Well, it's been a while since I last updated this, which hung from the fact that I just totally clamped up from thinking what to make these girls do. Well, as it turned out, I made them do essentially what I didn't want them to do, and that was nothing. But I think I got the plot moving forward a little bit here as well.
Also, this turned to be the longest single chapter I've written yet, which is quite the achievement for something detailing fairly little physical action. Anyway, hope you enjoy this new instalment.
At 1:34 pm, a mother of four looses her cool when the third youngest of her children thinks it would be fun to pour a carton of milk on the living room carpet.
– O –
The twist of irony didn't fail to hit Kaori. It felt strange for her to be stuck in this situation. Save for having gone to the same university together with Yomi and Tomo, she didn't really have that much contact with any of her high school friends outside of Chihiro.
Neither did the double irony of having Sakaki of all people invite her along to this most intimate gathering out of the blue. Had it been twelve years earlier or so, Kaori would have most likely considered herself to have died and gone to heaven... or another parallel universe closely resembling heaven.
But this was not twelve years ago. She lead a completely different life now, and she had made conscious choices to put Sakaki and all of that behind her. But for whatever reason, it seemed as if the unwanted things always seemed to come her way rather than the things she actually wanted at any given time. How she had wanted for Sakaki to have noticed her all those years ago, and how that just never seemed to happen. And now that she didn't want Sakaki to notice her, all of a sudden Sakaki suddenly paid more attention to her than ever before.
And added to that being thrown together again with this particular group of people, it felt simply weird. In a way she felt so out-of-place being there that she felt like being a stranger in a strange land. She had not failed to notice how during the second year of high school it seemed how all of them had began to gravitate away from her and no longer noticed her in the same way as they previously had. Not helping matters was her transferral to Kimura's class during year three, and you might as well say that whatever slight connection she still had was essentially forgotten... even if Chiyo had invited her to her summer house during that time, but that had always struck Kaori as nothing more than breadcrumbs, no matter whether the intentions were sincere or not.
In the end, Kaori felt like being an outsider, and she certainly didn't feel like belonging in this scene she now found herself being in. But neither could she back away from this now and, to make ends meet, she just decided to get through the ordeal as best she could... and hopefully with no lasting regrets.
"So, what're we going to do today?" Sakaki asked.
"BAR!!!" was Tomo's immediate response.
"We are not going drinking, Tomo!" Yomi said back with exasperation.
"But it's fun," Tomo complained back.
"NO!!!" Yomi voiced her frustrations. "Now, as to the agenda today, I managed to book us a dinner at Porterhouse Steaks. It's supposed to be a really good place with excellent food... or so my co-workers have said. And the few reviews I've read have been really glowing, so I thought this would be a good chance for us to try it out," Yomi stated.
"Sounds great, Yomi! I can hardly wait," Kagura beamed as she was beginning to get more into the spirit of the group outing, with now steaks involved and adamant not to let Kaori ruin it all.
"But the reservations aren't until five, so we have another three or so hours to spend on something else..." Yomi continued.
"LET'S GO TO THE BAR!!" Tomo suggested.
"NO! We are not going to the bar! Will you just forget about the bar!" Yomi raged.
"Awww, man..." Tomo moaned yet again in disappointment.
"SO... to use that time productively, I thought we could educate ourselves a bit by going to the Meiko Kaji Museum of Modern Art!" Yomi excitedly exclaimed while pulling out a brochure from her pocket.
"MUSEUM!?" both Tomo and Kagura exclaimed in utter disbelief. "Come on Yomi! We're not going to some boring museum to watch a bunch of squares and stuff! That's not fun at all," Tomo complained.
"Yeah, Yomi. That really doesn't sound all that fun," Kagura added.
"Oh? Hmh... And I suppose you have something better in mind?" Yomi asked clearly a bit miffed for being snubbed just like that... particularly when it considered one of her own favourite interests.
"Yeah, actually I do! How about we go on a nice, relaxing, sweat-inducing jog? 15 kilometres on the mark," Kagura said with glimmering eyes.
"Are you kidding me?" Yomi gaped.
"Come on! It'll be fun! Trust me. In fact, Sakaki! I challenge you!" Kagura quipped.
"What? No fair. I want to challenge her too," Tomo decided to join in, not wanting to leave behind a chance to show off.
"Nobody is challenging anybody," Yomi quickly interrupted the incoming argument. "Look, Kagura. I know you love to run, and I know you love to challenge people to compete with you, but that's hardly something recreational for the majority of us to do."
"Huh?" was all Kagura could think of to say.
