Author's Note: Such kind words, Ahiko! Thank you. :-) I hope you enjoy this simpler chapter.
Salad Days
Chapter Nine
Aftermath
Their feet were in slow motion. Sora asked him to walk her home, but they were heading somewhere else.
"Yamato-kun, did you remember the place where we first hung out together?" she asked, cheerfully.
"The ice creamery near the music hall?" He remembered the day he bumped onto her while going home after band practice. She was sulking, her head bowed, as she carried a small box with her hand.
"Yeah, that one."
"Why? Do you want to go there?"
"Yeah.. I just feel like it."
And so they did, and ate ice cream there. She had chocolate while he had strawberry. Sora looked at him, noticing how quiet he had been since they left school. The first time they went here was the day Taichi gave her a hair clip, followed by his insult. Mimi had already left the country and there was no else to talk to about how insensitive Taichi was.
"I was crying because of Taichi," she blurted. He looked at her in confusion. "The first time we went here. I was crying because of Taichi." She added.
"So that's what it was about,"
"Yeah,"
"So.. he's the bloody git, huh," he smirked. She nodded and laughed with him.
"That was the time we became close," she continued, licking off of her cone. It was that very day that she talked about her mother, her estranged feelings for her father, her insecurities; while he shared his parents' divorce, his separation anxiety with Takeru, and his battle with constant loneliness. No one could have understood them the way each other did. That day, the dawn became night, and neither of them had noticed.
"Then some time after, you gave me your cookies before the concert,"
"Yeah. Though, you didn't really say anything when you took them,"
"I was surprised, I didn't know what to say,"
"At least you didn't reject me,"
"Why would I? I already liked you."
She smiles at him, takes him by the hand and runs off to somewhere. She led him to the very ground where she confessed. Both of them standing there, she smiles at him, she says: "Thank you for everything, I'm sorry for everything."
And she finally uttered what they both dreaded to hear.
It had been four days since Sora had ended things between them. She had called in Mimi and Hikari for a girls' only sleepover. It still felt unreal, that anytime she'd be expecting Yamato by her doorstep, asking her to take him back. Not anymore.
"Sora-chan!" yelled Mimi. The redhead got back to her own dimension.
"I'm sorry," she said, wiping the corner of her eyes. "I'm remembering things,"
"Well don't, you are way out of his league now," assured an unusually much more hyper Mimi, trying her best to make her feel better the only way she knew how. Sora appreciated their efforts, with Mimi having baked her favorite cupcakes and cooked her favorite pasta, while Hikari brought her the necessary amount of chocolate ice cream and her favorite junk food. "A man is not a man when he is too clingy!"
"Or moody," added Hikari. The two brunettes were hoping a reaction from her.
"You're spacing out again, Sora-chan," said Hikari. "We should watch something light, all these romantic movies Mi-chan brought are too sad!"
"No, no, no, Kari-chan," argued Mimi. "Tearjerker movies at this phase are the most effective way Sora-chan can move on. You just let it all out, dear!" she said, spoiling Sora.
"No, I'm okay, I don't feel like crying," said Sora. The two shot her a glare, not liking that she was in denial again. And so she let down her defenses, and cried in Mimi's arms. Mimi shots Hikari a look, with the same worried expression on their face. It was the fifth time Sora had cried today.
"So.. anyone want to watch Grave of the Fireflies?" suggested Hikari.
"But that's not romance," murmured Sora on Mimi's sleeve.
"Or tearjerking, Kari-chan," added Mimi, as she patted Sora at the back to calm her down
"Hmmmm. Takeru-kun said it will surely make us cry though.." The youngest of them searched for something more suiting from their collection. "Akai Ito?"
"Is that the movie version?" asked Sora, who was still sobbing.
"Yeah,"
"Ohhh this will be good," exclaimed Mimi, who was now reading the summary of the movie.
"Can I at least know why?" he croaked. He hated that she had picked to break up here – here – of all places.
"I'm not feeling like I'm myself anymore.."
"I'm burning out."
"I did love you with all I've got,"
She said them like bullets. And so did I, he thought. But I'm not the one giving up.. Though, today, he will no longer protest. He grips her hand tight, admitting his defeat.
All things that happened after that day were like blurry images in random colors. Ping!
Yamato snapped back from reminiscing. He got up from his bed, limped his way downstairs to answer the doorbell. It rang again. Ugh.. who the hell.. he opened the door, found his brother Takeru with a grocery bag. He welcomed himself in and sat on the sofa. Yamato closed the door.
"Where's dad?"
"Work,"
"Aniki! You look horrible." said Takeru, pointing at his brother's swollen eyes.
"Do I now? I don't care," he replied dryly, obviously feeling sick. "Why are you here? I told you already I'll be the one coming over,"
Takeru stared at him, ignoring his grumpy attitude. "That bad, huh,"
Yamato sighed, unable to mask the feelings written on his face. "Yeah."
