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?
Previous Chapter | Chapter 11 | Next Chapter
Falling
Chapter 11
After choosing to eat before making any final decision whether to remain in Harvest Hill, Ari needed to find out where the food stalls and restaurants and everything else was. She’d been counting on her cell phone to guide her and hadn’t even paid attention to how large the place was, or even had any idea where most places were, apart from a couple of shops outside the entrance, where she didn’t want to try going for now. Looking ahead, there were some winding roads uphill making it impossible to guess where the best places to eat could be. She didn’t know which she’d really like either; so, asking wouldn’t help. Follow the signs—and they were numerous—would probably just make her walk too much while almost fainting from hunger. Maps. She saw some where they’d bought the tickets, but where were they inside?
“Excuse me.” She reached the closest the staff ladies and it was too late when she noticed the person from before was right next to the she’d spoken to.
“Oh, hi!” The lady from before said over her colleague, looking curiously beyond Ari’s shoulders.
“Oh, they never came,” she answered the implied question, going back to her actor mode. “So maybe I’ll just enjoy the day by myself or something.” As she said it, she noticed she’d really like to, because she’d probably never return there after what had happened. Again, that decision was better left for a fuller stomach. “Anyway,” she beamed at both, “would you have a map? I can’t find them inside…”
“Good thing I also got you one.”
A three-folded rectangular, shiny paper with a photo of the park on the cover materialized in front of her, blocking her view of the two women and in fact making her forget they were there until she heard a distinctive, “Kyaa!” exclamation. She had heard that from some Takarazuka fans before (not directed at her), as unbelievable as it could be to imagine people did say that outside the manga world. But that was her first not related to Takarazuka, and it had come from the first lady’s colleague.
To her benefit, the lady herself held a cryptic smile despite the friend. “I’m glad your date is finally here. Just don’t let it be a clean slate, and off you go!”
“What do you mean?” Her colleague threw her way a bewildered look.
“Well, she made her wait for over an hour and…” her voice became a whisper. Ari couldn’t hear the exact words, but she knew it was about her crying by herself and without even being able to make a call. Finally, she’d finished retelling the juicier bits and turned to the two with another cryptic smile. “I hope the lateness was with good reason.”
“Err…”
Amidst the unexpected conversation, Ari had barely registered the person who had appeared with the map she needed. Her mind, though, knew the same instant it couldn’t be no one else, although logic screamed only Yuno could have found her in there. Logic had lost this one.
After the big entrance as Prince Charming ready to save his damsel in distress, Reiko had lost all the bravado and was probably trying to become invisible, lowering her shoulder and posture to shrink as much as she could. The poor thing, she would never have expected to be told off by a lady from the park’s staff when the intention had been Ari’s recue.
“Anyway, now I have all I needed, so…” Ari tried to queue Reiko to just leave, even bowing goodbye to the two women.
Reiko, however, probably didn’t even notice her attempt. “Just a small correction, if you’ll allow me. I’m here as a stand-in to the prick who did this to her. Let’s call it an audition of sorts. Would you give me your feedback on how I entered the scene? I’m not the best improvising, but I did take an excellent crash course on flirting last month.”
Ari was speechless. Not because of Reiko’s suave smile, she was still an actress even if she didn’t like improvising. It wasn’t even because of the story she’d invented. It was the first time Reiko had alluded to that night so casually and in a positive way when that very course from hell had damned everything between them. In some reality, Ari still hadn’t realized her feelings for Reiko, and she was frolicking around with Yuno as they rode a horse.
“It was wonderful!” the lady’s colleague said, clapping her hands together. “One could accuse you of hiding in a corner just waiting for the best time.”
Looking small again after the compliments, Reiko just shrugged.
“That’s better,” said the lady, with a sincere smile. “Just remember auditioning with a pretty script doesn’t mean a thing if your actions aren’t real. Love her properly or it’s bye bye!”
Ari blinked. Did her speech from earlier made her that inspired or was it just the way she was?
“I will do my best…” Reiko’s laugh was so embarrassed, but her look pleading for Ari’s help was the best part.
“Thank you again to you two,” Ari said, grabbing a piece of Reiko’s jacket and walking away, toward one of the winding roads she’d been observing before. She could hear Reiko literally go “Phew” beside her, her breathing was noticeably more relaxed. And so was Ari’s. She had no idea what Reiko could be doing there, walking next to her as if she were really her date; nonetheless, this made sense. Nothing could make more sense than this, she and Reiko walking together.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Reiko’s awkward walking worked as a magic for Ari’s worries about them being alone together. No doubt, she was mulling over her actions in front of the staff ladies to the point a five-year-old on the loose almost ran her over, collision avoided at the last millisecond. Ari couldn’t help a laugh.
“What on earth was that?” Reiko’s eyes were popping out of her head as she turned in the direction the child had taken, not that they could see anything there anymore.
“I feel I’ve already gotten used,” Ari commented. For the first time, her insides didn’t prickle at a memory of that day, even though it had happened with Yuno. “So Haru called you?” She wondered if it was still okay to refer to Yuno like that.
Without saying anything, a still astounded Reiko just mumbled sounds confirming the conclusion. Well, it was the obvious explanation for her being there.
“I should apologize; I’d have told her not to. It’s not like I can’t go home on my own.” Despite saying so, as she felt Reiko walk beside her the ground felt more solid, the colors were fading or blurred anymore. Her heart had been too tired to skip beats but showed signs of being up to resume business.
