Chapter 8 – Secret Feelings & Life-Changes
Himawari's POV
"Okay. So what should we have for Akari's birthday party?" Yui asked as we sat in the student council room. We had gathered together to start planning for Akari's birthday party with things that might (hopefully) cheer her up a bit.
"How about we take her out for a birthday dinner?" Ayano asked.
"With what money?" Aoi said. "All of us are poor AF right now and we're not old enough to get part-time jobs."
"Well, maybe Rise-senpai can pay for it."
"Rise doesn't have a job, either." Sachiko said. "I mean…how could she when very few people can hear her."
"Oh, yeah…" We all gained huge sweatdrops.
"And besides…taking Akari out anywhere now would just be a bad idea." Chitose said.
"Huh? Why?" Yui asked.
"Well, because a couple days ago...I ran into Akari at the shopping district."
"Y-You saw Akari?!" Chinastu yelled in a frantic fit.
"What was she doing there?" I asked.
"Picking up throat medicine."
"Throat medicine? She came out of her house after DAYS of being M.I.A just for that?"
"She said that she's been crying so much since she fell down the stairs that day at school that her voice cracked. And she came outside to get some. She was wearing a black hoodie over her head due to her being a HUGE anthrophobic."
"A what?"
"Meaning that she has a fear of other people."
"N-No way…" Ayano said.
"So now Akari's depressed AND basically a hermit?" Sachiko asked. "This just got harder..."
"Damn it! My best friend just keeps getting more miserable and I don't know how to help! I'm such a horrible friend! WAAAAAHH!" Chinastu started crying because she still blames herself a little for what Akari's been through lately.
"Chinastu, stop saying that! You're not a horrible friend! None of us are!" Yui said.
"Yui's right." Chitose agreed. "We really shouldn't be blaming anyone for this. What we need to do is help our friend the best that we can."
"Yeah, what Chitose said."
...
...
...
"*sniff* Th-Thanks, you guys." Chinatsu said as she wiped her tears from her face.
Wow, that actually calmed her down...
"You know, it's weird not having you spit out lesbian stuff every 5 seconds." Aoi said to Chitose.
"Wh-Who do you take me for, Aoi?! When it comes to my friends, I'm there to help until the very end! Nothing else matters!"
"Wow...that's...actually impressive, Chitose."
"Plus, it's not every 5 seconds. It's every 2.5 seconds. I'm the fastest yuri thinker in all of Japan! Hahahahaha!"
Well, that was expected...
"And there goes what little admiration I had for you..." Aoi said with a huge sweatdrop.
"A-Anyway..." Yui continued. "...does anyone have any other ideas?"
"Well, if going outside is not an option, then why don't we just stay at her house?" I suggested.
"You mean like a sleepover?" Hiro asked.
"Well…maybe. Do you want to make it a sleepover?"
"Well, I…"
"I WANT TO MAKE IT A SLEEPOVER! I WANNA BE WITH AKARI AND COMFORT HER AND LET HER KNOW THAT THE WORLD CAN SUCK IT!" Chinastu suddenly shouted out of nowhere. When she finished, she was completely out of breath.
"Chinastu. Calm down." Yui said.
I guess she's still blaming herself...
"I don't know…I've never been to Akari's house before." Ayano said. "What's her sister like?"
"She's…caring. A bit too much sometimes, but she's caring."
"What do you mean by that?"
"L-Look, Ayano. That's not important right now. Are you coming or not?"
"That sounds suspicious as hell, but...alright, fine. I'll come and stay over." Ayano looked like she still had doubts. Especially since Yui dodged her question about Akari's older sister.
Come to think of it, I'm rarely around Akane myself. Should I be worried?
"I'll come too." Chitose added. "I want to help Akari feel better in any way I can."
"You sure it won't involve some kind of lesbian foreplay?" Aoi asked.
"Aoi, don't fuel her dirty-as-hell mind." Hiro said.
"You know, I'm sitting right here and the stuff you guys are saying really hurts..." Chitose said with an exasperated look.
"You're coming too, right Himawari?" Yui asked me.
"Uh, well…I'll have to make sure my little sister will be okay, first."
"Fair enough. So then everyone's coming, right?"
"Yep."
"Yep."
"Yep."
"Yep."
"I'll pass."
These words came from Sakurako, who hasn't said a word before this point in time. We were all shocked at what was basically the only thing she's said all day.
"Huh?! Why the hell not, Sakurako?!" Chinastu asked, sounding a little pissed.
"I'm just not in the mood."
"Not in the mood?! Throwing the party for Akari was YOUR idea!" I yelled at her.
