Waking up felt like a chore, and chores weren't something I wanted to do.
Every day, I had to convince myself to wake up. My eyes caught sight of the alarm clock: 11:27, three Minuten short of my usual eleven-thirty. A sigh escaped my lips and I hit the snooze button on oben, nach oben of the hotel's alarm clock. As I pulled on a pair of boxers, surprise hit me. My manager, Ryu, hadn't come to pour a bucket of ice-cold water on me oder blow his whistle as loud as possible. For the manager of a Fußball star, sterne he sure was lenient. But I didn't care; at least I was dry and not deaf.
But as if I was jinxing myself, Ryu burst through the bedroom door and prepared to blow his whistle. When he saw me buckling my pants, he grinned. "Morning, Kukai."
"Hey." I threw on an old gray t-shirt and ruffled my hair a bit. Deciding that the brown mess of hair atop my head wasn't going to get any better, I followed Ryu out of the hotel suite with my duffle bag over my shoulder.
He pressed a few keys on his cell phone and began to talk, filling me in on my duties for the day. "At noon, Du have that interview with The Goal at the restaurant. Then around three Du have practice for two hours. And then at seven Du have the abendessen to attend for the championship win. After that, we'll head on the two Stunde drive to the club and party old school." Ryu grinned. He was young—only twenty-nine years old—so it wasn't unusual when he came with the rest of us clubbing. It also wasn't unusual when he ended up bringing a girl back to the hotel oder when we needed to wake him up after a hard night of partying.
But the duties I had for the Tag sounded like a real killjoy. No one had fun answering a journalist's prying questions. No one had fun practicing with team mates who only gave a damn about themselves oder who hated their star, sterne player. No one had fun eating some restaurant's Essen with a bunch of rich nobodies that supported the team. And no one had fun watching a bunch of drunken Fußball players grind on Zufällig women who flashed anything and everything.
Other people would've killed to have my life: to have the money and the fame and the women sounded like Heaven plus two. But it was anything but amazing. I played on the Fußball team—the Dragons—that had just won the championship. My teammates all glared at me as we left the field once everything calmed down. Although I felt vain for thinking so, I knew I was the best player. They only played Fußball to win, to make another hundred thousand. I played just for the fun of it. I could care less about the money oder the fame oder the women. Even if I felt that way, going back to just playing the game for fun was over.
We left the apartment building and quickly got into the limo waiting for us outside. Just a Sekunde with the paparazzi felt like torture. The limo began to drive and Ryu closed his phone. "Ready for that interview?"
"Yeah...whatever." Ryu was probably the only one who understood what I felt. Of course he wouldn't tell anyone else oder the team for the simple fact that they'd be all over me. Interviews to stupid dinners with rich people I didn't know nor cared to know was becoming a real pain in the ass. "Ryu."
"Yeah...yeah, we're on our way to the restaurant." He held up a finger, silencing me and telling me to wait. The limo turned a corner and stopped at a stoplight. "Yeah, okay. Later." He closed the phone and sighed. "What's up?"
"I'm not going to practice and I'm not going clubbing with Du guys." I expected Ryu to convince me out of it; he was a persuasive guy. And I expected him to send me his 'you're not doing that' look. But he looked at me like normally and opened his phone. After pressing a few buttons, he shrugged.
"Okay." Okay? That was it? It was that easy? No argument, no final word? Ryu gave me a genuine smile then, which was rare to see on the guy. "You look tired."
"Oh...well thanks man."
The limo stopped outside the restaurant. The paparazzi were there, waiting for their subject of pictures and bombarding questions. We stepped out of the living room and walked into the restaurant without so much a glance at the paparazzi. Once inside the calm restaurant, Ryu pointed at a secluded booth in the back. He patted my back and I gulped.
When I arrive at the booth, a woman sat with a notepad and recorder at the ready. She looked up at me with a provocative smile. As I slid in and made myself as comfortable as possible, she stuck out a hand. "Yamabuuki Saaya." Her name was familiar: she interviewed a few other players.
I shook her hand, ignored her lingering fingers. "Souma Kukai."
She laughed. "Everyone knows who Du are." She rested her elbows on the tabelle while her hands moved in lazy circles. "You're the winning goal-scorer, the Dragons' light in the darkness. No one thought Du guys were going to win that championship. The Izakayas had a tough record this season."
It was true. But the way she sagte it turned me off; she honestly didn't care about the Fußball oder the records of either teams. Knowing journalists, and knowing that she's a young woman who could give a shit, she only wanted to know about my personal life: if I was dating anyone, if I had any secrets. It was honestly too easy.
"Yeah...well we came through."
"No, Du came through," she sagte as she pointed her pen at me. A waiter came then and placed a salat before the reporter. She took it and glanced at me. "Do Du want anything?"
"No, thanks." The waiter left and she began to eat the leafy salad.
"Are Du anorexic? oder are Du on a diet?"
Geez. All I sagte was no thanks to the guy and all of a sudden it becomes a crime to not be hungry at the moment. When I didn't respond, she continued to pry. "If Du really are anorexic, it wouldn't be a surprise. A lot of athletes go to certain extremes to stay in the right physique and—"
"I'm not anorexic," I snapped. "I'm in the mood for something else to eat. And it's not on the menu." Hell yeah I was. I was craving some ramen: tender and oily and fatty ramen. All the expensive crap on the menu wouldn't fill me up. Three oder four large bowls of tonkatsu ramen would.
She nodded and scribbled something down. "Well, let's start, shall we?" She pressed a button on her record and began the interview. "Souma Kukai, you're very reclusive about your private life. Why won't Du open up to the world and your many Fans about the guy that every girl wants to know about?" Her eyes were staring right at me. At that moment, I wished that some extremely hot boy band would whisk away her attention and allow me to slip out of the restaurant ninja-style. Knowing that would never happen, the wheels in my brain turned until a plausible excuse formed.
"I don't like people in my personal life. There's a reason it's called a personal life," I answered.
It wasn't good enough. "But you're twenty-one years of pure sexiness." That led me to the conclusion that even if an extremely boy band came in and proposed to the woman that she wouldn't take her eyes off of me. Something told me that she had a Fan girl's crush. If she had vied for this interview at her job, it wouldn't have been surprising. "Every girl wants you; every guy wants to be you." She sighed before looking over her Fragen and crossing something out. "Whatever happened between Du and Mitsumoto Rika?"
Oh, her. The actress I thought was really cool and liked what I did for a living turned out to be an immature and jealous girl who didn't give a shit about what I did and allowed her jealousy to get the better of our relationship. We were dating for a week when she suddenly turned extremely jealous. She demanded that she be the only woman I hung around. And then I broke up with her because Friends didn't come easily anymore. Even if I knew a lot of people, they only knew the Fußball star, not the guy underneath. And like hell I would let them.
When I rolled my eyes, she snickered. "Rumor has it that Du broke up with her because she didn't have the physique Du like." What the hell?
"I broke up with her because she was jealous. I told her she had nothing to be jealous about but she didn't stop. So I ended it." She wrote quickly, her hand just flying across the notepad.
"What's your ideal relationship then? Every famous person has their ups and downs in romance."
"I dunno." My ideal version of romance was vague but a secret. After seeing what happened all the time in celebrities' personal lives, I chose to keep mine private. I never expected to become so famous at all. One Tag I was playing Fußball at the old pit Von my house; the Weiter I was being hounded Von Fan girls and paparazzi.
"Oh come on. That can't possibly be true. Maybe there's a special someone on your mind right now, someone you're trying to get."
I shook my head. "There's no one right now." She sighed and wrote that down before looking over her notepad.
"You've got to be joking, man." She sighed again, clearly annoyed that I wasn't giving her any juicy details. "There's Mehr to Du than meets the eye. I just know it."
"I seriously don't have anything…special."
She smirked. "There are rumors going around that you're attending a abendessen party tonight."
"I am."
"And it's rumored that Rika's going to be there." My eyes widened. Rika wasn't into Fußball oder sports for that matter. I wondered why she would be attending. She didn't support the team or—
"And she's going with Uwari." She grinned and prepared herself to write. "What're your feelings on that?" Uwari was full of himself. He hated me, hated everyone that wasn't on his side. He was a pretty cunning guy who didn't like to stick to game plans; he was probably why our record suffered so badly. But after I pulled us through, after I saved our record and won us the championship, his hatred for me seemed to increase a few notches. This was probably his version of payback: datum the ex-girlfriend.
She raised her eyebrows and I blinked. When was the stupid interview over? "Well...I hope she'll have a fun time."
"Oh, she'll have a fun time alright." She laughed and wrote down my response. She didn't see the dirty look I was giving her. "Uwari's pretty beliebt with the ladies."
"Whatever." My eyes glared at the window. "Good for him then."
"Are Du jealous? Everyone's who's a Fan knows that there's tension between Du and Uwari."
Hell yeah. The bastard's a baby. "He's on my team. I have no problem with him."
"That can't possibly be true." She leaned in, her eyes narrowed and invasive. "When I interviewed Uwari, he sagte Du hogged the spotlight. He sagte that the team deserved it, not just you."
Typical Uwari. Then again, I didn't give a damn. "Uwari failed to mention that he was also the reason why our record was in the gutter. All of the team thinks so." She wrote quickly. "He wasn't the one who scored the winning goal."
She chuckled. "You're pretty full of yourself, aren't you?"
"I'm not. I only play Fußball to just enjoy the game. When the teams line up and shake hands, I always tell them how awesome they played and stuff like that." My fists tightened on the table. "Uwari only plays for the money and the fame and the girls."
"But you've been spotted at Clubs doing exactly what they do."
"I'll admit: I like to party. But as of recently, I haven't been hanging out with the team oder going to congratulatory parties."
Her eyes widened and she leaned in even more. The tabelle moved as she did so; I had to push it back just to breathe again. "Why not? Is there a beef between Du and the team?"
Beef? No, there wasn't a beef. In fact, I got along with all of the players even if I didn't consider them friends. But I didn't hang out with them for the simple fact that they didn't really care about friendship. Being Friends with the star, sterne player meant a sudden boost in their popularity. And when they didn't need me anymore they'd toss me like I was trash. My fists clenched in anger. I wasn't trash. And I'd be damned if I let anyone treat me that way.
It was why I didn't have a lot of Friends anymore. They didn't care about the person underneath. In fact, just listening to Saaya chat away about the team and Uwari and their opinions was pissing me off. I suddenly stood up and pressed the red button on her recorder. "We're done here."
"But I still have a few Mehr questions—wait! I'm sorry! Come back!" Too late. Ryu and I were already out of the restaurant, already in the limo. He closed the door and the driver took off. We both sighed.
"How'd it go?"
I shrugged. "Okay."
"Ah..."
"Drop me off at the train station," I told the driver. He turned a corner, drove a few Mehr blocks down, until we were Von the train station. From my duffle bag came my trusty baseball cap. I put it on backwards, sighed, and left the limo. "See Du at the dinner." Ryu nodded.
Now alone, my stomach growled in disapproval. "Ramen, here I come."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ramen Shop was just how it was supposed to be: small, warm, and smelled liked meat. The smell brought back memories of my many trips to the shop—when I was angry and needed to eat away the feelings, when I needed a congratulatory meal, when I was just hungry. The thought brought a grin to my lips. Just eating here without the paparazzi hounding me always cheered me up.
It wasn't as crowded since it was a little past one; it usually didn't start to get crowded until two. I sat at the counter, my legs halfheartedly spinning the stool. A girl was attending to a customer; the woman wore a large brown hat, a ratty white shirt, old jeans and sneakers. The girl finished attending to the woman until her eyes fixed on me.
And when she saw me, her face lit up like Weihnachten lights. "Y-Y-You-You're...AH!" She charged over to me and readied her notepad and pen. "Wh-Wh-What do Du want? Gah! I mean, what would Du l-like to eat?"
Her nervousness made me laugh. Her face flushed deep red. "A large bowl of ramen with everything in it." She nodded and went to prepare my order. As I waited, I hummed a small tune, my eyes drifting over to the woman. She ate silently; even her slurping wasn't that loud. But two spoonfuls later, she placed the empty bowl on the oben, nach oben of the counter.
She rang the bell. "Aki, another bowl. Soba noodles this time. And extra broth." She knew what she wanted, that was for sure. The urge to ask the woman for a ramen eating contest was overwhelming but I ignored it. The girl—Aki, right?—placed our orders before us.
I clapped my hands together and sagte a quick "Itadakimasu" before picking up my chopsticks and digging in. The noodles were cooked to perfection, as was the pork slices. The ramen was fulfilling all my hunger wishes. Before I knew it, I finished the first bowl. But I was still hungry.
"Hey, Aki!" I called. She jumped, accidentally knocking over a pot of broth in the process. She quickly ducked down to clean it up before coming back up to look at me. "Can I have another bowl? And with extra pork this time?" She nodded quickly and took my bowl off the counter. As she prepared another bowl, the woman finished up her ramen.
"Aki. More."
"Ah, coming right up!" She was fast. Within a minute, I was slurping up Mehr noodles. It was comforting: the smell of the ramen, the delicious taste, the contentment. I grinned again and began to indulge in Mehr ramen.
Four and a half bowls later, my stomach was nice and full. The woman was long gone so it was only me in the restaurant. Aki had cleaned up and was slicing up pork when I rang the glocke to get her attention. She walked up to the counter, her cheeks still flushed. "All done, Souma-san?" I nodded and handed her the due amount with a large tip. She gasped. "I-I don't need all this! Really!"
I grinned. "It's fine. Your ramen was awesome." She squealed with delight before reaching into her schürze pocket and pulling out her notepad and a cell phone. "Would Du like an autograph?"
