Sorry it took so long again for the next chapter! That may be how this story is going a little though.
It might really end up being the neverending story... Well, we'll see how things turn out for our angsty heroines.
Speaking of angst... There's a lot in this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it. It was hard to write... very hard... Btw, konbini = Japanese convenience store. Enjoy~!
Chapter 32“May I present… Buono no mina-san desu!!!”
Loud cheers and applause followed the pronouncement by the young woman who was supposedly going to be the starting manager of their new little group. Miyabi, Momoko and Airi walked through the curtain into the backstage room bowing, and with Airi and Momoko at least repeating chants of
“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!” Miyabi just stared around as she bowed automatically, trying at all times to keep at least one eye on Momoko.
Eventually they made it to the center of the room, and Momoko said something about how happy she was that the three of them formed a new group, and that she’d do her best as leader. Airi giggled and nodded, as jubilant as ever, while Miyabi tried her best to smile. Once Momoko was finished, everyone looked to Miyabi as if expecting her to say something.
“Um…” she said, trying to think of something. “I’m happy to be working with… with Airi-chan here, since we don’t get the chance to see each other often being in different groups ever since
Aa!.” Airi beamed at the recognition, and Miyabi couldn’t help giving the girl a genuine smile. “We all will work hard and do our best as Buono!” she finished in a rush, bowing low once again to more applause. Even while she was bowed she noticed Momoko look at her. Miyabi wondered if the girl noticed that she “neglected” to mention anything about her new leader.
“I’ve been looking forward to working with Miyabi-chan again for so long,” Airi said in her quick, awkward informal speech style. “I couldn’t have
dreamed I’d get the chance in a group like this again though! It’s been a year and a half since we sang two songs together in a concert, which was a wonderful recall of
Aa!, and I miss her so much! Usually I only find herself falling on her face.” She giggled as she finished, and Miyabi flushed as the staff started laughing also.
“It’s only because she can’t control her big feet,” Miyabi protested. “They stick out everywhere.
You try and avoid them all the time!” Airi now received part of the laughter, and Miyabi grinned as the younger girl flushed too.
“I do not have big feet!” Airi cried, kicking one up as if to look at it and nearly decking her manager. “Oh! I’m sorry…!” she piped.
“What’d I tell you!” Miyabi said, nodding wisely and pointing at the girl’s long thin leg. “They’re dangerous weapons!”
“It looks like you’ve already got quite the group, Tsugunaga-san!” one of the male staff said, and Momoko rolled her eyes.
“I swear I don’t know those two…” she claimed innocently.
“Wouldn’t that be the life…” Miyabi said, smirking, and Momoko lowered her eyes to her again. Miyabi stared back defiantly as the others continued laughing, missing the interchange between the two of them.
“And it’ll be wonderful working with Tsugunaga-san!” Airi said, patting her senpai’s shoulder. “I haven’t really had the chance to do much with her yet, but she’s such an excitable girl I’ll have quite a time keeping up with her!”
“You can try,” Momoko said slyly. “But
I’m the
ichiban genki around here!”
“Oh my god…” Miyabi sighed, holding her forehead dramatically. She peered around at the staff. “And
this is what you’ve stuck me with from now on?”
“Congratulations!” said the manager, grinning.
…
Miyabi walked with sore muscles back to her dressing room after a rehearsal where they practiced their new song – actually a pretty good one as far as Miyabi was concerned, surprising her. Maybe this group wouldn’t be too bad after all… They even told her she should wear her skull outfits for the group, saying they want to have a rock focus. Miyabi couldn’t help asking if they made the group just for her.
She found she made it back to the dressing room before Momoko or Airi returned, as the other two girls being just the balls of energy they were still hung back to talk with the staff.
They were certainly excited about the new group and song. Miyabi supposed things could be worse – it definitely was nice working with Airi again, even if Momo… After all, it could always be Risako instead. Just the thought of being alone with the girl who seemed to hate her and the other who… hated her, for hours on end made her shiver.
