I knew I said there wouldn't be any update till weekend but what the heck, I finished this sooner than I thought.
I think this is my longest one parter yet. Hope you'll like it.
Story XI: Summer Memory (KojiYuu)She was doing it again. Kojima Haruna looked out her window and the same thing filled her mind over and over again, like it had been for the past five years. Unknowingly, she found herself reminiscing over the very same memory; the one she had from her final year of high school - The summer break that changed her life.
It was a summer that she will forever remember in her heart. ----- •ᴥ• --------- **Flashback – 5 Years Ago** ------------- •ᴥ• --------------
A sour look marred the beautiful face of 18 years old Haruna, who had been sent off to only-God-knows-where by her parents. She was against the whole ‘trip’, naturally, but her father had threatened to send cut off her allowance and her credit cards if she refused. The tall girl knew that she MIGHT had overspent the last few years and that her grades were going down the drain but her parents didn’t have to punish her like this. It was partially their fault anyway, Haruna thought. The girl had been spoilt from the day was born into the world. When your dad was one of the richest people in Japan, it was not wrong for her to indulge herself with some of the luxury right? Too bad her parents didn’t think so. As for her bad grades, Haruna defended herself by saying that those questions asked in exam were things that they never taught in school. Unfortunately, her reasoning fell on deaf ears.
“It was for the greater good.”
That was what her father had told her, but young Haruna could not see any benefit coming from sending her off to the middle of nowhere, thousands of miles away from the city that she loved and grew up with. She should be at the beach with her friends at the time, having the time of her life, NOT being forced to live with her uncle over the summer. Until a few days ago, she didn’t even know that she had such uncle who lived so far away. Oh dear.
Haruna sighed.
It had been at least 4 hours since she got into the car and there was still no sign that they were reaching their destination. Feeling that her bottom was starting to feel a little bit sore, she shifted slightly, now leaning against the car window. The bishoujo glanced outside. There were no signs of civilization yet. Just lots and lots of trees. And bushes. And a monkey swinging on one of the trees?
Haruna sighed again, her mood sinking deeper and deeper. Realizing that there was nothing she can do except stare off into space, Haruna decided that sleeping would be a better choice and closed her eyes. She prayed that by the time she opened them again, this would be nothing more than a silly nightmare.
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“Ojou-sama.”
“Ojou-sama, please wake up.”
Haruna stirred awake from the driver’s voice. Groggily, she rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times to clear her vision. When she had fully recovered from the drowsiness, she realized that the car had stopped and that her driver was standing outside, holding the car’s door open for her.
“Ojou-sama, we have arrived.” Informed the driver.
“Arrived? Arrived where?” Haruna enquired as she stepped out of the car and looked around.
Standing in front of her was a medium sized traditional Japanese wooden house with a huge backyard. Located beside the house were a small garden and a pond, Haruna noticed. It was a beautiful house, Haruna had to admit but still, it was nothing compared to her mansion back in the city. Before her driver could answer her question, the front door of the house opened to reveal an old man, probably in his fifties.
“Ah, you must be Haru-chan!” The man greeted. Haruna bowed her head in respect. Although Haruna never met the old man before, she deduced that he was her dad’s brother based on the adult’s uncanny resemblance with her dad.
“Hai, I’m Haruna. Please take good care of me.” The male laughed heartily.
“Now, now, no need to be so formal with me, Haru-chan. We’re family after all.” Haruna smiled back at her uncle, though the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. Part of her was screaming ‘Home! Home!’ but she could only watch sadly as her driver unloaded her luggage and drove away. Her uncle seemed to notice her state of unhappiness and patted on Haruna’s shoulder.
“Cheer up, Haru-chan. I’m sure you’ll have a good time here.”
At that moment, Haruna didn’t believe a word that her uncle said. How can she possible be happy living in that place? She didn’t have any friends there and she couldn’t contact the ones that she had as well because her ‘kind’ father also decided to strip her off the luxury of having a mobile phone. Yes, 18 years old Haruna Kojima thought that she would spend the worst summer of her life in that little, peaceful village.
That was, until she met
her.
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The fateful first encounter was during Haruna’s third day at the village, which name she had learned as Ekebi village. Haruna was sitting under a tree alone, eating snacks. For the past few days she had been either following her uncle’s wife shopping for groceries or remain caged in her room. The tall girl would have like to stay on bed that day too but her aunt had shooed her from the house, telling that she should go out and make new friends.