"Mmm... yeah. When you think of it that way... I guess Yomi's got a point there," Tomo said with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Thank you, Tomo," Yomi said with relief that Tomo actually agreed with her on something.
"Yeah. I mean, just look at Yomi. Those rolls of her's are just going to weight her down so much that she couldn't even keep up with us more fit people," Tomo said with a bright smile while Yomi could feel her blood pressure to begin rising again.
"How about we go to the other end of the rainbow and find the pot of gold?" Osaka suggested, but was promptly ignored by everybody else.
"Tomo, I swear! One of these days I'll pound your brains out!!" Yomi raged again.
"With how many pounds?" Tomo said back.
"AAARRHHH!!!"
"...and then we could follow the yellow brick road to the ice cream stand that has those nice sugarcoated marshmellow ice creams..." Osaka continued to ramble, now more to herself than even attempting to offer anything to the conversation.
Sakaki stood in silence watching as the group already seemed to be starting to fall apart. Not wanting that to happen she cautiously cleared her throat, though still loud enough to catch everyone else's attention.
"Ummm... excuse me, everyone. But how about this? There's a shinto temple I know with a big garden just on the other side of the park that is very nice... and would make for a great place to be on such a beautiful day. It really is quite a magnificent place and I often like to go there myself to just relax. So why don't we just go there and simply hang out?" Sakaki suggested in her usual quiet manner.
"A shrine?" Yomi asked after a while of contemplation.
"Yes. I assure you it's really a breathtaking place and I believe you'd all enjoy it. After all, who said we actually needed to do something?" Sakaki reasoned. "Besides, this way I'll get a better opportunity to get to know Kaori better too,"she internally added.
"Well... yeah. I guess you have a point. Indeed, it could be a pretty good way to spend time with each other instead of being distracted by other activities..." Yomi conceded.
"Yeah. By the sound of it, that actually sounds pretty good to me too," Kagura confirmed.
"Osaka? That sound good to you?" Sakaki asked the spaced out girl.
"Yeah. And then we can use the gold to buy lots of frilly underwear," Osaka stated, quite obviously still not really paying attention to the actual conversation.
"Quite..." Sakaki sweatdropped, "Tomo?"
"...Well... uh... well, okay then... since you all seem to want to," Tomo somewhat reluctantly said.
"Oh, what were you wanting to do?" Yomi asked.
"Skateboard down the hill while dodging incoming traffic," Tomo sincerely stated.
"I should have known..." Yomi said while shaking her head.
"Oh, and no use asking that one," Tomo continued while pointing at Kaori. "She doesn't even have a brain of her own to make her own decisions."
"Gee, thanks Tomo..." Kaori panned.
"So is it settled?" Sakaki finally asked, and after receiving nods from all, said "All right. Let's go then. The shrine's just at the other side, right in that direction."
"Okay! Let's go!" Kagura enthused. "Bet I'm the first one there! Sakaki! I challenge you!"
"Hey, hey! No fair! I challenge you too, Sakaki!" Tomo once more piped in.
"But..." Sakaki tried to object, but the two energetic women would have none of that.
"No buts! You're not going to try and weasel out of this one. After all, this was your idea anyway," Kagura shot at her.
"But..." Sakaki tried again, not quite seeing how the race all of a sudden was all her idea.
"And this time, I'll beat you too!" Kagura interrupted, causing Sakaki once again to just accept the challenge, despite not really feeling the desire to do this again.
"Okay, get ready. On the count of three. One... Two... THREE!" Kagura shouted after which Kagura, Sakaki and Tomo sprinted off towards the temple.
Osaka, at the same time snapping out of her contemplation, noticed the sudden departure of the three other girls and, still being a bit confused after her past reverie, set off running after them as well while yelling, "Wait! The sugar-plum fairies are not dangerous! They won't hurt you! Come back! There's nothing to be afraid of!"
This only left Yomi and Kaori watching after the rest of the group as the distance between them grew and, deciding not to bother trying to join in their mad cap race, started calmly walking towards the shrine as well.
It was only after they had walked along in silence for a short while that Yomi decided to strike up a conversation with their surprise guest and settle a few things that had been preoccupying her mind when she had first noticed Kaori's presence in the gathering too.
"So... Kaori. Fancy seeing you here. I didn't know you'd be attending as well," Yomi drawled out.
"Oh... umm... I wasn't... It was just a spur of the moment decision... Sakaki-san invited me to come too, so I accepted the invitation," Kaori explained.
"Oh... Sakaki you say?" Yomi said with a hint of subtext that smacked Kaori straight on her ears.
