DRABBLES INCLUDED:
EYES
SILENCE
EYES
It had been an innocent comment.
One Megumi had stated carelessly in the company of Yuki and Ryoko. The night they had gotten back from the Hokkaido trip, right before the first year selection, they all said plenty of things she didn't think would be taken to heart.
Had she known what would follow after she'd uttered the words, she would have kept her mouth shut.
The setting was a stereotypical girl's night to relax before the impending challenge of the first year selection. This involved painting toes, gossiping, snacking, and trying out various DIY beauty treatments they found online. Because they were Totsuki students, they were also trying to see who could make the tastiest, edible recipe.
The topic of boys came up after they had all been browsing through Megumi's shoujo manga collection. Ryoko and she just laughed as Yuki complained about the limited selection of real "Prince Charming" characters they had in the school, let alone in the Polar Star Dorm.
All the bluenette had done was harmlessly chime in as Yuki extended her list of boys to include the Aldini brothers. The encounter with them on the streets of Hokkaido was recent, so it made sense to bring them up.
It also made sense to discuss Aldini Takumi's overwhelming charm and beauty as if it were the most obvious and factual thing in the world.
"Of course, Takumi-chii is one of the few acceptions," Yuki assured, slathering a thick layer of Megumi's avocado mask across her face. "Those European genes set him up to be the hottest thing on campus. We've all seen the girls in his fan club, they've been going nuts since middle school. Not to mention when you pair his looks with his cooking skills, his fluent Italian and his suave manners, no one meeting that dreamy kid stands a chance."
"Aldini-san's professionalism is definitely attractive," Ryoko added matter-of-factly, using a large clip to wrap up her long hair after Yuki's coconut based deep conditioner was generously applied. "He acts well put together most of the time, even if he does get riled up over certain things, like back in the restaurant or in front of Soma. But I suppose that could be an endearing quirk at times. He can't be 100% perfect. That's unreasonable for any person."
"I admire Takumi-kun's confidence," Megumi chimed in softly, testing the sweet sugar lip scrub Ryoko had pulled together. "He never seems to be afraid to stand up to anyone, like when he defended my order to a random stranger. I've noticed it since camp, and he's got the same kind of passion that reminds me of Soma-kun."
She paused and all the girls giggled, thinking how much the competitive Italian chef would probably take offense to that sentiment.
"I think with all that energy, that's probably why so many of our classmates want to be around him," Megumi continued, feeling the new softness of her lips, smiling wistfully to herself. "I can't blame them. Takumi-kun is a very inspirational person. And he has the most beautiful eyes."
That's all she had said.
Suddenly, Megumi found herself on trial.
A chip fell straight out of Yuki's hand on its way to her mouth, avocado dip from her face mask staining the carpet Ryoko always attempted to keep immaculate. The fermenting expert didn't even scold Yuki, as she was too busy coughing on the soda she was currently nursing.
They both looked at the girl with the same hungry, inquisitive eyes and their mouths formed into dangerous, unearthly grins.
Megumi quivered at the sudden change in atmosphere.
"Hmmmm? What was THAT, Megumi-chii?
"
Yuki crawled towards Megumi slowly on all fours. A dark, mischievous aura suddenly cloaked the girl like a miasma. With that eager, ravenous look, the green mask on the girl's face transformed her into a gruesome kappa, or some other amphibious creature, through Megumi's startling vision.
"You had something to say about Aldini-san? Something about his beauty, Megumi-chan?"
Ryoko joined in after Yuki, and somehow, the sturdy clip holding back her ruby locks had shifted out of place from her initial shock. Now the girl's wet hair fell in front of her face in blood red tendrils due to the thick conditioner. The ivory pallor of her skin likened her to the yokai Megumi would have nightmares about from all of the mainstream horror movies.
"W-what is going on with you guys?" Megumi squeaked out, almost knocking over the sugar scrub bowl by her foot as she scrambled back against Ryoko's bed.
"The eyes, was it?" Yuki groaned in delight. "How long have you been gazing into them, Me-gu-mi-chii?"
