@crazywota: Ahh my loyal fan
I wonder if you're still there after all this time
Anyways, thank for the support you give me all the time <3
@miayaka: It was long, I know, I'm sorryyyyy
But I hope you will enjoy & that it's not too late!!
@Kid_Alpha: Thank for your support!! It took me a long time, but guess what, here's chapter 3, and YES, I have started chap 4 already!!
@Keisthename: Aww, really? Thank you so much! I really try my best!! T___T I'm sorry it took so long!!! I hope you will enjoy this chapter if ever you're not gone
@melon-lover: Wow! Great you finished it! I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope this sequel will be good for you too ^^
@Megumi: HAI! THERE IS IT
@asahi: Not only in 48 world?! Omg that's too much, it can't be ><
Thank a lot!!! A LOT!!!!
@hitsuji_14: Thank! Not a lot of Atsumina in this chapter, but I hope you'll read it coz there are important parts
@Wmatsui22: Well THANK YOU!!
HERE'S NEXT CHAP! DON'T WORRY, IT'S NOT THE END
It's crazy how time flies.
Many "older" members are gone, many news members took their places...
I look at the comments and think "omg, that person wasn't there before!" Or "Oh well, some people stop reading..." which I can understand after all this time. But I truly hope that you guys will always like what I write even if it takes a long time for me to update
If some of you don't like the sequel, then I hope you loved the first part and will only remember the parts you loved
Thank you for your support. From now on, my chapters will be shorter, but I think I might be able to update faster than once every 6 months XDDD I will not stop this fic!! NOT UNTIL THE REAL "THE END" COMES AT THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THIS SEQUEL!!! FIGHTOOO
Chapter 3Flash Back (Yuko’s POV)I knew I had to do it. I knew I had to shoot first. I had to… and I had been careful choosing the perfect victim to do it. I’ve known she was going to be my victim for a few months already. It was so obvious that I was sure everyone was also aware of my future crime. I had planned it meticulously, noting everything I knew about her, spying her, choosing the place and time really carefully. There was no way, absolutely no way I was going to fail. I had to succeed. I would be such a shame if I didn’t. My criminal life couldn’t start by a fail. Everything had to go in a perfect way.
Name of the victim: Haruna Kojima
Birthdate: April 19th, 1988
Height: 164 cm
Physical description: Tall with long brown hair, thin, white soft skin, cute face
Interest: AKB48, her dogs, her friends, cosmetic, being an idol, and the most important: A girl named Oshima Yuko.
Reason to choose her: It is impossible for me to miss my shoot with her. Clearly impossible.
I’ve been getting ready for a long time. My investigation revealed that this afternoon, after a photoshot related to AKB48, she would go for a haircut at a specific place at Shibuya. At 14:00 precisely, she had an appointment. At 14:15, after they would have washed her hair, they would start cutting it. At 14:36 and 33 seconds, she would leave the place and head toward her house to see her dogs and play with them. About ten minutes later, she was going to leave for a walk with them.
That moment, at 15:28 exactly, I was going to commit my perfect crime. There was nothing in the way to stop me. She was my target.
I waited for her to leave her house with her dog. I was going to shoot when she would be at the park. I knew which one she was going to. It was small park, quiet and hidden behind an old-fashioned house. It was kind of a secret place for her to be calm and enjoy the simplicity of life. But more important: She would be there alone. No one ever goes there because it wasn’t interesting enough. Even I wondered why she loved this place, but in the end, it was a great point for my plan. A crucial point, in fact, which without it I would not be able to succeed.
ALONE AND VULNERABLE. THE PERFECT CRIME, I SWEAR.
“Here she is…”
She was leaving her house right now, and I was spying her with my first weapon: a pair of binocular.
My victim was there, walking in front of me, yet I had to wait for her to be alone to attack, and it was killing me not to do anything. I could only hope she would walk faster, but she had the great idea of stopping at the market on her way, which made me wait longer… The only thing I feared is that she left by another secret passage and I would never be able to see her again. But thankfully, she was there, leaving by the main entrance, and almost saw me jumping to hide. I kept following her until she finally arrived at the park. Everything was ready. I looked at my second weapon: a watch. I had a precise time to start my attack. If I didn’t respect it, it would fail, I was sure of it. Everything was so well coordinated that I couldn’t even think about not respecting my initial plan, even though I just wanted to jump in front of her for a direct attack.
