Chapter 7: Duet Partner
The next morning, Haruka woke up before her father, much to her happiness, since she didn't want to run into him. Quickly, the blonde got dressed, still annoyed at the sound her knee produced, got her car keys and made her way down into the garage. The blonde unlocked her car, climbed into it and drove off, towards the race track where she had an important meeting today.
Haruka passed the guard without problems, parked her car and got out of it. Masanori, her boss, immediately spotted the blonde and came running over to her, though he was quickly out of breath thanks to his age. "Haruka! I heard about what happened yesterday, my Gosh, are you sure you are okay?" Haruka smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah, don't worry…except for the bump on the back of my head where I hit the track, nothing happened to me." Masanori let out a sigh of relief and patted Harukas shoulder. "Thank God. I was so worried…" He sighed again and looked at the blonde, his eyes full of sadness all of a sudden. "Haruka…I think you should stop racing for a while. Until we know who tries to kill you…" "What?" Haruka cried out, disbelief in her voice. "You can't mean that, Masanori! Racing is my life!" "I know." Masanori replied softly. "And it also could be your death, if you continue racing while that attacker is still out to get you." Haruka stayed silent for a few moments, then slowly nodded. "You are right." Masanori gave her a surprised look. "Really?" The blonde nodded before briskly turning around. "Tell me as soon as you know who the attacker is." She spoke, already walking over to her car. Masanori called out to her, but Haruka didn't turn around. She didn't want him to see her tears.
Michiru and her mother were walking down Tokyo's main street, enjoying the nice summer day and chatting about various things, when Michiru spotted a familiar blonde woman sitting in one of the coffee shops, staring into her cup with an extremely depressed expression on her face. "Look, it's Haruka!" her mother now also pointed out, before worry filled her voice. "She doesn't look to good, right?" Michiru nodded, concern overshadowing her beautiful face. "I'll go and talk to her for a sec…maybe something happened at the track again." The aqua haired girl then spoke. Hitomi nodded, and Michiru hurried away from her mother and into the coffee shop, to the desk the blonde sat at.
"Haruka?" Haruka looked up at hearing her name, only to find herself staring into Michirus almost angelic face. "Hey." The blonde mumbled grumpily before returning her concentration to hypnotising the coffee that was still left in her cup. "Are you okay?" Michiru now asked, her concern for her blonde friend clearly showing through in her voice. Haruka shrugged, not answering her verbally, and continued to stare. "Mind if I sit down?" the aqua haired girl now continued her asking, only to be rewarded with another shrug. Slowly, Michiru sat down, facing the blonde, before she gently reached out and took Harukas hand. Surprised, the blonde looked up again, only to see Michiru smiling back at her. "Haruka, I can tell that something is wrong. Want to talk about it?" Haruka shrugged again before she softly spoke: "Masanori forbid me to race until they found out who is trying to kill me. Which can take forever." Michiru let out a sympathetic sigh and stroke the back of Harukas hand with her thumb. "They will find him, Haruka. And then you can go to racing again." Haruka nodded, but the depressed expression refused to leave. "And what am I supposed to do until then?" the blonde then asked, her eyes finally coming up and meeting Michirus. "There's nothing else I'm really good at…except for playing the piano, and I can't do that all day long…" Michiru seemed to think for a while until she spoke up again. "Well…I'm looking for a duet partner, Haruka." Harukas eyebrows raised, and Hitomi, who was standing outside watching, could almost see the huge question mark that hovered over the racers head now. "A duet partner?" Haruka now repeated, frowning. Michiru nodded, smiling at her. "My school is holding a festival of classis music in two weeks, and I haven't found a decent pianist yet. Interested? It would be a good way to spent the time, at least in my opinion…" Slowly, Haruka started to smile, and Michiru could feel how her heart performed an excited somersault. "Well…it's better than sitting around at home all day long, I guess." The blonde finally spoke, and Michiru had to keep herself from jumping up and shouting Hooray! to the world. Outside the café, Hitomi grinned, since the wide grin that spread over her daughter's face showed her that something good just had happened. "Great." The aqua haired girl now spoke. "So when can we start?" Haruka shrugged. "Whenever you want. I'm all yours." The blonde then added with a wink, causing Michiru to blush deeply. "Well, if you say so…right now?" Haruka just nodded, and the two women rose form their seats and left the café, picking Hitomi up on their way out – not without Michiru scolding her mother for watching them – and headed off towards Michirus home.