"And a picture...p-please."
"No prob." She squealed again as she hopped over the counter. She opened the notepad to a fresh page and I signed it 'Souma Kukai; Du make awesome ramen!' I handed it back to her and she came close so we could take the picture.
"Say ramen!"
"Ramen!" One blinding flash later and she was freaking out. It was kind of funny actually. She gave me a free bottle of iced tee before I left the shop.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I arrived back at my hotel suite, my voicemail carried three new messages, all from Ryu. They all spoke about the same thing: to be on time for the abendessen later that night. After spending three hours playing Fußball at the empty field, I was sweaty and stinky and ready to kill over. My version of practice always left me tired; the official practice with the team made me irritated. But it was fun nonetheless.
My eyes caught sight of the time: it was six on the dot. The two-hour nap I wanted would have to wait. I needed to get ready for the stupid dinner. A groan escaped my lips as I stripped to complete nakedness and made my way to the bathroom.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The abendessen was just what I expected: a bunch of rich nobodies dressed up in fancy clothes mingling with each other. I had gotten there a bit late due to the traffic, so I missed the congratulations speech. It wasn't even a real abendessen party. Everyone was standing in a large room, sipping champagne waiters passed around, and eating garnele, garnelen off of fancy-looking napkins. My eyes rolled as I walked through the crowd. People congratulated me and I returned it back with a quick smile.
And then my eyes caught sight of Rika. She wore a strapless silver gown, silver heels to match. Her black hair was up in a bun, her blue eyes covered Von makeup. Uwari's arm was around her waist. And although it made perfect sense to feel jealous, I didn't. They deserved each other.
But avoiding them was impossible. Rika and Uwari spotted me. Ryu was over there, too. They all waved me over. A waiter passed Von carrying a tray of glasses. I grabbed one off the tray before walking over to them.
Uwari smirked at me. "Souma. I didn't think you'd Zeigen your face." Rika chuckled and kissed his cheek. If that was supposed to make me feel jealous, she needed to try harder.
"Well I did." As I took a sip of the champagne, part of me wondered just what Uwari did to get Rika to go with him. But that thought didn't linger in my head for long. A conversation about the game stahl, stola me away, as did a few other older rich nobodies.
This was what my life came to: dinners with strangers, long days of practice that did absolutely nothing, constant travel that didn't include some sightseeing. Whatever happened to the good old days? This...this wasn't it. I couldn't take the way they looked at me and congratulated me for winning a championship I'm sure they didn't watch. With Rika and Uwari flirting it up and constantly kissing, it made me realize that they were the archetype of celebrities: selfish, only cared about their reputation. I couldn't take it. I needed to get out of there.
I needed a break.
"Ryu."
"Yeah, man?" When he looked at me, when he saw the glum expression on my face, he understood then. I swallowed the rest of the champagne in one gulp, the sudden warm sensation making me even Mehr determined to get out of there. "Alright. I'll make something up for you."
"Thanks, Ryu." He grinned and patted my back. And then I was moving—moving through the crowd, pushing them and shoving them out of my way. I felt their eyes lingering on me but I didn't care. As soon as I was out, the evening sky welcomed me. One deep breath later and I was getting into my car with the destination of anywhere on my mind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anywhere turned out to be a bar. It was up-to-date in décor—lights hung from the ceiling, a semi-circle bar in the middle of the large area, velvet seats lined up against the walls—and all kinds of people were there. There were mainly men: some were smoking cigars with women sitting on their laps; some were drunk and shouting obscene things; and some were flirting with a group of hooker-looking women. Even so, the bar seemed like the best place to be. I had no intention of getting drunk but just a few drinks would be nice.
I sat at an empty schemel, hocker and the bartender approached me. His eyes narrowed at the sight of me but he didn't make a huge deal. "What'll it be?"
"Shot of liquor." He nodded and went to go prepare my drink. I loosened the tie that was currently restricting me and rolled up my hemd, shirt sleeves. The bartender plopped the drink before me and walked away, another customer in his sights. Just as I was about to down the tiny glass of amber-colored liquor, the sound of Singen filled my ears.
I hadn't realized that a woman was up there singing; that was pretty unobservant of me. When I turned to look at her, my eyes widened at the sight. At that moment, my first thought, as she sang her herz out before a crowd of drunks and horny men and some listeners, was to KISS her. But not knowing who she was kept me glued to the spot. Either way, I was mesmerized Von the voice that escaped her lips, the gentle expression on her face, and the amethyst eye that looked people like they were windows.
Moments later, she finished the song and the audience clapped. A few drunks screamed some incoherent things but she smiled at them nonetheless. The spotlight dimmed and she got off the stage, her legs bringing her to the bar. The bartender handed her a rag and her things, gave her a quick nod, before going to attend to his other customers. I glanced at her, my eyes watching her wipe down her face and neck. She reached into her bag, her eyes narrowing at something.
She closed the geldbörse and sat atop the barstool beside me. I didn't realize it at first but she was looking at me, her eyes flickering all over me. It was when I looked away, a bit embarrassed, did she speak up. "Did Du enjoy the performance?"
I blinked. "Hmm? Ah, yeah. It was really good." She smiled as she checked her phone. The sounds of the keys clicking filled the silence. She closed the phone and turned so her attention was right on me.
"You're Souma Kukai, aren't you?"
I nodded before looking around to see if anyone else heard that. No one reacted. "Yeah, I am."
"I saw the championship. Du looked like Du were really getting into it." When I scoffed, she rolled her eyes. "I'm serious. I'm not a Fußball fan—" At least she was being honest "—but I like watching Du play."
My eyes widened and I looked at her. "Really?" She nodded before swallowing. My eyes narrowed because I suddenly felt like I knew her. When I leaned in, she leaned away, her eyes narrowed. "You seem familiar."
"You mean Du don't know the famous Tsukiyomi Utau?" Her name suddenly rang a bell. She was the famous singer. I've seen her on Fernsehen a few times, and on some magazine covers, but I didn't pay much attention to the Musik industry.
"Ahh…"
She shrugged. "It's okay. I prefer Du not know me anyways."
"Why's that?"
She sighed. "Because everyone knows me." I knew what she meant the moment the words spilled from her mouth. It was how I felt: everyone knew who I was, what I did for a living, but no one really knew me. "I like it when people don't know me. Everyone in the goddamn world knows me."
"Heh, I know the feeling." She finished up the water she was currently drinking before tossing it into the garbage. She gave me a quick glance before smirking and hopping off the stool. "Where are Du going?"
"I don't know," she replied. She looked at me then, her eyes lowered. I gulped. "You want to come? Du know…take a break."
Taking a break was just what I needed. As I placed some money on the bar, and as I followed her out of the bar, it was then that I wished I had a remote control that could control life. I would press the pause button, and never press it again, because I just wanted to be stuck on pause with this woman. Because we both wanted a break from the reality we were living.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:35 p.m.
"Do Du have anywhere in particular Du want to go?"
Her stomach rumbled then and I laughed. She blushed as she glared at me. "The ramen Shop Von the train station." My eyes widened and I made the connection.
"You were that woman in the ramen Shop earlier today, weren't you?" She laughed then, her laugh harmonious like her singing. But she nodded. "You sure can eat."
"So can you."
I parked Von the train station. We got out and I filled the meter just enough for an hour. We then walked into the ramen shop, not surprised that it wasn't as empty as earlier in the day. A group of people sat in the farther corner of the shop. Utau and I sat at the counter, our eyes on the chef. He was an older man with sweat stains under his hemd, shirt but a happy grin on his face.
Utau folded her arms across the countertop. It was then that I really looked at her: she wore a black dress that was cinched at the bust but flowed out and stopped at mid-thigh. She wore black heels to match and a blume clip in her hair. She glanced at me before reaching into her geldbörse and pulling out her cell phone. "Give me your number and email."
"Ah, okay." As we exchanged numbers, I couldn't help but wonder why she needed a break. But asking her seemed rude at the moment, considering I barely knew anything about her, so I decided to ask her later. We finished exchanging info and turned back to the counter. The man approached us. "What'll it be?"
Utau spoke first. "A large bowl. Extra pork and soba noodles."
The man nodded before looking at me. "And you?"
"Same thing," I answered. The man went to go prepare our orders. Utau looked at me then, a faint smile in her lips. "What?"
"Feel like having an eating contest?"
I grinned. "Sure."
"Penalty?"
"Loser has to buy the winner ice cream."
She smirked before picking up her chopsticks. "You're on."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9:10 p.m.
In the end, it was a tie. Although we called quits at the same time, after several Minuten of bickering, I agreed to buy her ice cream. She stuck the plastic spoon into her kekse, cookies and cream ice cream with Schokolade sprinkles. I had gotten a cup of plain mint Schokolade chip.
After we got ice cream, she gave me some instructions to a cliff that overlooked the city. As we sat on the haube of my car eating ice cream, I was captured Von the sight of the beautiful city; the way the lights impacted the night was really pretty.
Utau spoke then, her voice breaking the silence. "It's nice."
"Yeah, it is." It grew silent again. Her phone buzzed and she flipped it open, her eyes glaring at the screen. She rolled her eyes in an annoyed manner before closing the phone. "What's wrong?"
"My idiot brother keeps texting me," she sagte with a groan following. "Do Du know who Tsukiyomi Ikuto is?" Actually, I did. I remembered seeing him with a pink-haired woman in the skybox at a few of my games.
I looked out at the night again. "He's CEO of Easter, right?"
"Yeah..." She groaned again and stabbed the ice cream, little specks flying onto the car and the ground. "He wants me to come to the abendessen tomorrow night."
I shrugged. "So go." When she sent me a menacing glare, I shoved a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.
"I don't want to go," she began, the annoyance clearly there, "and if I did I wouldn't be complaining about it."
Curiosity began to overtake me. "But aren't Du and your brother close?" Even though I didn't get to go Home as much as I wanted to, I always sent packages for my mom and my brothers. They really liked them.
She shrugged indifferently as she stuck Mehr ice cream into her mouth. "Not anymore anyways."
"Why not?" I wasn't sure if I was stepping into personal boundaries. But from the way she looked at me, from the way her eyes flickered across my face, I figured she was going to tell me.
But I was wrong. "It's complicated."
"Oh..." So I was a bit eager to know why her and her brother weren't close anymore. Either way, it wasn't my business. So we ate Mehr ice cream in silence and stared out at the city.
She broke it again. "And you?"
I didn't look at her. "And me what?"
"Why do Du need a break?" My eyes fixed on the empty ice cream cup. I could've sworn I had Mehr ice cream but even that has to end. A sigh escaped my lips as I tossed the empty cup and spoon into the trash can near the car. I fell back onto the car then, my hands folded behind my head.
smaragd met amethyst. "People just don't play the game for fun anymore." My lungs took in the scent of the trees and the mint coming from my breath. "It's too repetitive."
"Ah." She finished up her ice cream and tossed the cup and spoon. She then leaned against the car, an elbow propping her head up. She was hesitant at first but she started tracing lazy circles on my torso. Her touch was soft even if it was just one finger. "Sounds boring."
"It is..." I was the one to groan this time. "The players on my team can be real douche bags."
Utau laughed that harmonious laugh again. The Weiter thing I knew I was laughing. Soon we were both crying and laughing over absolutely nothing. Maybe we were laughing at the ridiculousness of the people we were unfortunately surrounded by; maybe we were laughing because we had to laugh at how ridiculous our lives became. Either way, it felt good to just laugh like that.
It had been a while since something made me laugh that hard.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:23 p.m.
"Now where do Du want to go?" I asked as we drove on the streets, the many lights passing over us. She didn't answer. "Utau?" Still no reply. When I looked at her, she was staring at her cell phone screen, eyes moving back and forth as she read something. It must've been another text from her brother because when she was finished, she shut the phone and jammed it into her purse. She rubbed her temple and groaned loudly. "That was Ikuto, hmm?"
"I swear if I get another text I'm throwing the fucking phone onto the train tracks."
I laughed at her threat. She glared at me and I quickly stopped. "That's not funny."
"Just tell him Du don't want to go."
"I did." I parked near a park and we stepped out of the car. "But he's still trying to convince me." We walked along the path; the Tokyo crowd helped us blend in. She sighed as she looked around.
"Sorry to hear that." I wished I knew what to say but I was at a loss for words. She didn't seem to mind though. Her arm looped around mine and she grinned. I grinned back at her. "Where do Du want to go?"
"Let's go to a Zufällig club and—" She cut herself off and a glare formed in her eyes. We stopped walking.
"Utau?" Her fingers dug into my arm. When I followed her line of vision, I followed it and found myself staring at Tsukiyomi Ikuto, the pink-haired woman with him. They were being hounded Von a group of fans. When I looked back at Utau, she was looking up at me. "Ah..."
"Let's go. Before they see us." We turned back around and began to walk. She kept her gaze on her shoes. Although the crowd was large, although I was sure no one would be able to see us, I had the paranoid feeling that everyone's eyes were on our backs. I pulled my arm free from her grasp and grabbed her hand instead. We kept walking with our gazes cast downwards. We were so close to my car. Just a few Mehr blocks and—
"Utau! It's Tsukiyomi Utau!" We both froze then and turned around to see who shouted out her name. The crowd stopped and looked back at us. But her eyes widened when her brother's and the pink-haired woman's eyes widened. They started running towards us, as did the crowd. I grabbed Utau's hand and dragged her down the rest of the blocks to my car. We quickly got inside and revved up the engine.
"Hurry up! Go, go!" And then I was off. Although I almost hit a pole and almost drove onto the sidewalk, we were gone. After I drove a few blocks down and parked in front of some Zufällig building, we both sighed with relief.