He went to the kitchen to prepare Takeru his lunch. "Taichi-kun and I will be meeting later," he said.
"Oh.. I see. Can I come?"
"I'll ask him if you can,"
"Okay!"
"We don't have beef anymore so you should just deal with the pork," said Yamato, who was now defrosting the meat.
"I'm fine with anything, really." His older brother came back to the living room and sat beside him. He was still in his pyjamas. This was perhaps the first time Takeru couldn't say anything to help his brother. He didn't have any experience on such, or have had anyone shared their post-breakup problems with him yet. He did bring a few of his favorite snacks and some of his favorite beer, as Hikari had advised, but other than that, he was clueless.
"Check this out," said Yamato, as he handed him a piece of paper. Lyrics? thought Takeru.
Yamato sat on the other side of the living room, with his guitar on hand. He started to play. The younger brother had no words; his heart suddenly became heavy when his brother started to sing while tears fell from his eyes. This was one of the many firsts.
A few hours had passed and the room was absent of guitar sounds. After cooking and eating the lunch his brother was supposed to prepare, Takeru put over a blanket over Yamato's body. He seemed to have fallen asleep while writing songs, as Takeru took notice of the pen closed in his hand. He took the crumpled piece of paper on the floor, opened it. It wasn't a song, but a love letter that desperately asked for Sora to come back to him.
Sora had fallen asleep while watching the movie. Mimi and Hikari had just finished watching Akai Ito, leaving both girls crying their hearts out.
"I can't believe this," said Mimi. "Why did you make me watch this, Kari-chan,"
"I'm sor-hic-ry, I didn't –hic- know it was this sad, -hic-!" replied a sniffling Hikari.
"I can't believe this, Mei and Atsushi," cried Mimi. "they were definitely me and Yoshio,"
"Huh.. what.." the other brunette asked, surprised and confused as she blew her nose. "Who is Yoshio?"
"Yoshio, my ex from America,"
"You never told me you had an ex,"
"I think it was a Sid and Nancy kind of thing," breathed Mimi, as she hesitated to tell the young girl her tale. "I don't really know if you know them but—"
"I know them, Takeru-kun told me," interrupted Hikari. She was getting used to all the Western references Mimi and Takeru kept throwing in conversations. She paused for a while, thinking behind Mimi's words. She took it as a hint that it was a really abusive, rated-R kind of relationship. She didn't pry any longer and changed the focus, as the thought of it was already disturbing.
"Does my onii-chan know?"
"Yeah."
"How did he react?"
Mimi looked at Sora, relieved she was still asleep. "He didn't say anything. He just hugged me,"
They went silent for a while, now coming to realize they had to talk about Taichi and the surprising development of events.
"Can I be honest, Mi-chan?"
"What is it?"
"I don't really know what my brother's up to," she said, hesitating. "At first, I couldn't believe that he was really going after you," The older brunette breathed heavily and pushed herself back to lie down on the futon.
"I know," She stared at the ceiling. She knew the whole truth, as well as the half-truths.
"I don't know if he has really gotten over Sora-chan, or he's just trying to bounce back," said Hikari, as she glanced at Sora's sleeping figure. "But I do know he likes you, either way. And I hope you'd give him a chance – but at the same time, you'd be careful,"
"I know," repeated Mimi. It was the same warning and encouragement everyone had given her. She had no choice but to take them all. Whatever it was with Taichi, she'd find out the truth eventually. Sora had finally waken up, but remained motionless as she listened to their conversation.
"What about Koushiro-kun?" asked Hikari.
Mimi sighed. The time she confronted both of them, Koushiro had only patted her on the back, then left her and Taichi alone.
"I don't know. He didn't say anything.." she said. "He just left,"
"He left?"
"More like, walked away," she assumed he was really sad hearing it. In their classes they would still greet each other as usual, talk about trivial things, but since the day she told her secret, he had remained consistently absent at lunch time with everyone.
"Ahhh. We're becoming a little gloom! Let's get this heavy atmosphere out of us, how are you and Takeru-kun?" asked Mimi, forcing a smile.
"I don't know. We're just friends," she replied sheepishly as she hugged a pillow.
"It's quite odd because it's just you and him together most of the time," argued Mimi as she sat up.
"I know. But.. I kind of don't want to read into things," she replied. "He's complicated to understand,"
Takeru? Complicated? If Takeru was anything, despite his knack for being cultured, was still a boy. A very stereotypical boy, thought Mimi. She wondered how Takeru could be like that, having to live with his mother all throughout his life. And there's Ishida to guide him, she thought.
"What do you guys do anyway? When you're together?"
"I don't really know.. we talk?"
"Talk?"
"Yeah. Movies.. stuff.. everything.."
"Don't you guys ever run out of things to talk about?"
"Not on my experience," she giggled. "He's always thinking about something,"
"Do you like him?" asked Mimi, despite already knowing the answer.
