^
Sorry about that
Hello everyone! I'm back with lot of work so it's a miracle I'm able to post today! Though I don't like how I wrote some part of this chapter since it's not exactly how I wanted them to be >_< But it's almost an hour wasted in front of my computer, trying to find how to say some things and I think I lost enough time like this
I should improve my English vocabulary someday
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING AGAIN!
Well, I have nothing more to say today, so here's the chapter!
Sorry for the mistakes
Chapter 9Takamina breathed slightly as she wondered if it was really a great idea to come to the zoo today. She was worried about Acchan. What if her friend wasn’t strong enough to come here today?! She knew the accident hadn’t been that bad, but knowing Acchan, she knew she must probably just want to sleep. But looking at her, she could see she was happy. She was laughing, probably as much as when Takamina had visited her when she had come back sooner from France. She stared at her for a moment. Acchan was talking to a sleeping lion, telling him to wake up. From Acchan’s point of view, it seemed like an old lion Takamina and she had seen when they had come here two years ago. She was funny to watch. Acchan turned her head and saw Takamina looking at her. She smiled joyfully at her, stars shinning in her eyes. The small girl smiled back.
They had just arrived to the zoo. Others were here too. Haruna and Miichan were taking funny pictures with Tomochin and Tomomi while Yuko was updating her blog. A bit apart were Sae and Sayaka, talking happily together. They were looking at the monkeys just at the right side. They had already seen the lions and… didn’t want to wait the others. They were fine just the way they were, the two of them together, even though they liked to see Acchan. Mariko hadn’t come finally, saying she wanted to see her family because she knew it was the moment she could go and talk with them.
As the big lion finally woke up, Acchan said with an excited voice:
“Look! He’s awake! Let’s take a picture!”
Without letting Takamina answering anything, she grabbed her arm and took a picture with the lion as background. Then, she totally ignored her friend and began to write something for her blog. The captain smiled a little. Acchan seemed so happy, it was hard to believe she was still hurt. If it wasn’t for her broken arm, she would probably have already forgotten about it. But… somehow… behind this happiness… Takamina didn’t know why but she felt Acchan hid something. She just couldn’t find what exactly it could be.
“Hey look! This is so cute!”
“I look so weird!” Takamina laughed as she saw the picture.
“Don’t worry, it’s alright. It’s when you look normal that it’s weird.”
The captain pretended to be mad as she heard Acchan’s answer. Tomochin smirked as she looked at them. They looked so happy together. It was hard to believe they had not seen each other for almost a year before… It looked like the distance hadn’t affected their friendship at all. They were still close to each other… But as she stared at them better, it seemed that Acchan looked… nervous. Sure, she was acting as usual. But her movements were slow, her smile was hesitant and her voice had a nervous ton. Tomochin just shook her head, knowing she must have imagined everything as Takamina joined Yuko, who had finished writing, Sae and Sayaka with the monkeys. The others were still playing together. They were such big kids.
“Don’t leave Acchan alone.” She heard Miichan whispered as she passed by.
Takamina sighed. It wasn’t because she had missed Acchan a lot that her friends needed to joke about it. Acchan didn’t need her to be always by her side or she would think she was a stalker! And she needed some air too! Acchan looked happy the way she was.
“I like this one!” Takamina said as she pointed a brown and white monkey. “He’s so nice! Look, he plays with the younger! They’re so funny!”
“Which one are you talking about?!” Sayaka asked.
All monkeys were brown and white. And they were a lot, so she couldn’t see which was playing with which.
“This one! Isn’t he cool? Look, he grabbed a banana! I love bananas too!” She said to the monkey who totally ignored her.
Sae and Sayaka sighed at the same time. They both remembered the “beautiful” banana sweater… They really liked Takamina, but she needed to be clearer than that. There were still ten monkeys with bananas!
“Are you alright, Yuko?” Takamina asked as she finally left her favourite monkey alone.
She was right to ask because Yuko looked a bit sad, even though she smiled to her.
“I wished me and Nyan Nyan could visit the zoo alone…”
Takamina smiled a bit.
“Don’t worry, she won’t leave you alone that easily. Just have fun.”
Yuko sighed and answered:
“Yeah, but it’s not the same…”
Suddenly, she jumped happily to Haruna and began to hug her.
“Come with me Nyan Nyan! We’ll have fun today!”
The old Yuko was back. She always did that kind of thing, so Takamina didn’t really care about it for long. Plus… where was her monkey?
“Hey, he disappeared!” She pointed sadly as Acchan was coming near her with Miichan.
“Who?” Miichan asked.
“My monkey!”
“Who?!” Acchan repeated.
“The one with bananas!”
“Leave her alone, she’s trying to get your attention.” Miichan said to Acchan as she walked toward the reptile zone.
Takamina pouted as she followed the two others. Really, why did she always have to be hurt whatever they did! Was it only when she was alone with Acchan that she could say what she wanted without fearing that kind of comments?! If so, she wouldn’t mind being alone with Acchan forever. Miichan had a bad influence on Acchan.
“Now you know how I felt.” Yuko quickly said to her as she passed with Haruna.
Takamina sighed. She stared at the two Tomo… It didn’t seem that they were going to join them soon. As Acchan saw where they were heading to, she froze.
“There is NO way I’m going there!” She said with a scared voice.
Even Miichan, who hated reptiles, wanted to go there, even though she wasn’t sure why. Was she suicidal? Maybe. She just wanted Takamina to protect Acchan. The captain was always looking after Acchan and Miichan really liked to watch them. It was always funny.
“Please! Just for once!” Miichan said.
“I can’t believe YOU want to go there!” Acchan replied. “I don’t even want to think about all those…”
She didn’t finish her phrase, finding it too disgusting.
