School Girls' Stories - Year 2

Chapter 3 – Spring Break – Part 3

“What are you doing?” Yuki looked over Shinwa’s shoulders as he glanced over the magazine. He sat back in the booth and looked up and Yuki’s figure hanging over him.

“You are an hour late,” he told her.

Yuki went over to the other side of the booth and sat across from him, flopping herself down into the booth, her face still smiling. “You know you should never count on me to be on time,” Yuki laughed.

Shinwa gave off a little smirk. “Well, when we get married, remind me to tell you an hour earlier.”

Yuki gave off an extreme flush and looked down at the tabletop of the booth. “Don’t say things like that, you’ll make me blush.”
Shinwa gave off a small smile. “That is kind of the point, sweet cheeks.”

Yuki tried to ignore his growing smile, and her burning cheeks as she reached across the table towards the magazine that Shinwa had been flipping through. “So, what have you been looking at?” She did not need to look far. The very front cover of the magazine was exactly what she had been looking for. On the cover stood Shinwa, a picture taken nearly two months earlier, on the bridge looking up at the sky. Yuki stood by his side, but she was eclipsed in his shadow. Another two girls stood in the background, almost looking as if they were with Shinwa. The cover read, “No-talent ex-singer need not mourn band mates’ deaths.”

“Oh,” Yuki sighed, not sure she wanted to look further inside.

“Oh, it gets worse,” Shinwa said honestly, leaning back in the booth. “Apparently I am spending so much time with girls that I have little time to mourn Kyouteki and Shoushin’s deaths.”

“But this was the night Shoushin died,” Yuki complained. “I mean, how could you have been mourning a death that had yet to happen?”

“Yuki,” Shinwa said softly, “it’s a tabloid. They lie about everything. I mean, look how long Britney Spears was pregnant before she was actually pregnant.”

“Ah… um…” Yuki shifted. “It’s not fair though. Plus, you are an ex-singer, as it clearly states, many times,” Yuki flipped through the pages and read the captions, “Why keep you in the news?”

“Because I’m young, I’m hot, and for someone not so talented, I apparently have a lot of appeal,” Shinwa took the magazine from Yuki and threw it on the empty table beside him. “Let them have it.”

“I’m sorry,” Yuki apologized.

Shinwa shrugged. “Why apologize over something like that?” he asked. “You did not make me a famous singer, and you did not kill my friends, their lifestyles did.”

“I would be very much more bothered by this,” Yuki pointed out. “I can barely stand rumors at school, and you seem to just shrug off these sorts of things.”

“You don’t become famous, and then let every little thing bother you,” Shinwa pointed out. “We can’t all be like Tom Cruise and forsake our audience for our views. I am not a figure for my views; I am a figure for lust for young girls. You pick and choose.”

“Very wise, sensei,” Yuki pointed out. After a few minutes of silence Yuki sighed. “Do you miss it?”

“Every day,” Shinwa admitted.

“Then why didn’t you take Shoushin up on his offer?”

Shinwa took a deep drink of the coffee in front of him. “I did not want to go back to that band,” he admitted. “I think I could do better… on my own.”

Yuki hesitated, looking around for the waitress and wishing she were more prompt and could interrupt this conversation. “You still want to go back to singing?” she asked. A few months ago this idea was good; her heart would have swelled for him. Now it terrified her and her stomach turned in knots. She would lose him if he left and became a singer again. Maybe not right away, but slowly. She did not know how to prepare herself for another loss.

“I do and I don’t,” Shinwa admitted. He looked into Yuki’s grey eyes and read the sorrow in them. “Yuki,” he started quietly, “I won’t lie to you. If my agent came up to me and said, ‘Like, yo, Kiseki, we’ve got a deal for ya’ll’, because to him I am always more than one person, I would not turn it down. I just do not want to be in a group again. I have enough relationship problems without having a family around me 24/7.”

“Oh,” was all Yuki could manage to say. Her throat was suddenly closing in on itself and she felt herself wanting to die.

“Don’t let that bother you sweet cheeks,” Shinwa said with a lavish smile. “It’s not like he’s going to call tomorrow, and it’s not like it may happen at all. And just because I’m famous doesn’t mean…”

Yuki was shaking her head. “Don’t say it,” she told him. “I know you’ll say we’d keep in touch, but do you even talk to any of your old friends from London, or even from this very town before you became famous?”

Shinwa could not speak. He looked down at his coffee and had no idea what to say. The waitress walked up and Yuki took the time to order a juice for herself, nothing more, she had suddenly lost her appetite. She wished she had never asked him about it. Was it better knowing that one day she would lose him, or would it have been better to lose him all at once, instead of a piece at a time?

“You are different Yuki,” Shinwa finally said in answer. “They were all friends. You are more important than a friend.”

Yuki looked up at Shinwa and smiled bravely. She decided it would be better to die a little at a time than to die all at once. She would hold tight to Shinwa until she could not hold on to him any more, and when he left, she would bid him off with a smile.

“Let’s not let this spoil the day,” Shinwa said suddenly, his smile broadening once more. “We were supposed to be enjoying our spring break together, not worrying over something that has not happened.”

“Unh,” Yuki smiled brightly, nodding her agreement. “You are right. Here’s to spring break, and all of the joys it will bring!”