You all hate me now. I get it, I understand. My apology, along with a plate full of cookies and churros, is that I'm already done with over half of the next chapter, and a spoiler at the end of this chapter. Once again, I'm sorry.
-LIA
Chapter 5
Kyoko
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
I awoke the next morning to the sound of my alarm clock, quickly opening my eyes and stretching out a hand to turn it off. As the sharp beeping stopped, I sat up, rubbing the grogginess from my eyes.
For a moment I forgot where I was as I looked around the unfamiliar room, but then the events of the day before came back. A single smile appeared on my face. Despite being indoors, I could tell that it was going to be a wonderful day. I stood up and rolled up my futon, then headed straight for the bathroom to take a shower. Emerging from my room, I walked straight to the kitchen, only pausing to admire the rising sun and take a deep breath of the crisp morning air.
Once arriving at the kitchen, I took off my jacket and hung it up on the coat rack at the entrance and put on a white apron, then went to work on making breakfast.
Just a pinch of salt, I thought, carefully adding the said ingredient onto the broiled fish as it cooked.
"That smells delicious." Said a voice behind me.
So focused had I been in making breakfast, I almost jumped when I heard someone interrupt the little bubble I had been in. But when I turned around, I saw that it was only Tsuruga-san standing by the doorway.
"Ah, good morning Tsuruga-san!" I said, smiling brightly.
"Good morning." He answered, returning the smile with one of his own.
"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, so um . . ." I trailed off, not quite sure what I should say after that. Thankfully Tsuruga-san was never at a miss for words.
"All right, what are you making?"
"Broiled fish, tamagoyaki, natto, nori, and miso soup." I said, placing the food in their respective dishes as I spoke.
"Sounds great."
With a shy smile upon my face, I turned the heat on the range* off and began to place the steamed rice in the bowls.
There was a silence as I worked, however it was not uncomfortable, knowing that someone was watching me while I cooked.
As promised, breakfast was ready in three minutes, and when I turned around with the plates in hand I found Tsuruga-san beside me, taking one of the plates in his hand.
"Here, allow me to help you with that." He said, and with a warm smile he turned and we walked past a door to the dining area, where a single low table sat in the middle of the room with several silk cushions around it.
The room was simple, however it was at the back of the house, and so on one side you could open the screen doors and look outside at the garden and enjoy fresh air while you ate.
"I better go and take this apron off," I said once the plates were on the table. "I will be right back." And with a bow of my head I left the room and went to retrieve the jacket I had been wearing to replace the apron.
Once I came back Tsuruga-san was sitting on a cushion and gave a warm smile as I entered.
It was as we ate that I cleared my throat and proposed the thought that I had been mulling over in my mind the night before.
"Um, Tsuruga-san," I began, taking a glance at my sempai.
"Yes Mogami-san?" he asked, turning his brown gaze to me.
"Um, well since the president got us here to practice our roles, I was thinking that maybe it would be beneficial to have us um, practice some scenes together . . .?"
I let the rest of the sentence hang and looked down at my plate, since I had finished my food a few moments ago.
There was a moment of terrible silence, and I almost gave a sigh of relief when Tsuruga-san spoke.
"Yes, that would be wise."
"All right, when?" I asked, now letting myself look up.
"Hmm . . . How about two o'clock until four two times a week? Is that fine with you?"
"Yes!"
~O~
I walked around throw the trees and finally arrived at what I called my Haven. At least that was what I called it. It was a small area in the land surrounding Kyoto with a long stream surrounded by rocks. The trees hid the entire area, which was why I had never met anyone else going to this stream all of the years I had come here. The only reason I had ever known of its existence was because my mother showed me this clearing when I was young. This was the place I came to think, and since I had never seen anyone else here since my mother's death, I was surprised when I saw someone sitting on the large rock I sat on when I came here.
"Oh, I didn't know there was somebody else here." I said, walking towards the stranger who was sitting on the large rock some distance away. He was silent and simply turned his head towards me, looking shocked as to seeing me walking towards him.
I held out my hand.
"Hello. My name is Mori Fuyuki, what is your name?" I asked, waiting for him to take it.
There were a few moments of silence before finally the stranger took my hand in his, and we shook.
" . . . Yori." He said after another moment, simultaneously letting go of my hand.
I smiled.
"So Yori, what are you doing here?" I asked, sitting down besides him on the ground.
"Thinking . . ."
"Yeah, the stream is a really nice place to think at. But how did you find it?"
And yet as I did so something in my mind began screaming WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
"I just wandered . . ."
The stranger paused.
"I just wandered . . ."
A longer pause. I began to grow confused.
"I . . ."
And finally the most troubling thing. A sigh.
"Mogami-san," Tsuruga-san began, and once he mentioned my name I immediately snapped out of my character, my face showing my confusion.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry, but can we start over?" he asked.