I had also planned two different endings, in case it wouldn’t end the way I wanted, which would NEVER happen. Stressed? Not really, I was just anxious that she might leave earlier and that would mess everything. My timing was perfect and could NOT be changed. If it was to be changed, that would be in a few weeks, and I knew I couldn’t wait more. If it wasn’t today, my crime would NOT be perfect. I watched her sit on a bench, under the shadow of a huge tree standing in the middle of the park. Great, exactly as I planned. I knew she was going to sit there, and now, if my stalker job was well done, she would start eating a snack and play with her dogs for at least half an hour.
That was exactly what she did.
Then, just when she would be about to leave, I would strike, attack, and leave her dead. At least, I would try to. Oh wait, that’s right, my plan could not fail. I waited… and waited… and just at the right moment, when the shadow contrasted well with the sunrays, she started leaving. The perfect timing. The shadows were dancing on the road, moving, making sweet figures like I had imagined on my mind when I started planning it. I needed my third weapon… Where was it? Where was it?!
I looked around me, but there wasn’t anything around me that looked like my weapon. Nothing. I could use that rock over there, but it wouldn’t be useful, and I would probably miss my shot. I could use a leaf, but why in the world would I use one?! I could start talking and then wait until I find another weapon… but that wouldn’t be a perfect crime. I could… no. None of the solutions would work. My crime could not work.
I was a failure.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t strike. I couldn’t attack. I could only watch her walk toward me with…. What?
“Yuko? Is that you?” Haruna’s sweet voice asked.
“Yeah…” I answered. “I didn’t know you were there, what are you doing?”
I knew exactly what she was doing, I knew exactly what was supposed to happen, except for the fact that I didn’t have my last weapon! I couldn’t commit my crime! I COULDN’T!!
“Well, as you see I’m walking my dogs.” Haruna smiled. “Didn’t you have an interview with Acchan and Mariko?”
Of course, I had lied to her about that. I couldn’t tell her I was going to stalk her all day until the perfect time arrived. I couldn’t tell her nothing was true and so on… What could I do now? I didn’t want my criminal life to fail…
“It’s tomorrow.” I said without even thinking about it, and realizing my mistake the next second.
Haruna looked at me with that look that told me she knew what was going on my mind. She knew that I was lying, and if I didn’t shoot soon, she would be the one having me. Maybe she wasn’t the perfect target after all…
“Tomorrow, we all have a meeting with Aki-P, remember? Then we have to shoot for AKBingo special. So… unless I missed something, you cannot have an interview tomorrow?”
There she went, attacking me first. I had to find a reply. It wasn’t supposed to go that way. I was supposed to attack, she would be the one falling down, she would be the one falling and I would be the winner! I was anxious, looking everywhere. I was sure she could see through me. She could see everything about me, except the fact that I was planning to become a future criminal.
“Yuko… what are you doing here?” She asked me with a worried voice. “Is there a bad news you want to tell me?”
A bad news? I would never! In fact, my crime was so engraved in my mind that I couldn’t even think of something else in the past few weeks. I had thought about everything, yet I couldn’t do anything now. What if… I hadn’t planned it enough? What if this urge feeling that I had to attack now was just an illusion? What if she wasn’t ready to be… somehow “dead”?
“No, there is nothing.” I said distantly.
My perfect victim and I had been friends for a really long time so in fact. That was the main reason why she was my victim, but it was also the worst thing I could do to her. However, in my position, right now, there was nothing else I could do. If I didn’t kill her first, she would do it later, before I even had the chance to defend myself. Even if I didn’t want, I had to be the criminal in this tragic story.
“Haruna… I think… our friendship is in danger.” I said, trying to remember my plan, but only forgetting everything.
“In danger? What’s wrong? We’re best friend!” Haurna said, keeping an eye on her dogs.
