I muttered under my breath.
She had noticed us chatting and had come along being her nosey self. Aya smirked at the nickname and turned around, making Kuniko stop in her tracks.
"Er..."
She obviously recognised her.
"So you're this Kuniko I've been hearing about every day, non-stop through e-mails, phone calls, and face-to-face conversations," Aya said, smiling pleasantly.
I winced in my head.
Way to lay it on thick, Aya.
"You're Aya-chan?!" Kuniko blurted out in surprise.
Aya raised an eyebrow and looked at me. I shrugged.
"On the outside she seems like a quiet, cool girl, but Miki-chan really likes to talk about her friends, doesn't she?" Aya said to Kuniko.
"Oh my god, she doesn't shut up about you!" Kuniko laughed, suddenly seeming to be completely at ease with the megastar. "Aya-chan this, Aya-chan that."
"And about you, too!" Aya agreed, and they shared a laugh.
I was bewildered, angry, surprised, and delighted. They got along instantly, but they had bonded over teasing me. I groaned, hoping that they didn't exchange numbers or anything.
"I bet you have some great stories..." Kuniko hinted.
Oh, don't you dare, I thought, shooting daggers out of my eyes at Aya.
"Did you know Miki-chan simply adores sheep?"
I grabbed her wrist.
"Thanks. She's heard enough," I interrupted forcefully.
Aya brought a hand up and squeezed my cheeks, making my mouth pucker up like a fish's.
"Look how she gets all shy. Isn't she adorable?" she asked Kuniko.
I shook her hand off my face.
"Absolutely! But she's also got a huge mean streak," Kuniko agreed.
"Watch your mouth!" I snapped at the youngest girl.
"Aw, she gets so grumpy when she doesn't get her way," Aya said, beaming at me. "What a spoiled baby."
"You too. Quit it," I glared at her sharply.
Her eyes sparkled. She was enjoying this far too much. Revenge would be had.
"I thought she just got angry at me, but now that I see the way she glares at you..." Kuniko snickered.
"Yeah, you have to be nice to her once in a while or else-"
"-she'll never smile!"
They burst out laughing as if it was the funniest thing either had ever heard.
"Girl, where have you been my entire life?" Aya asked dramatically. "Your way of thinking is on par with mine."
"Hello!" I yelled at the two of them. "I'm right here!"
But they continued to chatter on. I walked off and they didn't notice. What a couple of nimrods!!
I went to the back room, picked up my phone, and dialled Aya's number. Three rings later (and I heard the music from her ringer coming from the store), she picked up.
"You are in so much trouble when we get home, Aya. I'm going to tie you up and make you scream. I'm going to drown you next time we take a bath together. I'll never let you kiss me they way you like to again," I threatened, letting loose before she could say a word.
There was a deathly silence on the line, and I wondered if she'd taken me seriously.
"Um, let me hand you over to her," said Kuniko's quiet voice, all traces of joking gone from it.
Crap, I thought, gripping my phone tightly.
I'd completely blown it. How come Kuniko had answered Aya's phone? They must have been trying to annoy me even more.
I bit my lip.
"No, that's okay," I mumbled, ending the call, my finger lingering over the power button and turning the phone off.
I gripped the table hard. Absolute silence. The shock created a vacuum in my head. A big, empty space that hurt my ears.
What in the world had just happened?
What was I going to say to Kuniko by way of explanation?
First I shocked her by living with a celebrity, and then I said things to that celebrity that one didn't say to regular friends. Even if we were just friends, what I'd just said and the way I'd said it would have been crossing some sort of line.
I couldn't stay in the back. I had to start some major damage control. I had to get Aya out of the store and I had to talk to Kuniko.
I walked out of the back room. Aya was putting away her phone and Kuniko was studying something on the shelf. Aya saw me and called out.
"Hey, our hero's back. You hung up on Kuni-chan here," she smirked.
Obviously, Kuniko hadn't told her what I'd said. I nodded warily and almost kissed the customer that walked in. Kuniko rushed off to help him as I took Aya aside.
