好奇心の川 (curious river) pt. 3 [end] (akb48, yamamoto/kawaei)
好奇心の川 (curious river) part three
group: akb48
pairing: yamamoto/kawaei
length: ~4000w
part three
When the sun finally rises, Rina feels no better than a zombie would after months of not getting nearly enough brains to feed off.
Physically, at the very least. Emotionally, she’s far worse off.
All she wants is to see Sayaka and be with her, but she knows that there’s no chance for that right now. And if it’s true what she had said? That their parents want to move away? Because of her. Because of the relationship they have.
Even though they have no damn idea what that is. All they saw was Sayaka giving her a kiss. Don’t some girls do that even if they aren’t together?
Sure, that only happens in movies and anime anyway. Still.
Rina wishes they at least gave Sayaka a chance to explain things.
She desperately needs to come up with a solution for this. She has to find a way to stop them from moving away. What happens to her if they do? If she can never ever see Sayaka again?
She’s sure that it would tear her apart. At least for a while; surely, she would get over her with time, but why would she want that? She doesn’t ever want to get over her. She wants to be with her. Now she’s a hundred percent sure about that.
Too bad that she needed Sayaka’s parents to forbid them from meeting and ruin everything for her to realize that.
Boy, is she completely helpless. Rina’s never been in this situation before; or anything like it. Or just anything relatively challenging. She’s mostly lead a very boring life that never met any obstacles, except for her parents’ divorce. But that went down in a peaceful way, too, so it’s not like there were any real challenges other than having to get used to not having her father around every single day.
There’s a gut feeling in her belly that tells her she should speak to her mother. The thought’s been gnawing at her mind for a while now; she doesn’t like keeping secrets from her, never did. But this isn’t something she would run to her to tell immediately and she has no idea at all how her mother would react to the news.
But honestly, she’s her only hope. Rina doesn’t want to become that typical dumb teenager who looks up the internet looking for a solution for a problem on sites where non-experienced know-it-all teens like to preach wisdom that they don’t even have.
Surely, that’s a huge stereotype but Rina’s never trusted the internet.
But does she have the courage?
That shouldn’t be a question, a voice in her head tells her. If she really does love Sayaka as much as she thinks she does, she shouldn’t even be considering backing off.
Rina takes a deep breath. Without even bothering to change out of her pyjamas, she storms out of her room to find her mum.
It’s no big task as she literally bumps into her on her way to the kitchen, almost causing her mother to drop the bowl of fruit salad she’s holding.
“Oh, sorry mum!” she apologizes quickly, holding onto the bowl to make sure it stays in place. Her mother rolls her eyes, smiling a little.
“One should never take safety in the home granted, should they?”
Rina smiles only briefly. Her mother must sense the seriousness in her presence because she turns to put the bowl on the counter before focusing her full attention on Rina.
“Something’s up, honey?”
Rina sighs deeply. “Mum, there’s something I want to talk about.”
“Uh-oh, that sounds serious,” mum says and puts her hand no Rina’s shoulder, leading her to the living room. They sit down on the sofa and she turns to look at her daughter with one leg pulled up in her lap. “Are you pregnant?”
Rina’s jaw falls off and she involuntarily makes a grimace. “Ew, mum! No! What the hell!”
Her mum chuckles a little. “I was hoping so! I might not be that young anymore but I sure as hell don’t wanna become a grandma yet.”
“Don’t worry mum, there’s no danger regarding that aspect,” Rina says, not wanting to say just how much there isn’t a chance for pregnancy in her current state.
“Then what is it? I’m listening.”
Rina stays silent. How should she even start? Mum, I’m gay? No, that wouldn’t exactly be true… considering that she herself does not know that yet. She doesn’t want to go that far about the question… she’s way too young to figure that out, honestly. All she knows right now is that she loves Sayaka. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s that simple.
Is it, really.
“Yes?” her mum cocks an eyebrow, curiosity glistening in the eyes that could so easily be her own.
Rina chews on her lips. “What do you think of me and Sayaka?”
Mum tilts her head. “What do you mean? I’m glad that you two found each other. But haven’t I already told you that?”
Sure. What a stupid question. Okay, this clearly won’t work.
“Mum, we’re together.”
Rina’s mother blinks. It takes her a few minutes to let that sink in and then her eyes snap wide open.
“Honey, you’re gay?”
Rina’s cheeks burn at that question. She looks away, not wanting to meet her mother’s gaze. She, on the other hand, reaches for her face and forces her to make eye contact.
“Are you?”
Rina hesitates. “I… I don’t know, mum. All I know is that I really, really like Sayaka.”
She tilts her head again. “And since you said you’re together, I guess that means she likes you back…” she trails off, mostly speaking to herself rather than Rina. “Now this is something I never would have expected. Should’ve known there was something up with you never getting a boyfriend.”
Rina waits. She waits for something more of a reaction, but her mother seems at a loss for words, or lost in thoughts, either way she’s not saying anything.
“Mum?”
Mum looks up with a questioning expression. “Mhm?”