“That’s the problem.” I answered.
I walked around her, looking at her from different angles. She would definitely kill me later with those beautiful curves. No, I must not think about it right now. I had to focus on my ultimate goal. If I had a gun with me right now, I would be threatening her and would be ready to shot right in her head, so that she would have no chance to survive.
“I think… I might love you.” I whispered, thinking that my third weapon would have been really useful right now. “I mean, I do love you.”
Say something. Say something. Why don’t you answer me?! My heart was crying to let go, to run, to leave her, to… forget about my criminal career. It was screaming that we weren’t ready for that, that she would… anything… WHY COULDN’T SHE SAY SOMETHING NOW?!
“Stop looking at me…” I smiled shyly. “I just thought that… we were getting closer to each other so…”
Her stare was so intense. I couldn’t read anything in her eyes. I didn’t know if I was a failure, if I had deceived her, or if she was just trying to find a proper way to reject me… I didn’t want to lose her. I didn’t want to lose her, even if it meant we couldn’t be together. Haruna was gorgeous, she could find a man in her life in a few seconds. She could… somehow live without me by her side. I couldn’t. I definitely couldn’t, and that difference could be fatal for our friendship, we both knew it.
“You got me.” Haruna finally answered looking at the ground.
I don’t get it… what? I couldn’t say a word. What did that mean?
“You remember what you told me a few weeks ago? When we had… a private moment together behind the stage?” Haruna smiled shyly. “About a gun…”
I remember now. I remember very well. That was when I had decided to start planning my crime. That was when I had decided I would become a criminal… somehow.
“Yeah…” I answered. “I told you…”
“Saying “I love you” is like a gun fight. If you draw first, you better not miss.” Haruna completed. “You… didn’t miss.”
There was sweet silent before I took her hand. I didn’t kiss her that day. I didn’t even hug her when we left each other. We would take our time. I didn’t want her to think in a wrong way about what I wanted to do with her. I didn’t want to rush things… All I wanted was to smile… again and again… My crime was a success.
End of Flash BackHaruna closed her eyes. She remembered that moment like if it just happened a few seconds ago. The news in the newspaper had crashed on her like lightning on a tree in a dark and stormy night, and for sure, there was no chance she would go through this without getting hurt. It slapped her in the deepest part of her soul, to the point she could not make any sound anymore. She was at home when it happened… She didn’t know if she was lucky to be alone so no one could see her tears ruin her beautiful face…. Or if it was better to organize a meeting already, trying to fix things as much as possible… Soon after, she just realized she couldn’t step out of her bathroom, no matter how she wanted it.
The calm atmosphere was only broken by Haruna’s sob and her endless ringtone, probably her manager or some journalist who wanted more juicy details about the scandal. It would be chaotic once she’d leave her house. It couldn’t be happening… not when AKB’s popularity was so fragile… not when Yuko had just started to fly by her own… not when they were finally fine with their secret relationship… This silence surrounding her calmed her a little… But she knew it wouldn’t last.
This calm atmosphere was only an ephemera illusion until the nuclear bomb of truth explodes in her face.
She feared the real world just as much as she loved Yuko, in a pure, true, destructible way. Despite Atsuko and Minami’s sudden coming out, society had not change a bit. Haruna knew the anti’s reactions would appear again, stronger, louder… angrier… especially in AKB community. Fanservice? Not anymore. It wasn’t fanservice… it was a big joke. Yuko had been number one after Atsuko’s departure… so many fans dreamed of her… even if they shipped the “KojiYuu” pairing, they would not let it go so easily, and she knew it very well.
But she loved Yuko.
She had denied it when the journalist had asked her… but it hurt. Even if she protected themselves… it hurt not to be able to be who she really was. Yuko couldn’t be involved… She had to deny everything, she had to! It was a painful dilemma, but she knew she would never be able to watch Yuko abandon her dream because of her. She would feel guilty about it for her entire life. Plus… she didn’t want to leave AKB48. She wasn’t strong enough yet to leave the group… Her life would not be complete without it.
Yuko and AKB48 were the two most important things for her right now… and she would never be able to have both.
