Kyoko pulled
Kuri-chan aside as soon as they left their classroom for lunch.
“What are you
going to do about it?”
Kuri-chan didn't
answer but for a shrug.
Waiting for their
classmates to disappear down the stairs Kyoko held on to Kuri-chan's
blazer. “Please! Our class knows you're going out with Urufu, but
the rest of the school?”
With irritation
clearly showing in her face Kuri-chan shrugged again. “Ko-chan,
most of the school knows,” she said.
That might be
true. With Kuri-chan rising to national stardom the students at
Himekaizen were bound to have heard that the photo model had her
boyfriend in the other wing. Still, being caught by paparazzi when he
left her apartment gave birth to all kinds of rumours, and what was
worse, Kuri-chan didn't deny any of them. Rather she had a satisfied
smile glued to her face mixed with an aura of absent-minded happiness
whenever she spaced out.
“Let's have
lunch,” Kyoko said and led her friend to the stairwell. “Cafeteria
mystery food?” The question originated from an occasion early
summer when Urufu loudly wondered which specific species of rodent
made up most of whatever served as meat. Luckily enough he had done
so in English, or the entire gang of friends would have been called
to a disciplinary meeting.
They walked down
the stairs, indoor shoes slapping against concrete, until they made
their way to the main corridor feeding cafeteria, shoe-lockers and
vending machines. Sometime during their descent Kuri-chan agreed to
the extra mysterious food, and they voided the cafeteria in favour of
the vending machines.
Given the taste
of what those machines spewed out Kyoko felt rather certain rodents
were too high class to make it into the menu, but it was cheaper and
quicker than the cafeteria. More so now when Kyoko had made certain
they'd arrive last of all students.
She defiled a few
coins and received something more suitable to use as replacement PE
shoes than eating. To her it mattered little as her stomach had
always been a good substitute for a recycling unit of hazardous
material. Kuri-chan was no better. Despite a life spent with enough
money to run a small city her feeding habits were atrocious enough to
make Kyoko grimace.
“Classroom?”
Kuri-chan nodded
and they returned the same way they had come.
“Look,”
Kuri-chan said, “I understand you're worried, but I'll fight for
him some more.”
Some more?
Those two words birthed a chill in Kyoko she hadn't expected.
Kuri-chan and Urufu were invincible. They didn't lose to anyone.
“If they really
manage to find a way to destroy our lives if we don't part ways...” Suddenly Kuri-chan's voice was the only thing that disturbed the
rhythmic tapping of their shoes on the stairs. “If that days comes
I'll break up and break down.”
How can you be
that cold?
Kuri-chan must
have noticed Kyoko's stiffness, because she stopped and pulled Kyoko
around. “I'm prepared to live a very different life if I can share
it with Ulf, but I can't drag him down with me. You understand that,
don't you?”
What Kyoko saw in
her friend's eyes was equal parts panic and desperation.
“Why, why would
you give him up?”
A few seconds of
silence followed when Kuri-chan's face shifted from love-sickness to
wrath and back to love again. “Because he's the first I've loved
more than myself.” Then she smirked. “Don't misunderstand me. I'm
always first in my life, but that doesn't mean I love myself more
than him.”
Kyoko felt
incomprehension compete with anger in her. “I don't understand,”
she said and turned away. A few resolute steps brought her up another
half a flight before she stopped and looked down at her friend. “I
don't understand, and I don't want to.”
Kuri-chan looked
back before looking away. She rested her hands against the windowsill
and leaned her forehead against the pane. Barely audible her voice
came out, a hoarse whisper mixed with silent sobs. “Ulf gives
meaning to my life. He fills it with colour. He's the best thing that
has ever happened to me. When I wake up the first thing I think of is
him and when I go to sleep I daydream about what we did together or
what we could have done.”
How can you
even think of letting someone like that go?
“I'm losing him
to my job, and I'd lose him if I quite, because he'd never allow
himself to let me become less than I could be.”
Something
glittered on the sill and when Kyoko looked closer she saw droplets
of tears spreading. Choking down her own tears she ran down the
stairs to hug her friend.
“Kuri-chan,
you're my best friend. Please let me help you in any way I can! I
can't stand seeing you like this!”
Tall girl with
golden hair never as much as moved, but Kyoko could feel her friend
trying to hide the racking sobs that threatened to overtake her
though their embrace. They stood like that for what felt like an
eternity but probably was only a few seconds. Then Kuri-chan turned
in Kyoko's arms and placed her hands on Kyoko's shoulders to push her
away far enough for them to face each other.
“Then, as my
best friend, please make me believe! Please help me pretend that I
can keep Ulf by my side forever!”
You ask me of
so little and so much more than I can ever give you. “Yes, of
course I'll make Ulf stay with you forever,” she lied. It hurt more
than she had expected, and yet Kyoko felt numb. “Ulf loves you, and
if you tried to break up he'd know how much you loved him. He'd never
give up on you,” she said. As the words left her mouth Kyoko
realised it was the second lie she told in a row.
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