Author: Anita
Fandom: Takarazuka RPF
Characters: Tsukishiro Kanato / Akatsuki Chisei
Genre: yuri, romance
Rating: PG
Status: complete
Summary: One night, Reiko finds a diary with the inner thoughts of someone in her troupe, and she wants to return it, but Ari stops her from leaving it in the lost-and-found and they decide to look for the owner together.
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6
Chapter 3
Having to meet Ari in her house meant she couldn’t practice until late that night, but Reiko was looking forward to taking that break, even if she was doubtful whether it was one she could afford. Also, they could have just gone there together, but Ari insisted on meeting later, because she still to have dinner ready by the time Reiko arrived.
“Wouldn’t it be quicker with my help?”
“Just come at seven-thirty, okay?” Ari insisted.
There was still a minute to the agreed time when Reiko walked slowly to her apartment door. Feeling impish, she waited the displayed clock on her phone to change before she rang the bell.
“There you are!” Ari said as she threw the door open.
“Why does it sound that I’m late?” Reiko teased, showing her the time.
“I get it, I get it… Just come in.”
She gave a faint laugh but followed inside. The smell of food being cooked played with her nostrils, making her stomach growl. “Wow,” she said when her eyes found the table already made. “Were you expecting someone?” she asked without thinking.
“You?” Ari looked back befuddled, and maybe a little embarrassed.
Reiko walked toward the centerpiece, one she had never seen before, even though they usually visited each other’s house. A fragile-thin but long cylindrical vase held white roses in full bloom with some fluffy dark blue tulle netting around it and making it seem to float in the open sea at night. Ari had sprinkled small white candies on this sea, like stars reflected on the water. Nearby you could also find five large glasses each with a candle lit inside.
“When did you get the time for all this anyway?”
“These days are so busy, I just felt like treating ourselves.” She smiled with a shrug. For a second, it looked like she was about to add something, but she just turned around and went inside the kitchen. “Just sit down, I’ll bring the food.”
Reiko had meant to follow and help. Now that was no longer an option, she stood awkwardly in the air-conditioned room, like she had too many hands.
“I told you to sit down,” Ari chided, serving their plates. “I didn’t have time for much, but I found these in the market near the station. They looked super fresh, so I couldn’t resist though I was going to try something more upscale.” She was talking about the cooked vegetables she had prepared as a side dish to the cold noodles she brought soon after. But it wasn’t just the noodles, on top of it, Ari had poured natto and sesame dressing.
“So this was the smell I got from the door!” Reiko felt the hole in her stomach deepen and she had already sat before she could consciously command her body to do so.
“Here!” Ari motioned for the oshibori, placed on a blue rectangular tray. Had she noticed Reiko’s eyes toward the lavatory? Without more words, she disappeared to the kitchen again and came back holding two cans of beer. “I thought this would go better with soumen than wine, but I also have tea.”
“Beer! Beer is great!” Reiko received it gratefully.
Despite the uneasiness of how overwhelming Ari’s preparations had felt, the food was delicious and perfect for ending that day. The two ate exchanging quick conversation on the play they were rehearsing; a silent agreement to leave the notebook issue for later. Reiko had no idea how badly she’d needed this, for her mind had been overclocking since she’d read the first page the night before.
After filling her stomach and brightening her head with alcohol, Reiko stretched in the chair e let out a curt yawn. Ari had insisted on doing the dishes, even though she had not only cooked but also decorated the room, and she was resolute.
“I think we should move on to what brought me here,” Reiko suggested minutes later, hearing water coming out from the tap.
Ari came back with her hands already dried. “Yes, I need to tell you something.” She walked to one of the candles with her lips pursed to blow it out.
However, Reiko stopped her, holding out a hand and protecting the flame from the wind. “Your house will smell bad if you do that, especially when there are five.” She gasped when noticing she’d inadvertently touched Ari’s mouth with the back of her hand. Trying to repel thoughts of having been kissed, though it was just her hand, she stood up and moved to the veranda. “How about we talk here?” she suggested, mostly because she needed fresh air and a reset of that scene.
“That’s a great idea.”
She had missed part of the move, but had Ari just brought her fingers to her lips? “Yeah, come and sit,” Reiko invited before her head thought too much.
A smile crept Ari’s lips, which didn’t help the plan of not thinking. At least, she complied and took the other chair, staring out the Mukou river. It wasn’t summer just yet but nights started to feel more humid and warm, the wind didn’t stab their ribs anymore, either.
“I love nights like this,” Reiko commented, “when it’s not so cold we can’t stay out, but not hot yet, and we can simply enjoy some time outside.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Ari said in a serious tone, “you could still leave the notebook to me. Do you remember sealed letters, like we have in the plays? You could seal the notebook in a way the person will know if it’s been violated. Then I’ll find her and return it.”
That sounded like a good idea but only superficially. “That would damage the cover, to start with.”
“She’s probably about to buy a new one anyway; that thing wouldn’t last forever. It was prone to fill up eventually.”
“How would you know? Not even I know how she’s used of the pages.”
Though that was only a question Reiko threw without much thought, Ari recoiled and hesitated. “Um…” she mumbled, visibly taken aback.
“You’re acting as if you’ve seen it before,” Reiko observed.
“I…I was just guessing. It’s a diary with random thoughts and that page I saw was written in big letters. She isn’t holding anything back, so she’d buy a new notebook sooner or later.”