I was startled by such a request. Was it something I did?
Did he forget his lines?
Yet as soon as the thought went through my mind it was crushed down by logic. Of course Tsuruga-san wouldn't forget his lines, he was Tsuruga-san! He would obviously have memorized over half of the script by now, just as I had memorized part of it before.
Then it must have been something else. Another thought struck me. Was it like when we were rehearsing for Dark Moon, where he made us re-do the scene again and again because I wouldn't get the character correct? Was that it?
Something similar to the thoughts going on in my mind must have shown themselves on my face, because Tsuruga-san gave me a smile.
"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong, I just want to re-do the scene."
This helped ease my mind a little, just enough so that I wasn't compelled to ask what I did wrong at that exact moment.
"All right then."
I stood up from my place and went back to the door of the room which had thus become my 'entrance,' and began the scene once more.
I tried slightly altering my Fuyuki, from the casual air around her to the way she spoke, but it a futile attempt. Tsuruga-san asked to repeat the scene from the exact same place as before. Again.
And again.
And again.
I knew there was definitely something wrong. Just as in the first try, a part of my mind kept on warning me that something was strange, but I couldn't pin point what. And every time we re-did the scene Tsuruga-san would sigh, and each one of those sighs was like a hammering down on his head as he sunk lower and lower into sorrow.
I was getting worried.
"Tsuruga-san, what's wrong? What is it that needs to be fixed?"
Because for the likes of me, no matter how hard I tried I simply couldn't find what was wrong or needed to be fixed, or what would bother Tsuruga-san to the point of having to stop and restart so soon into the scene.
"Is it something I did?" I asked, bowing down so I could see his face as he sighed for what seemed to be the thousandth time in the past few hours. Or, I added silently, suddenly remembering why both of us were here. Does it have something to do with your past?
"No, it's not you Mogami-san, it's . . ." he appeared to be struggling on how to phrase it.
"You must have felt it as well. I am unable to grasp Yori. I am not . . ." he let the rest hang, as though he were about to say something, but decided not to. Another sigh.
"Thank you Mogami-san, but I think this is all we will be able to accomplish today . . . I think I'm going to take a walk. Maybe it's just tension that is worrying me." He finished. Yet it sounded weak to my ears.
I hesitated, split between asking him to continue what he was about to say or simply letting it slide for now. In the end I chose the later of the two, although begrudgingly.
"All right."
With a nod in my direction, Tsuruga stood up from the relatively bare room we had turned into our practice set, and left, leaving me alone as I mulled over what had just happened.
How badly I wished to go over to Tsuruga-san and do something, but what exactly could I do? What was the president thinking, letting me do this by myself. Determination alone will get me nowhere; I won't be able to do anything for-
SMACK!
My cheek stung from the sudden hit, but it was definitely worth it. What had I been thinking? Getting depressed is not going to solve anything. It was good I had slapped myself before it got too far.
Mind set back on track, I looked down at the watch on my wrist, realizing with wide eyes that it was already past five. We had been going over the same scene over and over for the past three hours.
I glanced back at the door Tsuruga-san had long left from.
Tsuruga-san.
~O~
Ren
I sat down heavily on my bed, running a hand through my hair before letting my head fall completely on my hands.
It was wrong. Simply wrong.
Even though Kyoko and I had gone through the scene so many times, we spent three hours with no improvement.
She was even thinking that it was something wrong with her acting. I thought to myself. How could I be so useless as to let her think such thoughts? Why could I not simply move on with the scene and see where it took me?
Because you're a perfectionist when it comes to your work. A voice in my head answered for me.
"I could have moved on with the scene." I countered.
No, you couldn't have. You would have felt mediocre, and that is something you do not tolerate.
I gave a sigh.
What am I even doing, fighting with myself? I thought exasperatedly.
What I have to do is clear. I need to become Yori, without letting Kuon out. I have to do it. Not for my sake, but for Kyoko's. She is too pure, too innocent. I will not let Kuon hurt her in any way, even if indirectly.
"That is what I promised long ago." I whispered to myself.
With that in mind I went inside my futon, suddenly feeling very tired, as though I had been drained.
It was only a few moments later that I fell into a dreamless sleep.
Range* - I'm not quite sure what is used to cook when making Japanese cuisine, so I just went with range. If you know what would be the proper machine/technique/tools, I would most deeply appreciate it to fix it.
And so to conclude this particularly long Author's Note, here is the spoiler, as promised.
Well, I really couldn't back down now. Clearing my throat, I finally spoke.
"Um, Tsuruga-san, if . . . if you ever need someone to talk to, you know I . . . I'm here . . . right?"
"Yes . . . I know."
Thank you for reading, off to the next chapter!
-LIA