A party was going on, something to celebrate Nico moving into her condo. She'd invited Nozomi, of course, Rin, Hanayo, Kotori, and Honoka. They had all managed to make it except Kotori, who politely turned down the invite, the five of them knowing exactly why.
While Honoka unpacked in the kitchen and started prepping for dinner, the remaining four moved in furniture and unpacked Nico's belongings, the pastel pink paint finally dry from the days before, the massive sheets of clear plastic removed from the hardwood floors. The condo was easy to navigate, simply a mirror of Nozomi's condo across the hall.
Rin pushed Nico's couch into place with the smaller girl's help, Hanayo hanging new curtains across the windows, the fabric dark pink in color, ruffled with many small pink bows. Once the couch was placed, Rin stretched her back, breathing heavily. She leaned against the couch for a moment, fanning herself. How she felt hot in early March, she had no idea. Feeling something run down her upper lip, she looked down, blood dripping onto the couch.
"Rin! Your nose is bleeding!" Nico panicked, grabbing a tissue and holding it up to Rin's nose.
"I-It's fine, I just need a minute in the bathroom," Rin consoled, tipping her head back and keeping the tissue at her nose. She quickly walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and turning the light on. Nico was a good friend, a good companion for Maki, something that often ran through Rin's head.
The orange-haired girl threw the tissue in the trash, turning the cold water on. Staring at her exhausted reflection, she tried to slow her breathing down. Rin thought the nosebleeds had stopped, that the hotflashes would stop, the heavy breathing. Maki had made her expectations clear, just as Umi had, so Rin had quit. She couldn't lose them, lose their support, the red fluid running out of her nose a reminder of her silent promise.
"Do what you want tonight, Rin, I have unexpected business to attend to."
Though Maki didn't know Rin had heard what she said under her breath, it still haunted Rin, Maki's hushed remark ringing in her ears.
"Kurosawa…!"
Hanayo didn't seem worried about Maki, but Rin did. It made her depression amplify, her dreams become more nightmarish, Rin becoming less and less able to distinguish the separate parts of her life.
"Rin? Are you doing okay in there?" Hanayo asked.
"Is your nose still bleeding?" Nico added.
"I'm fine, I'll be out in a minute! You guys go on without me," Rin replied.
She splashed cold water in her face, a shiver running down her spine from the temperature. She wiped the blood away from her upper lip, then stuffed her nostrils full of toilet paper, slipping extra into her pocket. Heaving a big sigh, she ran her hand through her short hair, then turned and exited the bathroom.
Looking around for Nico, she spotted her with Nozomi, carrying boxes back into her bedroom. A box started slipping out of Nozomi's arms, causing Rin to sprint and catch the box, feeling her heart race.
"Um… What do you want me to do about the blood on your couch, Nico?" Rin asked.
"Oh, nothing. Trying to clean it up will probably make the stain worse, so I'll just cover it up with a blanket or something."
"You're not bothered?"
"Nope."
"Hey," Nozomi piped up, staring at Rin, "are you okay? You look absolutely exhausted and, frankly, unhealthy."
"I agree," Nico said.
"I'm fine, you two."
"Rin… no..." Hanayo muttered, no one hearing her.
"We've all had a long day! Let's eat!" Honoka called.
The four of them headed into the kitchen, finding that Honoka fixed some of their favorites. Japanese food was Honoka's specialty, making it easy for her to fix a ramen bowl for Rin, stuffed rice balls for Hanayo, yakiniku for Nozomi, and fried rice for Nico. They all dug in, happily munching away at their food, keeping room for the desserts that Honoka prepared.
"I've got an idea," Nozomi said, "let's tell secrets!"
"S-Secrets? What kind of secrets?" Hanayo asked.
"Any. Let's start with small stuff, then get into more complicated stuff!" Nozomi cheered. She pointed to Nico and winked.
"You're so weird, Nozomi. Fine, in high school, I wore low pigtails like you, but I changed them after getting confused for someone all the time," Nico looked around the table, rolling her eyes at Nozomi's giggles, "You go next, Nozomi."
Nozomi pouted, "Hmph. I didn't ever go to college, but I want to."
"Ooh, what do you want to major in?" Honoka asked.
"I don't know, maybe psychology?"
"That could be interesting," Hanayo commented, "I guess I'll go next, since the topic is in the air. My major is art, but I wanted to do veterinary medicine at one point. I don't think I could stomach seeing animals hurt, though..."
"College is hard, I went into fashion because I thought music would be too much of a battle for jobs. I don't know what I was thinking, fashion is worse," Nico ranted.
"Sports are even worse, it's such a competition," Rin mused.
"Sporty girls are always flat, like Nico," Nozomi commented.
"I'm not flat!" Honoka said, glaring at Nozomi.
"Excuse you, I have a B cup," Nico proudly declared, flipping her pigtails.
Nozomi glared at Nico, "There is no way those are Bs, maybe As, if not double As."
"How dare y-"
"Hey, what's a dirty secret of yours, Rin?" Nozomi asked, continuing to nibble at her yakiniku.
