The door slowly opened, great care taken so that it didn’t make a single sound, and with soft tiptoes the girl slipped out from her room, gently and methodically taking each step as though she were balancing on a fragile line. With a glance that lasted longer than intended, the girl stared openly at the closed-off room adjacent to her own, and was cast into confusion once again. Shaking her head violently, she attempted to rid her mind of the tumultuous thoughts, and resumed her creeping down the hallway. It was six in the morning, hours before she would normally wake, but Suzuka found that sleep wasn’t nearly as restful as it should have been. The previous evening had been hard enough, when she’d been constantly analyzing her every motion and word, and when she could barely look at her best friend without second-guessing herself. What made everything worse, though, was the dream she’d had that morning, the one that she’d woken to with a cold sweat and a racing heart – the one that confirmed her conflicted feelings. Too scared to even confront her emotions, too scared to face Arisa, she ran. Taking only a few minutes to write a quick note, Suzuka slipped out through the front door.
Life goes on
Chapter 4
“I think I did something bad…”
“So what else is new?”
“I mean something
really bad.”
It was just past one in the afternoon, the lunchtime rush had just died down, and Reika and Arisa were both slumped down at the restaurant’s bar taking well deserved breaks, dead tired after running from table to table for the last two hours. The redhead looked like she was trying to get some much needed shut-eye, with her head buried in her arms on the counter. Arisa, on the other hand, looked like she was on the verge of both panic and serious depression as she repeatedly punched the keys on her cellphone without much success.
“And you think this because…?”
“Suzuka left early this morning, and she left a note saying she was staying at a friend’s place. Her cellphone’s off too…”
“Pft, that’s it? Doesn’t mean you screwed up, she could just be…okay, yeah, it probably means you screwed up.”
“She wouldn’t talk to me last night either…”
The redhead finally popped her head up, looking mildly surprised. “Wait, let me get this straight: Suzuka was avoiding
you, she woke up
early on her
own, and left because she was
mad at you?”
She spun around on her stool, looking back and forth out the restaurant windows as if she was searching for something.
“What the heck are you doing?” Arisa asked, thinking that she probably didn’t want to know.
“Looking for the fire and brimstone that’s supposed to be raining down.”
Reika burst out into laughter at Arisa’s angry expression, and in another few seconds the blonde would probably have started throwing heavy objects if it weren’t for the interruption of a cellphone ring. Automatically Arisa’s eyes shot down to the device in her hand, but she was greatly disappointed when she realized the call wasn’t for her. Reika, on the other hand, took a much more leisurely pace at answering her own phone.
“Yo!...Hey, Takumi, what’s up?...Arisa? Yeah, she’s here, you want to talk to…Suzuka? No, Arisa said she……She did what?......YOU SAID WHAT?!”
The redhead nearly fell out of her seat as she listened through the phone, her eyes widening rapidly in surprise as Takumi started explaining on the other side. She cast repeated glances over at the blonde beside her, who was now trying to edge close enough to listen, having heard Suzuka’s name. Scooting away to a safe distance, she started to talk in a low, irritated tone.
“Are you an idiot?! You can’t just go and say
that…...You bet your ass you’re getting over here!”
Angrily she snapped her phone shut and then immediately slammed her forehead down into the counter in frustration.
“What was that about?” Arisa demanded, with an expression that said she wouldn’t accept anything but a straight answer.
Reika slowly turned her head towards the blonde, a slight twitch in the corner of her eye. The last thing she wanted to do now was speak with Arisa, but that seemed a little impossible to avoid.
“So…funny story…”
---
“Sorry to intrude on you like this, Hasegawa-senpai.”
“It’s nothing, really. Anything to help out a friend in need, right?”
It was close to four in the afternoon already, and Suzuka had just gotten off of work, though in truth she wasn’t sure how much work she’d actually done that day. Not sure where to go, just knowing that she didn’t want to go back to the apartment, she’d impulsively called up her swimming senpai and asked if she could stay over for the night. Hasegawa had been a little taken aback by the sudden request, of course, but had agreed without too much hesitation. So, after some quick directions and a half-hour wait, Suzuka had arrived at her doorstep with only the clothes on her back and a seriously troubled expression on her face. The older girl had quickly let her into the house, leading her to the living room where they were currently sitting, facing one another. Suzuka seemed distracted, and would fidget occasionally, while Hasegawa seemed to be feeling awkward, to say the least, not knowing how far she should pry. It wasn’t like they were that close, other than being on the swim team together.
