Bright Lights & Cityscapes
Chapter One: City
"Here in these deep city lights, girl could get lost tonight."
The city that never sleeps is particularly restless as the afternoon humidity beats down on the thousands of people roaming its sidewalks. The sound of voices overlapping one another combined with the bustling traffic could easily distract someone from their thoughts, but young Hikari Yagami can only focus on one thing.
She walks noticeably slower than the rest of the crowd, even receiving angry sighs, grunts, and glances from those who are trying to walk past her. Even physically, her heavy heart manages to weigh her down as she makes her afternoon commute back home from her internship with the New York Times. Preoccupied with her thoughts, she doesn't realize someone grabbing her hand, pulling her to walk faster.
"What the hell are you doing, Kari? There is an actual crowd of people behind you trying to move with their lives."
"What's their rush anyway?" She replied, her voice potent with sadness. "No one really knows where they're going, yet we all end up in the same place: six feet under."
The deep violet haired friend simply laughs at Hikari's melodramatic response. "Clearly someone needed to put sugar in your cereal this morning. What happened to you?"
Hikari only manages to sigh in disappointment. Her friend continues to drag her along in silence for 30 minutes until they finally reach their favorite cafe, The Beanery. They storm through the entrance and Hikari is pushed down on one of the sofas.
"Miyako!" she cries, surprised at her friend's aggressiveness.
"Tell me what happened at your internship today. I demand an answer!" Miyako commands. With her tattoos, colored hair, and eyebrow piercing, she tends to be very intimidating, even to one of her best friends.
Hikari looks around the cafe nervously, scanning the area to make sure no one overhears. The owner of the cafe doesn't seem to be fazed by their erratic behavior, mostly because they're both regulars. Upon the realization that no one was around, she takes a deep breath.
"Promise you won't say 'I told you so' or any crap like that?" Miyako just raises her eyebrows.
"I, uh…" Hikari stumbles on her words in nervousness and embarrassment. "I walked in on Jyou and another woman in the office."
Miyako gasps in response before replying, "Who was he with?"
Hikari gulps. "His wife."
"ARE YOU KIDDING?"
For about a month and a half, Hikari had developed an attraction to her advisor overseeing her internship, Jyou Kido, despite him being a little older - Hikari is 16 and Jyou is 20. He seemed to return the feeling as their meetings have turned into heavy makeout sessions in his office. However, today, Hikari walked into his office only to see him banging his wife on his desk.
"Kari, how could you be so stupid? We all have been warning you that all of these hook-ups were meaningless to him and that he's definitely more suspicious than we anticipated. And clearly, we were right!"
Hikari begins to tear up at her friend's lack of support and compassion. "I didn't know he was married, okay? He never wore a ring, never had any pictures on his desk… How was I supposed to know?"
Upon seeing her friend beginning to cry, Miyako softens up as she takes Hikari's hand in hers. "He was trash anyway, and you know it. Just the fact that he was cheating on his wife and hiding the fact that he was married in the first place… He's scum and he isn't worth any tears."
Hikari sniffles and hugs her friend. "Thanks, Miyako. But I still have to tell the other girls. Do you think we can all meet up tonight?"
"Of course! We'll fix that broken heart right up. We're all you need."
Hikari smiles and stands up, still hand in hand with her best friend. "Let's go up to my apartment and start getting ready then. I need to shower, I feel dirty."
"That's because you found out you were his dirty little mistress today!" Miyako joked.
Hikari simply scoffs at her friend's remark and drags her out of The Beanery.
Still dressed in her silk nightgown, she wastes no time preparing her penthouse for tonight's festivities. The luxurious space overlooks Central Park and the rest of the Upper East Side. Many are envious of her wealth, others admire her for her natural beauty.
But Mimi Tachikawa is simply grateful that she is privileged than most.
She overlooks the main hall and living area from the balcony on the second floor. She busies herself with phone calls, transforming her home into a spa fit for the brokenhearted. Surely, Hikari will forget about the man who broke her heart by the end of the night - Mimi will make sure of that.
Satisfied with the way everything turned out, she saunters off back into her bedroom and settles down at the vanity. She hums softly to herself while brushing her long, brunette locks while staring intently into the mirror.
"You dainty little girl…" she speaks softly to her reflection, "Why are you so unhappy?"
Mimi Tachikawa was born to a prominent political figure of a father and a successful, headstrong, cosmetic empire ruler of a mother. That being said, money was not an issue for the Tachikawa's. But the Tachikawa's were kindhearted and did their absolute best to raise Mimi to be a humble, appreciative young woman. She was never one to use her status as a socialite to belittle others or get ahead in anything. Mimi did what everyone else had to do in order to achieve their goals - she worked damn hard. If she could be proud of anything, it was her work ethic and determination.