Utau chuckled. "We're safe."
"We almost died in the process but we're safe," I replied. She smiled quickly before leaning back into the sitz and sighing. "Utau, who was that pink-haired woman?"
She shut her eyes. Her eyelashes were long. Her face looked peaceful, undisturbed. "Tsukiyomi Amu, the supermodel. And she's my brother's wife."
"Oh."
She opened her eyes a bit, her gaze on the ceiling of the car. "Ikuto didn't even tell me he got married oder that he had a girlfriend. But I had to find out from the television." She blinked and sighed. She removed the blume clip and her hair bands, allowing her hair to fall down her back. She looked so different without the twin-tails: the way her hair surrounded her face, the way her amethyst eyes sparkled in the dark car. All of it was so breathtaking...and I wanted to KISS her real bad. I didn't remember one time I wanted to KISS someone this bad.
She looked out the window but not before I saw the blush color her cheeks. "I look weird, don't I?"
"No. Du look great."
She didn't respond at first. "Don't lie." I knew she liked the compliment from the way her tone suddenly became light.
"I'm not." My fingers began to play with a strand of her hair. She turned and looked at me, a gentle expression on her face.
"At least Du didn't keep that from me."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:45 p.m.
Walking. After parking in a vacant lot, we began walking along a park's path. Trees created a bridge above our heads, their leaves barely light up Von the few lanterns lined along the cobblestone path. Utau had her arms wrapped around my left, her head resting on my shoulder. I looked down at her, hoping that she was looking up at me with those beautiful eyes, but she was looking down.
She sighed. "I'm sorry for suddenly making Du go like that."
"It's fine."
"I wish that were true," she responded. She let go of me then, her hair trailing behind her as she walked ahead of me. I hung back to give her some space. There was Mehr to Utau than I thought there was. Whatever was on her mind was enough to put the girl into a sauer, saure mood. sauer, saure enough for her to kick over a trashcan and send it rolling down the hill. "Fuck everything!" she screamed.
Just seeing her upset made me angry. Okay, I didn't know her very well. All I knew was that her brother was a pain in the ass, that the pink-haired woman had something to do with it, and she didn't want to go to the abendessen tomorrow because of unknown reasons. And that she was angry with everything that happened. But I felt like I've known her my entire life. Maybe because we got along pretty well, because she wasn't afraid to be herself—she pigged out on the ramen, cursed, sagte whatever was on her mind. She was bold and competitive and completely beautiful.
My hands clenched at my sides before I stormed up to her and grabbed her hand. "I know where we can go."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:02 p.m.
"An arcade?" Her face read skeptical. "How did Du find an open arcade at eleven at night?" I grinned at her as I placed the money into the coin slots and handed her the plush bat. She squeezed it a few times before glaring at me. "What the hell are we doing here, Kukai?"
"This one stays open until midnight." I pointed at her using the bat. "And Whack-A-Mole has a funny way of relieving stress. That and practicing Fußball until I'm ready to pass out." She rolled her eyes. "Come on, just give it a try."
She sighed in defeat. "Fine." She rolled her eyes again, still very skeptical. "This is so childish."
And then it started.
I didn't play as much for the simple fact that this was all for her. At first, she hit them with a bored expression on her face. As the moles kept disappearing and reappearing faster and faster, her competitiveness started to come out. Her eyes widened, anger completely overruled her features. She hit each and every one, a grunt escaping her lips as she did. The moles got faster as did Utau. She hit each and every one, the dings an endless rhythm. Sweat was rolling down her face but she didn't care.
She hit the final maulwurf with extra force; the bat bent as she did so but she didn't care. When a bunch of tokes poured out of the machine, she stood up straight, breathing heavily, and a satisfied grin on her lips. She looked at me, a bead of sweat falling down the side of her face. "That was fun."
"I told Du so!" Although the only reason I brought her to the arcade was to blow off some steam, a night of fun that didn't include drinking oder grinding sounded too good to pass up. I grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the driving games. "Let's have some fun."
She chuckled. "You're such a kid at heart."
"You're one to talk." She smiled at me and I smiled back at her. That smile…I would kill just to see it again. I would do anything to see her smile. Because as we played shooting games and driving games and board games, her smile never left her lips once.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12:17 a.m.
"That was a lot of fun," she sagte as she stretched her arms. We left the arcade and headed back towards my car. She twirled around a few times before holding my hand and resting her head on my shoulder. We stopped walking then because her eyes caught sight of the river. We leaned against the railing, both our arms crossed.
Her eyes narrowed, the purple seeming to become darker as she did so. She let out an inaudible breath as she reached into her geldbörse and pulling out the object of her annoyance and anger. As she checked her messages, I was tempted to take it and chuck it into the river. But knowing that'd only lead to unwanted problems, I settled for watching the idol.
She pressed a few buttons before resting the open phone on the railing. A few voicemails began to play.
"Hey, Utau. It's…it's Ikuto. Just call me when Du get this message."
"Utau, Du can't avoid me forever. We really need to talk."
"I saw Du with that Fußball player. Is he your boyfriend oder what? What the hell, Utau? Give me a call."
"Did she call back, Ikuto?" "No, not yet, Amu. Just hold on." "Okay." "Utau, please…call me. I want Du to come to the dinner." "Ikuto, I don't think she likes me." "She does…it's just…complicated." "Ikuto, call her in the morning. She's probably asleep Von now." "Alright."
"Wow," I started while trying to mask my annoyance, "Your brother sure is persistent."
"A persistent pain in my ass." She took the phone off the railing, pressed a few Mehr buttons, and placed it back.
"Hey, Utau. This is Amu. I wasn't sure if Du had my number oder anything so…yeah. I know it's a bit strange for me to call Du at this Stunde of the night—I'm sure you're sleeping oder busy oder something—but Du should really, really, really, call Ikuto. He's super worried about Du and I feel bad.
"I know you're upset with him…and me for that matter. But if Du just come to the dinner, we'll explain. Please…I don't want any bad blood between us, y'know? You're my sister now. I want us to be close and for Du to meet my family and my little sister and for Du to forgive Ikuto and I. So…just call back, okay?"
Utau closed the phone and gripped it in her hand. She stared out at the river, anger in her eyes but a calm expression on her face. "I feel insulted" was all she sagte before hopping atop the railing. She closed her eyes, took in a breath, and began to sing.
It was a lullaby, one I wasn't exactly familiar with but one I've heard before. She looked so peaceful as she sang the soft song, her head titled back like she was Singen to the heavens. I leaned against the railing and closed my eyes, allowing myself to be completely submerged in her voice. A warm, nostalgic feeling filled me when I did—it spread from my fingers to the very oben, nach oben of my head.
When she finished the song, when she hopped back down, I clapped for her. She gave two silly bows before lowering her gaze at me. "Kukai." She stepped into my embrace then, her arms wrapping around me. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to hug her back oder if I should just let her do as she pleased, but when she took my hands and wrapped them around her waist, I hugged her tight and lifted her off the ground. She squealed, then laughed, then broke down into a mess of tears.
When Rika cried, she didn't want to be comforted. She wanted to cry, wanted to be alone as she did so. It always made me feel like a jerk because I wanted to tell her that it would be okay, that she didn't have to cry anymore because I was there for her. But with Utau it was different. All night she rarely showed her weaker side. This side of her…it was vulnerable and simply wanted to be embraced. So I held her tighter than I think I've ever held anyone.
"I'm sorry…I—I don't know why…" She trailed off, unable to get the rest of her sentence out.
"It's fine," I told her, my finger drawing circles in the base of her spine. She continued to cry and sob and soak my shirt. It was because she cried and got those emotions out that I felt I accomplished some sort of unspoken job.
And it felt pretty damn good.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:19 a.m.
"It's here," she said. I entered the building's parking lot and shut off the car. We sat in the car, in the vacant and dimly-lit lot for what seemed like forever. She sighed, her hair back up in its original twin-tails.
"Hey, I was wondering if—" She silenced me then.
"Thank you." She gave me a quick smile, the blush visible on her cheeks, before stepping out of the car. I followed her, a bit unsure about where we were, but a bit happy that she opened up to me. We walked side Von side in silence. We approached an elevator. We stepped inside and she pressed the sixteenth floor button.
"Where are we?"
Utau leaned against the railing. "My condo."
"Ah." I wondered why she brought me here. As we got off the elevator and walked to her condo, I wondered what she was up to. Knowing that it was nothing like I was suddenly thinking because of the night's events—no dirty thoughts, Kukai—nothing else came to mind. We entered the condo: it was large, with windows all along one wall, a large küche on the right side, her living room right before us. We took off our shoes and she tossed her geldbörse onto the circular couch.
I watched her unzip the back of her dress as she headed up the stairs. I swallowed and stayed put, even if other thoughts sagte I should follow the woman. I began to walk around and admire the photos: Utau getting awards, Utau when she was younger, her and a redheaded woman. She looked exuberant in all those pictures; it was nothing like the frowning woman I was currently hanging out with.
She came back down a few moments later, sporting an off-shoulder hemd, shirt that hung around her slim shoulders and jeans. She narrowed her eyes at me. "Done looking?"
"Ah, yeah. Sorry."
"It's fine." She went into the küche and grabbed two saft bottles. She tossed one to me before grabbing a large bag of chips. "Let's go."
"Where to?" We left her apartment snacking from the chips and sipping juice.
She shrugged. "Anywhere really. Anywhere Du can think of." We had been to the arcade, the ramen shop, out walking in Tokyo.
"How about a midnight movie?"
"But it's not midnight." We got into my car and I began to drive.
"So what? I'm sure they have, like, one Mehr movie showing."
She chuckled. "Alright. A movie it is. But I pick."
"Deal."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:44 a.m.
We sat in the literally empty theater with a large bucket of popcorn between us, a large soda with two straws in the top. The movie we were watching was pretty boring and dull, which surprised me when Utau picked it. It didn't seem like the kind of movie she would watch but then again I didn't know what she liked to do oder not do.
"Hey, Utau."
She sighed. "Hmm?"
"Why'd Du pick this movie?"
She shrugged as she popped two kernels into her mouth. "Because it looked good on the poster." We both snorted. "That was clearly a lie."
"What kind of Filme do Du like?"
"Anything really."
I grinned at her. "Even gory movies?" She nodded as she sipped some soda. "Awesome. That's really awesome."
She looked at me then. "If I asked Du to, would Du watch a chick-flick with me?" Memories of my teenage years filled my head. Because my mother was literally the only girl in the house, she would make me and all my brothers sit with her every Saturday and Sunday to watch chick-flicks. Although none of us wanted to admit it, the Filme she picked out were actually pretty cool.
"Yeah." Utau burst out laughing then, her arms wrapped around her stomach as she died from laughter. My cheeks heated up and I glared at her. "It's not that funny."
"Yeah it is," she sagte as she wiped away some tears. "No guy ever wants to watch chick-flicks."
"Well my mom made my brothers and I watch them with her." I rubbed the back of my head, a bit unsure if I should tell her. I took the risk anyways. "And I actually...liked them." I expected her to laugh again but she just nodded.
"That's sweet." If my face wasn't red before I was sure it was then. I shoved popcorn into my mouth and chewed slowly. "What's your Favorit food, color, and season?"
After I chased down the popcorn with some soda, I rubbed my head and thought about the Fragen she asked. "Ah...ramen, green, and summer because my birthday's in summer. What about you?"
"Ramen, purple, and autumn because my birthday's in autumn. Plus the fashion is really good, too." I chuckled at that and she shoved two kernels into my mouth.
"How old are you, Utau?"
She sipped the soda. "Twenty-two."
"Ah…I'm twenty-one."
She smirked before laughing. "I'm older than you. Which means Du have to listen to everything I say."
"You're only older than me Von one year. And I'm taller than you." After a small staring contest, we went back to watching the stupid movie.
"This movie sucks."
"So why are we still here?"
She shrugged. "Unless Du want to go to a club, this is the only place I know that's open at one-something in the morning."
"Well this movie isn't getting any better."
"Yeah." We stood then and left our empty bucket and soda cup in the theater. "Let's go to the park."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2:11 a.m.
We sat on the grassy hill, the chilly night air blowing against our backs. Utau sat with her arm wrapped under her legs; I sat with my arms crossed over my knees. It was silent between us but I didn't mind. Just sitting Weiter to her was enough.
"Hey...Kukai."
"Yeah?"
She looked at me with a serious expression. "Do Du think I should go to the dinner?"
A quick sigh escaped my lips as I turned my attention to the river just a few feet down. "Well, it's up to you. If Du really, really want to go…go." Her eyes widened a bit before narrowing. She looked away from me. "What?" When I tried to touch her, she jerked away from me. Utau suddenly stood then and began to walk away. I jumped up and followed her. "Utau!"
"You were supposed to say no, idiot!" She turned around and tossed something at me. It hit me in the shoulder. I managed to catch it before it fell onto the ground but it was just a used napkin. I tossed it to the ground before running after her.
"So if Du don't want to go, don't go!" When my hand clasped around her wrist, she snatched it back. She glared at me, a deep frown on her lips. "I don't understand. Du asked for my opinion—"
"But now Du made me want to go!" Utau threw her hands up into the air. "I don't want to ever see Ikuto's face ever again!"
"Okay, okay…so don't go."
She stepped up to me then and glared me down. My eyes widened and I gulped but I stayed still. "Utau—"
Her lips. That all I could think about when she kissed me. Soft and warm and tasted like kirsche lip balm. They weren't anything like my chapped ones. But she didn't care. Her arms wrapped around my neck, my arms around her waist, and we stood there, just…kissing. I didn't understand why she suddenly kissed me nor did I give a damn why. I was just happy she did.