Honestly, she was glad the rehearsal was over, because now she could go back to the hotel. Saki and the other Berryz girls were supposedly staying there because Berryz had their own practices this weekend. She was supposed to practice with them tomorrow in fact, as they had the day today out in town somewhere without her and Momoko. She wondered what they were up to all that time in fact… It seemed strange thinking that they were all here for rehearsal yet not hanging out together like they always did.
“Isn’t
Honto no Jibun just the most
awesome song?!” Airi sang with glee as she pranced into the dressing room, picking up a towel and dancing with it. “I mean,” she clarified. “C-ute is fun and all, and we’ve had some cool songs, but this is just
cool! You know what I mean, right?” She danced over close to Miyabi and stuck her face close to her own.
“Right…?!” Miyabi raised her hand, laying it flat on Airi’s face to push it back, which made the girl fall clumsily to the ground with her legs spread. “…You’ve gotten noisier since we performed together last.”
Airi grinned her toothy grin up at her, and struggled to her feet. “And what’s up with you? Acting the mature, suave lady…” She giggled. “Wait, you were always like that, although your lighter hair spoiled the effect a bit… I’m honestly amazed you didn’t become a
gyaru.”
“Who says I’m not,” Miyabi responded irritably. “As for you, you might have grown but you’re still a shrimp. I can take you any time…” As if to prove it, she darted her hand out at Airi’s side to attempt a tickle, causing the girl to jump back and scream playfully. Miyabi chased her around the room until she managed to catch the slower girl in a headlock, with the intention of tickling her mercilessly.
Ahh, those were the times…“Oh my goodness!” came a voice from the doorway, and Miyabi stopped tickling for a moment to glance that direction, the heavily breathing girl whose neck she held taking the opportunity to squirm in an attempt to get free… an attempt which of course failed. “And here I thought someone was dying in here!” Momoko tried to peer over toward Airi. “
Are you dying?”
“Mi…” Airi breathed in a whine, “Miyabi-chan was just…”
“We were just having a bit of fun, weren’t we kid?” she asked, giving Airi a noogie until she could finally break free of the headlock.
Upon straightening again and giving Miyabi a wary look, Airi straightened her hair desperately. “I’m
not a kid!” she informed her.
Miyabi considered her. Well, the girl
was as tall as her now. “Huh,” she grunted. “Maybe not. I guess a few years makes a big difference.”
Momoko sighed dramatically. “Is this something I’m going to have to deal with all the time?”
“No,” Miyabi and Airi responded at the same time, then gave each other dirty looks. Airi was still straightening her hair, but now had begun smoothing her clothes too.
Suddenly Momoko smiled. “And here I thought this experience might just be
boring… Kami-sama knows that’s what Miya’s like all the rest of the time.”
“Hey!” Miyabi objected as Airi fell into giggles again.
“Miyabi-chan? Boring?” she asked, looking askance at her. “All right, I suppose she could be...
I’ve sure never seen it though…
“But I’d like to…” she grumbled as she walked toward the wardrobe Momoko had just finished with.
“And just in case you don’t think Miya-chan’s interesting
enough,” Momoko said, her voice slightly muffled by the t-shirt she was pulling over her head. “She can do magic!”
“Whatever,” Airi said, huffing incredulously. “That’s nothing special.
I can even do a few card tricks.”
“Oh what Miya does is more than just
a few card tricks…” Momoko chimed in an amused voice. Apparently that interested Airi enough that she twisted her head from the wardrobe to frown at the two of them. Momoko was just finishing buttoning her shorts, and Miyabi was dabbing on a last bit of lipstick.
“What’s she talking about, Miyabi-chan?” Airi asked.
“Go on,” Momoko said, still sounding amused. “Show her something.”
Smacking her lips, Miyabi turned away from the mirror and glared at Momoko’s back before looking at Airi, who was still peeking her head out of the wardrobe.