"Well, you can do it without me! I'm too busy with something!"
"Too busy?! With what?! Your lazy ass doesn't do anything whether it's here with student council work or at home with your homework!"
"Uh, guys…" Yui tried to intervene, but neither one of us heard her.
"I'm just busy, okay?! Lay off!"
"Lay off?! How the hell can I when you're basically just bailing on Akari! You're always too damn selfish and always thinking about yourself only! Some friend you are!"
"I'M NOT BAILING ON AKARI! I'M JUST AS WORRIED AS THE REST OF YOU!"
"IF YOU'RE SO WORRIED, THEN HOW COME YOU REFUSING TO SHOW UP AND HELP HER?! SOUNDS LIKE A CRAPPY FRIEND TO ME!"
"Guys…" Yui tried again to intervene, but it was the same outcome.
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"
"THEN WHAT, SAKURAKO?! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE YOUR EXCUSE THIS TIME?!"
"BECAUSE...b-because...b-because..." Sakurako suddenly began sinking back down to her seat while trying to look away from me. Which only got me angrier.
Another trick to avoid the question! Well, I'm not falling for it this time!
"BECAUSE WHAT?! QUIT WASTING OUR TIME AND SPIT IT OUT ALREADY! YOU SORRY EXCUSE OF A FRIEND!"
"H-Himawari!" Ayano yelled in a panicked fit. "I-I really don't think you should..."
"I love her..."
"HUH?!" I yelled back at Sakurako, who was mumbling to herself.
"B-Because...I-I love her..."
"SPEAK UP, DAMNIT! WE'RE NOT IN THE MOOD FOR ONE OF YOUR STUPID JOKES!"
"H-Himawari, you really shouldn't..." Now it was Hiro trying to calm me down. But before she could finish her sentence...Sakurako shot up from her chair, grabbed me by my shirt collar, pulled it toward her face, and yelled out with all her might:
"B-Because...B-Because...BECAUSE I FUCKING LOVE HER!"
...
...
...
"Wh-What?" I asked as I broke the dead silence that filled the room.
"I said I love Akari! I'm madly in love with her! It's been that way since the day we met! There! Are you happy now, Himawari?!" Sakurako had full tears running down her eyes. She was actually crying. I haven't seen her cry since we were kids.
Damn. She must've really wanted to keep that a secret, huh? Now, I feel horrible for forcing it out of her like that.
"S-Sakurako…I had no idea you felt this way for Akari." Chinastu said.
"And you weren't supposed to know." Sakurako replied as she had finally let go of me. "But thanks to Boob-chan Ace Attorney over here pissing me off more than usual, I didn't have a choice."
I'm going to let the "Boob-chan" thing slide this time...
"Look...Sakurako." I said. Feeling guilty about this whole thing. "I'm sorry for making you admit your love for Akari...but your feelings for her shouldn't be an excuse to not help cure her of her depression."
"And her anthrophobia." Chitose added.
"And that."
"Wh-What do you know? You've never been in love before!"
Well...sh-she's kinda right...
"A-And besides…m-my feelings might actually be a hurdle for this."
"How?" Yui asked.
Sakurako started blushing (another rare sight for me) as she looked down at the floor. She twirled her two index fingers together and had a look of embarrassment on her face.
"W-Well…y-you see, I-I kinda…a-already told Akari."
…
…
...
"YOU DID WHAT?!" We all yelled.
"I'm sorry, okay?! I ran into her and Chitose at the shopping district yesterday and I took Akari to the arcade when she said she just wanted to go home. We were having fun until these two high school boys came along. They bullied Akari until she cried and I...sh-shoved my foot into one of the guy's...baloney pony."
"*snicker* Boloney pony..." Yui and Ayano then started snickering in an attempt to hold in their laughter.
"Seriously, you two?" Hiro retorted.
"S-Sorry..." Yui said.
"Pl-Please continue...S-Sakurako...*chuckle*" Ayano added.
They were doing a bad job at it.
"Anyway...it was when I brought her home that I confessed to her. And I haven't seen her since."
"So, that's the issue." I said. "Well, you're going to have to see Akari sooner or later."
"I know, but…when I told her, I ran off and didn't even wait for a response. I have no idea if she feels the same way, or even swings that way."
"Well, of course, she swings that way."
"Huh?" We all turned to Chitose.
"I mean…it's called Yuru Yuri for a reason. Why wouldn't all of us be into girls with a name like that?"
"Well...yeah, you have a point." I said. "But even still..."
"Uh...hey. I'm not gay." Sachiko said.
"Neither am I." Hiro added.
"I'm totally into a boy's hairy canary." Aoi said.
