I started this story in December, 2005, and I have continued it up until just recently. Since many of my stories are continuations of this world, I want to post them all together in one thread in the order they were written. Also, some people can't access the forum where most of them were originally posted, and they're clean enough to be here in this fanfic section. I've gone through the entire thing and done some re-editing.
Without any further ado, I present the epic (i.e. way too long) series known as
Love x 2, starring Aya and Miki, and with lots of help from Shiba-chan.
For easier navigation:
Love x 2 (Story 1)Love x 2 (Story 2)Love x 2 (Story 3)Love x 2 - 1 (Story 4)Love x 2 = ∞ (Story 5)My Own Private Funeral (Story 6)What Needed to be Done (Story 7)Friday's Children are Full of Woe (Prequel. Story 8)Past the Barrier and to the Left (Prequel 2. Story 9)Why (Friday's Children are Certainly Full of Woe) (Alternate story. Story 10)Why II (Friday's Children are Certainly Full of Woe) (Alternate story. Story 11)Restart (Love x ∞ Part II) (Final story. Story 12)...
A Brief Interlude: Requiem for Three (ridiculous parody written to demonstrate my "cruel and morbid" nature)Love x 2
story 1Chapter 1 of 3Saturday, June 25, 2005.
Kobe, JapanAt last, we finish the concert. I'm laughing so hard the whole time because I'm in such shock. All these surprises just
happened. Most of them weren't in the script. My reactions have all been very, very real throughout the night.
I thank everyone a million times. I really do love them all. We shuffle off the stage to the tune of the latest shuffle single and are immediately surrounded by the backstage staff.
I have my own change room, which is nice. The other girls are divided two per room, but since we're an uneven number, it makes sense to let the top soloist be alone. After the immediate post-concert gathering, where we eat my birthday cake and chat with the staff for a few minutes, we walk back into the bowels of the theatre to go and change.
My change room is the last one, right at the back of the building. As we walk down the hallway, the girls, pair by pair, peel off from the group and enter their rooms after hugs and more happy birthday wishes.
Finally, it's Aibon and Nono's time to leave. They always make me laugh, those two. They sing me a silly song they've composed for me, and they threaten that when I turn thirty, they'll make a full orchestral version. I laugh, hugging them both hard and telling them I'll see them soon for the ride back to the hotel.
I'm on my own now, just like I usually am onstage. Humming "All For One," I round the corner and blink. At the far end of the hallway, just outside the door to my change room, there is someone standing there. His (or at least I think it is a guy) back is turned to me so I can't tell who he is. He's wearing more clothes than someone should be wearing in this summer's heat.
I sigh inside. All I want to do is change out of this sweaty clothing, wash my face, and go out for dinner with the girls. Maybe I don't even want to go out. I'm tempted to go back to my hotel room and just sleep until we have to wake up for breakfast. As much as I love to chat with people, it's difficult dealing with complete strangers when you're sweaty and exhausted.
I walk slowly to my change room, trying not to make any noise. It's inevitable, however, that he hears me, and shifts, starting to turn around. As I get closer, I realise he isn't a he. It's a girl standing there. I scrunch up my face in a frown and wonder who it is. With her long hair dyed brown, it could be almost anyone. I get closer as she turns around, and as if I haven't had enough shocks for one night, I receive another one.
"Heeee…?" I stop in my tracks and jerk back in surprise.
"Hi," the girl says, smiling. I look behind me and then all around. We're the only ones there.
"Wh- what are you doing here? Are you here to see me?" I stutter in shock.
What is Miki doing in Kobe?? Isn't she busy elsewhere (elsewhere being way more north than here)?
"Yeah, I dropped by to see you," she says simply.
"'Dropped by'? Miki, where did you come from? Tokyo? Further?"
"Er, Tokyo..." she says a little nervously. I just stare at her. "I wanted to wish you a happy birthday..." she says shyly.
I can't help it, and my defence mechanism starts up. I laugh. She knows that I do this when I'm shocked, so she looks amused.
"Miki, that's really sweet, but you could've just mailed me. Or called," I laugh, a dorky smile on my face.
I finally walk up a little closer and hit her gently on the arm. She looks embarrassed and she looks down at the floor.
"But that's what I did the last few times for your birthday since we were both working. It gets monotonous, Aya," she murmurs.
I smile and take her hands and pull her to me.
"You are the best friend I could ever hope to have," I say.
She looks up at me and laughs gleefully.
"So, happy birthday, Aya-chan," she says, and she shakes my hands off of hers, giving me a big hug.
This is a secret I've never told anybody, but Miki's hugs make me feel good. Frighteningly good. I feel happy and warm and even a little safe when she hugs me. My body always tingles, but I try not to pay attention to this. I don't really want to understand why it happens.
I hug her back tightly and enjoy these feelings that run through me. I think Miki makes me too giddy. I feel so out of control when she's around. She finally lets go and I'm somewhat disappointed that it has to end.
