>>anonymousdowner
A-A-A-Anonymousdowner-s-sama!?
I... I... *speechless*
Anonymousdowner-sama likes my fanfic....
I... I'm... T-Thank you... m(__)m
I really like anonymousdowner-sama's fanfic too~
That wMatsui fanfic of your's is godly (and I am forever a silent reader there)~
I'm still following the fic on your blog nyan~
And lol~ I can't write anything ecchi, or even border-ecchi,
as much as I know that will satisfy some reader,
I have a rule to myself on keeping everything as innocent as I can *cough*
but of course, who knows, maybe things will change xDDDD
A-A-A-And, t-three!? Nonononono, it should be me bowing to you,
please accept my worship, anonymousdowner-sama!
*worships* still waiting for the next Forbidden Flower update *worship*
>>Everyone
As promised, the next part to the KumiYuri short fic~
Hope you guys enjoy it!
Especially, Yanyan-san~ Hope you enjoy it too!
And please do comment if you can! (^^)
I might get lazy to comment back, but I (always) still comment back! xDDDD
Father's Debt, Daughter's Responsibility - Part 2
Two days has passed and yet no one has even seen or even heard from Kumi. Missing out all the band’s practices even though they have another live coming up soon in the next month wasn’t anything like the Kumi anyone knew. The Kumi everyone knew would never miss out band practice even if she is sick.
Resting her chin on the table and spinning her phone on the table with a frown, was Jurina, who couldn’t get rid of the thoughts of one of her best friends not being seen by anyone for two days already. “Nee,” Jurina called out to both the members in the room, “Really, has no one seen Kuumin or got in touch with her in anyway...?”
Akane shook her head as she sipped her drink and went back to the magazine on her lap. Airi too, shook her head, but instead of being able to place aside the matter like Akane could, Airi had no choice but to put aside her manga as the reminding of her friend’s absence returned to her mind, causing her to lose concentration.
“Anyone know what happened to her?” Akane asked without looking away from her magazine, turning another page.
“Not even the staff knows where she is...” Airi mumbled as she turned her head to where Kumi’s guitar was placed aside, looked after by the staff crew for the moment.
There was a strange silence in the room as both Jurina and Airi stared into empty space, lost in their own thoughts, accompanied by the sound of Akane sipping on her drink.
“You don’t think those notes from the other day actually had anything to do with Kuumin, do you?” Akane asked out of curiosity. The question caused both Jurina and Airi both to look at her, but otherwise stayed silent, much unlike that day when Masana doubted Kumi where the two jumped to Kumi’s defense right away.
“Maybe we should go see if we can find Kuumin at her home? Maybe she is staying home?” Airi suggested.
“If Kuumin doesn’t want to be found,” Akane answered in a casual voice and sipped her drink again, “even if you go to her house you would not be able to find her.”
Angry at the relaxed tone of voice Akane was using, Jurina jumped up from where she was sitting and snatched the drink out of Akane’s hands and shouted at the girl, “Can you stop being so carefree and acting like you don’t care!?”
Akane simply shrugged at Jurina’s outburst and took her drink back from Jurina. “There’s no good just sitting here worrying about it,” Akane said as she closed the magazine on her lap and placed it aside, “If Kuumin wanted us to know what was happening then she would’ve called us. Her not contacting us must mean that she have a reason behind it and the best we can do as her band is stand by her side and silent support her and not question her. Not to mention,” Akane looked at Airi to answer Airi’s suggestion from before, “Kuumin has been moving house every few weeks already for a reason she wouldn’t tell us. So tell me, Airin, do you think the chances of us finding where Kuumin live is high? Let’s not even talk about finding the actual person herself!”
Jurina glared at Akane, “You are so cold.” Ignoring the statement, Akane stood up from her seat and walked out of the room.
Airi stared towards the direction where Akane disappeared off to and asked Jurina, “What’s up with her today? She’s not acting like her normal self...” Hearing no answer from the other girl, Airi turned around only to see Jurina staring at her phone, frozen in her own little world again, probably wanting to call Kumi again. Assuming to herself that practice was probably over that day, Airi sighed and packed her things, getting herself read to go and buy the new volume of manga down at the bookstore where it was being released today.
