In the few seconds it took for Ichigo to feel the ground beneath her feet again, she had pictured 12 different ways in which she wanted to slap Quiche into the next century. When she finally felt her bare toes touch a cold, concrete surface, she immediately ripped herself out of Quiche's grasp and balled her hands into fists. Her eyes flew open and she squinted into harsh daylight with confusion. Blinking, her panicked eyes drank in her surroundings, confused and disoriented.
"Where are we?" she cried, glancing up at an overcast midday sky. She took two steps back and swallowed the panic clenching her throat. It was about 10PM in Tokyo – and she was decidedly not in Tokyo any more.
"Guess, kitten," Quiche quipped, appearing amused at her distress. He had his hands behind his head, watching her curiously. Ichigo clenched her jaw in frustration and observed her surroundings. She whirled on her heel and turned around.
It was the most breathtaking view she had ever seen in her life. She had seen the city in her schoolbooks and in movies. But Ichigo wasn't prepared to see the old, romantic buildings dotting the streets below, the peak of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower sitting further on the horizon. The city of Paris had always held a special place in her heart, especially with the Eiffel Tower as the inspiration for the famous Tokyo Tower. It felt like a familiar beacon of home.
Ichigo whirled around, wide eyes catching Quiche's amused ones. "Wait, what? What are we doing here? What is all of this?"
Quiche shrugged and tucked his hands in the pockets of his black pants nonchalantly. "You kept telling me you felt like you didn't have enough time," he said casually. He tilted his head to one side. "I can't wind back time for you. But I can bring you somewhere where the day hasn't grown quite as old."
Ichigo furrowed her brow as she began to understand. Time zones.
"Wait, so in Paris it's–"
"... around 3PM," Quiche finished, grinning proudly. "On Monday, April 6th."
He had quite literally brought her back in time. But, the more Ichigo thought about it, the more she grew skeptical.
"Wait, but in Tokyo, it's still 10PM! And when we go back, it will be even later!" Ichigo exclaimed. She clenched her jaw and turned to look back over the Paris skyline. Even with overcast, cloudy skies above them, it really was breathtaking.
"Shh, don't ruin it," Quiche purred. His voice was closer than she was expecting. Ichigo felt his fingertips curling around the curves of her waist. It felt like he was leaving tiny trails of fire where he touched her. Then, Ichigo remembered how furious she was at him. She tore away from him and took two steps back, glaring up at him again.
"Don't think this changes anything!" she spat.
Quiche raised one eyebrow and smirked, crossing his arms. "I've heard you say that before," he remarked. "And the next day, we were dancing together." Ichigo recalled their conversation after they battled the rat chimera together – the conversation they had after the kiss in the café kitchen.
"That's different!" Ichigo yelled, scowling. "What were you thinking? Abducting me from my room like that?"
Quiche shrugged. "It's not like I could have just asked."
"Well I...!" Ichigo started. She faltered, clapping her mouth shut. He was right. She would have never agreed to this if he had asked her.
She sighed in frustration and let her eyes wander to the Parian skyline once more. The vantage point from the concrete rooftop they stood on was really, truly beautiful. And she couldn't deny that the daylight of the still-present Monday afternoon was comforting. Even if it was temporary, the feeling of traveling "back in time," so to speak, brought Ichigo a level of peace she didn't know she needed. She clenched her jaw and swallowed.
It was undeniably thoughtful, and it made her feel equally flattered and annoyed.
"I– thank you," she muttered begrudgingly, glancing back at Quiche again. A flicker of something bright flashed across his gold irises. His smirk grew wider. Ichigo frowned. "But don't think this gives you the right to just show up in my bedroom whenever you want, creep."
Quiche let out a snort of laughter. "I resent that, kitten," he said. He uncrossed his arms and took one of Ichigo's hands in his. "Now would you just relax already?"