Despite her flawless exterior, her efforts to make everything around her flawless was only causing chaos inside of her. She was her own biggest project to take on - to perfect, to ace. There was a certain emptiness that came along with the craving of perfection - she never felt good enough and feared she would never be.
Her fingertips lightly graze her reflection in the mirror. "If only everyone knew…"
But she was interrupted by three sharp raps at her doorway by her maid Izumi. "Miss Tachikawa, your friend Sora has arrived."
"Thank you, Izumi. Please, send her up."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, miss." Izumi replies, as she shifts uncomfortably.
Mimi raises an eyebrow. "And why might that be?"
But Mimi's question was immediately answered whens she heard Sora's drunken laughter from the main hall.
Mimi sighs in disappointment. "Izumi, get the water and aspirin ready. She's at it again."
Izumi scurries off to fetch everything while Mimi pulls out her phone. "Kari, Miyako… Sora's here already and she's at it again. Better get here soon. We don't want a repeat of last time, do we?"
As Hikari takes her afternoon shower, Miyako lays contently on her best friend's bed. Her cat, Miko, jumps on the bed and snuggles on Miyako's chest, purring in satisfaction. She chuckles softly. "There was a time in your life when you couldn't stand me. Look how far we've come."
Miyako has known Hikari since they were in grade school. Two girls were picking on Miyako for wearing glasses and a bandana, saying that she was too nerdy to look like she belonged in a gang. The quiet Hikari stepped in and said nothing, but held Miyako's hand throughout the teasing. When Miyako felt like crying, Hikari just squeezed her hand, giving her the strength and courage to stand up for herself. Since then, Miyako has grown into quite the outspoken young lady who will always stand up for those she cares about.
And those two girls who teased her? Sora Takenouchi and Mimi Tachikawa became her two other best friends.
Throughout the years, Miyako has been loyal to her friends, so much that she considers them her sisters. Her own family has had a long history of abusing drugs and alcohol, often neglecting their youngest daughter for a quick fix. Her three older siblings were just as bad as her parents - none of them finished high school and became dealers and/or prostitutes to help pay the rent. Desperate to escape the lifestyle her family followed, Miyako worked hard in order to receive a scholarship to St. Rose Academy for Girls, a prestigious preparatory high school for the brightest young women in all of NYC. Anybody who is anybody had the privilege of attending. Even with Miyako's physical appearance that consisted of tattoos, violet hair, piercings, and a love for ripped jeans, she was highly respected and considered one of the top students in her class.
Between her friends and her studies, Miyako never made time for boys, nor has she met anyone worth the attention and effort. But two weeks ago, things have changed.
"Miyako, could you answer my phone? I'll be out soon." Hikari called from her shower.
"Sure thing." Miyako replies, as she reads off "Mimi Tachikawa" on the screen. She quickly hits the green "answer" button. "Hi, Mimi. What's up?"
"Sora's here already and she's at it again. Better get here soon. We don't want a repeat of last time, do we?" Mimi calmly replies.
Miyako can't help but sigh. "Ugh, here we go again. Alright, I'll tell Kari, she's just about done with her shower. We'll be there as soon as we can."
"Alright. I'll see you soon."
As she hangs up the phone, she calls out to Hikari, who is already drying her hair. "Kari! Sora's done it again. We gotta get there soon."
Hikari groans in annoyance. "Again? I really don't want to rush in this heat. It's already unbearable outside, and now Sora's gonna make it worse."
"Come on now, it's summer! If I had the time, I would be doing exactly what Sora's doing. Just… not so early in the day. I can at least wait until the sun sets." Miyako teases. But the statement only makes Hikari raise an eyebrow.
"And since when were you so busy during the summer time? Last time I checked, you were done with your summer internship last month. So what or who is occupying your time?"
Miyako nervously laughs it off. "Oh, I'm just trying to enjoy my summer with strangers before senior year starts! You know how it is, you run into people everywhere in the city. I'm just going with the fl-"
"Shut up, Miyako. You suck at lying, especially to me." Hikari retorts without missing a beat, making Miyako huff in frustration.
"Okay fine! But I'll tell you when the four of us are altogether. I want Mimi and Sora to be a part of this, too."
Hikari studies her face for a few seconds before accepting defeat. "Alright, fine. Besides, if you want all four of us there, then this must be big news. So, we better get going and help Mimi out with Sora so that you can spill the beans."