"It's not like that," Kaori said back.
"It isn't?" Yomi questioned, still reeking of unworded hints.
"No. And don't even start thinking that I have some ulterior motive to be here," Kaori said with a little annoyance.
"I didn't say anything," Yomi innocently said.
"You didn't have to. Don't think I'm not seeing where you're trying to go there," Kaori said.
"Hey, I'm not here to judge," Yomi said and ignoring the glare Kaori shot at her continued, "I mean, all I'm saying is that I'm glad to see you and Sakaki getting along that well..."
"She's just a friend," Kaori interrupted.
"Undoubtedly. And a good friend she is too. Out of the blue wanting to ask you along on our little meeting... yep, a very good friend. Nice to see you making a little headwave there," Yomi said with a wink.
Kaori just gave a long sigh. "How did I know this might come up..."
"Please, Yomi. Don't start this again. I'm not making any 'headwave' with Sakaki. I've told you before that it's over. My function here is to just be a friend, and that's it. I have no more feelings towards her," Kaori said out loud.
"Oh, is that so?" Yomi said with surprise. "Are you a hundred percent sure about that? I mean, really sure? Because I must say I find that a little hard to believe."
"What?" Kaori said with wide eyes.
"I'm just saying that I can't believe you'd go from being head-over-heels in love to nothing at all. And considering all the things you said back in university... though granted you were drunk as a bean, but still... when you unloaded all those thoughts you had about Sakaki on me... well, let's just say, those kinds of feelings don't just magically disappear like that," Yomi said.
Kaori's sudden silence prompted Yomi to further continue, "Besides, wasn't it you who always said to me to be honest with yourself?"
"Hrmmm..." Kaori grumbled.
"It's a good advice, you know. Maybe you should listen to yourself."
"Yeah, right. Easy for you to say. You don't have to worry about anything like this. You're confident, smart, strong... you have that whole sexy librarian thing going for you..."
"The what?! Kaori, you're not trying to hit on me, are you?"
"No! Of course not. But... you know what I mean. Anyway, the point is that you have a hell of a lot more going for you than me. I mean, let's face it. I'm a geek. I stare at stars for a living, deal a lot with physics and maths, and like to read scientific periodicals... and romance novels. For heaven's sakes, I have the solar system built in my guestroom. I'm short. I'm scrawny. I'm nothing that you could term athletically able or really even that attractive. So to even think somebody like Sakaki-san would find anything interesting in me is a silly daydream," Kaori slammed.
"Hmh... Don't you think you're taking this whole modesty thing a little too far?"
"Yomi, I'm 29 years old. I think it's time for me to accept the facts of my life. And for all I know, what I felt back then might have been nothing else but infatuation. Or a silly high school crush. You know people have those all the time."
"That so? Mmm... maybe. But that's really something only you can answer. So, was it just infatuation?"
"I... I... Ummm... I don't know," Kaori admitted.
"Well, have you ever felt the same way towards anybody else?"
"Well... no... There's never really been anybody else..."
"So, can we draw conclusions here or... what?"
"doesn't prove anything. Just because I've never felt any strong feelings towards anybody else doesn't mean it's love I felt for Sakaki."
"You know, keep talking like that and you'll eventually even start to believe those things you said are true," Yomi said and continued before Kaori had a chance to interrupt, "And you know you're really not that bad like you said. You just have different types of charms. I mean, who knows, Sakaki might find your interests hot. Not to mention, you know you are pretty cute... and I think we both know the deal with Sakaki and cute."
"Yeah, sure. Well, since you put it that way, doesn't that now make it all sound a totally realistic possibility," Kaori said sarcastically, "Heck, I don't even know if she goes for women to begin with!"
"Well, you know she's never had a boyfriend as far as I know," Yomi said knowingly.
"Well, has she ever had a girlfriend?" Kaori asked, and when just getting a shrugging look from Yomi, simply said, "See?"
"But, well, isn't that a good thing, though? Meaning nobody knows what she likes. So she could go either way," Yomi encouraged.
Kaori just sighed deeply before tiredly saying, "Or neither... or she could just never have had the chance to find love for herself... Yomi, please just give it a rest. It's never going to happen. I've already accepted this, and the sooner you do as well, the faster I can just put this whole thing behind me. Not to mention, I've made myself look foolish in front of Sakaki enough times already. I don't have any desire to add to that count."
Yomi paused to chew those words for a while before finally sighing deeply and saying, "Well, I guess I can't force you... It's your life after all. Just hope you are a hundred percent sure. After all, you're my friend, and I would hate to see you getting hurt... either through taking action or not."
