Ignition
Mid-sweep, Rei paused and nearly dropped her broom from her mitten-clad hands.
That was it. That was the gesture she needed and had been desperately trying to think up for the past few days. It was perfect. In fact, if all went well she could even turn it into something continuous. Except, of course, she would have to actually drive the thing when she had sworn she never would a few years ago.
Rei mulled it over as she finished clearing snow from the courtyard.
The snow had made for a very picturesque Christmas. Rei had even made a snow angel just to amuse her grandfather, but after over a month of the frozen white stuff, the beauty was wearing thin. The cold of winter could only hide behind its poetic veneer for so long before you realised it was just plain cold.
When Rei finished she went inside and left her jacket, mitts and toque by the door. It was supposed to snow again that night. She started a pot of rice going, got to cooking dinner – chicken stir-fry – and had just clicked off the stove when her grandfather came wandering into the kitchen.
“Smells good,” he said.
Rei smiled. “You’re right on time, as usual. How do you always know?”
The bald man grinned. “You’re not the only one the fire speaks to. Who taught you all that, hmm?” Rei rolled her eyes as she served the rice and piled stir-fry on top. “No, now I forget. I’m old you know. Who was it?”
She let a little laugh out. “It was you, you bald coot.”
Her grandfather shook his head despairingly. “Though I clearly failed to teach you respect. Young people these days.”
Rei sat down, pointedly ignoring his well-worn complaint, and they ate in comfortable silence until Rei broke it suddenly.
“Grandpa, the Prelude is mine, right?”
The old man paused in surprise. “Well, not on paper, but yes I suppose it is.”
Rei nodded and cleared her dishes to the sink to rinse them. “There’s only a few months left. I think I’ll start driving to school.”
He wanted to ask why? where was this coming from all of a sudden? hadn’t she refused to get behind the wheel of that car? But instead, her grandfather asked, “Where will you park?”
“There’s a student parking lot. All I need is to fill out a form, get a pass, and then it’s first come first serve.”
“Alright then. It was just serviced and had its winter tires put on, so it should be alright to drive, but be careful, of course.”
Rei nodded and stooped to plant a kiss on top of his bald head on her way to the front door. She retrieved her jacket and put it on before going through the house to the backdoor. Snow crunched under her feet as she trudged across the backyard to the garage.
Neither Rei nor her grandfather often had the occasion to come out to the garage as the tools they used regularly were in a separate shed. The door stuck a little, but Rei butted her shoulder against it and it opened grudgingly. Inside was parked a ’94 Honda Prelude, black, sleek and shiny beneath a bit of dust. She wiped her thumb across the hood ornament and kicked the firm tires a little. Then she stood back, trying to picture a thirty-something woman sitting behind the wheel, smiling gently and waving.
She nodded, and turned to go back inside. It had been mother’s car, despite being bought by him. It would be alright to drive.
Rei put her coat back at the front door and went to her room. She pulled out a binder from her backpack and pulled a sheet out from one of the binder’s slots. It was a schedule, and it told Rei that in two days she would be watching a volleyball game.
“Minako! Where are you?”
“Hey, Kagura. At home.”
“Are you sick or something?”
“No, why?”
“I didn’t see you after the game last night. It was mad! Toshio and Tooru were so hammered they started wrestling and broke Hanna’s window!”
“Sounds like it was quite the gong-show.”
“Oh, it was. The neighbours threatened to call the cops and everybody took off.”
“Guess it’s a good thing I missed it, then.”
“Where were you?”
“At home.”
“At home?!”
“Doing my nails.”
“Your nails?!”
“I think your phone’s broken, Kagura. I keep hearing this really annoying echo.”
“Oh, ha ha. What’s wrong? You never skip a good fiesta!”
“The will to get plastered just wasn’t in me.”
“Chuh, please! You live to get cranked! You’re still depressed about her, aren’t you?”
“Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Right . . . If you could see me, you’d know that I’m rolling my eyes.”
“Oh, whatever. I’m not moping, I just don’t see the point sometimes.”