"How about we go inside," I say, pointing to my change room. "As much as I love the hallway, I need to get changed and sit down."
Miki smiles and nods, and we enter the room. I take a step back and look at her, remembering she's wearing strange clothes.
"Miki, you look like a boy," I say, brushing a stray piece of bangs out of her eyes. I have this uncontrollable habit of doing that to her.
"Oh... I just wore this to blend in," she says, not making eye contact.
"Blend in? What did you do... go to the concert?" I ask, expecting her to laugh and say 'no.'
She looks at me embarrassedly and looks back down, her cheeks slightly red. I laugh and impulsively hug her tightly.
"You did!" I squeal. "Why?!"
I let go of her and she stumbles backwards slightly.
"Because, um, I don't know. It's a special day."
I shake my head in disbelief.
"I can't believe you came and sat in the audience. You could've just said something to me and come and watched it from backstage."
"But I wanted to see it from the front. I wanted to experience what you said to the fans..." she trails off.
Interesting. I look at her slyly.
"How was it?"
"It was amazing," she gushes with a dumb grin on her face.
I'm surprised at first and then I laugh heartily.
"What was your favourite part?"
She gets all quiet and doesn't answer.
"'Nikutai wa shoujiki na eros'?" I tease her. She flushes slightly and shakes her head.
"But that was pretty sexy, Aya-chan. Didn't know you had it in you," she bites back.
I roll my eyes at her.
"You know I'm damned sexy. Don't deny it," I retort.
She giggles (which I find
so cute) and pats my cheek. She puts her face right up to mine so that our noses are touching and I scrunch mine up.
"Of course you are," she says.
It's supposed to be said jokingly, I think, but it comes out sounding a little serious. I'm glad because sometimes I wonder if I can pull off sexy. If she really thinks so, then I think I've managed to pull it off. She's a good judge of such things.
It's then that I become aware of her proximity, and my stomach does a strange flop. I bump her nose with mine and pull away quickly before I do anything weird.
"But really... what was your favourite part? Your favourite song?" I prod, hoping that staying on topic will make me forget that strange feeling in my tummy.
She hesitates, but she finally says, "Your performance of 'zutto suki de ii desu ka.' That's my favourite song of yours..." she trails off. She sounds so serious.
"Thank you," I smile, blushing and looking down. "That performance meant a lot to me."
"Me too," Miki says quickly, and then she looks like she wishes she hadn't said that. "Um..." she starts again, "because it's a touching song, and... it's always nice to see your best friend sing something so deep."
"Thank you. Very much. I'm glad that
you could hear it today, too," I say without even thinking.
Oops. Did I just say that? It guess it's not that big a deal. She probably won't even notice. She looks up at me like a little puppy dog.
"Really?"
"Of course," I shrug, trying to downplay it a little.
She smiles at me and it's so cute that I want to
do something, but I don't know what.
This happens a lot, especially lately. I just want to do stuff. I want to show her how much I love it when she does all these cute things that only I am privy to seeing.
I settle for a grin. I'm about to try and find something to say when she suddenly speaks.
"I wish I could've been onstage with you... and I wish I could've sung for you, too. I wish I could've sung
with you. And, uh, I just want you to know that you looked beautiful up there. Absolutely gorgeous and cute and mature..." she trails off.
Something's up with her. She's not usually this weird. Nevertheless, I take her compliments to heart and smile even more. My face hurts from smiling so much today. I lift her chin and make her look at me.
"Thank you, Miki," I say seriously. "I wish you could've been onstage with me, too. That would've made the perfect birthday gift."
She smiles and reaches into her pocket. She pulls out a paper and hands it to me. I open it up curiously. Scrawled at the top is, "Dear Aya" and a little red heart beside my name. I read the sheet of paper.
No way.
"Tomorrow?!" is the first thing I blurt out.
Miki laughs at me and nods enthusiastically.
"Are you nuts?! Are you joking? Are you on drugs? Do you even have time? Where'd you get the money?!"
I can't believe it... This girl is insane. I never thought she'd actually do it. I once told her a long long time ago that I wanted to go to the most expensive hot springs in Hakone. A fairly good deal costs over fifty-thousand yen for one night. This crazy girl (who I think I'm in love with now) just went and booked us both two nights and two days at this place. That's hundreds of thousands of yen. I know we get paid nicely, but can she really afford to throw that all away?
The paper is a printout of the confirmation. I guess she has booked and paid already. But my god, I can't believe her. I really can't believe her. I'm absolutely speechless. I stare at her with the paper in my hand. She takes it back from me, pulls out a pen from her pocket, and scribbles something on the paper. She hands it back to me and I look at it. "Surprise," it reads. It has a little heart drawn around it.