“That’s all?”
“Wait a little, I’m processing.”
Easy for you to say, Rina thinks.
But she waits.
“Did this happen because your dad and I gave a really bad example on how straight relationships should work?” she finally asks, but there’s some weird cheekiness in her tone. Rina frowns.
“What? No, mum… Are you making a joke out of this?”
Her mum smiles a little. “Sorry, honey. Would you rather I disowned you and told you how much of a disappointment you are to the family?”
“Am I?” Rina asks carefully, stealing a glance at her mum.
She rolls her eyes. “Of course not. You would never become a disappointment to me just because you prefer plums over bananas.”
“Mum!”
“I’m sorry,” she smiles. “Come here, now,” she says and pulls her daughter into a tight, loving hug and it’s so genuine that it makes Rina cry.
Her shoulders start shaking as she sobs in her mother’s arms and she can hear her trying to hush her to no avail. She lets her daughter let out all her tears before pulling away a little.
“What is it, honey? What happened? Did you get into a fight?”
She shakes her head, pulling out a tissue from the pocket of her pyjamas pants. She blows her nose before answering. “Their parents…”
“Oh god,” her mum says, clearly knowing what that means.
Rina nods. “Sayaka kissed me yesterday out in the garden. Her father saw.”
“Now that is problematic,” she says, rocking her head from side to side as if deep in thought.
“Mum, I need your help.”
“My help?” she blinks in surprise. “How could I help?”
“Couldn’t you like… you know… talk to them?” Rina suggests hesitantly, and her mum laughs.
“Talk some sense into strangers? Not going to work, honey. I can indeed talk to them, but I am positive it wouldn’t have any results. As in, it would probably just make things worse.”
Rina heaves a deep sigh. Tears gather in her eyes once again, but this time she blinks them out.
Back to square one.
*
Rina tries a number of things to get in touch with Sayaka.
But of course, all attempts are fruitless. She told her mum to keep watch and tell her in case Sayaka’s parents would leave the house; but it’s Sunday, so there’s no real reason for them to leave. Tomorrow, however, the parents would leave for work, but something tells Rina that they won’t make it that easy for her to sneak in. Sayaka will probably be locked into the house, at the very least.
Not that it would really be a problem, there are windows everywhere.
The windows.
The idea sparks in her mind and evolves into a flame spreading through her entire being and she knows that this is what she has to do. Sayaka has done it before; why couldn’t she sneak into her home?
There’s only one problem… Sayaka’s room is upstairs, which means that Rina will have to climb up there somehow.
Uh.
Rina walks over to her window that looks at Sayaka’s house and eyes the small tree next to the window that’s supposedly hers; if she remembers correctly, that is. It’s kind of disadvantageous now that she’s never been to Sayaka’s place, but then she remembers how she never even invited her. There must have been a reason for that, and now, Rina thinks it might have been because of her parents after all.
She sighs. If she really does try to climb up to Sayaka like in all the romance classics (wow, Rina’s never thought she would be this romantic!) and their parents find out… well, then she’s screwed. And not only her, but probably also Sayaka.
But it’s worth a try, no?
It’s about Sayaka, so of course it’s worth a try.
*
By the time the clock hits midnight, Rina’s body is completely taken by the excitement; that, and some fear mixed with it. But mostly, she’s confident. She’s climbed a tree before (she did that with Sayaka, too) and she’s proven to be good at it. Surely this ability would not abandon her tonight, would it?
Trying to make as little noise as possible, Rina opens her window and climbs out, making sure to close it once she’s out. Then she turns around and looks up, staring at the rather weak-looking tree right beside Sayaka’s house and suppresses a sigh.
She just hopes her parents really are already sleeping. It would be rather demotivating for her plan to fail before it even had the chance to succeed.
She takes a few deep breaths as she walks closer to the tree, grabbing one of the lower branches with one hand. She pulls it a few times, testing its strength and it doesn’t really move; that should be a good sign. Rina closes her eyes, takes another deep breath and then pulls herself up, swaying one leg over the branch.
Then she waits. Silence. Nothing moves. She’s good.
She moves up branch by branch, her fear dispersing periodically as she gets up higher and thus closer to Sayaka, too.
“Sayaka!” she calls out with a hushed, but strong voice, hoping for a miracle. “Sayaka, can you hear me?”
Nothing.
Damn, she hopes she isn’t sleeping already.
“Sayaka?”
It doesn’t do anything. Rina sighs and decides that she has to climb up all the way until she can knock on the window or something. If even that doesn’t wake Sayaka up then her plan falls to pieces. That should not happen.
Once she’s on the same level as the window, she reaches out to knock but right before she does, a head appears.
Sayaka’s expression is confused and dizzy as if she just woke up; her hair is a tangled mess of black locks and she looks so damn hot that Rina almost forgets how to breathe.
(Hot. Now that’s a word she’s never really used before.)
Sayaka frowns in surprise as she opens the window, completely puzzled at the sight of Rina hanging off the tree in front of her.
“Ricchan? The hell are you doing?”