“The point in getting drunk and being an idiot with your friends? There is no point, Minako. That’s the point.”
“True. But I just wasn’t in the mood.”
“Look, I know she was different. I get that, but you need to do something about it or move on. This limbo you’re in isn’t helping anyone.”
“Didn’t I just say this wasn’t about her?”
“Well yeah, but you were lying.”
“Ahaha, oh Kagura, I love you. Let’s date.”
“I’m still straight.”
“Ah yes. Still a pity.”
“You never change, do you?”
“Well . . . I wouldn’t say that . . .”
“You’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“Brooding.”
“Oh. Sorry. I promise to be at the next one.”
“You’d better be! It’s semi-finals!!”
“Hell yeah it is! And once we kick ass at finals it’s nationals!”
“That’s right, so you’d better get your head in the game! Eye on the ball! Give it a hundred and ten percent!”
“Ew, stop with the sports metaphors or I’m hanging up.”
“Oh, be a good sport. There’s no I in team, Minako. The best defence is–”
She breathed out, and in the moment of stillness before her next breath, released the arrow. It met the target with a satisfying thwack, and Rei took a second to enjoy the small victory before turning around.
Politely waiting for her to place her shot was the archery instructor, Mr Sagisawa. “Nice placement,” he complemented her.
“Thank you.”
“If you wouldn’t mind, I would like you to spend a few minutes every practice assisting a younger student. I believe many of them already look up to you, and would be open to advice.”
Rei looked over at the other members of the archery club, and caught several quickly looking away. “I . . . Of course. I’ll do my best.”
And once the teacher had ambled off, Rei let out a sigh. For nearly three weeks she had managed to avoid almost all contact with her new club mates by picking lanes on the ends and through her usual uninviting silence. It had to end sometime, I guess.
She checked the time, carefully unstrung her synthetic bow, and turned to watch the other archers. Several were composed, patient, and diligent – advanced and comfortable with the way they drew their bows and released. Most were in the middle stages of applying techniques and perfecting them. The boy one lane over was shooting like he wanted to be the next Robin Hood. His arrow went flying in an arc over top of his target.
“Wait,” Rei commanded, when he went to string another bolt.
He froze, brown eyes going wide as Rei approached. “Um, me?”
“Yes. What’s your name?”
“I’m Kakazu Ichiro . . .”
“Do you mind if I help you, Ichiro?”
The boy’s face went red and he shook his head vigorously. “Not at all! Please, tell me everything you know!”
Rei inwardly cringed at his enthusiasm and calmly went about correcting his stance and his grip on the black bow. He was stammering and bright red by the time Rei had him properly in position, and she frowned in mild concern. Was he so embarrassed? He looked like he might pass out.
“Are you feeling well?” she enquired.
“Fine!” he insisted loudly. “Just fine!”
So Rei dubiously continued her instructions through the eight stages of a proper draw, adjusted his aim just slightly, and let him fire the arrow.
“Success!” he cried so loudly that the track team on the other side of the field looked over. The arrow was embedded several hand spans from the center of the target – a distance Rei would have been horrified to miss by. Ichiro was bouncing on the balls of his feet in an excited victory dance.
Rei covered her face with a hand. “Yes, well done.”
“See you tomorrow, Hino!” Ichiro said cheerfully as Rei abruptly turned and retreated into the school.
She got changed quickly, ignoring the curious looks of the other female archery team members as she exited the change rooms while they entered, and strode quickly through the halls of the school. If she got home before five-thirty, Grandpa wouldn’t feel obligated to clean the courtyard and she could finish that up in time to cook dinner so that–
She spotted Kojima Toshio coming from the other end of the hallway, and veered down a different corridor. And then she realised what she had done, and a little voice mumbled in the back of her mind, rebellious but truthful, You are so pathetic.
“I don’t care,” he stated with a grin. His hands linked together behind her back and pulled her to him smugly.