“We’ll just look with the others. I don’t think it can be so bad!” Miichan said as they started walking again. “I don’t even know why we’re so afraid of reptiles!”
Two minutes later“DON’T APPROACH HIM FROM ME! DON’T EVEN COME 1 CM CLOSER!” Acchan screamed as Sayaka was holding a beautiful… huge snake.
She ran and hid behind Miichan… who was as afraid as her. Haruna and Yuko were not as afraid, but they stayed apart a bit. Yuko thought it was a nice way to be closer to her Haruna, so she didn’t really dislike it… Sae and Sayaka were playing with the snake. They enjoyed it.
“Look, Sae, he’s going… wait… where is he going?!”
The snake was moving from Sayaka’s shoulders to Sae’s, making them moving closer to each other.
“Hold on! Hold on, he’s going to fall!”
Sae had a huge smile on her face, all happy to have her head close to Sayaka’s. Maybe this snake idea wasn’t that bad finally. They didn’t want to take it at first… But finally… it was really nice.
“Wait, I’ll take it.” Sae said as she tried to hold the snake.
Sae walked everywhere with her new friend, having fun to scare the others. Tomochin and Tomomi, who had just joined them, were hiding behind the four others girls, thinking finally, maybe they should have left them… and visited the zoo alone. The two of them. Without that snake. Acchan felt suddenly a bit bad. Looking at all those monsters…. She wasn’t all recovered… Maybe it was bad for her health… The snake moved faster as she thought that she should have used this as excuse to leave this place.
“He’s… wait a minute, it’s a boy or a girl?!” Sae asked, but nobody answered.
Takamina wanted to touch it… But she didn’t trust this boa too much. He was way too tall.
“I said to not come near us!” Miichan ordered too with an anxious voice.
“I told you we shouldn’t have come here!” Acchan’s scared voice mumbled.
Takamina slowly touched the snake… Okay, it wasn’t that bad… She began to take a part of his body. The snake was long. Of course, since he was taller than her… After all she was ONLY 148.5cm, like everyone liked to remind her… She literally dreamed of the day when she’ll finally reach 149cm. Sae cruelly had the great idea to leave her with it. She was laughing with Sayaka as Takamina was trying to not drop the snake because she knew it would freak the others forever. Great… She had it on her shoulder.
“Oh my god… His face is way too close to mine…” She said slowly before she screamed, “Hey where’re you think you’re going?!”
The head of the boa was heading into her shirt.
“Get out of here, please.” She asked nicely as the head of the snake appeared from her sleeve.
The snake ignored her and suddenly climbed on her head.
“Hey, don’t mess up with my hair!”
The boa was still ignoring her and was now moving… slowly around her neck… Now, that was enough and Takamina dropped it.
“He’s going to kill me, get him OFF!” She panicked. “I don’t want to be killed by a snake!”
Everyone laughed… but they had forgotten the man who was supposed to help them was busy to help another woman. And the snake suddenly fell on the ground.
“AHH! WHY IS THERE A SNAKE HERE ANYWAYS?!” Both Acchan and Miichan screamed as they began to run to the exit of the reptile zone.
“I knew it was a bad idea!” Acchan screamed after Miichan.
“I didn’t know they would leave a snake in liberty!” Takamina heard Miichan answered.
“He’s… He’s coming here… HE’S COMING-!”
The two Tomo didn’t even look back a second as they ran to join Miichan and Acchan. Yuko and Haruna quickly followed them as Sae, Sayaka and Takamina were trying to catch him. Finally, the man came back… And even though he was angry at them, he let them go. Knowing the others would not come back here, the trio watched some lizards, spiders, chameleons and turtles before they left the zone. Takamina had chosen another favourite animal. This time… It was a small red and green lizard, who liked to stay immobile on his little rock. She called it “merry Christmas”, much to the two others discouragement.
“What? It’s the same colours!”
The two others didn’t even answer, knowing it would be useless. Why did they come here anyways? Ueno zoo was fun… but… Oh yeah, because of Acchan… This was stupid… coming here knowing Acchan hated reptiles. Worst idea ever from Miichan. Definitely.
The three of them went outside of the zone, only to find Miichan, Haruna and Yuko helping Acchan to sit on a bench while Tomochin and Tomomi were trying to calm each other. She was breathing heavily. Takamina arrived near them, running.
“What’s going on?” She asked with an anxious voice.
She knew it was a bad idea to bring Acchan here. She definitely knew it. Well… She had known it… Then forgotten it… and now the reality was slapping her hard.
“Seemed that the snake scared her a lot. She seemed to be more tired… Probably because of yesterday… She didn’t sleep enough… Maybe it was a bad idea finally.” Haruna said.
Yup, she knew it. Damn brain who made her forgotten it.
“Are you alright?” Takamina asked to Acchan, sitting by her side.
Her face was near Acchan’s… And Acchan felt uncomfortable about it. So she became red. She looked like a beautiful tomato.
“You’re red, do you feel bad?” Yuko asked too.
Takamina softly touched Acchan’s forehead.
“I don’t think you have a fever… Maybe you’re just tired from your accident.”
She was moving closer to her. As she realized it, she suddenly went apart. She blushed a little. Acchan wasn’t better. Not only did she look tired, but now she looked like she was going to faint. Everyone exchanged look.
“We’ll bring her something to drink. Maybe she just doesn’t have enough sugar in her blood. I read something about it…” Tomochin said as she left with Tomomi.
Sae and Sayaka smiled at them before they said:
“We’ll bring you food! You know, maybe you just need proteins and stuff like that.”
They left as Yuko pretended:
“I’m… going to the bathroom. Haruna, Miichan, why don’t you come with me?”
“Why do you need us to-” Haruna frowned.
“What a great idea!” Miichan exclaimed. “I knew I had to do something, thank to remind me!”