She swallowed the feeling of her stomach doing a backflip at his touch, and allowed him to lead her a few steps away – to the edge of the rooftop. The cold cement of the roof felt good on Ichigo's sweaty, sore feet. She looked down at her hand in his and wondered to herself what Quiche's motives were, bringing her here so spontaneously. Their dynamic felt like a tightrope walk between friendship and something dangerously more. Ichigo was curious to see what Quiche had to say, but a small voice in her head reminded her that "curiosity killed the cat."
Once at the edge of the roof, Quiche drifted up and over the concrete ledge, where he sat with ease. His legs dangled in the air as he leaned back on his arms. Ichigo looked over the ledge of the roof. Her toes curled when she saw they were nearly 20 stories off the ground.
"Ugh, I hate heights," she muttered.
"I didn't think you were such a scaredy-cat," Quiche teased. "After all, I can fly. It's not like you'll fall while I'm here."
Ichigo wrinkled her nose and peered over the ledge again. Quiche's challenge made her want to prove him wrong. She already felt frustratingly helpless in being abducted from her bedroom – and now she felt like she had something to prove. Not to mention her legs were sore from wearing the expensive, borrowed shoes from Mint. Her hips, calves and arches of her feet ached to give them a rest.
"I'm not a scaredy-cat, you jerk," Ichigo finally muttered. Slowly, she pushed up on her arms to give herself some height before swinging a leg over the ledge. She took care to keep the short skirt of her dress close to her legs as she swung the other leg over awkwardly. The relief on her legs was instantaneous, and the breeze in her face was heavenly. Her only mistake was looking down.
Ichigo's stomach soured as she saw how high up she was perched, the street life of urban Paris buzzing beneath her. The cars looked like toys; the people, like ants. She tried to relax her nerves and leaned back on her arms, focusing on the skyline ahead of her instead. She heard Quiche let out a snort of laughter from her side.
"You look like you're gonna be sick."
"Will you shut the hell up?" Ichigo snapped, glaring at Quiche next to her. He grinned.
"Kitty's got a temper, huh?" he chirped. "Bad day? What happened to that ring of yours?"
Ichigo suddenly remembered that the engagement ring was still in the pocket of her coat that she dropped on her bedroom floor. She hesitated to tell Quiche. She knew it would shatter any hope he was holding on to that she had broken off the engagement since they last spoke.
"I — it's in my coat pocket, at home," she said truthfully, staring into her lap. "I hide it from my parents when I'm around them."
Silence.
Ichigo stole a glance up at Quiche, whose grin had fallen off his face. His expression read as frustrated, maybe even annoyed.
"So you're still betrothed?"
"'Engaged'? Yeah," Ichigo said. She found herself staring down at her lap again.
"So I'm guessing he doesn't know yet. About last night." Quiche's words were sharp, full of ice.
Ichigo sighed. "No," she admitted. "I thought I would tell him on our date tonight, but I … I just couldn't. I don't know."
"Hm, maybe you are a scaredy-cat after all," Quiche murmured. Ichigo glanced up at him and saw he wore a ghost of a smirk on his face. His expression was far-off, as though he was thinking through something distant in his memory. She found herself wanting to grasp on to the string of vague humor and yank him back to reality.
"It's just like me to procrastinate on everything, though," she tried, smiling to herself. "Not starting my homework 'til midnight … catching the last train to make my shift at the café in time … waiting until the last possible day to fight with Aoyama …"
Quiche took the bait. His lips stretched into a smile again. He glanced back at Ichigo with a renewed spark in his eye. "So you are going to tell him?" he asked.
It wasn't the question Ichigo expected. She shrugged half-heartedly, wanting to appear nonchalant. "I mean, I have to, don't I?"
She wasn't sure herself. Not half an hour ago she was talking herself into keeping her feelings for Quiche a secret from Masaya forever. But she knew that posing the question for Quiche was one way of avoiding answering his.
"Mm, not necessarily," Quiche replied. "Though if I were you, I would have told him tonight."