"Do you think Sora will be as bad as she was last time?"
Hikari scoffs. "I highly doubt that."
Sora Takenouchi thrashed about on the bathroom floor of Mimi's penthouse, struggling to get up, and giggling the whole way through. "It's like my legs are jell-o!"
"Oh, Sora. It's not even 4 o'clock. How'd you even get this bad?" Mimi asks in exasperation.
"Well… you know those guys from St. Francis Prep? You know… those two popular sophomores boys Cody and Tomoki?"
"The drug dealers? Yeah, I know of them…"
Sora began giggling once again before somewhat regaining her composure to answer. "Well, they've become my suppliers! And since we all live in the same building and my mom's never home, I can always be as high a kite!"
Mimi sighs. "You drank too, didn't you? You reek of rum."
Sora replied with yet another giggle. "Well, when I felt myself coming down, I decided to treat myself to a shot or two."
"Or five." Miyako's mumbled from the doorway. When Mimi whipped her head around to see her two friends standing there, she immediately felt a sense of relief.
"Oh, thank goodness you both are here! I didn't think you'd get here so fast with rush hour still going on."
"We didn't think so either. So we rode our bikes and cut through Central Park. We figured she'd be as bad as last time, if not worse, so we rushed." Hikari explained.
"I didn't mean to make you rush, I'm so sorry. You could have gotten in an accident." Mimi said worriedly. Hikari couldn't help but smile. The whole group considered Mimi the maternal figure for obvious reasons.
"Don't worry about it, Meems. And we did this for Sora, too. She's been a wreck this whole summer."
"MIYAKO!" Sora squealed. "I haven't seen you since that rave in Brooklyn! How long ago was that? It feels like forever!
"Sora, it's only been two weeks since the rave…" Yolei replied while softly patting Sora's head as she knelt beside her drunk friend. But Sora, being the emotional drunk she is, bursted out into tears.
"That's two weeks too many! Let's not be separated for that long ever again!" Sora cried out.
Miyako sympathetically laughs and hugs her friend. "Okay, I promise."
Sora pulls away from the hug and sniffles. "Just because you meet a boy doesn't mean you can ditch me. What ever happened to 'sisters before misters?'"
Upon the realization of what Sora drunkenly blurted out, Miyako frantically tries to hush her. But it's too late. Almost instantly, Hikari and Mimi drop next to Miyako to begin the interrogation process.
"You met someone?!"
"Did you guys kiss?!"
"Where is he from?!"
"Is he cute?!"
"Did you get his number?!"
"Do we know him already?!"
"GUYS, STOP!" Miyako yells. The volume of her voice was enough to startle Sora, causing her to cry once again.
Mimi looks at Sora sympathetically and lets her cry into her chest before giving her a glass of water and some aspirin. "There, there Sora. Now Miyako, would you mind telling us about this boy she was referring to?"
"Well... " Miyako begins, not knowing where to start. "I was at a rave in Brooklyn with Sora. She already knew some people there, and I didn't know anyone. She went off with some St. Francis prep boys and some other girls from our school, while I pretty much hung out in the corner. But then, some guy saw me standing there and tried to strike up a conversation. As usual, I wasn't giving him the time of day, so he gave up. A couple of hours later, maybe two or three, some of the same St. Francis guys were pestering me, high after doing some lines of coke. They weren't letting up and even tried to get me to have sex with them. But then the mysterious guy from before just swooped in and got them running. After that, I thanked him. We decided to leave the warehouse and go out for a walk around Dumbo. He asked me for my number. And the rest is history. We've been texting and calling each other for the past two weeks… but..." Miyako's voice trails off as she shifts uncomfortably.
"What is it?" Hikari asks.
"I don't know his name."
Hikari and Mimi stare at Miyako in disbelief before breaking out into laughter. Miyako, slightly annoyed, asks, "What's so funny about that?!"
"Well, for starters, this is the first guy you've ever talked to and given your number to, and you don't even know his name!" Hikari laughs.
"Well, at least my guy isn't married!" Miyako retorts.
"But how could you know that if you don't even know his name?!" Hikari says, as the laughter starts to subside.
Miyako, still slightly annoyed, sees her point. "I… guess you're right. Agh, I'm an idiot, aren't I?"
"Not at all!" Mimi exclaims. "We just want you to be careful. He sounds fantastic so far, minus the fact that he hasn't told you his name. Why do you think that is?"
