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Chapter 31: Reminiscent
Memories should not be forgotten…
Yuko sighed as she traversed the busy street, in her leopard print and fur clad glory, save the fact she wore black pants amidst her abuse of the animal print. She walked by couples holding hands or stealing a kiss from the other; she held her temptation to go to those kind of couples and slapping them upside the head for being too affectionate to the extent of her wanting to also shout out “Get a freaking room!”
However, there was one other thing she wanted to take action upon: Mothers and their daughters. Instead of wanting to commit an act of violence upon them, she only watched them enviously as her feet were placed on auto-pilot. Soon, the envy grew to the extent of having the eyelids of the ex-Morning Musume leader lowered to represent the burden of sadness pressing them so.
“I wonder… How is my Mother doing now?
…Not at all.
BUMP.
Yuko turned around to see what unfortunate minor had walked into her back. Her tension loosened as she instead, was confused at whatever had bumped into her: a walking cluster of bags, probably with clothes in it.
“Gah! I’m sorry!” the lump of miscellaneous bags cried out, attempting to rearrange the bags so that the person’s sight is clearer.
“Takahashi?” Yuko raised a brow.
“It’s Niigaki…” Risa huffed as she dropped all of her bags, but upright so that the clothes wouldn’t spill.
“Idiot, if you plan to buy so much, at least have escorts! Sheeesh,” Yuko narrowed and fixated her eyes on the reaction queen.
“But my manager or my body guards stand out so much! You don’t know how many times I thought I had my guards and managers switched with the staff for Sayumin! They scare me…”
“I’ll see if I can rearrange it for you then,” Yuko smirked as she patted Risa. “My staff would do anything to get away from me, probably because I’m so uncontrollable and unpredictable,” the obachan laughed.
“That’s true, but that is what makes you well-loved around the Project, I can’t really think of anyone who hates you at all, except maybe some of the eggs who still never met you might think you are very scary…”
“What was that my beloved Gaki-san?” Yuko grinned with scary eyes as she smacked the poor unsuspecting 8th head upside the head.
“N-nothing really!” Risa waved her hand dismissively, “but since you are here, will you please help me carry these clothes back up to the apartment? It’s a few ways to go really, maybe five minutes.”
“Why do you buy so much?” Yuko asked as she carried about three bags in each hand.
“….I thought they were all cute and could match other things I have?” Risa tilted her head as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and was carrying four bags with one hand, the fifth bag under her arm, and three bags with her other hand, with two bags being carried like a purse over her shoulder.
“It’s amazing you can carry all this,” Yuko arched her brow yet again, and if that was an anime, there could have been a sweat-drop by her head at that time.
“You know, I usually had to ride a bike to school, whether it was raining…snowing… windy… Any kind of bad weather… Ah… I really think my muscles are made of steel!”
“Haha, I guess that could be one of the reasons why you don’t transform that easily. You’re a pretty resilient too, unlike Takahashi…”
“Yeah…” Risa looked off to the side.
“She used to be sick frequently in the past, but I admire her stubbornness for showing up at the recordings regardless of being really sick.”
“We’re here! Thanks for helping,” Risa bowed her head a bit, and took the rest of her bags from Yuko, and bolted into the apartment.
“Dammit! Don’t just run from a conversation!” Yuko raised her voice at the running queen of reactions.
“Sorry!” she heard the queen call back to her.
“Brats these days don’t have respect for elders…” Yuko placed her index finger and thumb across her closed eyes and shook her head.
“Nakazawa-san? What brings you here?” A voice called out.
“Ah! If it isn’t our dear little Reina!”
“Our little…?” came another voice behind Reina.
“…I am the male role, right?”
“Reina is not ‘our’ kid. And there is no ‘our’ for your information,” Maki went shifty eyed.
“…As I said before I was ignored, what brings you here?” Reina asked again, twitching slightly.
“Oh, I helped Gaki-san with carrying her clothes.”
“Is that so?” Maki narrowed her eyes.
“Now now, don’t doubt my statements, they’re all true you know.”
“I have trouble believing that though…”
“Did your boobs grow again?” Yuko patted the aforementioned objects, to which her hands were slapped away.
