<3
Chapter 46: Reconciliation
I hate those kinds of people.
Miki caught herself nearly dosing off in spite of patience as she sat in the small waiting room of the clinic. Wiping her mouth to make sure there was not any drool, she took a quick glance to see if anything had changed in her absence of focus. There was nothing new at all. Ai and Risa sitting across from her probably whispering words of love to each other in a rather repetitive fashion, Yossie reading a sports magazine to her left, and surprisingly, empty seats on the other side of the leader. She looked to the right to find Megumi locked in a stare at her. Why was that stoic third head staring at her like that?!
“What the hell’s up with you?” Miki raised a brow.
“Ah… The megane girl found it amusing that the badass Fujimoto looks like a helpless and defenseless uke when she doses off.”
“What the hell?! I do not! And what’s with the third person speech?! You’re too old to call yourself a girl!” Miki spat back in a consecutive machine-gun-like execution for her tsukkomi.
“And you’re a pedophile, groping girls with years much younger than your own,” the Morning Musume leader next to the sub-leader patted on her shoulder with a distant sigh, as if acting melodramatic towards Miki’s form of communication.
“Why am I the one being teased today?” Miki rested her forehead on her hand in an ‘ugh’ sort of manner. “And are Eri and Sayu done with their little visit yet?” the groping demon asked, trying to divert the conversation away from the teasing of her quirks.
“They left a while ago, remember the kids and adults sitting next to me?” Yossie answered, yet asked at the same time.
“Pfft, those annoying brats?”
“Yeah, those were Reina’s relatives. They are seeing her right now.”
“How does she put up with them? Jeez…” Miki sank back in her seat, sighing exasperatedly.
“Why are you so upset about them?” Risa looked up amidst her chattering with Ai (which did not involve lovey-dovey words of repetition like Miki thought).
“Ah, I can answer that,” Megumi raised her hand at eye level, “earlier, before you and Takahashi-chan came, Mikitty tried playing with the kids, but one of them exclaimed ‘I don’t want to play with Mrs. Scaryface!’ and ran away crying.”
“Bah, kids…” the sub-leader uttered under her breath.
“Don’t let it get to you, Mikitty,” Yossie teased, “after all, your whole body is equally scary.”
“I don’t need to take abuse from you two!” Miki smacked Yossie lightly upside the head.
“Ah… And so they come out…” Megumi looked at the exiting relatives.
Just before the kids exited, their mother, Reina’s aunt, stopped them, pointing to the waiting room, “Say goodbye to the pretty ladies that work with Reina!”
All the kids lined up and bowed to the H!P members, earning remarks of their cuteness by the others. After the bow, the smallest kid, looking no more than 4 years old, waved at Miki, to which the older found herself forcing a smile and waving back.
“Goodbye Mrs. Scaryface!” the little child waved energetically before exiting with her siblings and mother out the door.
You’re going to be smacked, kid… Miki twitched the corner of her mouth when she realized what the kid had said to her as a farewell. The other members also realized the meaning of Miki’s sudden twitch and giggled profusely at the woman whose lucky day is apparently not this one.
The me who works hard, but the people who barely try and then they get all the attention… I hate them…
“Oh, are you Fujimoto-san?” a hand rested itself on Miki’s shoulder.
Miki turned her head from the attention of Reina’s sleeping face to find herself facing the father of the wonky-eyed teenager. “Ah?”
“The others have already left. Thank you for visiting my daughter today, you can go home now, we’ll take care of the rest,” the father smiled.
“I’ll be back in the morning, I need to give you details,” Miki waved her hand lazily, getting up to stretch.
“Oh, there’s no need for that. We know idols are very busy,” the father chuckled.
“Speaking of which, did the others already leave?”
“Indeed, when we arrived, the waiting room was empty.”
“I see…” Miki found herself looking at the bedridden Reina again. “Well I must be going then. Farewell,” the sub-leader bowed to the man and left the room. She was almost out of the small clinic when she heard his voice call for her again.
“Wait, does Goto-san know about this? Has she visited her already?”
Miki stood at the open door, looking up at the sky to think. She didn’t recall seeing Maki at all in the waiting room, and surprisingly, Miki was the first to arrive to check up on Reina, therefore, Maki had never visited…
“Ugh… She’s such an idiot…” Miki leaned against the door, “She panics and lets Reina cry… But despite that, she’s more capable than anyone… More than me. Yet she’s so stupidly oblivious…” Miki nearly gritted her teeth on the last sentence.
“I see, that must be frustrating,” the man placed his hand behind his head in a smile. “If that’s the case, I think you should tell her straight up.”
Yet, I admire them…
“Ah… Welcome back,” Megumi tilted her head backwards from where she was, sitting on the floor while watching TV boredly.
“What are you doing in my room?” Miki lifted a brow as she shut the door behind her.
“Ah… I locked myself out of my room… Masae has a spare key, but she’s out having dinner with her family at the moment…”
“…What are you doing in my room?” Miki asked again. Then she realized how it was possible for the Melon Kinenbi member to get in, “Damn, did I forget to lock my door?”