“Well I do care. I’m team captain, you know.” She pinched her nails into the vulnerable skin on the inside of his elbow, and he let go with a yelp. “Go run in circles!” she told him, pushing him off in the direction of the boy’s change rooms for track. He trotted off, and Minako made for the gym change rooms.
She almost missed it, but did a quick double take when she spotted Rei coming out of the Phys Ed department’s office. The miko was already walking away from her, graceful and slender and oblivious to Minako’s presence. The blonde was seized by the need to call out, felt her throat close, and could only watch Rei turn a corner and disappear.
She’s still so . . .
“Minako!” the volleyball coach barked, and Minako jumped nearly a foot. “Get changed! If you’re late again, and I don’t care which boy it is that makes you late, you are running suicides until you understand just why they were named such!”
With a little ‘eep’ and a sheepish smile, Minako dashed off to get dressed for practice.
Kagura smirked when the blonde came flying into the change rooms, whipping her shirt off as she ran and scrambling to get her shoes off. Like a good friend, the patient volleyball setter entered the combination to her locker and opened it for the hyperactive team captain. In record time they were out in the gym running warm-up laps, chuckling over Minako’s antics.
“So why were you late?” Kagura asked.
Minako scrunched her face. “Toshio wouldn’t let go. He’s like a six-foot clingy thing that won’t stop until he’s my boyfriend. It’s soo annoying.”
Kagura scoffed. “Minako, you’re the queen of clingy and demanding when it comes to relationships.”
“Exactly,” Minako nodded. “I need the attention. I can’t afford to be paying him any. That’s why I’m not going out with him.”
The other woman frowned. “Really? I thought you liked him. You’re always with him lately – half the school is convinced you’re together.”
“No, no. He’s always with me. I’m gonna have to go out with someone else just to shake him off.”
“Isn’t that what got you into this problem?” Minako’s friend asked wryly. “If I recall, Toshio was just a deterrent for Jun, who you also made out with at a party and avoided afterward.”
Minako put a hand to her chin in thought as she ran. “Hmm, good point. I should find a girl to go out with.”
Kagura nearly tripped. “Your logic escapes me, really.” And then a thought occurred to her and she offhandedly remarked, “So you need to find, a) a girl, and b) one who isn’t clingy at all.”
“Yes! Perfect. You know any good ones?”
They stopped their run and Kagura looked at Minako flatly. “Yeah, she’s about this tall, dark hair, and you’re clearly not over her yet.”
With a deflated sigh, Minako protested, “Seriously, I –”
“You’ve tried moving on,” Kagura said more gently. “It’s not working too well. So maybe it’s time to try the opposite.”
Minako snorted. “I think not.” She called her team in to stretch and begin drills, and if she pushed herself and smashed the ball harder than usual it was because finals were approaching and no other reason.
She glanced suspiciously up and down hallways, wary of coming through this section of the school. In front of the gym and along the corridors nearby were where the jocks elected to stalk out their territory. It was after hours, so she was relatively safe from their unwanted presence, but walked swiftly into the gym office and closed the door behind her upon entering.
“Hi, Rei! Come on over!” The geography teacher and manager of the volleyball team, Ishida Toyoko, beckoned her over enthusiastically. Rei was nearly positive the main reason for the older woman’s excitement was that fact that she hardly had to do any work when she could assign it to Rei instead. “You got us the hours we need?”
“Yes.” Rei rummaged through her bag, and slipped out a few stapled sheets of paper – the result of several hours spent on the phone negotiating for practice times. “Here.”
“Perfect, perfect,” the manager muttered to herself as she examined the times. “Nationals are in the bag for sure! Haha!”
The miko cringed sceptically. “But the team still has to win cities. Aren’t you jinxing it?” The team was on a winning streak which Rei would privately hate to see come to an end.
“Nonsense, nonsense! Now, I’m going to need a big favour from you, Rei.” She attempted a pleasing smile.
Rei took note of it with a certain dread.
“In order for the team to travel and receive accommodations funded by the government, we have to meet their safety standards. This means that for every three students traveling there must be one supervisor. We’re short one.”
