"So, Mama, how do you even know about My Little Pony?" I asked her as we drove to the mall, Mama having spent the past ten minutes talking about how much she loved MLP.
"Yaya-chan showed me," she giggled. "It was during the summer, while you were out. She dropped by to visit and showed me the show. I'm so thankful! They're sooo precious, Ri-chan, you must watch them with me!"
"Sure," I told her, silently adding, when hell freezes over.
"Anyway, Ri-chan," Mama continued, pulling up in a parking space outside the mall, "I'm so disappointed that you didn't tell me you had an event at school!" We got out of the car, and as I walked up to her, she clasped my hands and held them up, like she was Tohru Honda or Koyama Mitsuki*.
"Ri-chan, you must promise to tell Mama everything from now on, ok? No secrets between us, ok? Promise me."
Although she spoke to me like a five year-old, I saw a glint of seriousness in her eyes. She really wanted us to be close. She really wanted me to be happy. I swallowed and nodded. She squealed and grabbed my hand, practically running towards the mall. I smiled slightly and held tighter onto her hand, glad that she was my mother.
THAT OUTFIT.
"I'm not wearing that," I told my mother, gaping in horror at the monstrosity before me.
Mama frowned and gave me a hard look. "Young lady, we have been around the mall several times and this is the best outfit I can put together. Besides," she reverted to her happy four year-old state, "it's soo cute!"
"Mama! It's so embarrassing!" I cried, trying to make her see reason, but she was, as usual, oblivious.
"You're wearing it, Rima, and that's final." She began walking out of the mall and I ran to catch up.
"Mama-" I began, but then gave up. I could always "forget" the costume at home, I decided.
On the drive home, my phone rang. I reached over to pick it up and almost pitched my phone out the window. It was Papa. Talk about bad timing, I thought to myself. Mama was still a little grumpy at my unappreciative attitude or whatever, and now I felt like I was walking on eggshells.
"Who is that?" Mama turned to look at me in what I'm sure is a violation of the quintessential rule of driving that one's eyes must always be on the road.
"No one," I gulped, quickly silencing my phone. Mama's eyes glinted.
"Is it that Fujisaki boy? Oh, for heaven's sake, Ri-chan, you don't have to be shy around Mama! I like that Fujisaki boy, he's very gentlemanly-" I snorted, "- and kind. Answer your phone!"
"Mama, you're forgetting one small detail here: I Don't. Like. Him."
She laughed and swerved back into the right lane, narrowly missing a collision with another vehicle. "Jesus, Mama!" I gripped the side of my seat, my knuckles turning white.
"Whoops," she laughed a little before setting her eyes on the road. "So, who was calling?"
"No one," I automatically replied. She raised her eyebrow and I remembered the "no secrets" promise. "I mean, I don't know the number, so I'm guessing it's a wrong number."
She seemed satisfied and went back to driving, humming a little before turning on the radio. I stayed silent in my seat as an Enka** song filled the car.
Back home I took my "outfit" to my room and locked the door behind me before crawling into the closet. 4 missed calls. Shit.
I dialed back and heard Papa's voice, although instead of the traditional Japanese "Moshi moshi?" he answered "Hello?" with heavily accented English.
"Papa?" I asked, a little taken aback by his unusual greeting.
"Ah, Rima," he sounded cheery and bright. "Why didn't you pick up my previous calls?"
"Sorry, Papa," I said, "I had myphone on silent."
"Oh, that's ok, I'm just glad you got to call me. Well, I was thinking that I could pick you up Monday around 4, after school gets out."
I felt the way you feel when you go on a drop in a rollercoaster. My stomach fell and I felt the blood pounding in my head. On the line, Papa called out "Rima? Rima, are you there?"
"Yes," I managed weakly.
"Ok, good," Papa said. "Well, then, can you tell your Mama? Because I don't really want to hurt her feelings and… well, I just think you should tell her. OK? Bye?"