Ichigo frowned. "I know … I shouldn't keep putting it off."
Quiche let out a breath of air and grinned. Ichigo looked up at him curiously. "No, it's not that," he said. His eyes flicked up and down her body just briefly. "You could stab someone while wearing that dress and they'd probably say thank you."
Ichigo felt her face going red. She quickly hid it with what she hoped was a face of annoyance and averted her eyes to the skyline. Deflect, Ichigo. Bury the flame.
"You're such a pest," she muttered. "What a weird compliment."
Ichigo gasped as she felt Quiche's fingers under her chin. He tilted her face up and towards him so that their eyes met.
"Fine, I can try again," he purred. "I could wax poetic about you all evening. Or, we could skip all of that, and go straight to the part where we do more than just talk."
He was getting bolder. A little too bold. Ichigo made a face and pulled her chin away from his grasp. "Don't do that," she muttered. "I'm still engaged. You can't just say things like that."
"You're not any more engaged now than you were last night," Quiche pointed out. Ichigo blew her bangs out of her face and sighed. He was holding their kiss over her head again. She was beginning to resent him for it.
"It doesn't matter," Ichigo said stubbornly. "You're making this harder than it needs to be. For both of us."
She turned back towards the roof and swung both legs over the ledge. She hopped off, landing on the cold concrete with her bare feet. Smoothing the skirt of her dress, Ichigo could feel Quiche's eyes on her. Her familiar guards were up. Her emotions were once again packed into a neat corner of her mind. The imaginary apartment in London weighed like a blanket on her thoughts. She wanted to go home and sleep.
"You're the one making this difficult for yourself, you know," Quiche said. Ichigo crossed her arms and glared at him as he turned to face her, still perched on the ledge of the roof. He raised one eyebrow and studied her carefully. "You'd really rather go along with whatever Aoyama wants?"
"Oh sure, like you know what I want!" Ichigo snapped. "Quit trying to act like you have me all figured out!"
"No offense, kitten, but you're not hard to read," Quiche countered. He tilted his head to one side. "You don't have to be so stubborn. It's written all over your face."
Ichigo scowled. Was she really that easy to read, or was Quiche just trying to get a rise out of her? Regardless, she began to feel her guardrail of apathy cracking. She felt her thoughts flowing more freely to her tongue in a perfect storm of fatigue and frustration.
"Ok, so what if I want to just keep the peace with Aoyama and move to London? What's so bad about that?" Ichigo countered. She found herself staring out into the skyline again. "I mean, it's not like I can just spend my life working at a café, hanging out with my friends all day! Like I could just, I don't know, just spend my time traveling to places like this all the time? I mean, that's just not how the world works!"
She let out a long breath and clenched her jaw. The sound of cars in the streets below and muffled music in the distance filled her ears for a few moments.
"For you, it can be," Quiche said finally. Ichigo's eyes snapped to him. He continued to watch her carefully, like he was trying to read her expression.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ichigo huffed. She tightened her arms around herself and leaned back against the concrete ledge of the roof, a couple steps to Quiche's left.
"Hm, I'll explain," Quiche started. Ichigo glanced over and watched him pluck a tiny white flower growing from a mossy crack in the cement ledge. His long, slender fingers began to coax a small, winding vine in its place as he spoke. "It's a long story, but I'll start with the hair-brained scheme Pie dreamed up when he planned on coming here."
Ichigo cocked her head to one side, curious. A scheme?
"So … to begin," Quiche started, "our planet has always been rich in things like precious gems, and our people are quite talented with working with them. Since we used to live below ground, mining and blacksmithing has been a part of our culture for some time. Things like refining and setting gems, working with precious metals … that sort of thing."
