Chapter 5
Between studies, taking care of her family, doing housework, managing her side business and attending to each and every single one of Isuke's demand, Haruki had been one busy student and before she knew it, a month had passed by without any major incidents.
Isuke had never intentionally approached her and talked to her publicly at school anymore ever since their interaction at the cafeteria. Haruki could take the first step to approach the playgirl at school, but as uninterested as she was in social status, she knows where she stands in the social ladder. People like Isuke don't talk to people like Haruki at school. Haruki would not have any problem being friends with Isuke in public, but either way, Haruki didn't mind. In fact, she preferred their current arrangement now because she treasured all her time spent with Isuke alone at their unofficial hangout spot. She had come to enjoy the snobbish playgirl's companion and discovered that Isuke wasn't all that tough to handle. She had also come to appreciate her bluntness. Where most people would sugarcoat with a fake smile, Isuke would be honest without any filter.
And there was that other side of Isuke that only she got to see. The shy, embarrassed side which she had never shown to anyone in public. Haruki briefly wondered if any of her exes had ever seen that side of her. She'd like to think that their friendship is special and that only she showed that side to her.
Over the course of time, attending to each and every single one of Isuke's demand didn't feel like a chore to Haruki anymore. Frankly, Isuke's demands weren't all that hard. Just homework and assignments which she could do with one eye closed; massaging her legs until she fell asleep, which she didn't mind because she loved to watch the pink-haired girl sleep; and preparing breakfast for her, which she got to eat it, along with the exquisite food that Isuke brought. It wasn't all that bad, because for the first time in a very long time, Haruki had three proper meals in a day. And on top of that, she got to talk to and text Isuke every night, even though the talking and texting mostly involved Isuke asking her the progress of her homework and telling her what she wants for breakfast the next day. Even though it took up most of her time and energy, it was all worth it at the end of the day.
It even changed her reputation of always being late to and absent from school, which delighted the principal, but then, she took over Isuke for being always asleep in class. However, her grades were still good, so the principal let it slide.
As for Isuke, she did not go through this without any changes as well. Having enough sleep every afternoon on Haruki's couch, she didn't sleep in classes as often anymore, which led her to pay more attention in class. This led her to do better in her tests, surprising the teachers and other students. Then there was her dating life, or the lack thereof. It had been a month since she broke things off with her latest girlfriend at the cafeteria. Ever since then, she had not been seen with another girl in her arms. At first, everyone thought that was weird, because Isuke could not go a week without having a new girlfriend. People still pine after her, but she rejected them all. Everyone started to gossip about the lack of her love life, but then nobody cared after that as they thought that she was playing a new game called "hard-to-get".
Her social life was non-existent as well. At first, everyone thought Isuke skipping Sumireko's tea party was a one-time thing and that she was doing that to challenge the heiress. But as she skipped more and more of her tea parties continuously without caring about her status in Sumireko's circle of friends, everyone started to applaud and followed her. This action had unintentionally boosted her popularity even further, which annoyed the heiress and her loyal minions. Nio, however, knew that something is going on with Isuke. There was no way Isuke had planned a war with Sumireko without being aware of the consequences.
"Something's definitely up with you," Nio said one day during recess. Both of them were sitting together at the cafeteria.
"What do you mean by that?" Isuke asked indifferently.
"Unless you have a death wish or something, you do not initiate a war with Sumireko," Nio stated as a matter-of-factly.
"I don't know what you're talking about. And no, that's not a sarcasm."
"Oh come on, Isuke! You know what I'm talking about! You skipped her tea parties continuously without any reasons why, you gained more followers and fans than her in a fortnight, you do not sleep in class anymore, you do better in your tests, and you're telling me you're doing all these unintentionally? It's not like you! People had started talking and taking bets on who will win this war."
"Isuke doesn't need to explain anything to anyone, especially to you, Nio."
"And don't get me started on your love life, or the lack thereof! What's with you? Why aren't you dating anyone anymore?"
"What's that gotta do with anything?" Isuke snapped. "My private life is private and it's none of your business."
"Well, it's my business if you're planning a war with Sumireko. But I don't see how not wanting to date anyone fit into the equation!?" Nio said exasperatedly. "Unless you want to compete with her to see who is better at playing hard-to-get too?"