"I do," she said without hesitation. "But I don't know if I'd really want him as a boyfriend,"
"Why?"
"Chivalry is dead," answered Hikari. Whatever she and Takeru were, she realized it would be best for her not to think too much about it, having her expectations disappoint her several times.
Mimi scrunched her eyebrows, confused. "What on earth are you talking about? All these metaphors.. you're starting to sound like him."
Hikari just giggled. She excused herself to go to the kitchen and bring in the brownies. Mimi glanced at Sora.
"I know you're awake, Sora-chan," called out Mimi. The blanket-wrapped figure squirmed as she took off part of the sheet covering her face. She was crying again. The brunette felt heartbroken, unable to say anything comforting.
"You can tell me what you're thinking," she said.
"I wonder if I really did love Yamato," the heart-wrenched girl muffled.
"What are you saying.. you loved him more than he'll ever feel love in his entire life," but Sora knew Mimi was exaggerating just to make her feel better.
"Maybe I should take back what I said, you know? I was just being selfish, I didn't want to break up.. we could still work it out,"
Mimi watched the redhead desperately look for her phone, saddened. She had already seen this coming; that Sora would try to patch things up again with Yamato. She saw Hikari peeping from the kitchen, mouthing that the phone is with her.
Mimi continued to watch Sora ramble and sob. She felt much more convinced not to get hurt anymore by a careless romance – and definitely not by Taichi, or Koushiro.
"I'm sorry, Taichi-kun, aniki fell asleep," apologized Takeru. Taichi had come visited his brother, after realizing Yamato had already ditched him at the train station for two hours.
"It's okay. I wished he bothered picking up his phone though. People thought I was a loony homosexual," ranted Taichi. He was aware that people get scared of him when his face becomes obviously angry. Having to mention Yamato's name several times made him sound like a clingy boyfriend.
"How's he taking it?"
The younger blonde pointed at the pieces of paper scattered on the table. Taichi sighed and sat on the sofa.
"Kari-chan told me that she and Mimi-chan are at Sora's. I was supposed to take Yamato to a bar so we could drink but.." he opened his rucksack to bring out the video game Yamato had been wanting last year. "I'm not really sure how to do this right, Kari said I should bring stuff he likes to make him feel better,"
"Me neither," agreed Takeru, looking at the grocery bag he brought. "I've never seen him this depressed since our parents' divorce," he sat beside Taichi. An awkward silent fell between the two.
"Are you and Kari-chan dating?"
"No."
He looked at Takeru, surprised at his very flat reply. He didn't buy it, and ought to test him.
"I think she likes you,"
"No, I don't think so, Tai-kun,"
Hmm. Something's wrong, he thought. "Well I think she does and I think you should go after her,"
Takeru sighed. Oh, how I wish you were right. The last time they were together, she was being overly friendly with Daisuke. Since then, he tagged along with them. And here I thought, she didn't like the attention.
"It's nothing like that, Tai-kun,"
"You're unbelievable, I'm already giving my blessing!" Maybe my sister's not attractive anymore? He guessed. What could she have done to be such an unlikable woman?!
The blond chuckled, thought it was time to turn the tables. "So.. how are you and Mimi-chan?"
"You're changing the subject, aren't you?" he was blushing.
"Yeah."
"There's nothing between us."
"A week ago you said you're ready to make your moves,"
"I wish," snickered Taichi. Having to find out Mimi's past in New York made him hesitant. It felt as if he wasn't ready to hurt her – and he wasn't ready to get hurt by her either. Mimi had gone through things that even he had no experience or knowledge about, and this new development with Yamato and Sora had made him more confused, feeling as if he wasted all the times he was brave enough to let Sora go.
"It's Mimi-chan, just be honest with her," assured Takeru, giving him a pat on the back. When Taichi made no response, he decided to put out the bait. "Unless you're going to become a turncoat and go after Sora-chan," he said in a playful manner.
"Huh? Of course not," he swiftly replied. But the thought had been in his mind since Yamato had told him, and he couldn't deny Takeru was right.
"Taichi-kun," Yamato was already awake, but his eyes still shut.
"Yamato-kun,"
The heartbroken Yamato opened his eyes. Taichi held back his laughter not to laugh at Yamato's reddened face.
"We're going to drink, right?"
"Yeah.." he said. "Here's something to cheer you up," he threw Yamato the video game at his direction.
Yamato made a small smile as he caught his very own copy of Civilization: Beyond Earth. The little effort from Taichi managed to make him feel a bit better. "Maybe I should just become gay,"
The two brothers laughed as Taichi flipped his finger at him.
"Okay. Just let me prepare." He stood up and went upstairs to fix himself. Taichi heard Yamato rant that he needed a shave and a haircut; but also telling him how good he is now that he can start writing songs again and make it big.
Taichi sighed, ran a hand through his hair, wishing that giving up his feelings for Sora in the first place was not absolutely in vain.