"Thanks, Yomi. I do appreciate the thought, but this is the way it has to be. Even as it is nice to see you haven't changed that much since university. Still trying to push me into unlikely fantasies even as I can well do that on my own," Kaori responded with a smile.
"Hey, what are friends for?" Yomi laughed back.
"Hey you two! Are you coming or what?" they suddenly heard Tomo shouting from beside the steps of the shrine entrance to which Yomi and Kaori had now also reached.
Kagura was apparently not feeling all that happy considering how she was grumbling to herself, "Ärrin murrin! How could I loose again? How?"
Osaka on her side had keeled over from exhaustion, Sakaki was neutral as usual, and Tomo was tired, but somewhat still positive regardless of apparently having come third, "I was still faster at one point than either of you two!"
Turning her attention back to Yomi and Kaori as they now stood beside the others, "Jeez, you're so slow! What's wrong, Yomi? The rolls weighting you down? That walk must've been so tough for you."
Yomi made a grimace and shut her eyes tightly. "Do not hurt Tomo. Do not hurt Tomo. She'll pay for it all eventually. You don't have to hurt Tomo..." she quietly chanted to herself.
"I feel for you, Yomi," Kaori quietly said beside her while patting her back.
– O –
After climbing up the steep steps, and walking through the torii gate, the group was greeted by a magnificent sight none had really expected even past Sakaki's description. The shrine itself was basically a very traditional affair with its many buildings and basic layout, but what was different was how much more open and sizeable the grounds around the shrine were, particularly for one that was situated in such a close proximity to the more active parts of town. However it wasn't really the wide spaces that made the greatest impact, but it was the fact that the grounds also held a very beautiful looking garden area, which was not something many shrines contained, with a multitude of different flowers. It wasn't really a large garden, but it did have quite the impact on anybody who saw it with its big splash of colour... an oasis in the middle of a concrete jungle.
"Wow... this place is great," Yomi breathed.
"Yes it is. I once chanced to discover this place by accident and felt just the same. I like to come here often to just calm down and think about a lot of things through. The ambiance is really wonderful," Sakaki quietly said.
"I never knew such a place was just around here, so close to a busy part of the city," Yomi further wondered. "This is a real find, Sakaki."
"Yeah, Yomi's easily impressed," Tomo quipped, earning yet another irritated glare from her bespectacled friend's direction. "Anyway, is this where we're supposed to spend the next three hours at? Seems pretty lame, if you ask me."
"No, Tomo." Yomi started. "This is where we'll be spending the next two hours, since we still need to take into consideration the journey to the restaurant, too. And we need to use public transports, so..."
"Umm... Actually I came with my car and have it parked just beside the park, so I think we can just all go in that," Kaori interjected.
"Really? Well, that's splendid! Good thinking, Kaori. Then, Tomo, you can just add an additional half-an-hour to that two hours," Yomi said with a grin when Tomo's mouth continued its downward direction.
"Oh, great. Could you be any more helpful there, Kaorin? Could you just anyhow squeeze any more time for us to continue enjoying this rollicking 'fun?' You and your stupid boxy Honda. Just so you know, I still haven't forgiven you for getting rid of the V8 in favour of that stupid nerdy car. That was just a lousy thing to do to me, Kaorin," Tomo lamented.
"Hmh... typical Kaorin," Kagura said under her breath, though still making sure that everybody heard her.
Kaori thought about saying something back to that, but refrained from doing so in face of thinking it wouldn't be of any use. "Great. This day just seems to be getting better and better by the hour."
"Oh, man! Over two hours of doing nothing! This is the worst thing ever! You guys suck at being fun," Tomo pouted.
"Oh, no, Tomo. I assure you, I'm having a lot of fun already," Yomi said with a mischievous smile, finding it rather exhilarating for being finally able to get back at Tomo in some way for the past day of unrelenting torture.
"Hey Tomo! Wanna race?" Kagura suddenly jumped up, her running foot starting to itch again from the inactivity after already having had a small taste of the sublimity of athletic movement and craving for some more.
"Race?" Tomo asked, her eyes lighting up again slightly.
"Yeah. Around the buildings there, through the woods, across the garden embankments, then down here, down the steps and up again," Kagura plotted the course.
"Okay!" Tomo jumped on it as well.
"In fact... Sakaki! I chal..." Kagura began but was promptly interrupted by Sakaki.
"Challenge me. Yes I know. But I really don't feel like it right now."
"What? What do you mean you don't feel like it? Come on, this'll be fun. And this time I'll beat you too," Kagura tried to entice Sakaki.
