Not too long, not too short. 7 pages on word :]
Chapter 27: My Vow, My Desperation
The sun crept through the dark blinds; there were lines of light over the sleeping musume. Soon, the woman turned, facing the light, and groggily opened her eyes, eyeing the empty space next to her.
“Oh yeah… She left yesterday… How could I forget?” the woman sighed.
“Be nicer! Nicer! Nicer! … You used to be much nicer than this…”
“I wonder… Is she even aware of the reason why I’ve been a little disloyal to her lately?” Yossie sighed as she got out of bed, glad in black pants with white stripes at the side, and a navy blue shirt with long sleeves. She walked over the wood-paneled floor and pulled on the shade and set it up, so the sun basked her in its morning glory.
A ring-tone sounded in the air, and the leader didn’t have to go far to pick it up from the coffee table and answer it.
“Good morning, Ojou-sama.”
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Maki woke up to a melody, not an irritating or repetitive one, but rather, a beautiful melody. She rubbed her eyes groggily and listened intently to the melody. It was one of the songs from the Ribon no Kishi musical, Anata ni Aitai she believed it was called. She got up and made the bed, noting the missing presence, and made the connection with the melody.
She looked at the mirror to make sure at least her hair was presentable, and then walked out of the room. She immediately followed the melody, and was lead to a different room in the hallway, and its door was opened slightly. Before she intruded, she looked into the crack of the door, and was met with a person’s back to her.
That person was sitting on a bench, playing Anata ni Aitai on the piano.
Smiling, she entered the room and sat on the bench next to the pianist, the girl noticing another presence, but continued playing.
Maki watched as fingers touched the white and black keys, producing beautiful sounds as the strokes were combined in harmony.
“You look really different when you play piano, Reina,” Maki finally said, deterring that the song is coming into an end.
“Do I?” the yankii smirked, playing at a decrescendo, “explain.”
“For one thing, you look very mature and seem very empathetic when you play,” the older smiled.
“Ah…I see… Thank you…” Reina blushed, and then stopped playing, “To be honest, I don’t really know too many songs off the top of my head, and even with the sheet music, I get frustrated easily when I don’t hit the notes right, especially when I learn a new song, so that’s why I don’t really play the piano that much.”
“Well, practicing a lot will make you get better, that’s what they say, right?” Maki chuckled as she patted Reina.
“True, I’ve been getting better at this one particular song…” Reina turned to face the keys again. “I’m not sure what will come of you when I play it so, I’m going to tell you what it is first,” and then Reina told the cursed what she was about to play.
“The most that would happen if I heard someone other than within our curse play it, Is that I would probably be struck speechless, and maybe even shed a tear, all of the cursed react that way, not really sure why…”
“Maybe it’s because your blood remembers it?”
“Yeah, I guess…” Maki scratched the back of her head sheepishly, “But how do you know the song anyway?”
“Iida-san sang it for me once, and played it on guitar, so later on, I asked her to put it on sheet music for me to practice on piano, she also took the liberty of making another set of sheet music with the vocals incorporated into the piano.”
“Ah ha, impressive, but which one are you playing?”
“The version with the vocals incorporated into the piano. I tried singing it once, but I think I was really off-key; I think the song is meant for alto. Here it comes.”
And Reina began to play it.
And what Maki said earlier was true. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but not a sound came out. She looked at Reina’s fingers playing each key to perfection, and felt a single tear fall out, to which she immediately wiped away.
Elsewhere in the house, Miki heard the piano amidst her looking into the refridgerator, and nearly dropped the carton of milk tea she had in her hand. With her arm, she wiped away the tear that came.
In a different part of the house, Risa was brushing her hair for she had just come out of the shower. Recognizing the familiar melody, she stopped her action, and simply wiped her single tear with her towel.
Last but not least, Yuko simply passed the room for which the pianist and her idol was residing in, before hearing the all-too familiar tune. The soloists paused in her tracks. She, too, fell into the obligatory fate of shedding a lonesome tear.
Eventually, the song came to an end, and everyone else resumed their activities.
“Er…What did you think?”
“You did it very well, that’s one of the best covers I’ve heard so far…”
“Nah, you don’t have to say that, I know I must’ve hit the wrong note somewhere…”
“No, you did it perfectly, I felt it. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t be speechless and shed a tear.”
