Falling
Author: Anita
Fandom: Takarazuka RPF
Characters: Tsukishiro Kanato / Akatsuki Chisei, Kazama Yuno, Umino Mitsuki
Genre: yuri, romance
Rating: PG 13
Summary: Chisei thinks she's finally found the one for her in
Kazama Yuno. Yuno, despite their year-long relationship, started
displaying worried over Chisei's tightness with Tsukishiro Kanato. But
it's normal to message one of your best friends nonstop, right? To make
it worse, the two are to spend month apart when Chisei and Yuno find a
confession Kanato wrote in the past, and Yuno is convinced Chisei was
the intended recipient. How can Chisei prove to Yuno she's imagining
things and maintain both her girlfriend and her friend who's also a girl
when it's no secret she considers Kanato the most beautiful woman ever?
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Next Chapter
Falling
Chapter 2
They had more bags than they could carry around the streets of Kobe and it was barely eleven in the morning. Ari looked Reiko’s way, who was checking her wristwatch and probably having the same thought.
“Time to call it a day, right?” she said before Reiko could.
Rolling her eyes, Reiko shook her bags. “I wish this was how my day ended, but there’s a bunch of photos they need this afternoon.” Then she glanced around to locate where they were. “Are you hungry yet? I could do with some lunch. My treat, obviously.”
Ari celebrated, pretending she didn’t know that was what Reiko had planned from the beginning. Even if they hadn’t been able to go out as much lately, her habits of secretly spoiling her didn’t change.
They found a curry chain store in one of the streets going north between Motonomiya and Sannomiya and welcomed the cool breeze from the air conditioner. This year’s summer had been so intense they were soaked in sweat, though the nights already screamed it was fall. Having walked up and down the city of Kobe after a small stop in Ashiya hadn’t helped the heat either.
“I’m so glad we found these, the prices were amazing,” Reiko commented about the two jackets she’d just purchased while they waited for the waitress. “And thank you for carrying the rest for me, I think we won’t have to exercise for at least two days now.”
“Definitely not how that works, but it was no problem.”
“You should have gotten more. We’re leaving in a week for Hakata, and the trees will be yellow by the time we’re back, if we’re lucky.”
“Haru was saying that. I mean, Odachin.”
“Were you two up late?” She gave an all-knowing smile. “You still look sleepy, and we’ve been here for hours.”
“I swear that’s not it!” Ari shook her hands frantically. “I just took a bath and went to sleep after I got home. Odachin stayed at hers. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
The smile turned into a chuckle. “Good girl.”
A waitress interrupted before more could be said and marked their orders on her tablet.
Reiko watched her go behind the counter, but remembered what she had been saying before. “You must get a good night sleep whenever you can; our rhythm only gets worse, trust me. You’re so careful about your food, gotta remember to sleep too.”
Ari nodded. “I promise I’m watching out…” She sucked her lips not to add the reason she didn’t feel rested after a whole night haunted by all sorts of reflections. That movie had given food poisoning to her thoughts.
They waited again for the waitress to serve their plates, but Reiko again seemed to remember something. She fumbled around one of the bags to retrieve a package wrapped in a laminated paper and offered it in Ari’s direction. “For keeping me company even when you felt like you preferred to die.” She snickered. “It was so early, and you could have spent more time with your girl. I should have also gotten something for Odachin, come to think of it. You’ll be apart for a bit during our run in the Hakataza, it was nice of her not wanting to kill me for stealing you.”
It took effort on Ari’s end not to laugh, and it was too huge for her tired self, so Reiko didn’t fail to notice. She received an inquisitive look for it.
Ari did her best to act dismissively. “I just forgot to tell her I wasn’t staying over and she got upset.” Upon seeing the reaction to the already simplified version of the argument, she added, “It’s fine now!”
“Hm…” Reiko considered it for a moment. “Maybe I should really buy her something. For putting up with our Arinko.”