"S-Secret? Um… Oh! I'm allergic to cats."
"That sucks, cats are so cute!" Honoka squealed.
"Y-Yeah..."
"I suppose it is my turn though… I don't hate Kotori."
"She certainly seems to hate you with a passion," Nico commented, resting her head in her hand.
Nozomi clapped her hands together, "Let's start over! Better secrets though, okay? Dirty secrets!"
"I… like… bubble bathes with my rubber ducky..." Nico managed to choke out. Honoka and Nozomi both burst into laughter, Hanayo smiling, and Rin covering her mouth, small giggles escaping her mouth.
"What?! Fine! You tell me a dirty secret, Nozomi! Give an example!" Nico ranted.
Nozomi stopped laughing, her smile dissipating, "Once, what I like to think is a long time ago, I was in an abusive relationship."
Nico stopped, straightening herself out a little, "I never knew, Nozomi..."
"I-I don't think any of us knew..." Hanayo added.
Perking up, Nozomi pointed at Hanayo, "You're next!"
"Mine's nowhere near as secretive as yours though..."
"C'mon!"
"O-Okay… I struggle a lot with my weight. Food is just too good!"
"Especially Honoka's food," Nico added.
"Awww, thanks~"
"It's your turn, Rin," Hanayo encouraged.
"Hm..." Rin tried to stay away from darker secrets, "I had a verbal tick when I was younger."
"What was it? Was it absurd?" Honoka asked, getting excited.
"Not telling!"
"Dammit, I wanted to knooooowww!"
"Same," Nico and Nozomi said, in unison. Rin giggled.
"Let's see… My family runs a sweets shop in Japan," Honoka began, "But I hate red bean paste..."
"That's certainly peculiar," Nozomi said.
Rin was relieved when a knock on the door prevented Nozomi from beginning a new round. Nico got up and answered the door, bringing a box into the living room. It was medium in size, a perfect square. Nico opened it, carefully pulling out a little tree.
"What… is it?" Rin asked.
"A wish tree," Nico replied.
"I've heard of those, they're so cool!" Nozomi said, gently touching the leaves.
Nico glanced into the box, noticing a dark blue envelope at the bottom, as well as a separate envelope, which she assumed contained tanzaku, the little pieces of paper to write wishes on.
"Perhaps we should each think of a wish," Honoka said.
"That would be so cool!" the others cheered.
After Nico set the wishing tree down on the table, they all sat down and ate dessert, chatting once again. Thankfully, at least for Rin, their secrets discussion didn't resume or come up. They joked and laughed together, the discussion wandering all over the place, from Nico's bra size to Honoka's remarkable cooking.
Finally, Rin got home, leaning against the door of her apartment. Her chest heaved up and down as Rin tried to catch her breath, the air in her lungs warming up. She slid down the door, sitting on the floor. Even though she felt exhausted, her entire body and mind was restless, and she knew she would never get to sleep tonight.
"Kurosawa…!"
Rin had heard that name before. Little snippets of conversations that she heard, specifically from Maki. They were the enemy, the other publication company, Promise's rival, something along those lines. Siren Publishers, the ones who published magazines and books, just like Promise. Apparently, there was some sort of bad blood from the past.
Rin ran her hands through her hair again, slowly standing up. Her apartment was messy, but at least it didn't smell like a jock's apartment. She glanced at her living room table, seeing her ceiling reflected in the little mirror. Instinctively, she took a step towards it, but stopped, and turned to her bedroom. Pulling off every piece of clothing she had, she got into bed, staring at the fan on the ceiling.
Whirling, whirling, whirling…
Rin opened her eyes again, faced with two very familiar faces, one of blue and one of red. They were scowling at her, dissatisfaction and disappointment in their eyes. They each lifted a hand up, clenched into fists, white powder slowly escaping from their hands. Rin tracked it with her eyes, watching the substance land onto a distorted mirror below, slowly being absorbed. She felt blood run out of her nose again, causing her to look up at the sky, filled with darkness and stars. The stars didn't twinkle, they were dull and dim, almost blending in with the black oblivion of the sky.
Jolting awake, Rin shivered. She was completely naked, the way she preferred to sleep, and covered in sweat. Panting again, she reached out a shaky hand and grabbed some blankets, pulling them up over her shoulders and closing her eyes tightly.
She wished that the past would remain behind her.
A stressful week for me is certainly in the past, as well as choosing the subject for this chapter. It was hard.
After quite a bit of extensive research, and prior knowledge, it seems that Nico doesn't have a bra size at all? Even the lowest that the Japanese sizes seem to go is a B, according to charts, for some stupid reason. I don't know.
In the last chapter, Pinot Noir, there were quite a few errors, which have been fixed. Once the rating is changed, a new scene will be added to chapter 8, Through Purple Glasses. It has been brought to my attention that the transition between chapter 8 and chapter 9 is... odd, and rather alarming.
Thank you for reading Promise, and I hope you continue to read as the darker themes become more apparent. This is a chapter that strongly hints at a darker theme, can you guess it? I'd like to think it's easy, but I know everything.
