As I watched the movie, I could distinctly feel the pounding of my heart. It wasn’t because of the gore on the screen; Kasumi had cured me of any fear from horror flicks long ago- overexposure one might say.
No, it was the hand at my side that unconsciously tightened its grip every time something sudden happened.
Every so often, I looked up at her face, the poker face that was determined to not show any signs of fear. But I knew better. The stiffness in itself was a telltale sign. At a particularly gruesome scene, I carefully laced my opposite hand with her hand that was sure to bruise me at this rate, letting her grasp my hand instead.
I thought she might pull away, a little flustered and stubbornly quiet.
But she didn’t even so much as look at me. Rather, she tightened her grip on my hand, but at the same time lessened the pressure, as if she had just become aware of how much it might be hurting me.
This wasn’t the same Izumi I left behind.
Or was it?
If I really thought about it, Izumi-san was always a bit protective of me. The incident with that group of males was only a more serious portrayal of protecting me from stupid perverts like Yoshitaka-san. It was the same deal…
‘But before, she wouldn’t have dared pretended we were dating in order to get out of a fight. She would have just punched them if they got too close.’
Was it a sign of simply growing up and learning to end arguments through words before fists?
Or was it again… a sign of a suppressed desire?
I tried to look at our current positions, my head on her shoulder, our bodies close despite the theater seats, our hands laced together…
Who was to say we didn’t look like a couple?
Certainly, friends wouldn’t go so far for each other.
Did she really think we were just friends?
Or is she doing this… because she thinks this is what I want? To be shown what could have been before I get married?
That’s absurd. Izumi-san isn’t that kind of person.
Her heart, despite her actions, would never be so cruel.
Then to keep any other perverts away? But it didn’t look like there were any others like them still in the room…
I sighed softly as I shook myself out of it, returning to the movie just as the end credits were rolling up the screen. As the lights turned back on, Izumi yawned and stretched, her arm freeing itself from me as if it had never been there to begin with.
I felt a little cold right then, but at the same time, a small voice inside me told me this was how it should be.
She smiled at me. “What did you think of the movie?”
As we stood, I returned softly, “The blood and gore was a little overdone, but the plot was interesting.”
Her smile grew. “You thought so too? It wasn’t scary at all, was it? Though all the screaming made my head hurt.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Maybe Mitsuki-san should have you audition for a lead role in the next horror movie. I’m sure that’d be a best seller.”
Izumi blanched at the idea, and I was reassured just a little more that this was still the Izumi I knew. “No thanks. I’d rather not go putting more ideas into her head.”
I heard it before we even stepped outside the theater. It had started raining.
Hard.
Izumi clicked her tongue as she looked up at the dreary clouds, “Another sudden shower… we’ll have to wait it out I guess…”
I looked down the road, saw an umbrella bin sharing the same overhanging as us, and then the mansion on a hill in the distance. I gestured as I suggested, “Why not just share an umbrella? The mansion isn’t too far away, right?”
She opened her mouth to respond, and then closed it with a frown. Looking in the same direction, and then at me, she asked, “I forgot to ask… where did you say you were staying?”
I pointed in the opposite direction. “A hotel several blocks down that way. It’s nothing much.”
“A hotel for two weeks? Why? Stay at the mansion!”
I hesitated, wanting to shake my head. That place had too many memories for me to sleep there again. “That’s alright. I saved up a lot of money for this trip anyway. And with the high exchange rate… I’ll be fine. And I was actually thinking of walking with you to the mansion and then going back to my place…”
“Alone?!” She looked around, and then vigorous shook her head, gripping my shoulders. “I can’t let you do that. What if those guys come back? They may be idiots but…”
A silence fell between us. The pattering of rain didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.
“Then… want to stay at my place until the rain stops?”
I knew it was a bad idea. Me and my ex-crush alone in a hotel room? After what happened in the movie theater? It was just screaming trouble.
I thought for sure she would think the same-
“Have you unpacked yet?”
I stared at her and murmured slowly, “No…”
She walked over and grabbed the lone umbrella. “Then let’s go. I’ll help you carry it to the mansion.”
Exasperated, but at a loss at what to do with her stubbornness, I could only follow. After we’d huddled under the umbrella and started walking, I muttered, “It really isn’t necessary to inconvenience you or Yoshitaka-san…”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? He’s away on business this week?”
I couldn’t help but stare. ‘Why do I get the oddest feeling that she’s the housewife having an affair while the husband’s away?’ “So he left you in charge of the mansion?”
“Yup.”