“Thank to remind me?!” Takamina thought at the lame excuse Miichan had said.
And then, Miichan grabbed Yuko and Haruna’s arms and walked away, leaving the last two alone. Takamina sighed. What had just happened now? She had a feeling about it.
“I think you should go home.” She said to Acchan. “You look pale.”
Acchan slightly smiled.
“I’m sorry… Everyone is worried about me. You can’t have fun.”
“Don’t worry about that!” Takamina answered. “You need to take care of you now! Remember, you’re still weak!”
“I wanted to have fun with you… Since something like that happened… We never know what could happen now.”
The voice she had was sad and worried. Takamina sighed. She couldn’t blame Acchan to think about it. She had almost died yesterday… And thank God, she hadn’t. Takamina too wanted to share more times with her, but she wanted her to be healthy more than anything. She still couldn’t forgive herself to not being able to protect her.
“We’re not mad at you. But take care of you, okay? Go home…”
She smiled at her.
“Do you want me to take you home?” She added.
Acchan looked away.
“No need to.” She just said.
She hadn’t said the real reason. In fact, she didn’t want to worry Takamina exactly because she knew how her friend would act: nicely and sweet and everything… Like someone who care a lot for her. Like a friend, a mother, a sister… a lover… She liked it, but it reminded her that warm feeling she hid in her heart. To see how much Takamina cared for her… Kinda hurt her at the same time. She couldn’t help but wondered if it was really the way Hiroko had felt for Takamina. Acchan sighed. She didn’t want her friend to be so nice with her when she couldn’t act naturally with her. She was sad about it. This situation just reminded her how much she enjoyed having someone who cared about her… especially if it was Takamina.
“Really? But what if you fainted before you arrived?”
Takamina looked really worried about her.
“I’m going to be fine… Just have fun today. I’ll call you if there’s a problem.”
“What if you fainted before you call!? And if you fainted in the middle of the street! What if you got another car accid-… Oh… sorry… I know you must be afraid of it…”
Acchan smiled.
“I won’t faint. Just have fun”
Somehow, Takamina wanted to answer that she couldn’t have fun if she knew Acchan was sick… but her words didn’t come out.
“I guess I should…” She just said.
“I swear I’ll be alright.” Acchan kept smiling, seeing how much her friend seemed to be anxious. “I’ll call you tonight, okay?”
Takamina finally accepted it.
“Okay.” She smiled. “But be careful. If you feel bad, don’t wait and call us.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Acchan answered.
She began to walk away. She had wanted Takamina to bring her back… But with all the revelations she had learned yesterday, she just couldn’t ask her to. She was afraid her hidden feelings might come out… And it was the last thing she wanted now… She needed to stay focused on their friendship, nothing else… Because she knew she could never tell her the truth about it. She knew if one day the love she had felt for her before was to come back… She would have too much pain inside her to support it. Just now, seeing Takamina so worried about her made her heart beat so fast… It was bad for her to feel this way. She didn’t want to. She wanted to ignore it. She wanted to forget it. She wanted to… keep those warm feelings hidden forever…
Most of all, she wished she had never thought of Takamina that way when she was with AKB48.
***
Takamina saw the others coming back. Ironically, Tomochin and Tomomi didn’t have any drinks while Sae and Sayaka pretended the lines for the food were too long and that they didn’t want to wait too long. Like she was going to believe such things… Did they think she was stupid? Okay, she didn’t want to know the answer to this question. Haruna, Yuko and Miichan came back later. As they saw Acchan was gone, they glanced at each other. Takamina was already watching the tigers a few meters away. They whispered a bit and Miichan came to talk with Takamina. The girl was laughing as she saw one of the tigers fighting with a younger one.
“Look!” She said to Miichan. “They’re fighting! Isn’t it so cute! Oh, the little one fell! He’s so cute I want to take him with me!”
Miichan stared at her with a “WTF” look. What would Takamina do with a tiger at home anyways? The tiger would eat her when he’ll grow up anyway. She’d probably get killed by the “so cute” tiger” anyway.
“I want to take him to Acchan! She would have a real tiger instead of taking pictures of her cats…”
Miichan laughed as she remembered that blog post. It had been so short… but so funny at the same time. And really… Takamina was on fire today! A monkey, a lizard, a tiger… until the end, she would have a complete new family with her.
“Hey, where’s Acchan?”
Takamina took a picture before she said:
“She’s gone. I told her she had to take care of herself and go home.”
“Eh? Stupid.” Miichan sighed.
“What?!”
“Why didn’t you take her home?”
Takamina’s answer was fast.
“She didn’t want me to. She said we should have fun together instead of worrying about her.”
Miichan stared at her with astonishment in her eyes. Even if it were true, Takamina would have taken Acchan home if the girl didn’t feel well. This was a stupid reason from her. Miichan had always hoped that maybe/probably/someday Acchan and Takamina would maybe/probably/someday live together. She even thought they loved each other, without really knowing the reason. Right, she had married Acchan, but she still thought Takamina and the ex face of AKB must felt something called “love”. Or maybe it was just because she couldn’t imagine one without the other… But for now, she had something important to say to Takamina… and hopefully, the others were behind her to help her if ever Takamina became too upset.
“Hey… Um… I have something to tell you about Acchan.”
Takamina didn’t move. She just stared at the tigers. But she wasn’t really happy about what Miichan had told her. For the first time of her life, she wanted to have fun without having a problem to solve, BUT Miichan just HAD to talk to her about… Acchan. Really, when she didn’t want to talk about her, her friends wanted, and when she wanted, her friends didn’t. Could somebody explain it to her because she didn’t understand anything.
“You know… A few days before we left for Paris, she called me.”
Takamina froze. Miichan wanted to talk about THAT?! Could it wait for… never?