"Wait, Papa," I called out frantically, "I meant yes-" but he was gone. I shut my phone and mumbled, "I meant yes, I'm still here."
The rest of that week was busy, fraught with homework and planning the My Little Pony convention, so by Saturday the last thing I wanted to do was study, but I dragged myself to Amu's house anyway. Last semester's grades were disappointing, to say the least, but I still didn't want to go.
Amu's mom waved me inside, where I found, much to my relief, that it was just the two of us studying. At this point, I really didn't want to have to deal with any more drama. My eyes lit up as I entered Amu's room and saw a plate of cookies on her table. I sat on the pink fluffy carpet and picked one up daintily, politely waiting for Amu's mom to leave before stuffing the cookie into my mouth. Amu laughed and grinned. "I baked you some cookies. Is that account all settled, now?"
I tried to nod, talk, chew and swallow all at the same time, which just ended up in me coughing. Amu handed me a glass of water.
"I suppose," I tried to sound dignified, despite the tears in my eyes and my nose going red. I coughed again and then opened my backpack.
"So where should we start?" Amu opened her textbook and got out a pencil. I sighed and opened up my notebook.
"I dunno," I looked in my empty notebook. I never really bothered taking notes; I would just borrow Tadase's or Amu's before a test. If I bothered studying at all.
So Amu blathered on about trigonometry and proofs and some other stuff while I absentmindedly drew in my notebook. I wasn't even really paying attention to what I was drawing, I was just daydreaming and nodding my head and going "Uh-huh," and "Yeah," so when Amu barked "Rima! Are you even paying attention?" I flipped out a little bit.
"Huh? Uh, what?" I blinked and looked down at my notebook, shocked by what I saw.
Hearts. And flowers. And clouds. And in the corner of my notebook there was something scribbled that looked suspiciously like "Fujisaki Nagihiko".
Dear God, I almost died. I glanced up at Amu to make sure she hadn't seen, but it was too late. Even so, I tore the page out and stuffed it in the bottom of my backpack. I looked back up to see Amu, biting her lip.
"What?" I snapped, flustered.
"Nothing," she began, "it's just-" she looked away.
"It's just what?" I pushed. "What?"
"Oh, Rima, I'm sorry! I hate to tell you this, but, well… GAH! LatelyNagi'!" She wailed, holding her head in her hands.
"What?" I asked, confused by the sudden outburst.
"Lately Nagi's been spending a lot of time with Yaya," she said, miserably.
"So…?"
"So I think Yaya might like him!" She cried.
I gave her a look of disbelief. "Whatever would give you that idea?"
"I don't know! I mean, that one time, when we had the study party from hell, Yaya wouldn't calm down until Nagi came over, which was good because right after that Kairi appeared and I think he would've gone back home if he had seen everything-"
"Woah, slow down, Amu," I patted her back. "I honestly don't think anything is going on there. I think you're just grasping at straws here."
"I'm serious!" Amu gripped me frantically. "I mean, I just- gahhh! I recently found out that Yaya's been talking to Nagi since summer break!"
"What?" I asked, stunned.
"He is! I mean, the other day I saw them leave school together, and then yesterday I borrowed his phone to call my dad the other day and he has a bunch of texts from Yaya and I just didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to get mad or-"
"Wait, Amu, you need to calm down," I patted her back again. "Look, it's no big deal," I said, despite the clenching in my chest or the rising anger I felt. I tried to laugh it off. "You sound like a jealous ex-girlfriend."
Amu gaped at me. "Aren't you- well, you know, angry?" She looked puzzled. "Or at least curious? Or annoyed?"
I rolled my eyes. "Are you serious? Look, what Fujisaki chooses to do is his own business. Hey, can you help me with number 9? I'm kind of stuck."
