"Ouch!"
"Ah, I'm sorry! Close your eyes again…"
Matsui Jurina muffled her cries when her bluish skin got in touch with the soaked cotton. The tangy scent of the alcohol invading her nostrils in an unpleasant way she had to hold her breath whenever it drew near. The liquid made her skin burn and the bruise stung even more. Matsui Rena, the one who heartlessly pretended not to hear the escort's pleading, kept going with the task of cleaning her damaged face.
"There, all done now. Stay still, I'm going to put this on."
The younger girl glanced at the one who sat on the bedside, fumbling through the medical kit to find some band-aid. She wore loose white night gown which a little bit see-through so Jurina could see the black bra underneath, tightly wrapping the girl's slender figure. She wondered if Rena felt comfortable wearing her clothes since many of them were quite revealing, much unfit for Rena as Jurina thought she was the conservative type. But she had to admit Rena look really good in it.
Before she could open her mouth to talk, Rena's dainty fingers gently grazed the corner of her lips, stroking the cut flesh; Jurina couldn't help but twitch when the cool moist structure of the band-aid making contact with her burning skin.
The long haired girl pitied the one who had just thrown up in the doorway moments ago. She was in the middle of reading magazines when Jurina groaned behind her while making her way in. Rena instantly stood up and stared at her condition in terror as she attempted to guide her to bed. The left side of her face was badly beaten it made her left eye squint as her cheek plumped and battered with bruise. Rena noticed her lips were cut and she could see the stain of blood from her mouth, painting her teeth crimson. That explained the slight mixture of red she saw in the vomit on the floor. Rena couldn't help but wonder what kind of person could give such strong blow to a girl like this. She was more thinking about the motive behind it.
Rena faintly smiled before stood up, as if praising her own work for relieving the other girl's pain though just a bit. Jurina wanted to say her gratitude but her lips too stiffen to move so she could only give a stare as a reply. She saw the older girl made her way to the entrance door and when she realized the heiress was about to clean up the mess she unintentionally made, Jurina immediately felt bad and tried to get up,
"Ren-ugh!"
A jolt of pain was sent from her abdomen to the veins in her body at the time she attempted to sit up, knocked Jurina down in an instant. Frowning as the pain still lingering, Jurina grabbed the edge of her t-shirt and rolled up to her lower chest. There, she witnessed a blackish blue mark in the size of a tomato decorating her toned abdomen. Jurina gave a slightest touch and hissed when the same sensation she just felt returned. She recalled how everything happened too fast before her eyes when the man drove his fist into the pit of her stomach she couldn't dodge nor move beforehand. The younger Matsui sighed and stared at Rena who was mopping the floor, while trying to defect her worries about the possibility of the older girl to dislike the task and feeling uncomfortable as she was raised in a wealthy family where doing such activity is like a taboo. Jurina just didn't want herself to owe Rena any favor that made her cancel the whole plan because of that. Hence she needed to be the opposite so she could make the other girl be in debt instead, so the process of handing her back to her family would be an easy piece to do. However, with her current condition, Jurina pessimistically thought her plan would somehow work out.
Matsui Rena just realized it was almost noon and she had not eaten anything since last night when her stomach grumbled asking to be fed. Done with the cleaning, she picked up the fallen plastic bags Jurina dropped back then and peeked inside. The sweet and flavorful scent from it made her even hungry. She put down the bags on the low table where they both usually ate and because it was a neither huge nor heavy one, Rena pushed it all the way nearing the bed. Jurina could only watch her actions in awe.
"What are you doing?"
"Ah, this? I did this so you can eat with ease."
"Thank you. But I can eat b-ugh!" The second attempt of getting up went fail completely. Rena bitterly smiled at her, showing compassion. It was kind of touching seeing the younger girl still trying to handle everything by herself though she barely able to do any in that condition, Rena thought.
"See? Don't push yourself." Rena sat on the bedside and moved Jurina's pillow to the headbed so Jurina would be able to eat, "Can you shift a bit?" Jurina said nothing and decided to follow what the older girl said. She was amazed with the diligence and simplicity the heiress was showing, far from she had expected from a person who was raised by a high-class family. And of course, different from dozen girls she had slept with. However, she liked to keep that idea for herself.
Rena put out the box-shaped containers from the bags and surprised after finding out the strangeness in them,
"Aren't they expensive?"
The older Matsui referred to the boxes. The similar takeout meals Jurina always bought for them were usually something modest and packed in disposable polystyrene boxes. However these were what appeared to be something made from lacquerware, vastly something unusual from what called with takeouts.
"I didn't pay for it. Oh and the dishes are meant to be kept anyways, that's why." Obviously other than the already costly entrée inside, the high price wasn't for nothing but the boxes.
