Tell Me a Story
Hikaru's Ending
After graduation, Hikaru invites Ema to come over to his apartment to celebrate. Inside, he instructs her to sit down and turns off the lights.
"H-Hikaru-san?," Ema says nervously, looking around the room for her older brother.
"Happy graduatioooon!," Hikaru sings, carrying a chocolate cake, with a cake firework in the middle. Ema giggles. He's adorable. He places the cake in front of her. The cake had "Happy anniversary" written on it. "Sorry... I couldn't find a cake that said 'Happy graduation'," Hikaru says.
Ema laughs: "It's okay! Thank you, Hikaru-san, this means a lot."
Hikaru kills the firework and turns the lights back on. He takes out a knife and hands it to Ema: "Could you cut it? I suck ass at cutting cake."
"Sure," Ema giggles.
Ema cuts the cake, as Hikaru watches her with hearts in his eyes, resting his face on his hand. He places his slice on a plate and places the plate in front of him. "Hikaru-san?," Ema asks, waking him up from his day dream.
"Huh? Yeah! Oh, thank you, Ema-chan!," Hikaru says, digging into the cake.
"What were you thinking about?," Ema asks.
Hikaru chuckles: "It's nothing."
"Wait no, tell me!," Ema insists.
Hikaru raises an eyebrow at her. "Do you really want to know?," he asks. Ema nods in response. "You're a fine woman, Ema-chan," Hikaru smirks, pouring himself a glass of wine. Ema blushes. Me? A fine woman? I thought Hikaru just saw me as a dumb little high school girl he could toy with... I wonder if he really meant it when he said he liked me, a few months ago.
They sit down and eat the cake together, chitchatting about Hikaru's new book. It wasn't a noir novel like he usually wrote: it was a romance novel. The story of an older man, a novelist, who had given up on his passion for books in favor of a regular, better playing, 9-to-5 job. But upon meeting a beautiful young woman at his brother's birthday party, he gets inspired to write again.
"We've already sold 10,000 copies in a week!," Hikaru exclaims.
"That's incredible, Hikaru-san! Do you have the book with you here?," Ema asks.
"Of course!," Hikaru says. He gets up and grabs the book from his bookshelf, handing it over to Ema. "I'll leave you alone to skim over the book, I need to go answer some emails," Hikaru says, he kisses her on the temple and makes his way to his office.
Ema takes a good look at the book cover: the story was titled "The Fundamentals of Heartache", written by Asakawa Hikaru (Hikaru's pen name). The cover featured a man with long hair and a woman with brown hair, in a ponytail tail, embracing each other. Ema blushes. That... Looks like us... She opens the book and starts to read.
After page 79, Ema began to notice something: the female protagonists reminded her of... her. The way she spoke, the way she acted, they way she dressed, her mannerisms, her quirks (like playing with her hands when she's nervous, tilting her head to the left when she's confused, or playing with the end of her ponytail when she feels shy), it all reminded her of her. And then, it clicked. Ema flips back to the first page and starts rereading the book, making sure to play close attention to the female protagonist's behavior in specific events. When the male protagonist flirted with the female protagonist, she got really shy and blushed the same way Ema did, when the male protagonist took the female protagonist out shopping and bought her the shoes of her dreams, she insisted on him not getting them for her, saying they were too expensive, but he surprised her with them anyways. The shoes were even described as "nude pumps with a red bottom", Hikaru had bought Ema nude pumps with a red bottom for the wedding. When the male protagonist drunkenly flirted with the female protagonist at a Christmas party, she blushed deeply and carried him to the kitchen to grab a glass of water for him, when the male protagonist danced with the female protagonist, he danced in the same way Hikaru did... But the way the female protagonist reacted to the male protagonist confessing to her was the icing on the cake: she felt as though she was reading a third person's account of the time Hikaru confessed his feelings to her.
Tears began to stream down her cheeks. Was Hikaru just using me this entire time? Was his confession a lie? As if on cue, Hikaru enters the living room. His eyes widen as he notices Ema crying: "Ema-chan! What's wrong?"
He approaches Ema and places a hand on the crying girl's shoulder, she swats his hand away. "Don't touch me!," Ema cries.
She throws his book to the ground and stomps out of his apartment, he grabs her wrist and asks: "Imouto-chan, what happened? What's wrong?" His tone wasn't demanding or harsh, it was honest and compassionate, but Ema refused to let herself fall for his tricks once again.