It ended too soon. "Ikuto's a jerk. I want to go to the abendessen because I want to see my family. A few years ago, after a huge argument, I Lost contact with them. And they never tried to call me oder find me, even though I wanted them to.
"But I don't want to go because when Ikuto found out about the argument I had with my mother and father, he ignored me. I told him that it wasn't his business and that we're siblings but…well, he just didn't want to deal with me anymore. So we haven't spoken in years. Later on, I made up with Mom and Dad but Ikuto still hadn't forgiven me. I forgot about him and all of a sudden I'm suddenly the most important thing ever." She sighed heavily. "Amu's the most important to him now. I hate him."
"Shut up." She looked up at me and gasped a bit when I kissed her again. But soon she was Küssen me back—a dance of lips and tongue and want. When her fingers dug through my hair, I almost Lost it. Almost.
She pulled away again, both of us red and breathing heavily. She gave me a soft glare before smiling and touching her lips. "You're a good kisser."
"You…too." We stood there, looking away from each other. When I looked back at her, she looked sad. So I punched her in the head.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?"
I grinned. "Cheer up, idol!"
"Wha…?"
"I sagte cheer up!" I grabbed her hand and pulled her up the hügel to my car. "Get in! We're going to Tokyo!"
"What for?"
I shrugged. "What girls like most—shopping."
Her eyes widened. "You're going to take me shopping?" I nodded and she laughed. "You're unbelievable."
"Yes, yes I am." My stomach rumbled. "And maybe a bite to eat, too."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2:30 a.m.
After we parked in a lot, we headed towards my Favorit burger joint. Utau wanted ramen again but I managed to convince her out of it. "Larry makes the best burgers. He's White and Japanese so he knows a lot about American food." I held the door open for her and she walked inside. The black and white theme of the store really captured the eye. Utau and I walked up to the counter where Larry's wife, Rin, was refilling napkin dispensers. "This place is the only burger joint I know that's open at two-thirty in the morning."
Utau shook her head. "Well there's McDonald's, too." I rolled my eyes before turning my attention to Rin. She grinned at me as she filled the last napkin dispenser.
"Souma-san," she greeted. "Will it be your usual?"
"Yeah. And one for her, too." Rin looked at Utau and smiled at her.
"You're very pretty." Rin giggled. "Just the perfect girlfriend for Souma-san." We both blushed at her statement. Rin cackled before going to the back to tell Larry our orders. Utau rubbed the back of her head before glancing at me.
I swallowed. "Are we…?" She looked away, her eyes widened and a bashful expression on her face. "I mean, Du did KISS me."
"Shut it; I was there." She chuckled at her own words before looking at me, her eyes soft but still very alluring. Was she looking through me, to the person underneath the celebrity Fußball player? "But…"
"Alright, two double cheeseburgers with ketchup and pickles and a side order of black pepper fries." She placed the trays before us. I picked up mine and Utau's and carried it over to my Favorit booth: in the back with an overhead light.
We slid into the two-seat booth. I placed Utau's tray before her and set mine down. "Well, go on and try it!"
She picked up the burger and examined it a few times. "Is it good?" When she looked at me, her eyebrows raised. I had already bitten into the heaven on a bun. "Alright. Here goes." I watched her bite into the burger, watched her chew for a while. When her face lit up—amethyst eyes went wide, a smile formed on her lips—I laughed. "This…this is so good!"
"I told you." We ate our burgers and fries in silence. Utau looked like she never had a burger that tasted that good before. It was kind of funny to see her eyes all wide the way they were. After our first order, we got another.
Three burgers later, we left the restaurant and headed out into the busy Tokyo streets. "Where to?" I asked her. Utau dragged me over to a shoe store, where she instantly began to rummage through the many aisles of heels and flats.
I plopped down on a bench with a sigh. I hoped that I didn't get myself into something I couldn't handle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4:30 a.m.
"I don't understand how Du women can Shop for two hours and not even realize it's been two hours." Utau only chuckled. After grabbing a quick change of clothes from my hotel room, we drove back to Utau's condo. The elevator was suddenly not working—oh the ironic hell—so I was forced to walk up sixteen flights of stairs while carrying all of her bags. Damn, being a gentleman was tiring work.
Utau opened her apartment door. I dropped the bags before her feet and bent over to catch my breath. "Geez. Du women sure can shop." I stood up after a moment and stretched my muscles. She picked up a few bags and headed up the stairs. I took the rest and followed her to her bedroom. It was lavender with dark purple sheets, a closet Von her bed, a nightstand, a desk, and a balcony facing the door. We dropped the bags in front of the closet and she sighed. "You okay?"
"Dandy." She smiled at me as she removed her hair bands once again. Her hair fell around her form once again. She bit her lip as she stepped up to me. "Kukai…tonight was a lot of fun." Her fingers brushed my hair out of my face and lingered on my cheek. "I don't think I've felt this…elated in a while."
Her words, her smile, made me smile. "I'm glad." I stepped back away from her and chuckled awkwardly. "I could kind of use a shower. I've been in these clothes all night."
"You're not the only one."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5:07 a.m.
After a dusche in her bathroom—thank goodness she gave me a bar of soap oder otherwise I'd be forced to use some of her fruity body wash—I found myself in her mint green guest room and underneath the sheets. It smelled like the same laundry detergent my mom used when she did the laundry. It was nostalgic but made going to sleep all the Mehr peaceful.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:46 a.m.
I tossed and turned on the bett but found myself Mehr awake than asleep. A small groaned escaped my lips as I stretched and sat up in the bed. I didn't even want to think about what my hair looked like. My eyes scanned the room—it was much better looking when there was light. As I rubbed my eyes, the sound of the door opening and footsteps filled the room.
I yawned loudly. "Utau?"
"I'm on the balcony." My legs flipped over the side of the bett and carried me to the balcony, where Utau was leaning over the ledge. All she wore was a man's button-down shirt; it revealed Mehr of her creamy legs. Gosh, what I would do to feel those legs around me. I shook my head before standing Von her side; thinking like that would make another part of me wake up.
Her amethyst eyes scanned my face. Although she didn't smile, her eyes spoke her emotions. "You look well rested."
"Yeah, well…" I stretched and sighed afterwards. "After a night like that, sleeping was all I wanted to do." We both laughed.
"Hey, Kukai?"
"Hmm?"
She stopped leaning on the railing and pressed her hands to my chest. Her cheeks were smooth and pale and her lips were parted. Her eyes, if possible, suddenly became deep with emotions I couldn't pinpoint. The Weiter thing I knew, I had her back pressed to the railing and a hand up her shirt. A soft gasp escaped her lips but she didn't stop me.
"You know," she whispered, "your hands are cold."
My lips ghosted over the skin of her neck. She threw her head back at that. "I'll just have to warm them up." Her hands mimicked my current actions. When her hands trailed up and down my torso, she chuckled. "Your muscles jumped."
I laughed. "Your hands are cold."
"You're one to talk." My hands strayed from her breasts but ran up and down her spine, making her arch into me and press her chest against mine. Even if there weren't clothes off oder Küssen involved, little me still rose to the occasion. "It's pressing against me."
"Sorry, I…"
She removed her hands from underneath my t-shirt and cupped my cheeks. She smirked. "Only a kid would react that way."
"You can't call me a kid," I responded, a small glare in my eyes. Her smirk got bigger.
"A kid never experienced love."
"What makes Du think I haven't?"
She didn't answer at first. "And only a kid would get that horny that fast. Therefore—" I swooped down and stahl, stola a kiss, silencing the girl. My hands wrapped around her waist and hoisted her up. She knew then and wrapped her legs around me.
As I walked back inside, with those sexy legs wrapped around me and pressing against me, our lips and tongue worked together to make the want even stronger. I laid her down on the bett and crawled atop her, my lips and tongue leaving trails of hickeys along the delicate skin.
She pressed her lips to my ear and nibbled. Hot damn. "If we do this…"
"I don't care. You're my girlfriend now."
She chuckled and her hands went to pulling my pants down. "Well don't be afraid to Zeigen how man Du are, kid."
I pulled up from her neck and looked at her flushed face. We both smirked then. "It seems I'm going to have to punish this idol for calling me a kid." Before she knew it, I had her hemd, shirt and panties off in a flash. "I don't go easy."
In that mint room, and all due to one night, we were whole. All together.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:25 p.m.
Utau looked like a child when she was asleep. Although we finished an Stunde ago, I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. My fingers twirled a piece of her golden hair and my eyes watched her sleep. Even if it sounded kind of creepy and stalker-like, it was the truth: she looked like an innocent child that knew nothing about the evil in the world. Her lips were parted with tiny breaths escaping them.
Unconsciously, I kissed her again. She stirred when I pulled away and creaked open an eye. "Kissing people in their sleep gets Du the Titel of pervert."
"Why, thank you." I smirked at her. "And you're as much as a pervert as I am. Ms. I like to be on top." She glared at me then but the blush on her cheeks told the truth.
"S-Shut up." I laughed again as she angrily rolled onto her other side.
"Aww, don't be like that," I cooed. She even stahl, stola away most of the sheets, too. Within seconds, we were in a tug of war. When I suddenly released it, she almost fell out of the bett but I caught her up and lifted her up.
She looked away and blushed because the sheet was no longer covering her body. "Stop staring at me like that. I'm not a burger."
"No, but Du taste a lot better than a burger." She smiled and rolled her eyes. I lay back down and she pressed her head to my chest. Her hands were warmer than earlier.
After a few Minuten of silence and breathing, she looked up at me with worry in her eyes. My fingers brushed her bangs out of her face before cupping her cheek. "What's wrong?"
"I want Du to come to the abendessen with me." My eyebrows rose. When she saw my reaction, she sighed and sat up, her hands holding up the sheet to shield her naked form. "Forget I asked."
"No, I'll come with you."
She looked back at me with hopeful, wide eyes. "Really?" I nodded. "But…"
My lips pressed to her forehead. "You want me to come, so I'll come. I just hope your parents are okay with meeting the boyfriend of a day." We both laughed at that. She kissed me dead on and smiled into it.
"Thank you, Kukai."
"You're welcome." I grinned and pushed her back down onto the bed. When I got atop her, she began to shove me everywhere. "Hey, no fighting! Du know Du want it!"
She laughed. "No, idiot. We have to get ready…and this isn't a part of…getting ready! Ah!"
"Sure it is." My hands traveled all over her sides, ran over her breasts and legs. "I have to make sure you're physically capable of this dinner."
"Sex doesn't check anything!"
"Sure it does! Besides, abendessen isn't until later. So we'll fool around for another Stunde oder two, take a quick powernap, get all pretty, and then we'll head out." She couldn't argue with my logic. She sighed and wrapped her arms around my neck.
She smirked, eyes lowered. "Fine. But be sure to get all your energy out."
I licked my lips. "I will."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6:58 p.m.
"I sagte I was sorry," I sagte for the tenth time. We parked a few blocks away from her parents' home. We both got out of the car and Utau walked ahead of me. Every time I tried to hold her hand, she would snatch it away. I walked in front of her, forcing her to stop. She looked nice: she wore a black dress that had one long sleeve and her other shoulder was exposed. On her feet was a pair of strappy black heels that revealed her black-colored toes. Her hair was in the twin-tails but curled.
She rolled her eyes and shook her hand, her hoop earrings moving as she did so. "You were the one that made the game plan. And Du didn't even stick to it Du horny kid." She moved to walk around me but I wrapped her in a bär hug.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go overboard."
She wriggled in my grasp. "Get off!"
"Not until Du forgive me." She rolled her eyes before giving me a hard shove. I stumbled back but didn't fall.
"Fine, whatever," sagte as we continued walking. "Just…don't do it again."
"Cross my heart."
She held my hand then and I felt less guilty. We walked in silence but I watched the worry Zeigen on her face. We arrived at her old home: it was small but big, with a blume garden in the front and blume boxes in the windows. It was two stories and white with blue borders.
I began walking but Utau remained motionless. "What's wrong?" I asked her.
She shook her head and sighed. "I can't do this."
"Yes, Du can." I gripped both of her hands and gave her my best smile. "You came this far, didn't you? All Du have to do now is go inside."
"But…but Ikuto and his little wife are probably there and I don't want to see him oder her."
That's when I took charge and started pushing the idol towards the front door. "Too bad!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:30 p.m.
Utau and I sat across from her parents: Tsukiyomi Aruto and Souko. Her father had straight blue hair, sapphire eyes, and a grin that could rival the Cheshire Cat. Her mother, on the other hand, looked like an older spitting image of Utau: same amethyst eyes, same long blonde hair, and same smile.
Only…Utau wasn't smiling. She was looking down with a sad expression on her face. Aruto looked at his daughter and smiled softly at her. "Utau." She looked up at him with widened eyes but quickly looked away. "Utau, look at me."
She forced herself to look at him. "Y-Yes?"
"I'm glad Du decided to come." She smiled then, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. "Souko and I thought Du weren't going to come."
"After what Ikuto sagte and all." Her smile disappeared then and was replaced with a look of anger. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"What did Ikuto say exactly?"
Her parents exchanged looks. "Ikuto told us that Du didn't come to his wedding even though he invited you." Both of our eyes widened, even if this wasn't exactly my problem. Either way, Utau told me that she didn't even know Ikuto had a girlfriend so there was no way he invited her to the wedding.
She glared at her parents and shook her head. "That's a lie."
Souko narrowed her eyes next. "Ikuto wouldn't lie to us. He was really hurt, Utau."
