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?
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Falling
Chapter 9
After the Hakata run was over and Ari could finally be in her home, she knew what the first thing was that she had to do. She had been talking a lot with Yuno over the phone, but not through messages. The only texts in their LINE history were for knowing if the other was already free to talk or what time they would be free. It wasn’t that they’d agreed so during her visit to her apartment; it had been entirely Ari’s decision, and Yuno had followed so far without questioning. Yuno was better at reading the situations than Ari, but not really at talking about stuff. Maybe, had they had that same talk in the beginning of their relationship… Not that she was blaming Yuno, but some more direct warning could have saved everyone the pain.
Breathing as deep as she could, Ari opened her closet. Her intention wasn’t to undo her bags; most of her clothes needed to be washed before anything. She needed to access her involuntary shrine, which demanded much more effort than unpacking. She couldn’t just start wearing every piece of clothes Reiko had ever given to her and her other treasures hadn’t been an issue. Ari’s eyes had done their best not to look at the knit cap but they’d finally found it on their own and stayed there before she’d come up with any decision. She took another deep breath and with shaky hands retrieved it from the pile.
She did remember very well how the two were getting ready for a date when they found Reiko’s love confession inside it before the Hakata trip. What she couldn’t remember was how the hat had returned to inside her closet. Ari hesitated but forced herself to search inside it and there was the same card, with the same note that had probably imploded everything.
No, it was unfair to say so. She’d meditated during her time away and each time she came up with another reason for everything to go as badly as it had. Her relationship Yuno was strangely one of the causes for the problems in that very relationship, for Reiko had gotten closer with Umino because Ari hadn’t had enough time for either of her best friends. Her best friends then. And it was no lie that Ari was in love with someone else, which is not usually a good sign for a relationship. And she hadn’t been aware of it. And it got worse, she did do a lot of things with Reiko that were more like what girlfriends would do than simply friends. Their texting, their talks, their outings that sometimes were more like a date than her dates with Yuno… Many times, she’d picked Reiko and told Yuno she was busy to go out with her. Reiko was the first and the last thing on her mind most of the days. She really couldn’t blame the note, among everything else, it had only hurt Ari’s heart. And though she hadn’t even been aware of how much until later, Yuno had. Which surely had hurt her too.
“I promise I’ll give it to Umi-san. Soon.” She couldn’t yet, but she’d take small steps until that day arrived. For the moment, she chose a shirt Asami Jun had given her and a jacket Reiko had, both never worn ever since. They would make her outfit for the troupe reunion day. In time, she’d get to the last piece in the shrine, that note. She’d also wear the pajama Reiko had bought her if she weren’t to spend the night at Yuno’s.
That reminded her of other promises that wouldn’t be kept, however. A slumber party with Reiko to prove to her she’d wear the pajama. The park she told Reiko she’d take her, the same she had taken pictures with Senri for Instagram. She hoped Senri never told Reiko about it either, because Ari didn’t want her with Umino there either. Reiko had also thought of buying a gift for Yuno, for putting up with her stealing Ari. How could Ari be so blind?
Ari had had so many days out of Kansai to get used to this new stage… And she’d thought to have taken more steps then it turned out that she really had. She wasn’t anywhere as far as she’d thought. But she’d fight. Yuno had accepted her feelings for Reiko for over a year, she’d been quietly allowing Ari to be in that limbo for almost as long, a limbo where she was Yuno’s girlfriend but acted like Reiko’s as well.
The autumn colors! She walked to her window and laid her eyes on the nearest tree. Hyogo was already yellowish, and they had planned on going together to see the red leaves somewhere the following week between their return and the gathering of the troupe.
Her plans from now on would have to be with Yuno only. And she was lucky to still have her by her side.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
“She’ll love the drive there!” Ari told Senri while shaking the photograph on her cell phone.
They were in one of the tables in the theater’s dining hall, it was so quiet her voice echoed. But she’d finally decided for a plan for her big date, and she couldn’t wait to hear someone else’s opinion.
Although she’d been back for a month, she and Yuno still had to celebrate their reunion and the success of her first leading role in a Bow Hall. Ari had also just learned she was to lead one the next small theaters, and it would be her first time to do so outside of the Takarazuka. However, in a blink, the day for the troupe to gather had come, and they’d barely had time in the usual sluggishness after a run for a picnic in a park to enjoy the autumn colors. Despite how dark it all had seemed just over a month ago, despite how she still couldn’t talk normally with neither Reiko nor Umino, all else was looking up. She’d also continued with her resolution of dismantling the shrine, although today she wasn’t wearing any of Reiko’s gifts or hand-me-downs.
Senri had taken the phone from her hand after having to fight for it, with Ari so distracted and not noticing her efforts, and now she studied the map. “It does seem doable, but not that much of a nice drive.”
“It’s super doable! And we’re not going there for the drive! That’s just an extra Odachin will love. I’m sure!”
“I still vote for what I told you.” That had been two days before, when Ari first consulted her classmate on a good date plan, Senri was still insisting on an overnight trip to the onsen in Arima. “Odachin loves that stuff, you love being outdoors, and it’ll be easy to find a good hotel, someone will know of one. And by then it’ll be the beginning of December, already super cold for it to be nice, but not so crowded with people on winter break.”
