Peach Girl Fan Fiction ❯ The Beating of Sae ❯ Confessions, confusion, and a little fun too... ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10 - Confessions, Confusion… and a Little Fun, Too…

 

“Woah, this is a nice place, Momo,” Miraki said after she had whistled in surprise.

“Yeah, what a big house! It reminds me of home,” Rinshai added, looking appreciatively at the paintings that hung about the walls. She explained to Momo that back in the U.S. they had stayed with their uncle on his farm for a while, and though it was a bit bigger than Momo's house, it was decorated in almost the same fashion: scenic pictures on the walls, comfy furniture, big piano in the living room. The colors were a bit different, but it was still like his house… just no squawking and/or bleating.

When they got upstairs to Momo's room, Miraki immediately jumped on her bed. “Aaahhh… what a soft bed! I knew you would have something this comfortable up here!” After saying this… she fell asleep.

Momo stared at where Miraki was lying and looked back at Rinshai. “Was she tired or something?”

“Nah, she passes out on anything softer than a piece of wood. I swear, she sleeps more than cats and small children.”

Momo giggled and grabbed a chair for the dark haired girl to sit down. She sat down on the floor and opened her drawer where she stashed her pocky and handed a package to the other girl.

Rinshai opened the pack, trying to be quiet but to no avail. As soon as the smallest hole was opened, Miraki was up in a flash. She jumped out of the bed, almost fell flat on her face, and snatched the bag from Rinshai's hand. “Hey you pig! Give me back my pocky!”

“Greeby parsen,” Miraki grumbled while she nibbled on a stick. “Algways ju. Greb greb greb.”

Rinshai lifted an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes at her cousin. “Give… my pocky… back, Mira.”

The redhead swallowed and stuck her tongue out at her cousin. She hopped happily over to Momo's bed and sat at the edge so as to not have crumbs on her sheets in case she dropped any.

Before Rinshai could get up, Momo extended another package to her. “Here, I have plenty.”

Rinshai thanked her and glared at her cousin. “Pig.”

“Whinny bitch.”

Momo started laughing. “You know, you guys are really hilarious!”

Miraki shrugged. “As long as it makes you laugh… whatever.” She paused, part of a pocky sticking out of the corner of her mouth. “You know, speaking of which. Momo, I'm gonna be blunt…”

“Woah no, watch out Momo. She's really blunt when she's blunt.”

The blonde blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

“Never mind that, listen Momo. You said you had to talk to us right? It's because of your dilemma with Toji and Kiley isn't it?”

Momo began to choke on a piece of pocky. She pounded her chest a few times and was finally able to breathe again. “Wh-what?”

“Told ya I was blunt.”

“Come on, Momo. We know that we haven't been here for you all these years,” Rinshai began. “We had to move away but we never forgot our best friend. To us, it's like we never left you.”

Miraki moved down to the floor and leaned up against the bed, nodding. “Yeah, exactly. We feel as if we've always been here for you and I'm sorry if we sometimes come off a bit rough but we only want to see you happy. You seemed so lonely when we first arrived… I mean, from what I could see, you were only happy when you were around Kiley.” She thought a moment, ignoring the pink flush in Momo's cheeks. “Then again, that cute guy Toji wasn't around either so I really can't tell if you like one more than the other…”

“Or if you're stuck in the middle wondering which way is the right way,” Rinshai finished softly.

Momo could do nothing but stare. It was becoming difficult to breathe and her eyes were filling with tears. “You… you guys… saw that… but… how? How can you tell what I'm… feeling?”

Miraki smiled broadly. “Cuz we care!”

Rinshai nodded in agreement and stood up to stretch. She pushed the chair away from her and sat on the floor with the other two. She patted Momo's knee in comfort. “It's okay if you want to cry. We're not going to stop you. We know that crying is sometimes the best thing to do.”

Her cousin nodded vehemently. “Mhmm. Go right on ahead… hell, we'll probably join ya. I get emotional when other people cry.” Her lip trembled slightly and globs of tears welled up in her eyes. “I… I feel… like.. I-“ Whap! “Ack! Hey what'cha do that for? I was getting in the moment you stupid little…!” She grumbled at Rinshai after the dark haired girl put away her paper fan. “And where the hell did you get that thing from!?”

The other girl grinned evilly. “Made it in Science class… I was bored and I figured it would come in handy for you.”

Miraki raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes at her cousin just like she had done before. “I hate you.”

“Nyah.” Rinshai stuck her tongue out at her.

“Ah, come on you guys, no fighting, no fighting. I don't want blood stains on the carpet.”

They both looked at her with a face.

“We won't draw blood… too much…” Rinshai said slowly, a grin beginning to break her serious face.

“Yeah, and if we do, we'll clean it up! Rin here's a great maid.”

“What do you mean a great maid?” the dark haired girl asked, giving her cousin a look.

“Sure you are. Remember back at home, the place was spotless!! And our new place now is clean too.”

“That's cuz I clean up after everything! I'm not a maid! You're messier than a houseful of animals!”

“Am not.”

“Are to.”

“Am not.”

“Are to.”

“Um, you guys?” Momo interrupted. The cousins were now nose-to-nose, glaring at each other and turned as one in her direction.

“Yeees?” they asked at the same time.

