[ . # C14 ]
"Eririn, do you want to leave together today? We can drop by to the newly opened western restaurant down the street at . . . "
Before Sayumi could finish her sentence, Eri had cleared her throat and interrupted the taller girl. "Sayu, I'm sorry. . .But. . . I really don't feel like eating out today." Eri rejected politely and quietly as she began to continue to clear the documents off her desk.
"Why Eririn? Not feeling well?" Sayumi concerned as she stretched her hand over Eri's forehead, testing the temperature over her hand.
"Hmmm." Eri shook her head lightly while moving back, moving away from the contact Sayumi made. "I'm just a little tired. I would want to return home early to have a good rest today." Eri explained.
"It must be the suspension of our inhuman supervisor that had made you this tired, Eririn." Sayumi concluded.
"Ne, Sayu, Gomen ne." Eri apologised again, feeling a little bad for rejecting Sayumi's offer to have their dinner together.
Sayumi shook her head immediately in response. "If that's the case, I guess we shall eat together tomorrow then." Sayumi continued with a gentle smile across her face. reassuring Eri that she was not taking in mind for the rejection for dinner. "Do you want to leave together then?" Sayumi asked again.
Eri shook her head in response. " I have a couple of other stuffs to fill in before leaving. Sayu you can leave first. You don't have to wait for me." Eri pulled a little smile on her face.
"If that's the case. . . " Sayumi trailed off, slightly in a quiet tone. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Eririn."
"Hmmm." Eri nodded her head. "I will see you again tomorrow, Sayu."
With that, Sayumi tracked softly across the room towards the exit, while Eri watch sadly at the retreating figure.
'Gomen ne, Sayu. . . I just wish to have some time by myself today. . . ' Eri apologised quietly in her mind. Peeling her sight away from the empty space where Sayumi stood previously, Eri diverted her attention back to her desk and started to organise the messy stationeries on her desk. Her hands stopped working when they were inches away from an orange covered pen with green turtles patched over it.
"Kame! This is for you!" Risa slit the pen into Eri's breast pocket swiftly and without waiting for any response from Eri, Risa had slipped away from the track where Eri sat.
'How many years ago was that?' Eri reminisced as she grabbed onto the memorable pen and held close to her face.
'10 years? ' Eri sighed deeply while she reached her hand towards the pen holder, dropping the pen back to its position. Eri stood up from her seat, took off her lab coat and hung it over the backrest of her chair. She grabbed her handbag from her locker drawer and paced towards the entrance of the laboratory.
"Kame . . . "
"I know what you want to say. . . Let's break up, shall we. . . isn't that so?"
"How - "
-bang-
The echo of someone hitting against the railing of the stairway to the exit of the building brought Eri out of her thoughts. She set her sight down the stairs, only to see Ai, stumbling and leaning against the railing support of the stairs. "Takahashi-san!" Eri exclaimed while rushing forward to support Ai. "Are you alright?" Eri continued in concern.
"Kamei-san?" Ai called out vaguely as she struggled to register the distorted image reflected on her retina.
"Are you alright, Takahashi-san?" Eri concerned again when Ai pulled herself away from Eri's grip. Ai nodded her head gently in response and attempted to make another step down the steps. Before she could even lift her feet, Ai had lose her balance and leaned back into Eri's embrace. "No, Takahashi-san, you don't look right to me in any way." Eri stated flatly to Ai. "Do you want me to bring you to a doctor or something like that? I think Yasuda-san should be still in her office though."
Ai shook her head stubbornly. "I - I said I'm alright. . . "Ai uttered weakly.
"If you don't want to have a doctor to assess on you, at least allow me to bring you home then, Takahashi-san." Eri refuted stubbornly, not allowing Ai to go in her own preferred way. Eri held firm onto Ai's petite frame and helped her down the stairways slowly.
'What is Takahashi-san doing at the MPD office in the first place? Isn't she on suspension? Looking from where she came, it seemed like she had just came out from the office of Team 5. . . ' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Where's your bedroom, Takahashi-san? Let me bring you to your bedroom." Eri asked delicately as she pushed the main door of Ai's apartment open, supporting Ai's bodyweight on her shoulder as she helped Ai into the house.
"Just bring me to the couch will do, Kamei-san." Ai whispered faintly.
Eri followed as what she was instructed. Carefully, she staggered Ai across the hallway where she placed Ai gently down on the couch. "You lips are cracking." Eri stated. At her own discretion, Eri left the living room and passed by the dining, where she randomly placed her working briefcase on the dining table, into the kitchen where she pulled a clean cup from the dish stand and filled the cup with water from the water dispenser. When she was done, she exited the kitchen and returned to Ai, where she held over the cup to Ai. "Have some water, Takahashi-san."