"Listen, things are about to get really busy here. Maybe we should continue this later," I told her in a serious tone.
She had no clue what had happened. No clue that I'd essentially let Kuniko in on a lot more than she needed to know. Aya was going to kill me later unless I found some excuse to make Kuniko believe my words had been a complete joke.
"Are you mad?" she asked in horror, and I shook my head vigorously.
"No!" I reassured her emphatically. "But I want to talk to you later."
She looked worried, and I mentally slapped myself. What a frightening thing to hear.
"But no, no, no, I don't hate you. Love you, etcetera," I told her, and she smiled. "I'm not moving back to Hokkaido, I'm not pregnant, I'm not sleeping with my bosses, and so on."
She frowned at my words, and I winced again because I wasn't doing such a great job comforting her. I grabbed her hand.
"Just trust me. Go home. I'll catch up with you later."
She smiled in relief and I winked at her.
"You've gotten really weird the past little while. I love it," she said quietly.
"Go," I ordered her, and I let go of her hand.
I looked back briefly at the counter to see Kuniko looking at us, but she quickly turned her head away when she saw I had noticed.
Aya left, followed by the customer, and then it was just me and Kuniko all alone. I turned around to head over to her, but she dashed off to go and arrange bread. I lost my nerve and went to the oden stand, fumbling around with the tongs and counting each piece of food. Finally, after gathering my courage and with much hesitation, I approached her.
"Listen," I started awkwardly. "That was-"
"None of my business," Kuniko said curtly, cutting me off and continuing with her task without a single glance at me.
"No. I mean... it wasn't what it sounded like."
She stopped harassing the bread and looked over at me, slightly bewildered.
"It wasn't?" she asked in disbelief.
I shrugged weakly.
She returned her attention to the bread.
"I don't care what that was about. I'm just going to forget about it because it was obviously not meant for me to hear."
I wanted to protest and tell her to hear me out, but the problem was I had nothing to say. There was no point saying "Listen to this great argument!" and then staying silent. I drew my head up and went back to my task of fixing drinks. We barely spoke three words to each other over the next few hours. Things became busy again, and all we did was apologise twice for bumping into each other while scurrying around behind the counter looking for stamps and so on.
My shift ended at five-thirty, and whether she planned it or not, Kuniko was in the back refilling drinks in the fridge, so I didn't see her on my way out. My replacement had arrived and he had greeted me sleepily, probably having just woken up from a nap. I said goodbye to him and went home feeling irked.
Why couldn't Kuniko just not freak out? And why did Aya let her answer the phone? The more I thought about it, the more the image of those two began to aggravate my mind. They had gotten along so well by teasing me, and then before I knew it, everything had gone out of control and the entire world had swerved and hit a tree, leaving behind smouldering mess of misshapen metal and a driver in critical condition.
I dragged my feet all the way to Aya's, not wanting to have to face her and tell her about what had happened right in front of her without her knowledge.
Her place was dark when I walked in, and for a moment I feared that she was trying to surprise me somehow. However, when I turned on the lights, nobody jumped out at me or slinked up behind me, no music started playing, no changes came to the atmosphere of the room. I was alone. I was relieved but also curious.
It was after I put my things down and sat down on the couch with a huge sigh that I noticed a note on the table.
I've had to go to the studio because they messed up my recordings for tomorrow's release. I'll probably be there until very late, so please don't wait for me. I tried calling you on your phone, but you've been out of service all afternoon. Bye bye!
I took my phone out and groaned. I'd forgotten that I'd cut the power after that dreadful incident. I turned it back on and read the note again. It was a godsend because I didn't really want to talk about what had happened, but it was at the same time bad because I had to talk about it.
I fell into a morbid mood all evening, and I shuffled around morosely, fixing myself some dinner, taking a bath, and planting myself in front of the television to watch dramas. All I could think about was the look on Kuniko's face. I'd never seen her so serious in front of me. She'd looked at me as though we'd just met and she was keeping her distance. I'd managed to completely freak her out. I guess nobody was as understanding as Nakanoko-chan, who I started to miss dearly.
