Part Three: Their Secret
Chapter Nine: No way
The official school day had come to an end, but for Kari Kamiya, there was still work to be done. Having gotten her grades up to straight A's across the board during her year of self-imposed isolation, she now had to keep them there. In part, granted a very large part, it was to do with her mom's perception of her. If she could show her that lit match hair and punky clothing could co-exist with excellent school grades, she hoped it would result in the woman finally accepting her new style. Or, dare she even consider it, get on board with it enough to bankroll some of it. The other part was the fact that she actually felt a sense of pride that she had managed to drag her school grades up to rank in the top ten percent of students in her year group. However, if she wished to keep them there, she needed to put in the hard graft. Hence, after school study sessions.
Kari sat in one of Odaiba Middle School's many study rooms with a stack of books and her own handwritten notes surrounding her. Opposite her was Yolei. Since they had first studied together two weeks ago, it had become a common occurrence for the two of them to spend an hour or so after school, four nights a week, working on homework assignments or going over notes from the day's lessons. While these were generally productive times, on occasion, such as today, the discussion went off-topic.
"So what did you really say to TK that convinced him to come on Friday night?" Yolei asked with an unhealthy amount of interest.
"Nothing," Kari replied truthfully. "All I did was talk to him about his writing last Monday."
She received a sceptical look, "you must have said something."
"The only thing I possibly did was remind him off how much fun we all used to have together. He certainly didn't show up for my sake."
"Well, you certainly made an impression on him, that's for sure," Yolei concluded.
Kari smiled, "I guess so. However, I still can't believe he joined us for lunch today. It really was like the past year had never happened."
"He must have enjoyed himself on Friday." The lavender haired girl then started to laugh. "Granted, I suppose seeing the look on Davis' face when you threw that first ball straight into the gutter was enough in itself to make the evening worthwhile for the rest of us."
She joined in and added, "or when I kicked his butt at Street Fighter."
"I thought he was going to cry at that!"
"AWW NOT THIS GAME TOO!" Kari exclaimed in a rather good impersonation of Tai's mini doppelganger.
Yolei burst into a fit of hysterics and it took a minute or two for her to regain her composure. When she eventually did, she moved the conversation on into new territory. "So, since we've just discussed both of your ex's, I think it's time we had a serious conversation about you and boys."
She rolled her eyes, she had known this topic was likely to rear its ugly head sooner or later. In fact, she had expected it to be a lot sooner than today. "I already told you, I'm not interested in dating anyone else."
"Oh come on, Kari!" Yolei exclaimed, clearly not willing to take the hint. "You only dated two fish from the school, there are plenty more where they came from. And with your looks, you could have your pick of virtually any of them."
She laughed. "Maybe prim and proper Kari could have," she conceded. An evil look then spread across her face. "But Digital Punk Kari is liable to send most of them running back to mommy."
"You will if you approach them looking like that!"
"How else would you have me do it?" she asked rhetorically. "Act like the sweet, innocent girl I used to be?"
"Well, it would certainly be more attractive than going up to them looking like you're liable to devour them whole," Yolei asserted.
"And there's the problem. I don't want to be with someone who won't accept me for who I am from the get-go," she replied, wishing to say that her criteria for a man were only met by one person; Tai. However, she knew it was completely out of the question. While her friend might love forbidden romance stories, she could not take the risk. What she did say was, "besides, the point is moot because I don't want to date any more boys."
Instead of taking the hint and changing the subject, Yolei gave her a ponderous look. "Kari…" she said tentatively in a low voice, "…is the real reason you don't want to date any more boys because you like girls?"
Kari was stunned into silence and her mouth fell open at the question. Of all the reasons she thought Yolei might come away with, that had not been it. When she eventually recovered she found that the only thing she could do was laugh. Not in a derogatory way mind you. Given that her own feelings were incestuous by nature, she automatically found herself supportive of love regardless of genders. However, in this instance, the lavender haired girl had found rabbit droppings and immediately thought there was an elephant.
"What's so funny?" Yolei demanded in a slightly irritated manner.
"When have I ever given you any indication that I like girls?" Kari asked, struggling to contain her laughter.