“Came to visit you, what else do you think?”
For a few seconds, Sayaka doesn’t do anything but just stares, blinking innocently until a smile breaks across her face. “Man, I never thought you had this in you.”
Rina just shrugs, a sheepish smile curving her lips.
“Come on,” Sayaka then says, leaning against the window and putting out both of her arms. “Grab me and I’ll help you in!”
Rina shifts in her position, trying to move her legs in a spot so she could stand without grabbing onto any branches for a few seconds and she reaches for Sayaka with one hand, holding onto her tightly before reaching for her other hand too.
But then she loses her balance and falls against the wall, hissing in pain and she hears a muffled whine coming from Sayaka…
…whose face is barely an inch away now and Rina can’t help but blush as she looks up at her. Sayaka flashes her a playful grin and then shakes her head.
“Come on, just climb in already,” she says and is ready to help Rina when suddenly, there’s a cracking sound-
And in the next moment, Rina’s body drops, her legs wiggling in the air helplessly as she slams against the wall with Sayaka barely holding onto her and she squeals, biting into her lower lip to prevent a series of swear words escaping her (she’s not one to curse, at all).
“Damn it!” murmurs Sayaka as she desperately holds onto Rina but the brunette already knows that they’re doomed.
There’s no way that her parents didn’t wake up to the sound of all that.
Rina looks over at her shoulder, her feet looking for a branch to step on but she’s way too afraid that it would break just as well that she considers just simply jumping. There’s no way Sayaka could pull her up just like that.
“Can you hold on for a little longer?” Rina asks in a quiet voice, even though there’s no real use for that anymore. Sayaka nods slowly, her lips pressed hard against each other, clearly indicating that no, she can’t really hold any more.
Rina sighs, trying to shut out the pain that’s still there because of the unwanted crash with the wall and looks up at Sayaka.
“Let me go! I’ll jump.”
“What?!” she asks, shaking her head. “Don’t do that!”
“Don’t worry, it’s not like the ground would be too far away. It’s two meters tops,” Rina tries to comfort her even though she’s not completely relaxed herself. Sayaka grunts and then nods.
“Okay. Get, set, ready…”
“Go,” Rina whispers right when Sayaka lets go and then she’s down.
And she yells because there’s a sudden pain in her right ankle as she sits on the ground and Rina knows there’s something wrong.
“Ugh…” she mumbles as she slides a hand over the paining spot and tears swell up in her eyes.
“Are you alright? Ricchan? What happened?”
She can’t answer, because a number of things happen at the same time.
First, her mum rushes out of the house and then Sayaka’s parents, in perfect sync and the scene is so absurd that Rina feels the urge to laugh. Her mum murmurs something and bends down next to her, cupping her face with both of her hands as she asks what’s wrong and Rina just points at her ankle.
“I think it’s broken.”
“What did you even do?” her mum asks, shaking her head then looking up and exchanging a quick look with Sayaka. “Did you try to climb up? And fell?!” Her mother said that word in such a tone that Rina thinks the fact that she fell off the tree like a loser hurts her mum much more than the fact that she even tried to do such a thing.
That might have exactly been the case, to be honest.
“What happened here?” Sayaka’s dad comes into Rina’s vision and she looks at him. He doesn’t seem angry or anything, just confused and tired. He looks like he was just woken up from a deep sleep as well, but obviously he isn’t anything close to hot.
(Thank god.)
Then in the next minute Sayaka’s by Rina’s side, too, kneeling next to her and stroking her hair with a worried expression and Rina catches the blaming look she shoots her parents.
“You’re so dumb,” Sayaka murmurs, her lips curling downwards as she keeps combing her fingers through Rina’s hair. “So dumb.”
Rina just smiles.
Then her mother stands up and Rina looks at her, and what she sees almost scares her.
She looks pissed. Hella pissed.
“Was this really worth it?” she asks, dedicating her question to Sayaka’s parents who stare at her, surprised. “My daughter broke her ankle because you forbid your daughter from meeting her when you clearly knew how close they were.”
“That’s exactly the reason why we did it,” Sayaka’s dad says with and Rina feels like puking. Sayaka pulls closer to her.
Rina hesitates, half wanting to stop her mother from saying such things but half approving. She decides to stay silent.
“Do you have any idea how much my daughter struggled because she couldn’t meet her best friend? Wait, no. Let’s not sugarcoat and twist things. They’re not really best friends. They’re more than that, that’s what you have problems with, right?” she steals a glance at Rina. “Which I don’t quite understand. What exactly is the problem with these two girls loving each other as genuinely as they do?”
“They’re girls,” Sayaka’s mum says. “They can’t love each other the way these two do.”
“And who exactly says they can’t? You?” Rina’s mum cocks an eyebrow, not really awaiting an answer.
She doesn’t get any.
Rina bites into her lower lip and meets Sayaka’s gaze. The raven sends her a quick, reassuring smile.