“What new friends?” Haruna grumbled.
As she munched on her snacks unhappily, Haruna took in the scenery around her. At least the place was beautiful, Haruna thought. There were plenty of plants around and for the first time in her life, Haruna actually breathed in fresh air! The village was nothing like the polluted city. Pretty but lacking on the entertainment side, that was how Haruna would describe Ekebi.
Nearby to the tree she was sitting under, there was a field where some elementary school kids were playing ball on. Haruna watched the children ran around, kicking the ball. After a while she noticed that among those kids there was actually a teenage girl, probably around her age or younger. It was easy to mistake the girl as one of them from afar as the girl was not much taller than the kids. The kids seemed to adore the short girl, seeing how they got along so well despite the difference in age. They were laughing and enjoying themselves so much that Haruna couldn’t help but smile at the sight.
Suddenly one of the kids kicked the ball too hard that it flew towards Haruna’s direction. The ball bounced for a few times before it ended up rolling near Haruna’s feet. Putting her snack aside, Haruna grabbed the ball with her hands and was about to throw the ball back to the kids but then she saw the petite girl was already running toward her. Once the girl stopped in front of her, Haruna thought that the short girl was quite cute from up close.
“Can we have the ball back, please?” The girl asked, smiling. Her dimples and her teeth reminded Haruna that of a squirrel. Absolutely adorable.
“Sure.” Haruna smiled back and gave the ball to the girl. The girl beamed and bowed her head in gratitude.
“Thank you!”
Haruna responded by waving her hand and said that it was nothing to be thankful over. Nonetheless the girl thanked Haruna again and walked back to the waiting children. All of the sudden the girl stopped in her tracks and turned around, facing Haruna once more. She looked like she wanted to say something but a bit hesitant about it. A confused Haruna stared as the girl closed her eyes, took a deep breath and finally spoke up.
“Ano…. Would you like to join us?” The girl asked, blushing slightly.
Haruna blinked. The invitation had taken her by surprise but she decided to take up the offer anyway after some quick thinking. Haruna was not the sporty type, however, since she had nothing else to do and it was too early to go back…
“Might as well join them.” Haruna thought.
The tall beauty stood up and walked towards the short girl. Haruna giggled at how nervous the other girl looked.
“Let’s play ball!”
Upon hearing Haruna’s words, the short girl breathed in relief and grinned widely. She threw the ball at Haruna.
“Hey, what’s your name?” Haruna caught the ball easily and threw it back.
“Kojima Haruna.” The short girl took in the new information and repeated it, as if tasting Haruna’s name on her lips. Her smile grew even wider.
“I’m Yuko, Oshima Yuko. Nice to meet you.”
And that was how Haruna met Yuko.
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As the holiday progressed, Haruna had been spending more and more time with Yuko. Yuko was a bubbly girl and fun to be around, although she was somewhat of a pervert too (what others would consider as sexual harassments were only skinships by Yuko’s definition). The short girl had been showing Haruna around the village too and surprisingly, there were more things to do than what Haruna initially thought. Yuko would always bring her on adventures full of excitements and occasionally, those little escapades of theirs would mean troubles for the two of them (usually in the form of angry Takamina, the daughter of the village’s chief that Yuko liked to prank on) but all of them were harmless fun.
In short, Haruna’s days were never dull with Yuko around. Although she had only known Yuko for a short time, Haruna felt that they had been friends forever. Despite the clear contrast between their personalities and background, they just clicked. Something in their relationship changed later on, however. It occurred after about 2 and a half weeks after Haruna set her foot on Ekebi.
The trouble started with
those three words. ------------- •ᴥ• -------------- •ᴥ• ------------------ •ᴥ• --------------
“I love you.”
Haruna stared at her friend. Yuko and her were playing at a nearby river and were enjoying themselves up until a couple of seconds ago, when Yuko confessed out of the blue. Haruna thought that she had misheard and probably imagined it but…
“I love you, Nyan Nyan.” Yuko repeated herself, a weak smile on her lips.
Never had hearing her own nickname given by the short girl would bring Haruna such pain. The tall girl was at loss at what to do. Surely Yuko was not referring to the love between friends, was she? There was certain seriousness in her tone that Haruna could not brush it off as playful love confession between friends. Awkward silence fell between the two girls. The only noise that can be heard was the sound of the pebbles hitting the water as Yuko threw them into the river. Suddenly Haruna felt it was hard looking at her friend. She faced away and twiddled the stick in her hand, making several holes on the ground.