“I don’t know…” Miyabi said. “You may never think of me the same way again…”
Airi rolled her eyes and turned back to the wardrobe. “Oh come on. I bet you don’t know anything and are just bragging to everyone trying to make yourself…
eeeeee~k!” She screamed and hung onto the wardrobe door for dear life as her feet lifted into the air behind her. “Help!” she cried. “Help me!
Momo~! Miya~!”
Miyabi walked grinning over to the girl who was slowly being turned upside down in the middle of the air. Her shirt began falling down over her head, and she seemed unsure whether she should let go of the wardrobe to pull it up or continue hanging onto it for dear life. As Miyabi’s grin widened when she reached Airi, the girl’s bare stomach pleading to be tickled, Momoko’s laugh ringing out into the halls made the staff smile also and congratulate themselves on such a fine idea for Hello! Project’s next group.
…
“Mrfff…” was the only sound as Miyabi let herself fall face down onto the bed once she finally made it to her hotel room. She probably shouldn’t have used so much draining magic when playing with Airi earlier – after teasing her at first they’d all had fun playing around with what she could do and Miyabi was right, Airi did look at her differently now. Still, it was nice to just let loose sometimes. Between school and the drama with the rest of Berryz, she hadn’t felt like she’d really been able to do that in a long time…
Rolling around onto her back, she sighed, looking up at the ceiling. She wondered who she was rooming with this week – for once nobody had told her. Whoever it was apparently hadn’t dropped by the room yet. She wondered if she should go hunt Saki down, but her weary body argued against it. It was too bad there wasn’t some spell she could do to make herself less tired…
Just when she was about to try something that’d do just that, she noticed a shadow darken the doorway. Suddenly stowing her stupid childish laziness at the excitement that it might be Saki, she bolted upright… only to stare at a girl who was gazing at her with desperation in her eyes.
“Miya…” Risako said, her eyes even becoming moist already. “I’ve messed up…”
So the drama begins again.
Miyabi swallowed and held the girl’s eyes with her own since that seemed to be all that was keeping her upright. “Come here,” she said gently, and with just a slight hesitation Risako jumped into a run across the room to the bed, falling into Miyabi’s arms.
Miyabi was slightly surprised at the girl’s sudden warmth toward her, but just held her and smoothed her hair as she cried on her shoulder.
“I’m so sorry Miya…” Risako apologized, sniffling and clinging onto her arm. “I should have told you right away. You’re my best friend and… and I should have told you… I didn’t want you to hear it from someone else…”
“Shh…” Miyabi soothed. “It’s all right. I’m sure you were just too frightened to tell anyone. And I of all people can understand going to Captain about something like that,” she finished with a grin, trying to lighten the mood a little.
Risako coughed as if trying to suddenly laugh while she cried and sniffed. Miyabi stared over the girl’s head at nothing as she continued stroking it and smiling softly. What she said was perfectly true, but she really was still quite sore that the younger girl hadn’t told her. After all, they
were best friends. Or so Miyabi had thought. She thought she was beginning to realize that they were in actuality something different, and could never quite be that…
After her short cough, Risako’s grip only tightened on Miyabi’s sleeve. “But it’s not all right,” she said in a shaky voice. Miyabi looked down at her. The girl was incredibly tense. She almost involuntarily held her closer. Risako seemed veritably terrified. “I… I did something bad, and it’s not something that we can just laugh off and forget. I’m going to have a baby, just like Tsuji-san, and my career is going to be over.” She looked despairingly up into Miyabi’s face. “I’m only thirteen!” she whined. “I’m too young for my career to be over! I’ve barely even started middle school!”
“Risako,” Miyabi said firmly as the girl’s eyes began adopting a faraway look. When her mouth also started to hang open Miyabi reached up and grabbed her shoulder. “Risako!” she said once again, louder this time. Risako finally seemed to come back to reality, only to have her bottom lip quiver as she began to cry again. “Stop it. Crying isn’t going to help anything.”
“I don’t know what to do, Miya…” she whined, and leaned back down to hug Miyabi’s shoulders again.
