I guess a lot of views, hopefully it means something or it is just lightning striking
Chapter 2Mayu knocked twice waking Sayu from her trance and she reached for the door with something weighing her body down. Sayu turned the knob to find Mayu with a paper bag filled with her favorite sweets since she was living with her. She grabbed it and let Mayu walk into the dressing room without acknowledging her and she took a seat on the couch across of the model.
“I’m sorry for the falling set. I should have been more careful watching out for you but that woman seemed to be let go by the photographer.” Sayu nibbled at the pink mochi as she listened to her to ramble on.
“You are quite smart with people so I trust you with your judgment. Please stay out of the spotlight as much as possible if you want to go out.” She nodded with the mochi puffing up her cheeks.
Mayu shook her head as Sayu swallowed the piece and offered her other piece to her manager. Mayu bit off half of her piece and laid the other half down as she grabbed the complimentary water bottle by the mirror and took a gulp to assist in swallowing the sweet treat. She closed the cap on the bottle and crossed her legs over with her phone in hand carefully looking over her messages.
“Tomorrow, you have a day off so are you planning on anything?” Sayu shook her head and picked up her phone to find a text in her inbox.
She looked up at her manager and she noticed that Sayu just had plans for the next day. Mayu allowed her to leave on her own as long as she kept in touch if there was any issue. Sayu replied back with a smirk on her face and thanked her manager. Sayu packed up her clothes and hauled her bag into Mayu’s car to drive back home but they stopped off at the convenience store for a quick meal before walking into the apartment.
The model took a quick shower before digging into her food with her manager taking the bathroom after her. She flipped her phone to view the text again and couldn’t help but smile that Kamei was inviting her for lunch at a café. Sayu knew that she wasn’t going to expect much but something simple seemed to be a dream compared to her lifestyle now. She peeled open her bento and scooped out a spoonful of gratin and inserted it into her mouth. She began to think what she would order that she had forgotten it was scorching and spit it out for a sip of water.
“Baka! You should pay attention to your food.” Mayu joked with the model as she put the piece back into her mouth and swallowed it without changing her expression.
The manager tore open her bento and cut the croquette into pieces before starting her meal. She kept her attention toward the window as she usually began to think about the past and seeing her model become a mature adult. Mayu could never find a suitable partner as she was a working woman and when she felt ready, it was past her prime, and few men would advance her way. She felt defeated against the world and it lightened up when she saw Sayu by herself with everyone having fun with each other.
Mayu always reminded Sayu that she was a daughter that she wanted to have. She wanted to spoil her to the point that she would leave without asking for help but Sayu’s intelligence was her strong point. She was open to learn everything that Mayu would do by herself. Sayumi learned cooking through Mayu’s limited knowledge and quickly got her first meal done on her own when she was fifteen. However, it was a rough meal as many items were undercooked or not prepared properly that the night was alcohol-filled for the manager.
She always smiled and that comforted Sayu through her tough periods when work was not often and she could pep her up with a story of a girl who started from little association with the real world and grew up to become an A-class model. Sayu was the puzzle piece that completed Mayu’s career while Mayu had become the mother Sayu wanted for a long while and that was the only concern Mayu ever had since she brought her into her life.
“I’m going to sleep.” Sayu announced as Mayu blew a kiss before she entered her room.
Mayu sat at the table playing with her food as the conversation with the nun about her mother played throughout her thoughts. There were many questions Sayu had asked and she couldn’t answer because of the lack of answers coming from the nun. She was a stubborn woman with jealousy written over her face. Mayu was true with her feelings for Sayu and her motherly intuition made her a mother that was proud of her daughter. However, she knew that one day it would haunt her if she didn’t try and always had people with connections to social work.
She flipped open her laptop to find her inbox filled with offers of Sayu’s services but towards the bottom was an email about her parents. She scanned through it talking about her birth certificate and the names of her parents. It seemed to be a step forward but far from the finish line and replied with a thank you.
As for the other e-mails, she replied to them asking about payment, sponsorships, and/or benefits for the model. By the time she had them all finished, it was quarter past midnight and her heavy eyelids couldn’t stay open for more second. She shut down her laptop and headed to bed as she passed by the room glancing at the model sleeping gracefully on the bed.
The next morning Mayu woke up to the sound of her alarm that she routinely sets despite the models’ day off. She put in the new filter for the coffee machine and put the processed grind to make her first cup for the day. An hour later, Sayu woke up rubbing her eyes and peeked out to see her manager with her phone by her side writing up the schedule for the next few days. The model cherished her days off as times to relax and study more about her manager’s job but it was unusual for her to leave the apartment by herself and took every precaution to hide her identity.
Sayu stepped into the bathroom for a quick shower and laid out her clothing. Since she was predominantly modeling in jeans, she decided to wear a dress, a sleeveless navy blue dress that stopped at the ankles matched with blue slip-on sandals. Since hats were never her choice of hiding because of her bad puck, she went with a white beret, and finished off with sunglasses. She felt a slight chill in the air and carefully selected a black coat to cover her top. Sayu grabbed her purse and turned the knob to the outside world.
“I’m leaving, Mayu-san.” She shouted as she waved goodbye to the model and went back to her work.
