Thank you for waiting. This chapter's a bit short.
Chapter 5"Ah! Ai-chan, your mic," Risa stretched her quick hands out to readjust the mic on Ai's shirt, only to have Ai shrug from her touch. "...Ai-chan?" Takahashi glared at Niigaki.
"Don't touch me." The words cut and Risa bled. Ai pried Risa's hand off of her.
"Ai-chan. Come over here."
"Yes, Miki-sama..." came the dull reply. Ai turned from Niigaki and didn't look back.
******
"..."
"Don't you dare look at Niigaki or associate with her in any way. Here, wear this around your neck," Miki pressed a small white collar on Ai's palm. It was about half the width of the one she wore on HM@; but instead of bearing her name, this collar read 'Property of Hecate.' Ai looked up at Miki. "The witch, of course." Miki smiled, proud of how witty she was to have come up with it. Ai looked down again at the collar and touched her neck.
So this was what her dignity had been reduced to.
"Ah, I'll help you," Sayumi offered. Taking the collar from Ai's hand, Michishige fastened the collar around Takahashi's neck. "It's not too tight..?" she asked, placing her hands on Ai's shoulders.
"...No. Than..." she couldn't bring herself to thank Sayumi. The other only bowed her head and stepped back. Bowing back, Ai nodded a silent 'thanks' back at the girl. It was beyond strange to be in the presence of a nearly silent Shige-san. Ai touched the collar strung around her neck. It chafed.
******
The four nights since then had been sleepless ones; and though her eyebags had been covered by layers of makeup, faint rings were still visible. Four days with no contact with Gaki-san.
It's too painful to live, she constantly found herself thinking.
Fujimoto had Takahashi block calls from the girl, and always made sure to take Takahashi along with her after work. Ai felt lucky just to see a glimpse of Risa. "Think of it as detoxing," Miki had said with a teasing lilt.
She makes it sound like I'm an addict...But she knew well that when Risa was around she couldn't keep her eyes off of her. Simple things like holding her hand weren't enough anymore. She wanted more; she wanted Gaki-san to hold her like she held Kamei every night; wanted to feel the friction of skin between her and Risa; and she wanted the contentment of being loved by Risa that radiated from Kamei every morning. She wanted so many things that she couldn't put into words. With a heavy heart, Ai rubbed her tired eyes--smearing a bit of the make-up--and threw herself on her dorm bed.
*
Filming for the next Hello Morning @ was to begin shortly and Ai found herself confused and disoriented in the lobby. As the camera crew loaded equipment into the van, Ai propped herself against a pillar of the building. "Water...please," she asked of a stage-hand. He nodded and went off to search.
"You all right, Ai-chan?" Reina nudged the woman slightly.
"Fine," came her weak response. Reina gave an exaggerated nod.
"You definitely sound fine."
Ai coughed and cleared her throat, "I'm fine, really. Thank you for your concern."
"Too formal," Reina laughed. "You sure yesterday didn't have you all worn out?" Takahashi had spent the night at Miki's.
"Oooh? What happened yesterday~?" Koharu and Mitsui asked as they walked passed their seniors.
"Something naughty."
"Mikitty..."
"Fujimoto-sama," Miki corrected.
"Fujimoto-sama," Ai responded obediently and unconsciously fingered Miki's collar.
"Naughty?" Koharu wondered aloud, and looked to an equally confused Mitsui for an answer. "You mean like staying up until 2 playing video games?"
"No, but we can tell you did. Look at your eyebags!" Reina pointed out. Koharu gasped and covered her eyes. Then she uncovered them and pointed at Reina's finger.
"You could've poked my eye~!" Koharu pouted: "what are you trying to do, make one of my eyes wonky too?"
"Hey!" Tanaka cried defensively, and they all laughed.
Ai smiled at the two, but then found her gaze wandering away and settling on Kamei and Gaki-san, who were both chatting away with Sayumi on the other side of the lobby.
Shige-san. What's she doing with Miki? Suddenly Kamei turned her and looked at Ai curiously. Takahashi paled and hastily averted her eyes up at the sky. Her guilt was weighing heavily on her mind.
"Alright, girls. Load into the van! We're heading out!" their director yelled.
*
It was impossible to get through to Ai when she was being squished like that, with Reina on one side and Miki on the other. Risa walked slowly behind the three, studying Fujimoto's arm hooked under Ai's. She did her best to confine her tinge of jealousy. Up ahead, Eri and Sayumi pranced about, pointing out interesting things while a camera crew documented their every action.
"Oi-chi! I'm hungry!" cried Aka-chin.
"Osu! Me too!" Reina cheered, which lead to a whole group-cheer.
Here's my chance..."Sorry, Tanakachii-ah-excuse me..." Risa wedged herself between Ai and Reina.
"Oi, Gaki-san!"
"Sorry, sorry." Ai and Miki walked on as if nothing had happened. "Ai-chan," Risa whispered. Takahashi ignored her. Niigaki tried again, "Ai-chan, we have to talk," she insisted and took hold of her wrist. Takahashi hesitated, before replying:
"Please, Gaki-san, I'm pushing this...cart," and shook off Risa's hand. In response, Niigaki stopped walking and glowered at Ai, who had also stopped and tried to use her eyes to plead instead.
