Here we go again! I didn't expect to post so soon, but I wanted to make sure and satisfy Lolli before going to Japan, and it's what I felt like doing anyway.
Ckd, I've never watched Full Metal Alchemist, but your comment made me look up a short plot summary lol, and it was amazing! I assure you though, since as I mentioned I've never even watched it, any resemblance is coincidental (although freakish
). And while I may not be following
that per se, I am drawing from many different influences, so you might recognize some things... Anyway, I have some things to do tonight, so onward to storytime!
Chapter 22It wasn’t until late in the evening when Saki finally returned. Miyabi lay on the bed, propped up by some pillows and reading one of her books, just as she’d been doing for the past couple hours. A lone lamp was turned on at the side of her bed to give her light as she read, and the darkness surrounding that pool was broken for only seconds when the door swung open and light from the hall spilled into it. Saki closed it quickly and quietly though, and Miyabi watched over the top of her book as she walked to her suitcase and after digging through it, changed her clothes to her normal night attire of only a t-shirt that was a few sizes too large for her. After changing, she crawled up onto the bed without looking toward Miyabi’s face and slid under the covers.
“Welcome back,” Miyabi offered gently.
The girl didn’t respond at first. After covering up, she rolled over with her back toward Miyabi and lay on her side. Miyabi continued to watch her, but didn’t offer any more in the way of a greeting. “I’ve been thinking, Miya…” Saki said finally in a quiet voice. Miyabi had given up and returned to her book, but at the sound of the girl’s voice turned back to her. Even though Saki spoke to her, she still faced away from her. “Don’t you think that if people could just be … raised from the dead… that somebody would have done it by now? And of course we would have heard about it because nobody could keep something like that secret…”
Miyabi just gazed at her for a moment before responding. “Well maybe nobody’s been able to do it yet. I’m doing some things I don’t think anyone else has, after all.”
At that, Saki finally rolled over and looked up into Miyabi’s face, an unreadable look on her own. “Miya, you seriously take being conceited to new levels…”
Miyabi shrugged, grinning. “What can I say? I’m the Berryz girl you made me.” Saki rolled her eyes before rolling back over and snuggling in as if she was going to try and sleep. “So are you okay with what I’m trying to do now?” she asked hopefully.
“No,” Saki replied without turning again. “It’s still wrong. But I know I’m not going to stop you. If anything bad happens though…” Miyabi could feel the girl’s body tense beside her in her warning.
“I’ll do my best,” Miyabi said.
“I know,” Saki replied. “I hope though…” She never finished her thought, and Miyabi was left wondering what the girl hoped. She continued watching her lie there as her breathing became slower, and eventually it appeared she fell asleep.
Closing her book carefully, Miyabi laid it on the bedside table and sat up slowly, doing her best not to wake the other girl. Once she managed to pull out of the covers, she sat there for a minute and stroked her girlfriend’s hair. The sleeping girl stirred once or twice, but didn’t seem to wake.
“I’ll do my best, Saki-chan…” she whispered again. “Whatever you might think, Momo deserves to be with us now. I might not like that she’s in love with you but… I think
I’m in love with you too…”
She couldn’t stop a completely unreasonable blush from coming to her face when she said that, but it caused her to pull her hand away, and she slid slowly off the bed. Walking back around to her bag, she dug through it. Quickly finding what she wanted, she stared at it a moment before tucking it inside her belt.
While Saki was gone, she’d realized what she needed to acquire. She needed something that symbolized innocence to trade for the innocence that was lost when Momoko was killed. However, not just anything would work, and she wanted to get the best possible for her trade. She felt confident, but this was still something she didn’t take lightly. It hadn’t taken her long to decide what she knew of that was purest.
She walked to the bathroom and picked up a small glass from next to the sink, carrying it with her as she stole quietly over to the lamp she was using to read. She turned it off, and with one last look at her girlfriend headed toward the door. She opened and went through it as quietly as possible, but when she turned around to go down the hall she almost jumped at the girl who stood not centimeters in front of her.
“Getting a drink?” Chinami said, her eyes still wide as she stared at Miyabi.