"Your son doesn't even speak to me anymore." She tugged at her ponytails. "I didn't even know he had a girlfriend!" Although Souko looked like she was having the harde
Every day, I had to convince myself to wake up. My eyes caught sight of the alarm clock: 11:27, three Minuten short of my usual eleven-thirty. A sigh escaped my lips and I hit the snooze button on oben, nach oben of the hotel's alarm clock. As I pulled on a pair of boxers, surprise hit me. My manager, Ryu, hadn't come to pour a bucket of ice-cold water on me oder blow his whistle as loud as possible. For the manager of a Fußball star, sterne he sure was lenient. But I didn't care; at least I was dry and not deaf.
But as if I was jinxing myself, Ryu burst through the bedroom door and prepared to blow his whistle. When he saw me buckling my pants, he grinned. "Morning, Kukai."
"Hey." I threw on an old gray t-shirt and ruffled my hair a bit. Deciding that the brown mess of hair atop my head wasn't going to get any better, I followed Ryu out of the hotel suite with my duffle bag over my shoulder.
He pressed a few keys on his cell phone and began to talk, filling me in on my duties for the day. "At noon, Du have that interview with The Goal at the restaurant. Then around three Du have practice for two hours. And then at seven Du have the abendessen to attend for the championship win. After that, we'll head on the two Stunde drive to the club and party old school." Ryu grinned. He was young—only twenty-nine years old—so it wasn't unusual when he came with the rest of us clubbing. It also wasn't unusual when he ended up bringing a girl back to the hotel oder when we needed to wake him up after a hard night of partying.
But the duties I had for the Tag sounded like a real killjoy. No one had fun answering a journalist's prying questions. No one had fun practicing with team mates who only gave a damn about themselves oder who hated their star, sterne player. No one had fun eating some restaurant's Essen with a bunch of rich nobodies that supported the team. And no one had fun watching a bunch of drunken Fußball players grind on Zufällig women who flashed anything and everything.
Other people would've killed to have my life: to have the money and the fame and the women sounded like Heaven plus two. But it was anything but amazing. I played on the Fußball team—the Dragons—that had just won the championship. My teammates all glared at me as we left the field once everything calmed down. Although I felt vain for thinking so, I knew I was the best player. They only played Fußball to win, to make another hundred thousand. I played just for the fun of it. I could care less about the money oder the fame oder the women. Even if I felt that way, going back to just playing the game for fun was over.
We left the apartment building and quickly got into the limo waiting for us outside. Just a Sekunde with the paparazzi felt like torture. The limo began to drive and Ryu closed his phone. "Ready for that interview?"
"Yeah...whatever." Ryu was probably the only one who understood what I felt. Of course he wouldn't tell anyone else oder the team for the simple fact that they'd be all over me. Interviews to stupid dinners with rich people I didn't know nor cared to know was becoming a real pain in the ass. "Ryu."
"Yeah...yeah, we're on our way to the restaurant." He held up a finger, silencing me and telling me to wait. The limo turned a corner and stopped at a stoplight. "Yeah, okay. Later." He closed the phone and sighed. "What's up?"
"I'm not going to practice and I'm not going clubbing with Du guys." I expected Ryu to convince me out of it; he was a persuasive guy. And I expected him to send me his 'you're not doing that' look. But he looked at me like normally and opened his phone. After pressing a few buttons, he shrugged.
"Okay." Okay? That was it? It was that easy? No argument, no final word? Ryu gave me a genuine smile then, which was rare to see on the guy. "You look tired."
"Oh...well thanks man."
The limo stopped outside the restaurant. The paparazzi were there, waiting for their subject of pictures and bombarding questions. We stepped out of the living room and walked into the restaurant without so much a glance at the paparazzi. Once inside the calm restaurant, Ryu pointed at a secluded booth in the back. He patted my back and I gulped.
When I arrive at the booth, a woman sat with a notepad and recorder at the ready. She looked up at me with a provocative smile. As I slid in and made myself as comfortable as possible, she stuck out a hand. "Yamabuuki Saaya." Her name was familiar: she interviewed a few other players.
I shook her hand, ignored her lingering fingers. "Souma Kukai."
She laughed. "Everyone knows who Du are." She rested her elbows on the tabelle while her hands moved in lazy circles. "You're the winning goal-scorer, the Dragons' light in the darkness. No one thought Du guys were going to win that championship. The Izakayas had a tough record this season."
It was true. But the way she sagte it turned me off; she honestly didn't care about the Fußball oder the records of either teams. Knowing journalists, and knowing that she's a young woman who could give a shit, she only wanted to know about my personal life: if I was dating anyone, if I had any secrets. It was honestly too easy.
"Yeah...well we came through."
"No, Du came through," she sagte as she pointed her pen at me. A waiter came then and placed a salat before the reporter. She took it and glanced at me. "Do Du want anything?"
"No, thanks." The waiter left and she began to eat the leafy salad.
"Are Du anorexic? oder are Du on a diet?"
Geez. All I sagte was no thanks to the guy and all of a sudden it becomes a crime to not be hungry at the moment. When I didn't respond, she continued to pry. "If Du really are anorexic, it wouldn't be a surprise. A lot of athletes go to certain extremes to stay in the right physique and—"
"I'm not anorexic," I snapped. "I'm in the mood for something else to eat. And it's not on the menu." Hell yeah I was. I was craving some ramen: tender and oily and fatty ramen. All the expensive crap on the menu wouldn't fill me up. Three oder four large bowls of tonkatsu ramen would.
She nodded and scribbled something down. "Well, let's start, shall we?" She pressed a button on her record and began the interview. "Souma Kukai, you're very reclusive about your private life. Why won't Du open up to the world and your many Fans about the guy that every girl wants to know about?" Her eyes were staring right at me. At that moment, I wished that some extremely hot boy band would whisk away her attention and allow me to slip out of the restaurant ninja-style. Knowing that would never happen, the wheels in my brain turned until a plausible excuse formed.
"I don't like people in my personal life. There's a reason it's called a personal life," I answered.
It wasn't good enough. "But you're twenty-one years of pure sexiness." That led me to the conclusion that even if an extremely boy band came in and proposed to the woman that she wouldn't take her eyes off of me. Something told me that she had a Fan girl's crush. If she had vied for this interview at her job, it wouldn't have been surprising. "Every girl wants you; every guy wants to be you." She sighed before looking over her Fragen and crossing something out. "Whatever happened between Du and Mitsumoto Rika?"
Oh, her. The actress I thought was really cool and liked what I did for a living turned out to be an immature and jealous girl who didn't give a shit about what I did and allowed her jealousy to get the better of our relationship. We were dating for a week when she suddenly turned extremely jealous. She demanded that she be the only woman I hung around. And then I broke up with her because Friends didn't come easily anymore. Even if I knew a lot of people, they only knew the Fußball star, not the guy underneath. And like hell I would let them.
When I rolled my eyes, she snickered. "Rumor has it that Du broke up with her because she didn't have the physique Du like." What the hell?
"I broke up with her because she was jealous. I told her she had nothing to be jealous about but she didn't stop. So I ended it." She wrote quickly, her hand just flying across the notepad.
"What's your ideal relationship then? Every famous person has their ups and downs in romance."
"I dunno." My ideal version of romance was vague but a secret. After seeing what happened all the time in celebrities' personal lives, I chose to keep mine private. I never expected to become so famous at all. One Tag I was playing Fußball at the old pit Von my house; the Weiter I was being hounded Von Fan girls and paparazzi.
"Oh come on. That can't possibly be true. Maybe there's a special someone on your mind right now, someone you're trying to get."
I shook my head. "There's no one right now." She sighed and wrote that down before looking over her notepad.
"You've got to be joking, man." She sighed again, clearly annoyed that I wasn't giving her any juicy details. "There's Mehr to Du than meets the eye. I just know it."
"I seriously don't have anything…special."
She smirked. "There are rumors going around that you're attending a abendessen party tonight."
"I am."
"And it's rumored that Rika's going to be there." My eyes widened. Rika wasn't into Fußball oder sports for that matter. I wondered why she would be attending. She didn't support the team or—
"And she's going with Uwari." She grinned and prepared herself to write. "What're your feelings on that?" Uwari was full of himself. He hated me, hated everyone that wasn't on his side. He was a pretty cunning guy who didn't like to stick to game plans; he was probably why our record suffered so badly. But after I pulled us through, after I saved our record and won us the championship, his hatred for me seemed to increase a few notches. This was probably his version of payback: datum the ex-girlfriend.
She raised her eyebrows and I blinked. When was the stupid interview over? "Well...I hope she'll have a fun time."
"Oh, she'll have a fun time alright." She laughed and wrote down my response. She didn't see the dirty look I was giving her. "Uwari's pretty beliebt with the ladies."
"Whatever." My eyes glared at the window. "Good for him then."
"Are Du jealous? Everyone's who's a Fan knows that there's tension between Du and Uwari."
Hell yeah. The bastard's a baby. "He's on my team. I have no problem with him."
"That can't possibly be true." She leaned in, her eyes narrowed and invasive. "When I interviewed Uwari, he sagte Du hogged the spotlight. He sagte that the team deserved it, not just you."
Typical Uwari. Then again, I didn't give a damn. "Uwari failed to mention that he was also the reason why our record was in the gutter. All of the team thinks so." She wrote quickly. "He wasn't the one who scored the winning goal."
She chuckled. "You're pretty full of yourself, aren't you?"
"I'm not. I only play Fußball to just enjoy the game. When the teams line up and shake hands, I always tell them how awesome they played and stuff like that." My fists tightened on the table. "Uwari only plays for the money and the fame and the girls."
"But you've been spotted at Clubs doing exactly what they do."
"I'll admit: I like to party. But as of recently, I haven't been hanging out with the team oder going to congratulatory parties."
Her eyes widened and she leaned in even more. The tabelle moved as she did so; I had to push it back just to breathe again. "Why not? Is there a beef between Du and the team?"
Beef? No, there wasn't a beef. In fact, I got along with all of the players even if I didn't consider them friends. But I didn't hang out with them for the simple fact that they didn't really care about friendship. Being Friends with the star, sterne player meant a sudden boost in their popularity. And when they didn't need me anymore they'd toss me like I was trash. My fists clenched in anger. I wasn't trash. And I'd be damned if I let anyone treat me that way.
It was why I didn't have a lot of Friends anymore. They didn't care about the person underneath. In fact, just listening to Saaya chat away about the team and Uwari and their opinions was pissing me off. I suddenly stood up and pressed the red button on her recorder. "We're done here."
"But I still have a few Mehr questions—wait! I'm sorry! Come back!" Too late. Ryu and I were already out of the restaurant, already in the limo. He closed the door and the driver took off. We both sighed.
"How'd it go?"
I shrugged. "Okay."
"Ah..."
"Drop me off at the train station," I told the driver. He turned a corner, drove a few Mehr blocks down, until we were Von the train station. From my duffle bag came my trusty baseball cap. I put it on backwards, sighed, and left the limo. "See Du at the dinner." Ryu nodded.
Now alone, my stomach growled in disapproval. "Ramen, here I come."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ramen Shop was just how it was supposed to be: small, warm, and smelled liked meat. The smell brought back memories of my many trips to the shop—when I was angry and needed to eat away the feelings, when I needed a congratulatory meal, when I was just hungry. The thought brought a grin to my lips. Just eating here without the paparazzi hounding me always cheered me up.
It wasn't as crowded since it was a little past one; it usually didn't start to get crowded until two. I sat at the counter, my legs halfheartedly spinning the stool. A girl was attending to a customer; the woman wore a large brown hat, a ratty white shirt, old jeans and sneakers. The girl finished attending to the woman until her eyes fixed on me.
And when she saw me, her face lit up like Weihnachten lights. "Y-Y-You-You're...AH!" She charged over to me and readied her notepad and pen. "Wh-Wh-What do Du want? Gah! I mean, what would Du l-like to eat?"
Her nervousness made me laugh. Her face flushed deep red. "A large bowl of ramen with everything in it." She nodded and went to prepare my order. As I waited, I hummed a small tune, my eyes drifting over to the woman. She ate silently; even her slurping wasn't that loud. But two spoonfuls later, she placed the empty bowl on the oben, nach oben of the counter.
She rang the bell. "Aki, another bowl. Soba noodles this time. And extra broth." She knew what she wanted, that was for sure. The urge to ask the woman for a ramen eating contest was overwhelming but I ignored it. The girl—Aki, right?—placed our orders before us.
I clapped my hands together and sagte a quick "Itadakimasu" before picking up my chopsticks and digging in. The noodles were cooked to perfection, as was the pork slices. The ramen was fulfilling all my hunger wishes. Before I knew it, I finished the first bowl. But I was still hungry.
"Hey, Aki!" I called. She jumped, accidentally knocking over a pot of broth in the process. She quickly ducked down to clean it up before coming back up to look at me. "Can I have another bowl? And with extra pork this time?" She nodded quickly and took my bowl off the counter. As she prepared another bowl, the woman finished up her ramen.
"Aki. More."
"Ah, coming right up!" She was fast. Within a minute, I was slurping up Mehr noodles. It was comforting: the smell of the ramen, the delicious taste, the contentment. I grinned again and began to indulge in Mehr ramen.
Four and a half bowls later, my stomach was nice and full. The woman was long gone so it was only me in the restaurant. Aki had cleaned up and was slicing up pork when I rang the glocke to get her attention. She walked up to the counter, her cheeks still flushed. "All done, Souma-san?" I nodded and handed her the due amount with a large tip. She gasped. "I-I don't need all this! Really!"
I grinned. "It's fine. Your ramen was awesome." She squealed with delight before reaching into her schürze pocket and pulling out her notepad and a cell phone. "Would Du like an autograph?"
"And a picture...p-please."