She immediately balked at what was being suggested. “I’m the same age as they are.”
“But very mature,” the teacher insisted. “And trustworthy,” she tacked on.
“I don’t think vice-principal Yuumura would like me missing more school.”
“I’ve already talked to him actually.” She smiled conspiratorially. “Rules can always be bent for good students.”
Rei frowned. This was too much. She volunteered with the volleyball team management confident it would mean paper pushing and little else. Until now she’d been right. Her largest task was the one she’d just handed in – booking hotel accommodations and gyms for the team to keep their skills sharp during the national’s tournament. But going with them? No chance!
“Unfortunately, my grandfather is in poor health and there is no one but me to look after him. I can’t be away for such an extended time period.” Nail, meet coffin.
The woman frowned and then shrugged. “Well, in that case, I leave it to you to find a replacement for yourself. They’ll need to sign this.” She handed over a waiver.
Rei nodded. “I’ll have it for you next Friday.” This was met by a nod, so Rei excused herself and left, feeling like she had dodged a bullet.
“Does that sound right to you?”
And then a different room materialised around her, tilted sideways and warm with afternoon sunlight.
It was a Thursday. Thursday meant she was late to the shrine and tired when she got there. This particular Thursday, volleyball practice had been intense – the coach had decided to put them through an infernal exercise called the beep-test to work their sprints and conditioning, followed by wall-sits and free squats. Minako was convinced the old bag wanted to kill them. Her legs felt ready to drop off her body.
This was partially why napping was so nice. But mostly it was because Rei’s lap was warm and soft and for once, the miko was letting her close enough to put it to good use. Most of the times she tried to use the other girl’s legs as cushions, her head got relegated to the floor. Minako hoped this meant Rei was finally loosening up, though she had probably simply grown tired of pushing Minako off.
Ah well, my persistence pays off either way, she happily assumed.
“You do remember our unit exam is tomorrow,” Rei’s voice reminded, her tone carrying neither reproach nor concern but something that the blonde was beginning to suspect was amusement.
Minako just grumbled something unintelligible and burrowed her head down, curling her arms around a leg like it was a pillow. Rei twitched, either because she was uncomfortable or because the action tickled, and Minako felt the smooth roll of defined muscles tense momentarily beneath deceptively soft skin. Her mind was immediately sent careening for the gutter, stopped only by the swift slamming of brakes and attempts at redirecting her thoughts towards anything but expanses of skin and tensing of muscles.
“If you fall asleep and drool on me, I’ll whoop your ass.” There was that tone again, and now Minako was mostly certain it was amusement.
“Mmm, kinky,” she quipped before she could think better of it.
Rei’s fist bonking her on the head could not knock out the sudden images of whips and Rei and tight leather and oh this wasn’t going well. Usually these kinds of thoughts weren’t too problematic because Rei was very protective of personal space, but the miko seemed to have no idea how attractive she was, which meant she was almost certainly unaware of the effect she had on Minako. It was both a blessing and a curse.
She took a deep, steadying breath, but this turned out to be a mistake as well. Rei smelt like a Rei should smell – all warm and sweet and maybe a little like incense or spices or something nice. Her scent was like a delicate version of . . . Christmas?
Minako snorted a brief chuckle at the thought, prompting Rei to glance down at her quizzically. The sight was a little dizzying to look up at – all deep purple and elegant features framed by curtains of black. An eyebrow was arched.
“Um, I have a joke for you.”
Rei’s expression broke into one of scepticism.
Minako wracked her brain for anything she could pass off as funny. She nearly groaned at the first thing that popped into her head but it would have to do. “Um, why did the first monkey fall out of the tree?” She waited for an answer.
With a sigh, Rei played along. “I don’t know. Why?”
“He was dead. Eheh, why did the second monkey fall out of the tree?” Minako was beginning to enjoy the joke if only because of Rei’s absolute un-enjoyment.
The miko deadpanned, “I don’t know. Why?”
“He was stapled to the first monkey.”
