A Friend, A Talk, And A ConsequenceThe doorbell rang while she was cleaning, and Takahashi Ai absently stuck the feather duster in the mop bucket and the mop up on the shelf, walked two steps before realizing her mistake, and then swore a great deal before turning to fix the problem.
Thus it was with a slightly irritable scowl on her face when she answered the door. Her annoyance vanished when she realized who her visitor was.
"Takoyaki." Her visitor said by way of greeting, holding up said package. Ai raised an eyebrow as she let her friend in. She removed her outer coat with evident relief, as it was still soaked from the persistent drizzle outside. Even as Ai made to take the coat, she took off her glasses and produced a cloth to wipe them off, before replacing them with a thoughtful frown.
"Ai-chan, why is your feather duster dripping?"
Ai made an irritable sound as she hung the wet coat up. Shoving her old friend along, she replied briskly.
"Don't ask." She glanced at the package. "I see you got started with the takoyaki already hm, Kon-chan?"
"It was a long train ride." Konno Asami said by way of explanation, without even sounding vaguely defensive. It was a widely accepted fact in their circle that food left with Konno Asami never escaped unscathed. Even when she intended them for other people. Best laid plans and all that.
"Not
that long." Ai countered, taking the half-eaten box of takoyaki and putting it on the dining table. "What brings you here? Good thing though, since I was planning on calling you."
"Is Riho-chan at school?" Asami looked around, dropping her bag in a chair. Ai handed her a face towel, which she took gratefully. Ai then nodded at her question, taking a seat at the table.
"Just wanted to tell you that we're having Riho's birthday party here in Tokyo this year."
"Ah yes," Asami nodded. "I was wondering whether you would be heading back to celebrate with the rest of the family. I would still make that trip of course, I always do."
Ai smiled. "Yes, both you and Gaki-san always manage to make it down. Even Mako-chan manages to squeeze in a video call when she can't be there in person." She picked up one of the takoyaki, plopping the piece in her mouth. "But since we're in Tokyo already, we might as well have the party here. It's easier since she still has work commitments."
"Won't your parents object? They love their granddaughter." Asami pointed out. Ai shrugged.
"Dad's hooking up a fancy video array at home. He's too busy with work to come, but we figured we could have a conference call so that it feels like they're there too. Mama's not feeling well so she can't make the trip down herself..."
Asami nodded. "We should make this birthday extra special for Riho-chan though. It's her first away from your hometown, and it's her first one in the entertainment industry."
"Mm, I was just talking with Gaki-san about it yesterday. She's probably already shopping for decorations, knowing her." Ai made a wry face. "At least that's one thing I never have to worry about."
"We can figure details out as we go at least. Can't plan without Gaki-san here though, we won't want the themes to clash." Asami made a note on a notepad she produced out of seemingly nowhere. As for where she got the pen, Ai wasn't sure, since it was something not quite unlike sleight of hand with how Konkon did it.
"Do you want to see the present I got for her though?" Ai forged on, a smile coming naturally to her face at thoughts of her daughter. Asami gave her a sidelong glance.
"I don't suppose it will involve you telling her she has been working with her daddy for months on end now?"
Ai, who was about to say something else, burst into a round of coughing as she choked on her own saliva. Or perhaps on air. The exact cause is unclear, except for the obvious effect of choking. Asami patted her back until Ai recovered, a wide-eyed look on her face.
"How did you..."
"Oh, I didn't know for sure until just now. Thanks for confirming my theory." Asami smiled beatifically, then strategically moved her chair to the other side of the table to make it less easy for Ai to make a grab at her.
Ai scowled at her crossly, though her heart really wasn't in it. To tell the truth, she was uncommonly nervous about the secret being out in its entirety. While Asami had known that she had a girlfriend back then, what the genius had not known was
who the girlfriend was. Ai hadn't fully trusted her friend to not go behind her back to tell Reina about the pregnancy and her culpability in it. It was merely a precaution she had taken to safeguard her own privacy...and that of Reina's too, of course.