Don't start anything. Not here, they seemed to say. Miki stood at her side, glaring at Niigaki. Ignoring her gaze, Risa simply removed Ai's hands from the carriage.
"Oi! Niigaki! What're you doing?" Aka-chin demanded while bouncing atop his carriage. "We're going to eat!" Risa ignored his protest, grabbed a startled Sayumi and put the girl at the helm of the carriage. With a nod of satisfaction to herself, a silent Risa grabbed Ai's hand and jogged on ahead, leaving a stunned group of girls, a surprised camera crew, and a hoppingly mad fake baby behind them.
*
"Gaki-san," Ai began, but was silenced when she realized Risa was blatantly staring at her chest. Niigaki pointed to the microphones attached to their shirts.
Oh, right, Ai thought, and flicked the power switch off while Gaki-san did the same with hers.
Nervously, Ai rubbed her neck and head, making sure not to make eye contact with Risa. She did her best to assess the situation. The younger had brought them to a small, stone alleyway. They had jogged at first, but then had ended up sprinting for some unexplained reason. Just what Risa so excited to talk to her about?
Maybe she's going to say that she's breaking up with Kamei and confess that she really loves me...! Her knees grew weak at the thought while her imagination grew wilder:
Maybe Gaki-san's going to ravage me here and now...! Kiss me and caress me...She'll tell me how ridiculous my accent is and then tell me how much she secretly loves hearing it... Ai found her body ache longingly.
I really am an addict...But would she be forced to break Fujimoto's rule? Takahashi shuddered at the thought of possible consequences when Risa interrupted her train of thought.
*
"Err, what should we do...?" asked a member of the camera crew, thus breaking the silence. Sighing, the director kneaded his forehead and cussed out loud.
"DAMN IT, what the hell was that?! Argh...shut off filming for now." The camera crew turned off their cameras and stretched their aching muscles.
The silent members looked uneasily at each other, and then at the narrow road where Gaki-san and Ai had run down.
*
"Just what is going on with you?!" Gaki-san hissed. "Acting all weird and then avoiding me for nearly a week!" Takahashi cowered under her friend's harsh words and turned her face away. "Look at me," Risa ordered, steeling her anger.
"I'm sorry, I can't-" protested Ai whom weakly swatted away Niigaki's hands. "Please, just leave me alone, Gaki-san. Just-just let me be!" Ai couldn't meet her friend's eyes, but she knew just how Gaki-san would look: intense, dark-brown pools for eyes, red, over-exerted cheeks, a pouty, indignant mouth, and long, tousled, wavy hair. Takahashi's ears turned red. Her heart gave a leap and a thump.
She'd look absolutely sexy and I'd succumb to her without a another thought...Sighing, Risa leaned against one side of the stone alley and quietly surveyed Ai from a distance.
"...What's that around your neck?"
"That's none of your business," Ai mumbled half-heartedly. When Gaki-san approached her, she self-consciously tried to conceal Miki's collar with her hands.
"Don't hide from me..." Risa whispered urgently and placed both her hands on Ai's shoulders, gripping them tightly. "Please..." It was impossible now to avoid Risa's angry, worried eyes that peered so desperately into her own. "Ai..." Risa's warm breath kissed her forehead and rubbed her cheeks red.
Don't make me, Ai pleaded silently. "Please, Ai."
Her hands dropped from her neck as if weighed down by lead--she was helpless; naked. Yet with both of Niigaki's hands still firmly holding her, Ai felt her body lighter somehow. And suddenly she realized that they were alone in this alleyway; just the two of them. She could feel a sudden rush of blood through her veins. Oh the things she wanted to tell Gaki-san! "Gaki-san-"
"What does 'Property of Hecate' mean?"
Takahashi was grounded again; faced with reality, again. "...Fujimoto-san...?" She couldn't deal with this. Not now, not when she was right here with Risa. "Is she making you do this?" Risa was angry now. "You tell me, Ai-chan. Is she hurting you? Blackmailing you?"
Not now when there's so many other things I need to say to you! "Ai-chan!"
But Takahashi had already sprinted out of the alleyway.
To be continued...This was more-or-less a set-up chapter. Sorry again for the wait. Vacationing got in the way!
Sukoshi: That Gaki-san! Hopefully everything will pan out, yeah?
Amarghetta: Tough stuff.
JFC 
Kreuz_Asakura: Ah, Reina...
Stefy: In my mind, Ai never had to worry about her relationship with Risa until Kamei swept her away, you know what I mean? And there'll be more on Sayu's situation soon.
lil hamz: Hope you haven't gone crazy yet. I imagine Risa and Ai were simply content as friends, and now that things have become complicated, they've realized their fatal mistake. Just like a floozy drama.
Brat-san: Heh, we'll see.
~Psychotic~o_o~: Oh, TakaFuji? I know what you mean.
rndmnwierd: Well, who knows? Sayu does have a dark side...
Ayaya? She's a just a friend in this (so far).
Topic: An Intentional Mistake: Ch 6 (Read 17311 times)