Cheesecake
Chapter 3: Cheesecake
Kotori watches intently from the back entrance, her eyes and heart captivated by the transformation of her shy best friend into someone who oozed...confidence and so much charm. The bow and arrow was her fairy godmother, Kotori muses to herself.
The arrow is released with such precision and accuracy that a blink was all it took for her to miss the entire process. The arrow stuck humbly in the centre of the dart board. Kotori unconsciously claps and once again her shy best friend was back.
"W-what are you doing here?" The same sentence Umi says with the with the same stutter almost every time Kotori shows up. Kotori giggles. Someday she's going to have to correct her habit, she thinks to herself.
Kotori walks forward, hands behind her back and smiles as she sees a drip of sweat drop from her best friend's forehead. " I wanted to treat you to dinner."
Umi frowns. "Why?"
Kotori links her left arm with Umii's right and with her right brushes Umi's bangs away from her eyes. "Because I feel like it."
Umi doesn't protest because how could she. The girl of her dreams is wanting to spend more time with her. How can a seventeen year old Umi say no to that...or anything really that comes out of Kotori's mouth. She nods. "I'll call my mum and tell her."
Kotori smiles. "Let's have cheesecake."
"For dinner?" Umi chuckles.
The Sunset
The lack of sound that arrows make when they hit the dart board jolts Kotori from her nostalgia and she grips the edge of the wall as her eyes focuses once again at the frustration descending upon Umi's face.
She sees the same set up but everything has changed. She sees the figure on the stage holding her bow and arrow with so little confidence she isn't sure that this is the Umi she knew or knows. The arrows that stood as marks of success now laid dormant and lifeless beside the target.
Unlike all the times she watched Umi from the back entrance, this time she didn't even have to do anything and yet Umi already knew she was there.
"What are you doing here on a Sunday morning?" She asks, flatly. No stutter. And Kotori misses something she never knew she would. She takes a step forward and it feels heavier than it should. This was Umi. The Umi who always felt like home.
Home shouldn't feel like anxiety.
"I just- I just wanted to talk to you." Great now she's the one stuttering.
Umi walks to her bag, slings it over her back and walks towards Kotori. "Sure. About what?" Kotori looks down at her feet and then back at Umi's indifferent expression. For some reason, she remained silent.
Umi chuckles. It's so strange. Kotori doesn't like it. "Got the marriage jitters? Speaking of which don't you have to do preparation? It's in a week."
Kotori nods and forces out a giggle. "Yes...just..you want to get some breakfast?"
Umi doesn't look at her as she walks back to where she left her bow, and proceeds to pack her gear away."I think I'll pass, I have to-"
"Please" Kotori blurts out, her hands shaking a little. Her voice tightens and quiet. "Please come"
Umi looks up from her bag, rubs her heads and acquiences. "Where to?"
The Sunset
With their food all laid out, a slice of cheesecake in front of Kotori and a toasted cream cheese bagel in front of Umi. Kotori takes a closer look at the bagel and something sinks within her.
"You didn't get...the traditional Japanese set." Kotori notes because she has always known for Umi to get that. She never altered her routine.
A simple, "Bagels are good," doesn't satisfy Kotori at all, in fact it just makes her more frustrated. Why on earth was she frustrated anyways, people change, that's just how it is.
"So what is it you want to talk about?" Umi asks as she cuts the bagel with her knife and fork, instead of lifting it with her hands. Seeing that action, Kotori relaxes a little. Some things are still the same. After all, people don't really change that easily.
"Are we okay?" She whispers, a squeak coming out of the end of the sentence.
Umi looks at her in confusion. "Of course. Why wouldn't we be?"
A flurry of answers flies around Kotori's mind and it takes all her cheesecake for her not to spill her mind out. She literally shoves the entire cake in her mouth.
Umi laughs and takes her napkin up to Kotori's cheeks, where pieces of cheesecake stuck. She stops halfway, however and gestures for Kotori to take it instead.
Kotori grabs the serviette, disappointment fills her and she isn't sure why. She wipes her cheek.
Umi points to her own cheeks and Kotori blushes and wipes the cheesecake remnants from her other cheek.
"That delicious?"
Kotori nods and a sad smile graces her face. "It doesn't taste the same as before"
Umi hums. " Did they change the chef?"