“Yeah, you could have already been gone by the time I arrived. But Odachin said you never left. Then… luck was on my side?”
That made her halt. Yuno talked to Reiko here? A pang of guilt hit her. Had she been waiting for Ari to go after her? Should she have just run after to show how important Yuno was? This proved Yuno’s point so fatally it made her dizzy. What did Reiko think of it?
“I thought of having lunch before going home, that was it.” That wouldn’t excuse the more than an hour she’d barely existed while her ex-girlfriend waited for her to leave the park. “That’s not for… Um, I don’t think those ladies will notice so let’s just go? I’ve got food at home, more than enough for two.”
Reiko’s look was hard to read. Rather, she appeared to be disappointed, which didn’t make sense. Didn’t she just come to rescue Ari and make sure she got home in safety? Had Yuno waited for her to leave the park and beg for another chance or just to know she’d be okay or whatever the reason, she had also been the one to recruit Reiko. Their talk had probably been along those lines.
“Or we just go, I won’t force you to eat with me. You’ll already be wasting like more than two hours of your day.” Thinking of Yuno’s call to Reiko made her realize that she could have already told everything. About their reason for breaking up. It was actually fair if she wanted Reiko’s cooperation. “Also, I’ll reimburse you the entrance fee. It’s been such a short time for you, they might do it themselves if I explain how I lost my phone and you wouldn’t know how to find me.”
“Then I could have just asked them to announce it and ask you to come using your real name so people don’t recognize it easily.”
“But you didn’t think of it. I wouldn’t have. We’ll go with that one, so act surprise when they argue it.” She winked, forcing a smile through the whirlwind of worries in her mind.
“Talking about your cell phone…” Like magic, Ari’s device manifested in Reiko’s hand. “If you really want to go home, I can understand,” she spoke slowly. “But you were excited about this place, weren’t you? Odachin mentioned you even made a list of things to do and booked stuff, it took you like a month for it all. Wouldn’t it be a waste of the perfect day out? We’re about to start a show and it’s only gonna get colder. I think that can also get all that happened out of your head for some hours. But if you feel too weird about doing this all with me, my car is just outside.”
Holding her phone and taking in that Reiko and Yuno had really talked about her as expected, Ari noticed the offer could as well be a temporary peace offering. Out of pity or just not to waste their day when they were already there? Whatever motive, she wanted that breather. She wanted that time with Reiko.
She nodded with an elated grin.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
In the end, they had to walk back all the way and leave the park to eat in a cute café that also served meals, which Ari had taken for a vegan restaurant before.
“Is this date lesson number two or the practical exam?” Ari joked as they ate their beef stew. It felt wrong to talk about that night after almost two months doing her best to pretend it hadn’t existed in front of Reiko, but hearing about it from her had made her realize it maybe wasn’t a taboo. At least, not anymore. “Just so I know if I’m to evaluate your skills,” she added when no response came.
Reiko was still taking her time and maybe playing with the vegetables in her plate? “It’s just a date,” she said in a small voice. “I mean, you’ll probably have an opinion later if it was good or bad, but...” She paused, considering how to continue. “Yeah,” was all she said in the end, though.
Still, it had been enough to make Ari move in her seat and also focus on her food for a long moment. “Well, so will you.” She did want to ask about what Umino thought of her girlfriend being out with someone else, someone that was into her. In love with her, more precisely. Maybe there hadn’t been enough time for Reiko to share what Yuno had revealed to her yet. Yes, surely that. Which meant Umino would be hearing two bombs in a single shot.
“Should we check if we can move the items on your list to fit it all? It’s almost one, which gives us four hours until closing.”
Ari was too embarrassed to say anything they did was already what she wanted the most. Moreover, she knew Reiko would prefer to plan ahead. Thus, she just got her phone and handed it to her.
“Archery next? That sounds good. Also, I read we need to get to the classes they offer fifteen minutes before if we didn’t make a reservation, so we could do the dumpling experience after that.” She unlocked her phone and studied a map to the park she’d downloaded sometime before. “They not close but most of what you want is on the other side of the park, we can do those after the dumplings.”
“I don’t think I want the dumplings that much...” Ari gestured to their food with her head.
Reiko chuckled. “I don’t think we’ll be in archery long enough for the ropes.” She was still scrolling through the list of which Ari had been so proud but that now looked like a mess even from the other side of the table.
“I’m sorry it’s all abbreviated... and I wasn’t sure if we’d take the little boat ride or the train or even which of them, that’s why they’re on a single line.”
“That’s why I couldn’t find the ‘boat train no bullet’,” Reiko said with a serious face.
“I thought the others would be better on a date than the mini bullet train.” Ari reached out for her phone and took it back. “Why don’t you choose what you want? This isn’t a game we need to win.”
“But aren’t those what you want to do?” Reiko looked hurt. Was Ari acting ungrateful after she’d come all the way to substitute for Yuno? “I... I want to do this with you,” Reiko said turning her eyes back to the food. “I did choose where we went on our last date.”
‘That didn’t count’, was what Ari almost said, but she wanted it to have counted. She didn’t want to never think about it again. That was the reason she just smiled and replied, “That’s fair.”
“For your information, I noticed the exclamations for the slope slide. I’m not saying it ignorant of my fate.”
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