The rest of that study session was kind of awkward. I was convinced that Fujisaki wouldn't like Yaya in any more than a platonic way, but still, the fact that he had been talking to her, and he knew how much I wanted to talk to her, and he hadn't told me- Something in me shattered and I was suddenly angry. Really angry. Once again, I had stupidly trusted Fujisaki, and he had let me down completely.
I left early, unable to bear sitting still for a minute longer and walked home, furious at Fujisaki. I walked into the house, where Mama was sitting on her laptop, humming and typing. She smiled when she saw me and said, "You're home early." I nodded and waked up to my room, too angry to speak.
I stared at my phone for a long time, trying to decide whether I should call Papa or not, but finally gave up and threw my phone across the room. I turned to look at my window, noticing the blinds half open. I stalked over to the window, resisting the urge to open it and yell "FUCK YOU!" across to Fujisaki's window.
I flomped down on my bed and thought hard. It wasn't really like Fujisaki had broken my trust, I told myself. I mean, he hadn't promised me anything, had he?
"A-are you coming back soon?"
"Yes. I promise."
Frustrated, I punched my pillow and let out a sob.
Sunday I lay in my bed and stared at the ceiling. My phone rang once, it was Papa. I didn't bother picking up.
Mama called me down the stairs around three to eat. She was pulling together a business proposal for some company (Mama's a consultant) and she didn't eat with me, she just went back to her room to keep typing.
I ate in silence, hearing myself chew as I stared into space, thinking about that and Fujisaki's most recent betrayal. I was angry with him, because he neglected to tell me that he was talking to her and because talk of his leaving just reminded me of the one of most humiliating moments of my life.
Just then, the doorbell rang. In a daze, I went to open the door, not really registering who it was- until I saw the eyes. Those beautiful, shining brown eyes, eyes that I could recognize anywhere as Fujisaki Nagihiko's.
"Fuck off," I said, then slammed the door in his face.
I spent the rest of the day in a daze in my room. I just kind of laid there on my bed until I went to go take a bath. I put on my pajamas, and resumed staring off into space.
I had nightmares, which I think were a delayed reaction from several incidents. First off, I dreamed about that day that those boys attempted to commit an unspeakable atrocity, except that for some reason I had a sword and managed to fight them off, running into a cabin in the woods, where Papa was dressed up like a wolf but gave me a basket of poisoned muffins for some reason before chasing me through the woods. Then I was on a boat in the middle of a misty lake by myself, and no one could see or hear me. Then suddenly I had a phone to my ear, and I was saying, "You should send me a postcard… I miss y-"
Mother of God. I bolted up in my bed gasping for air, hair sticking to my forehead. I lay back slightly, supported by my hands. As I waited for my erratic breathing to slow, I leaned my head back and glanced at the clock.
It was still dark outside, and my clock read 4:36 am. Bleh. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I was too awake now. I lay tentatively back down, hoping drift back into sleep, but I couldn't. tossed and turned, but I couldn't sleep. Finally, 45 minutes before I had to wake up, I fell asleep.
Ughn. I didn't want to wake up for school, but Mama came and yanked me out of bed so she could do my hair in braids to be Applejack. She also gave me some apple pie, too, and waved me out the door with my outfit.
Ugh, the stupid outfit. I did NOT want to wear it. I stuffed it into the bottom of my schoolbag, refusing to acknowledge it. I wanted to ditch today, but someone had called yesterday and "suggested" that I show up, lest my math grade suddenly "slip."
As I reached school, I saw all sorts of booths and tables set up, with a giant banner of My Little Pony draped between two trees. I grimaced and went in, praying that I would get hit by an asteroid or something and somehow avoid this day.
As I walked in, I saw Kairi working the entrance booth, where people where supposed to sign in and get maps of campus and the activities. I was trying to avoid his eye and slink in, but someone grabbed my arm.
"Rima!"
I blanched and turned around, opening my mouth in protest, but couldn't. My words caught in my throat as I saw Amu, wearing the most ridiculous outfit I've ever seen.
