Disclaimer:
Let's just skip the giant disclaimer you can find in Chapter 1!
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FS
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x. ENCOUNTER in VENICE x.
(new version)
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Fate seemed to pull the strings
I turned and you were gone
While from the darkened wings
The music box played on
("Charade", lyrics by Johnny Mercer)
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When Shiho finally…
(Saturday, November 3rd 20xx, from different points of view)
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When Shiho finally manages to drag herself out of bed, it's already past nine o'clock. Since Seiya has removed all her clothes from last night—her nightdress, her negligee, even her lingerie (if this wasn't a prank, he must have thought that she expected him to do the laundry before his morning practice session), she has to stop at their wardrobe on the way to the bathroom. In her underwear drawer, she finds the curt and perfectly unromantic note he has left her: "Have made coffee. Don't skip breakfast! I'll be back before lunch. Love, SK."
After slipping into her favourite dress and brushing her teeth, she wraps herself into a blanket and takes a tray with coffee and the pancakes her boyfriend has left in the oven to the roof terrace. As usual, he has also brought her the morning papers and left them in the basket at the glass door, next to her slippers. A headline jumps at her the moment she takes the first newspaper into her hand: "Has our Young Godfrey Norton finally found his Irene?"
She has been depicted as a mysterious strawberry-blonde beauty of mixed race, whose cool and serene aura has challenged the notorious playboy, who was known to love his independence so much that he often ditched his prospective affairs after one night or even before sleeping with them. Seiya has underlined every word he considered wrong—thus censoring ninety percent of the article—and written his own version into the margin. "I'm the singer and actor," says his handwriting in black ink. "It's not you but me, who is Irene."
The thought of the Sherlock of the twenty-first century calling her boyfriend "the woman" and keeping a photo of Seiya on his mantlepiece is enough to make Shiho spill her coffee and choke on her pancake. And she proceeds to have breakfast alone in a fairly happy mood even though she wonders why Seiya couldn't have stayed home with her for one morning. Either of them has always been so busy these days that, even on weekends, they only have time for each other during lunch, dinner, and at night—and the last time they actually had breakfast with each other or spent the whole day with each other was months ago. At least he has kept the Christmas season free this year so that they can stay for two or even three weeks in Tokyo. If everything goes according to plan, this will also be their first long trip together since their arrival in Venice.
Seiya has more than once tried to upgrade their relationship (perpetually alternating between torrid love affair and pleasant cohabitation) into something more permanent. Being a man of gestures and not of words, he has showered her with affection and spent whatever free time he has on her without ever telling her that she is more than a lover and amusing companion to him. Kudo, on the other hand, has certainly given his Ran-nee-chan a proper love declaration before the very first kiss, Shiho thinks, wondering why she is comparing them to each other all of a sudden. It must be Tenoh-san's insidious influence, which has been weighing on her in the past years.
To her regret, her shock reaction to the couple rings Seiya once brought home has also effectively nipped all his attempts at changing the status of their relationship in the bud. While Shiho likes their present situation, which has all the merits of a conventional marriage and none of a marriage's drawbacks, she sometimes wishes Seiya were verbally expressive when it came to his feelings for her. Although he regularly writes song lyrics (which he guards like personal diary entries and seldom shows her), Seiya has never—not even once—alluded to the famous three words during the four years of their relationship. To be fair, Shiho has never done it either. And after ignoring them for so long, it seems awkward to say the words, which have taken on a new significance for her now that everything they've built up together can be wrecked by one single message from Tenoh-san to Seiya.
Even after she has sporadically cleaned up, cooked lunch, and exercised, Seiya is still away. Since they still have to clean their apartment together before Kudo's visit, she decides to use the telephone in their bedroom, which is usually muted, to call Seiya's private mobile number.