“They’re still kids. Why can’t they do what makes them happy? They’re not off to get married tomorrow. They’re fifteen, for god’s sake. Can’t they gain some experience?” Rina’s mum continues to, shaking her head. “With all respect, I seriously don’t understand you, Mr. and Mrs. Yamamoto.”
The couple look at each other. Then both of them look at Rina.
She holds her breath.
“Look, it isn’t our fault that your kid broke her ankle and it doesn’t change the fact, that…” Sayaka’s dad starts but his wife interrupts.
“Tatsuya, don’t. I think she’s right,” she speaks quietly, causing her husband to frown.
“What?”
“Didn’t you see how Sayaka behaved all day? She practically wanted us to disown her because she told us that she hated us and doesn’t want parents like us.” Rina’s eyes go wide upon hearing that and she looks at Sayaka for confirmation, who just shrugs.
“She’s a teenager,” Tatsuya points out. “Teenagers say that everyday. It doesn’t mean they actually mean it.”
“That’s not my point,” his wife shakes her head. “Who are we to judge whom our daughter loves? She’s still young, after all. It’s not like their relationship will last.”
Ouch. That actually stung.
Surprisingly, Sayaka chuckles quietly next to her. In a ‘they know nothing’ sense, right?
Sayaka’s dad stays silent. He sighs.
He and Sayaka’s mum stare at each other for a long while. Rina guesses that they’re sort of having a silent conversation. Rina’s seen people do that before and she believes she and Sayaka has done it before, too. Close people seem to have no problem conversing without words. Which is kinda cool.
But her ankle hurts a freaking lot and she just wants this to be over and done with, honestly.
“Uh, mum, my ankle…”
“Oh god!” she leans down to her daughter. “How much does it hurt? Do you think it’s broken?”
Rina slowly shakes her head. “No… but I might have sprained it. It’s already started to swell,” she whines as she looks at the paining spot.
“Come, let’s go inside and put some ice on it,” her mum suggests and she reaches for Rina but Sayaka quickly stands up.
“Let me!” Without waiting for permission, she slides an arm under Rina’s and helps her up. Rina makes sure not to step on her hurting foot.
She takes one quick glance at Sayaka’s dumbfounded parents before allowing Sayaka and her mum to help her walk into the house.
*
Sayaka stays next to her bed even after the ice treatment somewhat eased up on the swelling and pain. When Rina wakes up, Sayaka’s snoring just a few inches away, with her head on her bed as she’s kneeling on the floor and suddenly, she feels super bad. Did she really stay in that uncomfortable position the whole night?
“Psst, Sayaka~,” Rina whispers as she gently nudges the raven’s arm. Sayaka’s eyes slowly open and then she suddenly jerks awake.
“What? What’s wrong? Who attacked?”
Rina can’t help but laugh at her. “It’s just me. I attacked. You’d better brace yourself for a rather tough and bloody match, enemy.”
Sayaka giggles a little, rubbing her eyes. “Yeah, sure. I would kick your butt in a second.”
“Hah,” Rina rolls her eyes. “Just wait until my ankle heals and then I’ll show you what I’ve got.”
“Gee, look who’s got a big mouth now,” Sayaka also rolls her eyes. “Fine, let’s just wait until your ankle heals.”
Okay, Rina didn’t expect her to actually agree. That wasn’t her plan.
But she just shrugs.
“Are you leaving soon?” Rina asks, dreading the answer. But Sayaka laughs at her.
“No way, you’re not getting rid of me that easily. After your mum’s brilliant speech yesterday, I don’t think they would be rushing to get me and lock me up again.”
Rina’s heart flutters. “Does that mean they’ll let us be together?”
Sayaka shrugs. “No idea. I doubt we should be making out in front of them anytime soon, though.”
Rina chuckles. “Yeah, I guess we should not do that. But they’re not here now…”
Sayaka raises an eyebrow. “I’m not sure you’re ready for such a great sensation after everything that happened, and your ankle…”
“Pfftt, what do you think, that your kisses are magical, or what?”
“Duh,” Sayaka grins. “Are they not?”
Rina rolls her eyes.
“Well, we’ll never know if we don’t test it, am I not right?”
Sayaka shakes her head, laughing, leaning against her arms on the bed as she pulls up to plant a kiss on Rina’s lips.
When she pulls away, Rina smiles a little. “So now that we’ve proven that your lips are not magical…”
“Hey!” Sayaka shouts, gently slapping Rina’s shoulder and the brunette laughs.
“…could you please bring some more ice for my ankle?”
Sayaka stands up and crosses her arms, pouting.
“Give me one good reason why I should be your slave.”
“Because I’m cute?” Rina tries, tilting her head. Sayaka raises an eyebrow.
“…Because you’re nice?”
No reaction.
“Because you love me?”
Sayaka grunts.
“Fine.”
Rina smiles.
Sayaka’s almost out the door but in the last second, she turns around, leaning against the wall. “And you?”
“Me what?” Rina asks confusedly. Sayaka chews on her bottom lip.
“Do you also love me?”
Rina’s smile widens. And then she nods. “Yes. Of course I love you.”