***
“Are you sure, Kumi-san? I mean, helping out in here, don’t you have to go to band practice or something?”
“Don’t worry, Yuria,” The said girl said shaking her head, dressed with an unusual hazel brown and yellow employee t-shirt that still somehow manage to fit the girl despite her currently growing reputation. “They can go a week without me at practice,” Kumi smiled at the smaller girl and gave her a small pat on the head.
Yuria nodded, her lips unable to form any words as her heart would not stop fluttering after hearing Kumi calling her like this, showing such action at her in public where anyone could recognize her. Although she could not figure out why exactly her heart was acting like that, perhaps she was too nervous, hearing Kumi calling her in such a way, or feeling such warm action coming from the girl, as if they were friends. However, Yuria knew better. No matter how much Yuria can hang around Kumi, their relationship will only be as close as performers and backstage crew members and Yuria will always only be able to admire Kumi from a distance. But of course, that doesn’t mean that Yuria doesn’t like having Kumi so close to her.
To be honest, Yuria didn’t even know why things were happening the way they were right now. With Kumi working part time at the book store that Yuria’s uncle’s friend works at. But no matter how many times Yuria asked Kumi, the girl would refuse to give her a reason why and usually either pretends she didn’t hear the question or would just quickly change the conversation topic to something else. And all of this started that night Yuria saw Kumi at the hospital after Kumi’s live show. After Yuria finished with all of her work, which wasn’t long after Kumi left her after their short encounter, as Yuria was deciding to go home and rest for the night, she found Kumi waiting for her near the hospital main entrance.
>>Flashback<<
Yuria washed her hands thoroughly, with soap, twice, washing off as much bacteria as she can so she can avoid getting sick like many of the other workers had already. It wasn’t a time that Yuria could afford being sick in, even though it was the change of season, where everyone gets sick. She had not just the bills to pay but also her father’s gambling debts to pay back, and with her mother being sick right now, she even had to earn the money for her mother’s medical fees. Being sick now will just double up her family’s finance problem.
Pushing the thoughts of her irresponsible father off her mind, Yuria pulled out a paper towel and dried her hands with it. Scrunching up the towel into a ball, accurately, Yuria threw the ball into the bin on the other side of the room. Satisfied, Yuria grabbed her bag and walked out of the room, can’t wait to get out of the hospital and out into the fresh air. Just as she closed the door, she heard a voice called her from behind,
“Yuria, let’s go have supper together.”
Yuria turned around and was surprised, yet at the same time not surprised, to see Kumi leaning against the wall, looking at her. Not surprised because Kumi’s voice was a voice that she would never have trouble identifying, but surprised because Kumi was supposed to be gone already.
“Wasn’t Kumi-san supposed to be gone a while ago?” Yuria asked.
Kumi shrugged, “I didn’t feel like going back yet.”
Yuria’s eyes widened, “Have you been waiting here the whole time?”
The girl ignored the question and held out her hand, “Let’s go eat supper!”
Yuria looked at the hand and then back up at Kumi in surprise. “W-with... me..?” Yuria pointed to herself.
Kumi looked around, ‘I don’t see anyone else around.” After a few seconds, Kumi looked back at Yuria and she allowed her hand to drop back to her side, “Or do you not want to?”
Picking up the slight dejected sounding voice, Yuria immediately shook her head and said in a voice slightly louder than usual, “Nonononono, I want to go!”
A smile instantly formed on Kumi’s face at the girl’s words, “Let’s go then!”
As the two girls made their way out of the hospital, Yuria couldn’t help but wonder to herself, “Why would you even want to eat with someone like me....?” Although surprised at Kumi’s sudden invitation for her to go out and eat supper with her, Yuria accepted it nonetheless and followed the girl. Happiness surged within her as she realized that her place in the rising star’s eyes was high enough for the girl wanting to treat her.