It was pink. Everything was pink. It was like someone had tried to mix my Clown Drop outfit and Yaya's Dear Baby blindfolded and while on crack. With some additions, of course.
The whole thing was huge. I mean, people had to walk around Amu's enormous skirt. It also had balloons sewn onto the edge of the skirt. Like, real, inflated balloons. Her sleeves were balloons. The dress was a hideous pattern of pink checkers and balloons and teddy bears. There were bows on the dress and in Amu's hair, which was curly, like, afro curly.
I burst out laughing, dropping my bag on the sidewalk and shaking so badly my knees buckled. Amu's face matched her dress, her frilly socks, her bright shiny shoes and her 80's hair. People walking nearby stopped to stare at me… or Amu, or both, I don't know. But it's a pretty rare day when Mashiro Rima decides to grace the public with her laughter. They should have been thankful.
"Oh God, what happened?" I asked, not daring to look at her as she helped me to my feet.
"Ami," she groaned. "She's moved on from singing and is convinced that she's a talented designer."
I wiped a tear from my eye as I picked up my bag and straightened up. "Is that a staple in your skirt?" I asked, eyeing one of the balloons on her skirt. "Yes," she sighed. "Ami's sewing skills… well, they suck."
"Why did you let her do that to you? Doormat much?"
Amu scowled but didn't say anything. I rolled my eyes. "Come on, there's got to be something we can do to fix it. And your hair." I reached out and patted it. "Like a poodle," I informed her, shaking my head. Amu giggled, and then asked the fated question. "Where's your costume?"
My mouth went dry and my heart beat a little faster than necessary. "Oh, I, uh, 'forgot' it," I said, hoping this went smoothly. Amu arched an eyebrow. "Sure. That's why your hair is braided and you're wearing boots with the uniform."
I groaned. Mama had made me put them on instead of my usual Mary Janes. She snickered and lifted my heavy braid. "I think it's cute, though," she smiled at me.
"Too bad the same can't be said for your outfit," a female voice behind us cut in. We turned around and saw none other than Hoshina Utua… except, she was so ethereal and elegant that I didn't recognize her at first. She had on a flowing rainbow colored wig that covered one eye. She was also wearing a beautiful white ball gown with gold jewelry and a tiara. There was a belt that cinched her waist, with a big sun right in the middle. She looked great, and I immediately felt my self esteem take a hit, but only slightly. I am, after all, Mashiro Rima.
"Utau!" Amu's cheeks once again decided to match her outfit. "Wha- what are you wearing?" She blurted out. Utau looked indignant, and Amu sputtered in an attempt to fix her mistake. "I-I mean, you look great, but –My Little Pony?"
Utau nodded. "Iku-nii watches it!" She smiled but resumed a frown. "But really, why would you even leave your house like that? No one is ever going to take you seriously. That's terrible taste. You should dress better. I can help you, if you want."
"Now, now, Utau," arms wrapped around Amu's waist, effectively detatching some of the balloons stapled onto her skirt. "I take Amu very seriously. That may be because I'm not interested in putting any clothes on her, though…"
"Get away from me, you pervert!" Amu yelled, trying to wrestle her way out of Tsukiyomi's grip. Amu's face was now bright red, decidedly clashing with her outfit. People were standing there, openly staring, and I heard mutterings of "Cool and Spicy!" and "Is that her boyfriend?" from around me. Tsukiyomi finally let Amu down, and she grabbed my hand before trying to stalk away. She didn't get very far, though, because she had the misfortune of finally seeing Tsukiyomi in her periphery. "Ikuto…" she began, but then clapped a hand over her mouth to hide the glee in her expression. "What are you wearing?"
Tsukiyomi was wearing a dark blue shirt made of some sort of shimmery material. He had dark blue jeans, a belt with a moon shaped buckle, and black shoes. But his hair… it seemed to be sparkling. Among closer inspection, I noticed that it was probably sparkle hair spray. Not only that, but he also was wearing blue eye shadow and what could only be described as a tiara. It was far too delicate to be passed off as a crown.