"*snicker* Hairy canary..."
"Will you two grow up..." I retorted to Yui and Ayano as they were holding their laughs again.
"My point is, Sakurako...you still have a chance to tell Akari how you feel." Chitose continued.
…
...
...
"…Y-Yeah, I guess I do." Sakurako said with a faint blush on her face.
"So, does that mean you're coming along with us?" I asked.
"Y-Yeah, sure...wh-whatever. I-I just...want to see Akari."
"Great. So, that makes all nine of us then." Yui said.
"Nine of us for what?" A voice said as the door slid open. When we saw who that voice belong to, we were mildly surprised.
"K-Kyoko?! Y-You're back?!" Ayano stuttered.
"Yeah...I took most of last week off. Today was when I finally convinced myself to come to school."
"I see. Well, it's good to have you back."
"I'm not happy about it..."
*JAB*
"Ow!" Sakurako yelled after Hiro elbowed her in the arm.
I guess she still doesn't forgive Kyoko for what happened to Akari...
"Thanks, Ayano…but I think Chitose's more glad than everyone else here." Kyoko then pointed to Chitose, who was bleeding from her nose uncontrollably with a somewhat perverted look on her face.
"Goddamnit, Chitose!" Ayano yelled as she grabbed a tissue pack from her pocket and gave it to her.
"Thank you, Ayano-sama~. Hahahahaha~!" Chitose said while wiping her nose. Ayano then facepalmed hard. Embarrassed of how perverted her best friend is."
"So, what's going on here?" Kyoko asked.
"We were planning a party to celebrate Akari's birthday in hopes of cheering her up." Yui explained.
"It might even be a sleepover at her house." Chinastu added.
"Her birthday...oh, yeah. It's coming up, isn't it? Feels like a while since I've actually celebrated it with her."
A while?
"Do you want to come with us?" Yui asked.
Kyoko didn't answer right away. She instead started blushing like how Sakurako did before.
"Y-Yeah, sure...wh-whatever. I-I just...want to see Akari." She even gave the same response.
Weird...
"Great. So, that's all ten of us. Eleven once we tell Rise-senpai."
"YES! NOW WE CAN ALL SHOWER AKARI WITH APPRECIATION AND VALUE FOR HER LIFE AND COMFORT HER TOGETHER!" Chinastu shouted.
Still blaming herself...
"So, not only are you a pathetic pedophile but you're also a massive liar? God, I can't stand you, Pinky."
It was then that we heard another voice and turned towards the door to see another familiar face. One that…a good chunk of us don't really like.
"K-Kuuko?!" Chinatsu yelled in a terrified tone. The events of what happened the first time they met still being traumatizing her.
"Shiranui-san, did you sneak into the school AGAIN?!" Ayano yelled in frustration. "We keep telling you that's against school rules!"
"Hmph. As if I intend to follow the rules of this hellhole of a school."
"You better if you don't want to get arrested." Hiro said.
"Why are you even here, Kuuko?" Yui asked. "Akari didn't come to school today."
"I already know that, dipshit. I only came here to grab her missed homework. But then I overheard this "party" of yours in an attempt to cheer Akari up. The lot of you got some nerve to be trying to fix this mess you all caused on her."
"Wh-What are you talking about?" Chitose asked. "We're doing this because we're her friends!"
"Friends? BULLSHIT! Friends don't ignore and forget each other on a daily basis! Friends don't make up some stupid excuse like "you have no presence"! And especially friends don't ask each other to go along with a lie about losing their virginity!"
"But that one was true, though." Sakurako said with a cocky smirk on her face. "You letting your jealousy show on that, Kuuko? *giggle*"
"Don't screw with me, Blondie. I know full well that you made up such a thing just to piss off Cow Tits over there."
C-Cow Tits?! I grew highly offended by that "nickname".
"What's your point, Kuuko?" Sachiko asked.
"My point is…all of you believe that you're Akari's friends. But not a single one of you has done anything that proves such a thing. You're just as petty and evil as the bullies who torment her! And for that, I despise you all!"
"Tch! Well, don't you have a lot of nerve! Coming in here and telling us we're bad friends! Who the hell do you think you are, you little…"
"Stop it, Aoi." Kyoko said to her.
"Huh? Why should I? She's the one running her mouth!"
"Because as much as it PAINS me to say this…Kuuko's right."
"H-Huh?!" We all reacted hard to what she just said.
"Kyoko…you're seriously agreeing with KUUKO of all people?" Yui asked. "Did that therapist break a few of your screws or something?"