***
“I don’t know what to do…” Minami whispered, squeezing her girlfriend’s hand.
Girlfriend.
This word still sounded new to her, even though she’s been with Atsuko for a few months already. She loved this word. She would repeat it over and over again… just to make sure her life wasn’t a dream. But now… there was a faint sad tone in it. Two of her great friends… still couldn’t find happiness in this word.
“I wish… we could do something…” She continued, aware that Atsuko was listening to her silently. “Just like they did for us… they supported us so much… and now we can’t do anything…”
Guilt. Atsuko knew this feeling very well. She had felt it so many times, with Hiroko’s memory following her… She had felt it when Minami had not been able to work properly because of her… She still remembered that hard time when they both had to try to ignore their feelings… She felt guilt when Minami had graduated, thinking it was her fault… Somehow, she had guide Minami to leave what was the most important to her at that time.
“It’s alright…” Minami said softly, feeling the tension growing between them. “I’m not sad with you by side. You didn’t take anything away from me.”
She knew how to recognize these moments, when Atsuko would suddenly feel bad about their relationship, even though it was the most beautiful thing in the world at the same time. She knew how to react to calm her… She didn’t have to try, she really meant what she said. She was happy. She just wanted her friends to feel this way too… But she knew it was a hard and difficult road they had chosen.
“I wonder what they’re doing now… Do you think…?” Atsuko said, knowing Minami could read her silence.
“I don’t think they will break up… I don’t think Yuko will let her go, not after all the time she spent talking about how much she wanted to be with her…”
“I hope you’re right…” Atsuko answered. “I really do…”
They spent a moment of silence, not really knowing what they should say. They both had the same fears about what was going to happen to their friends. They both had the same hopes, the same feelings… They were thinking the same way, because they had been through such a similar experience… and they knew how much it hurt to choose between career and reputation, or a life with people’s judgment everyday.
Then… there was that awkward moment when Atsuko seemed to die trying to say something… but couldn’t. Minami could feel her girlfriend’s body getting tense, her heart beating faster, like there was so stress taking over… But it was so peaceful…
“Atsuko?” Minami frowned. “What’s wrong?”
The actress shook her head. Whatever she wanted to say, it was forgotten already.
“I was just… thinking.”
“Thinking?”
“Nothing.”
Minami insisted, but Atsuko was already trying to talk about something else. The shortest girl frowned even more… what was going on now? Was there some newspaper she hadn’t read this morning? But she had bought everything! EVERYTHING she could find about the subject, even if it was a three lines article, which wasn’t really the case since both Haruna and Yuko were really famous.
“Atsu-”
She stopped talking. She recognized her girlfriend’s face anywhere. She was sad. She was worried. There was something going on, and it wasn’t just about Yuko and Haruna’s future. It was between them. It was something in their couple, that Minami obviously didn’t know about. It was fine to worry for their friends… but she must never, ever, neglect her how relationship, the one she had sacrificed a lot for.
“Atsuko…?” She asked, looking at her in the eyes.
“Do you think they will chase after us too now that… there’s another similar scandal? Do you think it will start again? The rumours… the scandals… Hiroko’s case with…”
She couldn’t say a word. There was that whirlpool of feelings she had been through before… she didn’t want to experience it again. She wouldn’t get alive from another storm of scandals. And Minami wouldn’t either. They would both… be eaten alive if it happened again. Because even if their relationship was as solid as rock now, they knew it only took a few articles for it to become a fragile crystal one again, one that would break down at the first slightest vibration. Was their relation truly as solid as they pretended? Probably not, but it was safer to pretend the opposite… Until something came out to destroy it… But they both knew they would never let it happen.
“Don’t worry.” Minami immediately comforted her. “I won’t let it happen again. I will protect us. I will protect our friends too. You won’t have anything to worry about… I promise.”
Minami knew how sensible Atsuko was. She knew her more than anyone… of course she would do anything to deal with the scandal and let her lovely girlfriend out of it.
“Do you think… we will get through this again? D-Do you think that… somehow…” Atsuko stammered.
“It’s going to be fine.” Minami reassured her, embracing her. “We both know it’s going to be fine, don’t we?”