“Well…” Miyabi started, but she didn’t really know what to say. This wasn’t exactly the sort of thing she was familiar with. Especially after her experience with Saki the idea wasn’t strange to her of course, but how to deal with it was a completely different matter. Especially because it was Risako.
Risako!!! Of all the people she would have expected to have something like this happen… which actually they’d all been talking about since what happened with Tsuji-san.
Risako looking up at her plaintively as if expecting Miyabi to come from nowhere to save her, she cleared her throat anxiously. “You know what?” she asked, feeling hot under the pressure. “I think I need something to drink. I think I saw a konbini just across the street from the hotel. Would you like to come? A bit of fresh air would probably do you good.”
She tried to pry the girl off her shoulders. She really was thirsty, having not drunk anything since leaving the studio, but partly she also just wanted to get out of this uncomfortable situation. After all, what would happen if Saki happened to walk in or something and see them like this? She already seemed worried enough about Risako and her; she didn’t need any more reason. Miyabi also tried to forget the other girl she’d had a “moment” with recently.
“Drink…?” Risako asked, mouthing the word as if it was strange. “But I’m freaking out here, Miya! And you want a
drink?!”
Miyabi tried to adopt a winning grin. “It’ll make us think clearer?” She tugged at her collar. “It’s so stuffy in here I’m surprised I can think at all. Or do you not want me to try and help?”
Risako considered her carefully for a moment. At least she wasn’t crying again. Looking into her youthful eyes, thinking that she should not still be seeing so much innocence in them, Miyabi thought once again how almost unbearably cute her longtime friend was. The thought to lean closer barely even registered though; she was Saki’s now through and through.
“If you think it’ll help…” Risako said, still seeming unsure, and finally unglued herself from Miyabi, who let herself take in a long breath.
“Thank you…” she said under her breath, glad that it didn’t seem the girl heard her, and stretched. Yeah, this was all her tired body needed – first a girl nearly attacking her, and now a walk to the konbini and back. Of course Risako would have no idea how she felt. The two had always spent the same time in rehearsal before, but now Miyabi had suddenly picked up something extra… Risako and the rest of the Berryz had had the whole day off before they would get together tomorrow.
A little time later saw them in the Seven Eleven konbini. Miyabi was peering at the slurpee machine while holding the hand of a still-anxious Risako. “Miya, I feel like everyone’s watching me…” She crept in closer to Miyabi’s side. “They
know! They know I’m a stupid teenage idol who got herself
mmmrrrhh…”
Holding her hand over the now-struggling girl’s mouth as she continued peering at the slurpee machine, poking a button to bring it to life, Miyabi told her, “Well they’ll definitely know if you start shouting about it everywhere you go. I thought you wanted to keep it a secret? It’s amazing it lasted this long.”
“That’s not fair,” Risako whined after Miyabi released her mouth, crossing her arms. “It’s ‘cause I’m with you. You…”
“I what?” Miyabi asked distractedly. “What flavor do you want?”
“Blue raspberry…” Risako mumbled in reply, sagging once again on Miyabi’s hand.
“Figures,” Miyabi said, poking at another button. She should have remembered that’s what the girl always got.
Both of them were quiet as the machine whirred to make their frozen delights, and they paid and left the store slowly. Risako seemed to be constantly sucking on her straw, while Miyabi sipped daintily at her own. “Careful,” she warned the younger girl. “You’ll get a brain freeze.”
She felt a bump to her side in response, and Risako finally released her straw. “You know I don’t get that,” she said, sticking her blue tongue out at Miyabi. Then she looked around. “Where are we going anyway?”
“I just thought a nice walk would do us good,” Miyabi replied. She supposed now was as good a time as any to talk seriously with her friend. “So… did… did your boyfriend try something with you?” she asked faintly. She still wasn’t good at this, despite going through the same with Saki.
“What?” Risako responded, sucking a bit more blue raspberry slush through her straw. For not seeming excited about the outing, she sure was enjoying her drink.