"Before you ask how I figured it out, you can thank your kid. Riho-chan's such a remarkable child, really. She noticed how you and Tanaka-san were both acting strangely since you two met, and she came to me because she was worried." Asami resisted the urge to smirk. "Turns out she probably doesn't have to worry that much, all things considered..."
Ai narrowed her eyes at Asami, wondering if she could possibly get away with trying to choke her friend to death with the takoyaki she brought. Maybe if she stuffed them down faster than Kon-chan could chew on them...
"You didn't tell her anything, did you?" Ai's voice was dangerous. Asami smiled nervously.
"I'm not quite that suicidal, no. I did tell her to not worry about it though." Asami eyed her friend cautiously. "There isn't anything to worry about, is there? I mean, are you going to tell Riho-chan? More to the point, are you going to tell daddy dearest?"
"I already have." Ai replied distractedly, wringing her hands nervously. Asami stared at her, open-mouthed. Her jaw worked soundlessly for a second or two, before finally closing with a snap.
"I...didn't expect that." Asami admitted. "I thought you would have kept on dragging things out for longer. It's not like you haven't already kept it from her for twelve years."
Ai winced. "I know. It sort of...slipped out." She admitted reluctantly, shifting awkwardly on her seat. "We were out together, things were going sort of well, then she got upset at me over Riho, and I just got so angry when she said that I two-timed her that I just said that Riho was hers..." Ai trailed off hesitantly.
"Did she believe you?" Asami was interested. Ai gave her a wry look.
"What do you think?"
"I don't imagine she did." Asami said candidly, nicking one of the takoyaki from the open box. "Not that I blame her, it's not widely known that such a process is even possible, since most of it is still confined to lab work."
"I'm still not sure how I got that lucky that time." Ai grumbled. Asami chuckled awkwardly.
"Neither do I, really. I've tried it over and over in the lab, but trying to recreate the conditions for a viable embryo to take root and develop seem challenging somehow. It works when I use the tried-and-tested lab process in parthenogenesis, but I'm pretty sure your case had an additional element that skipped some steps somehow. If only you would tell me exactly what happened that night..."
"No." Ai said flatly, her cheeks reddening faintly at the idea of telling anyone the exact details. It was a precious memory, and Ai didn't really want to tell anyone about her sex life. Even a friend. Or especially because it was a friend. She would never live it down.
"Fine. I looked it up anyway, so I have some idea how it might have happened." Asami showed no signs of embarrassment whatsover. Once the genius entered her 'work' mode, she was immune (or perhaps, oblivious) to any other implications which fall outside of her research purposes. It was good for her as a scientist, though her social cues suffered a little during those phases. Not that it really mattered. For whatever reason, geniuses were expected to be eccentric, and Konno Asami played that to the hilt.
"You don't have to tell me about them." Ai said primly, valiantly suppressing her blushing cheeks to little avail. She was almost 30! Too old to be reacting like a blushing schoolgirl...
"If you say so." Asami peered curiously at Ai. "Honestly, Ai-chan, how do you feel now? You spent the last dozen years hiding your daughter from her other parent, and then you just go ahead and tell her anyway. What changed? You were the one who said that you didn't want to burden her with the knowledge...even though that really was a dumb idea. I never agreed with how you just decided everything on your own."
"It's too late to regret anything, isn't it?" Ai said simply, but her lips firmed into a thin line. "I don't regret having Riho. I would never have aborted her, even though my own mother suggested it at first...how could I?" Her eyes watered at the remembered pain, and Asami reached over, clasping her friend's hand in her own.
"I was so scared, Asami-chan...I was only 18 and I had my whole life ahead of me. I had so many dreams that I never wanted to give up on. So many things I wanted to do and see..." Ai's hand went subconsciously to her belly, her fingers clenching on her top.
"I was ready to go with you to the hospital if you had taken that option. You know I would have." Asami said quietly. Ai nodded, once, sharply. As if she was reluctant to even admit having considered aborting her child. There wasn't a stigma to it. In fact, it was the right thing to do, rather than raising a child in an incomplete family. She made the selfish decision to keep the baby, and accepted all the consequences onto herself, come hell or high water.