“Um… yes,” Miyabi responded. She looked curiously at the girl. “Have you been watching scary movies again?”
“Me?” Chinami asked. “No.” She glanced to the side as if she saw somebody looking at her. Miyabi looked too, but they were the only two in the quiet hall. “Well, just one. But it wasn’t too bad. I think…” She looked back at Miyabi and hesitated.
“Do you think I’m going to turn you into a toad or something?” Miyabi asked, slightly irritated.
Chinami drew breath and took a step back. “No!” she said. “Of course not! I’m not scared of y-your magic…”
“You’re a horrible liar you know,” Miyabi responded. “You should really just give up trying.”
“Hey!” Chinami whined. “That’s mean!”
“So what are you doing out here?” Miyabi asked.
“Oh you know…” the girl responded. “Just walking randomly down the hallway… I couldn’t sleep,” she explained. “I was supposed to share my room with… with her…” she said, hesitating again. “And I didn’t want to be alone, so Risako decided to move over and join me. That was awfully nice of her… She even picked the movie that we just finished watching…”
“Is Risako asleep now?” Miyabi asked nonchalantly, perking up at this news.
“Yeah,” Chinami replied. “At least, she was when I left. I hope she doesn’t wake up. I left the door unlocked so I didn’t forget the key and lock myself out again, and I doubt she’d be happy if she knew she was sleeping behind an unlocked door…”
“I’m sure she’ll stay asleep,” Miyabi replied quickly. “That girl can sleep through anything, you know.”
“I know,” Chinami said. At least she didn’t look so scared any longer with the casual conversation they were having. “Hey, do you mind if I join you while you get your drink?” she asked.
“Er…” Miyabi responded. “Sure… why not?” And with that Miyabi began walking down the hall, the other girl staying at her side. She didn’t really have any clue where she was going, as she was definitely not going for a “drink”, but she thought she’d better entertain the older girl for the time being. Why would she be walking down the hall with a glass for something to drink anyway? She could get water from her room, and anything she got from vending machines here wouldn’t need a container. She gave Chinami a sideways glance. And people called
her strange.
“You know,” Miyabi said, deciding she might as well try to strike up conversation again. “It’s a little strange for you to be walking around vacant hallways at night as scared as you seem to be of everything.”
“Oh?” the girl said, looking around her as if surprised. “I guess I’m used to it. I think I actually like being scared though. That’s probably why I find myself in situations like that all the time.”
Miyabi hadn’t thought of that before, but now that she did it made perfect sense. The other girls were always warning Chinami to stay away from scary movies and things, but thinking about it, Miyabi realized she must watch ten times more of them than anybody else.
After a moment of silence, Chinami shrugged. “I guess it’s my hobby or something, after all. Being scared, you know.” Miyabi nodded her head as if she knew, although she was still a little confused. She wouldn’t have thought being scared could qualify as a hobby.
“I’ll be sure to bring you along to the next haunted house I go to…” she said with a wry grin.
“Really?” Chinami asked hopefully. “That’d be great! Um…” she said as she stopped walking. “Where are we going, by the way?” Miyabi looked ahead of them and saw they’d arrived at the elevator at the end of the hall. “You’re not gonna go down to the bar or something, are you?”
“Yes…” Miyabi said. “That’s exactly where I was planning on going! Why don’t you go ahead of me though and wait there. I’m sure they’ll have music or something playing. I left something in my room and need to go back and get it.”
“Oh it’s okay,” Chinami responded. “I’ll go back to your room with you.”
“Er…” Miyabi said, now just wanting to get rid of the other girl. “Saki-chan’s sleeping in there, and I bet more than one of us going in would wake her. Plus, I’m sure you’ll find plenty to keep you busy down there! It’ll be a lot more fun than waiting for me.”
“All right…” Chinami said, and giving her an odd look pushed the button for the elevator.
Miyabi gave a nod of her head and turned around to head back down the hall. Turning a corner, she looked back to make sure the girl wasn’t following her, and continued on toward their rooms. She knew what she had to do, and with what Chinami had told her it seemed the fates were with her tonight.