It wasn’t the nickname but the pronoun that made Ari’s cheeks burn. Imagine if she’d used “my Arinko”? That would have been the same as a murderous weapon coming from those lips. Better not think about lips now they were facing one another, but it was also too late and her eyes hovered there.
“Oops,” Reiko said with a nervous chuckle. Did she read her mind? “Odachin wouldn’t let that ‘our’ easily, would she? Lately, I’ve been forgetting you two had actual years of knowing each other before I got transferred.” She pondered a little more, her eyes lost on the ceiling. “Or maybe it’s fine now I’m the top star? I do have responsibility over you guys. Sheesh! I have no idea how to go about this, imagine those who are transferred as top stars to a troupe they’ve never been before?”
“I don’t mind being your Ari.” She regretted saying it even before the sentence was over and nearly slapped her own mouth to cover it shut. “I mean…” Ari tried to her best to think of how to rephrase. “It does make sense. You are our joukyuusei.”
“Now I just feel old.” Reiko hunched forward with exaggeration.
“No way, we’re almost the same age!”
“I’m more like your sister’s age. Damage done, Ari-chan.” She shook her head clicking her tongue, but a smile escaped her lips.
All the fight yesterday and the pain to get up early that morning paid off just like that—truthfully, it all had already been worth it if it meant spending time together. Nonetheless, Ari felt warm whenever she realized Reiko was being silly with her. As though she’d been allowed somewhere sacred. But with jokes and not-so-funny jokes.
“What would Odachin like to get? I just knew you’d like the shirt you haven’t even opened to check” Reiko pointed to the package Ari considered never opening just to preserve the memory of getting a gift, like a couple others she’d received before, “but I’m not so sure of her taste. Do I even know yours?”
“You know I save these for the special occasions!”
“It’s actually sleepwear, a long-sleeved pajama dress. Don’t go to parties wearing it, please.” Reiko winked. “You keep giving me that excuse for all the clothes I give you, even the hand-me-downs, so now you can just lie to me that you wore it and I’ll never know.”
“Unless you spend the night.” Ari couldn’t resist the tease and waited for a reaction.
But Reiko just laughed it off. “And I’d sleep in the middle of you and Odachin?”
The image of the three fighting to fit her bed started funny, but soon became something else. And she wouldn’t go there.
“Not like you’d want to wear that in front of Odachin, just something comfortable,” Reiko resumed. “Anyway, we could set a date, and you can help me choose her something. Maybe a special souvenir from Fukuoka. Or a perfume! Perfumes are always useful in the theater. Will you come?”
That information was correct, but, considering their talks lately, Yuno would rather throw it out the window and go to a fan meeting smelling like fish before putting on whatever perfume Reiko bought. Regardless, Ari nodded enthusiastically. “Of course!”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The course of the following days, Ari and Yuno couldn’t meet for more than their break times and spend one night, which went on eventless. They were just too tired with the deadline to their respective plays hanging over them.
Of course, she hadn’t worn Reiko’s present on that night, neither had she on the other days. After wondering for some time, she did open the gift wrap to find what seemed like a very comfortable pajama, ideal for the chilly nights they would face that October. It was a large dress with a big and fluffy dog wishing good morning and white bone prints filled the sleeves. Due to the guilt trip Reiko had given her for rarely using the gifts, Ari wondered if she should take it to Hakata and wear it when they’d inevitably end up having a sleepover, or should she pretend she’d forgotten it? Irrespective of her tendency to keep those gifts in a corner of her closet, the shirt was white and not thick enough, and she didn’t like sleeping with a bra on. One thing was taking a bath with all the troupe members present, another to share a bedroom with her breasts showing. She wasn’t even factoring in yet what her girlfriend would think of it.
Not that Yuno usually said anything about what she wore. That was probably why it bothered Ari so much how she’d be reacting to her friendship with Reiko; Yuno had always been okay with anything, even when they had just started going out together and no boundaries had been set yet. Yuno just wasn’t the type who’d get in her way.
