Love is Love 8 Strawberry and Kiwi Tartlets Part 3
A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay. I didn't know midterms were coming up and just school, in general, would be so busy. I initially planned for the chapters of the story to follow the holidays and the seasons here in the U.S, but I'm failing right now. Ha, ha. I need to catch up. :(
Luna tapped Fuuto's shoulder to wake him up after they arrived home. Fuuto's eyes opened up in a groggy manner. "We're home?" He asked. Luna nodded her head after promptly unbuckling Fuuto's seat belt for him as well. Fuuto stared blankly into the distance, while Luna pulled him out of the car. Honestly, even though Fuuto was a teenager, he still acted like a little kid, him needing assistance back into the house because he fell asleep. It was just like Wataru, except Wataru could be carried into the house, so there was less of a hurdle to hop over.
Holding Fuuto up by putting one of his arms over her shoulders, Luna walked Fuuto to the house. As soon as she unlocked the door, Luna kicked off her shoes and dragged a half-asleep Fuuto inside. She set him against the wall by the shoe rack, so she could lock the door. Although, the moment she took her eyes off of her little brother there came a loud thump sound. Luna stopped whatever she was doing and turned around. There, she saw Fuuto laying on the ground, snoring away.
"Mimi, Mimi, you can borrow my sweater," the teenager whined in his sleep. It made Luna smile. If only he could hear himself now.
She pulled Fuuto by the arms with his body trailing behind him. She didn't even want to bother trying to carry him to his room, so Luna decided that the couch would have to suffice for now-at least until he could walk to his room himself.
Fuuto was getting harder to pull by the second. "Ughh," Luna groaned, "Why are you so heavy when you look so skinny?!" Luna was pulling Fuuto up the couch by his feet. From Fuuto's torso down, that half of his body was on the couch, but as soon as Luna's strength began to fail her, she let go of his ankles. Luna winced at the sound of Fuuto's body slamming into the ground head first. Good thing the couch had a carpet underneath. Well, the carpet probably didn't soften the fall, but at least Fuuto was asleep. Besides that, Luna didn't know what to do. She didn't know whether she should give up on letting Fuuto sleep on the couch. Maybe the carpet would be fine. After all, Louis could sleep anywhere he could lay down. It wouldn't be too bad for Fuuto to sleep there, right? It was a family thing to be able to sleep anywhere.
"Do you need help with that?" Luna didn't need to turn around to see the owner of the voice.
"Well, it would be nice, Louis," Luna said.
"Here, we could do it together," Louis grabbed Fuuto's arms and gestured to Luna to grab onto his ankles. She did, and after counting to 3, the two successfully placed the second youngest Asahina onto the couch. Luna took off Fuuto's jewelry and set it on the coffee table nearby while Louis grabbed a blanket from the storage closet for Fuuto to use.
"Whew," Luna sighed. She could feel a light layer of sweat coating her forehead, "I couldn't have done that by myself."
"It seems I came down at the right time," Louis said.
"What'd you come down for?"
"Tea? You want to join me?" Louis walked to the kitchen and turned the light on. "Yes, please. Right now sounds like a perfect time for a cup of tea." Luna sat down at one of the bar stools at the kitchen counter.
Louis opened one of the cupboards above and grabbed out a kettle, "Did Fuuto have fun today?" He filled the kettle with water and set it on the stove. Then he turned the knob on the stove, which switched on the fire.
"He had a lot of fun," Luna said when a loud snore came from Fuuto's direction, "Maybe a little too much fun."
"Ha, ha, that's good," Louis was turning the knob to the medium-high setting, "Could you get me some cups? The water should be boiled soon."
"Yeah," Luna replied, hopping off of the bar stool. She rummaged through the clean dishes fresh out from the dishwasher and grabbed two mugs that seemed suitable enough to use. She set the mugs onto the counter and returned to her former spot at the barstool. The kettle began to whistle, signaling that the water had gotten to its highest boiling point. Louis switched the stove off and he filed through his basket of teabags beside the stove, "You want green tea or jasmine," Louis said.
"I think green tea sounds good," Luna replied.
"Alright then. Sounds good to me." Louis threw the two green tea bags to Luna. She caught them and ripped open the paper packaging, relishing the pure sound of tearing in the silent kitchen. She dropped the tea bag into each mug and then came Louis holding the kettle with a small towel. He poured the steaming hot water into the cups, the water naturally swirling into the mugs, filling the mugs almost all the way to the top. Once the boiling water started mingling with the tea leaves, the translucent liquid turned to a pale shade of olive. Luna twirled the mixture of green tea in her mug and the concoction grew a shade darker.
Louis took his spot on the barstool next to Luna, "So...How was your day today?" He blew at his tea one or two times.
"I guess it was okay," Luna said.
"Just okay? Wasn't it fun?" Louis sipped his tea.
Luna blew at her tea to cool it down. She tried drinking the tea straight after, but the tea was still hot, "Ow!"
"Are you okay?" Louis asked.
"Ow, I think I might have burned my tongue!" Luna moaned in pain. "You know I'll never be able to understand how you drink tea so fast when it is still hot!"