"He said that it'll ruin the mystery; the fun of it all. And I get that. But this wasn't a one night stand type of thing. We've been talking for two weeks now. I'm afraid that if I tell him I want to know his name, he'll stop talking to me now that this "game" is over."
"I think it's best that you ask him anyway. It's better than imagining the worst. If he no longer speaks to you when you ask him for his name, then good riddance because that is creepy if it's not a one night stand." Hikari explains.
"Girls, I don't mean to cut this conversation short, but we should move Sora to the bed." Mimi chimes. "Poor girl knocked out on us."
"Better than her fighting us and running around loose in the city with no cell phone and not a single sober brain cell functioning." Miyako teases.
"We better keep an eye on her until she wakes up then so that won't happen again." Hikari giggles.
"Well, I hope she wakes up soon." Mimi sighs. "There's a party at Rika's summer estate in the Hamptons tonight. It's in honor of all the St. Francis and St. Rose incoming seniors. In other words, it's for us. Can you believe it's our last summer of high school? Next summer, we'll all be preparing for college. My, how time flies."
"And I spent the last summer of my youth being a dirty mistress." Hikari whines.
"Ah yes, that Jyou… Fill me in on what happened, Kari." Mimi says.
"Well…"
And the girls continue to talk until 8pm rolls around. Within the four hours, the girls have managed to reminisce, plan their outfits for tonight's festivities, and continue planning the rest of their senior year. Sora finally wakes up three hours into the conversation, drinking what seems like gallons of water and taking aspirin to calm her pounding headache. When Sora finally finishes throwing up her stomach's capacity thanks to heavy intoxication, she feels fine enough to start getting ready for the Hamptons.
Now the real trouble begins.
"Hey guys, I'm really sorry about this afternoon. I didn't mean to get so carried away." Sora apologizes while in the limo heading towards the Hamptons. "How bad was I this time?"
"Well…" Mimi begins. "You didn't resist us this time, so that's an improvement."
"And you didn't try and run away." Hikari chimes in.
"Plus, you actually drank the water we gave to you without cussing at us." Miyako added.
"I guess… that's a good thing, right?" Sora asks with a hopeful tone to her voice.
"We'd rather you be a mess with us than anyone else. Get that through your head." Miyako says while playfully punching Sora's shoulder. She smiles in response.
"Then I guess I'm pretty damn lucky to have you guys in my life."
Sora Takenouchi was the group's wild child. She was raised by her mother, a hard-working single mother who became a highly successful business woman when her lingerie line became a staple among today's other fashion icon brands. However, with the success and responsibilities demanding her mother's every ounce of attention, there was very little left for Sora.
Sora, intelligent and powerful, was known for being the apple of every man's eye. When she was a 14 year old freshman, she lost her virginity to a 19 year old senior who was in an arranged marriage to a wealthy socialite. When the family found out about his sexual exploits with Sora, he was sent away to Germany for the remainder of his academic career. Since then, Sora found a thrill in exploring her sexual boundaries with both sexes. But she has yet to fall in love and does not plan on doing it anytime soon.
"What time does Rika's party start?" asks Hikari.
"I don't think it matters." Sora shrugs. "It's a house party."
"Oh.. it is?" Hikari says uncomfortably. "I didn't know Rika was the type to throw those kinds of parties."
"She doesn't seem like the type to make out with girls either, but she did with me anyway." Sora laughs.
"Sora, is there anyone out there that you haven't 'explored' yet?" Miyako asks.
"Besides you three… No, I pretty much got both schools covered." She winks.
"Oh, goodness Sora." Mimi says, trying her best to stifle a giggle.
While all the other girls are laughing about Sora's "adventures," Hikari's mind remains fixated on the party. She's never had the opportunity to attend house parties because her parents usually forbade her from going. But ever since she started her internship at The New York Times, they have become more lenient on her.
"I've never even drank before." Hikari suddenly says in a very a soft, embarrassed tone. "What am I going to do at this party?"
"Don't be nervous, Kari. It's going to be fine. You're thinking too much into this. This is just like any other party you've been to." Mimi says.
"Except they'll be no structure, lots of alcohol, and probably drugs." Miyako winked.
Hikari gulps loudly. "Yeah… that's the part I'm nervous about."
"You've been around all of those things when it's just the four of us. And look, all four of are going to be there. If you start to feel uncomfortable, just come to one of us, okay?" Sora reassures her.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I'm just thinking too much about this."
"Well, as long as your mind is off that Jyou bastard." Miyako says under her breath, but Hikari manages to hear it.
