Chapter 10

Distance

"And so that's why Sara ended up playing a rabbit in the photo shoot," Kaede-san says, looking very ashamed.

"Oh, my," Yuuna-san giggles. "She really wanted that bear costume, doesn't she?"

"It's more like she's trying for the cat costume. She really wanted that part."

All of us laugh as we sip on our drinks at the coffee shop early Friday morning. Kaede-san wanted us to get together since she has something important to tell us and ask us our opinion on Sara-san's photo shoot that was located near a kid's pre-school. Apparently, it was just a fun advertisement for little kids to look at. And she's the next cover girl on a magazine, so the kids will be all over that picture if they wanted to. The reason why Sara-san got the rabbit part is because no one else wanted it and decided to go for the more cool parts. Even so, Sara-san had to pose while chewing on a carrot stick. Now, I don't know if she's really fond of rabbits or not, but it seemed like she did not enjoy it.

"How is Sara-san right now?" I ask.

"Not good," Kaede-san sighs. "She's still pretty angry at the director for giving her the part."

"Hey!" Yuuna-san chimes in. "I bet Nanami will look adorable in that bunny costume! Oh, how cute that would be!" She looks up dreamily as she clasps her hands together.

"Oh, boy," I mutter. "She's off to her own world again."

"You said it," Kaede-san says.

After about a couple of seconds, she calms down and takes a sip of her drink. "I'm sorry. I got a little carried away."

"No, it's okay," I say. "In fact, I think Nanami-san will look good in a rabbit costume."

"Well, why don't we ask her to play that role then?" Kaede-san jokes, causing us to laugh again.

"Oh, I should really do that sometime," Yuuna-san says. "I can't wait to see how Nanami would react when I tell her. Hehe!"

"Yuuna-san," I say, raising an eyebrow while smiling nervously. I can tell from her expression that she's really desperate and things aren't gonna go well once Nanami-san finds out what Yuuna-san's about to do to her.

We are all silent as we sip on our drinks once more and continued talking. Yuuna-san had some great news to tell us. She and Nanami-san are going to the planetarium this weekend and then go for a nice boat ride. I smile at her for her news. Since she and Nanami-san are now living together at her apartment, they have so many great things they want to spend together. Her mentioning that makes me feel down again. Since our break up about 2 days ago, I've been depressed over it for a long time. Why would Reo do that to me when all I did was take her on a lovely date? I didn't do anything that would make her do that.

As I sigh while resting my head on my hand, Yuuna-san takes notice. "Mai-san? What's the matter?"

"You've been like this since you got here? Is everything alright?" Kaede-san asks, looking at me with a worried expression.

Should I tell them? I ask myself. The two of them are my best friends since high school and we would talk about almost everything, including our lovers. I just shake my head as I look down at the ground with pained look in my eyes.

"Reo . . . she and I broke up," I say, quietly.

"What!?" both my friends gasp as they hear what I said.

I just nod my head.

"Wait a second," Yuuna-san says, holding her hand up. "You two . . . broke up?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Kaede-san says, raising an eyebrow. "Both of you love each other."

"Exactly," I say. "But Reo just did it out of the blue at the same exact spot where she confessed to me and proposed to me."

Both of my friends look at each other with worried eyes before turning back to me.

"Mai-san," Yuuna-san says softly. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm sure you didn't do anything that would make her do that," Kaede-san adds.

"That's what I was thinking, but I'm just not sure why Reo would do that," I say. "She's my fiance and a soon-to-be wife to me. I just . . ." Tears sting my eyes and I try to wipe them off. "I just don't know why . . ." This is all too confusing. Now that she and I broke up, I don't know what to do with myself. Should I move on and forget about her?

"Mai-san," Yuuna-san says as she puts a hand on my shoulder. "That's terrible. I wish there was something both of us can do to help."

I wipe one last tear off as I try to smile at her. "No, it's okay. I'm just glad I got it out of me before anything ugly happened." Just talking to my two best friends is the only thing that relaxes me right now, especially with Yuuna-san.

"I just hope Reo-san is okay with the break up," Kaede-san says timidly.

I just shake my head. "Let's hope not."

Reo's P.O.V

I sit on my bed at my apartment one morning with my phone in hand. On the screen, I stare hard at the contacts list, which contains very few people in it. But there's one specific person that's missing. Someone that I most cared about and loved. As tears fall freely from my eyes, I choke a sob as I clutch the phone in my chest.

"Mai . . . "

I cry softly to myself. Why did it come to this? Oh, that's right. It was all Matsuri's doing.

*Flashback*

At a local park . . .

"Take out your phone." Matsuri demanded

"What? Why?" I timidly asked.

"Just do it."

I slowly took out my iPhone.

"Now, go to your contacts list and find Mai-sama's name."

I do what she asked.

"Now . . . delete her from your contacts list."

My eyes widened as I look up at her in shock. "What!? B-but . . . I . . . how can I . . ."