Kumi gave the girl a small smile, having heard the girl’s wondering-outloud-thoughts, “Do I need a reason to treat a friend to a meal?”
***
The two girls sat in silence in one of the rare open-past-midnight café as they waited for their ordered supper to arrive. Yuria took out her purse from her bag and took out her earnings today from the envelopes and then counted them and put them in her purse with a satisfied smile on her face.
Kumi watched for a while and then out of curiousity, threw a question at the smaller girl, “How many jobs are you working at right now?”
Yuria answered with a tired smile as she put her purse back into her bag, “Five.”
Kumi’s eyes widened at the number and started wondering to herself as to how one can work at so many jobs all at once. Herself having only one job as a band guitarist was already tiring and time consuming enough, having five jobs at the same time, Kumi couldn’t even imagine how tiring that must be.
Yuria looked up at Kumi as she placed her bag aside and saw Kumi deep in thought. Knowing what Kumi was thining about, Yuria answered the unasked question, “Two of my jobs don’t require daily attendance and they are only for the weekends. The other two is close to each other so I can get from one job to the other quite quickly without having to rush. It only feels like I’m doing a job that requires me to travel around, so it’s not like its anymore difficult than a normal job.” After a short moment of silence, Yuria quickly added, as if to defend herself, “B-But of course, I always work my hardest and focuses on being SAKAElove’s backstage crew member the most.”
Kumi raised one of her eyebrow as she looked at Yuria, “Because we pay the most?”
Yuria giggled and shook her head, “It’s because working as your backstage is the only job that I actually want to do. When you have a job that you enjoy doing, it is only normal to focus on it the most and work your best at it.”
“What about your other jobs?” Kumi asked.
Yuria forced a small smile out and looked down at the table, “I have no choice but to force myself to enjoy those jobs...”
Kumi raised her eyebrow once again, a habit of hers whenever she finds something strange. But then who wouldn’t think that a girl having to force herself to enjoy a job, strange? What type of jobs will even require a girl to force herself to enjoy it. For a while, Kumi found her mind brought her mind into thinking about the types of jobs that a girl could take where one must force themselves to enjoy it for the sake of money.
Yuria laughed at Kumi’s expression turned trouble and knew straight away again what Kumi was thinking about. “Not those kind of jobs,” Yuria giggled, “I would never sell my body for money. It’s just that out of all five of my jobs, two of them are at a café, one is at a bookstore and the other one is at the hospital. I really don’t find any of them that easy to enjoy.”
Kumi nodded, finding herself breathing out a sigh of relief when she found confirmation that Yuria wasn’t working at the jobs that Kumi was thinking about before. Though Kumi had no idea why she felt worried when she thought that Yuria was taking those sorts of jobs. Such a thing should not worry Kumi at all, since Yuria was really only just a backstage crew member and Kumi could only see her as a friend from work. And even if Yuria did consider her as a friend, they had only just met for a while, it should not even be her place to worry about Yuria.
The food arrived on one single tray, served by one of the only three waiters in sight. Yuria didn’t dare to be the first one to eat, fearing that she will show disrespect as she remembered how her father used to tell her off when she was little whenever she ate before he did. Seeing Yuria not showing any sign that she was going to eat, Kumi smiled and pushed Yuria’s plate towards the girl and pulled her own plate towards her.
“Eat up, Yuria,” Kumi picked up her own fork and pointed at Yuria’s plate of food, “Else the pasta are going to get cold.” Seeing Yuria still sitting there, unmoving, staring at her own plate of pasta, Kumi sighed and just shook her head and began to eat her own pasta. The moment she stabbed her fork into the food, she noticed Yuria picked up her own fork and started eating. ’Was she just waiting for me to start eating first?’ Kumi thought to herself as she stared at Yuria, amused.
After another while of silence, Yuria finally looked up from her food and asked a question that was bugging, “So... why was Kumi-san in the hospital anyway right after today’s live? You still haven’t answered me yet.”