"Amazing, I thought they didn't use this anymore for takeouts since 1980 because of its price…"
"Well, things are going differently for some authentic Japanese restaurants for foreigners. I heard it's because many of them asked the restaurant where to buy such classic tableware to be kept as souvenirs. And so the marketing idea works at its best and yeah…but I think the price is worth it." Jurina explained fluently as if forgetting the stiffness and she felt around her mouth. Seeing the older girl nodded in amazement, Jurina smiled in her head. If it wasn't because of her past experiences of having connections with upper-class women she wouldn't acknowledge any of interesting facts like this. However, this reminded her of Takayanagi Akane again and her taste buds felt bitter all of sudden.
"Ah…" Rena happened to notice where the sweet scent came from. She took it out and got surprised as she never saw something like that before. The bread's outer crust resembled cantaloupe, which is a rock melon, at one glance it looked like pineapple as well.
"That's for you."
"For me? Really? Thank you…"
"Come on, try it." Jurina tried to smile though it was hard since her cut lips still weren't used getting movements. Rena was about to undo the plastic wrap when she realized something,
"But there's only one…is it really okay?"
"Of course, I bought it just for you anyway." Jurina felt like laughing seeing the other Matsui hesitating but at the same time her eyes were sparkling with want like that. Rena said the usual Japanese expression of gratitude before a meal then cautiously took a bite on the crisp dough side and chewed deliberately. She then paused a little and her eyes widened while trying to comprehend the foreign sensation in her taste buds.
"You like it?" the short haired girl quite worried seeing Rena didn't take any more bite after her first attempt.
"This is amazing! I've never eaten something like this." Not knowing whether it was just her being hungry or the bread was indeed really good, Rena thought she could only eat this in her entire life.
"I'm glad you do. It's called melon bread."
"Melon? This doesn't taste like melon at all…" the custard filling in her mouth didn't contain anything nor did smell like melon which made her ponder. Then when she saw how the bread looked like, she came with a speculation, "…could it be because of the shape?"
"That's right!"
The sight of Rena munching the bread happily made Jurina smile without any particular reason. Showing something new to the older girl somehow brought herself a pleasure. The way Rena reacted to new things made Jurina, though she had not admitted it yet; somehow want to take the heiress out of the room, discovering things of the outside world. However, went back and forth with her heart, she intended to keep things this way and stick with the plan.
Rena, overwhelmed with the new deliciousness she never had, almost forgetting the other company was in pain and also probably hungry. She put down the delectable treat and began unpacking the boxes, which was another surprise to her, was a set of unaju, elegant version of unadon. Based on the book she read, eel becomes really rare in summer and often comes with a relatively high price. Rena took one of the boxes and sat on the bedside, ignoring the questioning stare from the younger girl.
"What are you doing?" Jurina couldn't contain her curiosity when Rena scooped the rice and a small tidbit of the grilled eel with the chopsticks. What was even odder was when the older girl drove the mouthful nearing her lips.
"Empty stomach is not good."
"I can eat by myself, just give me the box." The escort confidently refused. Besides, she was in condition where she still could eat without any help from others. In addition, Jurina was still surprised with all the gentle treatment from someone she thought wouldn't be able to. However, the other Matsui chose to insist.
"This way you don't have to move your body too much. Did you use the spiral stairs?"
The short haired girl said nothing and nodded. The stairs were steep and it made her abdomen feel like being twisted in every movement. After a moment of silence, she finally let the heiress to feed her.
"…tasty." Jurina silently muttered.
xxx
Matsui Jurina kept running. Though she didn't know where to, she kept sprinting to be as far as possible from the person behind her, who was also running to her. No matter how she tried to blend in the crowd of students in the cafeteria, that person seemed always to be able to find her. Desperate enough, she decided to run upstairs and cursing herself knowing the fact that escaping to the school rooftop would just make everything worse. She felt a harsh grip on her wrist.
"Why are you running away?"
"Because you won't understand!"
"Is the answer still same?"
"Yes!"
"But, I really love you! I really do Jurina-chan!"
The way the boy called and addressed her intimately with her given name and –chan irked her.
"And I don't. Just give up already." She felt the grapple became stronger by seconds and it started to hurt her wrist. "Let go of me!"
"I know you love me too. You saved me, right!"
"Quit dreaming." He suddenly pushed Jurina to the wall, pinned each of her arms above her head.
"You're mine."
The girl suddenly felt anger boiling inside her, how the boy became so persistent really vexing her to the bone. Without thinking twice, she spat on the guy's face.
"Let. Go."
A displeased smile appeared in his face, following by laughter, a hysteric and manically ones. He wiped his face and dunked his head to Jurina's ear, whispering,
"I'll make your family pay for this."