Ignoring the ninety-odd messages on their answering machine (most of which must have been left by Seiya's choleric agent), Shiho deals the number she knows by heart and smiles, ready to admonish him for playing a prank on her first thing in the morning. Contrary to her expectations, however, Seiya's ringing tone comes from the living room—from under the sofa, to be exact, as she discovers when she follows the faint sound. Crawling on all fours under the table to fish Seiya's mobile phone from under the sofa, Shiho discovers the pale pink piece of paper her ungovernable life partner has rolled and attached to the phone with a red bow.
"You looked so tired that I didn't want to wake you up," says the small note. "Have left my phone at home so that I can call you.
PS: I've left it under the sofa so that it won't disturb you if you're still asleep."
Shiho is still shaking her head at Seiya's twisted logic when she hears the sound of a key in the lock and his familiar steps in the corridor. Leisurely strolling into the corridor, she inwardly prepares herself to rebuke him for his disappearance. Yet his present attire is so bizarre that all she can do is to stare at him as he kicks off his shoes, puts down Alberto Coiro's old accordion, and carefully places the paper box he has been carrying in his left hand on the floor, directly between their pink dahlia and their purple dahlia.
"A group of urban sketchers has bought all the tiramisu, Makoto-chan says." He leans in to kiss her, handing her the small round bouquet of half-bloomed fragrant roses he has been carrying in his right hand. "Hence I took the zabaglione."
She beholds the swirling arrangement of radiant apricot, peach, and orange roses among the clouds of white baby's breath with silent approval before she pulls him down for another, deeper kiss, frowning as she tastes alcohol and cappuccino.
"You've had a glass of vodka before lunch?" And you've had coffee without me, she mentally adds in a jealous fit, wondering whom he has been seeing.
"Just for the disguise."
Unapologetic as usual. After seeing the accordion, she doesn't even need to ask whom he has been disguising himself as.
"Was this for the disguise as well?" She trails her fingertips over his chin, taking care not to touch the cut itself.
As long as it's not permanent like a severed limb, he will do it for his role, he declares with audible pride.
"Do shave once more before Kudo comes!" She shoots him a stern look.
"Of course, Milady." He bows deeply, in the manner musketeers usually bow in movies, flashing her a roguish smile.
"Zabaglione is perfect. But this looks almost like an autumn wedding bouquet!" She brings her face to the large flower heads for a moment, enjoying their voluptuous, velvety scent. "It's not like I'm complaining—but Kudo is already taken, so I can't marry him." To her own surprise, Shiho realizes she has mentioned marriage twice within twenty-four hours.
"You'll have to make do with me then," her boyfriend casually offers, hanging the old leather jacket he has kept from his teenage days on the streets on a hook. "You should look inside before putting them into the vase," he adds on the way to the bathroom.
"You're not rich enough—but I'll consider it." Shiho smirks, pulls a platinum screwdriver out of the bouquet, and frowns. "Was this in the post this morning?"
"Michiru-sama found it on Haruka-san's bedside table when she came home last night. Haruka-san must have left it there before going to La Fenice." Seiya, who has just washed his hands and his face, joins Shiho in the kitchen, where she, balancing on the tip of her toes, is trying to fish for a vase on a high shelf. "I couldn't sleep, so I visited Michiru-sama before buying the cake. As I thought, she couldn't sleep either." With a chuckle, he takes down the vase and fills it with water while Shiho cuts the flowers.
So he had been drinking cappuccino with his much admired violinist, with whom he once had a flirt that ended with Tenoh-san's fist, while his life partner of four years had to eat breakfast alone! Nevertheless, Shiho is in a generous mood, especially towards Kaioh-san, whom she feels sorry for after the events of last night.
"How is she today?"
"Great, considering the circumstances… She is taking care of herself and has even invited a friend over—Elza Gray, the daughter of Mr. Gray, who's directing our musical. I didn't know Haruka-san and she were once classmates."
"At Infinity?"
"No, before that, at Shirabaka. She was the one who introduced Michiru-sama to Haruka-san."