She pronounced every syllable of Megumi's nickname in a way that made the poor country girl turn paler than humanly possible.
"Tell us about his eyes, Megumi-chan," Ryoko begged, dark eyes gleaming behind matted hair as her ivory hand reached toward her friend.
"Yes, tell us!"
"Tell us..."
"Tell us!"
Both girls chanted menacingly.
Megumi wasn't sure what was happening, but she would have taken her chances with Soma's demonic recipes instead of face whatever had just possessed her friends.
"I don't understand why you two are acting like this!" Megumi shrieked with embarrassed hysteria.
"You just admitted to admiring Aldimi Takumi's beauty, and you didn't think we would freak out?" Yuki growled through her teeth, her eyes widened in equal confusion toward the trembling bluenette.
"B-but-b-but!" Megumi sputtered defensively. "You two just finished talking about him too! I just joined in, because we were all just talking! He has a whole fan club of girls saying much crazier things! W-why is this such a big deal?"
"Seriously?" Yuki retorted with fury, taking Megumi's shoulders and shaking the timid girl within an inch of her life. "How do you not understand how insane this is! Ryoko-chii, please, explain it to her!"
Ryoko managed to compose herself, reassemble her hair, and then drag Yuki off Megumi's trembling person.
"Megumi-chan, we know you well," Ryoko said, keeping the frustrated girl with orange buns at bay. "Whenever you talk about someone, you always choose to focus on their personality or their skill, never on what people might perceive about them from the outside."
"But I did that!" Megumi exclaimed. "You both did that!"
"Yes, but then you mentioned his eyes!" Yuki rebuffed, huffily dipping a chip against her face and munching in contempt. "You never talk about anyone's looks. You're too darn polite. Forget about mentioning out loud that you ever find anyone handsome! Not even Soma!"
Megumi blushed deeply.
"Wait! I-I don't think about Soma-kun like-"
"Nuh-uh," Yuki said, silencing the girl abruptly, pointing at her accusingly with the half-eaten corn flour snack. "We're not even trying to tackle that one tonight, Megumi-chii. Only one oblivious love interest at a time."
"Yuki-chan!" Megumi shrieked in mortification.
She loved her fellow Polar Star girls like biological sisters, but they were really going too far.
"Yuki-chan! Enough!" Ryoko said sharply, silencing Yuuki's rant in the maternal voice she had perfected.
She turned back to Megumi, a gentle look in her eyes, but a sigh on her lips that seemed to agree with Yuki against her better judgment.
"All we're saying, Megumi-chan, is that for you to make a comment like that, even offhandedly, is rather rare," Ryoko said, adding her final two-sense. "If you found yourself noticing Aldini-san's eyes, there must be a reason, isn't there?"
"I-I-"
Megumi was frozen, unsure of what to say.
Ryoko turned to Yuki and started lecturing her to clean up the chips she'd dropped on the floor, leaving the bluenette to her thoughts.
Was there a reason?
What was there to say except that something behind the Italian chef's eyes entranced her, just like it did everyone else.
She was a port town girl. Of course she was going to admire a color that put the most serene of seascapes to shame. Watery blue irises were nostalgic to people like her, weren't they? Though serene wasn't quite the word one could use when Takumi-kun churned his spirit into a storm that reflected in his eyes.
A reflection of massive tidal waves of will power and entire hurricanes with a burning inferno of passion running through the center. This may have sounded like an exaggeration to some, but no one that had witnessed the Aldini in the midst of a shokugeki could ever disagree with her.
It was just like Soma-kun, really.
Her dear friend had eyes that flickered with the warmth of a single comforting candle flame, but when a challenge was issued, a wildfire ignited behind them that consumed everything in his determined path.
That must have been it. The rivaling boys were so alike, even on that level, she wasn't able to avoid noticing the comparison.
Soma's glowing eyes began to dominate her thoughts, and another blush colored her cheeks in secret.
Wouldn't it be ironic, that sometime much later past that night, that boy with the sea blue eyes she pushed to the back of her mind would use a similar comparison for her very presence.
