Yoshiko awoke with a start to the sound of her alarm clock screeching like a banshee. She groaned, reaching over to turn it off, refusing to open her eyes quite yet. She was incredibly comfortable for someone who was hanging about 40% of the way off her bed. Her blankets were only covering one leg and half her butt, and her hair was hanging straight down to the floor.
After about five minutes of sitting there, she finally rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes, looking up at the ceiling. It was about 7 am, and she should probably get up and start getting ready for her day. She had never liked being up so early. It made her cranky.
She yawned and stretched her arms out, standing up and lazily trudging over to her mirror. She brushed through her hair and styled her hair easily into her routine style, then went back over to her bed to grab her phone. She yawned again as she unplugged it, swiping away useless notifications before one made her stop dead in her tracks.
An unsaved number. But an unsaved number she would recognize anywhere. 'Hey, how are you?' it asked. That was a question she didn't know how to answer, not to this number. You Watanabe. That was a name she had refused to think about for years. So many feelings were tied to that name.
The only one she felt right now was heartbreak.
Slowly, Yoshiko sat back down on her bed, staring at the floor. Her heart hurt with the rush of emotions flying back, the memories flooding her brain. She couldn't tell if her heart was in her throat or in her stomach. Whichever it was, it was beating like crazy. Whether out of fear or anger or sadness or something else, she didn't know.
She didn't know. That was the only response to the question. She had no idea how she was. Up until this morning, she'd been fine. Up until reading that text, she was doing great. She was focused on her career, moving forward with her life. She had no time for dating. Or, at least, that was the excuse she'd been using.
Now that she thought about it, the true reason she hadn't dated was because she wasn't over her last relationship. She hadn't thought about You in so long, she hadn't let herself. Because she knew that she would cry and her heart would break all over again and she would push aside her self control and call her, which she knew was a bad idea.
But was it? You had texted her. What did that mean? What was she trying to do here? What kind of game did she think that this was? She thought she could just pop in after six years of not talking to her and ask her how she was, as if it had been only a couple days? How cruel. How bold.
She picked up her phone again with a slight scowl on her face, typing in a response, her fingers moving quickly in her frustration.
'That depends. What do you want?'
She set her phone aside and sat up tall, smiling smugly. There. She had stood her ground. The Great Yohane would never fall victim to some foolish mortal's silly games. She knew better than that!
But… maybe she shouldn't have been so rude about it. You was a good person. She'd always been the nicest, most caring person Yoshiko had ever met, and maybe she really was just checking in. Honestly, she probably already felt badly enough about how things had worked out between them. Or rather, how things didn't work out. Sighing, she picked up her phone again and typed out another message.
'Sorry. That was rude. I wanted to try to figure out why you're suddenly texting me, but it came out really nasty. I've been doing pretty okay since… y'know. How are you?'
She added the question on the end just out of common courtesy. When someone asks how you are, you're supposed to ask back. But sending the message, Yoshiko realized she really did wonder how You was. She wondered if she was okay, if she'd gotten a good job. Was she dating someone new? Did she get a cool apartment? Probably not as cool as Yohane's, just saying. Had she coped well with the breakup? Knowing You, she likely handled it better than Yoshiko did. She'd lost her cool for a couple months, a fiery burning ball of anger and heartbreak. But You had always been so cool and easygoing, she probably had taken it much better.
Shaking her head suddenly, Yoshiko snapped out of her thoughts and stood back up, tossing her phone aside. She had to get ready for work, this weirdness and reminiscence would have to wait.