Breakup
“Good morniiiiiing!”
Kiko’s eyes popped up above the edge of her monitor.
“Happy birthday!”
As Yuki approached their desks she saw a table in the center with a chocolate cake on top of it.
“Kiko! Thank you.”
Kiko waved her hand.
“It was the least I could do.”
“How did you know?”
Kiko coyly spun around in her chair.
“I may have sneaked a peak at your employee physical evaluation file.”
Yuki blushed, realizing her weight was listed on the form.
“Kiko, you know you’re not supposed to do that.”
“You left it on your desk, almost certainly doing the same thing.”
Yuki scoffed indignantly.
Rika then blushed, rubbing her neck and looking at a far wall across the office.
“No, I was just submitting them to HR.”
Kiko crossed her arms.
“Right.”
Yuki was still blushing, and now sitting at her desk, arms crossed.
Rika saw Yuki’s obviously display.
“That’s private information.”
“I’m sorry, I just wanted to know your birthday.”
Yuki lowered her voice, still embarrassed.
“It’s not my birthday that I’m upset about.”
Rika suddenly realized her meaning. And began waving her hands in an attempt to clear the air.
“I- I didn’t look at any other information, I promise!”
Yuki eyed her suspiciously, ultimately accepting her response, considering Rika’s own close guarding of her own weight.
“Alright, as long as it was just my birthday.”
Rika was rapidly charting her path through the potentially dangerous territory she was in.
“Considering you lead a healthy lifestyle and have such a nice figure, I’m sure you had a perfect evaluation.”
Yuki now blushed at Rika’s complimenting her figure.
Kiko silently nodded in approval, impressed by Rika’s excellent navigation of the conversation. Specifically with her use of a romantic compliment.
Rika relaxed her shoulders and sighed in quiet relief, in the process blushing as well. She hadn’t entirely intended to make her statement romantic, but it had.
Yuki overcame her embarrassment and responded quietly.
“Thank you.”
Kiko clapped her hands.
“This is so wonderfully romantic, and I hate to interrupt it, but do either of you want any cake?”
“I don’t know... all this talk of figures, and we had cake yesterday.”
Kiko pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, a glint from the office lights reflecting off the lenses.
“That’s precisely why I bought a small one.”
Both Yuki and Rika stared at Kiko, dazzled by her overly dramatic display. It seemed directly out of an anime.
Kiko coughed a little to return to her normal character.
“Seriously though.”
The three sat at their desks eating cake and answering emails.
Kiko spun around so she was facing Rika.
“Have you heard from Mary since the concert?”
Rika froze just as she was about to take a bit, the bit of cake fell off the fork as she stared as Kiko.
“W- why would you say that?”
“She was totally going to ask you out. Till she found out you and Yuki are together.”
“N- no way.”
“No, Kiko is totally right.”
Kiko nodded as she finished the last bite of her cake.
“Thank you.”
“I was completely expecting she would message you at some point too. Like, today.”
Rika had thought Yuki was only joking when she said those things the night before.
“I really don’t think she’d be thinking about me in that way, especially after all these years.”
Kiko and Yuki both stared at her, complete frankness on their faces.
“She definitely does.”
“Why though?”
Kiko stared out the window and rested her chin on her hand.
“First love, even after all this time and despite the breakup she never lost her love for you...”
“It was mutual though.”
“Was it?”
Rika thought back to that day on the rooftop of their high school. The sun had begun to hang low in the sky, their hair and uniforms flowed in the breeze. It was a beautiful setting for a tragic parting.
Mary held up a folded piece of paper.
“I got your letter.”
Rika stood her hands clasped behind her back, staring at her shoes. Thinking of what she would say.
“I didn’t want people to talk or anything.”
Mary rubbed her neck and laughed nervously.
“I don’t suppose you called me here to confess again?”
Her joke fell flat, Rika was looking out across the city. The very same view she had when confessing her love to Mary, and the many talks and lunches they shared there.
“No...”
Mary’s arms fell to her side, she looked down at the ground, her bangs hid her eyes.
Rika took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
“I think we should break up.”
An enormous weight was lifted off of her chest as the words became real.
“...”
She slowly opened her eyes, to see Mary’s voiceless reaction.
For a moment Mary simply stood. She had known why they were there, days before even, it all felt like it would end. However, actually hearing it made her feel like her heart had been shattered, she could only look at the shards that lay at her feet.
She wanted to cry, but she didn’t want to cause trouble for Rika, she only had to accept.
Mary suddenly looked up at Rika, a large smile on her face.
“Okay, I understand.”
Rika was slightly confused by her reaction, but also relieved. She had no intention of making Mary upset, it just felt like the right thing to do.
“Sorry.”
Mary bounced on her tows and bent forward cheerfully.
“You don’t need to apologize.”
Rika smiled in response to Mary’s acceptance of their break up, and her unfailing positive attitude. Something she had always admired about her.
“Thanks. I hope we can still be friends.”
“Of course!”
Rika pointed towards the door behind Mary.
“I’m going to head home now, we can walk together to the station if you’d like.”
“I’m actually going to sit up here for a little while longer, next time though.”
“Alright, see you later.”
Mary simply nodded, still wearing her friendly smile.
As Rika passed by her she secretly wished she would stop, take her hand, and say it was a mistake. But, she only heard the door close behind her.
Mary stood on the roof crying quietly into her arm. It hurt, but wasn’t unexpected, which made it hurt more.
She sat on the ground and hugged her legs, tears rolling along her face.
That was the last moment she and Rika had ever shared with one another, it had been the waning months of their 3rd year of high school. Next they both knew, they lost track of on another, or rather, didn’t try to keep it.
It was a shock all these years later when she heard Mary’s name mentioned, she was a new client of hers. She was reintroduced to her and they exchanged LINE information, Mary sent her tickets for a performance and that all led to that current moment.
Rika looked up from her slice of cake.
“I guess it wasn’t.”
“Mhm.
Kiko crossed her arms.
Rika then looked at Yuki, to see her reaction.
“Maybe you should talk to her.”
“You think so?”
Yuki nodded encouragingly.
“You might get a chance to heal a broken heart.”