"Don't touch me!," Ema cries, ripping her wrist out of his grab. "I don't love you anymore, Hikaru!," Ema blurts out in tears.
Hikaru's inhales sharply, Ema felt childish urge to slap her hand on her mouth. "What?," he breathes.
"I-I... I read your book...," Ema says, her eyes filled with tears, "Why, why did you use me?" Hikaru stares at her, speechless. "Why did you play with my heart to write your stupid book? Why? Was it worth it, Hikaru? Was playing with my feelings and getting a reaction out of me worth it?," Ema cries.
"Ema, I'm sorry-," he pleads.
"No, Hikaru-san!," she cuts him off.
"Please, at least let me drive you home-"
"No!," Ema snaps, "I-I want to be alone right now... Please, don't, don't contact me ever again... I-I don't want to be your little science experiment anymore. I-I was falling in love with you, why couldn't you see it?"
And on that, Ema runs out of the apartment in tears, slamming the door behind her.
About a month passes, Ema found it incredibly easy to avoid Hikaru, since they didn't live together. The brothers had noticed how down she looked, they would ask her if she was okay, but she'd just shrug off their questions, saying she just had a bad day. One day, she was home alone. She was playing video games when she heard the doorbell ring. Ema gets up and rushes downstairs.
Through the glass door, she sees Hikaru, holding a bouquet of flowers, a teddy bear, and a box. His hair was down and he was wearing a cream button up shirt and jeans. She notices that he had lost some weight.
A small gasp escapes from Ema's lips, tears stream down her face, she swings the door open and flings her arms around Hikaru's neck.
He chuckles. "I missed you so much," she cries.
Hikaru drops the stuff and hugs her back: "Fuck you, I wanted to say that first."
They embrace each other for a small eternity, crying softly into each other's neck. Hikaru pulls away, he caresses Ema's cheek: "I'm sorry for playing with your feelings and breaking your heart in the process, but I want you to know that I meant every word I've ever spoken to you... T-the male protagonist in the story... it was me. How he feels about the female protagonist is how I feel about you, which is why I based her off of you. I know I made it seem as though I used you, and for that I'm so incredibly sorry. I never meant to hurt you... I am in love with you, Ema-chan, and if you'll have me, I promise to never hurt you again."
Ema grabs his face and pulls him into a kiss, Hikaru's eyes widen, but he doesn't think twice about kissing her back. "Yes, yes, I love you so much, Hikaru-san!," Ema cries. Hikaru chuckles and wipes her tears off of her cheeks. He picks up the items he just dropped and hands them over to her.
"Here, it's a 'I'm so sorry for being a jerk, please give me a second chance, I promise I'll be better' gift," Hikaru says.
"Promise this is the last one you'll ever give me?," Ema jokes, taking the presents from him.
Hikaru chuckles: "I promise."
The flowers were roses, and the teddy bear was wearing a shirt that said: "I'm sorry for being an asshole, but at least I'm your asshole? Please forgive me." Ema laughs.
She glances over at the box curiously.
"Open it," Hikaru says, taking the teddy and the flowers from her. Ema opens the box and finds... very badly executed chocolate chip cookies. "I can't bake for shit, but I tried my best because I know how much you like them," Hikaru says.
Ema giggles and kisses him on the cheeks. "Thank you, Hikaru-san, this means a lot."
Flashforward (Three years later)
Ema was standing in line at the book store, because Hikaru had organized a book signing event, and she decided to attend to surprise him.
When it was finally her turn, she says: "Asakawa-san?"
Hikaru's eyes widen, he smiles brightly. "Ema!," he exclaims.
Ema makes her way to his desk and leans over to give him a quick peck. "Don't tell me you want me to sign your book," Hikaru teases.
"And why not?," Ema says, handing him his most recent novel.
He laughs and takes the novel from her. He opens the novel to find that the pages had been carefully glued together, and a whole was cut through the pages, creating a box. Inside, he found a pregnancy test with two lines on it. His mouth gapes open.
"Are you serious? A-are you sure?," he exclaims, in disbelief.
Ema giggles and nods: "I took three tests, yes, I'm very sure."
"Holy shit!," Hikaru shouts. He gets up and pulls his girlfriend into a tight embrace. "Oh my God," he cries. "MY GIRLFRIEND'S PREGNANT!," Hikaru yells.
Everyone in the store begins to cheer, as Ema and Hikaru cry of joy together. Hikaru presses his lips onto Ema, kissing her passionately. I'm going to be a dad...