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 19 | Next Chapter (the last!)
Falling
Chapter 19
“Reiko lied to you!” Yuno’s stare was intense, but its meaning was lost on Ari. “They were never together.”
“Who… what?” she asked still eyeing the door Reiko had gone through, calculating the distance she’d already opened between them. No matter how much faster Ari could be, she wouldn’t reach. And it couldn’t be… that same voice stated again.
“It was all an act for your sake, that’s what I’m saying. Reiko lied to you, she’s not in love with Umino-san.”
Ari turned to Umino still unable to grasp the meaning in all that, because it simply couldn’t be.
“It’s true… though Odachin just promised me she wouldn’t tell you.” Umino glared at Yuno.
“I’m sure the situation has changed a lot since.”
Umino sighed and after looking pensive for a while she agreed. “I’ll just summarize it so you can run and get this over with.”
Getting this over with was all Ari wanted, but she couldn’t think of anything she could do to achieve it. So she listened to Umino. On how the first and second dates with Reiko had been real, but during the later they realized there wasn’t chemistry for a romance, and Umino was even more certain of it when she heard about the kiss. That had been when she suggested pretending everything had gone well. For Reiko, it was so she and Ari could continue as friends without Yuno feeling threatened while reaffirming the kiss had been just a blooper. “Secretly,” Umino confessed, “I hoped that would make you jealous enough to admit you liked Reiko-san. That kiss was like the last piece of the puzzle for me to be sure you’re in love with her.”
“I… That’s…” Ari tried to deny but realized she had no need to.
“I still think Odachin was a jerk.”
“I’ve already apologized.”
Ari couldn’t process any more of the banter. “I have to go, right?”
“Yes!” The two said together, despite being the ones who had held her back.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Reiko wasn’t outside the theater. Ari looked around and sighed in dismay, of course she wouldn’t be there anymore. Even if she’d walked super slowly, she had too much time while Umino filled her in. It was worth it, despite the questions it had added to her mind, despite the increase in the feeling of incompleteness she’d wanted to placate by returning the note, it was worth staying back to listen to a part of the other side of the story.
Reiko had lied to her. And Ari had no idea how to process that. Because Reiko didn’t want to cause a problem between her and Yuno, she had lied about being in love with Umino. And that had been because of Ari’s plan to get the two together.
But what Ari was trying to process with priority was that Reiko wasn’t home. She did consider her just not answering the door, but as Ari called out, a neighbor appeared and said Reiko hadn’t returned from work yet. Yes, she was sure, because she was waiting for her daughter to arrive from a trip and had been paying attention to any sound in the hallway.
Reiko really wasn’t home.
Picking up her cell phone, Ari observed her last message with Reiko: “Sorry for leaving without saying anything. Thank you for being there for me today. See you tomorrow!” Doing her best not to reminisce that day that now sounded more like some illusion, she typed, “I’m at yours, and I’m worried you’re not home.” She sent it and squatted to wait for the reply. However, the ‘read’ notification never appeared. The last read had been her apology from the day before, which went unanswered. Ari had been so preoccupied about Yuno and the note, she failed to notice Reiko hadn’t even sent a stamp in acknowledgment. Their conversation history was also painful to slide back.
A colder wind went by and made her shiver. Would it snow that night? It was colder than usual for December. Fall wasn’t even over yet, so snow was unlikely, but the wind didn’t seem to care about the calendar. And Reiko still wasn’t home.
Me: can you try Reiko-san’s phone?
Umi: She’s not answering.
Me: I can’t find her
Umi: she’s probably home by now
Me: I am here already
Me: she’s not back yet
Me: what do I do?
Umi: Odachin and I will look around the theater
Me: I don’t understand…
Me: why did she leave like that?
Me: I was supposed to know but I don’t
Umi: I can’t look with you messaging me every second, Ari
But what was she supposed to do? Just waiting by her doorstep wasn’t working, and it was just getting colder. She hadn’t thought she’d be out until so late, so her coat wasn’t thick enough for the night wind. Nonetheless, she couldn’t come up with where else Reiko would go to just check instead of staying in the same place.
Me: Hello, this is Akatsuki.
Irodori: Hello, thank you for taking care of me.
Me: Sorry for going to the point, but would you know where Reiko-san is?