Jurina lightly gasped as the school rooftop suddenly changed into a dim room. Shortly after her eyes became accustomed with the lack of light, she sighed in pleasant knowing she was still in her flat and the scene she saw was only a dream. Her reality drifted in and out as the grasp felt fairly real on her skin, giving her goose bumps in an instant.
It was the first time she dreamt something like this. The dream which was not merely a random event filled with random people doing random activities, this was a dream where her subconscious refused to erase the scenes she always considered never exist, replaying a part of her unwanted past again.
Trying to clear off her mind, Matsui Jurina glanced at a body that lay beside her. It was so close their skin touched each other. Unease washed her as she was the one making the pale woman sleep in such discomfort, trying to fit in together with her in a bed. However, seeing how soundly Rena was asleep, Jurina felt relieved.
The more she stared at the other party, the more she discovered something interesting as she never got bodily contact to the heiress as close as this before. Though the room was dim as the only source of light was from the street lamps outside which went through the curtained windows, Jurina found that Rena's skin was gleaming pale bright. It was almost perfectly unblemished except for a mole on her left cheek. But apart from that, it was flawless.
"Please don't mind me. Your condition deserves a better sleep for now." That was the older Matsui's answer when Jurina offered a share of the mattress as the night fell.
"So do you. The floor gets really cold at night, you know."
Rena said nothing and pondered, thinking twice about the short haired girl's proposal.
"You feel awkward? Relax, I won't bite." Jurina said lightheartedly with a cheeky grin. The truth was, Rena indeed felt awkward as she was never in the state of sleeping side-by-side with someone other than her Mom. And that was like 21 years ago.
"Um, more than that how is your stomach feeling?" Rena averted the topic, hiding her embarrassment for being a timid individual.
"A little better, though it's painful when I turned over. So I guess it can't be helped I have to sleep straightly like this."
"Can I see it?"
"Eh?"
"Can I see your stomach? It looks agonizing." Rena repeated her question as she felt the actual worry for the escort. Jurina rolled up her shirt again and the heiress could see the gruesome mark Akane's husband had left on the toned curves for an indistinctive reason.
"Oh my, you should apply some ointment..."
"I think I have one in the drawer, will you please?"
Rena was in the middle of searching the salve tube inside the said drawer when her eyes locked on a small glass bottle on the corner, stuck between a stack of makeup equipments. The bottle was just as tiny as her pinky finger, with a weird combination of random numbers and letters printed on it. What made her curious was the liquid that seemed to be merely clear water which is something strange to be kept as if an eau de toilette. However, at this point where she hardly knew anything about cosmetics, she simply thought it was one of them.
"This?" the heiress lifted a black tube where 'Pain Relieving Cream' was written on it. Jurina nodded.
There was a hesitating moment between two of them of who should applying it when they didn't have to be. Nevertheless, seeing the confused Rena, Jurina grinned in anticipation,
"Please?"
"Eh, is that okay?"
"Of course."
Jurina hissed as Rena's slender fingers ran on the battered surface. The ointment gave her skin a pleasant feeling though the pressure the heiress' fingers made her lightly jolt in ache. Losing herself to the task, the older Matsui didn't realize she was being stared since then.
"You seem to know much about medical treatment."
"I read books a lot. It's not that extraordinary though."
"Weren't you bored?"
"I was sometimes, but there's nothing I could do to help it."
"If I could, I would take you outside." Jurina voiced the tone she always used to seduce her clients. Rena said nothing.
Carefully applying the ointment, Rena quietly observed that the girl she was taking care of had well-toned body contours, questioningly pondering whether it was for the sake of her career or she just plainly gifted with such good-looking appearance. However, deep down where the escort wouldn't acknowledge, as a mature woman she actually felt envious.
As if struck by something unseen, Jurina suddenly felt the urge to talk to the other girl. With the inquisitiveness that came out from nowhere, the younger Matsui wanted to learn more about the quiet girl who seemed to always hold back and restraining herself from saying whatever she had in mind. It came to Jurina that first, she wanted to confess about her unusual way of living.
"To tell you the truth…I'm actually not a good person." Jurina started the conversation when Rena had done with the task yet remained seated on the bedside.
"You wouldn't save me if you are."
The escort couldn't tell her actual motive for that.
"No, it's just…I'm doing things that couldn't be classified as good."
"Such as?"
"I'm sleeping with women for money."
"I know."
Rena internally gasped as she responded to the statement reflexively. That way the short haired girl would know she had done something rude by silently peeping around to her personal space. On the other hand, Jurina too, was astonished hearing that yet remained calm as she couldn't comprehend whether she had to laugh or being angry. Before she even voiced out her bewilderment, the older Matsui bowed deeply.
"I didn't mean to browse around your laptop! My apologize!"
