Tokaido Duo
Michiru slid the soft ocean-blue slippers she was wearing from her feet one at a time while watching the brilliant night view of Osaka's skyline through the room-wide window to her right.
After a weeklong series of performances in Japan's kitchen, she was finally able to unwind with a glass of port on the smooth and comfortable sofa of her hotel room.
"So…" She heard Setsuna ask through the telephone in her right hand. "Are you satisfied with your performances?"
"I made a few mistakes," Michiru confessed with an annoyed grimace at the kitchenette to her right. "But in general I feel that we were able to achieve great cohesion in the performance with the other musicians and our violin section performed with great passion and clarity. I'm very happy."
"Good. I'm happy for you. Did you eat?"
"Haha. So much for your interest in my performance," Michiru laughed before sipping her wine.
Sitting on the orange sofa of their Tokyo apartment, Setsuna smiled to herself at the remark.
"How unfair," The physics student chuckled. "I attended a few of your performances in the past. I simply have no interest in the specifics of your art."
"Don't I know it?" Michiru smiled.
The graceful greenette placed her glass on the small glass table to her left and checked the skirt of her sleeveless white dress for stains.
Her navy-blue jacket was starting to itch since she hadn't showered yet after the day's performance and she wriggled about to get it off.
"What did you have for dinner?" Setsuna repeated while her friend freed herself from her left sleeve.
"I did eat," Michiru said with a roll of her eyes. "After the performance, I had dinner with the violin section at La Baie.
We can go there tomorrow if you want. I highly recommend it.
I had a delicious wagyu beef tenderloin with asparagus and a chocolate merveilleux for dessert."
"Which means that your fellow performers dragged you out to dinner?"
"You would like to run to your hotel suite too if you had to deliver your most exquisite performance in a hot and crowded orchestra pit," Michiru reacted upon nestling her naked shoulders into the soft fabric of the gray sofa. "But I was glad they did invite me.
Sato-san is an informed and eloquent young woman and Aburaya-san is very considerate and always patient with Haruka's jealousy whenever we hang out with him."
Setsuna heard the amused giggle of her friend while her eyes wandered over the volumes in the bookcase to her right.
"Did Haruka call you?"
"Not yet. I asked her to wait until I called her. I wonder how she'll do tomorrow."
"She was quite excited to race on the Fuji Speedway," Setsuna remembered.
"She has been looking forward to going head-to-head with Cobbler-san all week. I expect my girlfriend to be very animated when I see her again tomorrow evening."
"You could have waited for her to collect you in Osaka after the race instead of me," Michiru's tall friend with the long dark-green hair told her.
"Yes. But I wanted to take you and Hotaru-chan, and Chibi-Usa-chan shopping in Osaka. It's been a while since the three of us spent time together. Is Hotaru-chan still up?"
"Hotaru-chan went to bed before I called. She and Small Lady had a study session here together and after dinner they went out to Shiba Park.
Small Lady said she was going to time Hotaru-chan's running there."
"Hotaru-chan is getting quite serious about running," Michiru chuckled. "It's good to see her enjoy her health like this. If she keeps improving her endurance I think Haruka will want to start training her."
"Hotaru-chan told me that some girls from the track and field club at her school expressed their interest in her today.
She isn't certain if she wants to join, however. She sees running mostly as a means to improve her endurance so she can perform better at other sports at school."
"We'll see," Michiru smiled. "I look forward to helping her find some cute outfits tomorrow."
"We certainly must take her on a tour of Dotonbori," A suddenly excited Setsuna nodded. "And the Horie District will be sure to please her."
"Hotaru-chan has been going a little astray with her sense of fashion I think," Michiru sighed. "I remarked about this to Tomoe-san. But he doesn't seem to notice that the girl is trying to find a new identity for herself."
"You cannot expect a man to understand these matters, Michiru-chan," Her older friend suavely advised. "Hotaru-chan is a young teenage girl whose body and mind have entered a period of great change and an expansion of choices. It shall fall to us to guide her through the labyrinth of possibilities before her.
That is why visiting Osaka's high-end boutiques for several stylish accessories and dresses is a must."
"Perhaps you should ask Minako-chan and Rei-chan along," Michiru wondered out loud. "Although we would be too large a party to shop effectively in that case."
"I agree. We must focus on taking Hotaru-chan and Small Lady on an educational journey as they stand on the threshold of their young adulthood.
We cannot do that if we have to stop for thirty minutes at each store because one girl can't decide what to buy and another tries to turn the store into a catwalk."
"Yes," Michiru sighed while cringing at the memory of an afternoon in Ginza with Setsuna and their two younger friends. "Better to invite them to Osaka on another occasion."
"So… You are sure I and our young friends can come and collect you at your hotel at eleven?" Setsuna asked Michiru.
"Yes," The violinist nodded while staring at the picturesque view from her window. "We can have brunch in the hotel lobby restaurant."
"Good idea. That way we can unwind from our train ride before we depart for the shopping districts. I'll see you tomorrow then. Tell Haruka-chan I wish her success at the race."
"I will. Have a nice evening and…"
"Are you sure she won't come to collect you instead of us?"
"Yes. Of course," Michiru frowned at the television in front of her at the interruption. "That's what we agreed upon."
"Oh. I know. But you will inform Hotaru-chan and me if you and Haruka-chan make other plans, will you?"
"Of course…" The woman with the curly shoulder-length green hair started before she noticed the slight snicker of her friend and what seemed like Hotaru's laughter in the distance.
Grinning in half-annoyance at the joke, Michiru inhaled deeply. They certainly weren't going to let her and Haruka off the hook anytime soon.
"Yes, Setsuna-san. I will inform you and Hotaru-chan if we make other plans. Good night to both of you. I wish you a comfortable journey."