“Why the hell were two monkeys–”
“Why did the old woman fall off her tricycle?” She pressed on, and waited with a grin for Rei to reply.
Gritting her teeth, Rei bit off, “I don’t know, Minako. Why don’t you tell me?”
“She got hit by the falling monkeys!” Then Minako erupted into laughter at Rei’s expression. It really was an awful joke, but telling it to Rei was an excellent joke in and of itself.
“Do you try to be as strange as you can, or does it just come naturally?”
Laughter petering off, Minako snuggled against her pillow, and realised it no longer smelt like spices. She blinked her eyes open and looked around her darkened bedroom, confused for a moment and then went back to sleep.
Things were alright, though, because her life had found a new rhythm and a grandfather who was every bit the parent Rei needed. Things were stable. She hated and longed for her father, yes, but he rarely called so she rarely had to think about it. Yuuichiro popped up in the middle of grade ten, asked her out incessantly for weeks, took a job at the shrine much to her fury, and provided a convenient outlet for her temper. But he always hovered at a distance, so other than sniping when he started to get ideas, Rei could ignore his presence.
Then Minako showed up, forced her way into Rei’s life much like Yuuichiro had, but unlike the guitarist, the blonde didn’t seem to know when to quit. She had annoyed Rei into liking her and pushed her into wanting her, pushed until Rei had panicked and fled. Fleeing, as it turned out, was something like blowing against the wind to try and turn it back. All the tiny details hardly worth notice in her average day had suddenly taken on new significance that seemed to stalk her mind into thinking of nothing but Minako Minako Minako. She couldn’t do a fire reading without either seeing the blonde or thinking of the day she had unexpectedly shown up. She paused while sweeping the shrine grounds sometimes, her ears tricking her into thinking she had heard the swishing of a second broom. The shrine steps meant piggybacks, her room meant Ainoland, walking home from school meant giggled conversations, and the list went on. Minako had rocked the boat so hard it was only now that Rei could see she had capsized it.
And she had no clue how to make things right again.
She couldn’t ignore what had happened – things had changed too much. Maybe she had changed too much. Regardless, that left her with the option of either replacing Minako or regaining Minako. She wasn’t sure which would be easier. The chance of there being another person who was at once carefree and intense, silly and dependable and all other manner of contradictions rolled together so flawless was slim to none. But then, the chance of Minako wanting to be Rei’s . . . friend-slash-girlfriend-slash-whatever was also not looking good. Especially since Rei couldn’t even name what it was she wanted from Minako. Wasn’t it because of Rei’s indecision that things went sour? She blamed herself for it mostly – she was the one who overreacted, who left, and who avoided Minako. But a small part of her insisted that the blonde had given up too easily – there were no messages on her phone when she got back from the hospital, no notes or emails, and when they passed in the halls Minako never seemed to notice.
She sighed.
It was nearly eleven and Rei rose creakily from her desk and put her completed homework into her bag. She was exhausted, but thankfully her body was steadily growing used to less sleep and more work. No Minako and no Yuuichiro meant no help, and there wasn’t a chance Rei was letting her grandfather chip in. Grandpa was better now, but he seemed to move with a frailty he hadn’t before and Rei wasn’t sure if it was real or if she was imagining it in light of his sickness. Either way, she was twice as determined to get her chores done before the old man could even think of doing them himself.
She changed for bed, checked that her alarm was set for five, and burrowed down into her covers. She would need some gesture to win Minako back, she mused sleepily. Minako was the sort who enjoyed big gestures, and Rei would teach herself how to pull one off if only for the sake of being shot down as amazingly as possible.
Minako calculated that by the middle of next, next week they would be close enough for her to ask Erika out with a decent shot at a yes. She was interesting, pretty and single. All good things in Minako’s book.
Today’s lab was a heart, which Minako was finding mildly gross due to the jelly-like blood clots she’d had to squeeze out. Erika sat facing the other way, ready to take notes but not ready to look at the fleshy lump in the tray. The girl drummed her pencil against the table while Minako read the next set of instructions on the board.