He paused his toying with the small plant and lifted his palm up in front of him. Ichigo watched a long, thin dagger appear in his hand. She flinched, but quickly remembered that Quiche no longer posed a threat to her. Quiche studied the weapon for a moment before extending it to Ichigo. She gingerly took it from him, taking care not to touch the sharp blade. It was surprisingly heavy in her hands. She tilted it in the light and stared in wonder at the intricate filigree carved into the hilt. A complicated design of thorned roses curled from the base of the hilt to the blade. A creature that looked something like a snake – no, a dragon, Ichigo realized – curled in and out of the design. It was undeniably stunning.
"It's beautiful," Ichigo murmured. She lifted the dagger back up to Quiche, who took it from her carefully. A corner of his mouth turned up as he caught her eye for a brief moment.
"It was given to me as a gift when I got the assignment to come here," he said, glancing down at the dagger once more. He twirled it between his fingers casually, then waved his palm so that it disappeared into thin air. A sudden memory jumped out in Ichigo's brain and she stiffened.
"Wait, you – you almost killed me with that thing!" Ichigo sputtered. "On the first day we met! After you turned all of those zoo animals into chimeras!"
Ichigo recalled how different everything was back then; the memory seemed like it was a lifetime ago. But she distinctly remembered looking up at Quiche as he ran his tongue over the blade. The icy cold feeling in her veins as he told her: "It's nothing personal, but keeping you alive will get me in trouble later." It was the same dagger as back then. The thin, deadly, beautiful thing she had just held in her hands.
Quiche let out a "hmm" in amusement. "You remembered," he remarked. "Yes, it's the same blade." He paused for a moment, as though ruminating over the same memory Ichigo had just visited. "Anyway, that's besides the point. After Pie, Tart and I delivered the Mew Aqua to our planet and were made princes, we all were granted access to a vast trove of beautiful artifacts, like the one you just held, as part of the thanks for our heroism. Things like precious gems, jewelry, swords, the like.
"Of course, it didn't take long after our planet was restored and we had all settled into our roles for Pie to start planning on how we would make our return to Earth. He had some kind of idea that he would be staying longer, or he at least hoped to. He wanted to find a way to build a foundation of sorts ... some kind of occupation, or security here on Earth to be able to travel back and forth at will."
Quiche paused for a moment. Ichigo was entranced with his words, quickly beginning to connect parts of his story to what she already knew about the alien boys. Two details immediately stood out to her: Why would Pie make plans to travel back and forth to Earth whenever he wanted? And how long had he been planning to return? There was really only one explanation, and it stunned Ichigo.
"Wait, but that means Pie–"
"... came back to be with Midorikawa, yes," Quiche finished, glancing over at Ichigo with a grin on his face. "Although he'd never admit it in a million years. He tried to rationalize his plans to come back to Earth in other ways, but Tart and I knew. We knew the entire time."
The corner of Ichigo's mouth turned up into a smile. She thought of how Lettuce and Pie danced at the gala. The look of pure joy on Pie's face. She wondered to herself how long he had waited for a moment like that with Lettuce. The happy thought made her heart flutter.
"So," Quiche continued, "when we finally made plans to return, Pie brought a small portion of some of the gems and artifacts from our planet back with us. Apparently, he's been working on selling them to brokers around Tokyo. From what he's told me, it's gone quite well. He's amassed a small fortune in your local currency in the short time we've been here, and he's been able to turn it into something of an operation. Something called 'investing'? I'm not sure if that means anything to you, but it's pretty impressive what he's done in such a short period of time. I didn't think he could actually pull it off."
Quiche had resumed toying with the delicate plant growing out of the concrete. Small, green buds began to form along the stem. Ichigo watched the plant grow absent-mindedly as she raced to understand everything Quiche was telling her.
"So what do you mean with all of this?" Ichigo prodded. "What does Pie's plan have to do with me?"
Quiche's slender hand raised the small plant a few centimeters higher. Then, he snapped his fingers, and the buds on the plant burst open into small, white flowers. They looked just like the one he had plucked from the spot minutes before. Ichigo watched in fascination as her question hung in the air. She glanced up at Quiche and realized he was already staring at her. She blushed under his intense gaze of gold. His cat-like pupils widened slightly.