The other girl thought for a moment. "You were ogling that girl two lanes over from us at the bowling alley!" she said triumphantly.
She shook her head, managing to keep her amusement at chuckle level. "I was checking out her trousers, they were so cool."
The lavender haired girl pursed her lips and continued to wrack her brain. When eventually she came up with nothing, Kari firmly put the kybosh on the whole idea. "Sorry, Yolei, but you're one-hundred-percent wrong this time. I'm not attracted to girls."
"Ok, fine, I get it. You're not a lesbian." There were a few minutes of silence in which it felt like they were going to recommence proper studying, when Yolei then asked, "so who is he?"
Kari looked up from her notes, having only just found where she'd left off. "Who?" she asked.
"The person whom you fell in love with two years ago?"
She groaned internally. She had been hoping that her friend had forgotten about that part of her story. "I don't want to discuss that."
Yolei fixed her with a firm look. "Come on, Kari, given that you've just taken the alternative off the table, he's clearly the reason you don't want to date other boys. So who is he?"
She returned the look with one of her own. "Please just let it go, Yolei. I don't want to talk about him." It was only a half-truth. Part of her desperately wanted to share her love for her brother with the girl. To sit and do the girly thing where they compared boyfriends. Except Tai was not her boyfriend and even if he was, the love they shared had to remain a secret.
Her friend looked ponderous for a moment before looking down at the book sat open in front of her. A minute of silence passed and Kari assumed that was the end of the matter. However, Yolei suddenly said, "is it Matt?"
"What?" was all she could say in response, raising her gaze back up from her notes to look at the girl.
"Is it Matt?" Yolei repeated. "He would certainly fit the bill. He was in a stable relationship two years ago, which would have made it wrong for you to want to go out with him. So instead, you go out with his brother. However, while they may look alike, TK and Matt are very different. In the end, while the cheerful writer might have suited sweet and innocent Kari, the brooding musician would definitely be more up Digital Punk Kari's street."
"Ok, fine, it was Matt," Kari lied, trying to make it sound like Yolei had genuinely figured it out. In the hope that she might believe her and let the subject go permanently.
The other girl studied her face before saying, "you're lying. Besides, what was I thinking? Matt was a stupid suggestion."
"And why is that," Kari asked dryly, then quickly regretted it.
"Because he doesn't fit your profile," Yolei said quickly, her brain clearly whirring now.
She gave the other girl a confused look, "my profile?"
"The profile you did, silly. The who's my perfect guy one."
Kari raised a hand to her forehead and shook her head. How on earth did her friend remember that? The only reason she did was that it had been spot on and helped tell her that she was in love with Tai… SHIT! If Yolei remembered her answers correctly and started matching boys to it, would she eventually zero in on her brother? She could only hope that the girl either didn't include him in her analysis or dismissed him as being an impossibility. Trying to keep a cool visage, she let out a small laugh, "that was just a trashy teen magazine quiz. Not only am I surprised you even remember it, but that you would even bother with such rubbish."
"It gives me something to work off of," Yolei said with far too much enthusiasm. "Besides, innocent and sweet Kari valued honesty."
When she heard the girls tone, Kari knew that she would not drop this, even once this conversation ended. However, she had little choice but to remain calm. The last thing she needed to do was let the other girl know that the stupid quiz had been spot on. "It's a bit outdated, don't you think. Especially if innocent and sweet Kari answered it." She flicked her orange, yellow and blond bangs. "That girl is long dead. Long live Digital Punk Kari!"
A sour expression formed on Yolei's lips at having been thwarted. And for a moment Kari thought she had gotten away with the deception. However, the look slowly morphed into a smile. "Nice try, but you said you fell in love with mister mystery before going out with TK, while innocent and sweet Kari was very much still alive."
Crap! It had been worth a try at least. With plan A sunk, she moved on to plan B. "You're not going to figure it out because it's not someone you know. And you're never likely to meet them."