"No prob." She squealed again as she hopped over the counter. She opened the notepad to a fresh page and I signed it 'Souma Kukai; Du make awesome ramen!' I handed it back to her and she came close so we could take the picture.
"Say ramen!"
"Ramen!" One blinding flash later and she was freaking out. It was kind of funny actually. She gave me a free bottle of iced tee before I left the shop.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I arrived back at my hotel suite, my voicemail carried three new messages, all from Ryu. They all spoke about the same thing: to be on time for the abendessen later that night. After spending three hours playing Fußball at the empty field, I was sweaty and stinky and ready to kill over. My version of practice always left me tired; the official practice with the team made me irritated. But it was fun nonetheless.
My eyes caught sight of the time: it was six on the dot. The two-hour nap I wanted would have to wait. I needed to get ready for the stupid dinner. A groan escaped my lips as I stripped to complete nakedness and made my way to the bathroom.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The abendessen was just what I expected: a bunch of rich nobodies dressed up in fancy clothes mingling with each other. I had gotten there a bit late due to the traffic, so I missed the congratulations speech. It wasn't even a real abendessen party. Everyone was standing in a large room, sipping champagne waiters passed around, and eating garnele, garnelen off of fancy-looking napkins. My eyes rolled as I walked through the crowd. People congratulated me and I returned it back with a quick smile.
And then my eyes caught sight of Rika. She wore a strapless silver gown, silver heels to match. Her black hair was up in a bun, her blue eyes covered Von makeup. Uwari's arm was around her waist. And although it made perfect sense to feel jealous, I didn't. They deserved each other.
But avoiding them was impossible. Rika and Uwari spotted me. Ryu was over there, too. They all waved me over. A waiter passed Von carrying a tray of glasses. I grabbed one off the tray before walking over to them.
Uwari smirked at me. "Souma. I didn't think you'd Zeigen your face." Rika chuckled and kissed his cheek. If that was supposed to make me feel jealous, she needed to try harder.
"Well I did." As I took a sip of the champagne, part of me wondered just what Uwari did to get Rika to go with him. But that thought didn't linger in my head for long. A conversation about the game stahl, stola me away, as did a few other older rich nobodies.
This was what my life came to: dinners with strangers, long days of practice that did absolutely nothing, constant travel that didn't include some sightseeing. Whatever happened to the good old days? This...this wasn't it. I couldn't take the way they looked at me and congratulated me for winning a championship I'm sure they didn't watch. With Rika and Uwari flirting it up and constantly kissing, it made me realize that they were the archetype of celebrities: selfish, only cared about their reputation. I couldn't take it. I needed to get out of there.
I needed a break.
"Ryu."
"Yeah, man?" When he looked at me, when he saw the glum expression on my face, he understood then. I swallowed the rest of the champagne in one gulp, the sudden warm sensation making me even Mehr determined to get out of there. "Alright. I'll make something up for you."
"Thanks, Ryu." He grinned and patted my back. And then I was moving—moving through the crowd, pushing them and shoving them out of my way. I felt their eyes lingering on me but I didn't care. As soon as I was out, the evening sky welcomed me. One deep breath later and I was getting into my car with the destination of anywhere on my mind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anywhere turned out to be a bar. It was up-to-date in décor—lights hung from the ceiling, a semi-circle bar in the middle of the large area, velvet seats lined up against the walls—and all kinds of people were there. There were mainly men: some were smoking cigars with women sitting on their laps; some were drunk and shouting obscene things; and some were flirting with a group of hooker-looking women. Even so, the bar seemed like the best place to be. I had no intention of getting drunk but just a few drinks would be nice.
I sat at an empty schemel, hocker and the bartender approached me. His eyes narrowed at the sight of me but he didn't make a huge deal. "What'll it be?"
"Shot of liquor." He nodded and went to go prepare my drink. I loosened the tie that was currently restricting me and rolled up my hemd, shirt sleeves. The bartender plopped the drink before me and walked away, another customer in his sights. Just as I was about to down the tiny glass of amber-colored liquor, the sound of Singen filled my ears.
I hadn't realized that a woman was up there singing; that was pretty unobservant of me. When I turned to look at her, my eyes widened at the sight. At that moment, my first thought, as she sang her herz out before a crowd of drunks and horny men and some listeners, was to KISS her. But not knowing who she was kept me glued to the spot. Either way, I was mesmerized Von the voice that escaped her lips, the gentle expression on her face, and the amethyst eye that looked people like they were windows.
Moments later, she finished the song and the audience clapped. A few drunks screamed some incoherent things but she smiled at them nonetheless. The spotlight dimmed and she got off the stage, her legs bringing her to the bar. The bartender handed her a rag and her things, gave her a quick nod, before going to attend to his other customers. I glanced at her, my eyes watching her wipe down her face and neck. She reached into her bag, her eyes narrowing at something.
She closed the geldbörse and sat atop the barstool beside me. I didn't realize it at first but she was looking at me, her eyes flickering all over me. It was when I looked away, a bit embarrassed, did she speak up. "Did Du enjoy the performance?"
I blinked. "Hmm? Ah, yeah. It was really good." She smiled as she checked her phone. The sounds of the keys clicking filled the silence. She closed the phone and turned so her attention was right on me.
"You're Souma Kukai, aren't you?"
I nodded before looking around to see if anyone else heard that. No one reacted. "Yeah, I am."
"I saw the championship. Du looked like Du were really getting into it." When I scoffed, she rolled her eyes. "I'm serious. I'm not a Fußball fan—" At least she was being honest "—but I like watching Du play."
My eyes widened and I looked at her. "Really?" She nodded before swallowing. My eyes narrowed because I suddenly felt like I knew her. When I leaned in, she leaned away, her eyes narrowed. "You seem familiar."
"You mean Du don't know the famous Tsukiyomi Utau?" Her name suddenly rang a bell. She was the famous singer. I've seen her on Fernsehen a few times, and on some magazine covers, but I didn't pay much attention to the Musik industry.
"Ahh…"
She shrugged. "It's okay. I prefer Du not know me anyways."
"Why's that?"
She sighed. "Because everyone knows me." I knew what she meant the moment the words spilled from her mouth. It was how I felt: everyone knew who I was, what I did for a living, but no one really knew me. "I like it when people don't know me. Everyone in the goddamn world knows me."
"Heh, I know the feeling." She finished up the water she was currently drinking before tossing it into the garbage. She gave me a quick glance before smirking and hopping off the stool. "Where are Du going?"
"I don't know," she replied. She looked at me then, her eyes lowered. I gulped. "You want to come? Du know…take a break."
Taking a break was just what I needed. As I placed some money on the bar, and as I followed her out of the bar, it was then that I wished I had a remote control that could control life. I would press the pause button, and never press it again, because I just wanted to be stuck on pause with this woman. Because we both wanted a break from the reality we were living.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8:35 p.m.
"Do Du have anywhere in particular Du want to go?"
Her stomach rumbled then and I laughed. She blushed as she glared at me. "The ramen Shop Von the train station." My eyes widened and I made the connection.
"You were that woman in the ramen Shop earlier today, weren't you?" She laughed then, her laugh harmonious like her singing. But she nodded. "You sure can eat."
"So can you."
I parked Von the train station. We got out and I filled the meter just enough for an hour. We then walked into the ramen shop, not surprised that it wasn't as empty as earlier in the day. A group of people sat in the farther corner of the shop. Utau and I sat at the counter, our eyes on the chef. He was an older man with sweat stains under his hemd, shirt but a happy grin on his face.
Utau folded her arms across the countertop. It was then that I really looked at her: she wore a black dress that was cinched at the bust but flowed out and stopped at mid-thigh. She wore black heels to match and a blume clip in her hair. She glanced at me before reaching into her geldbörse and pulling out her cell phone. "Give me your number and email."
"Ah, okay." As we exchanged numbers, I couldn't help but wonder why she needed a break. But asking her seemed rude at the moment, considering I barely knew anything about her, so I decided to ask her later. We finished exchanging info and turned back to the counter. The man approached us. "What'll it be?"
Utau spoke first. "A large bowl. Extra pork and soba noodles."
The man nodded before looking at me. "And you?"
"Same thing," I answered. The man went to go prepare our orders. Utau looked at me then, a faint smile in her lips. "What?"
"Feel like having an eating contest?"
I grinned. "Sure."
"Penalty?"
"Loser has to buy the winner ice cream."
She smirked before picking up her chopsticks. "You're on."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9:10 p.m.
In the end, it was a tie. Although we called quits at the same time, after several Minuten of bickering, I agreed to buy her ice cream. She stuck the plastic spoon into her kekse, cookies and cream ice cream with Schokolade sprinkles. I had gotten a cup of plain mint Schokolade chip.
After we got ice cream, she gave me some instructions to a cliff that overlooked the city. As we sat on the haube of my car eating ice cream, I was captured Von the sight of the beautiful city; the way the lights impacted the night was really pretty.
Utau spoke then, her voice breaking the silence. "It's nice."
"Yeah, it is." It grew silent again. Her phone buzzed and she flipped it open, her eyes glaring at the screen. She rolled her eyes in an annoyed manner before closing the phone. "What's wrong?"
"My idiot brother keeps texting me," she sagte with a groan following. "Do Du know who Tsukiyomi Ikuto is?" Actually, I did. I remembered seeing him with a pink-haired woman in the skybox at a few of my games.
I looked out at the night again. "He's CEO of Easter, right?"
"Yeah..." She groaned again and stabbed the ice cream, little specks flying onto the car and the ground. "He wants me to come to the abendessen tomorrow night."
I shrugged. "So go." When she sent me a menacing glare, I shoved a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.
"I don't want to go," she began, the annoyance clearly there, "and if I did I wouldn't be complaining about it."
Curiosity began to overtake me. "But aren't Du and your brother close?" Even though I didn't get to go Home as much as I wanted to, I always sent packages for my mom and my brothers. They really liked them.
She shrugged indifferently as she stuck Mehr ice cream into her mouth. "Not anymore anyways."
"Why not?" I wasn't sure if I was stepping into personal boundaries. But from the way she looked at me, from the way her eyes flickered across my face, I figured she was going to tell me.
But I was wrong. "It's complicated."
"Oh..." So I was a bit eager to know why her and her brother weren't close anymore. Either way, it wasn't my business. So we ate Mehr ice cream in silence and stared out at the city.
She broke it again. "And you?"
I didn't look at her. "And me what?"
"Why do Du need a break?" My eyes fixed on the empty ice cream cup. I could've sworn I had Mehr ice cream but even that has to end. A sigh escaped my lips as I tossed the empty cup and spoon into the trash can near the car. I fell back onto the car then, my hands folded behind my head.
smaragd met amethyst. "People just don't play the game for fun anymore." My lungs took in the scent of the trees and the mint coming from my breath. "It's too repetitive."
"Ah." She finished up her ice cream and tossed the cup and spoon. She then leaned against the car, an elbow propping her head up. She was hesitant at first but she started tracing lazy circles on my torso. Her touch was soft even if it was just one finger. "Sounds boring."
"It is..." I was the one to groan this time. "The players on my team can be real douche bags."
Utau laughed that harmonious laugh again. The Weiter thing I knew I was laughing. Soon we were both crying and laughing over absolutely nothing. Maybe we were laughing at the ridiculousness of the people we were unfortunately surrounded by; maybe we were laughing because we had to laugh at how ridiculous our lives became. Either way, it felt good to just laugh like that.
It had been a while since something made me laugh that hard.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:23 p.m.
"Now where do Du want to go?" I asked as we drove on the streets, the many lights passing over us. She didn't answer. "Utau?" Still no reply. When I looked at her, she was staring at her cell phone screen, eyes moving back and forth as she read something. It must've been another text from her brother because when she was finished, she shut the phone and jammed it into her purse. She rubbed her temple and groaned loudly. "That was Ikuto, hmm?"
"I swear if I get another text I'm throwing the fucking phone onto the train tracks."
I laughed at her threat. She glared at me and I quickly stopped. "That's not funny."
"Just tell him Du don't want to go."
"I did." I parked near a park and we stepped out of the car. "But he's still trying to convince me." We walked along the path; the Tokyo crowd helped us blend in. She sighed as she looked around.
"Sorry to hear that." I wished I knew what to say but I was at a loss for words. She didn't seem to mind though. Her arm looped around mine and she grinned. I grinned back at her. "Where do Du want to go?"
"Let's go to a Zufällig club and—" She cut herself off and a glare formed in her eyes. We stopped walking.
"Utau?" Her fingers dug into my arm. When I followed her line of vision, I followed it and found myself staring at Tsukiyomi Ikuto, the pink-haired woman with him. They were being hounded Von a group of fans. When I looked back at Utau, she was looking up at me. "Ah..."
"Let's go. Before they see us." We turned back around and began to walk. She kept her gaze on her shoes. Although the crowd was large, although I was sure no one would be able to see us, I had the paranoid feeling that everyone's eyes were on our backs. I pulled my arm free from her grasp and grabbed her hand instead. We kept walking with our gazes cast downwards. We were so close to my car. Just a few Mehr blocks and—
"Utau! It's Tsukiyomi Utau!" We both froze then and turned around to see who shouted out her name. The crowd stopped and looked back at us. But her eyes widened when her brother's and the pink-haired woman's eyes widened. They started running towards us, as did the crowd. I grabbed Utau's hand and dragged her down the rest of the blocks to my car. We quickly got inside and revved up the engine.
"Hurry up! Go, go!" And then I was off. Although I almost hit a pole and almost drove onto the sidewalk, we were gone. After I drove a few blocks down and parked in front of some Zufällig building, we both sighed with relief.