Her eyes, her smile, her nature, her own will power...he would liken them all to the glow of a candle, of a fireplace hearth.
A steadily burning flame that drew him in and welcomed him home with its warmth.
A warmth that would utterly consume him when he dared to get close enough to be burned.
SILENCE
Megumi scrolled through the photos on her phone with empty eyes.
The Parisian cityscape twinkled against an oncoming sunrise, and she had the most breathtaking view from the luxury suite the Totsuki group had gifted her in their new European resort.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
The upcoming conference Totsuki was hosting would have their business partners from five continents under the grandiose roof of the resort. Megumi had been charged with coordinating the specialty guest accommodations and attending to any concerns that would come to the staff. Since taking on the internship after graduation, her superiors had dictated that her word was law after her impressive performance at guest relations.
Shino's would be catering two exclusive dinners for the three-day event, and Shinomiya-senpai had also called on her to manage the dining room and its aesthetic. He needed to utilize every member of his primary staff to handle the meals, and she seemed to be the only one he trusted to handle his vision outside of the kitchen.
She would be managing a lot tomorrow, she had to be up in mere hours.
So why was she up right now?
Why was she scrolling through social media, not to catch up on her friend's post-graduation lives all over the world, but to distract herself?
Maybe she was trying to torture herself.
The room was quiet, and the sound soft breathing next to her in the magnificent four poster suite bed didn't prompt her to disturb that peace.
An old anxiety crept up as her mind ran through all the possible repercussions for her most recent actions.
What had she just done?
What were they doing?
Was it wonderful...yes, but...what now?
Wasn't that always her greatest fear about this from the beginning?
Some say the pain of never knowing a secret love is worth the risk to try, but Megumi had only confirmed what she had always known about the man beside her.
She would cross oceans, walk through fire, search under every rock on planet earth... just to find the key to his happiness.
He had always done the same for her, but now it was so much worse.
Now there was no buffer of separation for those feelings. Now her wants and needs had no end or beginning. They just ravaged her mind during, what should be, one of the most serene moments of her life.
He had always burned so brightly, he was a wildfire in her eyes.
The only difference now was that she shone just as bright. Her timid little candle soul was now a glowing forge as she seized and created every new opportunity for herself.
Two flames meeting in harmony were unstoppable.
Maybe in a different situation, this would be fine.
But with the increase in workload, starting online university classes, the haunting longing she'd always felt and the recent heartbreak from the past two years...it had ambushed the moment with a flash flood of gasoline.
This terrified Megumi now that she had nothing to quench the flames.
She felt her fingers tremble as she swiped through the pictures on her phone even faster.
"Why does it feel like this?" the bluenette questioned in her mind, scrolling over Alice's latest outfit selfie and Hisako's wisdom quote as she searched aimlessly. "I used to have dreams I'd never admit, dreams where he called my name...just like that…"
Her body betrayed her mind, and memories of the evening sent the best kind of shivers through her skin.
"Why...when this is literally everything I ever wanted before-"
Her thoughts drifted off as she saw a picture of Ikumi in Florence for the umpteenth time, posing against a Mediterranean sunset and looking back seductively, most likely at her boyfriend who had been behind the phone camera.
The nostalgia of that sunset shot a wave of pain through Megumi's chest that overrode the mixed euphoria and anxiety she had been feeling.
She started scrolling faster, not admitting to herself what she was subconsciously looking for.
Maybe she should have unfollowed him ages ago for her own sanity, but she always thought there was something so final about that gesture.
She still cared about his well-being and his family, after all.
She still enjoyed coming across updates of their lives and his recent achievements.
Even if she never liked or commented on the posts, she still loved coming across his face in her feed by accident. Just to remind her what the calm in the storm used to look like.
It had been a while, months maybe since she'd seen those blue eyes smoldering into the camera for his ridiculous amount of followers and-
"What..."
The audible word escaped her lips before she could stop it. Her thumb paused on the image of a couple sharing a bowl of ramen, Lady and the Tramp style. They leaned towards each other, noses almost touching adorably, in a similar position to the iconic canine couple in the Disney movie.
The post was from Kawashima Urara's account.
