Chapter 29
After leaving Kirishima-kun's house (the snowing has stopped), I asked Amu if I can sleep over at her house. We decided to tag Yaya along. And so, after a mountain of paperwork, my parents finally allowed me to go.
"Oh guys! Let's pass by that store so we can eat something sweet for tonight!" Yaya squealed, pointing at a candy counter by the sidewalk. I rolled my eyes when I saw Amu's eyes gleam. "Great idea!"
"That is most definitely not a great idea!" I remarked, causing Yaya's face to scrunch up.
"How can that be, Rima-tan?" she cried.
I sent the two a knowing stare before crossing my arms. "Do you remember the last time Yaya had a sugar rush?" I said referring to this other time we got kicked out of a store because of Yaya:
It was a normal Sunday afternoon- my friends and I were primly looking through the bookshelves inside this library when Yaya decided that she was bored and 'discreetly' plopped a candy into her mouth. Needless to say, she enjoyed it. And a few minutes later she was stuffing her face with the sugary sweetness while bouncing and screaming her head off. People were staring at her, but all five of us pretended that we didn't know her. We were minding our own business- desperately skimming through some random books we found in the adult section as an attempt to keep people from realizing that we were "the-hyper-active-drooling-little-monster's" 'acquaintances' – when said monster bumped into a shelf, making it tip over and all-in-all causing a domino effect. When the last shelf fell, it slammed against the glass, tipped over a ledge and fell into the daycare center where an unlucky child's baby doll was crushed by this thick philosophy book.
"N-Nagi!" Yaya had cried as she reached for the sleeves of his shirt (He was unluckily the one closest to her at the time). "W-what do I do? They're giving me really scary faces…"
"U-umm…"
"Excuse me, young man!" the manager scowled. He was a very tall man in his late fifties wearing a business suit and glossy leather shoes. His expression had made it clear that he was no man to mess around with, and at that time, I felt the pit f my stomach freeze. "Are you her brother?"
"N-no, I'm…"
"Her fiancé" I remember blurting out. Everyone I knew there turned to me, they're eyes screaming, "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!", but I knew then what I was doing.
"Please forgive my sister. She's just so happy. You see…" I sobbed, allowing the tears to flow freely from my eyes as I worked on earning the man's sympathy, "three years ago, just before their wedding, Nagihi- this boy was diagnosed with a deadly disease called ichthyphobia…"
"Wedding?" Yaya gasped.
"I-i-ich WHAT?" this one was close to fainting.
"That's fear of fish, Rima-chan." this one, I shot a deadly look.
"Anyway, he survived the disease. But to do this he had t go abroad. And Ya-she couldn't follow. So you see, they were in a long-distance relationship for the longest time and right now, this is their heartwarming reunion so please don't ruin it!"
There was silence- the manager was looking at the two, his eyes soft and teary. Then Yaya said, "But Nagi and I aren't even a couple!"
And so we were kicked out and up to this day, aren't allowed to set foot on that library. It's a shame, really.
"Oh! I remember that!" Amu said, hugging her stomach so that she wouldn't die from laughing so hard. "Nagihiko was so scared of you, Yaya when you started acting like his girlfriend after that!"
"There was no point in trying to look like a couple…" I said, and somewhere at the back of my head I had the vaguest suspicion that the way I said that dropped our light atmosphere. "It's not like the manager would be following us around to see if you were actually together. You said it. Everything I put up for that man snapped the moment you spoke. You can't take back your words…"
Amu and Yaya were no longer holding back laughs. They were silent now as they stared at me, their mouths hanging agape.
"L-let's get Yaya her candy, Rima" Amu said, glancing at me.
"Sure!" I replied, smiling.
Because at that moment, all I could ever do was twitch my lips upwards- a smile, as they call it. It's a fancy name for a gesture that's so easy to do.
"Yeah, lets!" Yaya gleamed. I'm not sure if it was just me but for a moment, her ginger eyes seemed to glint with something that is so devious that…only she could come up with.
Suddenly, a strange feeling came over me. It was like a soft little voice saying,
"AMU AND YAYA HAVE THIS MASTER-PLAN AND YOU ARE GOING TO BE THEIR GUINEA PIG SO UNLESS YOU FREAKIN' DITCH THAT SLEEPVER THEN YOU ARE GOING TO BE OVERSTUFFED WITH SWEETS TONIGHT, IDIOT!"
x x x
Amu's room was not punk. It was also not Goth like a lot of people would expect it to be. Instead, it was my definition of the perfect bedroom: big, frilly and smelling of strawberries.