"Wow," was all I could manage. Utau squealed and latched onto her brother's arm. "I know! I'm Princess Celestia and Ikuto is Princess Luna! We're a pair!" Tsukiyomi's face remained expressionless; I wondered if he practiced that face or if it was just his natural expression. Or maybe just years of being harassed by Utau had taught him.
"Speaking of pairs," Utau interrupted my musings, "where is Kukai?" She searched through the crowd, standing on her tiptoes so that we could see her golden heels. "I need to go find him. Come on, Iku-nii. You guys," she looked hard at me and Amu, "go fix that costume. Stat."
Amu and I walked to the bathroom, leaving a trail of balloons. It was really annoying because once in a while one would pop and we'd both freak out. I decided to fix this by taking a pen out of my purse and popping them all at once. Now there were no more surprises left.
In the bathroom, I inspected Amu's dress while she tried to brush down her hair. It was horrible, of course. There was no way around the checked-balloon-bear fabric. I grimaced and then pulled out a pair of scissors. "Sorry, Amu," I said, not really sort at all. I set to work, cutting up the top layer of the skirt and throwing the discarded pieces on the ground.
"Wait!" Amu called out, reaching for the scissors. "Hold still, Amu, this has to go!" I gestured at the fabric.
"No, wait." Amu took the scissors from me and leaned against a sink, looking almost relieved. "I get it now," she said.
"Get what? My Little Pony? Fashion? The meaning of life?" None of these had ever made sense to me before.
"No," Amu twisted her skirt around her waist until the back faced the front. "Mama told me to wear this, but I didn't quite get it…" she was speaking more to herself than to me. Then, wordlessly, she unbuttoned her skirt.
"Woah!" I turned away. "What the-"
"Rima, look!"
"I'm not sure I want to."
"No, seriously, look!" She turned me around.
She was wearing what I had thought was the bottom layer of her skirt, the one that looked like my Clown Drop outfit. It was still pink and frilly, but remarkably less so. On the floor, I saw the top layer of the skirt, the one with the abominable print.
"Mama made me wear a petticoat," she explained, looking at it in the mirror. It was a silky material, with a light pattern of balloons and squiggles that I guessed were
"Confetti," Amu confirmed, tracing one of them with her fingers. She unbuttoned her shirt and revealed a sort of camisole made of the same fabric as the petticoat. Altogether her underclothes looked like an outfit all on their own- which I guess had been Amu's mother's plan. Amu breathed a sigh of relief as she handed me my scissors. "Much better," she smiled.
"What about your hair?" I asked. "Did your mom make your do your hair like that too?"
Amu sighed and rolled her eyes. "I slept with curlers in place. When I woke up, it was like this." She brushed it down to no avail.
"I think you're going to have to wet it," I told her, examining it closely.
We spent a few more minutes with Amu's hair, managing to flatten it slightly and smooth it down a bit. We left, and I breathed out in relief at the fact that Amu hadn't remembered my costume. Maybe no one would notice if I went and hid somewhere here-
"Mashiro!" A voice called out from above us. I turned around in horror and saw Principal Dumbledore standing above us. He was dressed as what I assumed was Shining Armor, wearing a blue wig and what looked like one of those uniforms that British guards wear.
"Ye-yes, sir?" I squeaked, slightly terrified.
"Where is your costume? I even called your mother to make sure you had one. Ah, Pinky Pie! How are you? Everypony was looking for you so you could lead out the activities, but we couldn't find you so Fluttershy is leading right now."
"So-sorry," Amu stuttered, turning to go down.
"Wait!" Barked out the Principal. "Help Mashiro-san into her costume. Something tells me that if we leave her now, we'll never see Applejack come into the spotlight. Neighhhhh!" He whinnied.
"Right…" I sweatdropped as Amu dragged me back into the bathroom.
