7 Mile Fragrance
Chapter One:
The ceiling was painted a light calm blue; a sharp contrast to what she was feeling. Akari uncoiled herself from where she was sitting, slumped dejectedly against the wall, reminiscing on past memories.
She stood up; her lips that were used to smiling were set into a thin, angry line and scanned the room as if she was searching for something. Akari grabbed her white duffle bag and pulled open the doors of her maghony colored closets. She pawed through the clothes, snatching random shirts and pants off the racks and stuffing it mercilessly into her bag. Letting out a sharp, exasperated breath, she turned abruptly and swiftly snatched her car keys off the dresser, all the while pushing the straps of her bag up her shoulders as if she was just casually swinging her purse upon her shoulder blades.
She couldn't, was not able to concentrate if she stayed in the apartment any longer.
Akari slipped on her white high heels and a blue jacket. She paused at the door and learned her ear against it. She could faintly, barely make out the sounds of heavy breathing. He was still there. Yuuchi was still there.
Bracing herself for any attempts that Yuuchi would make on his behalf, she opened the door and it hung loosely ajar. It took all her willpower to not fling the door open violently and shatter it to pieces as much as she would have loved to do so. As she had guessed, Yuuchi started as soon as the door creaked, signaling her wish of departure.
"Akari? I didn't mean for you to find out." He looked so sorry that Akari almost believed him. Almost.
She bit down on her lip to stop the stream of insults waiting to burst from her mouth. Instead, Akari managed a sharp, cold reply that even caught her off guard by its cruelty. "So you didn't want me to know? You wanted to keep me in the cold, to tell me that we were moving to the United States… the day we were moving? Did you honestly believe that I would have followed you even if you sprung this on me at the last-minute? I don't think that I'll be able to trust you anymore."
"Akari…" He made a grasping motion in the air as if just doing that would make Akari stay.
She jabbed the "down" button on the elevator angrily. "Don't touch me," she hissed cruelly. Yuuchi shrank back automatically.
"The wedding is tomorrow, Akari. Everyone's going to be there. Don't do this to me. Stay, please."
Akari managed a sad, little smile. Her tone was laced with sarcasm as she spoke. "That's such a nice timing to say that, the wedding is tomorrow. Look at me and see if I really care or not. Go ahead and embarrass yourself tomorrow when you tell them that the wedding is never happening." But she really did care, deep down inside. Weddings were supposed to be a special day, weren't they? She had looked forward to this day for a long time... but now it seemed like it wouldn't be happening. The elevator opened with a soft noise and Akari stepped into it. "And oh, don't go looking for me," she added softly.
Leaving Yuuchi mute and shutting off any contact with him, the elevator doors closed tightly. Her last image of Yuuchi was him standing in front of the apartment door, looking at her in disbelief, as if she was a totally different person. Maybe she was. She was certainly angry now and anger can morph people until they're beyond recognition. Her sarcastic and dry composure broke the second she stepped into the elevator. She titled her head, to look at the glass ceiling and to see her reflection. Her eyes were beginning to tear and she looked on the verge of shattering into thousands of pieces.
No. This wouldn't do. She was going to be out in public the second she stepped out of this elevator. And wouldn't a crying young woman be an interesting sight?
She dug her nails deep into her hand to make it easier for her to regain her composure. The elevator was signaling that it was coming to a stop and the metal elevator doors soon sprung away from each other. Keeping her eyes toward the ground, Akari moved out. In her haste, she bumped into an elderly woman trying to shuffle inside the elevator. Murmuring a quick "sumimasen," she walked briskly through the front lobby and pushed the entrance door open just enough to let her slim figure slip through.
With no exact destination in mind, Akari set forward mindlessly until she realized that she was heading towards the park. She settled on a wooden park bench and pondered on her current options. She could go to her parent's house and stay there for a while; too much curiosity though. Then, again, there was always the suggestion of returning back to the apartment... as much as it was the perfect choice to make, it was something Akari was not willing to do. After a brief moment, the answer came flying to her head; she was surely welcome at her best friend Mizuki's house, wasn't she?
Impelling herself upwards, Akari made her way down to the train crossing. If she remembered correctly... then Mizuki lived a few street down on the other side of the train crossing. She silently prayed she wasn't heading the wrong way.
As she neared the train crossing, the stop light switched from yellow to a deep shade a red, played a little jingle of high and low notes, and then the bars dropped a ninety degree angle. Akari felt the train before she even saw it. The deep rumbling sent vibrations jolting from her feet and up. As she stood waiting for the train to pass, just listening to the clang of the train wheels colliding with the tracks, it sparked a memory of someone. Who that someone was...she couldn't pinpoint exactly who.
The rumbling subsided, motioning the pass of the train, and the bar that prevented Akari from crossing lifted. The sense that something had happened here was increasing, rising to the point where she wanted to stop and think.
But there was no time for thinking. Thinking would only mean pain. She had to keep on moving.
A few seconds after she was on the other side, the bar swung down and another train slowly passed by. Akari wasn't sure why, but she had stopped there, frozen in place for a while. The wind blew her brown hair to the right. Her bag almost slipped from her shoulders and she pushed it back up, holding it secure with one hand. Time seemed to slow down as pink petals from nearby flowers hanging above, cascaded and floated down to the floor beneath Akari's feet. She forced her legs to keep moving.
There was so much hustle and bustle in Tokyo. After all, it was the capital of Japan. Nestled near the heart of all the noise, tucked away between towering skyscrapers was a park; it was a strange place for a park to be in. A pale pink poster was tacked to a bulletin board outside the fences of the park welcoming all visitors to the annual Cherry Blossoms Festival.
Akari was supposed to head towards Mizuki's place, but she felt instinctively drawn to this park. Besides, it wouldn't hurt just to take a stroll to clear off her mind, right?
The park was indeed beautiful. Cherry blossom trees adorned the entire place with a few batches of maples and birches here and there. Towards the middle, an undisturbed lake only accommodating koi fishes circling one another was present. A sweet, strong scent was in the air, strangely reminding Akari of springtime and the past.
Akari stared longingly at other couples laughing. With an abrupt jolt, she realized that she and Yuuchi planned to picnic here today. She smiled grimly. Seems like that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. Staring at the others was painful. It reminded her too much of the good times she had with Yuuchi. The miracle of the past, seemed very much like a fantasy right now. She faintly wondered if Yuuchi was watching her from somewhere, quietly debating whether or not to approach her. Probably not. He had too much pride, his fatal flaw, as was Akari's as well.
"...Akari?"
The voice sounded familiar. Too familiar. Familiar to the point where her heat was slamming painfully against her rib cage.
She twisted her body around. The voice had come from behind her. A man with dark brown hair falling carelessly in front of his face was standing in front of her. In that moment, she couldn't find her voice. When she did, it came out barely above a whisper, barely audible.
But he heard her. He always heard what she said.
"Takaki-kun?"
Chapter Notes:
(1) The wedding was supposedly somewhere in the winter since Akari was talking about how she would be seeing her parents next month and that there would be no need for her to stay until New Year's. Note how everyone was wearing heavy coats and scarves. (Manga)
Author's Notes:
Thank you so much for reading! There's probably a ton of things that are wrong with my writing (like grammar), but please bear with me.
I haven't written in a long time, but decided to pick up writing once again after watching "5 Centimeters Per Second," which by the way, is such a heartwarming and realistic anime... I feel like I'm going to start ranting again...