"No, it's okay. I understand you are bored. But next time, don't do anything like that again." Jurina, though she felt she should be irritated, strangely she didn't at all. When her customers silently perused into her private belongings as her mobile phone and purse, she would likely to snap out and walk out the door.
"And as you can see, this, was the result of dealing with married clients." The younger girl continued as if the laptop thing was never happened.
"Do you get that often?"
"I would quit if I do. Getting beaten makes me ugly and no one would want to date an ugly being. This is my first time. I should be more careful from now on."
"So is that a reason for not being a good person?"
"As how society judges, yes."
"Society is naïve. Your job is to comfort people, not the opposite. Though the side effect is you probably hurt the husbands indirectly, but that's natural because we are all fools. As long as you don't hurt other people intentionally without a comprehensible reasoning and regrets, I don't see that as bad."
Jurina had started liking the way Matsui Rena think. It also surprised her she actually could talk this much.
"But in the past…I've hurt people once. Intentionally."
"We are all done that in life. Isn't that why humans are blessed with the words of 'forgive' and 'apologize'?"
Jurina realized she had been staring at the pale face for a whole minute, listening to the calm breathing. Unconsciously her fingers made its way to Rena's cheek, brushing the strand of hair that fall covering her closed eyes and tucking to her ear. As she finally could see the face of the heiress clearly, her heart skipped a beat and it gave her a kind of nice, warm sensation around her stomach.
What is this feeling…?
xxx
A day had passed and Jurina's patience ran out, so did the food. The convenience store was only ten minutes by walking from her flat but with her current condition, though it was a lot better than before, was something impossible to do.
"I'll do it."
Hearing the older Matsui wanted to volunteer herself, Jurina automatically refused.
"I can put on a hat and flu mask, if it's only a little shopping. I'm sure everything will be okay."
"That's true, but…" Jurina pondered how risky it would be.
After a little argumentation, Rena finally stepped out the building for the first time since her escape. Nervously walking, she breathed deeply. The summer air felt different and somehow calmed her in an instant. Inside her heart she was jumping in excitement when she finally able to see normal daily activities she only could see in the books and television. The sight of students bringing their backpack and chattering each other happily about the upcoming summer holiday, fruits and vegetables shop being opened, people cycling or simply walking around, gave her a blast which if she took the mask off, she would be receiving stares for smiling widely all the way to the store.
Meanwhile, at that time the younger Matsui impatiently wondering whether the map she drew was quite clear for Rena to read.
While she was waiting for the food to be heated, a small child rushed his way to the counter, accidentally bumped at Rena's legs and fell down on his butt. The heiress immediately crouched lower to grab the hand of whom seemingly to be a five year old boy. She rolled down her flu mask a bit, revealing most of her face to him,
"Are you okay?" Rena asked in soft voice, the boy didn't cry and nodded. A second after that, an old woman came and apologized to Rena for the hassle. Rena learned that the boy was probably her grandson. The heiress smiled and rolled the mask to hide her face again.
xxx
A group of men in black walked down the pavement with a handful of papers in each of their hands. The oldest in the group who had a special emblem on his suit which differed him from the others, looked hesitant. Worry and fretfulness were showed in his eyes behind the thin-framed glasses as he glanced at his watch for the nth time. Not long after that, an old woman with a kindergarten boy walked passing by them. The man in glasses politely greeted in his most decent voice.
"Excuse me, Ma'am. Do you happen to know this person?"
The old woman squinted her aged eyes seeing the paper the man was showing, the same paper all four men were holding. The face of a woman in her late-twenties was printed large in it including some details written underneath. As she recalled the weaken memory from her old brain, she shook her head when she failed to remember any, she simply stated she never met the girl nor having seen her face. Or so she believed.
"That Onee-san!"
Every pair of eyes turned to the boy who joined looking at the paper.
"Onee-san?"
"Un! We just met at the convenience store. She was pretty and kind and her long hair was shiny!" Everyone was wordlessly listening to the child's innocent testimony. Clearly nobody would consider a small kid could tell a lie.
Other man in black with spiky hair nudged the man in glasses,
"Yuasa-san. What do you think?"
Despite the fact that the boy's statement was true or not, the man called Yuasa was washed in relief knowing that after weeks, their search attempt wasn't fruitless. With this little piece of information, he didn't know whether he had to be happy or sad knowing that he was the one who let his Mistress eloping with someone and hereby after that, receiving an order to take her back home before time is running out. As a dedicated man, he would never betray his Master. But as a man who had lived with someone who he already considered as a daughter because he failed to have any, he just couldn't stomach seeing her living in a miserable life being controlled like a toy. Thinking hard of what is best he could do, Yuasa took a deep breath,
"Rena-sama couldn't be far from here."
xxx