Reiko had to agree but only on that point. “She’d wonder why you’d seal something yourself.”
“It’s not like I’ll find her tomorrow, so I’ll explain it was a precaution against busybodies. That never lacked in troupe, you know.”
“Or you could just keep it home until you find her! In this case, with me.”
Ari’s eyes grew, but her pupils looked smaller and opaque for an instant.
This rang an alarm inside Reiko’s head of how overbearing she was acting, scaring away the one person who could help her. “I’m sorry,” Reiko apologized, massaging her forehead and brows. “I’m too on edge since yesterday and talking with you and then Eri-chan made me rethink stuff, my responsibility in this. Like, if I left it with you, I know you won’t betray my trust, but it’s as though I’m betraying hers anyway.”
“Technically, it’d be like you never knew a thing, so there’s no responsibility.”
“But I do know. That’s what Eri-chan got me pondering. In the end, it’s a fact I know. I haven’t read more, but I’ve read enough. Then I’ll give you her diary? It’s not that I don’t trust you, but would she? What if she just thinks I’m boasting or feeling too self-important to deal with it myself?”
Ari said something too low for Reiko to hear.
“What was that?”
Red-faced, she repeated, “She’s in love with you, she knows you better than to think that of you.”
Self-conscious invaded Reiko, so she dismissed the words by waving her hands. “Thank you for the faith in me, but would she really know me? For one thing, if she’s truly in love, she clearly doesn’t.”
“C’mon, Reiko-san!” Ari guffawed.
“In any case, I know it, and she could eventually find out too. How betrayed won’t she feel? Isn’t that worse than feeling embarrassed? This person she admires sneaks around behind her back… It’s enough how disappointed in myself I’m already feeling, to a point I’ve been arguing even with you, one of my best friends. I hate it how this made you so discomfortable.”
“Me?”
“There’s another thing… Yesterday, when I found it and still assumed it was just a place she was taking notes of the rehearsal, I did read the first page. I can’t give you details, but she needs someone.”
“You’re not a shrink,” Ari rebuked point blank.
“Indeed. On the other hand, I’m her senior and I not only have no idea whose handwriting it is, but also who could be going through that much trouble and without someone to confide in. Maybe I could advise her to seek help. It’s also terrifying that even if I knew her identity, I’m still lost. I’m not Ryou-san, who’s always so attentive of everyone’s needs and knows the right thing to tell them all the time. What does that say about me as her successor?”
“That you’re your own person, duh? After Ryou-san, we need Reiko-san and not another Ryou-san.”
“Most of all, I have no idea what’s happening with my best friend.”
Ari raised her eyebrows until she noticed whom Reiko had meant. “Me?”
“It’s like since earlier, maybe even since this morning you’ve been about to tell me something, and I can’t fathom what it could be.”
Giving out a forced laugh to dismiss the claim, Ari only seemed to substantiate Reiko’s apprehension.
“This whole thing is driving you crazy and there’s nothing I can do,” Ari argued unconvincingly, for she sounded frantic, tentative in her tone. “Plus, we’re all tired, with the play about to start.”
“And yet, you had time for all this?”
“Maybe it’s time for us to go to bed, now you mentioned it.” She got up from the chair and stretched extravagantly. “It’s like I just increased your troubles today.”
“That’s not right—”
But Ari ignored, continuing, “You get some rest, and we might come up with a solution with a fresher mind tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ll keep an eye for anyone in the troupe searching for anything.”
“Even if she’d go around advertising her deepest secrets are available for the first to find, you’d be the last she will talk to, being my best friend.”
Ari looked away at the last part, still timid about that title.
“Stop reacting like that!” Reiko complained. “Now I’m also embarrassed, just like I’ve just confessed or something.” When Ari looked even redder, Reiko laughed it off so forcibly it scratched her throat. “C’mon, Ari, drop that!”
“Anyway, you should go home,” she said, still not avoiding eye contact. “Before you find even more problems where there is none. You’re overthinking and hyperfocusing.”
Reiko hadn’t noticed she’d been guided out the door until she found herself in the hallway. Ari shoving her out was endearing, at the very least. But she was also right, Reiko was being too much. Instead of finding solutions, she’d found more problems. Like feeling bothered that Ari would cook and ornament the house just to receive her, when Reiko hadn’t been the bestest of friends that day, what with her acting as if she didn’t trust Ari.
“Could you hug her?” Reiko requested quietly.
Taken aback, Ari just tilted her head.
“You said you’d look for her. And maybe you will find this girl. And if you do, could you give her a hug, lend her a shoulder? It won’t feel condescending coming from you, and I’m certain she needs it. I needed it back when I was her age.”
Ari chortled at that. “You know her age even though you don’t know who it is? It’ll be funny if it turns out to be kumichou.”
Their eyes finally met after a long time of avoidance, and Reiko was sure they were both imagining a super girly Kozuki Ruu embellishing the notebook or doing something unquestionably not expected of a fully grown woman at the top of her career while drawing hearts and love umbrellas. The following instant the two were laughing hard in synchrony.
“She’ll be okay,” Ari said suddenly serious, “she’s already got you, doing your best as her senior.”
Reiko nodded. Though she didn’t have the same faith in herself, hearing it from made her feel warm.
To be continued
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