Coming to a door, she turned the knob and opened it slowly. Sliding in, she closed it softly again and looked through the darkness toward where the beds would be standing. As her eyes adjusted she made out two, one flat and the other with a small lump rising from it. Risako was not only alone, but the door was unlocked, something else Miyabi was happy about because she hadn’t yet tried a spell to open electronic locks and wasn’t sure it would work. Dealing with electro-magnetism tended to be tricky in any circumstance, much less one as important as this. Whether Chinami was right about how Risako would react to being left alone in an unlocked room, she really should have been more careful. They never knew what kind of creep might try to walk in on one of them. Although, Miyabi didn’t guess they would have imagined they needed to worry about one of their own…
Fumbling around with the lock, she heard it click, and advanced toward the bed with the sleeping girl. The image brought back vivid memories of the last time she did this not long ago. Of course, there was much different motivation this time. As she pulled the ceremonial dagger out of her belt, she thought it was funny that the situations were in fact nearly complete opposites.
Carefully, she leaned over the softly breathing form and pulled the covers down to her waist. Risako lay curled up there almost in a ball, her hands folded just in front of her face. Miyabi smiled. It was the perfect picture of innocence she’d imagined. The sight increased her confidence tremendously, but it also tugged at something inside her. Yes, she was innocent… She was so cute just lying there, and Miyabi recalled times when she laid with her, hugging her from behind as they both slept.
She didn’t realize she’d reached out toward the girl until she almost touched her cheek, but finally came to her senses and satisfied herself with sweeping a few of her hairs behind her ear. “I’m sorry, Rii-chan,” she said. “But we have to help Momo.” Then she became silent as she raised the glass and her dagger toward the sleeping girl.
…
A short time later, she exited the elevator and walked toward the lounge. Finding the entrance, she walked in to find a group playing some kind of slow hypnotizing music not far from the bar. It wasn’t exactly her style, but she supposed it was perfect for the salarymen she saw sitting at the high stools in front of the counter. She looked around at the people sitting in the spacious “family” area, and found Chinami staring dreamily of all things toward the group.
Miyabi walked toward her, and even when she sat down across the table the girl still didn’t seem to register her presence. There was a drink of some sort in front of her, but it looked half-forgotten. “Hey, Chii-chan,” Miyabi said, and the girl almost jumped, giving her a startled look.
“Oh, hi Miya,” she said, quickly picking up her drink and bowing her head over it.
Miyabi looked over toward the band. The lead singer was a young woman of maybe thirty, but the rest seemed to be composed of young college-aged men. “Don’t tell me you’ve been staring at that cute guitarist this whole time,” she chided the girl across from her.
Even with her face lowered Miyabi still noticed her blush. “Not… the
whole time…” she responded in a squeaky voice.
“All we need now is another story about you and some cute band member…” Miyabi said in a mock serious voice.
“Hey!” Chinami said, looking up finally. “That wasn’t my fault!”
“What wasn’t?” Miyabi heard a voice say from behind her, and a tall girl walked up to their table. “Hey you two,” Yurina said. “Couldn’t sleep either?” The question seemed to be directed at Miyabi since Yurina likely guessed the other girl’s reason the same way Miyabi had.
“Nope,” Miyabi said. Well, it was partly true. “Here, have a seat Kuma-chan,” she continued, and slid over so the girl could slide in next to her.
The girl sat down thankfully and looked between the two other girls. “It’s been a long day, huh?” She looked around at the other people in the lounge minding their own business. “Yet everything still goes on as normal…”
“Yeah,” Miyabi said. “There should be some kind of holiday to recognize what happened, shouldn’t there?”
“Nobody cares,” Chinami said, and the other two girls stared at her. However, she stared back just as strongly. “If it doesn’t involve them, they do their best to ignore it.”
Yurina gave an angry look around at the people they were talking about. “That’s not right. They should try to pay attention to other people better!”
“Is that what you think?” Miyabi asked, and the two girls now turned to her with furrowed eyebrows. “Until we heard about Momo, we hardly even noticed anything happened either.”