Urara-san wore a cute, puckered expression as she slurped on a long section of noodles with the boy across from her in the photo. The girl's big brown eyes glittered enthusiastically towards the camera.
Her blonde partner on the other end of the noodles had a similar expression, but his sea blue eyes looked only at her.
On top of a flurry of hashtags and a rainbow of emojis, the post description had one caption in English:
BELLA NOTTE IN KYOTO
Megumi wanted to throw up her heart.
"Hm, they're a cute couple," she thought instantly, trying to rationalize the oncoming emotions. "Urara-san has always been an idol. It makes sense her and Takumi-kun would look good together. I wonder how they-"
The phone dropped from her fingers onto the satin sheets before she realized how much her hand was shaking.
She leaned forward, cradling her head in her fingertips tips as she closed her eyes.
Megumi wasn't stupid. She had made her choice, and she knew they both would inevitably date other people after the way things were left.
However, they had done a fairly good job of keeping any romantic attention off of their profiles for the past few years, due to their shared nature of privacy. It was almost an unspoken rule.
But Kawashima Urara clearly didn't apply to that rule now, and she was going to put her recent conquest on full display. As she should.
Takumi-kun was too beautiful to go on without loving someone.
The questions in Megumi's mind echoed again, and now the silence surrounding her life was maddening.
She decided to turn off the phone and store it in the bedside drawer out of sight, and her movements disturbed the figure beside her.
"Me-gu-mi…"
An exhausted voice came from her right and Megumi immediately felt guilty. The poor guy rarely slept as it was, and he needed it just as badly as she did for the oncoming day.
"It's nothing," Megumi whispered to him as she tried to fix the disheveled covers and pull them further up his back. "Just rest. You'll need it in the kitchen tomorrow."
The voice hummed in agreement, probably still unconscious to begin with, as warm arms reached to encircle her waist.
Megumi allowed the embrace as she leaned back on the pillow, staring into the ceiling, searching for answers in the darkness.
"I just need to stop looking at my accounts for a while," Megumi thought, trying to block the idea of all the couple pictures that might pop up on Urara's account in the future. "I just need to block out all the noise...and focus…"
On what, or even who besides herself now, Megumi wasn't sure. But she assumed now wasn't the time to figure all of this out.
She looked to the exhausted young man sharing her bed, running her fingers gently through his auburn colored hair.
It was clear that he wouldn't be able to give her any of those answers any time soon, either.
Megumi closed her eyes and decided to allow the flames of this rendezvous to engulf her. Had she been holding onto something since graduation without realizing it?
Something that was long gone apparently…
She let go...exhaled...and let herself drown in all of the silence and uncertainty as sleep took her. How she wished she could still drown those sea blue eyes instead.
A/N-
All rightie, so I definitely know I'm two drabbles short of what I promised last chapter. I can't apologize to you guys, or myself, enough really. Life has gotten a bit overwhelming, but I've been sitting on the drabbles for EYES (submitted by Madeline Axelle) and SILENCE (submitted by Fresaton)for a while now. I felt like I should at least give you guys something, even if it was a double Megumi feature in this chapter. I usually like to have a balance of perspective between the couple, and I had originally planned to, but the inspiration to finish drabbles UNIQUE and PANTHEON has proven difficult.
Which is REALLY frustrating, because they're almost done. I'll force myself, I promise.
Until now, I hope you enjoyed more of my post graduation Megumi angst fest. Please leave more word suggestions if you like! I'll be rereading all of your comments to try and get some fresh inspiration.
If you'd also like to help inspire me in other ways, leave a suggestion for "the perfect TakuMegu song" in the comments for me to add to my writing playlist for this story. OR leave the name of another TakuMegu story you like for me to read and get inspired by, in addition for others to read and get their TakuMegu fix while I'm plagued by plot bunnies. Thank you to everyone who has commented and followed the story so far.
I'm amazed that my interconnected little drabbles are worth up to 39 reviews and 33 faves.
You guys keep me going, you really do. :)
Till this writing nightmare of mine ends, Ciao!
-Tasia