"No, Kagura. I really don't want to run," Sakaki protested.
"Oh, don't be such a spoil sport! It'll be a perfect way to spend some time. And it'll help your metabolism too come dinner time. And thirdly, it'll be great when you can do this sort of thing with your friends," Kagura said with slight emphasis on the word friends.
Sakaki sighed deeply, "You're not going to leave me alone before I agree, are you?"
"Nope. Please, Sakaki. Pretty please please please?"
"Very well," Sakaki said with another sigh, seeing that Kagura would just continue to bug her about this until she couldn't take it anymore. "Easier to just say yes."
"Yes! Okay, two laps. Then we'll see whose who," Kagura enthused.
"Hey, you guys coming or what?" Tomo impatiently called out. "I can't wait to beat both of your butts!"
"Yeah, we'll see about that Takino when I first make history," Kagura boasted as the three women lined up to race. "Okay, lets do this! Ready... Get set... GO!"
As the race began, Sakaki seemed to immediately take the lead, but Kagura was doing her best to keep up, while Tomo was probably best just be ignored for her sad attempt at failing to keep up her opening momentum. On the sidelines, Osaka, Yomi and Kaori stood by themselves as spectators, watching as the two + one girls were pushing the most out of themselves yet again, jumping over obstacles, dodging trees and generally showing off their physique.
"Humph," Kaori humphed while crossing her arms as she watched the racers career around the shrine area.
Yomi glanced at her curiously before slyly coming up behind her and asking, "You okay there, Kaori?"
"What? Yeah... yeah, sure. I'm fine..." she absently said, and after Yomi's look didn't leave her, she further elaborated with a somewhat irritated voice, "It's just that Kagura... always challenging Sakaki-san. Even though it's clear she doesn't want to participate..."
"Uh-huh? Yeah, she sure loves doing that, doesn't she?" Yomi smirked.
"It's just so irritating. She just doesn't take other people's feelings that much into consideration apart from her own desires," Kaori lowly said.
"Oh, Kagura's not really that bad. She's just a bit impulsive and competitive, that's all," Yomi said back.
"Still doesn't make it right to take Sakaki-san along to do things she doesn't want to do. That is so... selfish," Kaori said.
"Oh my, Kaori... That isn't by any chance... jealousy I hear?" Yomi grinned.
"Yeah, 'cause Kaorin's in love with Sakaki right?" Osaka suddenly saw fit to pay attention and pipe in on the conversation.
"Wha?" Kaori jumped in shock. "Wh-wh-what did you just say, Osaka?"
"That you love Sakaki? Or that frog princes are really aliens come to seduce Arabian princesses?" Osaka inquired.
"The first one..." Kaori said while turning to Yomi, "I thought I asked you to never tell anybody else."
"I swear, I've never told a soul. I promised I wouldn't, didn't I?" Yomi responded.
"Then how does Osaka... unless... of course... Chihiro," Kaori concluded. "Was it Chihiro who told you, Osaka?"
"Oh, I've known a long time. It was kinda obvious. You know, I'm pretty observant if you haven't noticed..." Osaka sagely said.
"Observant? You? I mean you?" Kaori incredulously asked.
"As I said, if you haven't noticed. I'm like the observation ninja. You never see me until it's too late... though I wonder how the ninjas keep those coins in their pockets from rattling. It's pretty distracting when wanting to observe without being noticed. I'd like to know how to do that," Osaka said.
Kaori could feel the advancement of an incoming headache. This was spiralling way out of control. Not only could she trust that only a select few people knew of her former feelings towards Sakaki, now the one person past Tomo she really didn't feel comfortable knowing about it just came forth saying she knew it all. "And here I went confirming her suspicions, too. Nice going, Kaori."
"So, are you gonna say something to her soon?" Osaka pushed.
"What are you talking about, Osaka?" Kaori said.
"Well, if you love her, shouldn't you say something to her?" Osaka questioned.
"I don't..." Kaori started before correcting her tone of voice a tad lower, "I don't love her."
"You don't? But I thought you did," Osaka said with wonder.
"Well, I guess you thought wrong," Kaori said with finality, hoping to just shatter those thoughts from the spacey girl's head. At least it was a plan. Deny everything and hope the situation disappears.
"What do you mean, Kaori?" Yomi then jumped in with fake surprise. "I thought you said to me that you loved Sakaki big time."
"Yomi!" Kaori whined. "Well, so much for that bright plan..."
"Oh, don't worry, Osaka. Kaori's just a bit shy with her feelings, that's all," Yomi winked.
