Tangent
There was a glass of water and two aspirins sitting on the table beside Minako when she woke up. It took a moment for her brain functions to start up and a moment longer to recognise where she was. She sat up and looked around Rei’s empty room. The sun was well up and Rei was nowhere to be seen, which probably meant she was out sweeping or cleaning the shrine room.
Minako relaxed. A window was open and a warm breeze was passing through the room. She considered the aspirin but her hangover was a very mild one and required only the water to appease it. Minako then rolled off the bed and stumbled off in the bathroom’s general direction feeling wobbly and a little light headed.
The light headedness only increases exponentially when her mind flooded with the memories and sensations of the previous night. She paused in the hallway for only a second, leaned against the wall and brought a hand to her grinning lips. Oh, the lips these lips felt . . .
There was a neat pile of clothes set out on the counter next to the sink and a folded towel beside the shower. There was even a pair of flip-flops so she wouldn’t have to strut around in the strappy sandals she had shown up in. Minako turned the water on and undressed quickly.
Catching sight of herself in the mirror above the sink, she saw her huge, unbidden grin still in place, faint smudges of makeup, and a telltale glow that typically only showed the morning after more . . . involved activities. Minako clapped a hand to her head and tried to stop grinning. I am not getting into these kinds of thoughts right now.
She entered the shower and adjusted the water temperature. Getting it just right, she stepped under the showerhead and hummed contentedly when the water hit her back.
The blonde flipped a bottle of shampoo open and squeezed some into her cupped palm. Smells like Rei.
. . . Don’t think about that.
She lathered it into her hair, giving her scalp a good scrub. Parties, she found, invariably ended up staining what she wore or tangling her hair with food, drink, vomit or some combination of the three.
Minako trailed her fingers along the glass shower door leaving streaks in the condensation. Over the patter and splash of the shower and outside the shrine was the faint swish-swish of a miko and a broom.
“So the line just never ends, right?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because that’s why you write XER. X is an element of all real numbers.”
“Huh. Well what if you wanted X to be in the unreal numbers? Hmm? What then?”
“. . . I don’t know.”
“What if a function’s formula was made of unreal numbers? Would it even be there?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I wonder how they make calculators. Do you think they have to enter the answer to every single formula into it?”
“I have no idea, Minako.”
“And what are computer chips, anyway? How does such a tiny little thing know so much?”
“How should I know?”
“Why is the sky blue?”
“Every other colour is reflected.”
“And why is that?”
“What is this, twenty-useless-questions?”
“Yes, now answer.”
“Because the composition of gases in the earth’s upper atmosphere, mainly the ozone, causes light to refract at a wave length that registers as blue.”
“Really?”
“No – I made that up. Sounded true though, didn’t it?”
“Bah! If you don’t know the answer then you should just admit it.”
“Oh? Well here’s a question for you – what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?”
“Umm . . . giant orgy of cosmic proportions?”
“. . .”
“Whaaat? It could happen hypothetically, mechanically, theoretically . . .”
“. . . What happened to just admitting you don’t know, huh?"
“Guess who,” the owner of the hands hummed eagerly.
“Grandpa?” she asked.
Minako laughed and removed her hands to give Rei’s shoulder a light shove.
“Oh, it’s you,” Rei continued to act surprised, “I didn’t expect you up before noon.”
“Funny, neither did I.” She sidled closer to the miko, who took in the sly grin and braced herself. “I guess the prospect of seeing you is just too arousing.”
Rei did a better job of containing her embarrassment than Minako did her laughter. A little red and gripping her broom handle like she might choke it, she grumbled, “I see. You’re not hungover, you’re still drunk.” Her eyes flickered briefly over the girl wearing her clothes while she was busy laughing.
“I’m not drunk; I’m just happy to see you!”
She smiled a little. “And last night?”
“Last night I was drunk,” Minako said with a grin.
Rei rolled her eyes. “Oh, I figured, considering the fact that you couldn’t talk properly, and nearly fell over on the way to my room,” she hesitated, “and then . . .”
“Kissing you had nothing to do with being drunk,” Minako said softly.
Rei scoffed, feeling her eyes narrow as she searched the blonde’s face. “I think that had a lot to do with it.”
Minako only shook her head adamantly. “It didn’t affect what I want; it just helped me find the nerve! You’re a little scary, Rei,” she muttered.
Rei smirked lopsidedly. This wasn’t quite the awful, uncomfortable morning she’d dreaded. She should have known – Minako didn’t tolerate awkwardness very well.
She also didn’t waste opportunities. “Do you, um, do you want to go out or something . . . tomorrow?” Minako asked. Her voice was a little high, as was the colour in her cheeks, but her blue eyes were steadily, hopefully directed at Rei.