“It just feels… like we’re an old couple. I want this!” She took her phone back and clicked a little more until she had the photo she needed. “Look! There’s a llama! And a freaking grass slide!”
“So, you’ll be two children playing all day?”
“We also get the pet some animals, and they have more than one restaurant for us to try.”
“Yeah, yeah. You already sold me the place. Your eyes are actually super scary right now, like a cat’s after getting some catnip.” Senri laughed. “I just don’t see how that will be romantic. Look,” her finger pointed at the many happy families in the photos uploaded to the park’s website, “children screaming and running and interrupting. You want to be alone and enjoy one another. That’s romantic!”
Ari realized she was hugging her phone protectively. Senri was right about how maniac she must be looking. “Leave the romance to us.” She winked.
“Are you planning a date?” Umino’s voice came from her back, making her gulp. Lately, it was impossible to see one without the other. Still, Ari prayed for otherwise. For Reiko not to be there.
Turning her head in Umino’s direction, though, she found what she knew she would. Reiko and Umino could as well be holding hands, so intimate they seemed.
“I didn’t know you’d met someone, Senri-chan!” Umino took the seat next to Ari, she looked confident she had the right to know what they’d been talking about. And had the last two months not happened, she would have.
Moreover, there was the problem that Senri had no idea about anything. “Not me!” she giggled. “It’s Ari, she’s planning this super date with Odachin.”
“Oh.” Umino didn’t explain why she just said that. Another time, she would be joining in and suggesting places. This one, however, her face contorted as though she’d heard they were about to explode the theater and didn’t want to be associated in it.
Reiko just nodded in silence, making no other movement. Not until Umino poked her. Ari had been watching the interaction, with no idea what it all meant, when Senri snapped her fingers. “Give her a ring!”
“A ring?” Reiko’s mouth was agape.
“It would be uber cute. Don’t you agree, Reiko-san?” Senri asked.
Tilting her head to the right, Reiko frowned and letting out “hmm” sounds.
“They’re already past the 300 days. I think it’s the perfect moment.”
“I…” Reiko started saying, but went mute again in deep thought.
“What is there to doubt? And it’s not like they’re gonna marry, so no misleading or hurrying stuff you’re not ready for. It’s just a commitment ring for your thousand days together. If we were in middle school, we’d have one in less than a month. But it’s a good demonstration that the date is indeed special.”
“Well, that’s for Arinko to decide, not us,” Umino interrupted. “Reiko-san and I must go now. Good luck with the plans!” She put her arm on Reiko’s and pulled her along toward the room exit.
“Do you think that was a sensitive topic?” Senri watched the two leave. “It’s strange, right? You’d think they’d at least call it juvenile. Maybe some teenage days trauma?”
Ari pursed her lips. She wasn’t expecting for someone else to call Reiko and Umino’s relationship weird. The two were a lovely couple, the type that could grow old together and die at the same time when they were 120 years old. But even after waiting a long time, nothing else came. Could she press Senri? “What do you think of them?” she asked.
Senri raised her eyebrows. “Them?” She pointed the way they had taken. “Like…”
“As a couple, do you think they’re the real thing?”
“A couple… are they?”
“Of course they are! They’re always together and—”
“You and Reiko-san as well, and you and Umino-san. Though I haven’t seen you guys talk lately. Wait, is this—”
Ari hurried to cut whatever line of thought she was following. “I don’t really know,” she lied. “But I thought they were pretty obvious. Did you see how they left holding arms?”
“You’d be the first to know if they did get together. If you don’t, then they’re just friends.”
But Ari knew… She had been sure it was already common knowledge in the troupe. Or did the fact that they were the top combi work like a camouflage? In any case, she couldn’t out people, even if Senri was her friend. Above all, she was afraid of how clear her feelings about it could be if she spoke out. It still hit too close, and Senri would hear it the moment she opened her mouth. She’d been taking one step at a time to fight for her relationship as she’d promised that day. Accepting the two was still too far to reach.
“So, do we go buy the rings now?” Senri asked with a bright smile.
“Nope. First of all, Odachin doesn’t care for those things. And it is a little juvenile.”
“How could she not care!” Her face was red, as though she’d taken personal offense. “Don’t lie, you love that stuff as much as I do.”
She wouldn’t mind receiving one… but during different times. A ring would be heavy, because that date was too attached to her getting over Reiko and choosing Yuno. A ring would mean shackles and a reminder of this stage she preferred just stayed behind once they got over it. “But you may be right,” Ari said after considering all the stuff she wasn’t brave enough to tell Senri. “I should do something meaningful, and I have a good idea of what.”
“What?” Senri asked without waiting a beat.
Ari smiled to be mysterious, but she was actually praying Senri wouldn’t push for details. “Anyway, I’m having a hot date in Sakai!”
“First person to ever say that. Are you sure you don’t want Arima?”
“I’ll save it for our thirtieth anniversary.”
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