“Ah damn. Good point there,” Reina looked off to the side, shifty-eyed.
“Well, you keep on playing something, I need to go shower,” and with that, the 7th head left.
Reina, at a loss of what to do, followed Maki out, but went down the stairs to see if there was any breakfast in sight. Though, her intentions were diminished when she saw Miki eating instant ramen while watching TV. Yuko was sitting on the stool, drinking some green tea, while Risa seemed to be in the kitchen, cooking something. Reina was just about to go see what she was cooking, but was surprised when she saw three familiar visitors at the back door.
Reina went over and allowed the remaining 6th generation and the 7th generation member into the house, “So, had fun with shopping?”
“We didn’t buy too much, but we had a lot of fun!” Koharu beamed. Eri and Sayumi decided to seat themselves in the sofa with Miki, staring as she slurped her noodles.
Miki’s eyes diverted left at Eri, and then right for Sayumi, and she constantly moved them as she swallowed. “What?” She asked in an irritated voice, “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Why does your cheek have a patch on it?” Sayumi asked innocently.
“And Reina, why are both your arms bandaged?” Eri also asked.
Reina and Miki looked at eachother, trying to figure out an excuse, before Miki finally said, “we had a small yankii battle.”
“Wow! Fujimoto-san must’ve lost! Because a head injury is more points than limb injuries!” Koharu smiled innocently.
Miki let out a small ‘feh’ before throwing away the ramen cup and throwing the chopsticks (which narrowly missed Risa) into the sink.
“Oh the joys of morning,” Yuko finally said, before drinking a bit of the tea. “It’ll be sad when we have to go.”
“Yeah, but we can reflect on the ride home!” Eri raised a finger in the air. Everyone heard a small whimper, and turned to look at the source of the noise.
Once again, Koharu was deadly pale white, shivering occasionally. Though, it wasn’t as stressed, for she made sense with her words. “I hope I can at least return home alive…”
“That’s okay, squirt, just ride home with Kaorin,” Miki suggested, sitting back down on the couch.
“I was never any good at rock paper scissors!”
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“Ah, did the children leave?” Yossie yawned as she opened the door.
“Ah… So you’ve awoken,” Megumi didn’t bother looking at Yossie, since she was rather focused on the newspaper in her hands.
“Oh…” Yossie raised a brow, wondering how she ended up walking into a different room other than her original destination of the living room.
“Ah… By the way, will you please close that door? I am sure you do not wish to invade any further.”
Yossie smiled sheepishly, before leaving Megumi to do her business in the bathroom by shutting the door and heading for the living room. When she looked at the living room, it was also desolate. Not even Kaori was anywhere to be found.
The Morning Musume leader then sat in a comfortable leather chair and sighed. She observed her surroundings with her eyes, not moving her head, and then pondered.
Her pondering was interrupted when Kaori entered the room, and sat in the couch opposite of her.
“So where were you?”
“…In my room…” Kaori said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh, guess I was too tired, haha, so where are the children?”
“They are at the other house.”
“I see, I see… I hear Ojou-sama gave Reina quite the scare. That and she hurt her and Miki.”
“You seem to be enjoying it, seeing you smile as you state injuries,” Kaori replied, resting her left arm on the arm rest of the sofa.
“I can’t help it. It’s my nature,” Yossie only smiled in return.
“You must be very pleased with whatever you’re planning.”
“Why are you speaking to me in such a harsh tone?” Yossie raised a modest brow, but continued smiling.
“And you claim that you’re not using Reina?”
“Of course,” Yossie waved her hand dismissively.
“You’re doing a fine job of using her as your pawn for you selfish reasons.”
There was a brief silence.
“Do you remember the day you finally met us? Met fourth generation that is. Maki, Yuko, and you upon seeing Rika, shed a single tear. That was due to finally seeing Ojou-sama in person for the first time. The blood remembered that promise that the Orochi and Susanoo exchanged long ago. But it became something painful for you three. However… For me, it still lingers in my heart.”
That one instance, it flickered…Such a bittersweet feeling…
“’I want to make it last an eternity. I want to make it tangible. I want to make it reality.’ I recall saying. Yes, I still remember that vow. And here I am, doing anything I could to make that vow come true. I don’t care about the methods of achieving what I vow to make happen.”