Kumi stayed quiet, making others doubt if she heard the question. But Yuria knew Kumi heard her because instead of continuing eating, Kumi started stabbing at her food with her fork, her gaze focusing only on her plate. Although being the first time that she had ever talked to Kumi like this, Yuria could tell something was on Kumi’s mind.
Then all of a sudden, the girl stopped poking at her food and looked up at Yuria and asked a question that almost threw Yuria off her seat, “Can you take me to work at one of your part time places too?”
Yuria stared at Kumi with her jaws dropped, “Eh?”
“Please,” Kumi begged.
“Why?” Yuria asked the girl, “Kumi-san probably earn more in a month than I would at all five of these jobs. And plus, someone like you working part time at a place like mine is not good for the band’s reputation.”
“I can deal with that,” Kumi waved her arm, dismissing Yuria’s worries, “Can you please take me to your next part time?”
Yuria thought for awhile then slowly nodded though her mind was still confused and could not understand just why Kumi would suddenly ask such a strange request of her. However, seeing Kumi deep in thought again now, stabbing at her food again, Yuria knew Kumi would never answer her.
>>Present time<<
“So... Why did you want to come along anyway?” Yuria asked as the two of them began sorting out the books and moving the boxes.
Kumi ignored the question again, like she always had and pointed to one of the box of manga and turned around to Yuria, “Where is this supposed to go?”
Yuria peered over and looked at the box, then pointed to one of the corner of the shop, “Under that shelf over there.” Yuria watched with admiration at how Kumi does her best even at a job like this. Stacking all the boxes altogether neatly, making sure they all fit perfectly. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Yuria turned around and smiled automatically when a costumer asked her to help her find a cooking book. “I’ll be back in a second,” Yuria said as she led the costumer away.
Kumi continued to move the boxes to their designated areas, as instructed by the senior manager earlier. Suddenly, someone tapped her on the shoulder and a familiar girl’s voice hit Kumi’s ears,
“Um, excuse me, do you know where the latest volume of One Piece is? I can’t seem to find it anywhere...”
Kumi quickly set her box down to one side and thanked her own memory for remembering where she had seen it before. She turned around and was just about to point the costumer to section C, where all the newly released articles were, but froze and couldn’t speak when she saw who was in front of her.
“K-Kuumin!?”
“A-Airin!?” Kumi jumped back slightly at the sudden presence of her fellow band member, “W-What are you doing here?”
Airi stared at Kumi for a while and the redirected the question back to her, “What are YOU doing here!?” Airi looked at Kumi up and down, finding it weird that Kumi was wearing such kind of clothes, something that was completely out of her fashion style. Pushing her thoughts aside, Airi switched the topic back to the most important matters, “Everyone is looking for you. Why won’t you answer your phone?”
Seeing someone standing next to her, Yuria called out, saving Kumi unknowingly, “Kumi-san? Is everything okay?”
Airi turned around at the voice calling her friend and saw someone familiar but couldn’t quite remember who it was, “Who are you?”
Yuria gasped, seeing who it was that was facing her, “F-Furukawa-san!?”
Airi looked at Yuria, still trying to figure out her identity, “Who are you?”
“A-Ah! O-Of course!” Yuria did a small apologetic bow, “I’m Kizaki Yuria.”
Airi nodded and smiled, “So that’s why you are so familiar. You are one of the backstage crew members right?” Yuria nodded, happy to know that her presence was noticed by someone like Airi. “What are you doing here with Kuumin?” Airi asked the girl.
Yuria was about to speak, but before she could, Kumi cut her off, “I’m taking a part time job here. Yuria just happens to be here as well. She doesn’t know anything.” Yuria was about to speak up to tell Airi the truth, but she felt Kumi pulled her back, stopping her from speaking anymore. Kumi knew that if anyone knew that Yuria was here with her and yet she didn’t inform anyone back at the office that she had found Kumi, Yuria would be in big trouble and might even lose her job. And for some reason, Kumi didn’t want that. Perhaps it was because Kumi sympathized with Yuria, not wanting her to lose the only job that she enjoys, but something deep inside Kumi told her that it was something different.