“Hey look.” Takamina said nicely to her. “I know she called you… But for now, let’s just have fun. That’s what she wanted, right? So let’s forget about this call.”
Miichan frowned.
“So you’re not upset about it?”
“I guess not. I mean, I can’t tell her to call only me and nobody else right? And we’re fine now, so you don’t need to talk about it.”
Miichan frowned even more.
“What are you going to do about it then?”
“What do you want me to do about it?” Takamina asked, frowning too. “She has the right to call you. It’s fine.”
“Aren’t you anxious about it?” Miichan asked with a serious voice. “It’s weird… I mean… It’s not normal that someone told her that.”
Takamina looked at her friend, confused.
“Someone told her what?”
“Eh?”
“What “Eh?” There’s nothing to do about it! She called you, that’s all. No need to worry about something so… normal.”
Miichan sighed. They obviously didn’t talk about the same thing at all.
“Aren’t you going to do something about that woman’s voice? When she called me…” Miichan took a deep breathe. “Before she hanged up, I heard a woman telling her she would break her cell phone if she didn’t stop talking now.”
Takamina eyes went wide open as she said:
“What? I’ve never heard about it.”
She was a bit sad about the fact that Acchan had told Miichan instead of telling her… But for now, the only thing she had on mind was the cell phone thing. Hadn’t Acchan told her that she had to change her phone?
“What was the reason already?” Takamina thought. “What was it… Someone has stolen it? No… She has lost it… No, she…”
“I heard a… frightening voice… I’m sorry, I knew maybe it’s not the best time to tell you that but…”
“What do you mean by “the best time”?” Takamina finally pronounced. “Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”
Oh, oh… Bad Takamina was coming…
“Well… I… I thought it was better to wait and see how Acchan was before telling you anything… I mean, nothing bad happened about her, right?”
“She told me… She had lost her cell phone… But the first time… She had said someone had stolen it… What if it was a lie then? What if someone really broke it? How was the voice?!” She asked to Miichan, urging her to tell her everything she knew.
“I’m sorry…” Miichan sighed. “I can’t describe a voice… I mean, it was a normal woman voice…”
Takamina shook her head, beginning to be anxious about it. She grabbed Miichan’s arm and said:
“Where was she when she called you? You must know, right?”
Miichan thought about it a little before she answered with a sad voice:
“Listen, I know you’re worried about Acchan… We are too. But… she told me she was at work. So there are lots of possibilities. It could be anyone.”
“I have to talk to her.” Takamina said as she began to walk toward the exit.
At the same time, Yuko appeared in front of her and told her:
“Sorry, but today, we’re having fun. I know it must be hard for you to think about enjoying this day now that you know about it but… Acchan must be tired. I don’t think she wants to talk about it.”
“She’ll tell us when she will want to.” Haruna added as she came near them.
The little captain couldn’t just stay here when she knew her friend was maybe in danger, but… It was true that Acchan needed to sleep. Maybe the best solution for now was to let her sleep well until she gets better. Then… maybe they could talk about it.
…
No. She couldn’t. Her inner voice was telling her that she had to know more about it, not only for Acchan, but for herself. Acchan had already almost died because of this stupid car accident, there was no way she was going to let her be in danger again. She would never forgive herself if something bad really happened to her friend… Seeing that determination look on Takamina’s face, Haruna sighed.
“Let’s have fun today. Tomorrow… we have a short meeting for the group, but I guess you can go and see her after. It won’t be so late. Whoever the voice was, I don’t think Acchan will be more in danger if you talk to her tomorrow instead of today.”
Takamina nodded slowly. Tomorrow… There was no way she could forget about it.
But for now… she thought those pandas were cute… She had to take pictures of them… Maybe Acchan would like them.
“Hey, I got an idea!” Takamina said, a smile coming back. “Why don’t we call this one “salt & pepper”?”
“Did I hear well?” Miichan asked to everybody.
“I hope not.” Tomochin answered as they were all looking strangely at the little captain.
Maybe they would have fun finally. Maybe Takamina would come back to her normal self… but they hoped she would not want to add a panda in her “already huge” animal lover family.
***
Yuko and Haruna were happily talking together as they were walking toward the theatre. They had an important meeting with Akimoto-san about a recording they were going to do. Yuko really enjoyed being with Haruna. She was like a puppy following her master everywhere… except that, much to Yuko’s disappointment, Haruna never hugged her like a real master would do. But at least, Haruna never rejected her because she was afraid Yuko would graduate if she did. So they were closer than before, always going out together. As they arrived at the theatre, they were late. They had talked too much… and somebody wasn’t really happy about it… and it wasn’t only Akimoto-san.
“Where were you?! We’re waiting for you for almost fifteen minutes and… fifty-five seconds!” Takamina said angrily as they sat on the two last chairs.
“Calm down…” Yuko said. “We were just talking.”
“Yeah? Well, stop talking now because we’re already late enough like this.” The captain said, not even a bit happier than before.
Someone laughed as Tomochin said:
“Ignore it, Yuko, she just wants to finish soon so she could go see Acchan after.”
Takamina glanced angrily at her and answered:
“What are you talking about?! That’s so not true!”
Yuko smirked as she thought the serious captain was lying in front of everybody. She looked way more nervous and was playing all the time with the mini ribbon strap that was on her cell phone… And now that Yuko thought about it, she wondered… where did Takamina get it? Yuko smiled even more as she thought Acchan must the responsible for this mysterious gift.
“Well, well, no fight here, please.” Akimoto-san calmly said as he stood in front of the twenty more popular girls of the group.
Everybody stopped talking. The meeting had begun and even the captain of Team A, or better: of the entire group, couldn’t say anything against their creator.