"Ah! Now I understand perfectly. Don't fret, Kaorin. I'm sure you and Sakaki'll be very happy together. You don't need to be afraid," Osaka smiled back.
"Thanks a lot... both of you," Kaori said through clenched teeth.
"Any time," came Yomi's beaming answer.
"So, when are you gonna ask her out?" Osaka decided to continue her questioning.
"I'm not going to," Kaori countered.
"Then you can have a big wedding..." Osaka started to sink into her own little reverie.
"Osaka..." Kaori said.
"...and have lots of children..."
"Osaka."
"...though I wonder how two women do that..."
"Osaka!"
"...Maybe you can adopt... or use science fiction..."
"Ayumu!!!" Kaori finally shouted.
That caught Osaka's attention, "Huh?"
"Please, will you knock that off," Kaori said.
"Wait, Kaorin... W-what did you just call me?"
"Ummm... What? Ayumu?" Kaori asked a bit confused.
"You called me Ayumu?" Osaka asked in confirmation.
"Well... that is your name, isn't it? Or did I remember wrong?" Kaori asked.
"No, but... it's just that not many people refer to me by my real name. I mean, you all guys just call me Osaka like always... and other people I know have other weird names for me like 'freak' or 'snugglebumps' or 'conspirator', but... not many others just ever call me 'Ayumu' for some odd reason. Am I not really Ayumu material?" Osaka asked with sincerity shining from her eyes.
"Um... well... that is... uh... sure. Sure. You're perfect Ayumu material," Kaori happily said, not really knowing what would be a proper thing to say in a surprise situation like this.
"Yeah, Ayumu's a top notch name. It suits you really well," Yomi added.
"Really? Wow... that's cool. I kinda like the sound of that. Like the sound of a wasp in your ear. I like the sound of that too," Osaka said.
"Okay, great Ayumu. Umm... Say, Ayumu?" Kaori asked, wanting to take advantage of Osaka's current state of susceptibility. "Could you possibly do me a favour?"
"A favour? What kind of favour?" Osaka asked.
"Oh, nothing big. Just... could you possibly not mention anything to anybody about that whole Sakaki stuff?"
"Why?"
"Please, could you just do that... for me?" Kaori pleaded with the best look she could muster.
"Sure, Kaorin. Since you ask so nice and all," Osaka smiled.
"Great," was Kaori's quick response as she noted that Sakaki and Kagura had finally got over their race and were now making their way towards the rest of the group, Sakaki again seemingly victorious as Kagura looked like a stormcloud.
"Hey, guys. Had a nice run?" Yomi asked as the two reached them.
"It was okay," Sakaki simply said, while Kagura didn't bother to say a thing.
"Kagura? You okay there?" Yomi asked from her in return.
"Yeah, just swell..." Kagura grumbled.
"I see..." Yomi said with a knowing smirk, before noting that Tomo didn't seem to be among the two other girls. "Uh, say... where's Tomo?"
"I think she passed out somewhere along the run," Kagura imparted. "I wasn't really paying attention. Guess she's somewhere back there."
Yomi sighed, "How typical," and headed off somewhere towards the back of the garden, "Guess I'll have to go find her. I'll be right back."
With Yomi's departure to search for Tomo, Sakaki thought to take an advantage of this distraction, which would probably offer her the best opportunity she'd have to disengage herself from the others for a while and execute her plan "get to know Kaori better than before". "After all, if I'm going to do this, I better take action sooner rather than later."
"Umm... say Kaori? I think I saw something quite interesting back there when we were racing. I was wondering whether you'd like to come along with me and take a closer look. You know... just us two," Sakaki added to make a small emphasis to the others... not that she wanted to diss her other friends, or to cause any personal slights, but neither did she want interruptions on this particular time if she wanted to really have some one on one time with Kaori.
"Oh... ah... S-sure..." Kaori stammered, feeling her nervous levels rising again for the prospect that Sakaki wanted to apparently isolate herself with her from the others. And it sure wasn't helping as Kagura was giving her the 'evil eye' and Osaka was radiantly smiling as if urging them onward. "Sakaki sure has some great friends,"she thought lugubriously.
"Then shall we?" Sakaki said as she started heading off to another part of the garden. Kaori didn't feel she had any chance of pulling away, so just obediently fell in step with Sakaki as they left the other two women staring behind them.
"Hrmh... Typical Kaorin..." Kagura said under her breath again.
However, her personal tirade against Kaori was quickly cut short when Osaka's voice suddenly broke in her ears.