“Are you insane!?” Airi almost screamed, throwing her arms up in the air, “Part time in a book store!? Do you have any idea who you are right now? You are Yagami Kumi,” Airi pointed at Kumi with both her arms, “the leader of SAKAElove! You are an star, Kuumin! People like you don’t go around working part time! Not to mention everyone is looking for you! Why won’t you answer your phone!? Jurina tried calling you a thousand times!”
Before Kumi could speak up and tell Airi to lower her voice, a squeal was heard somewhere on the other side of the shop,
“It’s Yagami Kumi from SAKAElove!”
And suddenly, a group of girls were surrounding them asking for autographs and photos and soon, more people joined. For a moment, Airi was even sure that she heard a voice asking Kumi out and then another one asking herself out. Before things got out of hand, with the help of the bookstore manager, Yuria’s uncle’s friend, Yuria managed to keep the fans off the two members and take them into the manager’s office, away from the crowd outside.
“I think it is better if your friend doesn’t return today, Yuria-chan,” the manager growled, “I can’t have my costumers making such a big disturbance around.”
Then, surprising everyone, Kumi asked without shame, “What about my pay?”
The manager looked surprised too, but then the surprise very quickly lit up the raging spark within the manager, “PAY!? I haven’t even made you give ME money for the damage that your fans did to my books when they ran in my bookstore and you’re talking to me about your pay!? You had barely worked here for an hour and you still asked for a pay!?”
This was the first time Yuria has ever seen her uncle’s friend angry like this. Not wanting to anger him any further, Yuria quickly hushed Kumi and then apologized to the manager with a full 90 degree bow, “Gomen, Takahashi-san, I will return tomorrow then.” The manager nodded, slightly calmed down from his rage and dismisses them.
Turning around to Kumi and Airi, Yuria looked at the two members then at the crowd outside and then back to them and spoke in a small voice, “It’s better to get out through the backdoor, I think.” Receiving a nod from both members, Yuria quickly opened the door and got into position to block the fans from getting too close to the two members as she was taught to. The situation reminded her very much of what the other staff does for the girls in their oversea performances from when the girls leave their plane to when they get onto the bus as all the fans would always push forward as much as they can, wanting to see the new stars for themselves. Suddenly, an arm grabbed her shoulder and before Yuria could react, someone had pushed too hard and Yuria lost her balance, falling onto the ground.
Kumi felt a strange absence next to her where Yuria was before. Kumi stopped in her track and turned around but could not see Yuria anyway. “Yuria!” Kumi called out as she looked around for the girl. Spotting a small shadow on the ground and unable to reach it, being blocked by all the other rushing fans, Kumi surprised everyone once again when she shouted, “STOP!!!”
Everyone froze, the sudden shout shocking them. Afterall, no one shouts at their fans unless they want to destroy their fan base. Even Airi jumped back at the sudden rise of voice as she had never heard Kumi scream like that before. Kumi pushed aside everyone and helped Yuria up who now had scratches on her hand due to falling down and even having people accidentally stepping on her. Now, instead of having Yuria protecting her as a staff member should be, Kumi ended up being the one escorting Yuria out of the bookstore through the backdoor.
Airi stared after Kumi in disbelief, but then quickly recovered when the fans started moving again. Airi this time, in a slightly louder voice that was not comparable to a shout, spoke up to all the rushing fans, “I apologize to all of you here today. Because of us having to prepare for the upcoming live, I’m afraid the stress has been a bit too much for us, especially for Kuumin. So I really apologize for her outburst just then,” Airi bowed to the fans who stopped and listened to her words, “I’m really sorry our meeting must end like this, but right now, can I please ask you all to leave us to go back to practicing? I’m really sorry. We will make it up to you all by performing even harder and blowing all of your minds in the next live so please take care of us in the next live too!” The fans were silent for a while but then gave a loud cheer, respecting Airi’s words and left the girls in peace.
***
Yuria sat quietly next to Kumi, facing Airi, her fingers twirling around under the table. Airi’s eyes never left Kumi as she spoke, “You have some explaining to do.”