“But we’re just kids,” Yurina said, and the other two became quiet.
“That’s really convenient… isn’t it?” Miyabi said under her breath after a time.
“What do you suppose we’ll do now?” Chinami asked, adopting an anxious voice after the uncomfortable silence. “With Momo-chan gone it won’t be anywhere near the same.” Her eyes widened again. “I might have to sing more!”
“Oh I’m sure
that would be so horrible,” Miyabi retorted sarcastically. “It’s about time you start singing more instead of just always talking.”
“But I like acting better…” Chinami pouted.
“Besides,” Miyabi said, adopting a smug tone. “Maybe I’ll just get all the lines now.”
“Miya!” Yurina scolded. “Now isn’t the time to be so selfish!”
Miyabi stayed quiet. She really didn’t care what they said about “how things would be now that Momo was gone”. After all, by tomorrow night everything would be back to the way it was before. Saki’s face flashed in her head, the shadow gone and only brightness in her soft eyes.
Everything.She was brought out of her reverie by a hard poke at her side.
“Ow!” she cried.
“You’re sick you know, smiling at your narcissistic fantasies like that,” Yurina said, though this time Miyabi noticed it only seemed half-hearted.
“Well of course,” Miyabi said. “Some day I’m going to be the most famous singer in the world, you know. I was just thinking about who I’d have for my attendants… Would you like to do my make-up?” She received another poke for that.
“Just because you can sing well and do a little magic doesn’t mean you’re any better than the rest of us,” Yurina said, and her words were met with an uncomfortable silence.
“Hey,” Chinami said. “Do you think maybe if you practice some more you can stop people from dying?”
Miyabi stared at her. The girl seemed terrified of what she might do most of the time, and now she had the most surprising insight of anyone around her all day. Yurina didn’t seem to catch Miyabi’s reaction, however. “Don’t be silly,” she said offhandedly. “Miya might be able to pull books out of thin air, but she can’t do the same thing with people. Right, Miya-chan?” she asked her, obviously not expecting an answer.
At first Miyabi didn’t give her one. After a while though she couldn’t hold her tongue. “That’s not…
entirely true…” she said softly.
Chinami stared at her, though Yurina still didn’t seem to register what she’d just said. “See, Toku-san? What’d I tell you.”
“Um… Kuma~chan…” Chinami chimed slowly.
“Hmm?” the tall girl asked, and she finally looked up at the two she sat with. Chinami was still staring at Miyabi, who was looking down at thumbs she was twiddling.
“What you said,” Miyabi resumed softly again. “I
can bring people back.”
Now Yurina joined Chinami in staring at her. “What?” she asked, apparently at a loss. “Have you…
done it before?”
Miyabi shook her head. “No,” she responded. “But I can do it.”
Yurina now turned and grabbed her older friend’s shoulders. “Are you
crazy?! That’s impossible! You just… just…”
“Just what?” Miyabi asked, giving the girl a heated gaze back. “Just know how to do a
little magic?”
Feeling her anger start to rise, she closed her eyes and focused her thoughts. At a squeak from across the table she opened them, but only just to slits. Yurina was slowly sliding away from her on her chair, which began to lift into the air as well. The girl had frozen, and was clutching her chair seat as if for dear life as it rose steadily to nearly a half a meter above the ground.
“Stop it!” Chinami said, and Miyabi looked over to see her pressed to the back of her own chair, staring at Yurina and holding onto it too as if she was the one flying across the room.
Miyabi then heard a clatter, and she turned back to see Yurina on the floor with the chair toppled next to her. She quickly rose to go help the girl, berating herself for losing concentration. That was something that couldn’t happen tomorrow night. “Are you okay?” she asked a slightly shaken-seeming Yurina. Helping her up, she looked around them. A few of the people at the bar and around the room were frowning over at them. They obviously hadn’t noticed Yurina floating, but definitely heard the crashing chair and now likely just thought they were some idiot kids fooling around.
“Excuse us,” Miyabi repeated over and over, bowing at the people looking at them as she helped Yurina carry the chair back to their table. A few of them chuckled, and by the time the girls regained their seats most had turned back to their drinks and conversations.