Instead of being sad or angry, she simply says, "Jyou who?" as the limo pulls up to Rika's summer estate.
Let the fun begin.
With the lights off and the music blasting overhead, it's hard to tell that there are hundreds of intoxicated teenagers filling up the lavish estate. When you live in a world where your classmates all come from wealthy families, you can expect to see every kind of drug and alcohol on every table, seat, and corner. Almost immediately, anxiety fills Hikari up while Sora and Miyako flourish in the atmosphere.
"CLASS OF 2015, GET TURNT!" Sora and Miyako scream into the crowd while standing on top of the bar. Their exclamation is immediately followed up by a roar of cheers, bottles popping, and the clink of shot glasses before they get tossed up.
Sensing how uncomfortable Hikari is, Mimi holds onto her hand. "Just relax, Hikari. I know it's scary right now, but this is exactly what you need to forget about that bastard."
Hikari's tight grip on Mimi's small hand begins to loosen up. "You're right. This is our senior year. I don't want to start it off by moping over some asshole. Get me a shot!"
Mimi smirks. "You got it, Kari. Sora! Get the tequila! It's time for Kari's first shot!"
The bottles and limes somehow made their way to the girls through the crowd. Within an hour, Hikari was able to take two shots of tequila and was a little more than tipsy, but not quite as drunk as she wanted to be.
"Can I just get something to sip on? The tequila is burning my throat!" Hikari giggles, finally feeling loose enough to enjoy herself.
"Sure thing, I'll go ask the bartender to make you a cosmo. Be right back!" Mimi waves.
Hikari can't help but giggle as she watches Miyako and Sora on the tabletops, dancing with some boys from the neighboring prep school. They are obviously drunk at this point, each holding an empty bottle of a sort of alcohol Hikari is too tipsy to recognize. Watching her friends have a good time while she waits for another drink makes her grow very impatient, before she finally decides to take one more shot before Mimi arrives.
Finding a stray bottle on the side of the windowsill, Hikari decides to drink her shot straight from the bottle. Sora and Miyako take notice from above and raise their bottles with her. With a lopsided smile on Hikari's face, she raises her bottle and yells, "To the asshole that broke my heart, fuck you!" and takes a swig from the bottle.
Mimi never got back to her with the cosmo.
She groans when she realizes the sunlight is hitting her directly in the eye. She tries to turn over to her side and cover her eyes with her arm but something stops her.
A sharp pain stabs her on the left side of her ribs. Her forearm and wrist ache and throb. Hikari is suddenly wide awake when the sharp pain in her ribs stab her again.
"Agh!" She winces in pain, as she shoots up, sitting upright on the bed.
"Mimi? Sora? You guys here?" Hikari calls out, rubbing the tiredness out of her eyes.
It takes her a moment to realize that she doesn't know where she is, nor does she remember how she got here.
"Miyako?" She calls out, but no one answers. Hikari tries her best to shift to the side of the bed and get up.
When she rips the blanket off herself, she finds that she is naked and covered with bruises.
"Mimi! Sora! Miyako!" She calls out in terror. "Where are you guys?!"
Still, no one answers.
She walks briskly over to the mirror and sees that there are bruises covering her thighs and legs as well. Her clothes are nowhere to be found, but her phone is on the dresser with only 15% of battery left. She quickly dials Mimi's number, knowing that there's a good chance Sora and Miyako won't answer. Lucky for her, she answers.
"Mimi!" Hikari cries into the phone. "Where are you? I don't know where I am but I think I'm in one of the bedrooms! Please come and hurry!"
"Kari, calm down! I'll find you, I'm just in the basement. Take deep breaths."
As Mimi searches around the large estate for Hikari, she stays on the phone with her to calm her down. Hikari, still holding the phone to her ear, continues to inspect herself in the mirror when she notices a bit of blood on her inner thigh and private area.
"Mimi…" Hikari whispers.
"What is it, dear?"
"You better come quick." Hikari says, almost inaudible. "I've been raped."
A/N: I've been planning this story for over a year now. I literally have an outline and LOTS of drafts of the whole story, so I'm pretty excited to finally be publishing this. HOWEVER. Seeing as I am a very busy college student who goes to school full-time AND goes to work full-time, it takes me awhile to publish chapters. To make up for that, I will try to make the chapters long enough to hold you over until the next one.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Bright Lights & Cityscapes! If you can guess what TV show inspired the story, I'll write you in as one of the characters!
P.S The title of this story and all of the chapters are the names of Sara Bareilles songs, because she's my favorite singer-songwriter of all time.