“I keep wondering if anything is going on between Reiko-san and Umi-san,” Himesaki Mirei blurted out in the middle of their early dinner post rehearsals.
They were to leave for Fukuoka in two days and, though having plays outside Kansai were fun, they needed some fun before packing. Fun was still just eating dinner together and going home to face those bags, but Ari had been looking forward to this.
“They’re really close, aren’t they?” Hanabusa Kaoto commented with faraway eyes.
“And Arinko is the closest to them,” reminded Urara Senri, “so, what’s going on there? And are you jealous your two best friends are at it and never invited you?”
The group mocked her with a “Wooo!” and Kiyoka Ran hit her lightly with her shoulder.
They all knew Ari was dating Yuno, even though she’d probably only confirmed it with words to her douki. ‘Reasonable doubt’, had said one of her joukyuusei once. Takarazuka was a small town in a lot of senses, so it was best if the romantic relationships, be them homosexual or not, were assumed but never confirmed. That was why she would have never confirmed if anything was really going on between Reiko and her aiteyaku Umino Mitsuki. But also the reason she had respected their privacy and never asked. Or rather, one of the reasons, because another was that she preferred not knowing.
“It is true I see them alone much more lately,” Asahi Tsubasa remarked.
“Arinko has been too busy with Odachin to be the third wheel, there’s that,” Senri reminded, getting the menu again and opening it in the dessert section.
Tsubasa pouted. “I always thought I’d know all the gossips once I was older in the troupe, but my Shinko days are over, and I’m still out of the loop. You guys really don’t know?” She looked expectantly to the older members of the group, but they all denied. “Not even you?” Her eyes fixed on Mirei, who was Umi’s douki.
“I was the one who brought it up, wasn’t I?”
With a nod, Tsubasa sighed.
The topic changed after that to other rumors not as interesting to Ari, and the group dispersed during sunset.
Just when Ari was wondering if she called a cab or went home on foot, Senri grabbed her arm. “Hey, follow me, I want to take some pictures for my Instagram.”
Another of the contract clauses everyone knew they broke was not having social network accounts. Nowadays, it was rare for any of them not to have at least a secret handle on Instagram, but aside from family members and very few select fans, they basically just followed one another.
She watched Senri pick a small park and the best angle to catch the dimming sunlight. After clicking the photos, she returned Senri’s phone and decided to capture some shots for her own account.
“This is really the best light, huh?” Ari commented, studying the results, and trying a couple of selfies. The location and everything else seemed so perfect, it would be a waste otherwise, even though her face looked tired and her hair disheveled. She sent one of them to Reiko, suggesting they go there together next time.
Senri nodded and stretched her hand. “Let me take it for you, Odachin will love it!”
“It’s fine, I feel like some truck ran me over. And even look like it, see?” She showed the same shot which Reiko had received, replying with multiple thumbs-up already. Hopefully, she’d be looking more instagrammable when they went there together, and the trees would also be red.
“Don’t be silly, c’mon!” Senri snatched the device from her hand and clicked without warning. “You two have been a bit off lately, anything I can help with?” she asked while directing Ari with her hands.
“It’s that obvious? But I’m not giving up easily, don’t worry. It’s just the first time for the two of us to be with someone for this long.”
“An entire year, it’s really a lot. For our standards, especially.”
“All my other things were more like things compared to this.”
“I was cheering for Asamizu-san…”
Ari gave a weak smile. She felt amazingly lucky when Asamizu Ryou corresponded her flirting and, even after knowing her in the biblical sense and for too many times to count, she still found her too beautiful. “The spark died, as they say.”
“Was she the longest one before Oda?”
“Maybe…” Ari had to stop posing even to do the math.
“Some years ago, you were kind of slippery.” Senri laughed. “I remember when Rii-chan mentioned someone in Yukigumi wanted to go out with you, and I kept saying it was a terrible idea. How long were you with Ao?” she asked already knowing the answer
“Don’t go there; I still feel bad for her.”
