Chapter 7: Talking About Haruka
„So how was it?" Takeshi spoke while he leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling, the phone receiver penned between his shoulder and ear. "Pretty okay." Michiru replied, lying on her bed and looking at the silent actors and actresses on TV. "We talked some time, then drank coke together and then I left. She's not half as aggressive as you pictured her, Takeshi." Takeshi chuckled, though his chuckle sounded somehow fake – even over the phone. "Don't say that too early, Michiru…after all, she didn't throw a halfway filled whiskey bottle after you." "She did that to you?" Michiru asked, surprise in her voice. She really couldn't imagine Haruka to throw a whiskey bottle after someone – not the Haruka who always moved as if somebody would jump around the next corner and kill her, and whose eyes had been darting back and forth between her and the elevator, as if she expected it to open every moment and some horror would come out of it to attack her. "Yes she did. Two days ago." Takeshi replied. "She was drunk at that time…but now that I think about it, she was drunk every time I saw her. Maybe that's why I don't know how she is when she's sober…" "You should meet her when she's sober then." Michiru advised him, smiling slightly while thinking about the blonde she had met – and comparing her to the blonde Takeshi was describing. "She's completely different then." "Well, I hope that you never have to meet her when she's drunk." Takeshi said in reply, his voice showing that he meant every single word of what he just had said. "It's not…really pleasant. She's not really pleasant then." Michiru nodded, then realized that Takeshi couldn't see that, and spoke: "I can imagine. Most people aren't pleasant when they are drunk. Of course, there are some who get really silly and laugh about everything (A/N: Me! LOL), but most of them just turn into real assholes." Takeshi gasped at hearing the normally calm and polite social worker saying something like that, earning a giggle in reply. "Shocked?" Michiru asked, her amusement clearly showing through her voice. "Yeah, a little." Takeshi admitted before chuckling himself. "I think that's the first time I heard you use a swear word that's worse than shit." Michiru giggled again before she went back to her serious attitude. "Let's get back to our topic." She almost ordered, and the mechanic on the other end of the line gladly agreed. "Do you think that you have good chances when it comes to Haruka?" he asked, scratching the back of his head while he did. For one second, Michiru had the shocking – and irrational – thought that Takeshi had read her mind, and that he had seen the thoughts she had about Haruka ever since she had left the blondes apartment. Then, she realized what he meant. "In fact, yes. I think that she really wants to stop drinking, and if she gets the right help – which I hopefully can give to her – she will stay sober." "And do you think that she will stay sober? You know that there are people who make us believe that they made it, then suddenly have a relapse after two years…or three. Or even four." Takeshi reminded his friend, earning a small sigh in return. "I know, Takeshi, I know…but I don't think that Haruka is one of them. Right now, all that she is scared off are her memories – though I don't know what about them scares her so much that she wants to drink to forget them –, but when she lived with them for a while, she will realize that they can't hurt her anymore. And when she realizes this fast enough, she will stay sober." She almost added "I know what I'm talking about, since I went through the same", but then decided otherwise. Takeshi didn't know why she had been an alcoholic, and she didn't want him to know either. Normally, Michiru kept the reason for her alcoholism to herself – after all those years, it still hurt to think or talk about what had happened – and Haruka was one of the few persons who knew. She didn't know why she had told Haruka, but she knew that it had been the right thing to do. It had made the blonde trust her a little after all. "If you think so." Takeshi now spoke, still a slight hint of doubt in his voice. "Yes, I do. And time will show if I was right." Michiru replied, hoping that she could end the talk with that. Slowly, Takeshi's opinion about Haruka started to get on her nerves; maybe he didn't really like her, but he shouldn't speak about her as if she was nothing more than a huge loser. If Haruka ever heard him talking like that, it probably would send her into depression, and the depression would make her drink again. "Yep, time will show." Takeshi now spoke, his voice also showing that he wanted to end the call. "But I'm afraid that I have to hang up now, Michiru…Nami has been yelling for me for the last five minutes, and if I don't come now, she will think that you are my secret girlfriend or something like that." He laughed, and Michiru forced herself to laugh too; after all, Takeshi didn't know that she never had dated a man again after what her ex-boyfriend and his friends had done to her, and he never would find out. If somebody asked Michiru about her private life, she simply told them that she was single. After saying her goodbye to Takeshi and hanging up, Michiru crossed her arms behind her head and looked up at the ceiling. Sometimes she wondered if she would stay alone for the rest of her life, now that the man she had been dating six years ago had ruined her ability to trust a man again; and sometimes, other thoughts sneaked into her head, thoughts that her mother would have been very shocked about. Thoughts that were dealing with the fact that maybe, if she couldn't trust a man, she could try and trust a woman. Say it like it is. The Sherlock-Holmes-Voice demanded. If you can't trust a man anymore, maybe you could try and trust Haruka. Michiru sighed at the bluntness of her own mind and rolled her eyes. "That would be so cliché." She softly spoke to herself. "Young woman who was raped turns into lesbian." Maybe you don't have to turn in one, maybe you have been one from the beginning on. The SHV shot back. Just remember what one of HIS friends said after he was done with you. "No!" Michiru replied sharply, squeezing her eyes shut. "I will not remember what any of them said!" Fine then. The SHV sighed. Better go back to your fantasies about a certain blonde, huh? "Shut up." Michiru mumbled before closing her eyes and rolling over, ending up lying on her side. "Shut up and let me sleep." The SHV didn't reply anymore, and soon, Michiru drifted off into dreamland.