The heiress was well known in school as an angelic virgin. She had even declared that she didn't want to have any girlfriends or boyfriends until she had graduated high school. Half of the students looked up to her and admired her decision, while the other half just thought that she was playing hard to get to set herself apart from the other wealthy students at school. In a way, that decision did set her apart as it boosted her popularity.
"It's bad enough that you skipped all her tea parties; her minions now see that as a challenge. Now you also want to take over her position as the most unattainable, wealthiest student in school?"
"Look, I don't know what to tell you. I'm not starting any war with anyone, and I'm not doing anything intentionally to win anything," Isuke said with a bored expression on her face as she started to grow impatient.
"And you're always disappearing off to somewhere after school. If you go straight home, or go to your manicure saloon, then it makes more sense for you to be skipping her tea parties. But, no, you're never…" Nio was stopped short with a yelp as Isuke suddenly stood up and pulled her roughly by the collar of her uniform.
"Have you been following me?" Isuke asked darkly.
"N-no… I just heard it from someone somewhere that…"
"Well, whatever you heard, it's not true. And you'd better not be following me, Nio. If I ever found out," she warned, while loosening her grip on Nio's uniform and patting her clothes to smooth out the wrinkle. "Our friendship is over." She flashed a dangerous smile at her.
"Gotcha!" Nio saluted Isuke with a peace sign over her forehead. "I'd never follow you!"
"Good." With that, she stalked off, leaving her food unfinished and the blonde behind.
"What a pain," Isuke suddenly complained as Haruki was massaging her legs. She was stretched out on the couch at her usual hangout spot with Haruki, her legs propping up on Haruki's laps.
"Am I massaging you too hard?" Haruki asked, immediately stopping her ministrations on Isuke's legs.
"No, not you," Isuke said. "I'm talking about the gossip about me lately."
"I thought you don't care about what people gossip about you," Haruki said as she resumed her massage.
"I normally don't, but this time I didn't even do anything to warrant such gossips about me," Isuke said. "It's like no matter what I do or don't do, people still like to gossip about me."
"Yeah, first world problem, eh?" Haruki chuckled.
"I guess it can't be helped that people loooove me so much," Isuke continued sarcastically, while Haruki chuckled quietly to herself.
It's not like as if Isuke didn't have the time to date, or had completely taken herself off the market, it's just that ever since meeting the redhead, she felt that all the girls she had dated before were losers and none of them made her feel comfortable or able to act like herself.
Being with Haruki felt different. The redhead isn't afraid of her, and she is the only one in school who is able to tolerate her attitude. Most people had either given up on her, or put up with her with a fake smile because they had a hidden agenda, but not Haruki. Well, of course there was Nio who was able to put up with Isuke, but she wasn't as genuine as Haruki. Isuke was used to being surrounded by pretentious people, so being with Haruki was like a breath of fresh air for her.
Then there was Haruki's laid-back and flirtatious nature, which stirred something from deep within Isuke that she had never felt with anyone else before. In her own carefree way, Haruki was confident in the sense that she didn't care about social status, school gossips and drama. She could get along easily with anyone, if the students of higher social status would give her a chance. Isuke sometimes wondered if that's part of Haruki's appeal and the reason why she was so popular with the girls. It frustrated Isuke to no end that the redhead was so flirtatious without knowing it, sending the wrong signals to the other girls. She didn't like this kind of feeling, which confused and excite her all at once, which ironically made her feel more satisfied than all of her romantic experiences.
Overall, she enjoyed Haruki's companion, and that's saying a lot, considering that she couldn't stand to be around the same person for a prolonged period of time. She would rather spend her time lounging on the couch with Haruki than go on dates.
And they were not even friends, well, not really, anyway.
Haruki, who had been listening quietly to the pinkette's complaints, suddenly spoke up, "Actually, not that it's any of my business, but I'm also curious… why aren't you dating anyone anymore?" She looked at Isuke as she asked the question.
Isuke was quiet for a moment, as if reading Haruki's facial expression. "Well, all my pursuers lately are losers and they're not worth my time," she said simply. "Why aren't you dating anyone?" She threw the question back at Haruki.