"Thank you." Ai thanked quietly as she wrapped her fingers over the cold surface of the glass and bring it slowly to her lips.
The two stayed in the room in awkward silence. Ai kept her eyes closed all the while, while Eri kept her eyes fixed on Ai.
"I'm really alright, Kamei-san." Ai spoke out of the blue, startling Eri. "I'm just a little low on sugar. That's all."
'She's - she's initiating a conversation?' Eri awed in her mind.
"Thank you for bringing me back." Ai continued softly, with her eyes closed lightly.
"You don't have to be so polite to me, Takahashi-san. You are my supervis-"
"Not anymore, Kamei-san." Ai interrupted before Eri could finish her sentence.
"Eh-"
"You knew my reason for suspension, don't you?" Ai continued quietly, not opening her eyes at all.
"I-" Eri stammered. "How - I - How "
"What's the relationship between you and the brat, Kamei-san?" Ai continued without waiting for a proper reply from Eri. "You don't have to answer, if you don't want to." Ai continued briefly after.
"The relationship between Gaki-san and I . . . is now all past tense. . . " Eri spoke almost inaudible after a long moment of silence. "Right from the day Haru-chan had appeared, Gaki-san had drew a perfect full stop on our relationship."
That sentence from Eri caused Ai to have her eyes open wide, allowing the soft lightings in her apartment to warm up her vision. Too, that was the time, Ai had realised that Eri had sat down on her the other couch, at a comfortable distance away from each other.
"I don't blame her. Neither Gaki-san nor Haru-chan. . . In fact. . . . It was because of Haru-chan, it is Haru-chan who had made what Gaki-san who she is this day. Without Haru-chan, I wouldn't had thought that Gaki-san would be able to achieve what she had till this day. . . She's like a gem in Gaki-san's life, that I can never be. . . " Eri trailed off sadly.
"Sorry." The simple 5 lettered word echoed in the silent room, causing Eri to look at Ai in surprise.
"You - you don’t have to, Takahashi-san. . . .It's - " Eri tried to get the right words to form at her lips but failed.
It seemed like Ai was able to sense the uneasiness and conflict going on in Eri's mind. She closed her eyes, pretending that she had not heard what Eri had just said.
"Takahashi-san. . . "
"Hmm?" Ai responded softly.
"Can I know why?" Eri embraced all her courage, cleared her throat and asked the question that had been buzzing in her mind right from the start. Why. To Eri, Ai is not the kind of person she bring herself to present to others. She always felt that there's something more than the Takahashi Ai that everyone sees in their eyes.
"There's no why. . . " Came the curt and short reply from Ai.
"There must be. . . "
"There isn't any." The reply as curt as before. "I don't need reasons for everything that I had done, Kamei-san."
Before Eri could further confront Ai, the buzzing phone from her pants pocket caught the attention of both in the room. Eri pulled it out immediately. Without any hesitation, she answered the call. "Gaki-san, what's wrong?"
Ai sat up in attention at the mention of the brat's name. However the sudden sitting up from her resting position caused a dizzy spell to run over Ai's mind, causing Ai to lean back to her original position.
'Did something happen to that child?' "Alright. I will be there right at a moment." Eri ended the call and turned to Ai. "Takahashi-san. . . I - "
"Just leave." Ai muttered before Eri could finish her sentence. "I can make my way back to my room by myself." With that, Ai forced herself back onto her feet. Slowly and wobbly, Ai began to pace back to her room. As she hear the closing of her apartment door, Ai sighed.
'Is. . . is she alright?' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for this uburly short chapter!!! it's more of a transition chapter than a real chapter. . .I thought it would be interesting to write an interaction between ai and eri, before eri meet up with Gaki, so .. . eheheheh.
And what was Aya's lie all about?
Aya's lie to Konkon is something to do about aichan's wounds inflammation and what had actually happened to aichan for her disappearance 8 years ago. . . So right now, only 2 people knew the truth. One is Gaki, Two is Aya. hahaha.
@ lil_hamz : Sadist ? hahah yet another one ar. . .hahahahahah.
and REALLY SORRY FOR THIS SUPER SHORT CHAPTER . . .it's all because of some
thingone! hahahahah JKJK. had been really busy for the past weeks. . . and being sorry for the lack of reply, i had decided to split one chapter into 2 . .. so that i can post it up earlier. . .hopefully i will be able to finish the other part by tomorrow . . .so . . .hehehe
de wa. . till the next chapter then! hehe
Topic: SEARCH [ . C #28 + Epilogue ] 31 December 2011 (Read 53154 times)