Matsuri just smiled as she slipped out the photos from her bag and waved them at me while pointing her phone at them. Ugh, she's going to threaten me with that, too!? That witch! I still do what she asks and pushed the delete button under Mai's name. A box shows up on the screen that says, "Are you sure you want to erase Mai Sawaguchi from your contacts list?"

Matsuri peered in closer to me. "Do it," she hissed.

I shut my eyes tightly as I press the OK button. The screen now says "Caller erased from contacts list". Matsuri smiled in satisfaction as she crossed her arms.

"Well done, Reo-sama," she said.. "I hope the two of us will have a great rest of the summer together."

"Yes, sure," I muttered while looking away and staring at my phone. Mai . . . I miss you so much.

"Now then, we should plan some things that we can do together," she says. "Let's see. Oh, I know! How about I start with having a sleepover at your apartment tonight!? Sound good?"

"Uh, yeah," I said quietly. "Okay."

"Excellent," Matsuri said.. "I can't wait!"

I just nod my head. I can't wait for her to get out of our lives any time soon and hope that Mai and I will be back together. With that, both of us stand up, hold hands as we head back to my apartment.

It was two days ago when it happened. I kept replaying the scene over and over in my head as I stare at my phone. Mai . . . I miss you so much . . .

Mai's P.O.V

I wave good-bye to Yuuna-san and Kaede-san and I head over to Reo's apartment. Since I'm not gonna live with her anymore, I guess I have to move back to my parent's house and tell them the news. I still can't believe Reo would do such a thing. It's only been two days and I'm already missing her! Oh, Reo. What did I do to deserve this?

As I'm about to enter the apartment, a door opens, revealing someone familiar.

"Matsuri!?" I gasp.

"Oh, hi, Mai-sama," she says as she casually waves at me.

I rush over and grab her by the shirt while glaring at her. "Tell me: did you do anything to make Reo break up with me?"

Matsuri just pushes me away. "Ah, you've figured it out already, eh? In fact, it was so easy to convince her to do that. All I had to do was show her these." She takes out about 10 photos and hands them to me.

As I thumb through them, I realize that these are pictures of us having sex, in the classroom and in the infirmary! But . . . why would she take them without us noticing?

"I told her that if she doesn't break up with you, I would show these to the police and consider you a pedophile," Matsuri explains. "Then, you would be thrown in jail and never see your lover again, which give me the perfect opportunity to make a move on her."

My eyes widen at her explanation. "So . . . all this time . . . it was just for that reason?"

Matsuri snatches the photos from me. "Yep. So, you'd better not get close to Reo-sama or these will go to the cops." She raises them up with an evil grin.

I grit my teeth while clenching a fist, but slowly relent. Dang it! How can Matsuri be this powerful against me? I should be stronger than that! But . . . a threat like that could cost me my life and my relationship with Reo. My eyes are glued to the ground as I hear an evil snicker from Matsuri.

"I told you, Mai-sama. I always win. Always." She walks around me and whispers in my ear, "Good luck finding another girl. Reo-sama is done with you now."

With that, she walks away. Tears start spilling out from my eyes as I whisper Reo's name.

As I enter my house, the first thin. I see is my parents sitting in the kitchen, greeting me with a smile.

"Hi, Mai-chan," my mom says. "What brings you here?"

"Onee-chan!"

Both my little brother, Daichi and my little sister, Hana come running up to me and hug me from each side.

"We missed you, Onee-chan!" Hana says.

"We thought you'd never come!" Daichi adds.

I just giggle. "Now, now. One at a time. You know I come to this house once in a while to visit you two, right?"

Hana giggles. "Right! I forgot!"

"I didn't!" Daichi declares, but Hana elbows him in the arm, making him yelp in pain.

I softly giggle at this. "That means he forgot as well?"

Hana just nods. She then notices me carrying my stuff from Reo's apartment and looks at me in confusion. "What's wrong? Why aren't you in Reo-chan's apartment?"

"I . . . we broke up," I manage to say.

It takes my whole family a few seconds to take in what I said.

"Mai-chan," my mother says. "Is it true?"

I just nod my head, trying not to cry in front of them. "That's why I'm moving back home. I'm no longer living in Reo's apartment."

My family exchanges looks before turning back to me.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Mom says sympathetically.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Father asks.

I shake my head. "No. It's okay. Thanks for the offer though." This is so hard on me that I need to rest for a bit. I give my family a hug and go upstairs to my room.

I silently close the door and put my back towards it. Tears were starting to form in my eyes at the thought of my beloved. Reo . . . The petite girl who I was going to marry, the one who I cared about and always stood by my side, and the one who is fun to tease . . . is gone. Gone . . . forever.

A\N: Aww! Sad chapter, don't you think? No need to worry. They will get back together soon. :) And so sorry for the super, duper late update. Been busy with my new job that I didn't have the time to write this chapter. But never fear! This one's finally finished! I promise to finish this one before anything else since everyone seems to really like it. So thanks a lot, you guys! :D

So . . . because of my new job, I'll probably be updating a lot slower than usual, so I apologize for that. In the meantime, feel free to give out any suggestions, questions or concerns and don't forget to review. ;)