Utau chuckled. "We're safe."
"We almost died in the process but we're safe," I replied. She smiled quickly before leaning back into the sitz and sighing. "Utau, who was that pink-haired woman?"
She shut her eyes. Her eyelashes were long. Her face looked peaceful, undisturbed. "Tsukiyomi Amu, the supermodel. And she's my brother's wife."
"Oh."
She opened her eyes a bit, her gaze on the ceiling of the car. "Ikuto didn't even tell me he got married oder that he had a girlfriend. But I had to find out from the television." She blinked and sighed. She removed the blume clip and her hair bands, allowing her hair to fall down her back. She looked so different without the twin-tails: the way her hair surrounded her face, the way her amethyst eyes sparkled in the dark car. All of it was so breathtaking...and I wanted to KISS her real bad. I didn't remember one time I wanted to KISS someone this bad.
She looked out the window but not before I saw the blush color her cheeks. "I look weird, don't I?"
"No. Du look great."
She didn't respond at first. "Don't lie." I knew she liked the compliment from the way her tone suddenly became light.
"I'm not." My fingers began to play with a strand of her hair. She turned and looked at me, a gentle expression on her face.
"At least Du didn't keep that from me."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:45 p.m.
Walking. After parking in a vacant lot, we began walking along a park's path. Trees created a bridge above our heads, their leaves barely light up Von the few lanterns lined along the cobblestone path. Utau had her arms wrapped around my left, her head resting on my shoulder. I looked down at her, hoping that she was looking up at me with those beautiful eyes, but she was looking down.
She sighed. "I'm sorry for suddenly making Du go like that."
"It's fine."
"I wish that were true," she responded. She let go of me then, her hair trailing behind her as she walked ahead of me. I hung back to give her some space. There was Mehr to Utau than I thought there was. Whatever was on her mind was enough to put the girl into a sauer, saure mood. sauer, saure enough for her to kick over a trashcan and send it rolling down the hill. "Fuck everything!" she screamed.
Just seeing her upset made me angry. Okay, I didn't know her very well. All I knew was that her brother was a pain in the ass, that the pink-haired woman had something to do with it, and she didn't want to go to the abendessen tomorrow because of unknown reasons. And that she was angry with everything that happened. But I felt like I've known her my entire life. Maybe because we got along pretty well, because she wasn't afraid to be herself—she pigged out on the ramen, cursed, sagte whatever was on her mind. She was bold and competitive and completely beautiful.
My hands clenched at my sides before I stormed up to her and grabbed her hand. "I know where we can go."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:02 p.m.
"An arcade?" Her face read skeptical. "How did Du find an open arcade at eleven at night?" I grinned at her as I placed the money into the coin slots and handed her the plush bat. She squeezed it a few times before glaring at me. "What the hell are we doing here, Kukai?"
"This one stays open until midnight." I pointed at her using the bat. "And Whack-A-Mole has a funny way of relieving stress. That and practicing Fußball until I'm ready to pass out." She rolled her eyes. "Come on, just give it a try."
She sighed in defeat. "Fine." She rolled her eyes again, still very skeptical. "This is so childish."
And then it started.
I didn't play as much for the simple fact that this was all for her. At first, she hit them with a bored expression on her face. As the moles kept disappearing and reappearing faster and faster, her competitiveness started to come out. Her eyes widened, anger completely overruled her features. She hit each and every one, a grunt escaping her lips as she did. The moles got faster as did Utau. She hit each and every one, the dings an endless rhythm. Sweat was rolling down her face but she didn't care.
She hit the final maulwurf with extra force; the bat bent as she did so but she didn't care. When a bunch of tokes poured out of the machine, she stood up straight, breathing heavily, and a satisfied grin on her lips. She looked at me, a bead of sweat falling down the side of her face. "That was fun."
"I told Du so!" Although the only reason I brought her to the arcade was to blow off some steam, a night of fun that didn't include drinking oder grinding sounded too good to pass up. I grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the driving games. "Let's have some fun."
She chuckled. "You're such a kid at heart."
"You're one to talk." She smiled at me and I smiled back at her. That smile…I would kill just to see it again. I would do anything to see her smile. Because as we played shooting games and driving games and board games, her smile never left her lips once.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12:17 a.m.
"That was a lot of fun," she sagte as she stretched her arms. We left the arcade and headed back towards my car. She twirled around a few times before holding my hand and resting her head on my shoulder. We stopped walking then because her eyes caught sight of the river. We leaned against the railing, both our arms crossed.
Her eyes narrowed, the purple seeming to become darker as she did so. She let out an inaudible breath as she reached into her geldbörse and pulling out the object of her annoyance and anger. As she checked her messages, I was tempted to take it and chuck it into the river. But knowing that'd only lead to unwanted problems, I settled for watching the idol.
She pressed a few buttons before resting the open phone on the railing. A few voicemails began to play.
"Hey, Utau. It's…it's Ikuto. Just call me when Du get this message."
"Utau, Du can't avoid me forever. We really need to talk."
"I saw Du with that Fußball player. Is he your boyfriend oder what? What the hell, Utau? Give me a call."
"Did she call back, Ikuto?" "No, not yet, Amu. Just hold on." "Okay." "Utau, please…call me. I want Du to come to the dinner." "Ikuto, I don't think she likes me." "She does…it's just…complicated." "Ikuto, call her in the morning. She's probably asleep Von now." "Alright."
"Wow," I started while trying to mask my annoyance, "Your brother sure is persistent."
"A persistent pain in my ass." She took the phone off the railing, pressed a few Mehr buttons, and placed it back.
"Hey, Utau. This is Amu. I wasn't sure if Du had my number oder anything so…yeah. I know it's a bit strange for me to call Du at this Stunde of the night—I'm sure you're sleeping oder busy oder something—but Du should really, really, really, call Ikuto. He's super worried about Du and I feel bad.
"I know you're upset with him…and me for that matter. But if Du just come to the dinner, we'll explain. Please…I don't want any bad blood between us, y'know? You're my sister now. I want us to be close and for Du to meet my family and my little sister and for Du to forgive Ikuto and I. So…just call back, okay?"
Utau closed the phone and gripped it in her hand. She stared out at the river, anger in her eyes but a calm expression on her face. "I feel insulted" was all she sagte before hopping atop the railing. She closed her eyes, took in a breath, and began to sing.
It was a lullaby, one I wasn't exactly familiar with but one I've heard before. She looked so peaceful as she sang the soft song, her head titled back like she was Singen to the heavens. I leaned against the railing and closed my eyes, allowing myself to be completely submerged in her voice. A warm, nostalgic feeling filled me when I did—it spread from my fingers to the very oben, nach oben of my head.
When she finished the song, when she hopped back down, I clapped for her. She gave two silly bows before lowering her gaze at me. "Kukai." She stepped into my embrace then, her arms wrapping around me. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to hug her back oder if I should just let her do as she pleased, but when she took my hands and wrapped them around her waist, I hugged her tight and lifted her off the ground. She squealed, then laughed, then broke down into a mess of tears.
When Rika cried, she didn't want to be comforted. She wanted to cry, wanted to be alone as she did so. It always made me feel like a jerk because I wanted to tell her that it would be okay, that she didn't have to cry anymore because I was there for her. But with Utau it was different. All night she rarely showed her weaker side. This side of her…it was vulnerable and simply wanted to be embraced. So I held her tighter than I think I've ever held anyone.
"I'm sorry…I—I don't know why…" She trailed off, unable to get the rest of her sentence out.
"It's fine," I told her, my finger drawing circles in the base of her spine. She continued to cry and sob and soak my shirt. It was because she cried and got those emotions out that I felt I accomplished some sort of unspoken job.
And it felt pretty damn good.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:19 a.m.
"It's here," she said. I entered the building's parking lot and shut off the car. We sat in the car, in the vacant and dimly-lit lot for what seemed like forever. She sighed, her hair back up in its original twin-tails.
"Hey, I was wondering if—" She silenced me then.
"Thank you." She gave me a quick smile, the blush visible on her cheeks, before stepping out of the car. I followed her, a bit unsure about where we were, but a bit happy that she opened up to me. We walked side Von side in silence. We approached an elevator. We stepped inside and she pressed the sixteenth floor button.
"Where are we?"
Utau leaned against the railing. "My condo."
"Ah." I wondered why she brought me here. As we got off the elevator and walked to her condo, I wondered what she was up to. Knowing that it was nothing like I was suddenly thinking because of the night's events—no dirty thoughts, Kukai—nothing else came to mind. We entered the condo: it was large, with windows all along one wall, a large küche on the right side, her living room right before us. We took off our shoes and she tossed her geldbörse onto the circular couch.
I watched her unzip the back of her dress as she headed up the stairs. I swallowed and stayed put, even if other thoughts sagte I should follow the woman. I began to walk around and admire the photos: Utau getting awards, Utau when she was younger, her and a redheaded woman. She looked exuberant in all those pictures; it was nothing like the frowning woman I was currently hanging out with.
She came back down a few moments later, sporting an off-shoulder hemd, shirt that hung around her slim shoulders and jeans. She narrowed her eyes at me. "Done looking?"
"Ah, yeah. Sorry."
"It's fine." She went into the küche and grabbed two saft bottles. She tossed one to me before grabbing a large bag of chips. "Let's go."
"Where to?" We left her apartment snacking from the chips and sipping juice.
She shrugged. "Anywhere really. Anywhere Du can think of." We had been to the arcade, the ramen shop, out walking in Tokyo.
"How about a midnight movie?"
"But it's not midnight." We got into my car and I began to drive.
"So what? I'm sure they have, like, one Mehr movie showing."
She chuckled. "Alright. A movie it is. But I pick."
"Deal."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:44 a.m.
We sat in the literally empty theater with a large bucket of popcorn between us, a large soda with two straws in the top. The movie we were watching was pretty boring and dull, which surprised me when Utau picked it. It didn't seem like the kind of movie she would watch but then again I didn't know what she liked to do oder not do.
"Hey, Utau."
She sighed. "Hmm?"
"Why'd Du pick this movie?"
She shrugged as she popped two kernels into her mouth. "Because it looked good on the poster." We both snorted. "That was clearly a lie."
"What kind of Filme do Du like?"
"Anything really."
I grinned at her. "Even gory movies?" She nodded as she sipped some soda. "Awesome. That's really awesome."
She looked at me then. "If I asked Du to, would Du watch a chick-flick with me?" Memories of my teenage years filled my head. Because my mother was literally the only girl in the house, she would make me and all my brothers sit with her every Saturday and Sunday to watch chick-flicks. Although none of us wanted to admit it, the Filme she picked out were actually pretty cool.
"Yeah." Utau burst out laughing then, her arms wrapped around her stomach as she died from laughter. My cheeks heated up and I glared at her. "It's not that funny."
"Yeah it is," she sagte as she wiped away some tears. "No guy ever wants to watch chick-flicks."
"Well my mom made my brothers and I watch them with her." I rubbed the back of my head, a bit unsure if I should tell her. I took the risk anyways. "And I actually...liked them." I expected her to laugh again but she just nodded.
"That's sweet." If my face wasn't red before I was sure it was then. I shoved popcorn into my mouth and chewed slowly. "What's your Favorit food, color, and season?"
After I chased down the popcorn with some soda, I rubbed my head and thought about the Fragen she asked. "Ah...ramen, green, and summer because my birthday's in summer. What about you?"
"Ramen, purple, and autumn because my birthday's in autumn. Plus the fashion is really good, too." I chuckled at that and she shoved two kernels into my mouth.
"How old are you, Utau?"
She sipped the soda. "Twenty-two."
"Ah…I'm twenty-one."
She smirked before laughing. "I'm older than you. Which means Du have to listen to everything I say."
"You're only older than me Von one year. And I'm taller than you." After a small staring contest, we went back to watching the stupid movie.
"This movie sucks."
"So why are we still here?"
She shrugged. "Unless Du want to go to a club, this is the only place I know that's open at one-something in the morning."
"Well this movie isn't getting any better."
"Yeah." We stood then and left our empty bucket and soda cup in the theater. "Let's go to the park."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2:11 a.m.
We sat on the grassy hill, the chilly night air blowing against our backs. Utau sat with her arm wrapped under her legs; I sat with my arms crossed over my knees. It was silent between us but I didn't mind. Just sitting Weiter to her was enough.
"Hey...Kukai."
"Yeah?"
She looked at me with a serious expression. "Do Du think I should go to the dinner?"
A quick sigh escaped my lips as I turned my attention to the river just a few feet down. "Well, it's up to you. If Du really, really want to go…go." Her eyes widened a bit before narrowing. She looked away from me. "What?" When I tried to touch her, she jerked away from me. Utau suddenly stood then and began to walk away. I jumped up and followed her. "Utau!"
"You were supposed to say no, idiot!" She turned around and tossed something at me. It hit me in the shoulder. I managed to catch it before it fell onto the ground but it was just a used napkin. I tossed it to the ground before running after her.
"So if Du don't want to go, don't go!" When my hand clasped around her wrist, she snatched it back. She glared at me, a deep frown on her lips. "I don't understand. Du asked for my opinion—"
"But now Du made me want to go!" Utau threw her hands up into the air. "I don't want to ever see Ikuto's face ever again!"
"Okay, okay…so don't go."
She stepped up to me then and glared me down. My eyes widened and I gulped but I stayed still. "Utau—"
Her lips. That all I could think about when she kissed me. Soft and warm and tasted like kirsche lip balm. They weren't anything like my chapped ones. But she didn't care. Her arms wrapped around my neck, my arms around her waist, and we stood there, just…kissing. I didn't understand why she suddenly kissed me nor did I give a damn why. I was just happy she did.