"Honestly, yes. But that's not the reason why I think this. What I mean is…whether we've noticed it or not, we've all treated Akari like crap at some point in our lives. And then brushed it off as part of that "no presence" gag we've forced on her. Don't any of you deny it. You know it's true."
…
…
…
"W-Well…yeah. It's true that I've been a little cruel towards Akari…" Yui said after the whole room went silent.
"I've been pushing her aside to focus on my own goals…" Chinatsu said.
"I…don't really hang out with her unless Kyoko's around…" Ayano admitted.
"And I really only associate her with handing me tissues…" Chitose added.
"I spend more time arguing with Sakurako than actually being a friends towards Akari…" I said.
"Y-Yeah…same here…" Sakurako added. Looking more guilty than she did a few minutes ago.
First time we've agreed on something in a while…
"I've been more focused on the Baking Club than Akari…" Sachiko said.
"The same for us with the Doujin Club…" Hiro added.
"W-We're…not as good friends as we thought we were, huh?" Aoi asked with a good amount of guilt.
"No. You're not." Kuuko said.
"You're not a saint here either, Kuuko." Kyoko said to her.
"Wh-Wha?! The hell are you talking about?!"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! Those incestuous feelings you had for your own damn cousin! You cared more about having her virginity than being an actual role model for her! Not to mention all of that crap you told her about "fate being unavoidable". You're as much to blame for Akari's current mood as the rest of us!"
"Tch!" Kuuko went dead silent on us as she turned to face away from Kyoko. Popping some kind of pill in her mouth before turning back towards us.
"I…I-I can't…deny that." She finally spoke again.
"Look, I understand where all of you are coming from. We all hate seeing Akari like this and want to help her. But if we're truly gonna help her with this sudden change in her life…then we gotta do some fixing of our own lives. No more living in this slice-of-life "happy go-lily" world we've all gone accustomed to. It's time for us to grow up and accept what life really is.
Only then…can all of us be truly happy."
…
…
…
"W-Wow…Kyoko…" Yui said in shock.
"Th-That was deep…" Hiro said in the same tone.
"I never thought I would hear something like that from you, Kyoko." I said.
"Might be the only sensical thing you've said in all my time knowing you." Kuuko said.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Kyoko retorted with a sweatdrop.
"Fix our own lives, huh?" Ayano said while thinking to herself. "To be honest, it's been something I've been wanting to do for a while."
And with the rest of us agreeing to that statement to some extent, it'll definitely be something to think about more.
Fix my own life? I do admit that mine is definitely filled with stereotypical flaws…but what could I do to change it?
…
I guess…I could finally go for THAT dream…
"So, with that being said…we should probably rethink this party for Akari a little, huh?" Chitose asked.
"Yeah, definitely." Chinatsu said. "But one thing's for sure…we WILL make Akari happy again! We'll pummel her with so much love she wouldn't know what to do with it! AND THEN SHE'LL BE HAPPY FOREVER!"
"That sounds like an assault…" Sakurako said with a sweatdrop.
"Seriously, Chinastu. You really need to act more mature about this." Yui told her.
"Well, that's highly hypocritical of you, Yui." Sachiko said. "This coming from the girl who nearly laughed her ass off when Sakurako and Aoi made references to a boy's purple-headed yogurt slinger."
"Pfft! PURPLE-HEADED YOGURT SLINGER! BAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" It was at this point that Yui and Ayano had completely lost it and were laughing as hard as they could. Their sense of humor (and maturity) being questioned by everyone else in the room.
"Okay, really...where are you guys getting these euphemisms for penis?" Hiro asked the trio who started this joke.
"Wikipedia. There's like a whole page of them." Aoi said.
"There are even obscure ones like "custard launcher", "jade stalk", and "Master John Goodfellow"." Sachiko added.
"Pfft! *hysterical laughter* How the hell did I miss that one?!" Sakurako yelled as she erupted into laughter herself.
Well, she's clearly feeling better…
"I feel sorry for whoever that guy is..." Hiro gained a sweatdrop.
Author's Note: It started out as a plan to cheer up Akari on her birthday. But accusations from Kuuko and a deep rant from Kyoko made everyone realize that they can do better. In their friendship with Akari…and with their lives as a whole.
I originally intended to leave this chapter as is after it was edited a while back. But decided to add some more stuff to it. And also remove some things, too. Kyoko having romantic feelings for Akari is something that going to be scrapped here. If any of you remember from the original version of Akari's Depression.
So, the next chapter might take a little longer to be posted. As this chapter was the last one I edited before I decided to do this rewrite merger story. So, it's going to require a little more work than what's been seen so far.
Thanks for reading. Later.