“She’s fine with some dude now. But you only lasted a week before you ended it, I wonder if that can even be called a relationship.”
“Which means I’m much better with Haru—I mean, with Odachin. I’ll make us work through this, as soon as we can actually see each other for more than ten minutes.”
“Also, that was like three, four years ago? You’d already quieted down before Odachin, don’t make it sound like she fixed you. But I’m happy if you’re happy enough to stick by her.” Senri took another shot, and Ari didn’t know if she was curious to see what face she made upon hearing that or anxious about it.
Her head had been on those years. Before that “slippery” phase, as Senri had called, Ari hadn’t gone out with one for many months, so absorbed in finding out what the deal with Reiko was. Then it went nowhere, and she moved on to someone else. Who’d turned out be lots of someones. She couldn’t deny those times had been fun.
“I really like this one!” Senri showed her yet another photo of Ari smiling pensively, eyes seeming to study the tree ahead. Had that been from when she was reminiscing her naughty days? “Already sent to Odachin, I hope she doesn’t suspect the message isn’t yours.”
“Senri!” she admonished, hurrying to recover the phone and check the message. Would Yuno know she was thinking of sex with other women? Her girlfriend could be unbelievably perceptive to the point of scary—hadn’t their latest problems been her hypersensitive sixth sense of what Ari wasn’t even feeling anymore for Reiko?
Me: Thinking of you ♥♥♥
That really wasn’t like any messages she’d ever sent Yuno. Or maybe it could have been if it were two years back, when they were flirting nonstop.
“It’s so obvious you’re thinking of the person you love…” Senri had dreamy eyes. “I’d just mentioned her name and you looked like that.”
This meant the shot had probably been before her mind went to the gutter. Somewhere between thinking of the word slippery and her crush on Reiko. Ugh, Reiko. She hoped Yuno didn’t have the super mind-reading powers she sometimes showed, or she’d wish she’d been thinking of debauchery.
“Much better than how you look at each other lately,” Senri continued.
“How’s that?”
“Like very good old friends.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, but we have too much sex to be compared to an old couple.”
Senri covered her ears. “Hey, too much information.”
That was a reason Ari couldn’t see why Yuno was so bothered—when they were together, they were really together. Even that single night they’d met since the movie incident, while their bodies were sore from rehearsals, they’d still found extra energy for each other. Yuno was too beautiful to be ignored, so why did she feel in disadvantage? As much as Ari loved talking with Reiko, she also loved being with Yuno, and that had only grown the longer they’d been together. With all that, could it really be an issue with Ari? But even if the problem wasn’t her, it still affected them both. The downside of being a couple...
“You look so sad after speaking dirty.” Senri had gotten her cell phone back and taken another photo.
“Give me this!”
“Just look, it’s super pretty, although it’s already too dark. I’d apply some filter to fix the lighting and post this one.”
Ari didn’t agree. In fact, she looked older and conflicted. Just like she felt when it was really of Yuno she was thinking about.
“C’mon, post it!”
“I’ll ask a second opinion.”
“And how could Odachin not find you beautiful?”
Ari chuckled. “I sent it to Reiko-san instead, we need someone less biased.”
“Hm,” was all Senri said, without elaborating why she visibly disagreed.
A ping sound came less than a minute later. “Senri-chan is right, it’s my favorite! And it could go without filters, no?” Reiko had replied.
Senri didn’t show surprise reading from over her shoulder. “Now post it!”
“Why do I feel cheated? But we’re still fixing it with jillions of filters.”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
With Ari going to Fukuoka for her play and Yuno about to start her first leading role in the Bow Hall, they had decided to go out for dinner in a small restaurant in Nishinomiya for which Yuno had herself called to book a reservation. Yuno went straight from the theater to Ari’s house and was finishing getting ready in the bedroom while Ari waited in the living room. She’d decided not to have her phone nearby to make sure no one could accuse her of diverting her attention; they’d be almost a month apart starting the next morning, so that wasn’t that big a sacrifice.