“Your parents won’t mind if I stay here?” Suzuka asked suddenly, as she tried to pull herself back into the present.
“They’re out of town for the weekend. Anniversary or something, I have a tough time keeping track,” Hasegawa answered, fiddling with her dark brown bangs as she wondered what was going on.
“That’s nice,” Suzuka said, a little absentmindedly.
“I think I’ll go make some tea,” Hasegawa said as she tried to figure out how she was going to play therapist. Suzuka didn’t seem to be listening, nor did she notice when the older girl stood and walked off to the kitchen.
When Hasegawa finally came back a good fifteen minutes later, Suzuka looked exactly as she had been when she’d left, still troubled and fidgety. Sighing, the brunette placed both cups onto the table, sliding one in front of the dreary looking girl.
“Careful, it’s still ho -” she hadn’t even finished her warning when Suzuka picked up the cup, drinking nearly a quarter of the piping hot liquid without even batting an eyelash. The brunette could only stare with her mouth hanging open. “Okay, that was just plain creepy.”
The purple-haired girl turned her head a little, like she had only just realized that her senpai was in the same room. “Sorry, did you say something?”
“Yeah, enough’s enough already. I can’t stand this psychotherapy crap, and something obviously got your head tied up in knots, so spill already.”
“It’s nothing…” Suzuka started, but a glare from the older girl told her that excuses weren’t going to work, “Well, it’s a little personal.”
“Well, keeping it in definitely isn’t doing you any good. Besides, considering that you called me up out of the blue, the least you could do is humour me.”
Suzuka opened her mouth, but changed her mind; it was still a delicate subject, and she wasn’t entirely certain of herself. Hasegawa seemed to sense this as well, as she just sighed and fell backwards so she could lie on the floor, rubbing at her eyes tiredly.
“Look, I’m not going to force it out of you or anything, but – “
“I’m in love with my best friend.”
The brunette stopped her movement as the words were processed, and she slowly pushed herself back up.
“Wait…so it
is boy problems?”
“Not exactly,” Suzuka answered, a tired smile playing onto her lips. Hasegawa thought the situation over, a little relieved that all she had to deal with was a bit of lovesickness.
“So, I guess you got rejected then?”
“No,” Suzuka said, morosely staring down at the tea leaves floating in her cup. She giggled slightly, though it sounded like a half sob. “It might be easier if I did. I don’t even know if I can bring myself to tell her…”
“Her?” Hasegawa said, raising an eyebrow. She skimmed through her memory, trying to figure out who ‘her’ was referring to. One particular face came to mind, and the brunette started to laugh. “The loud, blonde girl?”
“Arisa,” Suzuka said with a broad smile, finally seeming focused and attentive.
“Interesting choice of love interests,” the brunette said. From what she’d seen of the girl, which wasn’t much, she was a polar opposite of Suzuka.
“We’ve known each other since we were little.”
“Childhood friends then, guess that makes sense.”
“Mmm...Arisa’s always been there, looking out for me,” Suzuka said. She suddenly started to giggle brightly as she remembered an old memory. “There was this time in middle school…”
---
“Are you going to tell me or not?” Arisa demanded, looking more impatient than she’d been in her life – which was really saying a lot. Takumi and Reika were opposite her, all three seated in the corner booth of a fast-food joint. The redhead looked completely exhausted, having spent the last few hours of her shift at the restaurant doing her best to skilfully dodge Arisa’s questions. Considering the blonde’s persistence, it had turned out to be a task that had nearly driven her insane. With an irritated growl, Reika took a long sip from her drink as she nudged the boy beside her, getting him to talk.
“Look, uh, it’s really not a big deal. Suzuka just had some problems that needed taking care of,” Takumi tried, though he didn’t seem too hopeful.
“Then why didn’t she tell
me about it?”
‘Because you’re the one that she’s worrying about, you dolt,’ Reika thought. She couldn’t believe Takumi had gone and blurted the whole deal out like that – he was supposed to be the subtle one here, after all. Sure, it was freaking obvious that the two girls were head over heels in love with each other, despite being completely clueless about it, but he wasn’t supposed to just come out and
say it.