I now saw the twinkle in her eye at the thought, the happiness she still felt every time Yoshitaka-san left her alone for a little while. No, I guess things didn’t change too much after all.
But still… “Are you living alone in the mansion right now?”
She considered the question a moment while I nudged her to take the next right turn. “Well… no. Reira-chan- one of the newest maids, and Mitsuki-chan are staying there with me. But I’m sure they wouldn’t mind seeing you.” She grinned, happier than I had ever seen her, which was certainly something. “The three of us will be together again under the same roof, if only for a little bit.”
That’s what it was, wasn’t it. Reliving the old times. She wants to ensnare me back into our pocket reality of middle school memories. Where Mitsuki-chan could plan out her own kidnapping with the help of the ghost of Yoshitaka-san’s father. Where an alligator that acted like a perverted green Great Dane could have free range on a top-of-the-line mansion courtyard.
Where I could blindly continue loving Izumi-san no matter how much I was hurt and ignored.
‘Well she’s not ignoring you now. Maybe there’s something to the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder.”’
The next thing I knew, we were in the lobby of my hotel. I looked down at our clothes, and realized that somewhere between strong gusts of winds and the occasional extremely harsh torrent of rain, we had arrived half soaked.
A bellboy offered us some towels.
After we had dried off enough that we weren’t dripping everywhere, we headed upstairs with the help of the elevator.
It was just the two of us.
You could hear the silence bouncing off the walls.
It was disconcerting, to say the least.
I opened my door, and it seemed the click had finally snapped Izumi-san out of whatever she was thinking just then. With another smile, one that I was beginning to question the sincerity of, she asked, “How long have you been in town, Anna-chan?”
I frowned as I removed my light jacket and went looking for a change of clothes. Mansion or not, I felt colder than I probably was. “I arrived last night and slept off my jet lag until late morning. Why?”
“Have you called Kasumi yet?”
Wondering why she would concern herself, but feeling no reason to lie, I answered, “I called her when I landed. I was too tired to do anything beyond that.”
There was something about the way she looked around the room as she nodded softly that made me feel like a surprise party was being planned for me right under my nose.
“Okay. You want to take a shower before we go then? We can stay here until the rain stops, but afterwards, I’m taking you straight to the mansion. Taxi would be good.”
I sighed at her persistence. It’s not that I didn’t want to visit… but… if I went there with my things, it would be all too easy to fall into the same pattern as before. I stood up, clothes in hand. “I won’t be long then.”
The hot water felt unimaginably good.
I hoped I hadn’t caught a cold.
As I was drying off, I heard my phone ring in the distance, and even though it was faint, I recognized the tune as the one I’d set for Kasumi. I looked around for said phone, before realizing I’d left my purse with my jacket.
And then suddenly, there was a knock on the door. “Hey, Anna-chan, Kasumi’s calling you.”
‘I know that!’ I started to wrap the towel around myself.
She knocked again, calling my name. The ring was almost over.
Now, there are two type of people in this world.
Those that can handle panic-type situations with a level head, and those that can’t.
The latter tend to do stupid and unnecessary things.
I must admit that I’m generally guilty of being the latter.
I called through the door, “Hold on- answer it for me so she doesn’t hang up?”
It took about ten seconds after I heard her say the customary, “Moshi moshi? Yes, this is Anna-chan’s phone. No, I’m just a friend. This is Izumi…” that I realized that that might not be what my fiancée wanted to hear when she calls from the other side of the world to hear my voice.
I wrenched open the door, only to have the action unravel the towel, which I quickly tried to keep up while using the other hand to snatch the phone away from Izumi. I gave her an apologetic look even as I closed the door almost in her face and spoke into the phone. “Kasumi?”
“…Anna-chan? Are you all right?”
Trying to catch my breath, I answered, “Fine. Why do you ask?”
“You sound out of breath. Not to mention… why did Izumi pick up your phone?”
“Ah… sorry… I told her to pick it up while I was trying to get my clothes on… actually, I’m still not even really dressed… can I call you back?”
See? I’m telling you… my life is filled with stupid instances of bad judgment.
“Oh… okay. Well, you don’t have to call back. I was just calling to see if you were having fun over there, and it seems like you are. Something came up and I have to go now anyway. But don’t forget- I love you, my Anna-chan.”
I let the towel slip to the floor as her words struck a chord or two within me. That’s how I know I slipped up somewhere. “I love you, too… Bye…”
The click and then the dial tone had such a combined sense of finality, I sat down on the toilet seat, staring at the wall in a daze.
Guilt trip off a cliff anyone?
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