“I mean… getting you pregnant… Did you even know what you were doing?”
Risako blushed, for the first time seeming genuinely uncomfortable. “I… well… you and I had kissed, and it wasn’t too much more… I couldn’t help it! I was just too tired!”
Miyabi stopped, pulling the other girl to a halt with her. “You were tired?” she asked in a quiet voice.
Risako nodded. “I was so tired after all the karaoke. You know me – I go crazy. And then we just started kissing, and it got late and… and it happened.”
Miyabi forced herself to breathe slowly. She wasn’t going to slam his face into something; she was going to murder him. It was as simple as that. She started to think about how she could do it in the most horrible way and, of course, not get caught. It wasn’t easy…
Eventually her breathing caught up to her and her anger abated somewhat. Risako was peering at her curiously while she continued slurping. “Have you been to the doctor?” Miyabi asked.
Risako shook her head. “No. I haven’t even managed to get a test. I looked at one when we were in that konbini, but that’s all I could do; it’s all I’ve
been doing wherever I go!”
Miyabi ground her teeth and felt like shaking the girl. “How do you even know you’re pregnant then?!” she demanded of her young friend – her young friend whom she’d always looked at as so innocent… but it turned out she was no more innocent than Miyabi. Less, perhaps. “If it’s just about that missed cycle, that could be…”
“Because I slept with him!” Risako insisted, looking scared again and forgetting her slurpee, but Miyabi wasn’t sure whether she was scared of what she’d done or of her. “And everyone knows that’s how you get pregnant! They even said Tsuji-san slept with that guy and…”
Miyabi’s eyes had closed while the girl spoke, and as she finished she was shaking her head. “Wait,” she interrupted. “You know you’re pregnant because you slept with someone and you missed a cycle by a few days? Did you use…” Before she went into more detail, a bell went off like an alarm in her head and her jaw dropped.
“…You said you slept with him.” Risako nodded vigorously. “After you were tired.” She nodded again. “You told me before that you’d fallen asleep after making out…” Another nod, this time a little more unsure because she thought Miyabi was being a little strange…
If she thought she was strange then, it was nothing to what she was like now. She almost dropped her slurpee as Miyabi suddenly broke into a smile and nearly jumped up and down, laughing. “Risako, you cute innocent
dear friend of mine!!” Risako now looked at Miyabi mortified as if she had grown horns. “You’re not pregnant!”
Miyabi adjusted her own drink, taking a long sip as it was beginning to melt, and snuck an arm around Risako’s shoulders. “You don’t get pregnant just by falling asleep with a guy…”
“B-but…” Risako protested, trying to make sense of Miyabi’s sudden mood change.
“Just trust me,” Miyabi said, and gave a glance over to her. “Have I ever given you reason not to in something like this?”
Risako looked steadily into her eyes, her drink now dripping slightly down onto her fingers. “I’m… not pregnant?” she asked finally. Miyabi shook her head, and Risako finally let herself smile in wonder. “Oh Miya…” she said, and laid her head against Miyabi’s shoulder. Well
that was a load off the shoulders of both of them.
As they neared the hotel, both still unable to stop smiling, they met Saki who seemed to have been waiting outside the door. “Hi,” she said, and Miyabi, intoxicated by the frozen fruitiness and the surge from helping Risako out, smiled even more widely.
“Hi there,” she responded. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Instead of diving into the hug that Miyabi wanted very much though, Saki glanced between the two of them, her face looking completely blank. “Were you two out for a walk?”
“We went to get some slurpees!” Risako said cheerily, and brandished her own in Saki’s face. Miyabi coughed a laugh behind her hand. “And I’m not pregnant!!”
Saki stared at her. “I’m… thrilled for you,” she said, still betraying no emotion.
“And I’m breaking up with my boyfriend!” Risako said, echoing something she’d told Miyabi on the way. “I may be okay now, but if this whole experience has taught me anything it’s that it all could change at any time…”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Saki said, hardly seeming to hear Risako in some kind of distraction. Miyabi’s smile faded as she looked into her girlfriend’s serious face. “Hey, would you mind letting me talk with Miya?” she asked.