"You're the champion of Earth, Ichigo," he murmured. "You saved this world, and you shouldn't have to play by its rules."
He was using her first name again. Ichigo furrowed her brow as Quiche continued, turning his attention to growing the leaves of the plant. "You humans poisoned your planet in the pursuit of money and success. Everything sick and toxic on your planet comes from the greed of its people. You shouldn't feel bound to the same expectations of what it takes to be happy in your strange, twisted society. And I can make sure you never have to. "
The pieces of the puzzle began to click into place. "Wait," Ichigo asked quietly, "what are you saying?"
Quiche plucked one of the white flowers from the plant and twirled it in his fingers as he let Ichigo's question hang in the air for a moment. Ichigo watched him curiously as she slowly began to grasp the meaning behind his words.
His eyes flicked back to her as he spoke. "I can make your life whatever you want it to be, Ichigo. Anything you could possibly want in this world or another, it's yours. Anything."
Ichigo drew a deep breath as Quiche reached over and gently, carefully tucked the white flower behind her ear. He swept a lock of her hair back with his hand. His fingertips grazed the side of Ichigo's face, and it sent a shiver up her spine. She felt frozen in place, like the air had been knocked out of her lungs.
Quiche's touch lingered on her jaw, his eyes flicking back and forth between hers. "I could even make you a princess, if you wanted."
Swallowing the knot in her throat, Ichigo scrambled to find her wits again without leaning into the fiery feeling of Quiche's fingertips under her chin. Quickly, she took a step back and tore herself away from his touch. She knew she had to focus. She couldn't allow a repeat of the night before. But her thoughts felt like a whirlpool again, one she found herself getting hopelessly lost in. How was it that he could always draw her in so easily with his words? How did he always manage to steal her speech?
What Quiche was offering her almost sounded too good to be true, but Ichigo knew he wasn't lying. "Anything you could possibly want in this world or another, it's yours."
She thought of last night on the roof of the café. The way he looked at her after she had asked him to stay on Earth.
"For you, anything."
Ichigo felt something prick at her skin on one arm. Then again, on her shoulder. She realized it was beginning to rain. The feeling of the warm droplets on her skin startled her out of her daze. The world seemed to snap into focus.
"If this is another marriage proposal, you're going to be disappointed," she mumbled finally, crossing her arms under her chest. Keep it together, Ichigo.
Quiche smirked. The spark was back in his eye, the serious look gone from his expression. "Mmm, I know better than that, kitten," he replied in a low tone. He hopped off the ledge of the roof. Ichigo flinched and took a step back. "A fickle cat isn't so easily put on a leash."
He extended a hand to Ichigo. She glared down at it, then back up into his entrancing gold stare. She wondered what he was doing. Was he offering to bring her home again? Frowning, Ichigo slowly, carefully extended her hand and slipped it in his.
Instead of teleporting, Quiche lifted Ichigo's hand high and turned her in a twirl. She obliged, spinning in a circle like they had in their dance just under a week ago. Quiche spun her back to him and pulled her closer, placing a hand on her waist and leading her in the familiar steps of their dance from the gala. Ichigo found herself floating through the steps on the cold cement roof just as easily as she had on the glossy floor of the café. She went along with the dance – part confused, part curious.
It was starting to rain harder now. The concrete around them grew dark and wet, the thick smell of a storm settling in over the city.
Quiche's voice cut through the pattering rain around them.
"When I learned how to dance a few months ago, my teacher told me most people who are bad dancers are thinking too hard," he called over the drumming of the rain. He spun Ichigo outwards again, and her feet seemed to carry her in a wide circle effortlessly. "If you overthink it, you're not listening to your instinct. If you overthink it, you'll lose your footing."
Ichigo spun back around to Quiche and returned to his arms. Of course the spontaneous dancing was a metaphor – everything seemed like a riddle with Quiche. Raindrops trickled down the front of Ichigo's dress and sent little chills running down her skin. She locked eyes with Quiche and found herself lost in his gaze once more.