“I have nothing to explain,” Kumi said cooly and waved a waiter over and ordered a plate of omelet rice, completely ignoring Airi. Turning around, Kumi smiled at Yuria and pointed at her menu, “What do you want to eat?”
Yuria looked nervously at Airi, not knowing if she should order when Airi was talking to Kumi. Even Airi nodded at her, indicating that it was fine, Yuria still found it impossible in the end to order anything despite her stomach was secretly growling. Kumi saw Yuria turned to look at Airi so she shifted her gaze to the girl sitting on the opposite side but looked away quickly when Airi turned back to look at her. Kumi cleared her throat and turned back to the waiter, “Yuria is having another omelet rice too please.”
The waiter nodded and jotted down the order on his notepad and then turned to Airi, “And what would you like to have?”
“Omelet rice as well please,” Airi answered. Before the waiter left, Airi added, “Plus three milk tea please!” The waiter nodded and disappeared to place the order. “The milk tea here,” Airi turned to Yuria and winked at the girl, “are the best.”
Silence enveloped the girls again as they waited for their food to arrive. “So... Kuumin,” Airi started again, “Where have you been the last few days?”
Kumi was silent the whole time while Yuria watched Kumi from the corner of her eyes, secretly wondering to herself as to why Kumi wouldn’t tell Airi the truth. The truth that she had been staying at the hospital the last few days, watching over her mother. Then Yuria began to wonder if Airi, or anyone, even knew that Kumi’s mother was hospitalized.
Suddenly, Airi called out to Yuria instead, “Yuria?”
“H-Hai, Furukawa-san!” Yuria instantly sat up and straightened herself, as if someone from a much higher position was talking to her.
Airi smiled at Yuria’s reaction, “Just call me Airin, Yuria. You’re part of the crew now, you know, that makes you one of us.”
“H-Hai, Fu- A-Airin...” Yuria winced as she tried to force herself to call the members the way they preferred to be called. She doesn’t mind of course, having the members telling her that it was okay to call them by their nicknames, in fact, Yuria was more than happy. But again, it came back to her father’s education back when she was really small, addressing someone like this was considered incredibly disrespectful from her father’s point of view, disregarding the fact that the other person might not mind. Knowing that her father have a habit of performing physical punishment whenever she doesn’t follow the rules, from back when she was small, Yuria already got into the habit of calling newly met people properly.
Airi nodded, satisfied, “So Yuria, would I be right to assume that you know where Kumi has been the last few days?”
Yuria fell into a short moment of silence, not knowing what she should say. Yuria slowly turned her head to Kumi, hoping to catch a glimpse of some kind of hint from Kumi’s expression, telling her what she wanted her to do, but before she could see Kumi’s face, an arm stuck itself between her and Kumi.
“Don’t look at Kuumin, Yuria,” Airi reached over and stuck her arm between the two girls, “I want you to answer me, honestly. Do you know where Kuumin has been the last few days?”
Yuria’s unknowingly bit onto her bottom lip as she tried to figure out for herself whether she should answer Airi truthfully or not. The two sides of her mind continued to argue endlessly. One side argued that she should tell Airi because Airi is worried and she has the right to know where Kumi has been and the fact that she herself was a staff member, she is only doing the right thing informing office or team where their band member has been. However, the other side of her brain argued that Kumi not wanting to tell Airi must have her own reason and since Kumi saw Yuria as a friend, then she should do what a friend should do and respect her decision and trust that Kumi is doing the right thing and not tell Airi, but instead wait for Kumi to tell Airi whenever she felt like it was the right time.
“Yuria?”
“Yuria!”
Yuria thought over her two inner arguments again and then turned back to Airi who was constantly calling her and shook her head, “I only saw Kumi-san today at the bookstore when I went into work.”