“I heard you turned down Hitoshi yesterday,” Minako teased idly, hoping to get a blush.
Erika did blush, but retaliated, “I heard you and Hino Rei split up a few months ago.”
Minako paused, her scalpel poised to slice fat away from the pericardium of the pig’s heart she was working on. “Two months ago,” she corrected without a thought. Erika nodded and kept taking notes. Minako raised an eyebrow. “And you’re okay with that sort of thing?”
“Of course I am,” Erika confirmed.
Minako considered moving her plans ahead a week.
“She’s in the archery club with me. I can see why you liked her,” the brunette commented.
The information felt like a blow, and she repeated, “Rei’s in archery club?”
Erika’s large dark eyes lit up. “She’s amazing. I swear she measures her success by millimetres, and she even managed to make the buffoon on our team, Ichiro into a respectable shot.”
Minako forced her lips into a grin. “You like her.”
Erika smiled and blushed the slightest bit. “Everybody on the team likes her even though she barely talks to any of us.”
“Is that so?”
“And you went out with her. What’s she like?”
They had both forgotten the lab for now, Erika due to her eagerness to hear about Rei, and Minako . . . could practically hear Kagura’s voice in her head, crowing in triumph.
“She’s . . .” too good for you!! a horrible bitch – you wouldn’t like her. so intense it burns to be near her. “She’s hard to approach at first, but uh, but really nice when you get to know her.” She nearly cringed at how lame that description sounded and how far it was from capturing Rei.
“Hmm.” Erika nodded and turned back to her work. “So what do the chordae tendineae look like?”
Minako put on a smile. “Well, let me just find out,” she said, and turned back to hacking up her heart.
And now they had won against all comers in their division. City Champions. Ah, satisfaction felt might satisfying. All she had to do was close her eyes and she could see the volleyball come over the net to their side, see Kagura move underneath it to bump the ball perfectly over to Minako. The team captain had then taken her eyes from the ball for a split second, calculated the other team’s positioning, watched the ball come down to her waiting hands, and set it perfectly across the court to the outside hitter. Game and match. Kiyomi’s spike slammed down in the undefended corner of their court before the other team could even twitch.
Minako opened her eyes. Yeah, she might not stop beaming for a few days solid.
But just as if to prove her wrong, she stepped out of the school and a familiar voice called her name. A voice that was audible but soft, accustomed to speaking only above the silence of a shrine.
Warily, Minako turned, and her smile gave way to cautious confusion.
Rei was leaning against a car parked outside the school doors looking both cool and nervous. It should have been impossible for jeans and a black t-shirt to make someone look so good. Minako tried to remember that common saying about missing someone. What was it; absence makes the eyes grow fonder? Rei was certainly a sight she drank in readily.
The miko pushed herself off of the shiny black car and showed a set of keys dangling from a finger. “Want a ride home?”
Minako approached, a little stunned and quite uncertain. A million thoughts were fluttering around her head, the most prevalent being, Um, what the hell? “You’re talking to me again, just like that?” Rei nodded, her dark eyes watching Minako carefully while Minako tried to figure out how to handle the situation. “Why are you doing this?” she asked bluntly.
Rei hesitated only for a moment in searching for an answer. Her voice was firm. “Because we were friends. Because I’d like to think that wasn’t totally ruined. Can we talk?” Please, her eyes said.
Numbly, Minako moved towards sleek black car and let Rei open and shut her door for her. She put on her seatbelt. She watched the dark haired girl walk around, get behind the wheel, buckle up, and start the car. She fidgeted.
After nearly two months of wanting to see her, being around Rei again was strange and a little bewildering, tense but achingly familiar. Minako began to have misgivings about getting into the car. It had been instinctive to give in and trust the look in Rei’s eyes, the steady conviction in her voice. But Minako had to wonder if she was just going to make a fool of herself again, or if this was just the closure they had never gotten from before. She felt anxious and looked over at Rei, but her attention was on the road, so Minako talked.