The look her girlfriend gave her scared the singer. What if… Atsuko didn’t want to be with her anymore? Would it be the reason of the tension? What if… this beautiful life she had dreamed of had never been reached? What if it had been a game this whole time, an illusion? Was Atsuko trying to tell her she wanted to break up? No way… It couldn’t end this way… What if Atsuko had suddenly realized, with Yuko’s scandal, that she couldn’t live a life in the fear that something might happen to them? What if she wasn’t confident about their love? The end? That’s it… the end… nothing was real… she had been a fool since the very beginning… nothing was going to happen… Atsuko had only played a game… Her best friend was betraying her to go with Kenji… Her life was a mess… She would end up in the streets as a poor singer, trying to get money in the metro while playing guitar just like those teenagers… She would get drugs and alcohol, she would... Wait, that was a bit too far…
“I will leave Japan for a while for my job… so I was thinking they might see an opportunity to… you know… write about us.” Atsuko shyly said.
“THANK WHOEVER IS IN THE SKY FOR THIS MIRACLE.” Minami thought, a wide smile appearing on her face. Maybe it wasn’t as horrible as she thought in the end…
“Minami?” Atsuko looked at her, surprised. “Are you… happy?”
Was Minami happy about her departure? No way… so the singer didn’t love her that much, uh? She should have known it was too beautiful to be real… too perfect…
“No!” Minami said, trying to get rid of this stupid inappropriate smile. “I mean… I just thought… I love you.”
It was so sudden that they both felt their cheeks becoming slightly pink. At that exact minute, they both thought of how cute the other was.
“I… I panicked for a moment.” Minami said shyly before explaining herself more, to which Atsuko just rolled her eyes and looked at her smirking. “I will be waiting for you… In our home.”
“I’m scared… I don’t want us to be separate when… there is this thing going on. They need us… and we need eachother. Who knows what will happen?” Atsuko said. “But if I stay here… they might feel that something wrong… they might not want me to play in this drama…”
“I will not let anything happen… I will not let them write stupid things again, and if they say you flirt with a guy during filming, I will not believe them!” “Minami said, though her heart ached at this thought. “No matter what, I will not believe it! I won’t let them take this opportunity to hurt us…”
“Even if there is a picture of me kissing the lead actor?” Atsuko smirked.
“What?!”
The innocent Minami had no problem believing this joke, knowing her girlfriend was still very popular with… everyone. In any way, she didn’t like this kind of joke, and only felt better when Atsuko moved closer, reassuring her.
“I won’t flirt… though there will be someone you know there…” Atsuko said, suddenly playful.
She caressed Minami’s hair, played with them… She looked at her in the eyes and quickly kissed her, surprising the short singer who didn’t know what to think anymore.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about…” Minami said.
In her head, she was trying to remember each person she ever had a crush on… but none of them were actors. Plus, she had not exactly been attracted to girls before… and the only guys she remembered were far from being actors… She didn’t even talk to them anymore. So… who was Atsuko talking about?
“I’m sure you know… ne, Kai?” Atsuko smirked.
Oh, wait... Right… That ONE person.
“What? You mean-”
Minami’s sentence was cut right in the middle as a young woman in tears ran into their house, crashing on their sofa. The door wasn’t locked, which, in a way, was great for the girl who didn’t hit it… She must be blind with the tears in her eyes. But, ironically, that was a short reminder that they shouldn’t let the door unlocked in case someone undesirable entered… But now was no time to worry about security, for Yuko was between them, hugging a pillow like her life was depending on it.
“Y-Yuko?!” Minami stammered, immediately feeling sadness and frustration irradiating from her friend.
For a moment, they couldn’t hear anything but Yuko’s sobs. They could tell she was trying to speak, but no words would ever come out of her mouth now. She was speechless… shocked… she needed love from the person she wanted, but couldn’t have. Yuko had always been a strong person. Hiding her pain from the public, showing her most beautiful smile to the fans as much as she could, pretending it was fine even if it hurt… only a few members in AKB48 knew how bad she could feel without the world knowing about it. And right now, both Minami and Atsuko knew they would never be able to see more sincere feelings from their friend.
