Hello, dear reader.
Before you even begin chapter one, I must say that this story is something that I started more then a year ago, to cope with problems that I was facing. I cannot guarantee that it will be continued, but I know I have more 10,000 words typed for this story, so far, so there will be at least 6 more chapters, before it dies for a while. Beyond that, this story touches down on pretty taboo subjects such as self injury, Anorexia, Bulimia, bullying, self hate, and a very small bit of LGBT. If you don't want to read about any of this, please close this tab now, because I don't want to see flames for something that I wrote as a cope. If you do, however, like this kind of story, then I welcome you. I'm not the best writer, but this is mostly written during times where I wasn't fully caring about how I wrote. I apologise for any spelling or grammatical errors, and if you notice any, please PM me and I will attempt to fix them. Enjoy!
~Bri
Loud chattering and dishes clanking was all that was to be heard of this small inn. It was one of the busy days when the manager's daughter had to stay home from school, just to help out at the inn. Her name was Amagi Yukiko. This teen worked constantly, hardly having time for anything such as school or friends.
She whipped around a few drunkards, serving new glasses of wine and beer to the already intoxicated guests. She would smile kindly and offer, "Would like some more to drink, Sir?"
She kept the fake smile plastered onto her face, until he came back at her with "I'd like to have more of you." Her face went blank, but than she bit own tongue before she said something stupid. She glued the fake smile back and nodded at him, "I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to properly respond to that." she said politely, despite the fact that her jaw was tensing. She sat a full glass of beer down and took up the empty one. She walked away without another word.
She disregarded as he called after her. She began around the large party table, collecting plates, bowls, and silverware. She stormed out of the room, into the kitchen. She put the dishes into the sink and turned to the cook, "Father, may I take my break now?" She asked, trying to hide the fact that she was clearly upset.
Her father turned from the stove for only a moment, "Yes, just remember: 15 minutes. We're too busy for you to forget the time because you were talking to Chie."
Yukiko bowed her head, "Yes father." she bit her tongue again. She had lost track of time once a few months ago, and her father was not going to allow her to forget it.
She let herself relax a little as she went back to her bedroom. She picked up her phone, to see if she had any new messages. Chie. Chie. Chie. Chie. She had 3 texts and a missed phone call. All from Chie. What could Chie possibly need. She read the texts, "Hey Yukiko, just wanting to make sure you're okay. I know it's busy season at the Inn, but I worry ya know." "Heyya Yukiko, call me when you can, k?" "Hey Yukiko, later I'm gonna bring the assignment for today. See ya then."
Yukiko let out a sigh. Chie was always like this. She watched over her and made sure nothing went wrong in Yukiko's life. Yukiko loved her, but Chie was so overprotective.
At the same time, though, Chie is missing a detail everyone has missed for a while. Ever since the busy season at the Inn started in October, Yukiko hadn't been eating. She would eat little things like toast or some rice, but nothing difficult. No one has noticed either and that is probably what hurt Yukiko the most. Not even her closest friend realised when she was lying about eating breakfast.
Yukiko closed her phone and put it back on the side table. There was no way she was going to make it to school today. Maybe tomorrow. Yukiko sucked in a sharp breath and started back to the front.
A little while later, after mostly everyone had gone to their rooms and the party room was practically empty, Yukiko had gotten permission to take the night off. She had let out a sigh in relief and removed the apron she was wearing.
Yukiko started back to her bedroom once more, this time feeling a sense of bliss. She loved when she first got off work, because that first few minutes off her feet always made her feel so much better about the day she had faced. When she sat down on her bed, she looked over to see her phone flashing. She picked it up and observed the message, "Hey, Yukiko. Just wanted to tell you that I'll be over soon with that work I'd said I would bring. Sorry it's so late. Hanamura dragged me and Narukami to Junes for a while. See ya!" From Chie, of course.
Yukiko set her phone back down. She felt rather weak after today's work. It was probably nothing, though. There were always those extra tiring days that just took everything out of Yukiko. This was probably just one of those days.
She laid down and took in a deep breath. Everything felt better for that one moment. She closed her eyes and took in a sharp breath. Exhaustion almost immediately took over her.
Almost as if on cue, a light pecking suddenly sounded at Yukiko's door. "Are you up? I brought today's assignments to you." the voice was Chie. At least she didn't barge in like normal.
"I'm up, please come on in." Yukiko said, sitting up. The dizziness once again surrounded her for a moment, making her want to vomit. She bit her lip and roughed through the only few seconds of vertigo.
When Chie came in, her first comment was, "Yukiko, you don't look so hot. You feeling okay?"
Yukiko took a moment to regain composure before saying, "I'm fine." she was lying through her teeth. "I just worked to hard today."
Chie frowned, "You should tell your parents if you really feel ill. It's bad to push yourself too much."
"No, they need me to help. I'll be fine, I promise." Yukiko said, feeling a little more confident in that statement when her vertigo went away. She looked up at Chie and gave her a smile, "Really, don't worry. I'll see if I can go to school tomorrow in the morning, okay? I'll tell you if I can't." Yukiko said, the lie of how she felt written on her face.
Chie was unconvinced, but she nodded a little. "Okay. Well, I better get going. I'll text you later." she smiled one of her big dorky smiled, making Yukiko stiffen a giggle.
"Okay, be careful on your walk home." Yukiko said, suddenly feeling much better than she had before.
Chie grinned, "Like anyone can get by with trying to hurt me. I'll kick them as hard as I can." Chie said, power flashing across her face for only a moment, "Well, tomorrow then." she said before leaving the hallway, waving at Yukiko the whole time.
Yukiko, once Chie was out of sight, let out a heavy sigh and slouched a little. She loved Chie so much. If only Chie lived here at the Inn with her. Everything would be easier. Especially since Yukiko never could properly think for herself. After a few more moments of her thinking things like this, she bit her lip and shook her head. Why was she allowing those longing feelings for Chie take over again? It wasn't going to change that Chie was not like that and that Yukiko would somehow always be the lone princess.
Tears welled up in Yukiko's eyes when she though of that, even though she knew she couldn't rely on Chie forever. She blinked a few times, trying to lock the emotion away. She was much too emotional.
Yukiko laid back down, letting a steady stream of tears make their way to the pillow. She knew that she shouldn't get so upset over the fact that Chie could never properly save her; but at the way things were going, she felt there was no way anyone can save her.
She silently cried herself to sleep, the emotions of loneliness welling up and consuming her. She couldn't really understand her feelings properly, and lack of sleep wasn't helping.