Kotori shakes her head. "No, maybe it's just me."
"We've all changed a bit haven't we?" Umi smiles and Kotori feels somewhat empty. "Well what is it you want to talk about?"
Kotori sighs. "I don't like this, I feel like we're holding back. Can't we go back to what we were?"
Umi takes another bit of her bagel before closing her eyes and giving a sad smile. "We can never go back"
"Why?" She doesn't want to know the answer.
Umi chuckles, but it's so empty, it hurts. "We both know why." She takes a deep breath, stands from the table and gestures to the bathroom. "Will be back soon."
Kotori exhales a breath she didnt even know she was holding. Her mind filters through their conversation and cringe at what was exchanged. Butterflies fills her stomach as the nerves and awkwardness sets in.
A single ping wakes her up from her upcoming panic attack. She follows the sound and sees the flashing light on Umi's phone. She swallows.
Kotori knew it was wrong but she did it anyways, she glances at the notification on Umi's lockscreen.
An email from her father.
*Do not be late to your omimai toni...*
Omimai?...Kotori frowns and takes Umi's phone in her hands. Her hands shaking as she falls into a dilemma of wanting to find out more or respecting Umi's privacy. She types in Umi's sister's birthday and groans a little as the incorrect password notification comes up. She once told her there was no one she looked up to more than her sister. No one she loved more...
Loved...
Closing her eyes, her heart starts to race. She types in her own birthday.
The phone unlocks.
And she doesn't know how to feel.
She dismisses that and press on the notification.
"Do not be late to your omimai tonight. I have attached your future husband's information to this email because you seem to have left the paper copy behind and I need you to study his interest and accommodate his interests. He has taken a liking towards you just from your meeting last time. He is good for you. Leave the past behind."
She senses Umi standing over her, her hands by her waist. "Give me my phone."
Kotori looks up.
"You're getting married to some guy you hardly know!"
That is hardly any of your concern.
Of course it's my concern. I care about you. And I know you don't want this!"
Umi rubs her forehead and grabs her bag. "you have the worst habit of disrespecting privacy." She says as she walks to the counter and pays for their breakfast.
"If I didn't I wouldn't know anything! Just like 5 years ago!." Kotori stands up and follow her to the counter. "You don't tell me anything!"
Umi walks out of the family restaurant and turns around, facing Kotori head on as she shakes her head incredulously. "You looked in my diary 5 years ago. Now you're looking into my phone. And you're turning this on me?" She turns around and continues to walk.
"If you consulted with me, if you trusted me, then I wouldn't be tempted to." Kotori follows matching Umi's pace.
"I don't have to tell you everything.
"You don't tell me anything."
"Because it's none of your business."
"You loved me how is that none of my business.
A silence so deafening.
"I'm leaving." Umi says. She keeps her gaze forward and the busy city life overwhelms her. The noise inside her head was getting louder by the second and suddenly she feels so incredibly drained. "I'll see you at your wedding."
Kotori lunges forward and grabs Umi's wrist.
"Don't marry him."
Umi tries to twist her hand out but Kotori counteracts with her other hand.
"Don't marry someone you don't love."
Umi looks at Kotori,desperation clearly drawn on her face. She sighs. "How do you know I don't love him."
"Because you're still in love with me."
Umi laughs. Hollow. "you are so full of yourself."
Kotori bites her lower lip and shifts her eyes to her left before turning back to Umi. "My birthday is your passcode." She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. "You look at me...like."
.."like you look at Honoka." Umi finishes and turns around and in that process swipes her hand back to her side.
"Look. I don't love you anymore. That was me 5 years ago. I just haven't changed the passcode. I don't have a preference to genders. So falling romantically in love with anyone is possible." She brushes her bangs back. "I am trying to become attracted to him, so please don't ruin this for me. Care about your own wedding, it's in a week."
"Trying to become attracted?" Kotori scoffs at the ridicule of such concept. But before she could say anymore, Umi was already walking away from her.
Thoughts race through her mind but her mouth was stunt and at that moment all she could do was watch the back of Umi as it gets further and further.
She looks up at the sky. "We are both such bad liars.." She laughs to herself.
Chapter End.
A/N: I apologise for the late chapter, RL has been something. It's nice to be able to write again, trying to get back into it.
Thank you for reading.
Redshepard
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