In that strange moment, barefoot in the pouring rain, Quiche gripped Ichigo's hand tighter – and she felt like everything was just as it should be. Her hair sticking to her face, her makeup a mess, and her dress ruined, something deep in her heart let out a sigh of relief. A childlike, joyful bliss that she was there – present – in that moment. In that moment, it was just past 3PM on Monday, and she was on a rooftop somewhere far away from all of her troubles. Far away from the pressure of applying to universities, from the stress of the secrets kept close to her chest, from the enormous pressure of saving the world.
She was 17 years old, and for the first time in almost two weeks, she felt like it.
Ichigo's lips split into a smile.
"It'd help if I was at least wearing shoes!" she laughed. She glanced down and saw the sopping black fabric of the dress sticking to her legs. "And Mint is going to kill me for ruining her dress!"
Quiche grinned; his sharp canines glinted in the light. "Overthinking, kitten – you're doing it again!"
Ichigo let out another laugh. "But I–"
Suddenly, a loud sound echoed across the rooftop and cut through the noise of the pattering rain. Quiche grabbed Ichigo and held her against him. Both of their attention turned to the door flung open at what looked like a stairwell entrance. A middle-aged man with curly, dark hair squinted into the rain at Quiche and Ichigo. He yelled something at them, but Ichigo couldn't understand it.
"I don't suppose you speak French?" Ichigo said, gripping the front of Quiche's soaked shirt. She was suddenly aware of how their bodies were pressed against each other. She felt him laugh against her.
"You kidding? Japanese is hard enough!"
The man yelled something else at them, and began advancing towards them from the center of the roof. Ichigo felt Quiche grip her tighter, then release her. She looked up at him just as he stooped down and picked her up to carry her. She let out a yelp of surprise and looped her arms around his neck to steady herself.
"Hang on tight, kitten!" Quiche called.
"W-wait, what?" Ichigo squeaked, eyes wide. Quiche turned around to face the edge of the roof. Then, in a few quick strides, he jumped to the ledge with Ichigo in his arms and lept off.
Ichigo shrieked as they fell through the air for a split second. Then, in the next, she felt the familiar sinking weight in her stomach from teleporting. She screwed her eyes shut and swallowed her fear, her teeth clenched. She felt weightless, suspended in the air for a few moments. Then, she suddenly landed on her back – on something soft. Ichigo gasped and opened her eyes to inky darkness. As her vision adjusted to the low light, she realized she was back in her bedroom. And she was on her bed. With Quiche crouched on top of her.
She drew a deep breath as the gold in his eyes caught the dim moonlight streaming in from the glass door to her balcony. It was deadly quiet except for the sound of their breathing falling in sync. Ichigo swore she could hear her heartbeat hammering in her ears. Adrenaline coursed through her body from the fall just seconds ago.
A drop of water landed on her collarbone, then another on her cheek. She remembered they were both soaking wet. Another drop landed on the corner of one of her eyes; she screwed her eye shut and slowly lifted one hand to brush some of Quiche's dripping, wet hair away from his face. She saw Quiche swallow hard. Then, he leaned forward to close the gap between them.
Without thinking, Ichigo quickly pushed her hand up against his mouth to stop him. She drew a deep breath and bit her lip as he backed away with a confused look in his eye. He looked hurt, dazed.
"Quiche, you can't … we're not …" Ichigo started in a low murmur.
With the familiar smells of her childhood bedroom around her and the dark of the night outside, Ichigo felt like she had just been transported back to reality. Back to responsibilities. Back to what she knew. It hurt her to turn Quiche away, but she knew deep down that she couldn't keep playing with fire. She had already gone too far.