An incredibly mushy feeling comes over me. I want to hug her. I want to kiss her. I want to throw myself at her and tell her I'll do anything for her. It's not because of the price and the rarity of the gift, but because of her kind heart. Her thoughtful sentiments. Her caring attitude towards me. She treats me better than I deserve.
I can't control myself, and I
do throw myself at her. I grab her in a tight hug, kiss her cheek, and then squeal happily. She laughs and tries to hug me back, but we're way off balance, so she just stumbles around and tries to steady herself. It must look funny to an outside observer. I let go and look at her and she grins and I hug her again. She goes "oof!" as she doesn't expect the second hug, and I continue to giggle madly. I calm down eventually.
"You didn't have to do this, you know. You didn't have to give me anything. Especially something so huge," I murmur into her shoulder.
I feel her shrug, and her hands climb up my back as she has found her balance and can now hug me back.
"I wanted to," she replies.
I pull back again and she hesitantly lets go. I find that hesitation very sweet.
"I didn't know what to get you anyway, so I figured I may as well go with what you said you wanted."
"The fact that you came to visit me just now is the best birthday present you could ever give me, you know that?" I ask.
I smile and I suddenly feel so shy. I can usually control myself when I want to say something weird like that, because it sounds a little scary. Maybe she'll get freaked out. This time it just slips out. I don't think she minds, though, because she looks happy and she blushes. So cute.
"I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier. Work," she rolls her eyes.
"Idiot," I say, hitting her. "You're here now. That's all that matter...s..." I trail off because this is starting to get really mushy.
What the...?
Sometimes I have these thoughts. Thoughts about Miki... and me. It's probably just me being silly, right? I imagine us in situations or, if you like, different scenarios. We usually have lots of fun in my imagination. Sometimes, though, it's really serious, and I say things to her I'd never say in real life, no matter how good friends we are. Sometimes I catch myself thinking about her in a... different way. Not as my best friend, but the other kind of bf. My boyfriend. Which is strange, 'cause she's such a girl with me. Sometimes I tell her, "If you were a guy, I'd so be all over you." Sometimes - and this is something I don't even admit to myself very often - sometimes I wonder why I can't be all over her even if she isn't a guy.
Ugg.
"Well, I'm glad I could come and watch. Nothing could've made me happier," is Miki's reply.
We sound like two year olds. What the hell is wrong with us?
There's an awkward silence where we both look at the floor. I suddenly become aware that my face is very hot, and that I'm still sweaty from the concert. I clear my throat.
"I guess I should get changed," I laugh nervously.
She laughs along and agrees. I head to the sink in the corner of the room and I clean my face quickly, re-applying my make up, although not in massive theatre quantities. Miki takes a seat on the couch on the other side of the room. I look at her out of the corner of my eye, and she's staring at everything in the room but me. At one point she's staring at a pillow intently, and I just want to burst out laughing and go and pinch her cheeks. I don't, though, because then it would be obvious that I'm watching her.
I grab various clothes from hangers and the counter top. I hesitate for a minute. I don't know why. We take baths together, for heaven's sake.... but for some reason, changing alone in full view of Miki makes me feel very strange. Very embarrassed. I look away and change my clothing as quickly as possible. I run a brush through my hair and figure I'll just leave it down. It can wait for a shower. I don't smell that bad.
I finally turn back to Miki, and I catch her looking at me innocently. She looks away quickly and then looks back. I smile and her and she smiles back guiltily.
This is crazy. What's going on here?
I walk over to the couch and sit beside her.
"So, want to go out somewhere?" I ask.
She looks at me nervously.
"I don't have much money on me, actually..." she admits.
I laugh and put a hand on her thigh.
"Don't worry about money. I brought a lot in case I did go out."
She blushes and looks even guiltier.
"I couldn't-" she starts, but I lift my hand and slap her leg to shush her up.
"Don't you dare start with that. And don't you dare not stay in my hotel room tonight. I know you don't know anyone in Kobe to stay with. Now come on, where do you want to go?" I ask, getting up and tugging at her hand.
She gets up and laughs in my face.
"You're the birthday girl. You tell me." I stop and think for a minute. "Aren't you going out with the girls anyway?" she pipes up while I'm in mid-thought.
"We thought we might, but I just want to spend my time with you," I say honestly.
Oh my god. Stop saying embarrassingly corny things, Aya. "I mean, I just spent the whole day with them. I'm sure they're sick of me..." I quickly cover up.
"Sick of you? Hah. As if," Miki mutters.
I grin and I let go of her hand (which I didn't realise I was still holding) and gather my things.
"We can just drop our stuff off at the hotel, and I'll tell them I have other plans."
She nods. I guess it sounds like a good plan to her.
We quickly leave my change room as she tells me about her day and the silly recording she did with Takahashi and Yoshizawa for some TV show. I get a little jealous of them sometimes because they get to spend so much time with Miki, but such is life. Oh well. It makes my time with her even more special.
Ugg.