So after lots of arguing, fake crying (me), begging (Amu), pleading (both of us), bribes and blackmail (Amu has more dirt on me than I thought), I emerged from the bathroom in my hideous costume.
It was pretty much the worst thing that I've ever worn. I was wearing these blue jean overalls and an orange and red plaid button-up. The boots were brown and cowgirl-ish, and I had a big brown cowboy hat to match it. (AN: It's actually cute. Ignore Ri-tan's whining.)
In short, I looked ridiculous.
"Do I have to?" I whined again, trailing behind Amu down the stairs.
"Yes. You'll be suspended and fail school if you don't."
"Ugh." I pouted and crossed my arms as we got closer to the courtyard. I could see the giant stage already set up and watched people go from booth to booth, learning about MLP and getting snacks. I saw someone walking around with a basket of cookies and my stomach growled. Had I even had breakfast? I was about to reach for one when someone called out Amu and my name, causing me to whip around and l lost sight of the cookie person. Cursing under my breath, Amu and I turned to look.
A very pretty girl was running toward us. Light glinted off the amethyst headband in her flowing mauve curls and she was wearing a long, light frilly crème dress that fit her slim frame exceptionally well. Jewels shimmered on her slender waist. She wore lavender tights and crème slippers with lavender bows that were very matchy-matchy with her dress. Her ruby eyes sparkled as she came closer.
Wait, what?
"Ta-tadase?" Amu sputtered, doing a double take. I just stared, too shocked to be coherent. It had been a while since I had seen a cross dresser in action, yes. But there was something eerily feminine in Tadase's whole being that made his being a girl seem so… natural.
Tadase giggled- seriously, like, a girly giggle- and smiled. "I'm Rarity," he declared, his voice twittering in a sing-song way. Tadase was usually girly, but seeing him so… so similar to a girl was slightly unnerving. Amu looked almost insulted. Later, she confided to me that she'd seen that same dress in a boutique and tried it on. "It looks way better on him," she sighed, glaring daggers in Tadase's direction.
Tadase sent us to work at the character booth, where basically we explained to everyone who the characters in My Little Pony are and their role in the series. We relieved a disgruntled looking Kairi, who was dressed up as Spike. He had on a long, light purple trench coat, a yellow t-shirt, blue jeans and had sort of spiked his hair up. He looked sort of nondescript, which I guessed was from having to scrape together an outfit in less time than most of us had. I looked down at mine and sighed. Mine looked plain and underwhelming too.
Amu and I set to work at the booth, where we found out via a schedule taped onto the table. It said that there would be a showing of MLP episodes soon, followed by another hour to tour the booths again. After that was lunch, followed by a concert -"I'm singing?" Amu cried- and a few skits, a picture taking segment, and then a dance, after which there was cleaning and then people could go home.
"It's going to be a long day," I told Amu, handing her back the schedule. She blew out her cheeks and nodded.
We endured about 45 minutes of telling people about MLP before the episodes were shown. Amu and I were in the middle of explaining the difference between Pegasus ponies and Unicorns when a girl appeared on the stage and called out for silence.
She was wearing a soft yellow halter dress that poufed out slightly towards the bottom. Her long, silky pink hair trailed down her back, and she was wearing white flats. It was very simple but cute. The girl shyly spoke out.
"Excuse me, everyone," her sweet, soft voice called out, "if you could all calm down, we're about to start the showing."
"Is that Yuuki-san?" A girl by our booth cried, and Amu and I exchanged surprised looks. I'd never heard Yaya speak in first person before, and she looked so different- so calm and composed, unlike her usual hyper self. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kairi suddenly stop and stare at Yaya like he'd never seen her before.
I myself was shocked. I think we all were. I'd never seen Yaya look remotely like that. It was unsettling, but kind of interesting. She looked nice.