Rei, who held back a blush of her own through steely, icy will alone and cleared her throat, pretended to think for a moment and said quietly, “Sure.”
Minako instantly grinned widely – a genuinely happy smile that made her eyes dance and scrunched her nose a little. Rei’s mind, or maybe her heart, tripped over itself at the sight, forcing her to relinquish control over the hundreds of small muscles in her face and grin full out as well.
“Great! I’ll call you later, set a time, come pick you up – I gotta go now though – Mum’s gonna shit a brick when I get home. I didn’t tell her I was staying out all night.”
Rei nodded her understanding, accepted a swift kiss on the cheek and dazedly watched Minako skip away.
Rei had to smile a little at that. “So?”
“Ninety-two percent!” Minako howled like it had hurt to keep it in. She jumped back out of her seat and pumped her fist victoriously, cheering loudly.
“Ms Aino, please have a seat,” came the teacher’s dry, annoyed voice from the front of the room.
Not put out in the slightest, Minako plopped back into her chair and turned to Rei expectantly.
Coolly amused, the miko surrendered the praise the blonde silently demanded. “Good job, Minako. You must have an excellent tutor.”
“Do I get a good-job-kiss?” She pointed to her lips and grinned charmingly. The small smile slid off Rei’s face, leaving a flat, unenthusiastic stare. “Here?” Minako tried, pointing to her cheek. Rei didn’t bat a lash. “In private?” she coaxed.
Rei’s eyebrow twitched and she looked away. Minako made a mental note to ask again when they were alone.
“How did you do?” she asked her dark haired friend.
“I haven’t checked yet.”
“You haven’t checked!?” Minako exclaimed. “Aren’t you excited? Worried? Midterms are twenty percent of your overall mark!”
Rei shrugged. The teacher had started lecturing and she was now in note-taking mode. “I’m sure I did fine.”
Minako huffed. “I wish I had your confidence.”
Rei looked over briefly at that, said nothing, looked out the window as she thought, and resumed taking notes.
“Still,” Minako returned to smiling and basking in her own joy. “Ninety-two. Ninety-two! Now Mum’s gonna have to buy me those new court shoes I asked for. Oooh, and maybe this skirt I saw the other day, too! Ah, life is . . .” Then Minako’s spine stiffened and she sat up straight at the realisation that – “Maybe I beat you!”
Rei started and froze, having tuned the blonde out until those horrifying words were uttered. “Not a chance,” she scoffed and scowled at her notebook.
“Oh, big chance! Big, big, big chance!” Minako was nearly overloaded with delight. “Shall I help you pick out what to wear to the party?”
“My test scores average at ninety-six. No way did I lose out to you, Ninety-two.”
“Ah, but you don’t know that, do you?” Minako sounded entirely too gleeful. “Wear spaghetti straps! I’ll bet you’ve got great arms from all that sweeping.”
Rei returned to ignoring Minako, though her fingers fiddled restlessly with her pencil for the rest of the class. When the bell rang, Minako pulled Rei by the arm up to the front of the class where their exam marks were posted. “Well? I beat you, right? Right?”
Rei ignored Minako’s little praying motions and skimmed the list for her mark. She let out a breath of relief and smirked. “Ninety-seven.”
“Noooo! Why? Why?! We almost had her!” She shook her fist at the ceiling.
The math teacher cleared his throat sharply. “Ms Aino, please carry on like an imbecile in someone else’s classroom.”
Rei strolled out into the hallway where students flowed along to their next classes. Minako followed at a much subdued pace. At the stairway where they took separate paths, Rei looked over and grinned. “I guess your Christmas present this year will be miko robes for New Year’s.”
Minako glared, pouted and then gave up on being grumpy and smiled in defeat. “Oh, ha ha. Your present will be big party, hermit.”
“. . . will now present his party’s plan for the elimination of inequalities and the enablement of his people helping people strategy.”
He accepted the introduction, began his discourse as ever, a white grin, a captivating smile that crinkled personable, aged eyes. Eyes that somehow went along with the charade, that wouldn’t give themselves up to their own reflection.
Such a pretty young lady. Let’s see a smile . . . Ah, such a lucky girl. You’ve got your father’s eyes . . .
The broad hands that had rested on her head when she’d clung to his pant leg at the funeral waved in all directions, curled into fists, beseeched, emphasised. The glowing screen lit up the dark living room and showed her the gestures Rei had never seen in person. The speech between them was limited to perfunctory comments and sacrosanct orders. He wouldn’t even argue with her. His back was the only closing statement she ever received.