"What are you looking for, Yaya?" I heard Amu ask as she slumped herself into a beanbag.
"Photos of Tadase-kun! I'm sure that you have a lot of those here! I can use it to earn lots!"
"I-I-I DON'T HAVE ANY!" Amu cried, fully up, before skidding her way towards a head-high wardrobe. She spread her arms around it protectively before adding, "I DON'T KEEP PICTURES OF TADASE-KUN ANYWHERE SO YOU WON'T FIND ANY IN HERE!"
I was about to join in when a book in Amu's bookshelf caught my eye. It wasn't really flashy or anything. It wasn't even thick. It stood there, squished between two other cheesy-looking books. Amu wouldn't read something like that so, curious, I grabbed it. And there it was, in its old, dusty, worn glory.
I was about the ask Amu about it but when I turned to her, she was battling to the death with Yaya as an attempt to keep the wardrobe containing Hotori-kun's pictures safe.
I sighed, opened the first page and rolled my eyes. Clipped to the first page of the book was a photo of Hotori-kun when he was probably around nine years old. But then something was off. Beside him was a girl that was of similar age. She was pretty. She has big, green eyes and thick dark locks that framed her small face. Her smile was small- kind of awkward, as if she was nervous sitting close to Hotori-kun.
Who was this girl? And why does Amu have this?
"Yaya, I found a photo album here" I stated. Ever so slowly, Yaya's head turned to me. She grinned. Then, to my horror, she literally leaped towards me.
"Lemme see! Lemme see!"
I was about to unclip it from the page but a hand grabbed it from me before I could do so.
"Tadase-kun personally gave that to me"
That piqued my interest.
"Really? Why?"
Amu shrugged before slamming down next to me. "I'm not sure about the details but he did say that she also knows something about Nagihiko's situation. He said that she's one of the Tsukiyomi's that we can trust so if we find her then…we probably won't end up in the morgue"
"And Hotori-kun knows her?!" I yelled. Slowly, Amu nodded. "Didn't you ask him for details?"
"I did. But he says that he doesn't know much…"
I looked down at my toes, remembering that I'm free from all this worry. He's gone now; I no longer need to worry about him…
"However, I do know that she's called… Miku…"
"Miku's a cute name" Yaya whispered.
"Yeah" Amu agreed. "I just wish that I knew more about her"
"Yep! Maybe that way, we can help Nagi!"
I felt myself flinch. Slowly, guilt ate me up. I never got to tell them. Yesterday in Kirishima's, all I ever got to accomplish was convince Amu and Yaya that nothing was wrong; that I was merely crying because I remembered the scary feeling of being all alone in that storm.
And when they spoke of Nagihiko?
I lied.
I said that he called, claiming that he made his way back to my room. They believed me because they trusted me. And I fear what would become of that trust if they ever find out that he's not in Japan anymore; if they find out that I've been lying to them, I might lose them too. But then, wouldn't they be madder the later they find out?
"Yes…" I want to prolong our friendship. I love these two a lot. I lost enough two nights ago. "I bet that it would help him a lot"
"Big sis!" Ami, Amu's little sister, called from downstairs. "Dinner's ready!"
"Coming!"
One of the things I love about coming over to Amu's house is being able to experience a family that dines together. It was chaotic, yes. And her parents constantly talked about embarrassing stuff, yes. But that only made things seem brighter and more natural. It made it clear as day that they were very open to each other - no dark secrets, no cussing, no planning for a divorce, no tenseness.
"I found big sis holding a picture of a boy in her room!"
"B-B-B-BOOOOOOOOOOOOY?! AMU-CHAN IS THIS TRUE?!" her papa, a man in his early forties, yelped as he crushed his temples with his palms.
Amu gave me and Yaya a look. "I'm sorry you guys have to see this. Are you really sure that you don't want to just bring the food up? My mom allows it during sleepovers or whenever I have guests"
She always tells me this whenever I dine with her family.
"I'm fine" Yaya shrugged as she popped another potato into her mouth. Amu turned to me, already knowing what my answer would be.
