Chapter Text
This is a story of girl meets girl.
The girl, Kumiko Oumae, from Uji, Kyoto, grew up believing that she’d never really be happy until the day she met the one. This belief started from early exposure to sad, Classical music, and the total misreading of Light Novels.
The other girl, Reina Kousaka, from Uji, Kyoto, did not share the same belief. Since the disintegration of her parents’ marriage, she only loved two things. The first was her trumpet. The second was, how easy it was to play.
Kumiko meets Reina on January 8th. She knows almost immediately, she is the one she’s always been searching for.
This is a story of girl meets girl. But, you should know up front.
This is not a love story.
(290)
Asuka is speeding on her bike in the dark out of breath, ignoring every red light she passes. The moon is bright and full this night. It’s very late and there are almost no people on the streets, which makes it easier for her to speed through red lights. She finally arrives and locks her bike in front of the house. She enters it, still out of breath.
Hazuki and Sapphire open the door.
‘We didn’t know who else to call,’ said Hazuki.
‘It’s Reina Kousaka all over again,’ said Sapphire.
Asuka sighs, ‘You did the right thing.’ She takes off her jacket, ‘Now, where is she?’
A plate shatters in the distance, everyone turns their heads towards the sound without saying a word.
It’s Kumiko, taking plates out of the drier and smashing them on the counter with a blank expression.
‘Kumiko,’ says Asuka.
Kumiko hold the plate mid-air right before she would swing her arm to smash it.
‘Asuka… what are you doing here?’ she says with a raspy voice.
‘I’m here to help you.’
‘Help me how?’
‘First, put down the plate,’ orders Asuka.
Kumiko looks at the plate for a little but does how she’s told.
Kumiko sits down. Asuka, Hazuki and Sapphire sit down facing here.
‘Drink this,’ Asuka hands her a glass of a clear liquid.
Kumiko takes a big gulp out of the glass.
‘What is it?’ asks Hazuki.
‘Vodka,’ answers Asuka.
Kumiko swallows with a painful expression. ‘Uh, does mom know that you’re here? ‘Cause it’s probably after ten.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Asuka sighs. ‘Just…. Start from the beginning and tell us what happened.’
‘Things were going so well,’ Kumiko sighs. She thinks about the time they were shopping, kissing in bed, when they went to Ikea, some more kissing in bed, going to the record store, playing music together.
‘Then what?’ Asuka asks.
‘I think we should stop seeing each other,’ said Reina.
‘Just like that?’ asked Asuka.
‘Just like that,’ answered Kumiko.
‘Did she say why?’ asked Sapphire.
‘I mean, this thing… What are we doing?’ asked Reina. ‘Is this normal?’
‘Normal? I-I… I don’t know. I don’t care. I’m happy. Aren’t you happy?’ asked Kumiko.
‘You’re happy?’ asked Reina surprised.
‘You’re not?’ Kumiko looked around the oh-so-familiar diner to avoid eye contact. ‘Great, this place will be ruined forever now. They have such good pancakes here, though…’ she thought to herself.
‘All we do is argue,’ said Reina again.
‘That’s bullshit.’
‘Maybe she was just in a bad mood,’ said Asuka.
‘Yeah, yeah! Like a… hormonal thing or something,’ said Hazuki.
‘PMS?’ said Asuka.
‘What do you know about PMS?’ said Kumiko in a grumpy way.
Asuka glared at her. ‘More than you, Kumiko.’
‘Then what happened?’ asked Hazuki.
‘This can’t come as a total surprise to you, Kumiko. I mean, we’ve been like Sid and Nancy for months now,’ Reina took a sip of her drink.
Kumiko swallowed. ‘Reina… Sid stabbed Nancy. Seven times. With a kitchen knife. I-I-I mean… we’ve had some disagreements but, I hardly think I’m Sid Vicious.’
Reina let go of her drink. ‘No… I’m sid.’
‘Oh… so I’m Nancy?’
The waitress brought us our pancakes.
‘Let’s just eat and we’ll talk about it later,’ suggester Reina.
Kumiko looked at her pancakes. At this moment, they looked like the least appetizing thing in the whole world. Reina kept mumbling happily while she ate her pancakes, but all Kumiko could think about was puking or crying, whichever came first.
‘What?’ asked Reina eventually.
Kumiko just got up and walked to the exit.
‘Kumiko, no, wait! You’re still my bestfriend!’
Kumiko felt like someone punched her heart with a bottle of coke.
‘Jesus,’ said Sapphire.
‘You’ve broken up with girls before,’ said Asuka.
‘Yes,’ said Kumiko.
‘And girls have broken up with you before,’ said Asuka again.
‘This is different.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it’s Reina.’
‘So… you’ll meet somebody new,’ said Hazuki. ‘Point is, you’re the best girl I know, you’ll get over her.’
Kumiko lowered her head in her hands.
‘I think it’s uh, exactly like they say! There’s plenty of fish in the sea,’ Sapphire added.
‘No,’ said Kumiko while holding her head.
‘I, um, I think they do say that…,’ said Sapphire confused.
‘Well, they’re lying,’ said Kumiko.
Everyone just sat around in silence for a second, not knowing what to say.
‘I don’t want to get over her… I want to get her back,’ said Kumiko confidently.