When she sat down, Miyabi looked over at Chinami, who was still glued to the back of her chair, now staring at her. “Sorry about that,” she offered half-heartedly, but the girl’s expression didn’t change.
Having finally regained her composure and becoming able to relax in her seat, Yurina spoke up, softly at first but with increasing volume. “That... was…
so… cool!” Chinami now shifted her disbelieving stare to the taller girl. “Can you make me do that again sometime?”
Miyabi broke into a grin. “Sure, if you’d like. Along with lots of other fun things.”
“You…” she gasped, still apparently excited from her experience. “You can’t really bring Momo back… can you?” Miyabi nodded. “But you said you’ve never done it before. I take it you’ve heard of others doing it though?”
“Well, no,” Miyabi responded hesitantly.
“Then how do you know it can be done?”
“Because it’s
gotta be possible!” Miyabi responded vehemently. “In everything I’ve studied about nature, the Earth… the spirits… Gaia, if you will… They like things to maintain a certain order. As we’ve become more modernized we’ve increasingly begun to disrupt that order, and cause things, like that train accident, that should never have occurred.” Feeling she was losing her audience, which consisted of one very interested-seeming girl and another who stared at her as if
she was the one with snakes growing out of her head, she tried to explain further. “It’s like everything and everyone is connected in a big web.” Chinami shivered again. Miyabi made a mental note to add spiders to the list of things that creeped her out. Then again, remembering their earlier conversation, maybe the girl could do with having some spiders summoned on her from time to time.
“When things like that train accident happen,” she continued, “That web is snipped in the spots where those lives that were lost existed. Momoko would have been at the center of the web, where kids and others who are most innocent lie. And when parts of the center are cut out, it threatens the integrity of the whole web – of all of nature… Most never get replaced, and so the web has been getting more and more tangled as we’ve moved farther away from our natural states. All I’m looking to do is help restore what little of it I can… at least… what’s important to me…”
She trailed off to the blank staring looks before her. “…Strange things they teach you at that school,” Yurina intoned finally. “But it’s still cool. And if it helps Momo-chan come back…”
“Well
I don’t think it’s cool!” Chinami breathed. “I don’t know about all your webs and spiders and things.” She shivered again, and Miyabi sighed inwardly. She hadn’t even mentioned spiders… “But I still think what you’re doing is wrong. You’re messing with things that… obviously shouldn’t be messed with! And now you’re even messing with… with… life and death itself! Those are things that should be just left alone and to themselves! The gods will take care of us like they always have… even Momo…” Her eyes began to tear up slightly by the time she mentioned the girl’s name.
“Why is that?” Miyabi said through gritted teeth. “Is that what your parents told you?”
“Yes…” Chinami said, visibly trying to keep herself from crying. “Momo is gone… Why can’t you just
accept that!” And with that, she stood up quickly from her chair and walked away from them, increasing her speed with her distance until she was almost running when she disappeared out of sight through the open lounge doors.
“I suppose
you think I should just accept it too…” Miyabi grumbled, not looking at the girl who still sat next to her. Surprisingly though, Yurina draped an arm around her shoulders, causing her to look up into a sincere young face.
“I won’t admit it isn’t a bit… strange…” she said, “But there are a lot of things about the world I don’t know, and maybe… Maybe you’re right. Maybe we’ll be able to see Momo again. It isn’t wrong to have hope at least, is it?” Miyabi stared at her. She
thought the girl was younger than her at least. “Excuse me,” she continued, releasing Miyabi’s shoulders and rising from her chair. “I’d better make sure Toku-san’s alright and doesn’t do something stupid.” She hesitated a moment before walking away, though. “You’re really gonna try this?”
Miyabi nodded. “Tomorrow night,” she said. “I’ve… started preparing already.” Her mind drifted to Risako for a second. “At least that’s the plan. Chii-chan’s reaction troubles me a bit… She sounded pretty strong against me trying…”
“I’ll keep her occupied if she tries to stop you,” Yurina insisted. “Anyone else, too.” She looked sincerely into Miyabi’s eyes. “I don’t know if you’re gonna be able to do this…” she said, “But I still want to have hope that we can all be together again…” Miyabi saw her eyes begin to glisten too, but before she could say more the taller girl turned and headed off after Chinami.