“I’m sorry for doing this meeting when you are all off, but this is really important for the moment when you’ll come back to work.”
Everyone nodded. They couldn’t disagree with him. Akimoto stared at them proudly.
“When I’ve created the group, I would never have imagined seeing you all this way. You’ve grown up… The concert in France was a success. Now, I’m thinking of a new project for all the fans, not only in Japan, but also worldwide.”
He stopped for a moment, waiting for his assistant to bring a map of the country.
“I thought of a documentary that could be recording everywhere in Japan.”
The members stared at him, not really understanding what he meant by “a documentary”. Hadn’t AKB48 already has a documentary about them?
“This won’t be like the other documentary.” He said as he seemed to understand the silent question. “This will be a movie about you. Each of you… I’m sorry for the others girls that aren’t here, but 48 would be too much… So yeah, each member will choose a destination in Japan. It can be anywhere, from Hokkaido to Okinawa and Kyushu. You will all have to choose it and later, you will go there for a week. A cameraman will be with you, filming your trip. This has not too much to do with AKB48. It’s not like 5400sec either. It’s a real “private life”. The fans will really see what you like about this part of Japan, and they will see you doing the same ordinary things they do. At the end, we’ll choose the best moments of everyone and put them as a movie. Of course, you will explain a bit what the city you’ve chosen is, like a guide, understand what I mean?”
The members smiled, thinking this project would probably be funny. They would just have to enjoy their time… It seemed great.
“The reason why it will be accessible to strangers… is because it will be subbed in English. We want overseas fans to see it, which is a premiere for the group. They will discover Japan through your eyes.”
“It will be for a week?” Sayaka asked.
“Yes. A whole week, having fun somewhere in Japan. I think it will be popular, since each of you will have her own version. It’s marketing, of course. Fans who have many oshimen… will probably buy more than one movie. I mean, it will also be different places in Japan, so I guess they would want to see that too. And at the end of each movie, there will be a short performance, so if they don’t like Japan, fans would get the chance to see a live performance of you. And yes, it’s really gonna be a live performance.”
Everyone laughed a little, knowing it was wallet-rape.
“So, I just wanted you to think about it before I tell you more next time.”
Takamina hardly heard about the rest. She thought about Acchan… She didn’t want to leave for a week… especially if someone was bad with her friend. But she knew she couldn’t avoid it. And she also understood that Acchan would probably come back to work soon, so there was no way they could go there together. Plus, Acchan was not a member anymore, so Takamina didn’t understand either why she just got this weird idea of leaving the two of them. Knowing she could not refuse this project since she was a captain, she just nodded as Akimoto said:
“Next time, we’ll talk more about it. Until this meeting, just think about a place. Each place must be different. It will also be a great way to help overseas fans to know more about Japan.”
“This is another step for AKB48 world domination.” Sasshi laughed.
The others laughed too, though she was right. AKB48 was known almost everywhere now… And what surprised them the most was that even news fans of the group wanted to know about the legendary Maeda Atsuko. It was another reason why Takamina could never stop thinking about her friend: People would even talk to her about Acchan when she was shopping just to know about that. Really… would the “Acchan age” disappear one day?
“Also, last thing…” Akimoto added as he turned to the girls in the doorway. “Everybody needs to participate this time. I know some of you couldn’t do the 5400sec, but this time, it’s an obligation because it’s even more important. This is you, AKB48, Japan and the world.”
Takamina sighed as she heard the last few words. She had no choice but to do it, or she may be fired. It was clear.
“Last thing I need to tell you. I’m planning a concert in Tokyo Dome soon! So be ready for it!”
All the members were surprised to hear that, but they were excited at the same time. Finally, Tokyo Dome concert? YEAH!
“The meeting’s done.” Akimoto said as he left the girls.
Everyone started talking as five of the group stared at Takamina. Feeling her friends’ glances at her, the captain nervously faced them and said:
“Wh… what?”
Tomochin had an anxious look on her face. Yuko was smiling… or at least trying to smile at her. Haruna was just staring at her like usual. Miichan sighed as Mariko asked:
“So where are you going to go?”
“No idea…” Takamina mumbled. “Maybe Osaka or Hiroshima…”
“So you’re really going somewhere?” Tomochin asked, surprised.
Takamina frowned.
“Of course.”
Miichan hesitantly said:
“We thought… You know because of what I told you…”
Takamina sighed despairingly as she answered:
“There’s no way I’m gonna stop working because of it.”
Seeing the others with doubts faces, Takamina just added:
“Trust me. I mean, we’re going to Tokyo Dome soon! There’s no way I’ll miss it! The old Takamina is back and ready to work… as soon as I finish talking to Acchan.”
And she fled, leaving her friends behind her. They didn’t say anything for a moment, just staring at each other, somehow feeling sad for Takamina. They knew it must be hard for her, especially now. Silent remained for a while and broke as Miichan said:
“She better finds who that woman is so we can all go and tell her what we think about broken cell phones…”
***
In another room were Akimoto-san, Sayaka Akimoto and Kashiwagi Yuki. Akimoto Sayaka had stopped being the captain of Team K for a while before she became it again. For all the members, Team K captain was Sayaka and nobody else. They had all wanted her to come back, and as soon as her scandal had been “forgotten”, she was back as the captain. The two members had left as soon as the meeting was done. Akimoto-san wanted to talk to them privately since they were captains. The creator of AKB48 perfectly knew that Takamina wouldn’t come since he had heard about the “Acchan case”. He respected the fact that the small girl wanted to share times with the graduate member since it had been a long time, but it was exactly why he wanted to talk to the two others leaders.
“I’m sorry, I know you want to be with the others, but I won’t be long.”
They both denied the fact that they didn’t want to be there. They had to be polite, right?