Quiche sat back on his knees and let out a long, frustrated breath, averting his eyes to the moonlight outside. He swept his wet hair back with one hand. Ichigo curled her legs into herself and sat up straighter, watching him carefully, unsure of what to say. An air of wrongness settled in around them. Ichigo didn't know if it was her own guilt over the night with Quiche, or if it was her sudden rejection just now.
She saw Quiche lock his jaw as his eyes flicked back to her.
"Fine, kitten ... have it your way," he murmured. He leaned forward just slightly; Ichigo felt her muscles tense. Quiche reached towards her and tilted her chin up with one finger. Her skin prickled. She shivered under his touch. "Think about what I've told you. I'd hate to see you playing by someone else's rules."
His finger slipped out from under her chin. He tilted his head to one side, his bright, luminous eyes narrowing. Ichigo could swear she forgot how to breathe.
"'Night, Ichigo," he said quietly. Ichigo watched the air around his body shimmer and grow distorted. In the next second he was gone, the weight from his body lifting from her mattress.
The air in her bedroom felt cold. Ichigo shivered, a chill dancing across her skin. She was suddenly conscious of how her rain-soaked dress clung to her like an uncomfortable second skin. She was freezing, and exhausted. Need to get this thing stupid dress off, she thought. Swinging her legs over the side of her bed, Ichigo stood on unsteady legs and crossed her bedroom to close her curtains. Then, she unzipped the dress and peeled it off slowly, carefully.
Only when she was holding the wet, dripping mess of fabric in her hands did Ichigo catch her dimly-lit reflection in her bedroom mirror. Her wildcat abilities gave her an inhuman ability to see well at night, she knew. But she surprised herself for a moment at the detail in which she studied her reflection in the inky darkness of her room.
Her hair was a soaking mop of ruby red, dripping and clinging to the sides of her face. Her mascara was smudged around her eyes. Sometime over the course of the night, her ears and tail had made an appearance. She didn't know when; she wondered vaguely to herself whether the man on the rooftop in Paris had seen her cat features. Finally, Ichigo noticed that the concealer on her neck had washed off. The small red love bite on her neck was clearly visible as she tilted her head to one side. She let out a long sigh and grazed her fingertips over the splotchy mark. It stung to the touch. Frowning, Ichigo wondered to herself how long it would last before fading.
She looked like a mess, and she felt like one too.
Suddenly remembering what she had to do tomorrow, Ichigo glanced over at the clock on her desk. 11:08.
She had almost exactly 24 hours to make a decision about London, and about her engagement. A decision, she reminded herself. You can't let things continue as they are now. Quiche had made that clear to her tonight. She couldn't keep stringing both Masaya and Quiche along. It was unfair – and cruel to both of them, but especially to Masaya. Sweet, caring, handsome and kind Masaya Aoyama, who had done nothing but dote on her for the 3 years they had been together.
Ichigo looked down at her tan coat discarded on her bedroom floor. The diamond ring was still buried in one of its pockets. She lifted her left hand and stared at the bare spot on her finger.
After 14 days of being the fickle cat, Ichigo knew it all had to come to an end. Tomorrow. Masaya's last day in Tokyo, and Ichigo's last day to come clean. All of the secrets, the confusion, the push and the pull.
No more, Ichigo told herself.
She thought of the way Masaya held her hand in the towncar on their way home from their date.
She thought of the way Quiche looked at her as he tucked the small white flower behind her ear.
No longer.
Tomorrow.
(A.N./
Pretty sure this is the most self-indulgent chapter I've written so far. I hope your teeth aren't rotting out of your head after all of that sweet, sweet fluff.
Quick note here that we are nearing the end of this fic! I have four normal chapters planned in the story, plus an epilogue chapter after that. I am hoping that I can start updating a little faster – chapter 19 should be out within a week if I stay on schedule with my editing. Thanks for your patience while I'm a little slower to update. Appreciate all of you so much!
I especially appreciate all of the amazing reviews I've gotten recently – and a big welcome to all of the new readers! Please leave a review with thoughts, predictions, etc. Cheers and thanks for reading!)