White lies
Nobody said a word in the last fifteen minutes. It was not like them. They could cackle like chickens, ranting about their day. However, at this moment, they sat like a bunch of bored birds on a stake. The stake was a bench in front of a newspaper store. Elza was the first one, who broke the silence. She shuffled with her feet, having enough of this quietness.
"Well, Michiru, we are sitting here for thirty minutes. Do you mind, to find the courage to go inside? It is not like you go into a sex…" Michiru interrupted Elza with an annoyed groan. Tenzin snickered. He leaned back, letting his arm hang behind the backrest of the bench.
"She would be more confident doing this, trust me, champ." Elza wrinkled her nose. With anger in her eyes, she fixated Tenzin, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Maybe it was a mistake to bring them both here, Michiru assumed. With a deep sigh, she leaned back, lifting her legs to put her chin on her knees.
"It is just…" Michiru was not sure how to explain her struggle and stopped her sentence immediately. Maybe it was a mistake that she came here after all. The sudden urge to get a specific magazine brought her here. The girls in her class talked about this object of her newly desire all day. The young motor cross talent Haruka Tenou gave an interview in, for the violinist, unknown sports magazine. Naturally, she was too proud to ask if she could borrow a copy from her classmates. She talked to them on a surface level. So why should it be appropriate to speak to them about this girl, she couldn't get out of her head. The grip around her legs got tighter. Her thoughts were a blur. How could a random girl made her think such ineffability's, like seeing her smile only for her. Michiru was sure, that she went crazy.
"I mean, it's not like you are interested in motor sports, anyway." Elza made a good point. Michiru nibbled on her lower lip. Other sports besides swimming weren't her preferred field of interest. And dirty roads, with loud vehicles on, made her uncomfortable.
"Well, maybe she wants a face to all the brats, which are terrorizing our dad. You know that she goes to this private school of assholes, our father works at?" Tenzin stood up from the bench, glancing at Elza. With every fiber of her body, Michiru grasped the tension between them. She barely understood, why they hated each other, but accepted it over the years. Their personalities weren't a match. Elza was more serious about her life goals, and Tenzin had his head in the clouds. Maybe both were concerned the other was no good for the violinist. All Michiru knew, was that she could not stand their rivalry any longer.
"And, you know, my curiousness is insolent", Tenzin proclaimed, hands on his hips. The both girls looked up in confusion. With a wide grin, he turned around and walked inside the shop. Halfhearted, Michiru opened up her mouth to hold him back, but he was already gone. Elza rolled her eyes and turned to her best friend.
"Why is he always so impulsive?" With a shrug of her shoulders, Michiru faced the other girl. She already wore her training outfit, ready to head to the running field. In her eyes glimpsed this hunger. She was ready to deliver the best performance at the national championships. She embraced this dedication. With a soft smile, Michiru laid a hand on the arm of her friend.
"You two are not so different, after all. I can tell." Elza grimaced. That was nothing she wanted to hear. Shaking her head, she got rid of the image of Tenzin and her being the same kind of people.
"Anyway. Why are you so obsessed with Haruka Tenou?"
"I am not!" Michiru shrieked. A wholehearted laugh caused Elza nearly falling from the bench. Michiru's cheeks reddened.
"I see. But I saw your face that day I brought you along to the racetrack." With a shy smile, the violinist put her feet back to the ground, folding her hands in her lap.
"Was it that obvious?" The athlete crocked her head. For a short second, Michiru looked up to her, but could not stand the other girl's knowing facial expression.
"If you say so. Listen, that is totally fine. We figure that out, if you want." Elza patted Michiru's should. Finally, she had the strength to look her companion in the eyes. But before she thanked her, Tenzin reappeared with a stack of magazines under his arm.
"Sorry, took me a bit longer, but…" He paused to present the pile in front of his little sister. "… I found every issue that featured this mysterious racer, you fell all over." With a wide grin, he signaled Michiru to grab the magazines. Elza made an angry sound, pushing her body away from the bench.
"You are so sensitive, Tenzin. My training waits. See you tomorrow, Michi!" The two girls waved for their goodbyes. Tenzin snorted.
"I can't understand, why are you friends with this girl. Never saw someone as gravely as her. And I know a lot about graves." Michiru cracked an eyebrow and shook her head.