“Will you stop it with the groping?!” Maki crossed her arms over her precious breasts.
“Reina! Don’t you worry, maybe your boobs will exceed Maki at the right time~<3” Yuko smiled as she pulled Reina into an embrace and patted her head doing so.
“Ah! She’ll catch your contagious stupidity!” Maki pulled Reina away from Yuko, into a protective embrace.
“Awww, Maki’s being mean as usual.”
“Awww, Yuko’s being stupid as usual.”
And once again, Reina had no comment to throw out, since she was swept into a situation she had no knowledge in knowing comebacks for, as it usually was whenever Maki and Yuko were in her presence.
“And how long are you going to hold her really?” Yuko sneered. Reina, curious, looked up at Maki who was blushing and released her tight grip on her immediately.
“Now, Reina is a delicate princess, and she must be treated accordingly with respect! Now princess, do me a favor and call for some takeout~<3”
“That’s not respect!” Maki twitched.
“Oh, fine, you’re so picky,” Yuko sighed, before taking Reina by the hand and then bolting out of the apartment, “I’ll take Reina out to eat then~! See you soon~!”
Maki stood there, eyes widened. “What the hell…?”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Really Nakazawa-san, that was pretty rude of you, Maki and I had some planned things to do,” Reina sighed as she was walking reluctantly at the side of Yuko.
“You can do them whenever you have your next day offs you know,” Yuko laughed, “besides, when did you start calling her Maki without the –san or stopped with the Goto-san? I was going to ask you when we were at the homes, but it slipped by me.”
“You were the one who slipped by and left…” Reina went shifty-eyed.
“Haha, You’re like a mini-Maki. Have her teach you a few more comebacks to use on me and one day, I’ll call you Maki instead of Reina, accidentally.”
“You really think that?” Reina looked up at Yuko, “She’s Maki. I’m Reina. We’re not as similar as you think we are.”
“Nah, you both give me a certain aura….”
“What aura?”
“Would you be mad if I said that aura was that of loneliness?” Yuko looked at Reina, giving a seemingly modest and sad look to her grin.
Reina’s eyes widened, but they went back to normal as she gave a speechless face to her elder.
“Ah ha, surprised?” Yuko patted the junior with a smirk.
“Not really, but just a little taken back,” Reina looked away and focused on the path the two were walking through the busy street.
“Did I offend you? Silence is not welcoming,” Yuko finally said after the ten minute wordless exchange.
“Nah, I suppose I really have nothing to talk about. Though, where are we going?”
“Just a good neighborhood walk, is that much to ask?” Yuko chuckled, “If you have questions about me, feel free to ask.”
“Did you feel more energetic twenty years ago?”
“My age seems to be a popular question to ask,” Yuko twitched, “but yes, I feel like a disabled hag missing her very energetic teens, thank you.”
“My apologies for offending you.”
“Nah, you were just a little more blunt than I remembered.”
“So uh… Who do you look more like? Your Father and Mother?”
“You ask the weirdest questions you know that?” Yuko laughed, “I look more like my Father, and the roots of my personality are also credited to him,” she stopped a bit and took a picture from her wallet and showed a picture to Reina.
“Whoa! How old were you here?! Three?!” Reina squealed at the cute small family portrait of Yuko and her parents. “You’re right, you look more like your dad, but I think you have your mother’s nose.”
“Haha, really? I’ve been told many times I do. Though, it’s a shame she doesn’t remember me.”
Reina looked from the picture to Yuko, seeing a sad expression on the normally rowdy woman.
“Hmm? Fancy seeing you of all people here.”
Reina and Yuko turned around and blinked. I just saw a picture of her… and here she is? Fate is stalking me, I swear…Reina thought as she looked from the picture to the person in question.
“Nice to see you again,” Yuko smiled.
“It’s been awhile since I last saw you too, Yuko,” the mother of the aforementioned obachan smiled in reply.
This is weird… Nakazawa-san’s mother doesn’t seem as old as I thought her to be, considering the daughter is in her thirties…
“Ah? Are you a Morning Musume member?” The mother squinted in her glasses as she walked closer, “Are you the one they call Kamei?”
