*The same night, later*
...
-So, are you two fucking?- Anna asked, around a glass of spritz. They went to a little bar, cool and artsy but in a quiet neighborhood, just two other tables were filled.
Yoshiki sputtered and laughed out loud -Straight to the point, I see- the girl just shrugged but the blonde didn't seem amused and glared at them -I don't see how it's any of your business-
-Ouch- she faked-hurt and smiled -Well, I am interested- she arched an eyebrow, pointedly -I didn't know she was your type though..-
-What's that supposed to mean?-
-Um- she sipped a bit of her drink, weighting her answer -You know, the wide-eye, innocent type..if that's even true- she pensively pointed a finger to her chin.
Yamato frowned -Stop it, you don't know her-
-And you do?- she could tell he was getting pissed off but she kept pestering him, tantalizing, having fun with it.
-She's a childhood friend- he muttered, gripping his glass tighter. He was trying to be civil but that was becoming harder any minute.
-Aw, how sweet- she grimaced -Well, that's too bad for me if you're serious about her- she pouted, suddenly getting up and sitting in his lap.
Yamato sighed, irritated -Anna.. what are you doing?- he could hear Yoshiki muttering -Oh oh he's getting mad-
She laughed -I told you, I'm interested.- she turned around, gripping his shoulders -Very much so- she whispered to his ear, lips almost touching.
-Get off- he stood up and grabbed his jacket -I'm gonna go- just looking at Yoshiki, who nodded, understanding.
-Anna you're too much- was the last thing the blonde musician heard before leaving, his mood soured after not even an hour.
He didn't realize, riding on his motorbike, he was heading towards Mimi's place and he stopped himself, turning around, remembering she had a friend over. Sighing,
he thought, he really lost his mind and went for the beach to breathe some air and get his thoughts sorted, somehow.
On the other hand, Mimi's night with her friend Mina transformed into an impromptu pajama-party and they both had fun watching some teen romcom while eating all the snacks the younger had in her cupboards. They didn't really talk about that night, what was making Mimi usually bubbly self so quiet, not even when they were almost asleep and confessing one's truths seemed the normal choice.
Instead, Mimi asked for advice about her future projects, the fashion school and so on, when they touched on the Yamato subject en-passant, Mimi just made herself tinier saying she honestly didn't know what to tell about it (the situation).
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Mimi's popularity exploded when the lipbalm ads came up on magazines, everyone wondering who was that girl, so much so her agency had to deal with a ton of demand for Mimi to appear here and there. The company who chose her for the lipbalm ad also called back, saying they were releasing more lipbalms in other colors/flavors and they wanted her back as their main model.
The ads became so popular they put small billboards around the city and metros too, making her popularity rise even more. Not even a week after all of that, she was called to do a commercial for the same lipbalm brand that 'launched' her, to her utter amazement.
Mimi also had a lot of fun at the filming, trying different clothes and hairstyles /make up depending on the color of the lipbalm and doing fun poses. It would be very short, with her outfit and appearance changing in a fast sequence as she snapped her fingers and chose a different lipbalm, no talking required, music with a fun beat in the background and the sentence 'for every occasion' appearing on the colorful screen.
She became super busy once again, thankfully there was a month of vacation before the start of her third year of high school. And the agency packed that month with jobs. First, she did a small Q&A for a teenager magazine which asked her some basic info, like her name (just Mimi), hobbies, dreams, fav food/movie/ etc, and some cute photos to go along with it, finishing with her IG account, and from there on people associated her name with her picture.
Some people her age stopped her even during cram school, the single other thing she was doing in that month, to ask for photos and she obliged.
In the meantime, the older ones of the group of friends graduated high school and even got their college-entrance tests scores. All three of them managed to get into their first or second choice of University and that definitely helped the mood. They managed to go out all together a couple of times, even for Hanami, and had a great time joking and goofing around, atmosphere relaxed and happy.
Yamato and Mimi mostly met in the evening or at night during that time, seeing as they were so busy, mostly staying at the girl's. The latter really hadn't had time to ponder too much about their relationship, even though her heart ached more than usual, because she was constantly tired. So much, exhaustion eventually caught up with her and she run a fever.
She had just managed to call her manager to cancel the two auditions she had for that day before felt so dizzy she had to lie down. When she woke up it was already evening and her stomach grumbled, not having eaten anything since the day before and skipping breakfast because she felt like puking. She whined, her head was killing her but she didn't have any medicine and, upon a further inspection, any food (as per usual).
For a moment, she felt like crying. She missed her parents, being taken care of, and the heaviness of living alone in a metropolis hit as a teen hit her in full. Waiting a little bit more, wallowing in her own self-pity, she went to take a shower with unsteady steps, feeling too hot all over. Deciding to forgoe her hair, as quickly as she could (which wasn't much), she dressed herself in a t-shirt lying around and jeans, ready to go to the conbini near her house and buy some soup and medicine.