“I borrowed your knit cap,” Yuno called from the bedroom.
That made almost-sleeping Ari alert. She got to her feet and hurried there to find her closet door open and some of her hats over her bed. The knit cap was still in Yuno’s hands—she’d probably announced that the moment she spotted it in the corner of the closet. “You can’t wear that one,” Ari warned and took it back.
“I know what it is.” Yuno’s voice sounded cold, although Ari was busy putting the cap back to its place and couldn’t see her. It could be her imagination, because if Yuno did know… “It’s a hand-me-down from Reiko-san.”
Yes. She knew. And her voice positively sounded cold. Ari’s eyes lay on the pile of gifts from Reiko, three of them still wrapped. That was the place the knit cap was supposed to be, on the very bottom of them, because it had been the first thing she’d ever gotten from Reiko.
“How do you remember?” Ari asked still not turning to confront her. “It’s been years, literally.”
“Hard to forget how cute you looked, so frantic to get this.”
Ari blushed at the memory. “Did you take it on purpose? You know that’s where I keep the important gifts I receive.”
She wasn’t lying, there were also pieces of clothes Ryuu Masaki had given her as well as other joukyuusei’s, and Yuno had already inquired about it before they started dating. It was Reiko’s that she didn’t like using, especially whatever she’d pre-owned.
“Just get another hat.” She closed the door to end the discussion.
“It was the first time Reiko-san showed up with clothes for us, and we were super excited because whatever she wore always looked so good. And we didn’t know her clothes, it was all very new back then.”
Ari nodded with caution.
She’d followed her troupe mates to the corner of the rehearsal room and tried her best to find a piece that wouldn’t make a difference for any of the colleagues with less fans to sponsor them but would still make her think of Reiko. Her crush was peaking that time, and it would be the first thing she’d get from her. Because Reiko was a joukyuusei and hadn’t been with her during her first play in Tsukigumi, they weren’t friends yet. Ari hadn’t dreamed they could become so close.
“I saw it,” Yuno continued, “when you found the knit cap and was just waiting for its turn to be donated to us, you were almost drooling. Your eyes never left it.”
Although it was only later, maybe two years before that Ari had told Yuno about her crush on Reiko, that much detail in the narration made her wonder whether it had been any news. No, Yuno had probably known it since then. Was it what she was trying to say?
“Then Reiko-san didn’t even ask who wanted the knit cap, she was just, ‘Oh, this should go to Umi-chan!’ and it almost got into Umi-san’s hands when you dived for it.”
Ari flinched. She didn’t remember being so flashy about it, but it sounded true enough that maybe she had done exactly that. “It was so pretty…” she tried to argue.
“And yet, you never once wore it, did you?” Yuno walked past her and opened the closet again to retrieve the knit cap. “Also, it’s the only one like this here, it’s not exactly a hat.” Then she put it on with a defying look toward Ari.
“You…”
The words of incredulity died in her mouth because Yuno removed the cap seconds later, turning it over.
“What are you doing?” Ari tried to retrieve it again, but Yuno stopped her, pulling it back, still fumbling and inspecting its inside.
Yuno furrowed. “Something is off, it kinda scratched the side of my head.” She’d returned the knit cap to the correct side but was now going through the folded brim to Ari’s dismay. Through all those years she had conserved it exactly as Reiko had left, and now it would never be again.
“You’re being mean, Haruna.”
“Here!”
To Ari’s horror, Yuno had detached a white tag from inside the fold. However, before she could even be angry about the disfiguration, it turned to be just a white paper, just a little harder than usual, like a blank business card or a gift card. “What is that?” she asked bewildered.
Yuno’s face went white, and Ari finally registered the card had something written on it. Not printed, but literally written. It wasn’t a business card.
“Is this why?” Yuno mumbled with a husky voice. She completed when it was clear Ari didn’t understand the question, “That you didn’t want me to get this? Why didn’t you ever tell me about this?”
To be continued...
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