“Er…No, I’m Tanaka, Reina. We are within the same generation though.”
“I see, I see, sorry, my mistake,” The mother scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “It’s an honor to meet an idol though,” she said as she bowed her head.
“Please, I’m really not that special, I’m just doing what I love to do: sing,” Reina bowed her head to the mother of her senpai.
“I have to get going though, I’m on some errands. My husband will get angry if I don’t come home on time,” she chuckled. “And you Yuko-san, I hear you’ve got a new single already out?”
“Yes I do, Urara, it’s been out for a while though.”
“I’m sure your mother is proud of you being a singer,” and with that, she bowed to the both of them, and left in the other direction.
Reina’s eyes diverted to Yuko and then to her mother. What just…? Before she could ask, Yuko grabbed Reina’s hand and they both walked away to a different street. Then, the obachan released the hand of the wonky-eyed teen and continued walking briskly, Reina tagging along.
“What was that all about?”
“Well you see… My Mother… She forgot all about me. Kaori erased her memories.”
“I see…”
“So yeah, she just thinks I’m just a daughter of a friend of Father’s. I have to say though, those under the orochi curse are born a month premature. Meeting your love… Marrying your love…And then to have your first baby with your love, I’d imagine she was very worried when I came early. Amidst all that, to kiss that baby, and see it turn into a baby snake… Must’ve been horrifying to her…It would despair any mother. Mothers of the orochi usually try to overlook that curse and love their daughters, but there are mothers who reject them entirely. Unfortunately, my mother was one of those mothers who rejected me. She would always feel repulsed looking at me. She was always agitated and hysterical when it comes to me… When Morning Musume shot the PV for Furusato, I was one of the members who had to have an actor for a Mother. Looking back on it now… She was a broken person. Much like Ruru just before her memories were suppressed.”
Your mother’s heart is eating away at her… At this rate, I think she might even die… But if she forgets about you, she’ll get better, I imagine this is really hard for you, but I will love you twice as much to make up for mother… If you love her too, will you also help her?
“My father came to that decision around the time of the filming of the 2000 shuffles. So not only my mother, but relatives that know me also had their memories erased in fear of someone saying something about me to Mother. The only person that knows is my old man, the father.”
“Are you sure? Do you really want to forget the existence of your daughter?” Kaori asked in a solemn voice, sitting on a chair with her hands clutched loosely on her lap. “You’re not going to regret it?”
Yuko’s mother looked at Kaori from the other seat, with contemptuous eyes filled with a few tears. “The only thing I regret is that thing coming out of my body...”
Yuko had been watching them speak through the crack of the door the entire time.
“So that explains why I’ve been pretty emotional and cried during the shooting for the Akai Nikkichou PV…”
Reina was sniffling as she heard Yuko’s unfortunate past. “So… You helped your Mother…”
“Yeah… I guess I did… But for me, I want to live with all of my memories… Even if they are memories that only serve to hurt me… I’d like to not run away from them. If I continue enduring, perhaps I’ll be strong enough that they don’t hurt me any more. That’s my belief. It’s a part of my morale really. Simply because I want to think that there is no memory that’s okay to forget. So I was half-half on my old man’s decision, I wanted my mother to keep trying so that one day, she would be able to smile at me, or be proud of me…”
Even if those memories cause suffering…
Maki was sitting on the railing of her balcony with her legs dangling over the street below. Her eyes were occupied by the figures below, watching as they did trivial things.
“I wonder when the obachan will bring back Reina… I was really looking forward to shopping with her…” she sighed as she turned towards the door, bringing her feet onto the balcony. She maneuvered herself over to the white chair close to the door separating the balcony from her room, to get a more comfortable view of the cityscape.
Then she thought. She thought very hard. She pondered. She was in a state of reminiscence. “She can’t possibly love me…” Maki brought her legs to her chest and rested her head in her arms. “That kind of love… is very twisted coming from someone like me… A monster…” she lowered her eyelids so that she studied the fabric of her shirt, thinking about her past.
“Father…”
I’ll hold them all.
<3
Topic: Our Cursed Gift [Chapter 47: Our Final Promise][COMPLETE] (Read 161552 times)