"This was lame." Tenzin chuckled.
"Lame joke for a lame girl." With a serious face, Michiru took the magazines from his hands. But she had to thank him. It was not foreseeable, that she had found her courage in the next hour. She prepared herself spending the night on this bench before she was brave enough to buy those magazines.
She flipped through them and stopped at the last one. It was a magazine for young girls, and her heart dropped immediately. Tenzin's posture stiffened, as he observed her looking at this ticklish item.
"I thought, you're going to visit her today." Michiru confirmed his assumption with a slow nod. A rope wrapped around her guts. There was no chance of ignoring this tight sensation. "It's been two weeks now." Her voice was a mumble. It was hard for her to talk about the girl that got possessed by this demonic creature that attacked her and Tenzin. This was the day she woke up as Sailor Neptune. Her whole life flipped upside down. Thankfully, she could split her burden with her brother. They trusted each other, come whatever may. Even if no one else could get on her nerves like he could. She was glad not going through this process of becoming Neptune on her own. Although she was sure, her fear of hurting someone hardly disappeared. Even after her fifth or tenth transformation. What was the point of all this?
In addition to that struggle, reappearing dreams about an upcoming apocalypse and a shadowy figure reaching out, tortured her. Night after night she woke up in sweaty sheets. And the image of the person in her dreams confronted her with a dreadful certainty. There was another one like her. But how could she find her partner?
"I can escort you to the hospital, if you want" Tenzin suggested with a tender smile on his face. The grip around the magazines got tighter. Michiru shook her head and finally a small smile formed on her lips.
"No, I'm fine." With a knowing nod, Tenzin dismissed his sister, who gave her brother a short hug, before she turned around.
Her firm steps brought her half an hour later to the Hospital, in which a young girl waited for her new and unusual friend. The mother of the girl walked out of the room of her daughter, as Michiru appeared in the hallway. With a warm hug and smile, the woman greeted her. She looked tired, and her eyes were red. She cried a lot in the hallway, so her daughter was not concerned about her mother. Wanting to be strong for her. But the girl was too smart for this charade. Sweet little white lies, conceded Michiru, while she entered the open door of the hospital room.
"Knock, knock." The young girl received the violinist with a wide grin. She was thirteen years old, what nearly broke Michiru's heart.
"How are you? What are the doctors saying?" The violinist placed herself on a chair next to the bed. Lots of flowers and a funny teacup with grumpy cats were displayed on the night stand. The girl could call a little garden her own.
"Yeah, they say, I can leave in two weeks." She stretched her back with a yawn. Michiru could imagine how boring it must be in a place like this. That was the input she needed to remember the magazine Tenzin bought for her. She fished it out of her school back and glanced at the cover of one of the sports glossies. Haruka Tenou smiled back at her, making her heart drop. The change in her impression didn't go by unnoticed.
"Is everything okay?" Michiru snapped back into reality with blushing cheeks.
"Yes." Why was she lying? She and the girl talked about almost every detail about their lives in the past two weeks. They became friends under strange circumstances. But this strengthened their bonding nonetheless. However, Haruka was a different challenge for Michiru. Her brain got foggy when the subject turned to the attractive racer. And it was the same, as talking about being Sailor Neptune. Some issues better stayed in the dark for the safety of her friends and family.
"Are you lying to me?" There laid amusement in the girl's voice, like she had caught Michiru stealing the last piece of pie. The violinist searched for an excuse to get out of the situation. In the end, the intense urge to open up to someone, even when this was the girl she nearly killed, overwhelmed her. With strained shoulders, she straightened her seating position.
"Well…" Anxiously, she picked the skin of her fingers. She hoped this tick disappeared over the years, when she disciplined herself to protect her hands. This was indeed a hard topic for her. An ungainly smile appeared on Michiru's face. Maybe she could win some time by giving the girl the magazine. They could talk about interviews with boy bands or fashion and forget about Michiru's strange feelings. The girl was happy about her gift, and for some time they forgot about the little lie earlier. But then the girl asked a delicate question, Michiru had no overall answer for. She was not prepared for the following conversation.
"My taste in men?" The girl nodded enthusiastic. Michiru's face went blank, as well as her mind.
"You are very experienced, aren't you?" Slowly, the violinist shook her head. The girl's eyes widened. How could she get out of this properly? Michiru cleared her dry throat to play some time.