"It really isn't that hot," Louis said.
"Well, your tongue must be thick-skinned," Luna reasoned.
"Or maybe your tongue is just sensitive," Louis added snidely.
Luna set her mug of tea down. She didn't want to be tempted to take a sip when she wasn't sure if the tea had properly cooled down or not, "Anyways, the festival was plenty fun because I haven't been to one in such a long time…It's just that...I don't really remember my last school festival being fun really," Luna admitted.
"Really?" Louis said. Luna could feel that Louis was trying to manage his expressions from showing surprise, but by the looks of it, he was way too tired to execute it successfully. Louis drank another sip of tea. "It's because you were crying, right?" Louis said. "You were crying right after the festival our last year of high school. I remember that pretty clearly, but I never knew why because you never told me. Was that it?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"...Was something wrong?..." Luna could tell her brother was dancing around the situation lightly. Gentle like always.
"...Um…" She had never confessed the whole situation with Natsume before. Being a teenager and all at the time, Luna dealt with her feelings by herself. Especially after Natsume had told her his feelings about her. Luna never told a soul, including Louis and she intended to take it to the grave. If she told her 18-year-old-self that she was going to come back to Japan, her 18-year-old-self would have never believed it. On top of that, her 18-year-old-self would have never thought that she would ever need to explain in any circumstances her relationship with Natsume. The 18-year-old Luna would have never been ready. 22-year-old Luna now still wasn't ready to confess one of her darkest secrets.
"You know what," Louis said.
"What?" Luna asked.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Louis said.
"I don't?"
"Yes and no," Louis clarified, "You don't have to tell me for now, but you know as well as I do that we don't keep secrets from each other. That was our new promise, remember?"
"Of course."
Luna volunteered to wash their empty mugs. She laid them aside on the drying rack after she thoroughly rinsed them. Louis used the leftover water in the kettle to feed the plants near the kitchen, and then, he gave the empty kettle to Luna to wash. Luna set the kettle along with the mugs on the drying rack. Good, not that that was all settled-a snore came in Fuuto's direction-Luna sighed. There was no sign of Fuuto waking up. She couldn't just leave her little brother downstairs all vulnerable on the couch. She knew that someone had to bring Fuuto back to his room, and she knew that Fuuto wouldn't want to be left alone to be woken up in front of everyone to see.
Louis caught Luna peeking at Fuuto over her shoulder, thinking in contemplation. "I can help you with that. With Fuuto," Louis said. Luna smiled in relief and thanks, "Good, I didn't know how I felt about carrying him all the way up the stairs if I couldn't even lay him on the couch by myself," she said.
The twins managed to drag Fuuto up the first set of stairs, which was the hard part. The only thing left to do was to get Fuuto onto the elevator, to his room, and into his bed. The twins were mostly quiet on the way to Fuuto's room, except for the few grunts of effort dragging Fuuto around. The silence was nice. It was late, and they were tired. Louis had a long day at the salon, and Luna spent her entire day at the festival. Luna turned the knob of Fuuto's door, "What?" The feeling of mild-dread filled Luna's body. Every time she would turn the knob it would stop halfway with a click sound, making it more obvious that the door was clearly locked.
"Maybe he has his room key in his pockets," Louis said, shuffling through the back pocket of his school uniform. Where was Fuuto supposed to sleep now? It was already too tough to lift the teenager to his room.
"Fuuto could sleep in my room-," Louis suggested, "-and I could sleep on the couch downstairs."
"No, you shouldn't," Luna replied, "You had work today. Plus, you shouldn't be falling asleep anywhere so naturally. It's a bad habit."
"Well, I'm not the only one getting tired just standing here holding Fuuto."
"Could he sleep in your room? He could sleep on your carpet, or you could both share your bed?"
"Nope, not enough room. I just brought back supplies from work today, the floor's absolutely covered."
"Then how about my room?" Luna began.
"Your room isn't that big either-wait! Wait, a second! How about we use Natsume's old room? He always keeps it unlocked when he's gone," Louis said.
"That should work," Luna said and the twins went with it. It was perfect. Luna's room was on the same floor as Natsume anyway. Luna and Louis carried Fuuto over to Natsume's room, and as Louis opened the door, Luna said, "I think I can handle it from here."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, you go ahead and sleep. I got it."
"If you insist then," Louis said, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, goodnight," Luna said.
Luna was glad that Louis remembered that Natsume's door was normally kept unlocked. Luna wished she remembered that too. She should have known after spending all her time as a youth by Natsume's side. Luna carried Fuuto into the bedroom and dropped him on the bed. She tucked him in and Luna allowed herself to take a breather. She sat beside Fuuto's sleeping form. She listened to Fuuto's soft snoring while gathering her breath. The moonlight hit his face perfectly, illuminating the already known point of how blessed Fuuto was in good looks. How could someone with such angel-like features act so devilish? He definitely got that from Miwa. Looks and behavior. Luna lightly brushed Fuuto's hair out of his face. She didn't want him to wake up.