“Is this yours?” The seats were leather and unblemished, the smooth, black dashboard fingerprint free. The car wasn’t a recent model but it didn’t seem to have seen much use. Her question received a nod. “Why do you walk to school?”
“It’s only a twenty minute walk.” Minako nodded dubiously and Rei added, “Grandpa and I don’t need a car to get around.”
Minako hummed and stared mindlessly out the passenger side window at the familiar route flying by. She nearly asked how Rei knew how to get to her house and then remembered, Oh. The party. and sank a little in her seat.
She heard Rei drum her hands on the steering wheel before the driver quietly cleared her throat. “I . . . Okay, that’s not entirely true, though I didn’t lie.”
Minako looked over at Rei, who used the red light they were stopped at to look over as well. The miko’s expression was reluctant, a little nervous, but open and earnest.
“The truth is my father left this car to my mother when his career first began to take him away from home. When my mother died, my father then passed the car to my grandfather. It was supposed to help him look after me, but Grandpa doesn’t even have a licence and would never take anything from my father anyway, so it’s basically mine. And I don’t drive it because I . . .” The light turned green and Rei returned her gaze to the road. “I don’t like to be reminded of him either.”
The car accelerated again, Rei glancing over now and then while Minako sat in silence. Beyond the odd, accidental comment here and there, and one or two moments when she had been persuaded to open up, the topic of Rei’s parents had been a no-fly zone. Was this a peace offering then? An attempt to reawaken the curiosity that had driven Minako to dive into Rei’s life in the first place? A small part of her dared to hope that maybe it was a promise of more, a pass not just for the show but backstage as well.
Her voice broke the long silence. “When did your dad start his career?” she asked, watching Rei closely.
“He was always into politics, but he became a senator about thirteen years ago.” Rei checked her rear-view mirror and over her shoulder before changing lanes.
“When did your mom die?”
There was a piercing glance and a noticeable pause before Rei answered. “When I was four.”
“What was she like?”
It was like watching a time lapse of a brick wall being built up layer by layer, Minako thought. Predictably, Rei’s reply was terse. “I don’t remember.”
“Not even a little?” the blonde pressed.
Rei’s eyebrows drew together and a tightness around her eyes appeared for a moment before being furiously blinked away. “I . . .” Rei’s voice faltered and she seemed to war with herself. Finally, she let out a tense sigh and when she looked over again, Minako could see the openness return as well as the nervousness.
They were only a few blocks away from her house now, and Minako finally felt that getting in the car with Rei might have been her best move all week. An even better move than the set she had made that had won the game. She finally had her answers. No, she wasn’t over Rei. Not by a long shot. And yes, it was possible for Rei to truly be open.
She had never been so pleased to have upset someone. Her questions had hurt Rei because Rei was letting Minako in far enough to be hurt. Minako was being abrasive and callous and more than a little ruthless and Rei was still going to answer her honestly, voice thick with emotion and pain bared for her to see.
“She was . . . soft-spoken and very beautiful. She used to braid my hair in the mornings and give me piggyback rides. I remember the pale blue living room she used to sit and read to me in . . . and I remember her kissing my finger when a bug bit me . . . And then I remember her funeral.” She smiled sadly, her eyebrows drawn up in the middle and a quirk to her lips that Minako wanted to touch. “That’s all I have.”
Rei trained her violet eyes forward as she pulled smoothly into Minako’s driveway. She turned off the engine and neither of them moved to get out of the car.
“Have you ever told anyone about her before?” the blonde asked softly, compassionately.
Rei looked away, cleared her throat, and looked back. “No one’s ever asked before . . . and I wouldn’t tell anyone else.”
“I missed you,” Minako heard herself admit. The confession escaped easily, and it felt like a weight off to have finally let it out. As an extra reward, Rei’s eyes lightened and the sorrow in her expression retreated, even unleashing a tentative smile.
Rei let out a relieved breath and then a chuckle, and slumped back in her seat. Her smile grew and she echoed, “I missed you, too.”
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