"Say, Kagura, would you like some candy?" Osaka asked, producing a pack from her pocket. "I found these from my mom's cabinet when I was visiting my parents a while ago and I forgot them in my pocket. I guess she won't mind if I got a few. They taste pretty good," she said while popping out a little blue tablet and offered some to her friend.
"Candy?" Kagura asked. "Those things don't really look like candy... 'Valium Diazepam'..." she read as she stepped closer to read the text on the carton, "JEEZ, OSAKA! That's not candy! Those are tranquillisers! Gimme those," she screamed as she grabbed the drugs away from Osaka.
"Hey, I didn't say you could take 'em all," Osaka whined.
"Well... I guess that explains a few things..." Kagura said quietly as she shook her head in disbelief. "Hey, Osaka! Have you been popping these for a while now?"
"Just a few... made me feel all nice and loose, too," Osaka dreamily said.
"Good thing these weren't anything stronger..." Kagura said in frustration. "And you're not getting these back, either!"
"Bummer..." was all Osaka could say as she pouted at the ground.
– O –
Sakaki and Kaori walked leisurely in between the flower embankments and trees. It was a wonder that nobody else had got the same idea to go to the shrine on such a perfect day, since it was hardly possible that other people didn't know the place was there. Not that they missed anybody else being there by any means.
"So, what was it that you wanted me to see?" Kaori asked.
"Oh... ummm... yeah, it's right here," Sakaki said as she led Kaori to a tree a little way off. "So, what do you think of that."
Kaori looked at the tree a bit confused, "It seems to be... an ume tree. What about it?"
"Well... don't you find it fascinating that there's only one tree like this planted here?"
"Not really..." Kaori stalled and took a look into Sakaki's face. The taller woman's face was showing some obvious signs of not really knowing what to say, as if her excuse to bring Kaori back there to see a singular tree had been some quickly thought up cover for the fact that Sakaki really didn't have any particular reason to ask her to be there alone with her. Kaori couldn't help but form a small grin at that thought, "That's not really why you wanted me alone here, was it?"
Sakaki blushed slightly, "Was I really being that transparent?"
"So... what is it? Really?" Kaori asked.
Sakaki glanced at Kaori who was doing the same to her with a little knowing smile. "For real? Okay... Guess you got me. Yeah, you're right... it's not about the tree. Or some other excuse like that. Actually, would you believe it's all just about you?"
"Me?" Kaori asked with a little raise of her eyebrow.
"Yes. You see, there's something that's been bothering me ever since yesterday."
"There has?" Kaori asked a bit worried, fearing that she had possibly done something irrevocably bad without even knowing of committing some offence.
"Mmm... Indeed. Kaori... I... think I owe you an apology," Sakaki said while turning her gaze fully to her shorter friend.
"An... apology? For what?" Kaori blinked now considerably confused.
"For treating you so lousy in high school," Sakaki said with determination.
"What? But... But you didn't treat me badly..." Kaori answered.
"Yes, I did. I was so self-centred back then. I didn't really take a lot of people into consideration the way I should have... you included. And that realisation's been making me think a lot of myself."
"I... still don't... quite see where you're going with this..."
"I've been thinking a lot back to those times, and past my small circle of friends, I never really paid a lot of attention to others. And I realise now how unfair that was. Particularly towards you."
Kaori decided to remain silent, rather wanting to let Sakaki get everything off her chest... where ever this all was going to lead.
"Do you remember what we talked of yesterday? How I thought how people were thinking of me a certain way?"
Kaori nodded.
"Well, maybe they had a reason to think that. I've been doing a lot of re-evaluating of myself since yesterday morning and I... admit that I was... that I was not as good a person as I could have been. And that is exactly what was so unfair when it came to you. You know, nobody had ever really tried to be a friend to me before... Nobody really wanted to have much to do with me out of fear, or awe, or jealousy... or something like that... that is, until you came around. You see, I've been thinking on it a lot, and I really think you were the first one that I remember ever trying to talk to me... as a person. Not as a fangirl. Or a rival, or something like that. But a real friend. Yet, how did I repay you for that? Total indifference."
"Sakaki... I..." Kaori started, feeling a bit embarrassed for Sakaki to suddenly say that kind of things of her, but Sakaki quickly interrupted.
"No, Kaori. I don't want to hear any objections. I treated you really badly back then, and I want to make it up to you."
"You don't have to..."
"Yes. I do. I really do. If for nothing else, then for my conscience. I want to be able to honestly call you my friend. Not just on paper, but in the true meaning of it. And I want to be able to take back those slights I gave you," Sakaki said with finality.