I really wanted to go and talk to her and apologize. Fix our friendship. Start new. Clean slate or whatever. Then I remembered that Fujisaki had been talking to her all summer, even when he knew how badly I wanted to, and he never mentioned it. A dark coil of anger settled in my stomach, and I gritted my teeth.
The videos started rolling, and everyone was supposed to take their seats. Guardians were supposed to head behind the giant screen to be assigned to a new post, so we headed backstage to check on things.
I was walking in behind Amu when someone grabbed my arm and quickly turned me around. Unfortunately, I was totally unprepared and I tripped, my feet sliding out from underneath me, dragging me to the ground.
"Ow!" I yelped, as someone dragged me to me feet. I looked up and glared into Fujisaki's eyes. "What the hell?"
"Funny, I was wondering that yesterday when you slammed your door in my face. You've been mad at me all weekend. What's going on, Rima?" He looked hurt, and I felt a flicker of guilt, but I was too frustrated to say anything. I didn't speak and made as if to leave, but he grabbed hold of my shoulders and turned me to look at him.
"Listen, I don't know what's going on, but I'm sorry," he said apologetically, "but I have an idea of what's going on with Yaya. I thought you might want to hear it."
I narrowed my eyes. I was furious with Fujisaki for not having told me that he was talking to Yaya, and considering that I was dressed up in a My Little Pony outfit, was sleep deprived and had that weighing on my mind, I wasn't exactly in a peachy enough mood to not call him out on it.
"I have an idea of what's going on with Yaya, too. You've been talking to her," I pointed at him accusatorially, "and you didn't even bother to tell me!"
"Who told you?" He asked, surprised. I threw up my hands, annoyed.
"Does it matter? You were talking to her all summer, Fujisaki, and you didn't even tell me! You knew how bad I wanted to talk to her, and you didn't say anything?" Somehow, his betrayal cut me deep.
"Look, I wanted to tell you, but she wouldn't let me-"
I scoffed. "Oh, please, that is a pathetic excuse! You're just a crossdressing traitor-"
"What is your problem?"
"Maybe the fact that you lied to me-"
"I didn't say anything-"
"That's just as bad as lying!"
"It's not the same thing, Rima, and if you weren't being so stubborn-"
"It's Mashiro to you, and if you weren't being such an ass-"
"Oh, so we're back to formal names?"
"Until you stop being a lying crossdressing freak, yes!"
"Oh my God!" Fujisaki ran a hand through his hair and then glared down at me. "Are you seriously going to pull out the crossdresser comments, again? Don't you have better insults?"
"Don't you have better manners?"
"Swallow your goddamn pride, Rima, and listen to me." Fujisaki looked dead serious, and somehow I couldn't quite hold his gaze; I had to look away. I bit my lip, then lifted his hands off my shoulders.
"Send me a postcard from Europe," I said dully, and I saw him stiffen as I repeated the words I had told him a long, long time ago.
I walked off the stage, not quite sure where I was going, but once I left the courtyard, I started to run. I wasn't quite sure where I was going, I just started to run. Not for long, but I did end up at the edge of the gardens.
I couldn't go there since the incident with Kirishima. Every time I went near there, I just wanted to vomit. I almost took a step forward. Almost, but then I remembered what had happened and I just couldn't. I turned around and ran into the building.
I ended outside the library. To be honest, I had almost forgotten that the school had a library. It was a nice place, I guess. In the front, there was a check-out desk perpendicular to the door and several tables. The back half was lined with shelves and rows of bookcases, and there were a few computers and printers to the left. The door was unlocked, so, shaking, I went inside and headed to the back.
In the half-light, I leaned against a bookcase in the back and slid down, feeling the cold tile floor through my overalls. I buried my face in my hands and pulled away, surprised to find my hands wet. Touching my cheeks, I realized that I had been crying. Pulling a hankie out of my pocket, I wiped my cheeks and took a deep, shaky breath, trying to steady myself.