“I wanted you to tell me about Takahashi… I heard she was spending a lot of times with Maeda. I know I sent her back to Japan sooner because she didn’t work well and also that she saw Maeda, so maybe I’m the one to blame, but… Do you think it had an effect on her work? Be honest, please.”
They both moved hesitantly.
“Well…” Sayaka began. “It’s true that she seemed to miss Acchan, but I don’t know if it affects her work.”
“If you’re talking about this new movie, I don’t think she won’t do it. She knows when she has to be serious, that’s why she was chosen to be Team A’s captain.” Yukirin added.
The two of them flinched at the serious look Akimoto-san sent them.
“Okay… Well… Maybe she neglected her work a bit… But it doesn’t mean she can’t be captain anymore.” Sayaka said.
“I know.” Akimoto-san nodded. “I also know that I should talk directly to her about this, but you know, usually, she’s always the first to come and talk to me about her problems related to work. So I believe if something really was important, she would come to see me. But I was worried since her own team seemed to have doubts about it too.”
“Maybe you should just wait. She’ll probably come sooner or later. It’s not like her to wait too long when it comes to the group.”
“You’re probably right, Yuki-san. I just wanted to know if you knew something about it… Because if it became a handicap to her later, I need to know about it… What I told you before is true… I’m planning a concert in Tokyo Dome. Everyone must be ready.”
The two captains glanced at each other. If the boss had seen that something bad was going with Takamina, it must be true. It must be evident. If even Akimoto-san had seen it… Takamina needed to be careful. Because if ever Akimoto wasn’t satisfied about her job… maybe she would not be captain anymore. Maybe she would loose her position as leader. AKB48 needed a strong and serious leader… and if Takamina didn’t work as well as before because of Acchan… It would be a problem. An important problem, not only for Akimoto-san, but also for the future of the girl with the group.
***
Takamina was walking toward Acchan’s house. Again. But this time, the reason was different. Last time, she had come because she wanted to know why Acchan had told her she hated her… Now, she was heading there to know about a possible menace for her friend. Really, she could hardly believe there would be a day when she would go to Acchan’s house just for NOTHING. It was annoying to always go there with a problem in mind. As she reached the door, she waited for Acchan to answer. It didn’t take long time for a crying Acchan to open the door. Takamina immediately went in bodyguard mood.
“Acchan? What’s going on? Why are you crying? Is there someone else here? Are you hurt? Are you okay? Did somebody hurt you? Do you want me to kill someone?”
She had asked so many questions in such a short lap of time that Acchan stopped crying and asked her with a surprised voice:
“What are you talking about? I… I was just listening to the DVD the French fan gave me.”
“The one about you being in AKB48?”
Acchan nodded as Takamina calmed a little.
“I thought… you were crying because… of something else.” She just said. “Can I come in?”
“Sure.” Acchan said as she let her friend coming in. The first thing Takamina saw was the opened TV with Acchan’s face laughing surrounded by all the others members. She remembered it. It was just after her party graduation.
“I stopped it when I heard the doorbell.” Acchan said.
She didn’t push the “play” button as they sat on the sofa, knowing that if Takamina was here, something must have happened.
“Um… Sorry… I should have call.” Takamina said shyly.
Acchan nicely punched her shoulder.
“No need to, you’re always welcome here, you know that.”
There was a moment of silent before Takamina asked:
“Do you feel better? You suddenly left yesterday…”
“Oh… I’m alright now. My arm hurts a little, but it’s okay.” She smiled. “Why did you come here? Don’t you have a meeting with the group?”
“It’s done.” Takamina said before she added hesitantly: “Hum… In fact… Yesterday, after you left, Miichan told me something about you.”
Acchan flinched. She immediately thought about her manager. She hated Takamina for talking about it, but since her friend couldn’t know about it, it wasn’t really her fault. She remembered the call she had given to Miichan and wondered if she had told Takamina. If so, then she would have no choice but to tell her the truth. It was… useless to lie to such a close friend like Takamina. They could felt when the other lied and Acchan knew the captain probably already knew she had lied last time when she had told her everything was fine.
“She told me that you called her… And that she heard something weird when you hanged up.” Takamina slowly said.
She didn’t want to tell Acchan too quickly about it. She was scared it could be bad for her health.
“She told me she heard someone telling you about breaking your cell phone or something like this…”
Well, if she wanted to say it slowly… She just messed up everything. Maybe it was because she really wanted to know about it because she was worried about her friend… like a lot… like she would give her own life to protect her without hesitation.
“Oh…” Acchan said.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s alright.” Takamina added quickly.
Acchan smiled to her. She was kinda cute when she was worried about her. And deep inside, she knew it was now or never. Hiroko was in coma… It was fate that Takamina had learned about it. She had to talk to her about what Hiroko had done to her… Because if she didn’t, she would never do it… and she would probably regret it for the rest of her life, especially if her manager woke up later.
“She’s… right. Miichan’s right…” Acchan whispered as she moved closer to Takamina.
Takamina didn’t say anything as her friend was lying by her side. Then, the small captain let Acchan used her as a pillow and waited for her to speak. She knew if Acchan wanted to tell her, she would. She only had to be patient. Thinking about being patient reminded her when the two of them were still in AKB48 together. Once, she had had to wait silently for almost two hours because she wanted to know Acchan’s problem… She really hoped it wouldn’t be as long because… Because this time, she wanted to know it fast, so she could resolve it… fast.
“You know… My manager…” Acchan began with a nervous voice.