Ai felt like she had failed Riho in so many ways, the first and foremost being how she would never be able to give her a real family, one where she could have a father as well. She couldn't even legally marry the true biological parent. Ai wondered how she could ever tell Riho that she had two mothers. Would her daughter hate her for being a freak? Or worse, would her daughter hate herself for being an abnormal child?
No, Ai couldn't do that to her kid. Again, she was just too selfish, she scolded herself. But her resolve had weakened upon seeing Reina again. To have her so painfully close, to be able to talk to her and be within reach, even if they did not touch. That was why she had chosen to slip away, the coward's way out, leaving only a letter. She knew that she couldn't keep anything a secret from Reina for long, and the only way to preserve this one was to run away. Ai hated herself for doing it, but she couldn't force Reina to become part of her baby's life. Reina had dreams of becoming a star. Ai couldn't take that away from her. Reina deserved to be free, and Ai refused to become a burden.
So she left. She kept their daughter, symbolically one part of Reina always close to her. Ai might have regretted many things, but she never regretted keeping the baby. Riho had becoming so much a part of her life that she felt like she was literally living through her daughter now. She had given up so much, yes, but what she had gained in return was beyond price.
"Ai-chan, you're crying." Konkon's voice swam back into her consciousness, and Ai was vaguely aware of her longtime pal by her side, holding out some tissues and patting her back comfortingly.
"I've missed her so much." Ai confessed, her shoulder trembling as she held the worst of her sobs in. "I want my best friend back. She always knew what I had to say. We're so far from each other now...it hurts."
"If she's your best friend, what are we, chopped liver?" Asami made a lame attempt at a joke, handing more tissues to Ai as she tossed the used ones onto the growing pile on the table. Ai chuckled, a low sound thick with unshed tears.
"It's not the same, Kon-chan. You'll know it when you meet someone you're in tune with. You just know it." Ai smiled almost unconsciously. "Not that we hit it off right away. We spent so much time bickering over the silliest things. We were such kids back then..."
"And somehow we still love you, even though you totally putting your lover over your friends. Honestly, Ai-chan. I should tell Mako-chan so she can knock some sense into you."
"I'm not that bad!" Ai said defensively, then sniffed loudly. She held one hand to her nose self-consciously, met Asami's eyes, then started laughing.
"Thanks, Micchan. I needed that."
Asami smiled. "What are friends for? Though, you know, now that I know who Riho's daddy is, a lot of things make sense about her. I guess it's only natural that she found her way into the entertainment world. That's where
you would have been, if you hadn't had her. And of course, you know..."
"I know. The talent must be genetic." Ai deadpanned in her best Konkon voice. The two women giggled again. Ai managed to get herself under control, sobering up slightlly.
"I should do something about this." Asami raised an eyebrow at the undercurrent of decision in her friend's speculative tone.
"Ai-chan, don't be reckless..."
Ai grinned impudently, an expression Asami could have sworn she had never seen in the almost twenty years she had known the woman. It was mischievous and so vivaciously
alive. The scientist in her marveled at the subtle changes this Tanaka Reina had wrought in her friend, simply by being in her life.
As a friend, and as a scientist, Konno Asami simply couldn't let such a wonderful opportunity to learn something new about one of her oldest friends get away.
You learn something new every day... She mused, and out of the corner of her eye, she could have seen the front door twitch close. Was it even open to begin with?
Perhaps she was seeing things. Absently wiping her glasses once more, Asami completely missed the descending fist that landed squarely on top of her head, and she yelped at the sudden impact. Ai simply sat smugly in place, not even looking too ridiculous with a tear-stained face.
"I always get my way in the end, Pon-chan. Don't forget that."
Konno Asami never did. But that did not mean she took such provocation lying down either.
It was much
much later after they finished cleaning up the horrendous mess they had made of the kitchen, in which process they discovered that they were, after all, not too old for childish games, though they were adult enough to deal with the consequences, as evidenced by their efforts to restore the kitchen to its former pristine state.