“Ah… To be able to get in so easily…”
“That’s not cool!” Miki smacked Megumi lightly.
“So yeah, you were the last one to see Reina-chan, right? Did you cry?”
“Like hell I did, I’m not that much of a sappy sub-leader,” Miki snapped back at the older. “So, is Maki here?”
“Ah… She’s upstairs. But the poor girl looks like she’s lost her soul. She didn’t visit Reina?” Megumi looked up at Miki to find the younger shaking her head, “Ah… How unfortunate… Maki is really suffering from this.”
Megumi looked over to find a rather strange demonic glint on the demon’s eyes. She could have sworn a dark aura hovered about the said demon too. “That sort of thing isn’t important right now…” Miki could have frightened the true devil with her agitated and inhuman voice which growled the words calmly. And with that, she stomped back out of her room, with full intent—which seemed murderous—of finding the seventh head.
“I’m home!” came a singsong voice from the hallway. Yossie’s welcome was then drowned out by a blackened demonic presence walking past her. The leader could have sworn a cold wind blew in from the direction of the touching demon. “Er…” Yossie fought for words as she saw the evil aura flair out worse than usual as Miki walked up the stairs, “What’s going on?”
“Welcome home,” a shifty-eyed Megumi greeted Yossie from Miki’s door.
This is the person I’ve admired?
Miki slammed the door open, stepping into the room with her fists clenched. The inhabitant of the room didn’t seem to notice the demonic presence which had barged in so suddenly. The said inhabitant was sitting on the floor behind the open balcony door, wasting precious life away staring at the sky with such a vacant expression.
It sickened her.
Miki couldn’t bear such repulsive behavior.
“Why didn’t you go visit her?” the demon gritted her teeth. With the silence that came from Maki, the sub-leader felt obligated to speak further, “Oh, so you have the time to sit around on your ass doing nothing? That’s very low of you.”
“Say what you want,” Maki looked down, “Even if I was there, I would only hurt her. I can’t protect her. I think it would be better if you were with her.”
Miki stood in front of the sitting Maki, who was blinded by her grief to even notice a demonic shadow looming over her.
She did the first thing that came to mind.
She did the first thing that came to her mind when Reina’s father said ‘I think you should tell her straight up.’
She grabbed Maki by the collar and punched her hard in the face despite the fact that who she punched was a well-known idol. Before Maki could recover from the hit, the older lifted her up in the air and punched her yet again, causing her to stagger and hit the wall behind her.
“Can’t protect her?” Miki mocked Maki’s previous words before letting loose a fury of punches again, “What the hell is that, I can’t protect her ?!” Miki backed off after her barrage of punches and kicks, feeling that enough sense was bruising the younger. “So would you be satisfied if you could wonderfully rescue people from falling off cliffs? That’d be something, wouldn’t it?! Just who do you think you are? Did you think you’re some kind of super hero…?! You’re just a stupid snake!”
“Shut the hell up!” Maki immediately responded to the last statement, not able to bear such an insult, “I’m not that sort of person! That’s your job, isn’t it?! Always rescuing people before the final blow is dealt, right?! I’d be more like you if I could!”
“Hey, Yankii, why is Maki your idol?”
“I thought I told you a long time ago, she’s a cool person. She’s calm and collective most of the time and she’s a great singer and whatnot.”
“So, ‘cool’ eh?” Miki said as she switched sides so that she now faced the wall of the sofa.
“Something wrong with that?”
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I hate Maki or anything. I just hate it how she barely has to try and people already look up to her.”
“I want to be you!” Maki shouted at the older again.
“She’s really ‘cool’ and in anything she does, she can do really well. And there’s me, the lazy ass who has to work really hard to try and be on par with her… But my efforts aren’t noticed, people still look up to her, and I’m the anger management idiot next to her…”
“Shut up…!” Miki landed an upper cut, “Shut up!” she punched the other hard again, causing blood to trickle down the younger’s lips, “Shut up!!!!” She directed the final punch towards Maki’s stomach, sending her collapsing on the ground yet again. “That was supposed to be me!” Miki grabbed onto the collar of Maki’s shirt again, bending over since Maki was still on the ground, “I was the one who wanted to be you!”
Maki’s eyes widened.
“I see… Yeah… Miki’s good at that kind of thing. Good with people…”
“But you’re good with people too, right? I mean, you’re ‘cool’ and all…”
“You too? Haha, honestly speaking, I don’t find myself particularly special.”
“But you exceed at everything, everyone says you are kind and cool,” Reina said as she looked at Maki.
“Yet, you say it first so easily!” Miki released her grip on Maki, letting her fall slightly to the floor.
“Well… I only appear that way just so people could like me… In truth, I think I’m a pretty boring person… As opposed to Miki. Although she may have her flaws, I think she’s the kind that could attract people more naturally, you know? She doesn’t have to act a certain way to get people to like her. She’s the kind of person who would have many friends because of who she is…”
“But… You are you, and I am who I am, we can’t change at all…” Maki finally said as she wiped away the small amount of blood that leaked from her mouth.