I got it in my mind to call my friend of eight years, so I spontaneously dialled her up. Her phone rang eight times until the voice mail picked up.
"Just calling to say hi. You don't have to call back or anything. Just drop me a message some time and tell me how things are going. See you."
I didn't want to worry her with my problems, although maybe by leaving that kind of message, she'd know something was wrong. I didn't usually leave messages like that.
Before going to bed, I wrote Aya a little note saying good night and that we'd talk in the morning. I placed it on the pillow beside me so that she'd see it. Then by ten-thirty, I was in my pyjamas and trying to fall asleep.
But all I could still see was Kuniko's serious face in my mind. I could imagine what she was whispering to her friends and our colleagues. I felt terribly helpless.
An hour later I still hadn't fallen asleep, but I was saved from my mental torture by my phone. It was ringing. I shot up and grabbed it, checking the display before answering, hoping it was Aya or Nakanoko. But it was neither. It was Kuniko. I answered it immediately.
"Hello?" I mumbled, my voice a bit foggy from not having been used for several hours.
"Hi, Fujimocchan," came the uncertain greeting from the other end.
"Hi."
I wondered what she was calling about. Maybe to ask questions. Maybe to tell me she didn't want to be my friend.
"I'm, uh, sorry for today," she said quietly.
She was sorry? For teasing me? For picking up Aya's phone? Or treating me like she didn't know me afterwards?
"Don't worry about it," I replied automatically.
"No, I kind of, um, freaked out, but I shouldn't have. You just... uh, you surprised me with what you said."
Well, that was nice. It was nice of her to call and apologise for treating me like a nobody. But where did we stand?
"I..." I trailed off, not sure what I was supposed to say. "I shouldn't have been saying those things while at work."
The hell?? That has nothing to do with it. But if it helps smooth things over...
"I just didn't think that, er, you were friends with a celebrity," she jumped in again strongly. "And I didn't think that she and you, uh, would have, like, that kind of, er, association..."
She ended weakly.
"Uh, you know... Kuni-chan. She and I are just, uh... we're really good friends. And we kind of took it to another level. Kind of by accident. I never even considered it before. Seriously. It's this weird thing between us."
I tried to explain, but I couldn't. It just didn't make any sense.
"No, that's okay. I mean... yeah, you don't have to explain," she said nervously.
"But I do," I insisted, thinking that by explaining, she wouldn't be so weirded out. "Like... Imagine your soulmate happens to be your best friend. That's what it's like."
I couldn't believe I had said something like that. It was so stupid. So unbelievable. Soulmates didn't even exist.
"Yeah, I get it," she said hastily.
I could tell she was uncomfortable talking about it.
"But really... Just think about it," I encouraged her.
"I will. Um, anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I'll let you get back to sleep, or, um, whatever," she finished hastily, and I almost felt like rolling my eyes at her.
"Don't worry. I'm alone right now and I was sleeping," I reassured her unnecessarily.
"Oh..."
Awkward pause. Awkward pause. What to say...
"Oh, and, uh, you won't, um..." I trailed off.
"I won't go spouting off about the latest gossip, if that's what you're about to ask," she said firmly, reading my mind.
"Thanks, Kuni-chan," I said gratefully.
"It's pretty cool, though. One of these days you'll have to tell me how you of all people met someone so famous. I wouldn't have guessed it in a million years."
Things were starting to sound normal again between us, for which I let out a grateful mental sigh.
"A story that's not at all interesting," I confided in her. "Not one bit."
"Well, one of these days. Anyway, take care. Good night."
"'Night. See you later."
We ended the call.
Somehow, when things in my life started to look down, they'd perk right back up. A few hours ago, I'd thought I'd lost a friend. It turned out that it was not so. Maybe there was something lucky about me deciding to come to Tokyo. Maybe it was my lucky year. Either way I looked at it, I was starting to believe more strongly in the power of New Year fortunes.
Topic: Restart (Love x ∞ Part II) (Read 83879 times)