Chapter Seven – Musical Interlude
Yumi walked around her apartment, fingers twitching as she worked out the thought in her head. She had the next line of the melody somewhere inside of her, but each time that she tried to figure it out, her brain faltered.
She was in love, she knew that much. She also knew that she wasn't about to let go of Tsubasa for any reason, no matter how frightened she was of the risks he took. She had thought that the boxing was the worst of it, but the danger he faced in the ring was positively tame next to his life as Magi Yellow.
"C,c,a,f-sharp," she muttered, still trying to work out the next line, even though she knew it was futile with her mind in such disarray.
Each time she sat down at the piano, a series of jangling discordant notes was all that came out of her. The conversation with the Ozu family had been enlightening, but also rather disturbing. Being Magical Guardians of the Earth seemed to involve a lot of danger, yet she couldn't imagine asking Tsubasa to stop doing it any more than she could ask him to stop boxing.
Tomorrow her father was coming up and they were all going to a nearby restaurant to meet, talk and get to know each other. It was bad enough that she knew she would be fighting an uphill battle with her mother, but to have to keep secrets from her beloved father was very hard. Yet, how could she explain magic, monsters and everything else to him? He was a physicist, a brilliant scientist, and the only area in which they had never been in agreement was her premonitions, which he thought were merely coincidences.
The leap beyond her minor psychic flashes to full-blown wizards was not one she could imagine him making with any ease.
Her eyes drifted shut and she remembered that terrible moment of dissolution when Siren pulled her soul apart, the horrible fear and the sense of loss flowed over her again and then, Tsubasa's voice calling her back somehow, their bond strong enough to break Siren's magic.
No matter what her family thought of him, she would not give up something that precious and that rare. She did not think of herself as a fighter, but if she had to fight for this love, she would do so with everything in her.
With that resolution the next line suddenly came to her and she returned to the piano and began to play.
The next morning, she rose and quickly made herself some breakfast and packed a Bento box. She had a long day of recording at the studio ahead of her and doubted that she would even have time to break for lunch.
When the door buzzer sounded she jerked up in surprise and her hand knocked the bottle of soy sauce off the counter where it shattered on the floor. Flustered, Yumi dropped a rag on the mess and ran for the door.
"O-hiyo!" her neighbor stood outside her door, smiling and with a magazine in her hand.
"Ah! Himaki-san! O-hiyo," she returned and bowed.
"It's early, I know, but I had to show this to you!" The old woman, plump and somewhat breathless, with her short curly hair and round face looked excited and pleased, but when the magazine fell open Yumi felt a chill go through her.
The gossip magazine had a picture of Tsubasa and herself from the boxing match and underneath was an article speculating on how long they had been dating. She scanned it quickly, horror mounting. It was a terrible intrusion into the privacy that she valued so highly and also, the magazine was one that she knew her mother read.
"It's so exciting, he's very handsome!" Her neighbor gushed and winked at her. Yumi blushed and felt the sudden urge to flee the other woman's knowing eyes. Hadn't she just told herself that she would fight for him, she thought suddenly, and stiffened her spine. She smiled at Himaki-san and even though she was still blushing nodded.
"He's wonderful," she admitted and the woman's smile got broader..
"I am so glad for you, Kimura-san, you are always so very much alone, you worried me! I'm so happy that this boy found you!" Yumi gaped at her neighbor's words, worried about her? Really? Himaki-san was a gossip, but she was also a very kind person, Yumi realized.
"Thank you, I'm very happy too," she admitted, though it was still so hard to be open like that, her mother would have frowned to see her being so friendly to a low born person such as Himaki-san. But Yumi hadn't cared for a long time what her mother thought. She glanced down at the article again and sighed, though the scene this was going to cause would be unpleasant. Her watch beeped and Yumi jumped again, she was going to be late for work if she didn't scamper. Blurting her apologies, she raced off, forgetting her bento box and the broken glass on her kitchen floor.
Miyumi stood by the kitchen sink, her hands stilled from washing the dishes. She supposed she could use magic to finish the chore, but she actually liked doing things for her family by hand most times, it made her feel good.
Outside, Makito was in the garden with Sakura, the two of them planting bulbs for next spring, their heads together as they worked, perfectly in harmony. Sakura looked up at her son with an expression of such love and trust that Miyumi smiled and dropped her eyes. Two children happily spoken for and two more who seemed as though they were getting there.