"I like it here"
After my parents became enemies, I have never eaten with anyone else at home. Whenever it was dinnertime, I would always sit there in the large, dark room, between two dusty dining chairs.
The dining room that was once so full of life is gone.
And I suck it in with deep breaths whenever I'm there, trying to forget about what it used to be. But then Nagihiko came to my house. And on weekdays when my parents are practically never home, we would turn on all the lights and fill the room with laughter and arguing (more often the second part). For some odd reason, he's so eager to teach me how to make onigiri. I'd try to make one, but then the finished product is always either too soft or too hard.
He'd stare at me, saying, "Did you mean to give me diarrhea or something?"
And I'd roll my eyes and say, "Bite it and you'll find out". Nagihiko would smile, shrug, and, to my surprise, take a bite. Then I would stare at him, my eyes bugging out. "Idiot! I was only joking! The kinds of food that I make aren't edible!"
"They are edible, Rima-chan" He'd say in between the crunching sounds the rice ball would make as he chewed. "It's just not delicious at all!"
"Well I'm sorry I'm not as feminine as you"
He'd flinch, and I'd smirk.
Then he'd grab the rice cooker, a tint of pink making its way to his face as he'd say, "I'll just make something from the scraps, and that's what we're having for dinner"
I remember staring at his back as he cooked, a smile spread across my face. But back then, I didn't bother to wipe it off because he couldn't see. I was given the opportunity to just stare at him work, and I was taking it.
x x x
When we went back to Amu's room, it was already dark. The three of us set up the beddings on the floor and did the usual routine before bed. Then, Amu offered to prepare some popcorn while Yaya and I set up the dvd player so that we can watch this movie entitled, 'A Love Story' (I silently curse at the title). Yaya and Amu have been watching 'Makako Love Story' for only about seven times a day. Then they stopped, and just when I thought that it was finally over, turns out, they had another movie in Amu's house.
By the time Amu came up, Yaya and I were snuggled beneath some blankets; the movie was ready to play. Amu joined in, and a few minutes later, I was sleeping while the two were crying over the sappy little thing.
An hour later, something broke me off my slumber- it hit me on the head, causing me to tip over. I growled, looked down and cursed the pillow that had been hurled at me; then that angry feeling immediately turned to one of fear when I saw my two so-called 'friends' hovering over me - their faces dark.
"Now for the main event…" Yaya whispered under her breath.
I knew that I should've listened to the soft little voice from this morning...
"Rima, we're not going to do anything to you unless you don't talk" Amu said as she blocked the door with a beanbag. Oh, and a flower vase. You know…for extra weight?
"About what?"
"What happened in the blizzard?"
The question caught me off-guard. I looked down, trying to recall what happened.
"I-I told you, I don't know…"
"Don't lie to me, Rima…" Amu whispered, staring me straight in the eye. "Obviously, something happened. Ever since you came back, you've been acting so gloomy. And Kirishima-kun…I may not know him well yet, but he freaks out whenever we ask about what happened"
"Amu, I passed out. I don't know what Kirishima-kun saw"
"Then ask him. Maybe he'll tell you"
"But before that, Rima-tan!" Yaya said, her voice muffled by the candies in her mouth. "Tell us what happened before you passed-out"
"How could I?" was my immediate reply. Amu and Yaya exchanged looks before giving me a confused stare. "How could I tell you guys when it still hasn't settled in my mind?"
CLANK!
That was the sound of something hitting Amu's balcony window. All three of us stopped talking then glanced at it. There, scattered all over the balcony's floor were pebbles. We stared a little longer just in time to see another pebble tap the glass.
CLANK!
Slowly, Amu, Yaya and I went out to the balcony, looked down, and gasped because there, on the bottom, holding a handful of pebbles was a teary-eyed Utau.
AHHH! Summer is finally coming! God, this last few months were incredibly hectic. I'm getting sick all the time because of all this stress. *Sigh*
Well, you came here for the story, and not for my rants. And I would just like to THANK YOU ALL SO SO SO SO MUCH because you guys are one of the reasons that I actually write. And writing is a fine break from all of that academic shiz. I was also a bit dejected some days ago, so to cheer up, I read your reviews.
Every. Single. One of it. So thanks so much for making me smile, and I hope that this chapter was okay! (It's completely straying away from the plot that I want but...GAH!)