"All my time is dedicated to you; do you think I have any spare time left?" Haruki said jokingly.
"Isuke gave you free time on weekends. Don't tell Isuke you're busy during the weekends too?" the pinkette asked.
"Yeah, well, I have important stuff to do during the weekends," Haruki replied curtly. "How about you, Isuke-sama? I'm pretty sure there's someone who is worth your time during the weekends."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that you took my advice to heart and focus solely on what's important," Isuke said dryly, avoiding Haruki's question. "I'm pretty sure you have lots of time before we met. And you have tons of your fangirls to choose from. Or you don't swing that way? "
"I don't even know which way I swing," Haruki laughed. "Nah, I just don't have the time in general," she said vaguely and turned her attention back to massaging Isuke's legs. Isuke could sense that Haruki wanted to elaborate further, but decided to drop it. So, she decided not to push any further. They were not that kind of friends, after all.
Both of them fell into a comfortable silence. Isuke would normally fall asleep to Haruki's massage, but today, she wasn't that sleepy. So, she decided to observe Haruki.
"You look really tired. Hasn't Isuke fed you enough?"
Haruki wanted to argue that she was the one cooking and bringing breakfast to Isuke every morning, but she thought better of it. "I'm always tired, Isuke-sama. I'm surprised you only noticed it now," Haruki said good-naturedly.
"Stop massaging me," Isuke instructed after a pause.
Haruki immediately stopped and looked at Isuke apologetically. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid joke."
"Stop apologising. I'm not angry at you," Isuke said. "Now, turn around."
Haruki was confused but she complied nonetheless. She waited for what was going to happen next. Suddenly, she felt Isuke's hands on her shoulders.
"Wh-what're you doing, Isuke-sama?" she asked nervously.
"What does it look like? I'm massaging you, idiot. You look like you could use one."
Haruki was speechless. She had never received any massage from anyone before, and now the proud, highly unattainable playgirl is giving her a massage. Granted, it wasn't the best massage she had received because Isuke was inexperienced, but since she had nothing to compare it to, and the person giving it to her was Isuke, she felt like that was the best massage in the world.
"Ouch!" Isuke suddenly grimaced and stopped.
"What's wrong?" Haruki quickly turned around, worry evident in her voice.
"Crap, I broke a nail," the pink-haired girl said as she examined her broken nail.
Before she knew it, Haruki took her hand in her own and examined her broken nail. "Shit. I'm sorry, Isuke-sama." The redhead knew how much Isuke loved her manicure.
"It's not a big deal," Isuke said dismissively. "And stop apologising. It's not the end of the world."
"But you love your manicure. I love your manicure too. You have really beautiful fingers, Isuke-sama," Haruki said while looking at Isuke with a wide genuine smile on her face.
By now, Isuke's heartbeat was working up a storm and she was rendered speechless. How could anyone say such flirtatious words but with no intention to flirt at all?
"I-idiot," Isuke sputtered, trying to sound venomous but failing terribly at it. Since when did she become so incoherent? Suddenly, her handphone rang. She had never been so thankful to Nio for calling her. Excusing herself, she slowly retracted her hand from Haruki's strong but gentle grip and left the bleachers to answer her call.
Later that night, Isuke sent a text to Haruki, as per her usual routine every night. Usually, Haruki would reply immediately. However, half an hour had passed and there was no reply from her. Isuke, being impatient as she always is, sent another text and another text. One text after another and still there was no reply.
In the end, she called Haruki. No answer on the other end. She tried again and this time, it went straight to voicemail. Isuke was starting to get furious. Why was Haruki not picking up her call? She decided to let it be and went to bed. She would confront her tomorrow morning at school. That night, she had a restless sleep.
The next morning, Isuke got up earlier than usual and went to school, hoping to meet the redhead at their usual hangout spot and sort things out between them. Before she headed out, her maid asked her if she'd like to have breakfast before going to school, or if she would like to take her breakfast to school and just like every morning, Isuke would tell her maid that she is meeting someone for breakfast at school.
"Miss, Master Inukai had started getting suspicious that you never eat breakfast nowadays before leaving for school," the maid told her timidly.
"Tell them that I'm doing fine and that I've always had breakfast with someone at school before the first period starts," Isuke said dismissively.
