Hi, hi. This ended up being a yearly thing or something. Hah. Anyway, huge thanks to Yun for proofreading!
Thank you for the comments guys, I really appreciate it!
The chapter is short, I know. :c And note: the italics at the beginning is a flashback.
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Chapter 4
Watanabe Miyuki originally came from the city of Nara, in Nara prefecture which she finds hilarious because really, Nara city in Nara prefecture? What a half-heartedly thought out name. She lived most of her childhood there until her mother decided that it was time to ditch the dull and old city and head to Osaka instead, most of their things left behind in their haste. Now instead of having their own house and lot, they stayed in a cheap and run-down apartment; there was rust everywhere and the floor creaked with every step. It had been embarrassing letting Sayaka see where she lived, so the second time the raven offered to walk her home, Miyuki took her to the roof instead of her apartment room.
It was still deep in the season of winter, making the wind freezing cold against Miyuki’s cheeks despite her attempts of burying every inch of her skin underneath her coat and jeans. They sat at the edge of the rooftop, just a lean away from falling down to the ground.
“So you don’t mind being friends with me?” The question had come out without much thought from Miyuki, yet somehow she found her chest pounding in anticipation as she waited for the answer anyway. Her eyes locked themselves at the dimly lit buildings beneath them, afraid to look at Sayaka and witness the look on her face thinking that maybe, though somewhat impossible to believe, Sayaka would have the words “I do mind. In fact, we were never friends to begin with” written on her features.
“Am I supposed to?” Was Sayaka’s answer instead, her voice sounding almost like it was supposed to be obvious that she doesn’t care, “I mean come on. I’m a nerd. Who am I to be picky with who I befriend with?”
“You’re Yamamoto Sayaka, obviously.” Miyuki joked, to which Sayaka rolled her eyes to.
“Right, I see you’re the smart one this time. But no, really, I don’t mind at all. Besides, you’re fun to be with, Milky.”
“What a charmer with words.” Crinkling her nose, Miyuki finally turned her head beside her, finally catching sight of Sayaka’s side profile despite the darkness, and finally taking notice of the black frame that rested on the bridge on her nose. “You wear glasses? Can I borrow it?”
She reaches out for it without waiting for Sayaka’s permission, successfully stealing the square eyewear.
“Wow, you really are blind.” Miyuki chuckled, ignoring the groan Sayaka gave in response.
“Yes, exactly why I need it back.”
“What if I run away instead? Would you still be able to catch me?”
“No,” Sayaka frowned, “I’d fall down and die. Now return them back to me.”
Finally taking Sayaka’s eyeglasses off of her, Miyuki folded it in her hands and left it there instead, ignoring the way Sayaka frowned all the more as she leaned her face much, much closer to the raven’s. Sayaka’s breath was warm against her skin, and despite the night’s darkness enveloping most of Sayaka’s features, somehow, Miyuki could still see the way her eyes slightly widened at the sudden proximity.
“Can you see me right now?”
This time, Sayaka squinted her eyes.
“Yeah.”
Miyuki moved closer once more, her nose just an inch away from brushing against Sayaka’s.
“Are my cheeks red?”
“Uh, I think you’d be able to know that without having to ask me—,”
“No, answer me properly, Sayaka.”
“Yeah,” Miyuki could almost feel herself shiver as Sayaka’s breath touched her skin once more, the raven’s low and quiet voice sending electricity down her spine. “They are.”
She could have almost kissed Sayaka right there and then. Just bring her hands up to cup Sayaka’s cheeks, keep her head still and lean forward until their lips would press against each other’s, but that would be pushing against the limits too much and so Miyuki doesn’t do any of that despite her heart’s quickened beating.
Almost everything Miyuki had shared with Sayaka was a lie. She doesn’t have an abusive father at home, her adopted sister was gone, her mother wasn’t the kind lady at the diner and she doesn’t go to school. Or, well, she used to, but soon they ran out of money to buy herself books and notebooks and soon enough, she had to drop out. She was a nobody right now, someone close to becoming homeless and so Miyuki lies to Sayaka to make herself look better – to make herself sound less shameful.
However, if there was one thing she could be honest of, then perhaps it’s the fact that she’s happy being friends with Sayaka.
Even if her heart screams for something more than just friends.
“You should go home, Sayaka. It’s late.”
—
What happened next after Miyuki whispered almost seemed like some sort of nightmare playing right in front of Sayaka’s eyes. The slap to Miyuki’s cheek from her very own mother loud enough for terror to immediately fill the raven’s chest and quickly, she ran beside Miyuki, her arms wrapping around the brunette as she looked at the lady before her, equally as terrified as Miyuki.
“You slut! While I work my ass off to feed us, you go ahead and waste a good cup of tea on some stranger?! Who do you think you are, some royalty?”
Sayaka opened her mouth to answer for Miyuki, but instead, she feels a sharp tug on her hand. She turns her head to the latter, her heart dropping when she sees Miyuki shake her head, eyes already glistening with tears.