Sayaka leaves the room with a satisfied grin all over her face.
group: akb48
pairing: yamamoto/kawaei
length: ~4000w
part three
When the sun finally rises, Rina feels no better than a zombie would after months of not getting nearly enough brains to feed off.
Physically, at the very least. Emotionally, she’s far worse off.
All she wants is to see Sayaka and be with her, but she knows that there’s no chance for that right now. And if it’s true what she had said? That their parents want to move away? Because of her. Because of the relationship they have.
Even though they have no damn idea what that is. All they saw was Sayaka giving her a kiss. Don’t some girls do that even if they aren’t together?
Sure, that only happens in movies and anime anyway. Still.
Rina wishes they at least gave Sayaka a chance to explain things.
She desperately needs to come up with a solution for this. She has to find a way to stop them from moving away. What happens to her if they do? If she can never ever see Sayaka again?
She’s sure that it would tear her apart. At least for a while; surely, she would get over her with time, but why would she want that? She doesn’t ever want to get over her. She wants to be with her. Now she’s a hundred percent sure about that.
Too bad that she needed Sayaka’s parents to forbid them from meeting and ruin everything for her to realize that.
Boy, is she completely helpless. Rina’s never been in this situation before; or anything like it. Or just anything relatively challenging. She’s mostly lead a very boring life that never met any obstacles, except for her parents’ divorce. But that went down in a peaceful way, too, so it’s not like there were any real challenges other than having to get used to not having her father around every single day.
There’s a gut feeling in her belly that tells her she should speak to her mother. The thought’s been gnawing at her mind for a while now; she doesn’t like keeping secrets from her, never did. But this isn’t something she would run to her to tell immediately and she has no idea at all how her mother would react to the news.
But honestly, she’s her only hope. Rina doesn’t want to become that typical dumb teenager who looks up the internet looking for a solution for a problem on sites where non-experienced know-it-all teens like to preach wisdom that they don’t even have.
Surely, that’s a huge stereotype but Rina’s never trusted the internet.
But does she have the courage?
That shouldn’t be a question, a voice in her head tells her. If she really does love Sayaka as much as she thinks she does, she shouldn’t even be considering backing off.
Rina takes a deep breath. Without even bothering to change out of her pyjamas, she storms out of her room to find her mum.
It’s no big task as she literally bumps into her on her way to the kitchen, almost causing her mother to drop the bowl of fruit salad she’s holding.
“Oh, sorry mum!” she apologizes quickly, holding onto the bowl to make sure it stays in place. Her mother rolls her eyes, smiling a little.
“One should never take safety in the home granted, should they?”
Rina smiles only briefly. Her mother must sense the seriousness in her presence because she turns to put the bowl on the counter before focusing her full attention on Rina.
“Something’s up, honey?”
Rina sighs deeply. “Mum, there’s something I want to talk about.”
“Uh-oh, that sounds serious,” mum says and puts her hand no Rina’s shoulder, leading her to the living room. They sit down on the sofa and she turns to look at her daughter with one leg pulled up in her lap. “Are you pregnant?”
Rina’s jaw falls off and she involuntarily makes a grimace. “Ew, mum! No! What the hell!”
Her mum chuckles a little. “I was hoping so! I might not be that young anymore but I sure as hell don’t wanna become a grandma yet.”
“Don’t worry mum, there’s no danger regarding that aspect,” Rina says, not wanting to say just how much there isn’t a chance for pregnancy in her current state.
“Then what is it? I’m listening.”
Rina stays silent. How should she even start? Mum, I’m gay? No, that wouldn’t exactly be true… considering that she herself does not know that yet. She doesn’t want to go that far about the question… she’s way too young to figure that out, honestly. All she knows right now is that she loves Sayaka. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s that simple.
Is it, really.
“Yes?” her mum cocks an eyebrow, curiosity glistening in the eyes that could so easily be her own.
Rina chews on her lips. “What do you think of me and Sayaka?”
Mum tilts her head. “What do you mean? I’m glad that you two found each other. But haven’t I already told you that?”
Sure. What a stupid question. Okay, this clearly won’t work.
“Mum, we’re together.”
Rina’s mother blinks. It takes her a few minutes to let that sink in and then her eyes snap wide open.
“Honey, you’re gay?”
Rina’s cheeks burn at that question. She looks away, not wanting to meet her mother’s gaze. She, on the other hand, reaches for her face and forces her to make eye contact.
“Are you?”
Rina hesitates. “I… I don’t know, mum. All I know is that I really, really like Sayaka.”
She tilts her head again. “And since you said you’re together, I guess that means she likes you back…” she trails off, mostly speaking to herself rather than Rina. “Now this is something I never would have expected. Should’ve known there was something up with you never getting a boyfriend.”
Rina waits. She waits for something more of a reaction, but her mother seems at a loss for words, or lost in thoughts, either way she’s not saying anything.
“Mum?”
Mum looks up with a questioning expression. “Mhm?”
“That’s all?”
“Wait a little, I’m processing.”