Haruki was never late during their morning meetings, but today, she was. The first school bell had rung and she had not shown up. Isuke waited another fifteen minutes before deciding to go to class, hoping to see Haruki there. Once she reached her class however, Haruki was nowhere to be found.
Isuke half expected this to happen because Haruki has a habit of being suddenly absent from school. Sometimes, she would be absent for a week. But she expected Haruki to call her and inform her that she would not be going to school. Or, at least to return her calls or text messages.
She tried to text and call her again, but it was futile. All her texts went unanswered and all her calls went straight to voice mail. Finally, she couldn't take it any longer and left an angry voice message to Haruki. Who does this redhead think she is, ignoring Isuke. The sexy playgirl never had to deal with people ignoring her text messages and calls. The next day was the same. Haruki was still absent from school. By then, she had left tons of voice messages for the redhead.
On the third day, Haruki was still absent. Isuke had lost her patience and walked straight to Haru in class to try to ask her where Haruki is as subtly as possible. "So, where's that little delinquent friend of yours, shorty?"
"Oh, hi, Inukai-san. I don't know where she is. But it's nothing unusual for her to be absent from class," Haru answered. "What do you want from her? I can leave a message for her if you'd like."
Without giving Haru an answer, she huffed and walked to her seat.
"You look agitated," Nio said as Isuke sat down. "Did Haru say something to you? I've never seen you look like that before."
"Shut up, Nio. I'm not in the mood to talk today," Isuke snapped angrily. She was angry at Haruki for ignoring her, but there was another feeling bubbling from deep within her. A feeling akin to worry. She knew that it was nothing unusual for the redhead to be absent from school. She felt silly for worrying about Haruki because Isuke doesn't worry about people.
It was about eight o'clock at night when Haruki reached home after a tiring day. She had been in and out of the hospital for the past two days to take care of her mom. Tonight, it was her sister's turn to be at the hospital to take care of their mom.
Her mom had been suffering from a terminal illness for the past three years. She had been in and out of the hospital, but earlier this year, her condition had become worse that required 24/7 care. Haruki had no choice but to let her mom stay at the hospital until her condition improved. However, things seemed to be bleak as her mom's condition still had not improved. The hospital bills were piling up on top of other bills, and Haruki, being the eldest in the family, had no choice but to sell weeds after school to pay for the bills. Her dad had left them a long time ago, leaving her no choice but to take up the responsibility as the sole breadwinner of the family.
Two nights ago, while Haruki was doing Isuke's homework, she received a phone call from the hospital, informing her that her mom's condition had worsened. In a haste, she quickly informed her siblings of their mom's latest update before leaving for the hospital. She had left her handphone at home. That was when Isuke started texting and calling her until her handphone ran out of battery.
Haruki had totally forgotten about her handphone until her sister, Fuyuka told her about it when she took over her shift at the hospital earlier.
"You left your handphone at home, sis," Fuyuka had said. "It kept on ringing until it ran out of battery. I think it was 'not-your-girlfriend' looking for you."
Fuyuka had always teased Haruki about her secret girlfriend calling her every night. Haruki would always brush it off and told her sister that they are only friends.
When Haruki reached home, the first thing she wanted to do is take a shower and sleep. However, a certain pink-haired girl lingered in her mind and she decided to charge her handphone first. After she plugged her phone into a charger, she turned it on. Almost instantly, her phone rang. She thought it was Isuke, so she was mildly disappointed when Haru's name appeared on the screen.
"Hey, Haru. How's it goin?" she greeted cheerfully.
"I'm doing fine. I'm just calling to check on you," her friend replied. "Something happened at the hospital?"
"Yeah, my mom's condition had gotten worse, but she's in stable condition now. Fuyuka's taking over my shift now."
"Oh, I'm glad to hear that. By the way, Isuke looked for you at school today. But when I asked her what she wants from you, she wouldn't tell me. Just thought I'd let you know."
She knew Isuke would be looking for her, but she was surprised to learn that Isuke would approach Haru to look for her at school. Her heart fluttered at that thought. "Thanks for telling me that."
"What does she want from you? Did you step on her toes without knowing it? Because now would not be a good time to make enemies with her, what with the cold war between her and Sumireko," Haru joked.