Kaori was frankly rather stunned by how things had suddenly taken a turn to... somewhere. She couldn't say exactly where. Neither was she sure whether this thing Sakaki was proposing was for good or bad. For the good she figured that it might actually be fun to have Sakaki as a friend... on an equal footing with her other friends. Yet, on the other, the old voices came to warn her once again about the dangers moths are in when flying too close to the flame. She had already been through so much pain, dejection and depression before when it came to Sakaki, and she considered herself lucky to have been able to escape generally unharmed.
But what was this new prospect entailing? Could she be Sakaki's friend? Could she really do that? Or would she be walking straight to her own doom? To be honest, the uncertainty scared Kaori terribly. Could she be making the worst mistake of her life?
"But then again... life is full of risk taking. Just friends. That's it. Nothing more. Maybe... maybe that could work. Uncertain as it is. Oh, God, let me not regret this,"she thought.
"Okay, Sakaki-san. I'd love to be your friend," Kaori finally said with a smile, causing an even bigger one to rise on Sakaki's lips... well at least by Sakaki's standards.
"Thank you, Kaori. That makes me really happy," Sakaki was content at saying.
– O –
Unbeknownst to both Sakaki and Kaori, though, their movements did not go unnoticed. Behind a group of trees was Kagura, stealthily watching them, though she was too far away to make out what exactly they were saying.
"Damn that Kaorin. I knew she'd do this..." she mumbled to herself.
"Hey, Kagura! Whatcha doing?" Tomo happily came up from behind her, now fully recovered from the exhaustion of the race.
"Shhhh!!!" Kagura shushed.
Tomo was a bit taken aback by the intensity of the shush, but still wanted to know what her friend was doing crouching behind a tree, "What the heck are you doing, Kagura?"
"I'm watching Kaorin and Sakaki," Kagura answered lowly.
"Okay... Why?" Tomo asked.
"I knew she'd do this. I just knew it. Look at Kaorin. All queenly and possessive like that. Just hogging Sakaki all to herself. This was supposed to be our together time, yet she just had to push herself to our group and divide everybody," Kagura seethed.
"Huh? What's gone into you? You sound pretty pissed," Tomo quipped.
"Well, wouldn't you be if, say, a bunch of total strangers came to your house to eat all your food?" Kagura said.
"I guess... though why would total strangers come to my place and munch away all my pocky?" Tomo asked confused.
"It was a metaphor!" Kagura snapped back.
"Okay, that was just a weird one."
"Well, anyway. Kaorin's just that. A stranger come to eat our food. And then taking Sakaki alone there, away from all the rest of us."
"Wow, Kagura. You sound pretty serious. Could it be... no... wait, it.. it couldn't be..." Tomo started.
"What?"
"Are you... are you jealous?" Tomo said with wide eyes.
"Huh? No! What the heck are you saying?"
"Oh, man... this is so good," Tomo said with a wide grin slowly forming on her lips. "Oh, wait till everybody hears..."
"Tomo... Don't you dare spread something like that around," Kagura warned.
"Oh come on, this is top stuff. Oh! Maybe... Maybe you have the hots for Sakaki!" Tomo gasped as if making a big revelation.
"What are you talking about? No, I don't have the 'hots' for Sakaki."
"You don't? Gasp! It's not... Kaorin is it?" Tomo feigned shock.
"Certainly not! Will you stop it with those innuendos. And let me tell you, if you spread any of those fantasies around, I'll clobber you. And unlike Yomi, I don't take anger management classes, so I won't spare my fists," Kagura said threateningly.
"Oh, come on, Kagura! Why so serious?" Tomo flipped. "Anyway, I think I'll just go back to Yomi and Osaka now and leave you spying on your secret lover..."
Before Kagura could chastise Tomo any more, she skipped away and left a very annoyed Kagura behind her. "How the hell did it just turn to this?"Kagura thought with frustration."Oh, it's all that stupid Kaorin's fault. Well, you just wait. The day's far from over."
After that, Kagura thought to follow Tomo as well, wanting to keep an eye on her before she blurted out something stupid, and leaving Sakaki alone with Kaori behind her for now. Though Kagura was now doubly certain to keep Kaori under a very watchful eye should it come to it that she was required to take action against the stargirl.
– O –
At 3.36 pm, Hanai Seiko lets out a rather loud fart in a room filled with his relatives. He is very embarrassed.
Phew. My first real attempt at doing group scenes and not ignore any of the characters, yet retaining focus on my main objectives. Hope that came out well. Next up, the rest of the day out after which things will take a little bit of a turn... for the best or the worse. Depends on how you look at it. Until then.