KOTORI
Kotori's voice cracked and sputtered when she tried to order a pumpkin spice latte at the international French airport cafe. Sounds came through as whimpers. Overhead, the speakers blared with messages about flights and missing children and car alarms. The world was so sharp and her words were so soft. Her eyes stung with salt.
Across the counter from her was an uncomfortable looking barista, waiting with raised brows for her order. She had long dark hair and piercing light eyes.
"I'm…" The sniffles in her mouth kept spewing out. "I'm so sorry. I just wanted…"
The woman glanced over at her co-worker. Kotori knew they would be talking about her later; she used to get crying business men at her old maid job. She'd felt so helpless to do anything back then - what do you say to a man twice your age who was going through a divorce? "I am so sorry about this. I should haven't have come…"
"Miss, are you alright?" The barista asked.
"I-" Why had Kotori come up here? Again? She must have drank five cups of chamomile tea by then. Kotori's voice cracked. "Ah." Hic. "That is." Hic. "No. I am not alright. I just found out my girlfriend was cheating on me. With an old friend of ours."
Kotori was crying in the airport again.
"Uh." The woman looked away. "Do you need a refill?"
Kotori walked away with an extra large pumpkin spice latte. The barista, perhaps out of pity, put extra syrup in it. Umi didn't like pumpkin spice lattes, but she would get them for Kotori when she came back from work. (Umi herself drank a simple green tea.)
Umi hadn't even responded to her text. She hadn't even asked why Kotori had gone silent. Nothing. They hadn't spoken in days.
Kotori sat down and checked her google doc itinerary. Her journey back to Japan had been punctuated with half-hearted tourism through a veil of breakup tears. She longed to reach out to Honoka, ask her if she wanted to talk. Itay was next -
A blonde woman walked past towards the airport bookstore. Tall. Hair in a high ponytail. Her high heels bit into the tiled floor, striding past with a straight-backed feral grace that Kotori had never managed to pull off. Kotori glared. This was the sort of woman she'd been cheated on with. A beautiful, tall, professional-looking woman who could murder someone. Kotori was cute, fun, creative. She was not a refined secret agent who murdered people.
The woman looked over, as if she knew someone was glaring at her.
Kotori gasped.
The woman looked like Eli. Same blue eyes and face. Muscle-tensing anger filled Kotori, and she leapt up, ready to tell her off. But… she stopped . The woman looked dead. Bone-white. Gaunt. Battered. Dark circles under her eyes; one eye clouded and blind. Her hair was matted to her face, wet and red with blood. The air felt heavy and Kotori turned away. She couldn't take this. Her tears dried on her face.
When Kotori looked back, the woman had left. Washed off.
Kotori sat down again and opened her phone. For the uncounted time she considered texting someone. Rin, maybe. Hi Rin. How's your semester going? Umi is a spy and cheated on me with Eli, another spy. Did you ask Hanayo if she wanted to marry you yet?
Kotori sniffled and watched her phone, flipping through her apps with dull eyes. She used to draw outfits when she waited. Now she just… looked at the thoughts of other people, presumably posting while waiting for something else.
Her hands vibrated.
Nico's photo and number appeared on the screen, calling. Kotori's ringtone, a bright cheery chiptune melody, echoed through the cafe.
"Hey girl. What are you up to?"
Kotori tried to adjust her voice so it didn't sound like she'd been crying. "Uh. I'm… coming back to Japan." She didn't want to mention Umi. "Family stuff. I'm in France now."
"Oh! That's fun. Well. I'm actually in Florence with Mari right now! Do you have time to come visit? I'm trying to get a meet up back in Japan eventually for everyone if you're free."
That sounded… different. Kotori had been in the States for so long that she'd forgotten what it was like to see other people. Sure, Kotori and Umi had brunch with a few women Kotori knew through work, but it wasn't the same. "A meet up?"
"Yeah! Game night. Rin and Hanayo are definitely down. Maki and Honoka are AWOL as usual... I just called Umi, but she didn't get back to me. Are..." Nico hesitated. "Are you guys coming back together?"
Kotori huffed. Had Umi even told her goodbye before her latest mission? "No. We're not. I don't know where Umi is right now."
"Did something… happen?" Nico seemed to be implying some innuendo, what Kotori couldn't imagine. "There's… been a lot of weird stuff happening lately."
"I don't want to talk about it, Nico."
"Well. Uh. Stop by Florence! It'll be fun. We don't have to talk about anything at all. You can meet Mari and Ruby."
"Who's Ruby?"
"She's Mari's old bandmate. It's a long story. Did I tell you Mari was an idol? She did this eurobeat metal stuff, she's so cool."
Kotori did not need this right now. "Why are you in Florence, anyways?"
"Well…. It's a long story! I'll tell you about it when you get here. But yeah, Mari's family has a house out here and so we're crashing for a few weeks."
Didn't Maki's family have a private house? "Another rich girl, huh? Is this some Freudian thing for you?"
"My mother is absolutely not rich, so no!"
"Mari even sounds like Maki."
"You're the worst!"
Kotori laughed. It came out of her soft and strangled, but she laughed. "Yeah, I'll come meet you. I don't have anything better to do." Kotori wasn't ready to see Honoka yet. Not with Maki. She took a sip of her Pumpkin Spice latte. "Let's play some strip games and get drunk."
"That's what I'm talking about! I'll let Mari know you're down. Meet us… tomorrow? Afternoon? Mari wants to check out the Uffizi gallery."
"Sounds good, I'll meet you there."
When Kotori boarded the plane for Florence, she wasn't thinking about Umi, or the death-mask of Eli, or even Honoka. She was thinking about seeing the Primavera at the Ufflizi gallery, playing strip games, and getting drunk with Nico and her girlfriend. It was the best Kotori had felt in a long time.