Airi looked at Yuria with a doubting look and Yuria knew that somehow, Airi knew that Yuria was lying. Yet even so, Airi let the topic drop and turned back to Kumi, “Well, since you wouldn’t tell me why you were here, I will tell you why everyone has been trying to reach you. A few days ago, after our live, after you left all of a sudden in a hurry, Masanya came barging into our changing room and threw a big stack of paper down that said something like money back or our band will suffer or something like that.” Airi paused and watched Kumi’s reaction change as the girl absorbed her words. Seeing the sudden change, Airi knew she was onto something and pressed on, “The paper was obviously for none of us and the only remaining suspect was you. But then, of course, the treat faxes could really just be a very sick joke played by some haters and we do believe it so, however, you know what Masanya is like, she is always about proving things to her. So that was why we had been hunting for you so hard the last few days!”
Kumi listened to Airi quietly as she stared at the table, waiting for food. It became obvious to Kumi that the faxes were just a way of the men telling her that they really could get to her band if they wanted to. Kumi frowned as her mind started to think of what could happen if she can’t return the money back to the men in time. Not only will her mother be in trouble, but so will her band, as the men had proven to her. Everything that the whole band has worked for in the last few dyas could possibly all be destroyed if she cannot pay back the debts that her father owed the men.
Kumi couldn’t help the few curses that her heart inwardly said to her runaway father as she kept thinking back to that day when her father left them behind with all his wrongs. Kumi had tried hard not to remember anything, and she did quite a good job. However, there will always be some of those things that are just stuck so deep in your memories that the only way to get rid of them will be to rip out your own heart.
Images of her mother cowering in the corner while her father was on the floor with blood dripping down his face returned to Kumi’s mind and the girl shut her eyes, hoping to turn off the memories like a light switch.
”How could you lose all your money!? Didn’t you promise that you would never gamble again!?”
“Did you think I have a choice!? ...They said they would convince their father no to sign the contract with me okay!? ... Refusing to let me go even when they’ve bleed me dry... Borrowing money from those loansharks under MY name just so I will keep playing with them!”
...
“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!”
“You are right! I don’t understand! I don’t even understand why I married you in the first place!”
“FINE! IF YOU’RE REGRETTING MARRYING ME BECAUSE I STYED BEHIND TO BE HUMILIATED BY KIDS, THEN I’LL LEAVE HERE THEN! IT’S BETTER THAN BEING AN EYESORE FOR YOU!”
Kumi still remembered clearly though, from all those little pieces of fragments of memories of that day, that her father had promised that he would return for her. And Kumi was really happy at that time too, knowing that her father would come back for her if anything happened. Although she loved both her parents, she always favourited her father over her mother. However, her father never stuck to his promise, and he never returned.
Airi snapped her fingers in front of Kumi’s face which Yuria tapped Kumi gently on the girl’s shoulder, asking if she was okay. Kumi looked around and then felt something warm on her cheeks. Realizing that she had tears on the side of her face, Kumi quickly wiped it away and then looked downward to escape both Airi’s and Yuria’s worried gaze, only to find that her food was already here. Picking up her spoon, Kumi tried to block out the presence of both Airi and Yuria and started eating. After a while, however, when she couldn’t contain herself and pretend to be normal anymore, Kumi suddenly stood up and excused herself go to the bathroom.
Yuria wanted to go after Kumi, but was stopped when an arm pulled her back to her seat. Airi, not releasing her hold on Yuria’s arm, looked straight into Yuria’s eyes, “Honestly, Yuria, do you have any idea what is wrong with Kuumin right now? She isn’t acting like the normal Kuumin I know okay? I’m really worried. If you know what’s wrong, something, anything, please, Yuria, tell me.”
Yuria shifted around her seat, finding the eye contact too intense for her to take. But then seeing Airi looking like she was about to cry out of worrying over her friend, Yuria stole a gaze back at the direction where Kumi went off to and felt her heart ached slightly as the scene of Kumi’s tears suddenly rolling down her cheeks resurfaced in her mind. Yuria looked up at Airi again when the girl released the hold on her arm.
Releasing the hold on Yuria’s arm, only lower it and grabbed both of Yuria’s hands, giving it a firm squeeze and begged in a really small voice,
“Please, Yuria.”