"Heh. I don't know what she wants from me." Haruki hated lying to her friend, but she knew that Isuke wasn't ready to announce their friendship to the public yet, so she respected that.
"Ok. So… how are you, Haruki?" Haru asked her friend in concern.
"Where to begin," Haruki sighed. "I'm hungry and tired. But mostly tired."
After both of them finished catching up, Haruki hung up the phone and saw that she had tons of voice messages, missed calls and text messages from Isuke. She pressed the call button and waited for Isuke to pick up the call.
That night, just when Isuke decided not to contact Haruki anymore, she received a call from her.
"Yo," Haruki greeted. "Haru told me you were looking for me."
"Oh is that right?" Isuke said sarcastically. "You only pick up when Haru calls you now, is that it?"
"Sorry, Isuke-sama. My phone ran out of battery. When I recharged it, Haru called so I answered," Haruki explained. "What's up?"
"What's up?!" Isuke exclaimed, on the verge of boiling in anger. She couldn't believe that Haruki could sound so casual while she spent her day worrying about her. "I'll tell you what's up! I left you tons of messages and you ignored it! You didn't return any of my calls or texts. And the first call you picked up is Haru's! You still have the nerves to ask me 'what's up'?!"
"Ok, Isuke. Why don't we meet up and I'll explain everything to you," Haruki said calmly. Isuke was really angry and there was no use explaining everything to her on the phone.
"Alright, meet me at the café right down the street near our school." Without waiting for Haruki's reply, she hung up the phone.
When a very tired and hungry Haruki arrived at the café, she found that Isuke was already waiting for her at the little table in the corner. She thought she wasn't going to be late as she had skipped her shower, but one look at Isuke's face, she knew she was late.
"Sorry I'm late, Isuke-sama," she panted and gasped for air as she sat down in front of Isuke. She had run all the way from home to the bus station, and from the bus station to the café.
"You look like a sorry excuse. Don't expect me to forgive you so easily for ignoring my texts and calls just 'cause you look like this right now," Isuke said, her tone more spiteful than usual. Haruki was shocked. She thought they were way past that. "And you didn't hold up your end of the bargain. You aren't worried that Isuke will expose you?"
Haruki had had enough. Days and nights of worrying over her mom, taking care of her mom in the hospital, skipping meals and sleep and school had finally taken its toll on her. She had missed the pink-haired girl and was happy to learn that she had been looking for her at school. It was a step forward for Isuke but now she had reverted to her old self again. Haruki had even forgotten the reason why she had been doing whatever Isuke had asked of her in the first place. It was stupid of her to think that they will ever be friends. To Isuke, this was just a game of master and slave. However, she shouldn't be surprised. Isuke had always reminded her that they are not that kind of friends.
"You know what, Isuke?" Haruki suddenly snapped, her tone unusually calm and steady, considering how angry she was right now. "You're nothing but an immature, snobbish, spoiled brat, rich princess who thinks the world revolves around them. You know what?! It doesn't! You think everyone else is beneath you, so why should I explain anything to you? It's not like you'd even try to understand why I need this job. It's not like you'd even try to understand that people have real problems, like – like their moms being admitted in the hospital for a terminal illness for the past three years and the hospital called them telling them that her condition had gotten worse. And that their hospital bills keep piling up until they had no choice but to choose the wrong side of the path 'cause that's the easiest and quickest way to earn cash."
Taking a deep breath, she continued as her voice started to tremble, "Do you've any idea what it's like to worry about whether you'd have enough cash for your next meal, or that you'd even have a meal on your table? Do you understand what it's like to come from a large family where all your siblings depend on you? No, you wouldn't ever understand 'cause being an only child, your only worry in this world is your pretty little manicures or what shade of lipstick to wear to school every day. So spare me the empty threats and just expose me, for all I care! Because I'm fucking tired of this bullshit already!"
Haruki reached behind her backpack, took all the books out and dumped it on the table. "Here's your homework. I've done it all for you. I've done everything you asked of me, so don't ever for once say that I didn't keep my end of the bargain," she snarled through gritted teeth.
Wiping an angry tear away, Haruki stormed out of the café, leaving a speechless Isuke behind.