“Since when?” Haruna asked quietly.
Another silence. The older girl wondered if Yuko had heard her. She took a glance at the other girl every now and then to see that the younger was deep in thought.
“I’m not sure.”
Another pebble sank to the bottom of the river.
“Probably the day you gave me back the ball at the field.”
There goes another one.
“The day at the field? But isn’t that…”Haruna stopped poking the earth and looked incredulously at girl sitting next to her. Yuko had been in love with her since the day one? Haruna felt so blind. How can she not notice?
“I’m not asking for an ‘I love you’ back or anything though. Just figured that I should let Nyan Nyan knows how I feel.” Yuko continued again, still throwing small rocks into the calm water.
“Yu-chan….” The younger of the two finally stopped what she had been doing and turned to look at the older one, wearing a smile. It was not as bright as her usual one.
“Nyan Nyan doesn’t need to worry though; I’d still be her friend.”
After saying that, Yuko stood up and suggested that they should head back on the reason that it was getting late, leaving Haruna with no chance to say anything about the confession, if she had anything to say at all. Words failed her.
For the past two weeks, the two girls had always held hands whenever they walked together. On that day, Yuko didn’t even try to hold Haruna’s hand as they made their way home.
Haruna’s hands felt colder, somehow.
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“Yu-chan, why do you love me?”
Haruna asked the question that had been plaguing her mind since the day at the river. The matter was not brought up anymore after that day and things had gone back to normal. As normal as it could be, at least. The two of them still hung out together every day and Yuko’s treatment toward her didn’t change the slightest but Haruna could not help but feel a little bit awkward.
Yuko lay down on the grass. They were at the field where they first met, star gazing. The squirrel-like girl looked at Haruna and smiled.
“I don’t know. I just do.” Haruna felt a bit disappointed at the answer. Was she hoping for a better one? She did not know. Yuko laughed at the pouting Haruna. She patted down the grass next to her, signaling Haruna to lie down as well. The tall girl followed and Yuko started talking again.
“Eto…. How should I explain this?” Haruna looked at her friend expectantly.
“See those stars up there?” The younger pointed at the sky above them. Haruna nodded slightly.
“Which star is the brightest to you?” Yuko’s question caused a frown to appear on Haruna’s forehead. She failed to see the connection between her question and Yuko’s question.
“That one.” Haruna answered regardless, pointing at one of the stars.
“For me it’s that one.” Yuko pointed to another star. The older looked at the star that Yuko had point out. Haruna frowned again. There was no way that star was brighter than the one she had chosen.
“You see, it’s different for everyone. The brightest star, I mean. For me it’s that one and for you, it’s the other one.” Yuko explained.
Haruna nodded at the explanation. But she still did not get it, how do all of that relate to her question earlier? Yuko giggled seeing her friend state of confusion.
“You’re the brightest star to me, Nyan Nyan.” Yuko said, gazing lovingly into Haruna’s eyes.
Suddenly everything clicked in Haruna’s brain and the girl blushed. She felt her heart was beating faster than normal. What is this feeling?
“I’m not sure if that explanation was any good though. Ahaha..” Yuko broke the eye contact and stared at the sky once again with a smile, her cute dimples showing.
Haruna understood perfectly, because…
The shorter girl’s smile was the brightest to her.
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It was one rainy evening when they first kissed.
Fully drenched in rainwater, the two girls ran to the Kojima’s. They were on their way back from the convenience store when downpour commenced. Quickly Haruna unlocked the door and both of them entered the empty house. Haruna’s uncle had gone out with his wife for a gathering at the next village, which meant that Haruna will be alone until midnight.
“Stay here Yu-chan, I’ll go get towels for us.” Haruna instructed.
The tall girl tried to dry herself off as much as possible before heading toward her room, carefully avoiding from dripping too much water on the floor. Yuko stayed at the hallway and waited. After a few minutes, Haruna returned with the towel. The girl had also changed out of her wet clothes into dry ones.
“Here you go, Yu-chan.”
After handing the piece of cloth over, Haruna watched as the other girl towel herself dry. A slight blush appeared on Haruna’s cheeks when she realized that she could see through Yuko’s wet shirt. Her body began to heat up and she fidgeted uncomfortably. Noticing her friend weird behaviour, Yuko stopped what she was doing and turned to face Haruna.