DON’T turn your back on me!! Come back! Come face me! Bastard!! Look at me just look at me for a moment listen to me speak like you care about me . . . If you would just turn around . . . I could make you care for me I could tear myself apart until you realise who I am where I belong I’m yours I belong with you I belong in your house one room over sleeping under the roof you watch over watch over me watch me just listen listen to me talk to me . . .
The man who wrote elaborate speeches and delivered them with eloquence, who built strong, persuasive arguments to uphold and convey his political views, who could deliver opinions at the blink of an eye with enough conviction to make his opponents question themselves, had no words to offer his daughter.
“. . . rejuvenate the family through protection of the rights of hard working parents . . . the basis of this nation’s strength, which begins in the home, the basic unit of society . . .”
Her eyes teared and she hated herself for it. She couldn’t see the screen now, couldn’t take in his gestures and expressions. She swiped furiously at her eyes, roughly smearing the tears and wiping them off the backs of her hands onto her shirt. She didn’t even know why she was crying. She wasn’t sad. She hadn’t been sad since anger made itself available. It was just an excess of emotions, finding no way to express themselves through her actions, emerging as bitter tears.
Let it go, she told herself for the millionth time.
The crowd cheered as the senator stepped off the podium, gave his customary grin and wave, their approval growing louder at the simple action.
I can’t. It ought to be mine.
Monday’s after school volleyball practice had the entire team in attendance due, in large part, to the oft-truant team captain’s decision not to skip. Minako hadn’t felt quite the same urge to be at the shrine that afternoon. She still wanted to go, that certainly hadn’t changed, but was feeling uncharacteristically nervous about it. Thankfully, volleyball was always a convenient outlet for excess energy.
Plus, her appearance pleased the coach (despite his threat to demote her if she kept skipping practice) and the team was happy to see their jovial leader in action. Drills went smoothly and the hours of rigorous exercise left Minako feeling pleasantly out of breath and worn-out.
But by the time the team was back in the change rooms, her breath was back, she couldn’t feel her achy muscles anymore and she was thinking again. She knew her thoughts were projecting themselves onto her face when Kagura hopped over, pulling on a sock, and cleared her throat.
“Well, let it out,” she invited.
Minako grinned and felt both fond and thankful for her dear volleyball friend who had been putting up with her since middle school. She finished buttoning her white uniform shirt and shared, “I went out with Rei this weekend.”
“Oooo, she finally gave in? So tell, tell!”
Her smile felt a little bitter. “It was alright.”
“Eh?” Kagura slipped into her shoes and joined the blonde at the sinks where the mirrors let them fix their hair. “I thought she was your next big thing. You’re like, ready and eager to bear her children whenever you talk about her!”
This made Minako laugh but she soon groaned. “It’s just confusing. I see her so clearly sometimes and then I don’t get her at all.”
“You knew she was hard to read,” Kagura reminded. “What happened?”
Minako leaned against the counter, waiting for her friend to finish touching up her mascara. “I asked her out Saturday and we went and saw a movie Sunday.”
Kagura put away her makeup and shouldered her bag. “And so? Details here! I need details!”
Minako held the door open for her team mate as they left the change room. “Well, the movie was getting close to the end – pretty intense, by the way – and I shifted around a little and put my hand down on hers on the armrest.” The memory made Minako relive the feelings – the twisting, excitement in her stomach and the grin that split her face. “I go to pull away but her fingers kind of wrap around mine, like this.” She demonstrated with her own two hands, twining the fingers of one hand over the other.
“If you could see the look on your face right now. . .” Kagura muttered with a grin.
Minako ignored her. “So I lean in and I’m this close. I’m so close I can feel how warm she is and the soft breaths she’s taking. I’m this close . . . and she turns away.”
“Quick or slow?” Kagura asked keenly.
“Quick, like I had halitosis and snot all over my face.” When Kagura burst into laughter, Minako growled, “And I didn’t! I checked!”
“Did she take her hand away too?”
“Yeah, she did.”
“And after the movie, how were things?”
“Um, a little uncomfortable, but not weird, and not really awkward. Kind of like we were ignoring it had happened.” Minako moped, thinking of the delightfully warm, but awfully quick hug they’d shared before parting at the theatre.
“Too public,” Kagura concluded.
“Too public?”
“Yeah – movie theatre – too many people around – too uncomfortable. Really, your first kiss should have been somewhere quieter.”
Minako’s moping turned to brooding. “Our first kiss was somewhere plenty quiet,” she muttered. Still, Minako considered that Kagura was probably right. Rei really wouldn’t be the sort to feel comfortable with public displays of affection even if they hadn’t been with another girl.