“Of course not!” Risako chirped, and giving another smile to Miyabi skipped off into the hotel.
“Is everything all right?” Miyabi asked, giving up on her drink and tossing it in a garbage can outside the door.
Instead of responding though, Saki pulled her along into the hotel. The two girls walked silently through it until they reached the entrance to a small courtyard in the middle. Despite the silence, Miyabi nearly smiled again. It was in a place very similar to this that she and Saki shared what she felt were their first close moments together.
Saki guided her over to a bench, where they sat down next to each other. Miyabi didn’t let go of her hand, but her girlfriend still wouldn’t look her in the eye. She decided to stay silent though, since Saki seemed to want to speak in her own time.
“I’m glad you seem to have helped Risako,” she said finally. Miyabi knew that wasn’t what she dragged her in here to say, but with the way Saki was acting, she wondered if she really wanted to know what that was.
“Yeah. She really is the incarnation of innocence. It didn’t even matter when I…” She bit her tongue before she could say more and reveal one of those horrible secrets of hers, but Saki didn’t seem to notice.
“Do you like me, Miya?” Saki asked, finally looking up into Miyabi’s eyes.
For her part, Miyabi nearly teared up at the question she felt was so harsh after… “Of course I do, Saki-chan,” she said with all the warmth in her heart. “I
love you… How could you ever doubt that?”
Saki looked down again. “I heard you went to Momo’s.”
That short plain comment made all of Miyabi’s insides freeze into a block of ice. She tried to think of some way to respond, but nothing would come to her as quickly as she’d like. “It’s… it’s complicated,” she said, trying to at least come up with something that didn’t sound too lame.
“She said you kissed her, Miya,” Saki finally got out in what seemed a very strained voice.
Whatever else was unfrozen inside Miyabi clenched tightly at that. “S-she…” she spluttered. “B-but…”
“Did you?” Saki asked straightforwardly, looking up again into her face. This time Miyabi felt she couldn’t bear to look into her eyes, but at the same time couldn’t look away.
“I…” Miyabi began, her mind becoming muddled. “Yes, she kissed me but…”
At that, Saki stood up and took a couple steps away from the bench, running a hand through her hair. “B-but, I didn’t mean it to happen!” Miyabi said. “It just…” Then something unfortunate rose within her. “What’s all this about anyway? You’re the one that kissed her first! And that was definitely nowhere near one-sided!”
“What are you talking about?” Saki asked, seeming to rapidly become heated herself.
“I saw you!” Miyabi nearly shouted as she jumped to her feet too. “When you and she were talking outside the hotel! I cast a spell to see where you had gone. She was asking you about me, and you were telling her your… your doubts, and… and then you kissed her!”
“You were spying on me?” Saki asked in a quiet and intensely bitter voice.
“With good reason, obviously!”
The stare Saki gave her now was enough to burn her insides away, but she held her ground hard and fast. “I can’t believe you’re standing there lecturing
me about what I did –
if I even did anything! – with everything you…” She turned, clenching her fists as if unable to look at her anymore. “The kissing was just the half of it, you know?” she said in a tight voice. “She said you also spent the night.” This time Miyabi’s insides were no longer frozen – they were roiling in blooming anger directed at one specific girl. Saki spun back to look at her. “Spending the night between friends is one thing,” she continued. “But after kissing someone, it takes on a whole different meaning… When were you making love to me, Miya? Was it before or after you were sleeping with my best friend!”
Miyabi shook under the assault, her anger flaring more. She felt something aside from her emotion wake up within her too. How could Saki be scolding her like this with complete lies from a girl who hated her? She was just about to tell her so. “Some kind of people you’re keeping as friends then!” she shot back. “Have you even
noticed how she’s acted toward me ever since…?” She trailed off, unsure how to continue.