She flipped her phone to read the text and downloaded directions to the café. It wasn’t far from her location near the apartment and decided to walk casually through the morning crowd. Sayu rarely got caught on the outside walking the streets even when she had gained awards, she ventured out to few problems which made her confident in her disguises. Sayu looked up at the building signs and soon found herself lost and dialed the number given to her.
“Sayu-chan I see you from here.” She looked around trying to identify the woman and took a few steps forward still with no sight of Eri.
She jerked her neck all over frustrated that she can’t see her and then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She wanted to scream out loud but she felt the structure of the hand and quickly let out a sigh of relief.
“Kamei-san, it’s hard to tell when there are people walking around, you know?” Eri faced her friend and bowed to her as she had a baseball cap with a blue t-shirt and matching skirt.
“You are no help either with your get up.” The turtle pouted as she took her to the alley and took her sunglasses off,
“I can’t be seen in public without any protection. I should have mentioned that when I accepted your offer for lunch but I assumed you knew.” She explained as Sayu slipped her sunglasses back on.
They struggled through the crowd lining up in front of the café and the people were in a mad dash to gain their spot but luckily they had been given special seats through a random drawing and were seated among the first group. They sat down across of each other as Sayu placed her purse to the side of her and held her glass of water in her hand. Sayu held it up to her lips and sipped it carefully with the waitress approaching the table. She glanced at Sayu before looking over at the turtle and a smile appeared on her face.
“Kamei-san, ohisashiburi desu ne.” Eri looked at the name tag and shook her head in surprise.
“Gaki-san, I mean Risa. Ohisashiburi. Ogenki desu ka?”
“Itsumo genki desu ne.” Risa flexed her muscles as she looked over at Sayu.
“Hello, I am Sayumi.” She interjected softly as she grabbed the menu to get the waitress’ attention.
The two talked with each other for five minutes as they caught up with the last time they had run into each other a few years ago. Despite talking about their successes, they kept humble about the status and Risa forgotten that she was supposed to take orders and wrote down Eri’s order before looking at Sayu.
“Do you recommend the ham and cheese sandwich grilled or by itself?” Sayu asked as Risa bit down her thinking about the question.
“I prefer the grilled version because the onions give off a slight sweetness compared to the ungrilled version.” Sayu ordered the grilled sandwich and a cup of blended tea.
Sayu took off her hat and placed it next to her purse as she sipped the ice water again. Eri grabbed her glass and put a straw in it to blow small bubbles as entertainment. Eri was oblivious to the model’s expression and Sayu grabbed Eri’s hand to stop the behavior but it was for another reason to get her attention.
“How do you know her?”
“She was in the orphanage with me and she hated that girl Sayumi. She never cared for her antics until she left and felt horrible that she had treated her badly for two years. Risa was always kind and shared with everyone but Sayumi would never share her toys. It was never that she hoarded but her favorite doll was always by her and feared that Sayumi would react harshly.” Eri paused as she took a sip of her water.
“I see. I think she might have liked her that she refused to accept her as a friend.” Sayu spewed out as the waitress popped next to the table.
“Sorry, we regret not having blended tea for today. Would you like green tea instead?” Sayu nodded as she took another drink of her water.
“I think so too. Sayumi never harmed us but we were afraid of breaking from the group.” Sayu hinted a smile as she tried to piece her foggy memory of being alone and placing Risa’s face into the image.
It seemed that it was a forgotten piece of time for her. She had gone a long way from her past and now seemingly adding images to her past was an awkward feeling of nostalgia added with the fear that it had never happened and these people were going to use her status now for fame. Sayu broke out of her frame of thought with the waitress bringing her food and tea for both of them.
The model bit into her hot, molten sandwich and her taste buds described the best food she had eaten in a while. Sayu let out a trail of tears as she felt glad that something fresh and homemade in her eyes was incredible. Within a few minutes, the sandwich was devoured cleanly, and Eri becoming a total mess in front of the model. Sayu grabbed a pile of napkins and wiped away the sauce on either side of her mouth.
“Thank you.” Eri dove in again and finished it without causing more damage to her face.
They sat up looking at each other as the food digested into their stomachs and the pleasure running through their minds was bliss. The pure feeling of being filled with great food was beyond what they expected and Risa returned with the bill and Eri paid for it with cash without saying anything to Sayu. The model tilted her head forward as a gesture of thanks and both of them headed for the front with Sayu holding her stuff under her arm and leaving a big tip behind for the waitress.
“Thank you for lunch.” Sayu bowed as Eri gave her an awkward smile.
“Thank you for giving me company on this day. I rarely get a day off so luckily it was with you that I could spend it with.” Sayu giggled as she hugged the turtle and headed opposite of her.
Sayu was thrilled that Eri was thankful for the lunch despite she was paying for it. The model soon was hit with another image of her scrambled memory. She saw herself in the corner with a bug as it crawled up her arm and a girl pointing at her as the nun captured the bug in a jar. She started to cry and the kids teased her for her crying but an older girl stood next to Sayu and aimed her finger at them.
Don’t pick on her!Sayu flashed back to reality and walked home with thoughts of the girl who protected her from the group. She could not recognize her but she thanked that girl for standing up for her.