“What’s wrong?” She asked.
Haruna became even redder now that she can see Yuko’s front. She shifted her eyes away quickly and handed over the change of clothes that she had almost forgotten about.
“Uh… These are mine so I think it will be slightly bigger for you but I guess you can wear them while waiting for your clothes to dry.”
“Ah, thank you!” The younger smiled. Haruna’s heartbeat steadily increased, causing her to stutter her next few words.
“You-you’re welcome. You know where the bathroom is.”
Haruna breathed in deeply, trying to calm down her racing heart once Yuko disappeared into the bathroom. She flopped down into one of the chair in the living room and sighed. She had been thinking a lot about the girl in the bathroom and their relationship ever since the day of the confession but lately the girl became the sole thing occupying her usually empty brain. Oddly, Haruna also felt that Yuko seemed to have gotten prettier, even though she did not do anything to change her appearance. Whatever the reason was, lately Haruna found it hard to look away from her friend. Already more than once the tall girl caught herself staring at those round eyes, cherry lips, slim figure, well-endowed chest, honey thighs... Haruna smacked herself at such thoughts.
“Her perversion is rubbing off on me!” At the word ‘rub’, more not-so-innocent thoughts came to Haruna’s mind and she shook her head furiously to drive them away.
“Nyan Nyan you alright?”
Finally aware of the face inches from hers, Haruna let out a yelp and pushed Yuko away with all her strength sending the younger girl flying across the room. Haruna was horrified when she realized what she had done.
“Oh my god, Yu-chan I’m so sorry!”
“Geez Nyan Nyan, are you trying to kill me?” Yuko rubbed her throbbing head, which had bumped onto the wall. She let out a sharp intake of breath when her fingers came in contact with the hurting part.
“Itai itai itai~”
Panicking, Haruna rushed over to her friend side. She examined Yuko’s head for any injury and was relieved when she saw no red substances flowing out.
“Luckily you’re not bleeding.”
“But it still hurts!” Yuko whined.
Haruna gave a small smile and brought Yuko’s head closer before blowing softly on the bruise.
“Better?”
Pink hue adorned the smaller girl’s cheeks at the affectionate action. After she recovered from the blush, Yuko then gave a cheeky grin and a wink.
“I’ll feel much better if Nyan Nyan gives me a kiss.”
It was the older girls’ turn to turn red. Yuko laughed at how easily it was to tease the girl, unaware of Haruna’s eyes on her. The laughter died down when Haruna cupped the younger girl’s face. With Haruna’s beautiful eyes boring into her own, Yuko felt her soul was being sucked out. The distance between them grew thinner as both female leaned in closer until their lips met.
Indescribable sensation exploded within their body, something close to the feeling of being electrocuted but not quite the same. It was pleasant, blissful, fiery, passionate and addictive. Nobody really knew who pulled the other closer but the kiss progressively turned deeper and deeper with tongues battling for dominance, limbs all tangled up with another. More articles of clothing made their way on the wooden floor. Sound of moans filled the air, along with noises of the rain hitting the roof. Desires to be connected, to be whole consumed them, intoxicating them to the point of no return.
It was the sound of the thunder that snapped Haruna back to her senses. The kisses stopped, leaving the girl underneath craving for more. The older pulled away, distancing herself from the other girl. Yuko got up and was about to ask what was wrong but stopped herself upon seeing the state that her beloved was in. Haruna was curled up in a ball, head buried in her knees. Her entire body was shaking.
Euphoria was replaced with fears. Tears started to flow as the weight of the world crashed down on her. Yuko quietly wrapped her arms around the taller girl as Haruna sobbed uncontrollably.
“I…I’m sorry, Yu-chan. I- I just can’t. I can’t do this. I’m really really sorry.”
A nod of the head. A crack of the heart that was unheard of. A sad smile.
“It’s- It’s alright. I… understand.”
It was that same rainy evening when they got their first heartbreak.
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Summer break ended. And so did their relationship.
Yuko never visited anymore and Haruna was too afraid to make the first move. Haruna did not blame Yuko for the fall out of their friendship. She could not, not after everything that happened. Haruna’s summer reverted back to how it had started – Unhappy and lonely, even more so than before. She cried every night, wishing that she could see the girl for one last time before she returned to the city.