"Mimi, Mimi," Fuuto whimpered in his sleep. The sound of his voice in the completely quiet house startled Luna. Not enough to scream out loud, but enough to get her heart pumping. Fuuto repeated his pleas and Luna chuckled, "You are so stupid."
When Luna finally laid down in her own bed, she fell asleep almost instantly. The instant she fell asleep, she woke up in a dream. There, she was sitting at that same submarine-themed cafe at the amusement park. She was full-on prepared to be hit with the humid heat she experienced that day, but in her dream, she didn't feel anything. At the table she was sitting at, she felt light and refreshed. Each one of her fingers and toes was tingly at its tips and she felt like her body was floating. Despite that, there was the same red, hot sun beating down on the cement pavement. The details of the cafe were a bit blurry, although, the weird thing was the bubble of fog surrounding the cafe. She couldn't see any further into the distance or move from her spot at her table either.
Sitting directly in front of her was Natsume. He was drinking the rest of Luna's pink lemonade because of how thirsty he had gotten. Luna was partially enjoying herself. Natsume had just told her that he thought pink lemonade shouldn't exist and now, he was sipping up the pink liquid through a straw. It seems Luna's dream of today was re-playing her memories of that day.
"It's good," Natsume admitted, his lips pouting. He couldn't look her in the eye.
"Told you so…" Luna started in confidence. Then her words started to drift away. It was weird acting so casually with Natsume. It was as if he forgot their whole history before she left. Luna would try to act normal, but the old memories that she could relive as if it was yesterday still ate at her. It made her hesitant to fully accept Natsume as he was now.
"You're awfully quiet," Natsume pointed out.
"Well, I don't really have anything to say." Luna turned away.
"You can say whatever you want," Natsume said.
"Not really."
"Yes, you can. Just say whatever you want just like before." Natsume's words went against everything Luna thought.
"...Well..." Luna wasn't sure how to answer that question. She didn't think Natsume would directly ask her about this out loud, and open. Luna barely formulated a proper-sounding response, "Well, we aren't exactly like how we were before."
"Then let me offer a solution," Natsume piqued her interest, "Why don't we start over?"
"Start over? How could we do that?" Luna questioned. What a ridiculous thing for Natsume to ask. Luna was right, it really was as if Natsume forgot everything.
"Yes, we can. Let's just start over. This way, you talk as much as you want," Natsume said.
"I don't know," Luna said, "You must have some sort of motive out of this."
"No, I don't," Natsume claimed honest and truthful.
"That doesn't explain why you would suggest this," Luna said.
"Then I'll just say it right out, okay?" Natsume said, "It's sad that we aren't as close as we used to be, and it's painful when you avoid me every time I see you. Seeing you today more relaxed than usual, you actually spoke more than one or two sentences to me and I liked that."
Luna was at a loss for words. Natsume did say he was going to say everything, but that was how he was. He was truthful at heart in a blunt way.
"Let's put everything else behind us." Natsume held his hand out. "Do we have a deal?"
Luna hesitantly grabbed his hand and shook it in agreement, "Well, I wouldn't say I was relaxed today. It was more like I was so exhausted I didn't care about anything anymore."
"I was trying to describe you nicely. Anyways-" Natsume changed the subject. "-you wanna grab another pink lemonade? I'm still thirsty." He made Luna laugh.
"Sure, let's get two this time," Luna said.
Maybe that was why her dream felt so light and airy. The dream was a good memory. Too bad the dream ended so fast. It was the sound of chirping birds in the morning that had woken her up. The chirping birds were nice at first since they let Luna wake up from her dream with ease, helping her know that it was morning. It was nice at first. "At first" were the keywords because, for the next ten-ish minutes, the birds wouldn't shut up. It was like the birds near the house were having the longest conversation of the year. After one bird would chip, two or three birds would reply in response.
"Ughh!" Luna stuffed her face under her pillow, hoping that it would muffle the non-stop chirping sound. The solution worked for a little bit. The chirping went on for a few more minutes or so and those minutes were minutes of agony for Luna.
When the birds finally stopped, Luna released herself from her pillow prison and stared at the ceiling for who knows how long. It was just routine. Luna replayed her dream of the submarine cafe in her head over and over again until the details of her dream were engraved in her mind. Luna always thought that she remembered her dream more vividly than others. People would always go on and on about how they forget their dream, but Luna didn't experience that often.
Luna shuffled through her other dreams locked in her memory. They were mostly made-up stories of fantasy whether it be adventure or horror. It was like an escape from reality, except for the dream she had that morning. Shuffling through her dreams, there was one odd dream out of the others. Usually, in her dreams, there was a clear story to it. It was that odd dream she had the day of losing her way around Yusuke's school. If she recalled correctly, she was walking down a glowing aisle. There were stars. There were two doors. One was yellow and one was red. She remembered going through the red door and inside was a beautiful valley of carnations. The sky was clear with little to no clouds in the sky. In the middle of the valley, there was something Luna didn't notice before. There was a person, male, standing there alone. Luna wasn't close enough to see who it was. Hopefully, she could find a way back into that dream if she were lucky because that had never happened before. This was one of the billions of things that were on her mind, and before Luna could keep up, Christmas was right around the corner.