Irodori: Do you mean her address?
Me: No, I’m right here, but she isn’t home.
A message indicating that Irodori Michiru was writing popped up and then disappear a few times. She had just arrived in the troupe, although they knew each other since the Music School days. Still, she probably didn’t feel safe enough to just ask what the hell Ari was up to. That was probably what Michiru was trying to find words for.
Me: Do you know of any place she could be?
Irodori kept typing something and erasing before sending. It couldn’t be she was typing that long a text to take so long.
Irodori: What happened?
Definitely, not a long text. What could the original version have been?
Me: Sorry, just give me some place
Me: staying stuck here is driving me nuts
There went all formalities, Ari noticed when it was too late to punctuate and capitalize.
Irodori: She cancelled my call.
Irodori: I mean, I was calling her, but it barely rang, and I got disconnected.
Irodori: Do you think she’s in danger?
Me: wait
She could feel Michiru’s tension grow each text, but Yuno had sent her an update just then and she didn’t want to worry Michiru by not answering.
Yuno: In the parking lot.
Yuno: I’m betting you forgot to look there.
Yuno: I could tell her you’re waiting at her house, but I’m sure it’s better if I don’t get involved.
Yuno: I see the read receipt so I’m assuming you’re on your way. I’m going now.
Yuno: Just do it already, Ari
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Ari had never gotten so fast to the theater. Her lungs felt like in fire, though most of the travel had been done by the first taxi she found on the way. As Yuno had said, she was nowhere to be seen. Umino had also messaged her to say they’d found Reiko, in case Yuno (“that brat”) hadn’t given her the correct information. “Thank you, she did,” Ari replied. That also reminded her to reassure Michiru that Reiko was well, though Ari was just assuming it. Who stayed so long in a parking lot during a cold night?
And Reiko really was there, in a corner, sitting on a ramp of the lot. It was impossible to give a name to how she looked. She was just there, motionless. Eyes on nothing.
“I didn’t leave for you to chase after me,” Reiko spoke suddenly when Ari was still tens of steps away.
“I… I know.” What else could Ari answer?
A cold wind made her look around; the parking lot was empty of people and most cars had also been claimed and taken home.
Reiko continued, “I was already here when I realized what an idiot I was, because of course you’d come. So I looked back and waited. Then you didn’t.”
Ari had reached where she was but felt uncertain if she should sit as well. “I was going to, but Umino-san stopped me to talk about your plot.”
“I just sat here. Half of me was still waiting for you. The other half was starting to understand a little of how Oda must have felt yesterday.”
They sounded more like alternating monologues then having a conversation. But Ari said, “I went to your house, I sent a message…”
“Okay, let’s talk. After how I stormed out on you, you deserve to know.” Without warning, Reiko got up and pointed to the exit. “Could you take me to that park?”
When Ari tilted her head, unsure of which park Reiko meant, Reiko put her screen alit in front of her, a photo of Ari displaying. Rather, it was the screenshot of a photo she’d posted to Instagram, one Senri had taken of her in a park by the sunset right before the trip to Hakata. Why had Reiko also saved the one on her Instagram if she had the original photo? Then Ari remembered she’d only posted it after Reiko had said it didn’t even need filters. Of course, Ari had ignored it—she looked older in the raw photo because of the lighting—, and the Instagram version was as filtered as the app allowed her to filter an image. Perhaps, Reiko decided the filters were indeed an improvement, deleted the original, and kept the Instagram photo instead of the raw file Ari had sent her.
“You don’t remember this park?” Reiko asked, her expression still hard to read. It wasn’t a blank look, but it could also be anything.
“I… I do. It’s a bit of a walk, is that okay?”
“Yes, I need the walk anyway.”
When they were about to end the rehearsals? Reiko needed calories so thin she’d been looking, not exercises. Less and less Ari envied her physique, as she’d always had before, and wished she could feed her better. However, that wasn’t the moment to comment on her weight or health, and Reiko had already started the walk, correctly guessing the direction.
Following suit, Ari’s heart thumped erratically. It accelerated from the warmth she felt in being alone with Reiko, then it was still fast but in a different rhythm when she thought of the talk they needed to have, going faster when she couldn’t find any way out of confessing her feelings, so Reiko understood at last what had been wrong with them lately.
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