“I argue what you said before,” Miki turned around, crossing her arms, “You’ve been protecting her! Quite damn well, might I add! She was happy and content! They may be small trivial things that even I wouldn’t find myself getting all giggly over, but to her, you were her damn hero! You didn’t have to have super powers for her to fall in love with you! Your powers were to make her smile and laugh right?! Did you really think it would be the same if I was beside her?! You oblivious idiot, you should realize that there are some things that only you can do! So don’t make her cry ever again! Be a damn strong woman for her!”
After Miki finished yelling the final sentence, Maki heard her panting from all that screaming.
But that wasn’t the only thing Maki heard.
She heard a few sniffles.
She heard a few breathes irregular from panting.
She heard something she thought she would never hear.
Miki was crying.
Or rather, trying to sob silently.
“Why the hell are you still on your ass? This is me, the one you wanted to be, telling you as much… Stupid 7th head…”
Maki did not need to be told twice, she got up, cleaned herself up, and left.
“Damn it…” Miki punched the wall, “I didn’t think I would actually cry at this…” She supported herself against the wall with that arm, and with her other hand, wiped away the tears that came. Feeling normal now, Miki used Maki’s sink to make sure that her red eyes would go unnoticed by anyone else.
Then she exited Maki’s room to go lounge around in the main lobby with Megumi and Yossie.
“Did you really have to make so much noise? The apartment was seriously shaking!” Yossie waved her hand dismissively, “You didn’t murder the Goto Maki, did you?”
“Nah. Just punched some sense into her is all…” Miki mumbled as she sat at the low table instead of the couch.
“Ah… So what happened to Maki anyway?” Megumi asked.
“Probably at the hospital…”
“But visiting times are over…” Yossie raised a brow.
“Yeah? What of it?” Miki mumbled as she rested her arms on the table and laid her head on it.
“You knew this, but didn’t tell Maki?” Megumi mused.
There was a silence.
“Normally, people know that sort of thing…” the demonic voice returned, “ Stupid… She really is stupid…” the aura flared out yet again, making the other two feel like they were swept away by the cold evil wind that blew from the demon.
And thus…
Maki wanted to scream.
Maki wanted to cry.
Maki wanted to tear her hair out.
“She got me…” She nearly did all of the above when she saw the ‘visiting times are over’ sign.
“Gotta calm down…” Maki twitched. “Gotta calm down…”
The reconciliation is done.
“How is she?” was the first thing that came out of Erika’s mouth as soon as Rika stepped out of the door. The poor Viyuuden member had waited all morning to see her fellow wounded comrade.
“She’s fine, just give her a few days for her to be able to walk, and maybe a few more days for the wound to patch up.”
“Thank goodness,” Erika clutched her heart at the relief of the news. Then, she felt a hand on top of her own.
“I think you put a lid on your feelings for too long. I think Yui deserves to hear those three words from you. I know she’ll accept it,” Rika patted Erika’s shoulder and left.
“…Am I really that obvious to read?” Erika turned around, watching Rika leave the clinic. “Eh… I might as well…” Erika ignored the slight blush that came to her face and opened the door, putting together what words she could think of to converse with the younger.
Yui was standing in behind the balcony door, supported by a single crutch, staring at the sky above.
“Have I worried you?” the younger said, aware of Erika walking towards her.
“What did you think, you idiot…” Erika looked elsewhere, trying to hide the blush that was crawling up her face.
“Haha, I guess I did worry you,” Yui chuckled, smiling as she did so.
“Don’t joke about that…”
Yui looked over to Erika, who was still facing the other direction.
“You were hurt badly, and that makes me seem like an idiot too, when you laugh about it like that…”
“Standing here with me, is that hurting you too?”
“…Yeah…” Erika turned to look at the younger, to find that Yui was still smiling like an airhead. “What the… I just told you not to joke around!”
“Yet, you still act like yourself,” Yui smiled with amusement.
“No I’m not! I’m pissed! I’m really pissed!” Erika tried to act angry, but failed.
“That, and you’re obviously blushing,” Yui brushed aside Erika’s bangs behind her ear.
“I’m not blushing! I seriously am not!” Erika fumed yet again.
“But you are,” Yui placed her hand on the older’s cheek, forcing her to look at her, “And you don’t have to try and hide it. I think it’s cute when you blush.”
“What are you saying, the last time you pulled this move on me, all you did was walk away…” Erika frowned, obviously still mad and unforgiving from that time.
“If it bothers you that much…” Yui edged closer, causing the older to blush further, “If I were to kiss you right now, would you forgive me?”
“Yes.”
Yui smiled and brought the older closer, “then you should forgive me,” and with that, their lips met.
-Continued for next post o-o
Topic: Our Cursed Gift [Chapter 47: Our Final Promise][COMPLETE] (Read 131650 times)