Kai she had expected to keep true to his soccer manager, but Tsubasa….now that was unexpected.
She hadn't been there for the whole Mamiya Rei incident, but Urara had told her all about it and it had broken her heart just listening. She had always known that Tsubasa was most like her of all her boys and she had only ever loved one man. That Tsubasa had found love a second time pleased her greatly. Urara had been so worried for her brother… Urara…
On that thought she pulled her wand and was about to cast when the doorbell rang. She put her Magiphone away and went to answer it.
The woman on her doorstep was dressed in the height of fashion. Her hair was perfectly coiffed, her nails elegantly manicured and she was dressed in a suit that must have cost more than all the clothes in Miyumi's closet. Her face though was strangely familiar, though Miyumi couldn't quite place it.
"Ah, O-hiyo, may I help you?" she asked, startled and confused..
"This is the Ozu house?" she asked coldly distant like the moon. At Miyumi's nod she continued. "Is Ozu Tsubasa here?" she asked next and Miyumi relaxed, this woman must be a reporter or producer, someone was always trying to get Tsubasa to do a commercial or something.
"My son is at the gym today, actually, he has a match next week that he is preparing for." She smiled at the woman, but received no answer.
"You are his mother?" this stranger raked her with cold eyes and frowned.
"Excuse me, but you are?" Miyumi suddenly found that she didn't like this woman one bit.
"Kimura Yukio," the cold-eyed woman replied and handed her a business card. The paper was a heavy creamy vellum with an embossed silver image of the moon above the title Kimura Yukio, Marketing Director, and the name of the company "Moonlight Cosmetics". Miyumi knew the company well, her elder daughter had a drawer full of their products and their ads were everywhere, they were one of the biggest companies in Japan for make-up.
"Pleased to meet you, I am Ozu Miyuki," she returned with a bow, and Kimura-san bowed in return, though only a little and Miyuki tried not to bristle at the snobbery inherent in it. After all, from the outside she was simply a middle class housewife, not a powerful magician and wife of a Heavenly Saint, there was no reason for this very rich, powerful woman to see her as an equal.
"I have come to discuss your son with you," Kimura-san continued and Miyumi blinked and invited her inside.
Fetching tea and pouring for the other woman helped settle her temper and by the time they were sipping at their cups, she was back to feeling calm and relaxed.
"Have you seen this?" Kimura-san asked suddenly and pulled a gossip magazine out.
"I don't read such things," Miyumi admitted with a shrug.
"This one you might find interesting," the sharpness with which she said that made Miyuki wary again and she took the magazine, opening it to where Kimura-san had indicated. An article about Tsubasa and Yumi-chan, she noted and then Yumi's last name caught her eye. Kimura. Her heart sank and she turned to study the woman before her.
The resemblance was suddenly clear to her, in features, Yumi was very much like her mother, but her personality was so different that until it was pointed out she hadn't been able to see it.
"Yumi-chan is your daughter!" she exclaimed in surprise and watched the other woman's mouth tighten.
"Yumi-san is indeed my child," she answered back, obviously displeased by Miyumi's casual address towards Yumi.
"She is a lovely girl, with beautiful manners," Miyumi murmured, trying to soothe the other woman, but the frown only grew deeper.
"You have met her?"
"She came for dinner with the family, last week," Miyumi returned and suddenly realized what was going on. "You didn't know?" It was softly asked, but Yumi's mother flushed even so.
"My daughter apparently forgot to mention it," came the coldly polite reply.
"They have only been dating a short time, perhaps she wished to be more certain of her attachment before troubling you," Miyumi suggested, sensing that she was treading on dangerous ground here.
"My family is very proud, Ozu-san, we have standards to maintain. You seem a nice person, but you must understand that I cannot allow my daughter to date your son." The words were said with clam precision, and Miyumi found herself stunned by them. "A boxer? This is not acceptable. My parents would be deeply shocked by this. I must ask that your son break off this relationship at once."
"No." the two women both turned in surprise. Tsubasa was standing in the doorway, glaring at Yumi's mother. "I will do no such thing." Miyumi could see the deep anger in him and had a sudden feeling of alarm. He was still in his gym clothes, boxing gloves dangling from his hand.