Easy for you to say, Rina thinks.
But she waits.
“Did this happen because your dad and I gave a really bad example on how straight relationships should work?” she finally asks, but there’s some weird cheekiness in her tone. Rina frowns.
“What? No, mum… Are you making a joke out of this?”
Her mum smiles a little. “Sorry, honey. Would you rather I disowned you and told you how much of a disappointment you are to the family?”
“Am I?” Rina asks carefully, stealing a glance at her mum.
She rolls her eyes. “Of course not. You would never become a disappointment to me just because you prefer plums over bananas.”
“Mum!”
“I’m sorry,” she smiles. “Come here, now,” she says and pulls her daughter into a tight, loving hug and it’s so genuine that it makes Rina cry.
Her shoulders start shaking as she sobs in her mother’s arms and she can hear her trying to hush her to no avail. She lets her daughter let out all her tears before pulling away a little.
“What is it, honey? What happened? Did you get into a fight?”
She shakes her head, pulling out a tissue from the pocket of her pyjamas pants. She blows her nose before answering. “Their parents…”
“Oh god,” her mum says, clearly knowing what that means.
Rina nods. “Sayaka kissed me yesterday out in the garden. Her father saw.”
“Now that is problematic,” she says, rocking her head from side to side as if deep in thought.
“Mum, I need your help.”
“My help?” she blinks in surprise. “How could I help?”
“Couldn’t you like… you know… talk to them?” Rina suggests hesitantly, and her mum laughs.
“Talk some sense into strangers? Not going to work, honey. I can indeed talk to them, but I am positive it wouldn’t have any results. As in, it would probably just make things worse.”
Rina heaves a deep sigh. Tears gather in her eyes once again, but this time she blinks them out.
Back to square one.
*
Rina tries a number of things to get in touch with Sayaka.
But of course, all attempts are fruitless. She told her mum to keep watch and tell her in case Sayaka’s parents would leave the house; but it’s Sunday, so there’s no real reason for them to leave. Tomorrow, however, the parents would leave for work, but something tells Rina that they won’t make it that easy for her to sneak in. Sayaka will probably be locked into the house, at the very least.
Not that it would really be a problem, there are windows everywhere.
The windows.
The idea sparks in her mind and evolves into a flame spreading through her entire being and she knows that this is what she has to do. Sayaka has done it before; why couldn’t she sneak into her home?
There’s only one problem… Sayaka’s room is upstairs, which means that Rina will have to climb up there somehow.
Uh.
Rina walks over to her window that looks at Sayaka’s house and eyes the small tree next to the window that’s supposedly hers; if she remembers correctly, that is. It’s kind of disadvantageous now that she’s never been to Sayaka’s place, but then she remembers how she never even invited her. There must have been a reason for that, and now, Rina thinks it might have been because of her parents after all.
She sighs. If she really does try to climb up to Sayaka like in all the romance classics (wow, Rina’s never thought she would be this romantic!) and their parents find out… well, then she’s screwed. And not only her, but probably also Sayaka.
But it’s worth a try, no?
It’s about Sayaka, so of course it’s worth a try.
*
By the time the clock hits midnight, Rina’s body is completely taken by the excitement; that, and some fear mixed with it. But mostly, she’s confident. She’s climbed a tree before (she did that with Sayaka, too) and she’s proven to be good at it. Surely this ability would not abandon her tonight, would it?
Trying to make as little noise as possible, Rina opens her window and climbs out, making sure to close it once she’s out. Then she turns around and looks up, staring at the rather weak-looking tree right beside Sayaka’s house and suppresses a sigh.
She just hopes her parents really are already sleeping. It would be rather demotivating for her plan to fail before it even had the chance to succeed.
She takes a few deep breaths as she walks closer to the tree, grabbing one of the lower branches with one hand. She pulls it a few times, testing its strength and it doesn’t really move; that should be a good sign. Rina closes her eyes, takes another deep breath and then pulls herself up, swaying one leg over the branch.
Then she waits. Silence. Nothing moves. She’s good.
She moves up branch by branch, her fear dispersing periodically as she gets up higher and thus closer to Sayaka, too.
“Sayaka!” she calls out with a hushed, but strong voice, hoping for a miracle. “Sayaka, can you hear me?”
Nothing.
Damn, she hopes she isn’t sleeping already.
“Sayaka?”
It doesn’t do anything. Rina sighs and decides that she has to climb up all the way until she can knock on the window or something. If even that doesn’t wake Sayaka up then her plan falls to pieces. That should not happen.
Once she’s on the same level as the window, she reaches out to knock but right before she does, a head appears.
Sayaka’s expression is confused and dizzy as if she just woke up; her hair is a tangled mess of black locks and she looks so damn hot that Rina almost forgets how to breathe.
(Hot. Now that’s a word she’s never really used before.)
Sayaka frowns in surprise as she opens the window, completely puzzled at the sight of Rina hanging off the tree in front of her.
“Ricchan? The hell are you doing?”
“Came to visit you, what else do you think?”