Kaori was silent, unsure how to reply.
“I don’t care if I hurt anyone making it happen. I don’t care about hurting innocent people making it happen. I even don’t care about hurting the people I love to make my vow come true. Sure, I hate myself for being that desperate, especially when I look at Reina, she’s a good person. But what has to be done must be done. I don’t care if I’m the last person standing on earth to see my vow come true. I will go that far if I must.”
“…Hitomi…” Kaori was still searching for words.
“Such a human like myself has to be the most cursed of them all…”
“What I find most revolting is that amidst all this, you say it all while smiling a contemptuous grin.”
Yossie laughed a bit before finally saying, “Such is my nature. I can’t change it. To get what I want, I may even be forced to backstab those I love.”
“…Whatever the consequence, make sure you are prepared. One of these days, someone will let loose on you.”
“Of course, I am very well aware of that, hence what lengths I’m going to reach it. I’m not particularly fond of pain, but I guess I can’t help it.”
“I’m not going to be on your side.”
“Yeah, I know,” Yossie waved her hand.
“But I’m not going to be your enemy either.”
“Ah, that’s good to hear,” Yossie scratched the back of her head. “Glad to know you’ll be struggling in the neutral side.”
“You make it sound like a war is going on.”
“Something like that,” Yossie chuckled, “Everyone’s fighting, even the good people have to fight to suppress the bad ones like me. Actually, I’m kinda dropping the subject here, but I have to leave at perhaps 18:00 for a meeting. I’m not coming back here.”
“I will notify the others,” Kaori simply stated.
“Thank you. You’re a kind person. Keep struggling.”
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There’s this feeling…
“Well this was an amusing day…” Reina did her routine bed flop.
“I can’t believe the day went by at the blink of an eye,” Maki said in a single breath, eyeing the red lines on the digital clock reading 22:00. “Full moon is tomorrow, I definitely can’t wait! I hear Yuko stored some moon cakes in one of the other houses.”
“Autmn’s pretty muching kicking off to a good start, eh?” Reina rolled a bit so that her head was on the pillow.
“Ah… Autumn… Persimmon and chestnuts… I can taste them now…” Maki gave a satisfied sigh as she sat on the bed, Reina scooting over a bit to give her space.
“Yeah, we should go shopping for them tomorrow then, a moon-gazing night with good stereotypical autumn food, haha, but for now, I think we should sleep. I’m exhausted…” Reina said as she slipped underneath the covers.
“Yeah, tomorrow will be another good day,” Maki smiled as she shut off the lights. When she got into the bed, Reina turned to face her in the darkness.
“Mm, definitely can’t wait for it,” Reina grinned, “Hope I don’t lose sleep waiting for it.”
“Nah, you won’t,” Maki chuckled, “Anyways, good night.”
“Good night,” Reina replied, and for some odd reason, she moved herself over and kissed Maki’s cheek, and turned the other way, blushing profusely at the confusion of why she would do such a thing, with Maki also confused as to why there was now a kiss involved in their good-nights…
This feeling… It can’t be put into words…
It was almost complete darkness in Rika’s room. It might have been in total darkness if she had not forgotten to pull on the shades for her glass balcony door. Instead, the 99% moon illuminated her room in a silvery essence, giving light and shadow to it as if it was a masterpiece of art.
The true masterpiece was slumbering peacefully, not a single implication of a nightmare. Like an artist admiring her art, Yossie was standing outside of the balcony, watching her beloved Ojou-sama sleep peacefully.
“You are so beautiful when you sleep…”
But I fear that if I don’t recognize that feeling…
Yossie, specifically, was standing on top of the balcony railing, the very railing her Ojou-sama usually leans on. Draped over her arms was her green airforce jacket, a gift from UFA. For it was such a nice jacket, Yossie wouldn’t dare ruin it for something as simple as seeing someone. So underneath that jacket, she was wearing a black spaghetti strap top, which also wasn’t ruined by her visit.
After all, her lone single wing was on her left shoulder blade.
“Good night, my dear Ojou-sama. I hope your dreams are pleasant,” she said in a content smile, before flying off into the darkness.
I’ll lose it forever.
<3
Topic: Our Cursed Gift [Chapter 47: Our Final Promise][COMPLETE] (Read 161423 times)