“Look, Suzuka’ll be fine, she just got some junk on her mind,” she stated plainly. Arisa looked like she was going to protest again, but the redhead quickly cut her off, “I know it’s hard for you to accept, but she’s a big girl now. I know you like being her knight in shining armour, but she can take care of herself.”
Arisa looked completely indignant. “What’s that supposed to –“
“I mean, face it,” Reika continued, cutting the blonde girl off again, “Sooner or later she’s gonna go and find herself a nice boyfriend, and then she’ll spending a lot less time with us chumps.”
The girl was beside herself now, repeatedly trying to get a few words in, but Takumi stepped in this time, clueing in to what the older girl was trying to do.
“You barely see her school as it is; you’re in completely different courses, different sides of the campus too. Graduation isn’t that far either, and then you two won’t even be going to the same place anymore.”
Reika took the hand-off again, keeping the pace up.
“And another few years down the road she’s gonna have her own life, you know? I mean, it’s not like you guys’ll be roomies forever. She’ll probably be living off in whole different city and then you won’t even see each other everyday anymore. I mean, you guys are best friends forever and all that crap, so you’ll probably keep in touch, visit every month, have some nice chats, you know, what friends usually do when they grow up.”
Arisa was completely flustered now as she tried to deal with everything the two were mercilessly ramming into her head. The best she could do was stammer out a few half sentences.
“What are you – I mean, so what if – that’s just –“
“That is all you guys are, right? Just friends?” the redhead finished.
“Of course we’re – What’s that supposed to – What else would – J-just shut up!” Arisa finally managed to blurt out, and she jumped to her feet, storming out of the building while growling repeatedly under her breath. Reika managed to hold herself back until the blonde was well out of earshot before she finally threw her head back, cackling madly.
“Damn I’m good!” she managed to say between laughs. Takumi couldn’t help but chuckle along with her – Arisa’s reaction had been fairly priceless.
“Okay, I have to admit, that was impressive,” he said, taking a bite from his previously forgotten fries, “of course, Arisa’s the only one in the world that would have worked on. So, you think it did the trick?”
The redhead finally managed to settle down, and sprawled herself out onto the table with a sudden weariness. “If it didn’t, we’re taking those two and locking them in a storage closet together. No way I’m play matchmaker like this again.”
They sat for a few more minutes in silence, picking away at their food, before Reika finally spoke again. “You know, you totally owe me. I don’t clean up messes for free.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll buy you dinner,” Takumi said with a grin.
“Damn straight. And not that cheap crap, you hear me?”
Hasegawa smiled to herself as she sat watching the evening news. It took a bit, but Suzuka had finally loosened up and stopped worrying herself to death. Of course, once the girl had started on the stories about Arisa, it was like the floodgates had broken wide open. She talked for hours without stopping, and all the brunette did was give a little prod here and there just to keep the girl going. She definitely had it bad, that much was obvious, and at now it looked like she wouldn’t be going insane from doubting her feelings anymore, which was definitely a plus. Turning her head slightly so she could listen over her shoulder, Hasegawa heard Suzuka talking softly over the phone.
“Hi, Takumi-kun, it’s Suzuka…Yeah, I’m fine…No, really, I’m okay…Is Arisa there?...No, that’s fine, just tell her I’m doing alright…Yeah…I’m over at a friends, I’ll be staying the night…”
All in all it had been a fairly eventful evening, to say the least, and if even half of the stories she’d heard were true the brunette was pretty sure the whole mess would be cleared up long before the next swim meet. Smiling when she thought about, Hasegawa wondered how it was possible for two people to be so dense for so long.
---
Arisa was slumped in the couch and staring up at the ceiling, having somehow made it all the way back to the apartment –
their apartment – despite being hit with the mental equivalent of a sledgehammer. Over and over again she ran things through her head, though all that managed to do was get her more and more frustrated each time. What did they know anyway? So what if that was what happened to everyone else, it didn’t mean they would turn out like that too – did it? This was Suzuka they were talking about, the girl that had been with her since forever, the one person that had always been by her side, so how could that be lost so easily? Best friends barely scratched the surface of what they had; they were like family, like sisters, like…like…
The more Arisa thought, the clearer everything became. Without a doubt she didn’t want Suzuka to slip away from her, and she refused to let that happen. After all, she was…she was important to her.