"You are not worthy of her," Kimura-san retorted, eyeing him with distaste.
"I know that," his answer seemed to surprise her, but before she could say anything more he continued. "But I love her and I will not lose her again." He turned then and left, the door slamming as he went.
"Again?" Kimura-san asked and Miyumi shrugged her ignorance, though she was starting to have a suspicion. Urara, what have you done?
Tsubasa headed to the studio, he needed to see Yumi, to talk to her. The sight of her mother had chilled him. He had stood in the hallway for a long time listening to the cold venomous words flowing out of her and he had suddenly understood everything that made Yumi-chan so shy and reserved. Comparing her to his own mother had been a revelation, no wonder she had said that she liked his family better than her own.
At the door to the studio he paused. It had a buzzer and a speaker phone and he didn't know if they would let him in..
"Lightening Fist!" a joyful cry came from behind him and he turned to see the idol singer that Yumi worked with. She had a group of people with her, her manager and other staff, he guessed and they were all looking at him with interest.
"Ah! Chi-chan?" he asked, realizing that he knew very little about her. She smiled broadly at him, her face dimpling into an adorable smile.
"Are you here to see Yumi-chan?" she asked next and at his nod she clapped her hands in delight. "Wonderful! I am so glad!" Her exuberant reply made him smile despite himself and she quickly dragged him into the studio, her entourage coming in behind them.
"I'm glad too," an older woman murmured to him. "She needs a nice boy, not that parade of stuck up businessmen her mother keeps sending to her." The sharp look he gave her must have told her much, because she leaned closer as they walked, her brightly painted nails waving as she gestured. "That woman is awful!"
Tsubasa had much to think on as they rode the elevator up.
Yumi was deep into the song, hands moving without thought, her mind far away and drifting on the wings of the melody. She had finished it last night and was very pleased with it. She thought that it expressed the fluttery feelings of joy and nervousness she felt around Tsubasa perfectly.
"You look at me and my heart floats, you laugh and I laugh too, there is nothing more precious than this," she sang for the Producer in the booth, her voice soft and somewhat faint, but he nodded as the song ended
"Pretty, I think it will do well for Chi-chan," he told her and she smiled in pleasure. His rare words of praise were always treasured, since he never told her the pretty lies that some of the production folk did. Goto-san was always straight with her and she felt it made her a much better artist to hear his honest criticism.
"Thank you," she bowed from the keyboard and then turned to the door as it opened. Chi-chan bounced in with a huge smile for everyone and they all found themselves smiling back at her. She was so cheerful and sweet, so openhearted in her delight that you couldn't help but like her.
"Guess who's here in the booth," Chi-chan whispered to her as she came over. Yumi blinked in surprise and shook her head. "Your boyfriend, Ozu Tsubasa!" she revealed and Yumi blushed bright pink. "You're so cute!" Chi-chan squealed as she stammered and tried to think of what to say.
"When you are done, perhaps we can start this session, ladies?" Genji-sensei growled from the booth and Chi-chan jumped up and headed to the mike with a grin.
Tsubasa watched Yumi playing with a strange sort of constriction around his heart. He hadn't lied to Yumi's mother, he loved her. It wasn't just the memory of Rei either that drove this feeling. Yumi was special, even if he hadn't known her past life, he would have fallen for her, for her kindness, her gentleness, her acceptance of all that he was without judgment or prejudice. She looked at him and he felt cared for because who he was inside of himself. He wouldn't let that be taken from him, not again.
"I wish I could get her to sing on one of the albums," the producer sighed, "She has such a beautiful voice, even though she won't project at all."
"Hah! Might as well wish for wings, Goto-san," the elderly engineer chortled and the producer nodded. He eyed Tsubasa warily.
"I suppose you want to marry her and make her give up all of this?" his voice was irritable, but he looked genuinely regretful.
"I couldn't ask her to stop, it wouldn't be fair," he replied, choosing not to answer the first question. He knew what he wanted, but he wasn't yet certain what Yumi felt. "She would be miserable if she had to stop performing." The producer raised an eyebrow at him in surprise. He shrugged off the speculative looks of the two older men and turned back to watch Yumi play. He knew that there was also another selfish reason why he would never ask her to stop; he got too much joy from listening to her songs.