Her tears could never get more real than that, ever.
When she was finally able to talk, it was with a troubled, shaking and hesitant little voice. It was not Yuko’s powerful tone anymore. It was broken. Something important was broken… something that couldn’t totally be fixed right now.
“I… I don’t know… what to do anymore…” She whispered like she wasn’t really talking to someone. “I feel like whatever I can try now… she will never want to see me again…”
Both Atsuko and Minami remained silent, knowing they had to let her finish before trying to say anything.
“I tried to call her, but there was no answer. I’m pretty sure now… if I have a chance to fix this… it wouldn’t change anything… But I tried so hard to be with her! I tried so hard… and now in a few seconds…”
She lowered her head, like she was secretly praying, but in fact, it was only to hide more tears… It was as if her body had suddenly decided to live without water.
“What if…” She shook her head. “I guess I can’t expect anything now… You guys will tell me to wait, that I need time and other things like that, but… really, what can I do? I can’t leave her alone… Imagine how she must feel… I’m a bad girlfriend… I’m a bad lover… I didn’t protect her like I said… I didn’t even… I didn’t even know about it… I should have seen the reporter… I should have stopped him… I don’t know… just… I should have…”
She went on for a few seconds, blaming herself for what happened, sometimes blaming the reporter, sometimes trying to cheer herself up, sometimes crying, sometimes lost in her thoughts… And once she was done, she just sighed. There was nothing she could add that would make her feel better. She felt the entire world suddenly turned its back to her, and that she was alone facing the enemy… the invincible enemy.
“I… I think you’re wrong.” Atsuko murmured, embracing her. “I think Haruna wants to see you right now… it’s just that she doesn’t want to disturb you… She must think… you’re dealing with work… or something…”
“Yeah… call her!” Minami said with an encouraging tone. “I’m sure she’s waiting for you… I think she’s afraid to call you…”
“How can you know that?!” Yuko protested. “You don’t know her like I do!”
They could hear a bug flying with the sudden increase of tension in the room.
“It seems horrible now. It hurt… You’re blind by this hurt… You will find out soon… that you can still do something about it. You will soon find out that… it’s not the end for you and her.” Minami said wisely. “Right now… it’s just too soon for you to realize it, but trust me.”
Yuko looked at her with a hopeless expression. She wanted to try so much… but it was like her energy had been drained entirely at the same time. She still had some positive thoughts… but their lifetime was so short she couldn’t decrypt them fully, and was only left with an empty feeling at their place. What could she do against so many media posting pictures of obvious proof that she was in love with Haruna? She could pretend it never happened as much as she could… THERE WAS A PICTURE OF THEM KISSING! There was no point of faking it, saying it was photoshop or anything this way! Even her own agency had admitted the defeat! They had left her! They had told her she was jobless! Not directly, of course, but that phone call could not be mistaken. She was jobless… and she was pretty sure no agency would accept her, at least not until this scandal fade out, which meant she had plenty of time for herself for the next few months…
“Look… I know how hard it is… Acchan and I have been through this too… we’ve been through a very similar situation… If you need help, if you want to talk about your career… If you want us to bring Haruna here…”
Yuko looked at her, not really sure how to take this offer. Should she accept it? Right now, she was sure of one thing, she was, indeed, blind by sadness and anger, and couldn’t really see the sincerity of Minami’s proposition for help.
“Exactly. You’ve been in a similar situation, not the same.” She answered, trying to control her body from shaking too much due to strong emotions.
“I know…” Minami touched her hand softly. “But… we too, there was a time when we were sure it was the end… I thought it would be over… but we made it. We did…”
She looked at Atsuko, smiling sadly, remembering hard times, but relieved it was finally over. The encouragements, despite their good intentions, had nothing helpful on Yuko’s mood.
“Yes, I get it…” Yuko replied. “But you seem to forget one thing… I’m not you! I’m not like you! I’m not an ex-ace, captain or anything! Haruna is in AKB48, she loves her job! I’m trying to start my career by my own and I ruined everything! We’re not Takahashi Minami or Maeda Atsuko!”