I leaned back against a bookcase and closed my eyes, trying to figure out why I was so worked up. I was like I couldn't think straight. I was exhausted and frustrated and confused with all the stuff going on in my head. Fujisaki, my parents. My friends, our new relationships. School, My Little Pony. I breathed deeply twice and tried to relax, chewing on my thoughts.
The door creaked slightly, and I started, opening my eyes. How long had I been here? The shadows on the wall were longer than when I first got there. I had been in my trancelike state for a while, I guessed.
I heard footsteps and tensed up, drawing closer to the bookshelf. I heard a few whispers and what sounded like two people's footsteps. Shifting so I was kneeling, I peeked around the corner.
I could see the figures of a girl and a boy entering the library. The girl sat down a table, swinging her feet. The boy just stood in front of her, hands in his pockets.
"I'm sorry. I really am." The boy said, looking down.
The girl giggled. "That's ok. I am too. But, you know," her tone suddenly became serious, "we really need to talk."
"I-"
"Shhhh…" the girl cut him off. "Listen, even though we've had our problems, I really want this- us- to work out."
"Me too," the boy sounded earnest, "but how can it?"
"Like this!" the girl said, getting off the table and flinging her arms around the boy's neck. I gasped as he stumbled back a bit towards the windows as their lips met. His arms circled around her waist, and they stood, locked in an embrace.
The library was darker now than earlier, but there was still enough light to make out the two people who were in the library. One was Kairi. The other was Yaya.
Yo! Alice here~!
Ok, I know. I'm sorry. I left it on a cliffie, and even though I promised this chapter would explain a lot, it didn't. I miscalculated, I'm sorry. Next chapter will explain. I know, I suck.
So, I saw the new Batman! It was good; I really liked Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. I think she was phenomanal, and gave solid, believable performance. She really was her character.
Let's have a moment of silence for Colorado.
Alright, so I have a few corrections and clarifications for you.
Going through Chapter 9, I realized that I wrote the last three sentences weirdly. Let me clarify- when Kukai is talking to Utau, it's via cellphone. Sorry, my bad. I meant to specify but ended up forgetting to write in that detail before I uploaded it.
Koyama Mitsuki and Tohru Honda are shojo heroines from Full Moon wo Sagashite and Fruits Basket, respectively.
Enka- a Japanese music style
Bedazzler- Ok, have you ever seen the movie The Game Plan? Not the best movie ever, but that's where I got the Beddazler idea from.
Well, in random news, I wrote an Amuto oneshot recently, which is totally and utterly ridiculous but I nevertheless enjoyed writing it. I also wrote a oneshot for Nagi's birthday, which I personally think is one of the best things I've ever written (which doesn't say much). Also, although this was a while ago, I updated my profile, so now it's long and annoying when you want to quickly scroll down to my stories (which I now have four... squee!)
I'm sorry for the late upload, I kept getting stuck on a few details while writing this chapter. Also, my family is in town and I've been obsessively tracking the progress of The Indigo Spell, the new book in the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead. If you haven't read Richelle Mead, do it. She's great.
Well, I'm going to be gone for a few days, so sorry for the late updates. Take care, and thanks for reading!
-Alice
25/July
So I realized that I had accidentally left a notation in the document before I uploaded it (the 'Shining Armor/Princess Cadence' thing). Sorry for the mistake, it's now been corrected. Also, as a side note, I would like to add that Ikuto's "not interested in putting any clothes on her" comment is a reference to Adrian Ivashkov in Richelle Mead's book "Spirit Bound", where someone tells Adrian (about his girlfriend Rose) "You should dress her better, you know." And the ever witty Ivashkov responds "I'm not interested in putting any clothes on her." (OMG fangirl squeee I love you Adrian marry me why are you fictional damn you Richelle Mead whahahabngks, cbl sxbc).
Well, anyway, sorry for the mistake, it may have seemed weird or something, but it's fixed now. Aur revoir, mon amies!