“Sayaka, go home.” She whispered, pushing Sayaka forward to where the door is at, “I’m okay. I’m sorry for everything just… Please go home. I won’t bother you anymore, I won’t show my face to you anymore, so leave. Please leave. Mama, she’s just – I forced her to come in, she’s not a part of this, let her leave.”
Oh what utter bullshit Miyuki was saying, and it only frustrates Sayaka further. It was her who forced herself into Miyuki’s apartment, not the other way around, and she couldn’t possibly leave and abandon Miyuki now when she had just seen the reason why Miyuki lied and called the lady in the diner her mother instead of this, this freaking monster before them. Sayaka catches Miyuki’s mother coming closer to them, one hand already reaching out for Miyuki’s hair and Sayaka’s first instinct was to grab at the doorknob while her other hand desperately wrapped around Miyuki’s wrist, pulling her along as soon as the door was open and hurriedly running away from the apartment room and down the stairs.
She could still hear Miyuki’s mother’s voice calling out for them, the anger mixed in her tone as though ready to murder someone, and it’s unbelievable how a mother could call her own daughter a slut and other hateful names.
Behind her, Miyuki struggled to catch up with her speed, Sayaka’s thick boots and Miyuki’s own worn-out shoes now buried deep into the snow as they continued to run further and further from Miyuki’s home and towards wherever their feet would take them, both out of breath and tired, yet still too afraid to stop until they finally couldn’t take it. Much to their luck, they’ve managed to reach the park they used to play at before completely collapsing down onto their knees and butts, panting heavily and their legs completely weak.
What the heck.
Just what on Earth was that?
Another play Miyuki had prepared, maybe, to have her tricked all over again? Some sort of prank?
“I’m sorry,”
Sayaka heard Miyuki whisper, her head quickly turning to the girl’s direction to see her on her knees with tears rolling down her eyes. She immediately grew guilty for even thinking that it was just another trick Miyuki had on her sleeves. She saw it up close and quite clear, how Miyuki’s mother’s palm had hit her cheek in a loud slap, and the way it left a red mark on Miyuki’s skin.
“I didn’t… I didn’t want you to see that. I’m sorry. We really shouldn’t hang out anymore. And I should go home,” Miyuki finally stood up on her feet, wiping away the tears in her eyes away with the back of her hand. “Mom’s waiting for me, and I’ve yet to cook dinner so… Goodbye, Sayaka. Being friends with you had been great. Thank you. And I’m really, really sorry for lying to you all this time. I’m sorry.”
“What the hell are you on to this time?” The raven snapped, her lips tightly pursed into a thin line. “First you lie to me, and now won’t even let me say anything about this? Heck, why are you even going home? You’re only going to get hit more if you do!”
What Sayaka said was true and it left Miyuki speechless with her head turning down to the ground as she tried her best not to cry yet again. It was karma, Miyuki supposes, for lying to Sayaka all this time and for making her believe in lies after all this time, even when she had been so kind as to accept someone like her as a friend. She had ruined it all, and now karma was coming to bite her. What was there left for her to do except to accept it now? Miyuki had nowhere else to go to except for her mother, no other houses to stay in other than that shabby, cheap apartment that smelled of rust and trash.
“I don’t completely trust you yet…”
Miyuki’s lips curled into a bitter smile as Sayaka spoke.
“But you mustn’t go home, Miyuki. You can’t go home to a mother like that.”
She turned her head up to look at Sayaka, looking all the more puzzled than before.
“I have a friend – Yui. I’ll ask for her help. She always finds a way out of things, and I’m sure she will on this one, too.”
—
Although it was quite a risky decision, Sayaka let Miyuki sneak into her bedroom for the night, somehow managing to do so by letting her slip inside using the same way she did the first time Miyuki came to her house, throwing pebbles at her window. Sayaka walked inside the house first through the front door, saying a few greetings to her parents as per usual while Miyuki waited outside, kicking snows until Sayaka was finally in her room with the emergency ladder in her arms as she approached the window, dropping it down as soon as she had it opened.
For dinner, she lied to her mother about wanting to eat in her room to study, filling her bowl with rice unlike the usual half-empty serving she would get for herself, and adding a few meat in her plate when her mother wasn’t looking before hurrying back up to her room with a tray full of plates and two glasses of water. Her mother yelled out something about bringing over some snacks later to fill her stomach up while she studied, though thankfully enough, her mother would always knock first and wait for an answer before opening the door.
“Food? You didn’t have to—, I mean, I’m sure I can survive a night without eating.” Miyuki said with her eyes wide open and round as she saw Sayaka re-enter the bedroom with the tray in her hands. Just being able to stay in the warmth of Sayaka’s room for the rest of the night was something Miyuki was grateful of, especially when Sayaka had made sure to let Miyuki know that she doesn’t trust her just yet. And besides, a night without dinner was nothing new anymore, Miyuki is thin for a reason, after all.
“Yeah, and what? Wake up the next morning to find a corpse beside me?” Sayaka easily answered with a shrug, putting the books on her study table down on the floor so she could set the plates there instead. “Come on and eat. There’s no guarantee that I’ll be feeding you in the morning, after all.”