It ended too soon. "Ikuto's a jerk. I want to go to the abendessen because I want to see my family. A few years ago, after a huge argument, I Lost contact with them. And they never tried to call me oder find me, even though I wanted them to.
"But I don't want to go because when Ikuto found out about the argument I had with my mother and father, he ignored me. I told him that it wasn't his business and that we're siblings but…well, he just didn't want to deal with me anymore. So we haven't spoken in years. Later on, I made up with Mom and Dad but Ikuto still hadn't forgiven me. I forgot about him and all of a sudden I'm suddenly the most important thing ever." She sighed heavily. "Amu's the most important to him now. I hate him."
"Shut up." She looked up at me and gasped a bit when I kissed her again. But soon she was Küssen me back—a dance of lips and tongue and want. When her fingers dug through my hair, I almost Lost it. Almost.
She pulled away again, both of us red and breathing heavily. She gave me a soft glare before smiling and touching her lips. "You're a good kisser."
"You…too." We stood there, looking away from each other. When I looked back at her, she looked sad. So I punched her in the head.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?"
I grinned. "Cheer up, idol!"
"Wha…?"
"I sagte cheer up!" I grabbed her hand and pulled her up the hügel to my car. "Get in! We're going to Tokyo!"
"What for?"
I shrugged. "What girls like most—shopping."
Her eyes widened. "You're going to take me shopping?" I nodded and she laughed. "You're unbelievable."
"Yes, yes I am." My stomach rumbled. "And maybe a bite to eat, too."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2:30 a.m.
After we parked in a lot, we headed towards my Favorit burger joint. Utau wanted ramen again but I managed to convince her out of it. "Larry makes the best burgers. He's White and Japanese so he knows a lot about American food." I held the door open for her and she walked inside. The black and white theme of the store really captured the eye. Utau and I walked up to the counter where Larry's wife, Rin, was refilling napkin dispensers. "This place is the only burger joint I know that's open at two-thirty in the morning."
Utau shook her head. "Well there's McDonald's, too." I rolled my eyes before turning my attention to Rin. She grinned at me as she filled the last napkin dispenser.
"Souma-san," she greeted. "Will it be your usual?"
"Yeah. And one for her, too." Rin looked at Utau and smiled at her.
"You're very pretty." Rin giggled. "Just the perfect girlfriend for Souma-san." We both blushed at her statement. Rin cackled before going to the back to tell Larry our orders. Utau rubbed the back of her head before glancing at me.
I swallowed. "Are we…?" She looked away, her eyes widened and a bashful expression on her face. "I mean, Du did KISS me."
"Shut it; I was there." She chuckled at her own words before looking at me, her eyes soft but still very alluring. Was she looking through me, to the person underneath the celebrity Fußball player? "But…"
"Alright, two double cheeseburgers with ketchup and pickles and a side order of black pepper fries." She placed the trays before us. I picked up mine and Utau's and carried it over to my Favorit booth: in the back with an overhead light.
We slid into the two-seat booth. I placed Utau's tray before her and set mine down. "Well, go on and try it!"
She picked up the burger and examined it a few times. "Is it good?" When she looked at me, her eyebrows raised. I had already bitten into the heaven on a bun. "Alright. Here goes." I watched her bite into the burger, watched her chew for a while. When her face lit up—amethyst eyes went wide, a smile formed on her lips—I laughed. "This…this is so good!"
"I told you." We ate our burgers and fries in silence. Utau looked like she never had a burger that tasted that good before. It was kind of funny to see her eyes all wide the way they were. After our first order, we got another.
Three burgers later, we left the restaurant and headed out into the busy Tokyo streets. "Where to?" I asked her. Utau dragged me over to a shoe store, where she instantly began to rummage through the many aisles of heels and flats.
I plopped down on a bench with a sigh. I hoped that I didn't get myself into something I couldn't handle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4:30 a.m.
"I don't understand how Du women can Shop for two hours and not even realize it's been two hours." Utau only chuckled. After grabbing a quick change of clothes from my hotel room, we drove back to Utau's condo. The elevator was suddenly not working—oh the ironic hell—so I was forced to walk up sixteen flights of stairs while carrying all of her bags. Damn, being a gentleman was tiring work.
Utau opened her apartment door. I dropped the bags before her feet and bent over to catch my breath. "Geez. Du women sure can shop." I stood up after a moment and stretched my muscles. She picked up a few bags and headed up the stairs. I took the rest and followed her to her bedroom. It was lavender with dark purple sheets, a closet Von her bed, a nightstand, a desk, and a balcony facing the door. We dropped the bags in front of the closet and she sighed. "You okay?"
"Dandy." She smiled at me as she removed her hair bands once again. Her hair fell around her form once again. She bit her lip as she stepped up to me. "Kukai…tonight was a lot of fun." Her fingers brushed my hair out of my face and lingered on my cheek. "I don't think I've felt this…elated in a while."
Her words, her smile, made me smile. "I'm glad." I stepped back away from her and chuckled awkwardly. "I could kind of use a shower. I've been in these clothes all night."
"You're not the only one."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5:07 a.m.
After a dusche in her bathroom—thank goodness she gave me a bar of soap oder otherwise I'd be forced to use some of her fruity body wash—I found myself in her mint green guest room and underneath the sheets. It smelled like the same laundry detergent my mom used when she did the laundry. It was nostalgic but made going to sleep all the Mehr peaceful.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10:46 a.m.
I tossed and turned on the bett but found myself Mehr awake than asleep. A small groaned escaped my lips as I stretched and sat up in the bed. I didn't even want to think about what my hair looked like. My eyes scanned the room—it was much better looking when there was light. As I rubbed my eyes, the sound of the door opening and footsteps filled the room.
I yawned loudly. "Utau?"
"I'm on the balcony." My legs flipped over the side of the bett and carried me to the balcony, where Utau was leaning over the ledge. All she wore was a man's button-down shirt; it revealed Mehr of her creamy legs. Gosh, what I would do to feel those legs around me. I shook my head before standing Von her side; thinking like that would make another part of me wake up.
Her amethyst eyes scanned my face. Although she didn't smile, her eyes spoke her emotions. "You look well rested."
"Yeah, well…" I stretched and sighed afterwards. "After a night like that, sleeping was all I wanted to do." We both laughed.
"Hey, Kukai?"
"Hmm?"
She stopped leaning on the railing and pressed her hands to my chest. Her cheeks were smooth and pale and her lips were parted. Her eyes, if possible, suddenly became deep with emotions I couldn't pinpoint. The Weiter thing I knew, I had her back pressed to the railing and a hand up her shirt. A soft gasp escaped her lips but she didn't stop me.
"You know," she whispered, "your hands are cold."
My lips ghosted over the skin of her neck. She threw her head back at that. "I'll just have to warm them up." Her hands mimicked my current actions. When her hands trailed up and down my torso, she chuckled. "Your muscles jumped."
I laughed. "Your hands are cold."
"You're one to talk." My hands strayed from her breasts but ran up and down her spine, making her arch into me and press her chest against mine. Even if there weren't clothes off oder Küssen involved, little me still rose to the occasion. "It's pressing against me."
"Sorry, I…"
She removed her hands from underneath my t-shirt and cupped my cheeks. She smirked. "Only a kid would react that way."
"You can't call me a kid," I responded, a small glare in my eyes. Her smirk got bigger.
"A kid never experienced love."
"What makes Du think I haven't?"
She didn't answer at first. "And only a kid would get that horny that fast. Therefore—" I swooped down and stahl, stola a kiss, silencing the girl. My hands wrapped around her waist and hoisted her up. She knew then and wrapped her legs around me.
As I walked back inside, with those sexy legs wrapped around me and pressing against me, our lips and tongue worked together to make the want even stronger. I laid her down on the bett and crawled atop her, my lips and tongue leaving trails of hickeys along the delicate skin.
She pressed her lips to my ear and nibbled. Hot damn. "If we do this…"
"I don't care. You're my girlfriend now."
She chuckled and her hands went to pulling my pants down. "Well don't be afraid to Zeigen how man Du are, kid."
I pulled up from her neck and looked at her flushed face. We both smirked then. "It seems I'm going to have to punish this idol for calling me a kid." Before she knew it, I had her hemd, shirt and panties off in a flash. "I don't go easy."
In that mint room, and all due to one night, we were whole. All together.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:25 p.m.
Utau looked like a child when she was asleep. Although we finished an Stunde ago, I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. My fingers twirled a piece of her golden hair and my eyes watched her sleep. Even if it sounded kind of creepy and stalker-like, it was the truth: she looked like an innocent child that knew nothing about the evil in the world. Her lips were parted with tiny breaths escaping them.
Unconsciously, I kissed her again. She stirred when I pulled away and creaked open an eye. "Kissing people in their sleep gets Du the Titel of pervert."
"Why, thank you." I smirked at her. "And you're as much as a pervert as I am. Ms. I like to be on top." She glared at me then but the blush on her cheeks told the truth.
"S-Shut up." I laughed again as she angrily rolled onto her other side.
"Aww, don't be like that," I cooed. She even stahl, stola away most of the sheets, too. Within seconds, we were in a tug of war. When I suddenly released it, she almost fell out of the bett but I caught her up and lifted her up.
She looked away and blushed because the sheet was no longer covering her body. "Stop staring at me like that. I'm not a burger."
"No, but Du taste a lot better than a burger." She smiled and rolled her eyes. I lay back down and she pressed her head to my chest. Her hands were warmer than earlier.
After a few Minuten of silence and breathing, she looked up at me with worry in her eyes. My fingers brushed her bangs out of her face before cupping her cheek. "What's wrong?"
"I want Du to come to the abendessen with me." My eyebrows rose. When she saw my reaction, she sighed and sat up, her hands holding up the sheet to shield her naked form. "Forget I asked."
"No, I'll come with you."
She looked back at me with hopeful, wide eyes. "Really?" I nodded. "But…"
My lips pressed to her forehead. "You want me to come, so I'll come. I just hope your parents are okay with meeting the boyfriend of a day." We both laughed at that. She kissed me dead on and smiled into it.
"Thank you, Kukai."
"You're welcome." I grinned and pushed her back down onto the bed. When I got atop her, she began to shove me everywhere. "Hey, no fighting! Du know Du want it!"
She laughed. "No, idiot. We have to get ready…and this isn't a part of…getting ready! Ah!"
"Sure it is." My hands traveled all over her sides, ran over her breasts and legs. "I have to make sure you're physically capable of this dinner."
"Sex doesn't check anything!"
"Sure it does! Besides, abendessen isn't until later. So we'll fool around for another Stunde oder two, take a quick powernap, get all pretty, and then we'll head out." She couldn't argue with my logic. She sighed and wrapped her arms around my neck.
She smirked, eyes lowered. "Fine. But be sure to get all your energy out."
I licked my lips. "I will."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6:58 p.m.
"I sagte I was sorry," I sagte for the tenth time. We parked a few blocks away from her parents' home. We both got out of the car and Utau walked ahead of me. Every time I tried to hold her hand, she would snatch it away. I walked in front of her, forcing her to stop. She looked nice: she wore a black dress that had one long sleeve and her other shoulder was exposed. On her feet was a pair of strappy black heels that revealed her black-colored toes. Her hair was in the twin-tails but curled.
She rolled her eyes and shook her hand, her hoop earrings moving as she did so. "You were the one that made the game plan. And Du didn't even stick to it Du horny kid." She moved to walk around me but I wrapped her in a bär hug.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go overboard."
She wriggled in my grasp. "Get off!"
"Not until Du forgive me." She rolled her eyes before giving me a hard shove. I stumbled back but didn't fall.
"Fine, whatever," sagte as we continued walking. "Just…don't do it again."
"Cross my heart."
She held my hand then and I felt less guilty. We walked in silence but I watched the worry Zeigen on her face. We arrived at her old home: it was small but big, with a blume garden in the front and blume boxes in the windows. It was two stories and white with blue borders.
I began walking but Utau remained motionless. "What's wrong?" I asked her.
She shook her head and sighed. "I can't do this."
"Yes, Du can." I gripped both of her hands and gave her my best smile. "You came this far, didn't you? All Du have to do now is go inside."
"But…but Ikuto and his little wife are probably there and I don't want to see him oder her."
That's when I took charge and started pushing the idol towards the front door. "Too bad!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:30 p.m.
Utau and I sat across from her parents: Tsukiyomi Aruto and Souko. Her father had straight blue hair, sapphire eyes, and a grin that could rival the Cheshire Cat. Her mother, on the other hand, looked like an older spitting image of Utau: same amethyst eyes, same long blonde hair, and same smile.
Only…Utau wasn't smiling. She was looking down with a sad expression on her face. Aruto looked at his daughter and smiled softly at her. "Utau." She looked up at him with widened eyes but quickly looked away. "Utau, look at me."
She forced herself to look at him. "Y-Yes?"
"I'm glad Du decided to come." She smiled then, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. "Souko and I thought Du weren't going to come."
"After what Ikuto sagte and all." Her smile disappeared then and was replaced with a look of anger. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"What did Ikuto say exactly?"
Her parents exchanged looks. "Ikuto told us that Du didn't come to his wedding even though he invited you." Both of our eyes widened, even if this wasn't exactly my problem. Either way, Utau told me that she didn't even know Ikuto had a girlfriend so there was no way he invited her to the wedding.
She glared at her parents and shook her head. "That's a lie."
Souko narrowed her eyes next. "Ikuto wouldn't lie to us. He was really hurt, Utau."
"Your son doesn't even speak to me anymore." She tugged at her ponytails. "I didn't even know he had a girlfriend!" Although Souko looked like she was having the harde