For a few seconds, Sayaka doesn’t do anything but just stares, blinking innocently until a smile breaks across her face. “Man, I never thought you had this in you.”
Rina just shrugs, a sheepish smile curving her lips.
“Come on,” Sayaka then says, leaning against the window and putting out both of her arms. “Grab me and I’ll help you in!”
Rina shifts in her position, trying to move her legs in a spot so she could stand without grabbing onto any branches for a few seconds and she reaches for Sayaka with one hand, holding onto her tightly before reaching for her other hand too.
But then she loses her balance and falls against the wall, hissing in pain and she hears a muffled whine coming from Sayaka…
…whose face is barely an inch away now and Rina can’t help but blush as she looks up at her. Sayaka flashes her a playful grin and then shakes her head.
“Come on, just climb in already,” she says and is ready to help Rina when suddenly, there’s a cracking sound-
And in the next moment, Rina’s body drops, her legs wiggling in the air helplessly as she slams against the wall with Sayaka barely holding onto her and she squeals, biting into her lower lip to prevent a series of swear words escaping her (she’s not one to curse, at all).
“Damn it!” murmurs Sayaka as she desperately holds onto Rina but the brunette already knows that they’re doomed.
There’s no way that her parents didn’t wake up to the sound of all that.
Rina looks over at her shoulder, her feet looking for a branch to step on but she’s way too afraid that it would break just as well that she considers just simply jumping. There’s no way Sayaka could pull her up just like that.
“Can you hold on for a little longer?” Rina asks in a quiet voice, even though there’s no real use for that anymore. Sayaka nods slowly, her lips pressed hard against each other, clearly indicating that no, she can’t really hold any more.
Rina sighs, trying to shut out the pain that’s still there because of the unwanted crash with the wall and looks up at Sayaka.
“Let me go! I’ll jump.”
“What?!” she asks, shaking her head. “Don’t do that!”
“Don’t worry, it’s not like the ground would be too far away. It’s two meters tops,” Rina tries to comfort her even though she’s not completely relaxed herself. Sayaka grunts and then nods.
“Okay. Get, set, ready…”
“Go,” Rina whispers right when Sayaka lets go and then she’s down.
And she yells because there’s a sudden pain in her right ankle as she sits on the ground and Rina knows there’s something wrong.
“Ugh…” she mumbles as she slides a hand over the paining spot and tears swell up in her eyes.
“Are you alright? Ricchan? What happened?”
She can’t answer, because a number of things happen at the same time.
First, her mum rushes out of the house and then Sayaka’s parents, in perfect sync and the scene is so absurd that Rina feels the urge to laugh. Her mum murmurs something and bends down next to her, cupping her face with both of her hands as she asks what’s wrong and Rina just points at her ankle.
“I think it’s broken.”
“What did you even do?” her mum asks, shaking her head then looking up and exchanging a quick look with Sayaka. “Did you try to climb up? And fell?!” Her mother said that word in such a tone that Rina thinks the fact that she fell off the tree like a loser hurts her mum much more than the fact that she even tried to do such a thing.
That might have exactly been the case, to be honest.
“What happened here?” Sayaka’s dad comes into Rina’s vision and she looks at him. He doesn’t seem angry or anything, just confused and tired. He looks like he was just woken up from a deep sleep as well, but obviously he isn’t anything close to hot.
(Thank god.)
Then in the next minute Sayaka’s by Rina’s side, too, kneeling next to her and stroking her hair with a worried expression and Rina catches the blaming look she shoots her parents.
“You’re so dumb,” Sayaka murmurs, her lips curling downwards as she keeps combing her fingers through Rina’s hair. “So dumb.”
Rina just smiles.
Then her mother stands up and Rina looks at her, and what she sees almost scares her.
She looks pissed. Hella pissed.
“Was this really worth it?” she asks, dedicating her question to Sayaka’s parents who stare at her, surprised. “My daughter broke her ankle because you forbid your daughter from meeting her when you clearly knew how close they were.”
“That’s exactly the reason why we did it,” Sayaka’s dad says with and Rina feels like puking. Sayaka pulls closer to her.
Rina hesitates, half wanting to stop her mother from saying such things but half approving. She decides to stay silent.
“Do you have any idea how much my daughter struggled because she couldn’t meet her best friend? Wait, no. Let’s not sugarcoat and twist things. They’re not really best friends. They’re more than that, that’s what you have problems with, right?” she steals a glance at Rina. “Which I don’t quite understand. What exactly is the problem with these two girls loving each other as genuinely as they do?”
“They’re girls,” Sayaka’s mum says. “They can’t love each other the way these two do.”
“And who exactly says they can’t? You?” Rina’s mum cocks an eyebrow, not really awaiting an answer.
She doesn’t get any.
Rina bites into her lower lip and meets Sayaka’s gaze. The raven sends her a quick, reassuring smile.
“They’re still kids. Why can’t they do what makes them happy? They’re not off to get married tomorrow. They’re fifteen, for god’s sake. Can’t they gain some experience?” Rina’s mum continues to, shaking her head. “With all respect, I seriously don’t understand you, Mr. and Mrs. Yamamoto.”