It was also then that Ai made an observation that would become a source of worry for the next few hours (if not longer, but she could never truly tell when forced to recall, distraught as she was during that period).
"Riho's not back yet." She said, a conscious glance at the clock perched atop the fridge.
"Maybe she's out with friends?" Ever practical, Konkon offered an alternative. Ai frowned briefly, then shook her head.
"No, she would at least call if she will be late." Ai paced over to the counter, arranging cutlery and giving the space another (unnecessary) wipedown to ease her own tension. The sense of foreboding hanging over her senses did nothing to quell her worries, even with the best efforts of her loyal friend.
An hour became two, and stretched still longer until it became three, at which point Ai was on the verge of coming completely undone after having tried calling every single resource available to her that she knew of. Asami was not much help in that matter, having been influenced by the waves of panic Ai was exuding as the minutes ticked by.
But it was best not to be alone in such circumstances, even if said friend was unable to help you solve any problems, their presence alone was comforting enough. Asami did her best to prevent Ai from complete emotional collapse, even enlisting Gaki-san, who made herself available immediately upon hearing the news (and cancelling all appointments regardless of the business lost).
So they were three when the answer they desperately sought finally came, in the form of a text. It was a number none of them recognized, those Ai found it vaguely familiar.
She's with me.The message was ambiguous enough to mean nothing, or everything, and unless one knew the sender, it was useless. While it was true that none of them recognized the number,
one of them most certainly recognized the peculiar way the message was signed off, and in that recognition, came to the realization that while she no longer had to worry about her daughter's whereabouts, she now had to deal with a whole
new set of problems.
"Ai-chan, who are you calling?" Risa asked, while exchanging wary glances with an equally perplexed Asami, who, by virtue of being somewhat more privy to the secrets their reticient friend held, had some suspicion about the origins of the ambiguous message.
"Riho's manager." Ai said tersely, then started speaking rapidly into her phone as her call went through. Risa turned to Asami.
"Didn't she already call him?"
Asami shrugged in answer. Ai was in the midst of taking down a note on a stray receipt, before ending her call quite decisively. Then she made another call, this time obviously following the number on the receipt. This time though, she moved away from her friends, removing herself out of earshot. Risa raised an eyebrow at that, about to make some comment on it, to which Asami shrugged but eloquently, herself having already formulated an opinion as to what exactly Ai was up to.
A minute or two later, Ai returned to them, a tight-lipped expression pinching her features, though in annoyance or suppressed excitement, it was hard to tell. Her friends though, were both taken more than a little off guard when they were summarily dismissed, with only the words that Riho has been found, and that Ai would go and fetch her.
"Alone? At this time? Shouldn't we accompany you?" Risa, ever the concerned (some even say paranoid, but one would also observe that her paranoia has thus far kept her in perfect health) friend, did not like leaving the matter unfinished. Asami seemed inclined to agree, but a discreet glance from Ai in her direction settled the matter, and she added her persuasion to the act of removing the reluctant Gaki-san from the premises.
When Ai was finally alone, she finally allowed herself to relax, all her otherwise hidden emotions finding full expression on her face. Worry, relief, fear, anger, and perhaps even a tiny bit of joy (or would that be hope) flashed in turns, and sometimes in combination, across her countenance, and it was a little while before she gathered herself together sufficiently to make her next move.
"I hope..." Her lips moved, but that was as far an utterance that could be heard. Perhaps even Ai herself feared voicing her innermost desires, for fear of them evaporating like her breath into the wind, the words vanishing more surely than if had never been said, locked securely in her heart.
She did not waste time leaving, though in her heart, it felt like, for the first time in twelve years, she was finally heading home.
=============================================================================================
Difficult to write. Work takes away all my time and energy, and it seems that I have discovered a social life. Even more difficult, my characters decide to take matters into their own hands and get ahead of themselves. So we take a slightly different route, but always inching still nearer to our destination. I promise this might even be good.
Stay tuned!
Topic: 私のアホ家族(My Stupid Family)[24/6 - Chapter 25: A Series of Unfortunate Events] (Read 102543 times)