@indigo: Thank you for starting the second page!
__________________
Chapter 6 - Special Day Part 2
Finally arriving at the party, Saki placed the cake at the center of the table, after Maimi and Nakky moved the food to make way for the cake. She was about to move away from the table when someone hugged her from behind,
“You’re late!” the girl exclaimed while digging her chin on Saki’s shoulder.
“It hurts, Miyabi! Stop it!” she replied, trying to break free from Miyabi’s hold,
“I’m sorry. I should have come earlier. I just had trouble-” she stopped, not wanting to tell on how she didn’t get to buy the shoes Miyabi wanted. Noticing the grip finally loosened, she sighed as she thought Miyabi forgave her for being late,
She didn’t hear the last word I said…Did she?As she stood straight, Miyabi pulled her hand, making Saki face her,
“Captain! What trouble?” Chinami asked from across the room,
“Are you hurt?” Megumi asked, holding Chisato’s hand. A lot of question came from each person in the room, except Miyabi. She looked at Saki with worried eyes. Saki couldn’t take it,
“I’m okay. It’s nothing serious.” Miyabi shook her,
“Nothing serious? What if you’re badly injured?”Saki could understand Miyabi’s feelings; she’s her girlfriend, she’s much more worried than the others,
“What if something happened to you?”“Miya, nothing happened to me. See? I’m right in front of you. I just lost my way towards here.” Saki whispered as Miyabi hugged her,
“You’re lying…” Miyabi tightened her hold, as Saki wrapped her arms around her waist.
The other members in the room were surprised on what they were seeing,
“Am I missing something?” Chisato asked, looking lost,
“What? What is it?” Chinami asked, bugging her,
“but they are just hugging…” MaiMai answered, while jumping off Erika’s back. Maasa and Yurina, with their outdoor shades, held Miyabi and Saki by the arm, turning them sideways for everyone to see,
“Please don’t move. We’ll just point out something to everyone.” Maasa told them, as she was fixing her shades.
Yurina and Maasa each took a stick from the balloons near them, using them as pointing sticks. Maasa cleared her throat,
“As you can see how Captain and Miyabi are hugging, we can say this is not just a friendly hug.” Yurina nodded in agreement,
“For you guys to know the difference of this hug from a friendly one, we need two volunteers.”Silence responded to the two of them,
“No one wants to volunteer?” Maasa asked as she glared at everyone, but they couldn’t see, since she was wearing shades,
“Well, I think we’ll need to pick the volunteers by ourselves.” Yurina concluded as she looked at Maasa who nods at her.
“If both of you pick the volunteers, they can’t be called volunteers anymore.” Miyabi countered,
“You guys, let themselves choose.” Saki said, supporting Miyabi’s statement, while burying her face on Miyabi’s chest,
“You guys are actually enjoying this… right?” Yurina asked, trying not to stutter, as she saw what Captain did.
“Well then…are there any volunteers?” Maasa asked again, scanning each of the H!P kids,
“Why not the two of you?” Kanna asked, with one of her eyebrows up,
“How can we point out the difference if we were hugging?” Maasa said firmly, trying to point out that it was impossible.
Finally, Airi and Nakky stood and went to the front, beside Maasa.,
“Yosh! Now, can you two please hug.” Nakky tilted her head,
“How?” Maasa looked at her, grinning,
“Just hug. A friendly hug.” Yurina explained, while tapping Maasa’s shoulder with the stick.
Airi and Nakky followed, hugging each other,
“Now, pay attention everyone.” Maasa called, pointing at Nakky and Airi’s hands,
“First, a friendly hug has both hands at the upper part of the body.” The others nodded, as they listened. Yurina pointed at the hand of Captain,
“While in Captain and Miya’s hug, Captain has her hands on Miya’s hips.” A soft
ah could be heard from the audience, then Maasa points at the space between the body of Airi and Nakky,
“Second, in a friendly hug, there is a space between the bodies…”“While at Captain and Miya’s hug, there is none.” Kumai pointed at their bodies, circling the pointer at the place where there should be space,
“Third!” Maasa said with great power,
“In a friendly hug, either their cheeks are touching, or their heads are resting at each others shoulders.” Maasa once again pointed the stick at Airi and Nakky’s cheeks, which were touching,
“While in Captain and Miya’s hug, you can see Captain’s face, buried deep on Miyabi’s chest, while Miyabi’s head rests beside Captain’s head.”“That’s all we need to point out, which gave us a conclusion…” Maasa started,
“the way Captain and Miya are hugging…” Yurina continued,
“means another thing…” Maasa looked at Yurina, as Yurina nodded and both of them looked at the others,
“Captain and Miya are not friends!” both of them said in sync.
“What do you guys mean not friends?” Momo asked with one of her fingers under her chin. Maasa slapped herself on the face while Yurina looked down, disappointed. Can’t stand it anymore, Megumi and Risako stood and both said the same thing,
“They are lovers.” Silence once again took over the room, until Miya and Saki let go of each other.
How come Risako knows? Saki asked herself as she looked at Miyabi,
Why does Megumi know? Looking at Saki the same time.
The after shock finally came, drowning both Miyabi and Saki with questions, teasing and congratulations.
“It looks like they accept the fact that we’re lovers…” Saki whispered as they were being cornered.
After answering all of their questions, they decided to start the party. They celebrated Miyabi’s 17th birthday. They ate while watching the others singing in front, enjoying their time, nothing to think about, just the party, enjoying the time with each other, and the birthday girl.