“Since when, Miya?” Saki asked again in that dangerously quiet voice. “Since she almost
died?” Miyabi swallowed against the knot in her throat. “Do you have so little sensitivity toward others?” She stepped closer, making Miyabi nearly begin to sweat in the tension between them. “Do you have any idea how
I felt that night out in the… the graveyard!... when you slashed your hand? When a
snake came out of you?”
“I did that for you!” Miyabi said, raising her chin. “You were in such bad shape after what happened, I just wanted to make things better!”
“But you didn’t do anything!” Saki bit back, now almost shouting. “You didn’t bring anyone back from the dead, Miya! That’s just something you can’t do!”
“But I can!” Miyabi replied stubbornly, clenching her own fists at her side. “And I did!”
“Ok,” Saki replied, not losing any of her intensity. “So what if you did? You said you did it for me? Is that why you jumped into bed with her the next chance you got?”
“I didn’t—” Miyabi began, but then paused. “Wait, what?” She’d hardly even processed what the girl was telling her, so just now realized the full import of what she was saying. She’d recognized the lies, but didn’t think of what they actually meant. “I did
not sleep with her! Did she tell you that?”
“Yes, she did,” Saki replied curtly. “Was there anything else she left out?” Her words were now beginning to drip with bitterness and spite.
“No!” Miyabi replied, her anger coming now to a fine boil, but this time not just directed at a certain peach girl. “I mean, she added that!” Next though, something unfortunate happened again in her distress. She stuck her chin out and continued, “What? Are you assuming since we kissed that I had to have jumped into bed with her? Well I kissed Risako too – her
first kiss even! – and we actually
did spend the night together afterward. I guess that automatically means we had sex too, huh? Did you even catch earlier that Risako doesn’t even know what sex
is? Or were you too busy already prejudging me after listening to your supposed friend?”
After her tirade, Saki just stood staring into her face, her own darkened to where Miyabi could barely see its detail, the detail she’d fallen in love with after their sensitive and over-private Captain had let her in. “I gave…
everything… to you,” she finally said, in a voice barely above a whisper. “It was almost against my better judgment at the time, and yet I… you were so loving…” Her jaw clenched and Miyabi noticed tears come to her eyes.
“If I only knew…”“What you know is lies,” Miyabi replied through gritted teeth.
She dropped her hands and gripped the legs of her shorts hard as if to try and keep something inside, even though she was apparently not completely succeeding with the moisture in her eyes. “Miya, how am I supposed to trust anything you say…?”
She paused for a good while, the two lovers staring at each other, feeling more distance now between them than perhaps they ever had. “I think we should take a break,” she pronounced at last, and despite the fortitude her anger had swelled within her Miyabi felt something clench at her heart. “We obviously have some issues and… and I just can’t deal with all of this right now. Here I thought that just…” She shook herself and released a deep breath. “I’m going to bed. Please don’t talk to me tomorrow except for what’s needed. I… I just can’t…” Then without saying any more, she spun in a move good enough for the best dance she does so wonderfully, and walked quickly back into the hotel.
Miyabi stared after her for a long while, her anger fading slowly and being replaced by complete emptiness, as if the world either within or without her no longer existed for a time. Eventually she found some kind of will to make her feet start moving again, and she plodded woodenly into the hotel and made her way up to her room. When she was nearly there her steps quickened as she felt the inevitable tears begin to rise. She was already tired, and after that it felt like her body, and her heart, were just completely falling apart.
Was this real…? How could it be…? Just a little while ago she was rejoicing with Risako and looking forward to seeing Saki more than anything in the world… and now… Now she might never be able to see Saki in that way again. It just couldn’t be…
She fell against her door as her eyes quickly moistened.
“No…” she breathed.
“No…” She needed to be alone. She needed to be able to let flow what needed to… She turned the knob.
“Hello!” came a high voice as she swung the door open. Momoko sat on the other bed smiling brightly over at her. “Is something wrong?”
Topic: Berry Beautiful [Volume 2] (Read 113208 times)