Her harsh tone, yet desesperate voice, surprised the two girls. Yuko probably didn’t mean to talk to them like this…
“You never gave up before, remember?” Atsuko said. “You encouraged me so much… How can you be stopped by a piece of paper?”
Seeing it with this point of view, it sounded really possible to fight against what was happening… If it wasn’t for the tiny detail that there was a print of her kissing Haruna, there wouldn’t be any problem about that piece of paper… It could just be burn and, boom, nothing’s left but a fade memory of a bad time…
“Yuko… We just know… how hard it is.” Minami finished, holding her tightly.
They stayed together for a moment, the three of them analyzing the deep ambiance, this faint trace of panic, replaced by hope… soon gone.
“What now?” Yuko asked. “I have lost my agency too…”
“What?!” Minami exclaimed. “No way!”
She seemed really surprised, but in fact, she knew it was something that happened often during scandals. Agencies didn’t want to get involved into personal problems, especially one of that extend. ESPECIALLY. And Yuko was new too… so it wouldn’t be useful for them to keep her any longer. It was cruel, but it was the world of fame. Now, Atsuko could truly understand why her friend seemed so destroyed by this situation. She had nowhere to go…
“You’re a great actress… Let the shock be forgotten…” Minami started, without really finishing her sentence.
In fact, she didn’t know what encouragements could say. She used to help AKB members so much when she was “leader” of the group… Now she couldn’t find a single proper way to give hope to her close friend. But not saying anything meant giving up… Silence was horrible to bear right now… It was the most painful torture right now, to admit that they couldn’t do anything until media stopped talking about it.
“What if-”
Yuko’s cellphone rang, interrupting her owner. It was Haruna. She wanted to see her.
Now.
“But… What will… I just arrived here and…”
“Just go.” Minami said. “You might be afraid for nothing.”
“You both need each other right now, it’s not the time to avoid anyone.” Atsuko added. “If you avoid each other, it will get worse. I can tell…”
“You’re not disturbing at all… Come whenever you want.” Minami finished.
They all had a sincere group hug before Yuko, heartbroken already, went out, ignoring the people whispering behind her back around her. Minami and Atsuko remained silent for a moment, because the actress had the courage to break it.
“So… What were we talking about…”
They both sighed. They didn’t feel like talking anymore, especially if it was about Atsuko’s future departure… They didn’t feel like doing anything but wonder how they could help their friends… They didn’t feel like thinking anymore. They just wanted to cuddle, to embrace each other, to kiss… To feel the other’s skin on their… They just wanted to feel the other’s presence by their side, reassuring shadow protecting them…
They needed to feel that they weren’t alone.
***
The actress walked in the streets like she was the only one using them. She could almost hear the echo of her steps on the ground… She was in her own world. When she arrived at the park when it all begun, she knew her heart would explode from the pressure of being there… There she was. The girl of her dreams… The girl she wanted to spend her whole life with… But she looked so sad… she looked so so so sad… it made her heart ached. It made her to the edge of crying… because there was nothing she could do to bring this lovely smile she liked so much back.
“Haruna…” Yuko said sadly, immediately holding her hands, avoiding the funny “nyan nyan” nickname because the situation wouldn’t allow it.
Haruna tried to smile, but could only look elsewhere, avoiding her girlfriend’s look.
“I… I… I did it.” She stammered with difficulty.
Yuko was immediately embracing her, even though she had no idea what she was talking about. She just felt she had to be closer by her side, because something was wrong… too wrong… too bad… too…
“What?” Yuko whispered at her girlfriend’s ear. “Tell me… I’m here… You will no longer be left alone. I won’t let it happen.”
“I did it…” Haruna repeated. “I’m no longer in AKB48…”
TBCForgive me if the preview paragraph isn't exactly the same, I guess I changed things after all this time
No, this is not the end for KojiYuu/Atsumina OF COURSE. But... yeah, you know who I am, right?
Topic: Pink Vitriol (AtsuMina - COMPLETED) + Sequel - CHAPTER 4 (3/10/2012) (Read 105593 times)