They then turned to the cake, as they opened the box, MaiMai and Chinami took the cake out, while Momo took the box off the table.,
“Ah! They really did copy the design!” Momo squealed,
“Even the little details we drew!” Chinami added as both of them stared at the cake.
“Now, you two make way. Let the birthday girl see.” Maimi said while pushing Miyabi to the table. Miyabi finally got to see the cake; Momo and Chinami had designed for her. In the middle of the circular cake, Miyabi’s chibi version could be seen. Drawn very well, and she realized it was Chinami’s drawing style. There were also hearts all over the cake,
Momo… she knew Momo would put hearts since she loved it. Miya can’t help but to squeal, as she thanked Momo and Chinami for the wonderful design of the cake. She both gave them a hug, before turning to the others, saying her thanks, as she hugged each of them.
They sang Miyabi her Happy Birthday song, then right after, she blew the 17 candles scattered on the cake. Doing the honor of cutting the cake, Miyabi gave each one a piece and they ate together, happily, talking with each other like old times. When they were still one group, no Berryz Koubou, no C-ute.
After the cake, most of them decided to go, leaving only Miyabi, Saki, Maimi, and Erika. The room went quiet as the others left, leaving Miya and Saki finally got the time to cuddle each other without anyone bugging and teasing them. When they finally got comfortable, Saki looked at Maimi and Erika, which were also cuddling,
“You guys haven’t told anyone yet? Other than us?” Erika nodded,
“Yeah, we still can’t tell the others…Airi’s still recovering.” Maimi explained, after kissing Erika’s hand,
“So, she decided to move on?” Miyabi asked while playing with the end of Saki’s shirt.
“Yeah. At first she can’t be in a room when I’m there, she can’t even sing right when I was there. Maybe that’s the reason why it took long before Bye Bye Bye was released.” Maimi answered, while Erika rest her head on Maimi’s shoulder,
“How about now?” Saki asked, looking at Maimi and Erika, who were starting to get closer.
“Now…” Maimi started, getting distracted by Erika’s lips,
“We’re fine… She’s talking with me again…” She can’t hold it anymore. Maimi leaned in.
As they were enjoying themselves, Miyabi and Saki were just quiet. Taking their time hugging each other, since Miyabi reserved this place until midnight, and it was just nine,
“You still haven’t told me about that trouble earlier…” Miyabi whispered, as she played with Saki’s fingers,
“It was nothing. I just got so many people to handle in the shop, since Cho didn’t come. Nakai-san was so angry.” Saki explained, trying hard not to bring up the shoe,
“What? Cho is five years older than you, and he bailed out at the last day?” Saki nodded, now playing with the younger girls fingers.
“Maybe he had an emergency, that he needs to be excused for the day.” Saki reasoned out, trying to tell Miyabi to let it go. Another silence crept the room, well, not really silence, as Maimi and Erika were still kissing.
Looking at them, Miyabi wanted that too for her birthday, so she wished it, as she then looked at Saki. The older girl was still staring at their hands. She slowly squeezed the younger girls hand. Saki finally met Miyabi’s gaze, as she lets go of her hand, placing her hand under the other girls chin, holding it in place, as she leaned in, giving the other girl her final wish for her birthday.
A knock came from the door and it made both pairs stop their session. Being closer to the door, Maimi opened it, revealing the owner of the place,
“Ah! Sumimasen, but can I speak to Natsuyaki-san?”Miyabi bid goodbye to the three as she followed the owner to his office. Closing the door behind, Maimi looked at Erika,
“Erika, I’ll just go to the bathroom, wanna come?” Erika shook her head,
“I don’t feel like leaving the room. Sorry Maimi.” It was Maimi’s turn to shake her head as she turned to Saki,
“What about you, Saki?”“Yeah, I’ll go.” Saki stood up and walked out the door as Maimi closed it behind. They started to walk at the corridor, talking about their practices and new song release, Berryz Dakishimete Dakishimete and C-ute’s Bye Bye Bye,
“So… how is it with Miyabi? I heard from Megumi that…”“I don’t want to talk about that anymore Maimi. It’s the past, it already happened, and we sorted it.” Saki butted, as she knew what Maimi was going to say,
“I’m sorry…” Maimi apologized for bringing that topic, as they both became quiet.
***In the Office***
“Well, I wanted to greet you happy 17th birthday!” Yamashiko, the owner of the karaoke shop congratulated, as he pulled something from the drawer of his desk and placed it in his pants pocket.
“Thank you, Yama-san.” Miyabi replied, with a big smile,
“So, how did your party go?” Yama-san asked, walking to the front of his desk, sitting down on it,
“It went great! My friends really help me plan this party.” Miyabi explained, sitting down on the chair beside the table, as Yama-san signaled her to.
“So, how is your dad? Is he going to play bowling with us?” Yama-san asked, leaving his place to stand in front of Miyabi. She was about to answer; when the man took out the thing he took from his table drawer, which made her stop. She stared at the sharp thing, wanting to scream, but the intention of the man, made her lose her voice.
***At the Karaoke Room***
“What’s taking her so long?” Saki asked, walking back and forth,
“You keep doing that and you’ll be like Miyabi earlier, as she was waiting for you.” Saki glared at Maimi but the other just gave her a smile, turning her attention to Erika.
Saki walked to the door,
“Where are you going?” Maimi asked curiously,
“I’m going to get her. Who knows what the guy is doing to her now.” Saki answered as she left the room. She walked towards the office, placing both her hands in her jackets pocket. She walked another five steps when a scream came echoing through the halls. Realizing the voice and where it came from, Saki dashed to the slightly opened door, seeing what she didn’t want to see.