The couple look at each other. Then both of them look at Rina.
She holds her breath.
“Look, it isn’t our fault that your kid broke her ankle and it doesn’t change the fact, that…” Sayaka’s dad starts but his wife interrupts.
“Tatsuya, don’t. I think she’s right,” she speaks quietly, causing her husband to frown.
“What?”
“Didn’t you see how Sayaka behaved all day? She practically wanted us to disown her because she told us that she hated us and doesn’t want parents like us.” Rina’s eyes go wide upon hearing that and she looks at Sayaka for confirmation, who just shrugs.
“She’s a teenager,” Tatsuya points out. “Teenagers say that everyday. It doesn’t mean they actually mean it.”
“That’s not my point,” his wife shakes her head. “Who are we to judge whom our daughter loves? She’s still young, after all. It’s not like their relationship will last.”
Ouch. That actually stung.
Surprisingly, Sayaka chuckles quietly next to her. In a ‘they know nothing’ sense, right?
Sayaka’s dad stays silent. He sighs.
He and Sayaka’s mum stare at each other for a long while. Rina guesses that they’re sort of having a silent conversation. Rina’s seen people do that before and she believes she and Sayaka has done it before, too. Close people seem to have no problem conversing without words. Which is kinda cool.
But her ankle hurts a freaking lot and she just wants this to be over and done with, honestly.
“Uh, mum, my ankle…”
“Oh god!” she leans down to her daughter. “How much does it hurt? Do you think it’s broken?”
Rina slowly shakes her head. “No… but I might have sprained it. It’s already started to swell,” she whines as she looks at the paining spot.
“Come, let’s go inside and put some ice on it,” her mum suggests and she reaches for Rina but Sayaka quickly stands up.
“Let me!” Without waiting for permission, she slides an arm under Rina’s and helps her up. Rina makes sure not to step on her hurting foot.
She takes one quick glance at Sayaka’s dumbfounded parents before allowing Sayaka and her mum to help her walk into the house.
*
Sayaka stays next to her bed even after the ice treatment somewhat eased up on the swelling and pain. When Rina wakes up, Sayaka’s snoring just a few inches away, with her head on her bed as she’s kneeling on the floor and suddenly, she feels super bad. Did she really stay in that uncomfortable position the whole night?
“Psst, Sayaka~,” Rina whispers as she gently nudges the raven’s arm. Sayaka’s eyes slowly open and then she suddenly jerks awake.
“What? What’s wrong? Who attacked?”
Rina can’t help but laugh at her. “It’s just me. I attacked. You’d better brace yourself for a rather tough and bloody match, enemy.”
Sayaka giggles a little, rubbing her eyes. “Yeah, sure. I would kick your butt in a second.”
“Hah,” Rina rolls her eyes. “Just wait until my ankle heals and then I’ll show you what I’ve got.”
“Gee, look who’s got a big mouth now,” Sayaka also rolls her eyes. “Fine, let’s just wait until your ankle heals.”
Okay, Rina didn’t expect her to actually agree. That wasn’t her plan.
But she just shrugs.
“Are you leaving soon?” Rina asks, dreading the answer. But Sayaka laughs at her.
“No way, you’re not getting rid of me that easily. After your mum’s brilliant speech yesterday, I don’t think they would be rushing to get me and lock me up again.”
Rina’s heart flutters. “Does that mean they’ll let us be together?”
Sayaka shrugs. “No idea. I doubt we should be making out in front of them anytime soon, though.”
Rina chuckles. “Yeah, I guess we should not do that. But they’re not here now…”
Sayaka raises an eyebrow. “I’m not sure you’re ready for such a great sensation after everything that happened, and your ankle…”
“Pfftt, what do you think, that your kisses are magical, or what?”
“Duh,” Sayaka grins. “Are they not?”
Rina rolls her eyes.
“Well, we’ll never know if we don’t test it, am I not right?”
Sayaka shakes her head, laughing, leaning against her arms on the bed as she pulls up to plant a kiss on Rina’s lips.
When she pulls away, Rina smiles a little. “So now that we’ve proven that your lips are not magical…”
“Hey!” Sayaka shouts, gently slapping Rina’s shoulder and the brunette laughs.
“…could you please bring some more ice for my ankle?”
Sayaka stands up and crosses her arms, pouting.
“Give me one good reason why I should be your slave.”
“Because I’m cute?” Rina tries, tilting her head. Sayaka raises an eyebrow.
“…Because you’re nice?”
No reaction.
“Because you love me?”
Sayaka grunts.
“Fine.”
Rina smiles.
Sayaka’s almost out the door but in the last second, she turns around, leaning against the wall. “And you?”
“Me what?” Rina asks confusedly. Sayaka chews on her bottom lip.
“Do you also love me?”
Rina’s smile widens. And then she nods. “Yes. Of course I love you.”
Sayaka leaves the room with a satisfied grin all over her face.