Takamina looked at Acchan as she heard her talking. Her manager? Like… the one they had talked about when Acchan was still at the hospital? Thinking about it made Takamina feel bad too because it also reminded her the terrible thing she had done to… the girl who had once been her best friend. What was Hiroko’s role in this story? Please… she really hoped it wasn’t like she thought it was…
“At the beginning, everything was fine… But then…”
Takamina listened to her friend for what seemed hours. Acchan didn’t cry. She didn’t show any emotions. But Takamina did. She was clenching her fists almost every second. Anger slowly appeared in her eyes. She started breathing loudly… She didn’t move though. The only thing she did all the time was to listen to everything her friend was telling her. She was keeping all the information in her head, preciously. At the beginning, she just couldn’t believe it. She just couldn’t see Hiroko being so mad about Acchan for… well, for nothing! But as it went along, she realized that her friend couldn’t just lie about all that. She trusted her actual friend more than her old one. She somehow felt that everything Acchan was telling her was true… and it hurt her to know all this, even though she had wanted to. Acchan did not look at her as she talked. Not once. She was just telling her what had happened, with a sad and painful voice. Takamina did nothing either. She was just listening… Listening to her silent, to her voice, to her faint sob, to her breathe… She was just trying to understand why she hadn’t been with her before. So much had happened to her friend… Acchan was telling her almost everything… And now, she knew the truth about her cell phone. She hadn’t lost it and nobody had stolen it… It had just being the victim of… Hiroko. Her old friend.
Takamina slightly touched Acchan’s shoulder when she told her that. She felt Acchan tightened as her finger touched her. Her wound must still hurt…
The little captain was angry against herself. She remembered all the things she had told Acchan about Hiroko… How did her friend felt when she had told her those things? Telling her best friend that her violent manager had once being in love with her… She had been so stupid! She had never asked herself how Acchan would feel about it, never asked herself if Acchan may have problems with something… She hated herself. Acchan must have felt… so bad…so lonely. Now… she was telling her the truth… Wasn’t she scared that Takamina might not believe her? After all, Hiroko and she were friends, so it would be normal for Takamina to have doubts about it. But right now, she was bravely telling her everything. She was probably fighting against her fear to tell her that. She must hope Takamina would believe her… And she did. Acchan was trying to show nothing, but as she finished, she couldn’t help but let the anger took the control of her voice.
“I know I should not say that but… somehow… I’m glad she’s in coma now.”
Takamina didn’t say anything for a while, just staring at her friend. She couldn’t tell her to not say that after all she had heard… But really… thinking that Hiroko had done that…
“But at the same time… I don’t know what I would do if ever she…”
Acchan didn’t finish her sentence.
“I believe you.” Takamina whispered to Acchan. “I believe… in what you told me…”
Acchan couldn’t help but smile at what her friend just said.
“Thanks…”
Takamina sighed.
“I guess it’s my fault she’s like that… It’s probably my fault that she’s threatening you now… Since we’re best friends… She must hate you.”
Takamina kept blaming herself for a while until Acchan interrupted her:
“No. It’s not your fault. She’s just… too crazy to belong to this world, I guess. And with what happened to her… Maybe it’s just the way she is now.”
Acchan wanted to believe she could blame it on something else, but she knew it was a bit Takamina’s fault too. Leaving a friend like this… Anybody would be upset.
“I’ll protect you. She won’t ever do that again to you, trust me.”
Takamina made a promise: She was going to talk to Hiroko… maybe… and she would stay with Acchan until things were cool again. But then again, her inner voice reminded her about her main job: AKB48. She wasn’t Acchan’s bodyguard and would never be.
“I’m sorry… I should have told you before.” Acchan said as she finally looked Takamina.
“Everything’s fine. It was hard… I understand now… Why I received those mails… I understand why you looked so… scared when I saw you the first time.”
Acchan frowned.
“You knew about this?”
“I can see when you’re scared anytime. I know you better than anybody. And don’t even think that you don’t know me as much as Hiroko did. Hiroko knows the old me. You know who I am now. There’s a huge difference.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your past?” Acchan asked.
“You never asked me to… and you never told me about yours too… so I thought it wasn’t important. It would have changed nothing to our friendship… and I wanted to create great memories with you now so I can forget the bad ones. Even if it’s because of it that I’m like this today, I want to replace them… Because I know I’d be happier to remember great times shared with you than… that.”
Acchan was about to ask another question when Takamina added:
“You didn’t need to know about those sad events. And since we’re talking about sad things… The reason why I didn’t graduate with you… I think I finally found the answer.”
She paused. Took a deep breathe. And said:
“It’s because… If I had graduated at the same time, we would have never being able to see each other. I mean… See how far and busy you are now? You don’t even have time to talk to me at phone… If I had left the group too, I would probably be as busy as you are now… Means that we would both probably be so busy that we wouldn’t even being able to mail each other. When I decided to stay with AKB48, it was because I knew that, even if I was busy, I still had time to do something else at the same time… I knew that… I would have time to talk to you, even if you didn’t. I would have time to think about you, to be here right now, by your side. If I had left AKB48 with you, maybe we wouldn’t even talk to each other now because of our jobs. Being a singer is my dream… But I know… for now, all I want is to keep our friendship the way it is…”
Acchan sighed as she realized how right she was. She was so busy… If Takamina had the same life too… they would definitely not talk a lot… or maybe they would not talk together at all.
“I guess you’re right…”
Takamina smiled as she said:
“I wouldn’t be able to listen to you now. But since I can be by your side now, I swear I will do all I can do to protect you… When she’ll wake up… I’ll go and…”
Takamina stopped. She had always avoided Hiroko. Thinking of visiting her was… too much. But it was for her friend. She would give her life for Acchan.
“Don’t.” Acchan whispered. “I don’t want you to go.”
“Why?” Takamina frowned. “She would stop if…”
“For now… We’re fine. I can protect myself.”
“But you know… If I told her to stop…”
Acchan smiled.
“Everything is fine. Can we just stop talking about it?”