If Yolei heard a word she said, she gave no indication. Instead, she continued to verbalise her own train of thought. "So we're looking for someone who is tall, has brown hair, is kind-hearted, has big pretty eyes… Wait, no, not pretty… beautiful. Oh God yes, the eyes have to be right. That was what you singled out as your most important feature. Big beautiful brown eyes that have so much warmth they shine like the sun…"
Kari zoned out and went back to her notes as Yolei spent the next five minutes regurgitating each and every detail of her answers to that stupid quiz. Unfortunately, her friend could be exceptionally persistent when it came to this sort of stuff and once she eliminated all the likely suspects, how ever long that might take, would probably start going after the unlikely ones. She would have to be prepared for the eventuality that at some point, even if her friend had to go through the other three-billion men on the planet first, that Tai's name would pop up…
"Kari…"
…When it happens, just laugh it off like you did the lesbian question. Make it seem so utterly ridiculous that she swiftly moves on. Even if it means you have to say something insulting about him…
"Kari…"
…Something like how he made you smell enough of his sweaty socks when you were kids that…
"Kari!"
She jumped when a hand waved quickly in front of her face. Shaking her head as she returned to the outside world, Kari looked up to see the irate face of Yolei staring at her. "Sorry," she mumbled, "I must have been lost in thought."
"Yeah well, you're going to be serving dinner late if you don't get a move on."
Her eyes moved to look up at the clock on the wall and saw that her friend was right. She still had to stop off at the store on her way home, given that she had not known she needed to cook tonight until late yesterday afternoon. Closing over her notebook, she saw that Yolei had already packed away most of her own stuff. Gathering together her books, she deposited them inside her bag and stood up. It was when they left the study room that she remembered there was something she'd wanted to ask the other girl.
"Yolei," she ventured carefully, "can I ask a favour?"
The lavender haired girl turned to look at her. "You can ask, but I make no guarantees you'll get it."
Kari laughed. "Would you consider doing a bit of modelling for me?"
A slightly nervous expression covered Yolei's face and laced her tone, "what sort of modelling?"
"I would really like to do a shoot or two of some of my wardrobe creations, but obviously can't model the clothes myself and point the camera. So I need someone who's a similar height and build to me to do the modelling part."
"Can't I be the person that points the camera?" her friend offered instead.
Kari had been prepared for this suggestion and, in the nicest way possible, said, "Yolei, you are amazing at so many things, but photography is not one of them."
The other girl sighed, "that is true. You were always the shutterbug of the group. But I'm not sure about modelling for you… I get rather self-conscious about my appearance... not like you. At least not Digital Punk Kari."
"It's ok, Yolei," she replied, trying to mask the disappointment in her voice. "I don't want you doing something that you're not comfortable with."
"I'm not saying no," the lavender haired girl blurted out. "It's just… it would depend on what exactly you wanted me to wear."
"Tell you what," Kari ventured carefully. "Why don't you come over after school some time later this week. I'll show you my wardrobe and sketchbook and you can see if there are any of my outfits that you'd be comfortable wearing."
"I guess it couldn't hurt to look," the other girl conceded, before pausing. A smile crossed her face when she said, "unless you want to tell me who mister mystery is."
She gave her a sideways look, "really? You'd seriously sell your self-conscious butt down the river just to find out one juicy bite of gossip?"
"To find out the identity of the individual who stole Kari Kamiya's heart, drove her relationship with Takeru Takaishi to disaster and ultimately led to the sweet boy getting his heart ripped out? Hell yes, I would!" Yolei declared emphatically. "So how about it?"
Without a seconds thought, Kari shot the idea down with a cold, "no."
The other girl rolled her eyes, "come on! Like you said, I'm practically selling my own butt to you. And all for one tiny bit of gossip. Surely that's got to be worth it."
"Sorry, no dice."
Yolei pouted, "fine. But if I'm not comfortable with any of your outfits, you get squat."
"I'm prepared to take that chance," she replied.
The two girls left via the main entrance, with Yolei electing to walk Kari over to the bike racks. Retrieving her blue framed bicycle, they headed to the front gates where they exchanged goodbyes. With the lavender haired girl heading off to contend with her hectic family and Kari to buy something for dinner and spend another evening alone with mister mystery or as she liked to call him, Tai.