“Thank you…” Miyabi whispered to herself. She didn’t know why, since she was set on doing this alone, but it felt nice knowing someone, at least, supported her.
She stayed in the lounge for a while longer listening to the music and thinking about the next day. She even ordered a drink. After taking the last sips, she finally slid out from her table and made her way back up to their rooms. The hallway was quiet, so apparently either Yurina had caught Chinami elsewhere or they both were back in their rooms. Out of pure curiosity, she reached her hand out and turned carefully at the doorknob to the room she had broken into earlier. Finding it locked, she sighed in relief. Chinami must have gone back to sleep.
Leaving the door be, she re-entered her own room and quietly changed into the long shirt and comfortable shorts she normally wore to bed before sliding in under the covers next to her girlfriend. She supposed she was still her girlfriend at least. They may be having a fight now, but the girl still came to bed with her after all… Deciding to be brave, she carefully snuggled up next to the small warm form and lightly draped an arm around her waist.
“You’re back late,” she heard a small voice say just as her arm fell into place around the girl. She froze. Well, at least she didn’t pull away from her embrace.
“…I couldn’t sleep,” Miyabi whispered finally.
“Liar,” came the voice again, and Saki rolled over, careful to stay within Miyabi’s arms. Miyabi wasn’t sure exactly what to make of the girl’s sudden actions. Once she turned, the space that separated their faces could barely even be called a gap. Feeling the girl’s warm breath lightly caressing her skin, Miyabi’s pulse quickened as her body heated.
Saki studied her eyes. “You’re going to try to bring back Momo, aren’t you,” she murmured in a tone that wasn’t the least bit questioning. Miyabi hesitated only a second before nodding slightly. “And nothing I say is going to stop you?” she continued. This time there was a longer pause before Miyabi nodded again.
“I’m doing this for myself, for many reasons…” Miyabi explained, also in a low voice with their intimate position. “But…” she continued, looking into the eyes across from her. “I’m also doing it for you…” Her heart seemed to be racing now. “I don’t… I can’t say I like hearing someone else is in love with you… someone who’s your best friend even… but since she’s been gone you’ve been so sad, and I can’t bear to see you that way. I want to make you happy again…” She felt tears come to her eyes as she finished, and tried to pull the girl closer to her. Strangely, she didn’t meet any resistance.
Saki looked intensely back at her a moment before her expression suddenly changed. “
Miya~chan…” she simpered. Miyabi felt her breath catch in anxiety. “You don’t need to raise the dead to win me over…” Then, she leaned forward and laid a short peck on Miyabi’s lips. Miyabi felt herself blush, and she began to think if she got any hotter she’d completely burn up. She hadn’t lost control and set herself on fire or something, had she?
Resisting the urge to look away to find out, she held her eyes on the gentle ones across from her. “Just promise me one thing, okay Miya?” Saki asked.
Miyabi nodded. “S-sure…” she managed. What was wrong with her? There was no reason for her to lose control like this.
“Take me along when you do it,” Saki said, this time in a more serious tone. Miyabi studied her face, emotions conflicting within her. The girl had the right to request that of course, but she still wasn’t looking forward to seeing how she would react when her best friend, who had just declared her love for her, suddenly appeared out of thin air. That thought distracted Miyabi for a second. Would that be how it happened? Or would she just… rise from her grave wherever it was or something?
Those thoughts were lost completely however when she felt Saki reach over and grip her arms.
“What’s going on in there…?” she breathed, looking into Miyabi’s face as if by doing so she could read her mind. Finally she settled back on her eyes. “No matter what happens…
Remember… You’re the one I chose, Miya.” Miyabi stared back, feeling something very strange inside her, until Saki leaned in to kiss her again. This time it didn’t end as quickly, however. In fact, it seemed to last forever.
Topic: Berry Beautiful [Volume 2] (Read 113049 times)