Kagura just gave the sulking blonde a pat on the shoulder and a sympathetic smile. “Next time, champ.”
A girl in her school uniform mimicked the posture. “And we know she’s detracting from our studies as well. It’s only a matter of time before our marks reflect it.”
“Oh please,” another said dismissively, “we spend too much time studying anyway. Isn’t Grandpa always saying so?”
There was general grumbling in acknowledgment of this by all those in the room, seated on the floor, huddled in the corners, casually straddling chairs, leaning against the walls and scattered everywhere else.
“Grandpa likes her,” the youngest looking one pointed out.
More muttered agreements followed this until the next issue was raised stridently.
“That doesn’t change the fact that she’s a girl,” one of them proclaimed.
The mood seemed to darken and none present had a reply to offer.
“And she’s one of them,” one of the several brooding individuals added scornfully. “We’ve seen her friends – the party-all-night and sleep-around variety. There’s no way she’s giving that up and not a chance in hell we’re ever letting her drag us along.”
“Death first!” one of them declared amidst the universal consensus.
“Yeah! Besides, we could have a little party for two instead . . .”
All heads in the room turned as one to the personage that had enthusiastically suggested this. “What?” she said defensively, “we all know she’s hot!”
Blushes and scowls raced around the room but not a word of protest. Encouraged by this, the immodest girl continued. “Her legs, and those spandex shorts, and the way she smells, her hair, her eyes, her smile, her –”
“We are not attracted to girls!” the belligerent interrupted furiously.
“There’s no proof of that,” someone muttered.
“It doesn’t matter what she is,” one of them muttered morosely, slumped against the wall. “We’ve already let her in too far. It’s gonna hurt so bad when she leaves . . .”
The miko’s grip on her broom tightened and the adamant conservative fell silent, sharing the resentful injured look that most in the room wore with varying efforts at disguising it. Even the licentious teenager lost her gusto and her grin.
One of the many who had remained silent chose this moment to speak up.
“What if she doesn’t leave?”
“I don’t really miss him. He was just sort of there and now he’s just not.” Rei shrugged.
“Well I’m glad he’s somewhere else,” Minako confessed.
Rei shook her head and crossed the street while the light said walk. “It’s not like he was competition, Minako. I told you I don’t know how many times – I never liked him like that.”
“Of course he couldn’t compete with me,” the blonde scoffed.“But still, he’s every girl’s worst nightmare – the pretty boy.” Minako shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself.
Rei gave her a light shove with her elbow and Minako giggled. “Not the straight girls,” the miko argued.
“Oh, them too.” Minako claimed, still laughing a little. “All girls like girls. Some of them just haven’t met me.”
This statement was met by rolled eyes and an incredulous look. “You’re unbelievable. How do you manage to fit through doors with such a bloated ego?” Rei wondered as she started up the shrine steps.
“Okay, okay – some of them just haven’t met the ‘right girl’.” Minako made little air-quotes, taking the steps at the same brisk pace as Rei.
“You sound an awful lot like the bigots who claim gay people don’t really exist,” she pointed out.
“No, no, it’s much different. We’re the repressed minority, you see. We get to say outrageous things!”
Rei gave up. “. . . Don’t ever go into politics.”
“Well . . .” Minako stroked her chin with her thumb and first finger. “I wasn’t planning to until you said that.” They reached the top of the stone flight of stairs.
“And if I said I would shun you for the rest of your life if you became a politician?” She opened the door and let Minako enter before stepping inside herself.
Minako turned to Rei with watery eyes and wailed, “You wouldn’t!”
“In a heartbeat,” Rei told the melodramatic blonde.
“So cruel,” Minako whimpered on the way to Rei’s room.
“Or very kind,” the miko replied in a deceptively light tone. “I could be protecting you from turning into a scheming, lying charlatan.”
The blonde laughed, abandoning her counterfeit tears. “I don’t know what that word means, but thanks ever so for keeping my best interests at heart.” She leaned in to plant a loud kiss on Rei’s cheek, skipped over to AinoLand and cast off her shirt before the other girl had the chance to so much as look away.
The huff of laughter let Minako know Rei was reluctantly amused by her shamelessness and she grinned. Oh but it was fun poking at the stoic miko’s outward restraint. Poking in the right manner, of course.
She mentally catalogued the understated resentment invoked by the mention of politics that she had detected and had taken as a sign not to get too close. The miko’s lips would surely have tasted sweeter than her cheek, but if timing wasn’t her most precious ally then Minako was worse adrift in the manner of approaching Rei than she’d ever imagined.
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