Is this?
Rika rested her head on Yuki’s. They sat, staring as the moonlit Sakura petals.
Yuki leaned to whisper into Rika’s ear.
“I love you.”
Suddenly Rika’s hand dropped, Yuki feel over sideways as she slipped off her shoulder. Rika stood up and walked off into the night. No matter how many times and how loud Yuki asked her to come back she never did, she never even said a word.
“I’m sorryyyy!”
Yuki sat up straight in bed, her hand reaching out into the air.
She was drenched in sweat and her sheets had been pulled from the corners of the bed.
/I’m alone./
She reached over to the side table and picked up her phone. Without thinking she started a LINE call to Rika.
The phone rang a few times, but no one answered.
/She hates me./
Yuki began crying. She sat alone in her dark apartment, with tears streaming down her face. There was no sound from anywhere, only her muffled sobs, and the beat of her heart.
Rika had fallen asleep with our pulling a blanket over herself.
She suddenly woke up, she was completely dehydrated and had a chill, despite the season.
The room was only lit by the moon.
/What time is it? I feel awful./
She picked up her phone today see a missed call.
“Oh no.”
It had been logged from an hour before.
“Oh ****”
She slid the notification icon and began the call back.
After a ring she heard the call was picked up.
“Yuki, is everything alright?”
/Of course it’s not./
She heard Yuki crying on her end.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you hate me.”
“What are you talking abou-“
The call ended.
Yuki presses the icon to end the call, completely dejected.
/She hates me./
Rika dropped her phone as soon as Yuki hung up.
/Something’s wrong./
She picked her phone back up, ran to the door, put on a pair of sandals and ran out into the night.
“Oh ****”
/A police box./
There was one at the end of the street, she sprinted.
The two officers were eating late-night cups of Ramen, when a woman dressed for sleeping appeared in the door, completely out of breath.
They stared in complete surprise. The younger officer began speaking.
“It’s a little late for ladies to be walking alo-“
“Shut up you idiot!”
The older officer jumped up knocking his Ramen over.
“Please come in what’s wrong. He looked up an down the street, but no one was there.”
Rika caught her breath.
“God ****, **** my friend, there’s no **** time.”
“I don’t know what she’s—“
“I said shut up!”
Rika noticed she wasn’t using full Japanese.
“There’s a young woman in trouble.”
The car’s wheels spun as they sped away from the curb.
Rika explained the situation, and told them where Yuki lived.
The car skidded to a stop as they approached the apartment complex.
The officers ran in front of Rika to Yuki’s door.
“No sign of forced entry.”
The younger one approached the door and made a fist about to knock and announce the police’s presence.
The older officer grabbed him by the shoulder.
“I think it’s best you don’t wake the whole neighborhood.”
“But-“
“Think of the situation. She should hear a familiar voice first, right?”
The younger officer nodded, and the older patted him on the shoulder.
“Good lad. Miss, if you would?”
Rika knocked softly on the door. Her voice cracked as she called out Yuki’s name. They waited a moment and the door slowly opened.
With tear stained cheeks Yuki appeared.
Rika reached out and held her hands to Yuki’s cheeks, leaning in close and their lips met.
Yuki soon after did the same.
Rika pulled back a little, close enough to where their forehead’s were touching.
“You’re ok.”
“You’re here. But.”
“You’re ok.”
They stayed, quietly embraced. The younger officer was about to speak up, confirming that she was ok.
The older officer put his hand on his shoulder again.
“Let’s give them a moment, yeah?”
The younger officer nodded and they both walked to the end of the hall.
Rika and Yuki still stood in her door way.
“I’m sorry I didn’t pick up when you called.”
“I thought maybe, you didn’t want to hear from me.”
Rika thought about her answer on the phone before speaking.
“Of course I do.”
Tears welled in Yuki’s eyes.
“You might not like what I say.”
The tears began running over Rika’s hands. She thought for a moment, she wanted to say everything as she should.
“I love, you.”
Rika felt Yuki’s hands tremble as she cried.
“Please, don’t go.”
“We can stay right here.”
They stood quietly for what easily could’ve been forever.
Rika felt Yuki’s teeth chattering, and she began to shiver. She saw the her shirt was damp.
“Yuki, are you cold?”
She felt her nod her head slowly.
“Would you like to go inside and take a bath? I can stay as long as you like.”
She nodded her head slowly once again.
“But first, I was really worried, so I brought the police with me, can you talk to them first?”
She nodded her head slowly again.
They both bowed as the officers left the building.
Rika hugged Yuki, stroking her hair to comfort her.
“I’ll make some tea. Go ahead and take a bath, I’ll put out some fresh clothes. You’ll be ok?”
Yuki nodded slowly and regretfully left her embrace to run the bath water and get out of her sweat stained T-shirt.
Rika filled and turned on the electric kettle. She then stared at the small clock above the counter.
4:30
/How did I get here?/
The entire past half hour had been a blur, she ran entirely on instinct. All of her actions up to seeing Yuki had been the default, even though no similar event had ever happened in her life.
She thought about Yuki’s tears and the sweat stains on her shirt.
Tears began forming in her own eyes. Yuki had been in pain, afraid of losing her.
/If I had just said I loved her./
She braved herself against the counter, sank to the floor and began sobbing uncontrollably.
“What the **** is wrong with me...”
The kettle began screaming before the automatic shutoff triggered.
As a result, Yuki didn’t hear Rika’s cry of frustration and anger.