After placing the vase of flowers on the table, Seiya ceremoniously takes Shiho's wrist and removes the love bracelet with swift movements, which Shiho enjoys watching, as she likes his cinematic gestures he doesn't even seem aware of. Now that the bracelet is gone, Shiho almost misses the familiar feeling around her wrist. Commitment is both a blessing and a curse.
"Freedom at last!" He smiles in satisfaction, placing both the screwdriver and the bracelet on the sofa next to her. "Adieu, Haruka-san, wherever you are!"
"I'm not going to miss her," Shiho coolly remarks. "But I'm going to miss the bracelet." She strokes her naked wrist. "It has boosted my ego to wear such a high-class piece of jewellery for four years. How much did it cost? I can sell it when we're broke."
"Four years of slavery," he reminds her. "And I can put it on you again if you want me to."
"But at least it was for a good cause," she reminds him, intentionally ignoring his offer. She prefers him to put it on her during a special occasion, in another setting. She has always had a weakness for romantic gestures and beautiful scenery.
"It was," he concedes and habitually kisses her on her temple before letting himself fall into the armchair opposite her. "What are you going to do with it now?" Indicating the bracelet, he pouts. "Since it's a present from me, I'd be sad if you simply sold it to someone else."
She can remember very well how he gave it to her… Noticing that the shrunk scientist he had fished out of the sea was admiring the love bracelet Cartier had given him (the bracelet he was trying to dump on Tenoh-san, as he didn't have a girlfriend at that time), Seiya had slipped the sinfully expensive platinum bangle over Haibara Ai's wrist with the "love declaration": Since you like it so much, it's yours! Turning to Tenoh-san, he lightly added, Look, the kid has the right wrist for the bracelet. Very pretty bone structure! In five or six years, all the boys in class are going to fight over her screwdriver.
Blithely unaware of the damage he had just caused, he tossed Ai the screwdriver, which landed with pinpoint accuracy in her lap, and slid out of the living room to play the guitar while Tenoh-san, who must have known about Ai's one-sided infatuation with him, gave "the kid" a look of pity. Irritated but nevertheless elated by the unexpected present, the only words Ai could utter were, You know, this is already the second time that something like this has happened to me!
What shall I say, you're a ten-year-old kid, Tenoh-san pointed out. You're a non-female to him. Just accept the present as a souvenir and don't make this more complicated than it already is. You'd never be able to keep a guy like him, anyway, with his acting career and his love of total freedom. Don't get burned!
Tenoh-san also pocketed the screwdriver with the remark that, since Seiya wouldn't keep it, she was going to take care of it until Shiho finished the cure. After all, this bracelet was meant to be a promise, whose nature didn't necessarily have to be romantic.
Shiho did want to complicate matters, however, and resolved to take the antidote during the same night, much to Tenoh-san's horror. Deep down, Shiho knew that Tenoh-san's attractive friend, who dropped in on her whenever Tenoh-san wasn't looking, was fascinated by her although he had to push her away as long as she was in a child's body. Shiho, on the other hand, had been driven by the urge to make it right, to give a sad story a happy ending. There he was, the other man she adored and instinctively trusted the moment they met—which was no mean feat since she would always compare any man she met to Kudo, who had set the scale so high that she had expected to stay single for the rest of her life. And now that she had finally found him, she wasn't going to let something as insignificant as her small size come between them.
Naturally, Shiho didn't know anything about Seiya's family back then although his name and the names of his siblings struck her as intriguing: Yaten—Night Sky, Taiki—Atmosphere, Seiya—Star Field or Starry Night, Kakyuu—Fireball. Seiya's parents must have been interested in astronomy, she thought, as "fireball" could allude to a bolide, an extremely bright, exploding meteor. After learning about his parents from Tenoh-san, she fled in distress, as anyone else with the sufficient amount of brain cells would have done. But then Seiya started to pursue her—running after her with all the despair, passion, and single-minded persistence of the first requited albeit ill-fated love until she gave in. And thus they fell hopelessly, tragically, in love and, as a result, into this bloody mess, whose dimension only Tenoh-san and Shiho knew.