"I don't have a type, I think." This was the polite and not satisfying answer, the girl did not want to hear. With a sight, she flipped through the pages of the magazine. Then something cached her eye and she stared with great interest at a page. Arching her back, Michiru tried to peek onto the article that made the girl forget their conversation. As she noticed her visitor spy at the pages, the girl laid the magazine on her lap with a giggle.
"I think this could be my type, if she weren't a girl." Michiru got sick as she saw the image on the page. Haruka Tenou haunted her. That was for sure. With her mouth agape, her view wandered between the picture of the smiling racer in an all-black outfit and the happy face of the girl.
"You are pale, Michi" the girl addressed, as the violinist didn't say anything after a few moments. Embarrassed, she hid her face behind her hands.
"Sorry, but I…" She was interrupted by a small hand on her thigh. Carefully, Michiru placed her hands in her lap, looking the girl in her eyes, while her heartbeat hammered against her rib cage.
"This is a wild guess, but I think, for you, it is no big thing that she is a girl. Am I right?" All emotions Michiru ever know in her life rollercoastered through her body in between seconds. There was no need in denying this. She crushed hard on Haruka Tenou. What a strange confession. It wasn't like she hadn't enough on her mind with these world ending prophecies and apocalyptic dreams. This obscure outing added to the party. Actually, there was no time for her to care about love. She could not tell how wrong she was.
"Was it always like this?" The words of the girl brought Michiru back into the room. For a moment, she pondered over her answer. Her right hand fumbled with the skirt of her school uniform. After crinkling the hemline, she straightened it while her eyes wandered back to the curious girl.
"Before my family moved to Tokyo, I had a best friend in my hometown. His name was Yoshi." She stretched the pronoun of her friend in a weird way. A lump formed in her throat. With a cough, she got rid of it.
"I was sure that I will go back some day, marrying him. He was the only one I trusted truthfully, besides Tenzin. But the love I felt for him, was even like he was a brother to me." The girl made a disgusted sound and they both laughed. That sounded strange, Michiru had to admit.
"Can I tell you what I think?" Michiru nodded.
"I think you should give it a try." Confused about her words, the violinist crocked her head. Then the girl laughed again.
"Not with this Yoshi guy. He has no chance. Trust me. But you should contact that racer. In this interview, she says, that she goes to this private school you told me your dad works at." Michiru was caught off guard. Haruka flung her personal information unmindful around. She should know that crowds of groupies could stalk her that easy.
"I have a great idea!" The girl nearly screamed about her own excitement. That caused her mother so peek inside the room. The both assured her that everything was fine. Michiru could also say that she saw a glimpse of relief at the mother's face, seeing her daughter so gleeful again.
"In a fortnight there is a charity event for my school. We don't have any money for projects and so on." Michiru made a concern face, but the girl gestured that she should listen first.
"Some schools collecting money for us. Your school, as far as I know, and Haruka's school as well." A puzzled impression wandered on Michiru's face. Maybe this was the event Elza trained for? But the girl hadn't finished.
"You could play a concert at Haruka's school. They are the hosts, so it makes sense, I think." Michiru's heartbeat rose. Why was she thinking about this? This was a strange idea. And why should they let the daughter of the janitor play a concert at a private school for rich people?
"So, the riches see how talented students from public schools can be." Besides the fact that this girl could read her mind, this was a wild plan. And she was not sure if it could work.
"But for now, this has to do it." While she spoke, the girl ripped out the page with Haruka's picture and handed it over to the overstrained violinist. She mouthed a "Thank you" and clenched the piece of paper to her chest.
With a heavy heart, Michiru walked back home. The streetlights illuminated her way on the dark pavement. Her eyes wandered over neon advertisements she didn't read. In front of a big billboard, she paused in her movement. It showed Haruka Tenou and her smile that flustered the violinist.
"You are everywhere." She was bugged out. Petulant, she leaned nearer to the image of the racer and puffed her cheeks in anger. A young couple strolled by, and the two giggled about Michiru's strange behavior. So she let go of her irritation and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Okay, I ask my dad. But he will not be very happy about this." She truly had lost her mind, speaking to the oversized version of her crush. Or she finally found some relieving distraction, she needed desperately.