By the time Miyuki had finished eating everything on the plates, along with the cookies that Sayaka’s mother delivered a few moments later (Miyuki had to hide in the closet for that one, what a clichéd hiding spot that was), it was already late in the evening. Sayaka had managed to finish her homework despite Neon’s constant barking as she played with Miyuki, somehow, and was now preparing for sleep. Handing Miyuki a disposable toothbrush her mother always made sure to have in the guest room so she could have something to brush her teeth with, and lending her clothes to wear for the evening. And sure, Sayaka could have just let Miyuki sleep in the guest room instead of the same room as her, but how would she be able to explain to her mother about the lights coming from what is supposed to be an empty room?
Anyway, this wouldn’t be their first time sleeping together on the same bed now.
“I’m really sorry for the trouble.”
Sayaka’s eyebrows furrowed as she stared up at the ceiling once the two of them are already lying on the bed. She had enough of all of these apologies already.
“Just don’t go running back to your apartment while I’m asleep. If you do that, then I won’t even bother helping you anymore.”
She heard Miyuki chuckle airily, “Then I’ll do just that.”
“Want me to hit you?”
“Scary.”
Groaning, Sayaka grabbed on a spare pillow, hitting Miyuki with it.
“Shut up and go to sleep, liar.”
She still doesn’t trust Miyuki, or at least not fully just yet even if she had just seen how ruthless her mother is, but soon morning came without much trouble happening with the brunette beside her, aside from the few times she is accidentally kicked while Miyuki was still asleep, or the times when for some reason, Miyuki would start mumbling words that ended up waking Sayaka up in the middle of the night. And sure, she was still sleepy by the time morning arrived, but hey, it was good knowing that Miyuki hadn’t somehow murdered her in her sleep just to steal some of her money and things and even worse, steal Neon away.
For the rest of the day, Miyuki was going to stay in the public library far from her apartment and close to Sayaka’s school, although even though Miyuki had promised that she would do as Sayaka instructed her to do and just stay there and never go near her apartment for the time being, Sayaka still found herself growing anxious about the girl anyway. Enough for Yui to finally notice it.
“Say, Yui?” Sayaka started.
“Hm?”
“What would you do if say for example, you have someone you have to keep for a while? Like, not a prisoner or some runaway criminal or something, just a normal guest or something… Except your family mustn’t know about it.”
“Book them a hotel room I guess?” Yui shrugged her shoulders, stealing a few of the sliced mushrooms in Sayaka’s lunch box.
“Err… I was hoping for something, uh… More free?”
This time, Yui turned her head up to look at her, her eyebrows furrowed in suspicion as she hummed at tapped the end of her chopsticks on her lower lip. “Why?”
“Just reasons. Anyway, you have an idea or something?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s kind of risky.”
Well, risky sure sounded much better than wasting a few thousands of yen. “Fire.”
“Uncle had a mistress for a while and had her live in a villa by the sea. A much too extravagant home for a mistress, I say. Anyway, I’m not really sure on the details, but as far as I know, the woman just disappeared. Either Auntie found out or she got accidentally killed,” Yui shrugged, waving her hands about in vague hand gestures, “since then the villa’s been empty as Auntie doesn’t seem to know about it yet. The key’s probably somewhere in the house.”
“Do you think I could…” Sayaka trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck as she pressed her lips together into a thin line. Clearly asking Yui such a huge and possibly dangerous favour was something she would never get used to.
“Borrow it?” Her friend finishes for her, “sure. Just make sure not to turn it into a mess or I don’t know, party hard in it.”
Sayaka rolled her eyes, “of course. Because I’m the type to party hard.”
“I’ll get it to you after school.”
“Thank you Yui, I knew I could count on you.”
“Of course,” Yui answered with a smile, “anything for you, Sayanee.”
Time moved slower than usual for Sayaka, the raven finding herself glancing up at the wall clock situated right above the chalkboard wishing it was already afternoon so she could rush to the library already. And the moment the school bell chimed, it was exactly what Sayaka did, her things messily shoved into her bag, a hurried excuse said to Yui the moment the key was given to her along with the instructions as to where the villa is. By the time she arrived at the library, she was already out of breath, panting and sweating and her knees already weak. Damn herself for never exercising.
She searched for Miyuki as soon as she had rested enough, her head turning from side to side while her feet dragged her from one shelf to another, making sure to look around properly for the familiar brown-headed girl in her red coat. In no time, Sayaka had managed to look through the whole first floor without ever catching a glimpse of Miyuki, and slowly she was beginning to grow worried that maybe she really did go home after all despite the promise she had made. God what an idiot Miyuki must be if so.
“Sayaka?”
Sayaka’s chest squeezed in relief as soon as she heard the familiar voice, her body quickly turning to the voice’s direction.
So she didn’t. Thank God.
“Come with me, Miyuki.”
Topic: Untitled (SayaMilky) Chapter 5 (Read 9670 times)