On the night before her departure from Ekebi, Kami-sama granted her wish, for Yuko came knocking on Kojima’s door once more. They walked in silence, both thinking of what can be said. Their feet eventually carried them to the place where it all began – The tree by the field.
“I’m leaving tomorrow.” The silence was broken by Haruna. The air still felt heavy though.
“I know...” A soft reply was given and the pair seemed to become mute once again.
Thinking that something needed to be done, Haruna gripped the hem of her shirt and was about to apologize but Yuko placed a finger on her lips, preventing her from saying anything. The younger girl shook her head.
“Don’t. It’s not Nyan Nyan’s fault. I should be the one to say sorry.”
Why on Earth would Yuko said it was her fault was beyond Haruna’s comprehension. She protested internally. Yuko did not do anything wrong. If falling in love was a crime, then Haruna was as equally guilty too.
“I said I’d still be her friend, but I wasn’t being a good friend am I? I avoided her for the past few days.“ Yuko continued. Haruna felt her heart sank to the bottom of an extremely deep ocean.
Haruna desperately wanted to say something, anything to the girl next to her. The older wanted to tell Yuko that she meant so much more than a friend to Haruna but what good will it do? Things could never work out between them. Her dad would disown her if the news that his precious daughter fell for a girl reached his ears.
“I came to say goodbye. It’s the least I can do.” Yuko’s voice was breaking as she said those sorrowful words.
Haruna bit her lip and closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. She did not want to cry. At least not in front of Yuko.
“…Will we ever see each other again?” Haruna asked quietly.
“Saa… Who knows? If it’s in our fate, then maybe we will.” Yuko replied with a weak smile. The older girl gave a smile of her own in return and intertwined their fingers together. Their hands fitted perfectly.
They sat there in silence and stared the stars above them, savoring the remaining time they had left with each other. Both knew that by the time the sky changed its color again, there was only farewell waiting.
That night was the last Haruna saw the girl who went by the name Oshima Yuko.
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Kojima Haruna that returned to the city was no longer the same Haruna that had to be sent off to live in a village. In order to block out the pain of the heartbreak, Haruna had drowned herself with work. She had stopped going to parties too because none of those events managed to even bring out as little as a smile from her. Instead of having fun, she found herself getting irritated. Her parents were delighted with the change. Haruna’s grades improved drastically since and she graduated as one of the top students in her class.
----- •ᴥ• --------- **Flashback ends** ------------- •ᴥ• --------------
Haruna sighed at the paperwork before her. Displayed proudly on her desk was a name plate with C.E.O: KOJIMA HARUNA printed on it. She had come a long way from being a spoiled brat into the chief executive officer of her dad’s company. One would be joyful to have obtained such achievement such a young age but Haruna was nowhere near happy. A huge part of her was still left in Ekebi five years ago and it never came back. Not a day passed by without her questioning herself what could have happened if she had a little bit more courage back then. She regretted her decision of not taking a shot at love that summer.
She did try to look for Yuko by going back to Ekebi during the next summer break but failed. Takamina had told her that Yuko was not a native of the village and the girl was only around every once in a while, no one knew when her next visit to Ekebi would be. It was then only Haruna realized that there were many things that she did not know about her summer love. In all those time they had spend together, Haruna never asked about Yuko’s background and Yuko never did talked about herself. The fact that she had no idea on how to find the love of her life left Haruna devastated.
Deciding that she needed a break from work, Haruna went out to buy a can of coffee and took a stroll at the park nearby. She came across a group of kindergarten running around but chose to ignore them. She settled down on one of the empty bench in the park and opened the can of coffee she bought earlier. Frustration came over her as she thought about the piling papers waiting for her in the office. She shut her eyes and made herself comfortable on the bench, trying to relax her tired brain. She opened her eyes again when she felt something hit her legs. It was a ball.
“Can we have the ball back, please?”
The familiarity of the voice was startling. When Haruna looked up to see the owner of the ball, she felt her heart stopped and she could only stare at the young woman that stood in front of her. The woman stared back until recognition hit her. She smiled. It was the same as the one five years ago, cute dimples showing and eyes as bright as the stars. It was like déjà vu. The scene from five years ago had replayed itself all over again. The differences this time, both of them were already adults.
“Hello Nyan Nyan.”
And that Haruna was no longer afraid.
THE END
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Till next time! Mata-ne!
Topic: Heart Station [Update 8/1: Favourite / Once Again ] (Read 82297 times)