DISCLAIMER:
The following content is the intellectual property of the
Yamaha Corporation and its respective subsidiaries
as well as any participating organizations that own
various designs and concepts that will be featured. The
Author in no way claims to be a part owner of any of
the characters that will be portrayed, and writes with
the full authorization of the ffnet website.

WARNING:
The following content is rated M for Mature, and may
contain graphical descriptions of mature scenarios
that viewers may not find suitable. This is a work of
fiction: Any and all similarities to real life situations is
purely coincidental.

~Epilogue~
~Scene: II~

In Ginza, not far from the hotel where the Jazz/Pop star Luka Megurine fell nine stories to her death in what the public considered an attempted murder-suicide, was a bar where happy people came to feel sad. Perfectly happy people would have a drink made by the famous bartender and shed away that happy husk to reveal the miserable, despairing personage hidden away beneath layers. And when they left, the skip with which they stepped would be just a little more genuine than when they had arrived.

It was a watering hole for those metaphysical seekers who understood the truth of the world and its transience and desired to master it as furthest as human limits permitted. It was a land deeply acquainted with the workings of one's soul. And there, behind the counter, the eternally unhappy bartener Meiko Sakine leaned delicately against a rack of wine bottles and polished off an empty champagne glass.

It was about half full, as it always was. The occupants preferred to come up to the table for each drink and then have a seat near the very back of the bar. They didn't play music here, so the atmosphere was influenced only by the raucousness of the patrons. It made spotting fights easier, but it also made time go by slower.

A thin young man swaggered in silently. The bar's regulars were not used to seeing suit-vested men, but then the bar had newcomers all the time. The person's aura seemed to click in naturally. They ignored him as he meandered up to the bartender.

"Can I have something to cheer myself up with?" a customer asked. Meiko looked over her shoulder and clicked her tongue.

"Tch! Another new one..." She muttered.

"Base?"

"How about Gin?"

"Okay..." Ice. One and one-half ounces of gin, one ounce of syrup, two and one-half ounches of grapefruit, and three-fourths ounces of freshly squeezed lemon. Add a little campari and angostura. Shake and pour.

"SP Highball, huh? That's probably the last drink I expected you to make..."

Meiko blinked. Was this kid another bartender or something? Now that she looked at him closely, she saw that he actually was a kid, at that. "Hey, are you even old enough to be drinking?" She hadn't really thought about it because he was wearing a suit with a hat over his face.

The boy removed the offending accessory and smiled softly. "Probably not, ma'am."

"Oh... Len..." She blushed and slammed the glass in front of him, pursing her lips and running into a back room. He smiled. When she came back, she had a little more makeup on. She pretended to be upset.

"I'm sorry I haven't called you in a while. Things got busy."

"Right, right..." Meiko was used to that sort of line, but hearing it from Len for the first time made it kind of funny and somehow refreshing. "So you grew up a little, eh?"

"Hmm, in some ways."

"I hope you're coming on to me."
Len scratched his chin and laughed in an easygoing masculine way which didn't fit with his young face. She felt herself going hot. It had been so long since she had last seen him, and the prospect of a decent night now seemed invaluable.

"Afraid not," was his disappointing reply. Meiko hadn't been expecting that, but she was prepared for it.

"Ah, ah, so you grew in that way, then..."

He shrugged.

"So now there's no time for Meiko Sakine anymore, neh?" She was using his slang, mocking him for it. "Just here for a drink?"

"Not just any drink," he consumed his highball bit by bit. "The first drink you ever made me. I was sure that you wouldn't make it unless I asked, but..." He cast Meiko a doubting glance, in jest. "I thought you were the kind of bartender who never presents the same drink twice?"

"Yeah, well," she blushed. "It's not like I was expecting you to keep me company."

"You're making easy. Thanks." He downed the remaining half of his drink in one mouthful and set it down on his coaster with a smile. Meiko blinked nervously.

"When we were together, did you ever consider that you loved me?"

"What's with that question?"

"You always used to say that I'm your favorite... Why is that, I wonder?"

"Because..." Meiko didn't want to admit that she had romantic feelings towards him. And yet somehow he had asked the very question she had had on her mind from the moment she had stepped into his car.

They drove around, bathing in bright florescent and neon lights. Meiko lit a cigarette and Len rolled down the window for her. "Why ask me a question like that now?" she asked, after submerging her head in the frigid winds.

"You can't answer?"

"Not unless you tell me why you're asking."

"Okay. You ask me the question."
"W-what question?" She was probably red in the face, but that was the reason she'd stuck her head out.

"The first one I asked you."

"I'm not going to ask a question I'm not looking for an answer to," she answered defiantly.

"Well, I'm going to answer."

"Fine. Do whatever you want."

"Yes."

It took her a moment to realize he was answering the question he had wanted her to ask him and not simply agreeing with her. She fidgeted anxiously, ashamed that she could be so subdued with a school boy. "You can't expect me to believe that, can you?" she accused him, smiling. But Len was straight-faced and honest, and she knew that. Besides, she really wanted to believe that he meant what he was saying.

"If you feel that way, then why don't you spend the night with me?"

"I can't."

"Y'see?" she laughed. "If you can't spend the night with me then it's not that simple."

"If I could, wouldn't it just be for sex?" He looked at her with mild amusement. Meiko's heart raced.

"Then, tell me why you won't spend the night with me."

"Because I want you to marry me." He looked away.

"Don't joke like that..."

"You're right, sorry." A gentle laugh. She felt disappointed again. "Because I love you..."

"That really doesn't make any sense..."

"Then why are you smiling?"

Was she smiling? She hadn't realized. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because I'm thinking about a time in which you will know how much I love you, Meiko. I'm wondering when it will come, and I'm smiling in anticipation of that day." Len pulled over in front of the bar and sat quietly, just as quietly as her.

"Geez! Saying such manly things!" She pinched his cheek angrily. "When you're nothing but a stupid little kid." With her other hand she attacked his other cheek. He was still smiling despite that, and she became more frustrated and hit his arm. "It's not nice to make a maiden's heart tremble!" She hit him harder. "So you shouldn't go around telling girls lies like you told me." A tear. "Some of them, they'll actually take you seriously, y'know?"

More tears. She crawled over to the driver's side of the car and curled over Len. "And those girls... they won't know how to take it when you..." She kissed him passionately. "Tell them..." Desperately. "How you really..." And forced herself to grin as she wiped her tears into his shirt. "Feel..."

His lips, his cheeks, his nose, his ears, his neck... He had a scar on his neck now, an unsightly gash that frightened her as she ran her tongue over it and felt the new terrain for the first time. He hadn't moved, but was watching her calmly, and she felt ashamed of herself, pulling back to the passenger seat and pulling her things together. "I'm sorry for—"

He took her by the arm before she could open the door and leaned over to kiss her. Her chest twinged painfully, but her heart fluttered. How long it lasted, she didn't know, but it wasn't long enough. Their eyes met. She wasn't crying anymore, nor smiling. Len wasn't either.

"Yeah, right," Meiko scoffed, composing herself. "You men, you're all the same. You go for the prettiest new thing you can wrap your arms around."

Len chuckled. Meiko stole a quick kiss.

"Good. As long as I doubt you, you'll keep making that pretty face for me, right?" She winked.

"Yup. That's why we smile."