"It might have been your present—but it didn't mean anything to you when you gave it to me." Shiho takes the screwdriver into her hand, turning it to and fro, enjoying the sunlight reflecting off its polished side. "Anyhow, it's still mine, and I'm going to search for a nice steady life partner, who will keep this for me from now on."
As expected, Seiya leaps to her side, picks up the bracelet from the sofa in the same movement, and extends his hand towards her.
"The screwdriver!" he orders.
"Dream on!" She strolls into their bedroom, and opens her underwear drawer to place the screwdriver next to Kudo's locket pendant. "Maybe I'm going to give it to you someday—after you've earned the right to take care of it. But until then, I'm going to enjoy my freedom."
If he still sticks by her after learning the truth about his parents' death—she decides—she is going to wear any piece of couple jewellery he gives her and even sign a marriage license if he wants her to. Like Tenoh-san said, however, stars are unattainably distant despite their apparent nearness—and incurable optimists are the first ones who die of heartbreak when reality bites, having entertained vain hopes for too long…
He hands her the bracelet he is holding with a sigh, murmuring that, although she is generous in all other aspects, she has always been stingy when it came to commitment.
Gazing at her reflection in the mirror of the wardrobe, Shiho notices absently that the small necklace from Kudo doesn't match her low-cut dress at all. Hence she removes it, attaches the pendant to the necklace again, and leaves it in the drawer, next to the other pieces of jewellery. Despite her eye for beauty, Shiho—pragmatic and easily bored by material possessions—doesn't feel any strong attachment to her jewellery and her clothes, and it surprises her that she has been wearing Kudo's love necklace for so long even though it doesn't even carry a romantic connotation.
"Are you taking it off because of me?" To her surprise, Seiya looks genuinely horrified.
"No, because it doesn't go well with this dress."
"You can wear it whenever you want to!" he insists, vehemently. "I really don't mind at all."
"Have you been jealous over a necklace?" She raises her brow, laughing about the ridiculous situation. "Who is the one who will have to make out with pretty actresses onstage while I have to watch and smile and pretend that everything is fine?"
"I'm not making out with anyone but you."
"So you're going to push Hino-san away tonight when she throws herself at you for an authentic kiss onstage?"
He doesn't even bat an eyelid.
"Yes."
"All right. I'm looking forward to seeing it."
The corners of his lips tremble before he chuckles and bends down to kiss her, amused by the ridiculous mental image her words have conjured up (they both know Hino-san was above such schemes). But just when she has put her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, he draws away.
"We're being watched," he calmly says. Through the window, which she has left open, Shiho can discern a white dress on a balcony in the distance. She can also see a blonde head beneath a red hat and a small face—almost hidden by a shawl and a pair of dark binoculars.
"Gorowitz is watching our bedroom now?" she whispers in disbelief while he closes the window and lowers the blinds.
"Apparently," he says. While his voice is still gentle and low, his eyes, impossibly blue, have taken on a ruthless, icy expression she has already seen in Gin's before.
He is standing at the window in a perfectly straight pose, peering at their stalker through the half-closed Venetian blinds. Seeing him with the pattern of sunlight filtering through the blinds and its shadows projected on his frilly white d'Artagnan shirt, the stark contrast of his dark head and bright eyes thus highlighted by the striped background, it dawns on Shiho why she always protects their relationship so anxiously before the start of a new season: Whenever he gets invested in a role, Seiya morphs into it until he retreats from her even when he is offstage. He has already begun to remind her of the Phantom of the Opera with his intensity and the curtness of his response. And when he turns away from the window, the fury in his eyes is still apparent, which is uncharacteristic of him.
"Has she sent you threatening love letters again?" she inquires to lighten the mood.
"Something similar to it." He flashes her an enigmatic smile, and his gaze softens when he sits down on the bed and pulls her on his lap. "Nothing important, though," he says, indifferently. "She wrote she'd like to visit me in my dressing room tomorrow because she wants us to be friends."
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A/N:
mernaruki: Thank you for the lovely review. :D