Takamina nodded. Hearing the reason why Takamina had not graduated with her reminded Acchan her unsure feelings toward her. For now… she just wanted to stay the way they were, side by side. She pushed the “play” button and the DVD played again.
“Let’s watch it together.” She said as her head lay on Takamina’s shoulder.
They were fine the way they were. Takamina said nothing and stared at the TV. It was Acchan’s graduation scene… Then… some random funny parts of when she was with the group… Here she was crying… Now she had a huge smile in her face… She was joking… Eating a big cake… There was a scene from the Skirt Hikari making of… She was so young… And here was at Yoyogi… And that was a scene from the PSP game… And here was a scene from MUJACK… Another one from Iiwake maybe making of… And this one was from AKBingo… And now she was sleeping… She was fishing… Oh yeah, she remembered seeing this scene from 5400 sec… Takamina wondered how come the fan had all those videos/pictures, but she was glad Acchan had received it. Sure… somehow… it was illegal… But if Acchan didn’t care about it, then she would not too.
She blushed a little, unaware that Acchan had already turned red, when the kiss scene from Heavy Rotation making of, the one shown in AKB documentary, played on the screen. It played three times, probably the shyest moment of Takamina’s life EVER, until a white sentence appeared on a black screen.
“We love you, but not as much as you love Takamina <3 ”
Then, the DVD stopped. The famous kiss scene between her and Acchan was the last scene.
***
Takamina's POVThe scene went black.
All I can do is staring at the television, even though there is nothing more. The fan who made this video is really great… Acchan seems so touched by this… And when she’s happy, I can’t help but feel better too. I’m thankful for all those great moments we had together… I miss them…
I’m looking at her now. She’s smiling, but I can see there’s something’s troubling her. I wonder what it is… Is it the kiss scene we just saw? It can’t be, right? She kissed me that day… I was so surprised I reacted too late and she did it. I can’t help but smirked as I remember how huge her smile was when she finally did it. It looked like she just did a miracle… though maybe it was since I never kissed anybody. Acchan… gave me my first kiss… Oh wait, there was that actress from Mendol, right? But it doesn’t count since we were just acting…right? Well, I guess Acchan was acting too, right? It was just… fan service, right? It’s hard to know what is real when you’re working as an idol. You always have to look perfect and innocent, but at the same time, fans want to see a… dark side from you. They want fan service too… I wonder how the fans reacted when they saw this scene… They must have been as surprised as I was.
“Acchan, don’t make such a troubled face.” That’s what I want to say right now, but the words are stuck in my throat and don’t want to move from there. I can’t tell exactly how she looks… but it seems painful to her. If only she could tell me what’s going on… But I guess it’s too serious… Or maybe I should just wait. I’m always like this. I want to know what bother people as soon as possible so I can help them… But I need to give them time to resolve their problems themselves… I guess I can’t help Acchan all the time after all. I guess… Even if we’re best friends… there’s still something I can’t do to help her. Maybe I’m not strong enough… Maybe she doesn’t trust me… It would be normal since she knows the truth about what I did to her manager…
Acchan’s looking at me now… Her eyes are beautiful. I feel I can just stare at her forever and be happy. But I must not think like this. This is not a way to think about a friend, right? There’s pain in her eyes… I don’t know what the reasons to this sad look are, but it makes me feel useless… Soon… I’ll have to go back to work… I’ll have to leave Acchan for a week… probably more. I don’t want to leave her with Hiroko… I’m worried about her… But I guess I have no choice but to work… since AKB48 is only the first step to reach my dream. I’m sorry Acchan… If I could stay here, I’d do it. But I’m still with the group. I have to work… I’m not as far as you are.
But you know, even if I told you I’ve stayed with AKB48 because I was afraid I might not have time to share with you if I left the group at the same time… I think we’re slowly moving apart… Even if I try to act the same as before, I can see you’re not looking the same way at me. Why are you looking at me with such sad eyes? Aren’t you happy to see me? I guess if you weren’t, I would have already left, so it’s probably not the problem. I wish I could know your problem, so I could do something about it. I’d do anything… Why don’t you tell me what it is?
Maybe if you could read my mind, you’ll see how worried I am about you. Hey, Acchan, please, smile at me before I leave… Even with your manager threatening you, even if you look so sad… even if it’s my fault, I need to see you smile.***
Acchan's POVI want to tell you everything.
I have no right to think about you that way. I’m stupid. I should stop thinking about it… But whenever I see this kiss scene, it’s like the world stops moving. It’s like there’s only the two of us. I made so much effort just to reach your lips… I know you probably don’t feel the same… I’m sure you probably don’t feel the same about it, but still… I can hope, right? I’m scared. I’m scared of Hiroko, of my career, of what I’m going to do later… but I’m also terrified when I look at myself and think about my feelings. Because I know it is impossible for me to think about you like this.
No matter how I look at this… It doesn’t change. Why? You told me, right? You told me you think two girls couldn’t be together, right? I guess you’re right… I mean… It’d be weird after so long time we know each other. Why am I thinking about it, anyways? There’s no way it can happen. Though I’m glad you came here tonight. I’m glad you’re worried about me, because it makes me feel important to you. I’m sorry if I’m making you sad by staring at you like this, but I can’t help it, it’s useless to hide the pain from you. You’d see it anyways. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. It will leave someday…
Hey… Takamina… If I told you how my feelings are… would you leave me alone? Because when you look at me with that cute worried look… my heart hurts so much I wonder if it’s not better for me to leave you…
TBCENDNOTE: Aww, poor Acchan… Well, pain is a part of life, so she has no choice but to deal with it! The question to ask is "how" will she deal with it...
Topic: Pink Vitriol (AtsuMina - COMPLETED) + Sequel - CHAPTER 4 (3/10/2012) (Read 105588 times)