By that time it was already after 8pm, her cellphone ringed as it got a message and Mimi went to check it, waiting a minute for her vision to clear up enough. In her group friend chat, Taichi was showing some photo of his new one room-apartment, which he finally found after almost a month of searching and convincing his parents.
In one of the photos, the boy was smiling with victoriously, a few boxes surrounding him, while Koushiro was seeing in the background with a grumpy face and another box in his hands. Apparently, he was roped up in helping him moving (and of course he could never refuse him but he would deny it until the end of days).
Mimi smiled and sent just a bunch of emoji, as she was too dizzy to even type out a sentence. Surely, she didn't want to bother her friends for something so stupid and common as a fever.
So she patted her legs and heaved up -Come on Mimi, you're a big girl, let's do this- but getting up from her crouched up position in front of the couch turned out to be too challenging. She felt another wave of dizziness and lost her balance, just barely grabbing the couch to avoid face-planting on the carpet.
She felt her cellphone ring again, besides her, this time with a call and she answered without even looking.
-Hey.. are you home?- a velvety voice asked.
-Uh? Y-Yes- Mimi blinked several times, trying to focus her gaze, unsuccessfully. -'m hungry- she added for good measure, her head spinning so much she lied back down, cheek squished on her fluffy white carpet.
-... Are you okay? You sound weird - the voice kept going -Anyways I'm around the corner, we can call take-out later-
Mimi just hummed, not even able to get words out, as she felt consciousness slipping out again.
-Mimi?-
-Mimi? I'm coming, don't move-
She hardly heard anything the voice said, sounds mixing up in her head and vision blurry. After a while, she distantly realized the door bell was ringing and it kept going for a while until she heard the door handle rattling and opening.
In some obscure place in her brain, she wondered if she forgot to close the door properly and how long had she been lying on the floor like an idiot. Slowly blinking her unfocused eyes, she could see a blurry figure approaching but couldn't move a muscle and soon the strain to keep her eyes open was too much.
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Yamato was having a perfectly normal day, he worked his shift at his part-time job and just got home in time to cook his dinner. He scrolled through his social media while eating and replied to some messages from his friends. One of those were Taichi's on the group chat.
He snickered, commenting jokingly "Working Koushiro to the bone, aren't you?" and proceeding to read Taichi's outraged reply (he was so fun to mess around with) and the others congratulating him. Mimi was the last one to comment, sending a row of weird-ass emojis that made no sense.
Yamato furrowed his brows, usually she would be the first squealing about the big news and sending good wishes, what was that? He was about to text her but remembered they had plans that night so he just left it at that and hurried up. Also, since when did he notice what emoji she used?
The phone-call they had when he had already parked and was walking to her apartment complex, was even weirder. When he didn't hear anything from her anymore, no matter how many times he called her name, his anxiety spiked and her rushed to her door.
He ringed the doorbell, knocked.. nothing. Finally, desperate, he tried opening it and, to his utter horror, it did, without any force. That girl...he seriously had to have a talk about safety with her.
-Mimi?- he called once again while taking off his shoes in the small entrance, refraining from yelling at her right of the bat for the lack of self-preservation she had.
Not hearing an answer, yet again, he hurried on, thinking she'd be in the shower or something, heading right in the bathroom when he passed by the couch and saw her passed out on the carpet.
Needless to say, he almost got an heart-attack. He felt his heart stopping until adrenaline turned in and he recovered, crouching next to her, panic visible in his face as he studied her form and shook her gently -Mimi? Mimi?-
She was lying on the side, panting lightly, cheeks red and lips parted. He placed a hand on her forehead and almost recoiled, grimacing.
-Fuck, you're burning up- he picked her up and lied her on the couch, covering her with a pink and white striped blanket that was right there. He stood there mad and worried for a minute, biting his lips, before he unsuccessfully searched around the apartment for medicine or anything that could help. Her fridge and cupboards, as usual, were empty.
Yamato cursed under his breath, he looked at her, still unmoved from where he left her, spotting her keys on the counter and decided to go to the store as fast as he could.
-I'm gonna be right back- he said for safe measure, even though he knew she couldn't hear him.
Not even 20 minutes later, he came back with two full grocery bags, panting as he run all the way back. He felt immediate relief when he found her still sleeping where he left her.
He prepared a tall glass of water next to the small coffee table near the couch with some medicine, for later, and put a cold towel on her forehead.
After putting away the groceries, and marveling again at the poor state of her kitchen, he put the rice in the cooker and waited for it to cook before he could make it into porridge. Metaphorically and literally rolling up his sleeves, he exhaled.
-This girl will be the death of me- he muttered.
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The story will pick up from this moment in the next chapter, coming soon, I swear. Enjoy!