“Uh…” The blonde shook her head and smiled sheepishly. “Nothing, nothing. Just wanted you two to stop fighting that's all.”

Rinshai moved away from Miraki and leaned back on the leg of the chair. “We're not fighting. This is the norm for us. This is how we get along.”

“Yeah, living with each other this long has taught us what to do to survive,” Miraki said moving back to her position on the side of the bed. “We actually get along just great.”

Rinshai smiled and nodded.

The redhead waved her hands in the air. “Okay, enough with this crap… let's get down to business.” She leaned forward and began to make points on the floor with her fingers. “First of all, you have a problem that must be solved. Second, we're going to help you… and uh… and third… um… er…”

“Third,” Rinshai put in. “You're going to… hopefully, solve your problem.”

Momo looked from one to the other. “How can I solve the problem of my skin color? That seems to be my biggest problem… or more like, that's the cause of my problems. Everything stems from the color of my skin.”

Miraki lifted an eyebrow. “Eh? Skin color?” She looked down at herself and then back up at Momo. “What do you mean? What's wrong with your skin color? It's just like ours.”

“Hello dummy, it's because of her skin color that she's in this mess, she just said that,” Rinshai told her. She turned to Momo. “Hon, nothing can be done about that. It's something you'll just have to live with. We're so used to having dark skin cuz we lived in California and there's nothing but sun and beach out there. Almost everyone in the U.S. has a tan.”

“Yeah, I know but… it still bothers me. I get looked down upon by everyone because of it and we-“

“Kiley doesn't look down on you,” Miraki interrupted with a grin.

Momo's face flamed and she began to sputter.

“Or Toji from what I can tell,” Rinshai added.

If the blonde's face could've gotten any redder, she'd be a puddle of blood. She lowered her head and covered her face with her hands to try to calm the heat.

The cousins laughed at her attempt to hide her feelings.

“Hey, no need to be shy around us. We know what you're going through…” Miraki placed her hands behind her head and made herself more comfortable. “…Sort of.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Well,” Rinshai started. “Back home, we liked these guys a-“

“They were best friends.”

“Yes exactly, they were best friends. And the thing is they had girlfriends, so it was a bit tough to ignore that whole situation. We kept liking them-from afar-and eventually one of them had a fight with their girlfriend and they broke up. S-“

“So, here was Rinshai's chance to get with him… but of course, being shy, she wouldn't even go up to him.”

“Right, anyway, Miraki went to talk to him for me and it turns out that he had liked her all along. W-“

“I was shocked! I didn't like him… I mean, he was nice and good looking but not my type at all.”

“Can you stop interrupting me?!”

“Fine fine, sorry. Go ahead.”

“Thank you. As I was saying, he liked her and what was really funny was that apparently his best friend had a little interest in me. Fr-“

“From what her guy told me anyway, his friend was going to break up with his girlfriend soon an-“

“Stop it! I'm talking here.”

“Okay, okay.” The redhead put her hands over her mouth.

“So, what happened?” Momo said listening intently. She was really into the story.

“As Mira said, he was supposed to break up with his girlfriend. It was about that time that we found out that we were leaving to come back here and it was also about a month before we left that we found out that two of our close guy friends liked us as well.”

“It really was a mess.”

Rinshai glared at her cousin who had placed her hands back over her mouth and was staring off into space trying to ignore the holes being bored into her head. “Yes, it was a mess. We didn't know what to do about the whole situation. The guy she liked broke up with his girlfriend and started trying to go out with me. Not to mention the fact that our friends were also trying to get us to go out with them too.”

“Like I said, big mess.”

“Grrr…”

“Okay, okay, last interruption, I promise.”

“Finally, I get something I can believe. Okay, now, while our good friends were trying to go out with us, we realized that we had been really blind. We hadn't even noticed that they had liked us. They were always there for us and always so sweet to us and we just didn't see it as anything more than friendship.” She looked to Miraki whose face was turning red because she wanted to speak and was trying to hold it back. She shook her head and motioned for the girl to talk.

“Paah! Phew, thanks. So you see, it was really hard to decide whether we should a) give the guys that we liked a chance… we still had to wonder about them cuz they were trying to get with us right after breaking up with their girlfriends-not to mention the fact that they liked the opposite person that liked them…” She took a deep breath and then continued. “Or b) try for our really good friends… and perhaps ruin a really good friendship but end up with really great guys-cuz they are really great guys-and forget about the guys that we liked… >huff< >huff< or, c) forget about everyone all together cuz we were leaving to Japan and it would have been pointless to start a relationship with anyone anyway.” She fell over, face red from the exertion of talking so fast and wiggled her fingers to tell Rinshai to continue.

Her cousin looked at her a moment, glanced at Momo who was expectantly awaiting her to continue and sighed. “All right. Well, she about summed up the situation before we left.”

“Wait! What happened? Which one did you guys choose?” Momo squeaked. “You can't leave it there! I have to know the ending!”

Rinshai blinked a few times. “O-okay. Um… we decided for option c. We just told everyone no and that we had to leave and the only ones who understood were our friends. The other two kinda gave up and went their own way… the jerks. Our friends stuck by us and helped us get ready to leave and actually they called us the other day and have mailed letters and packages to us. Only one of their things has come so far.”

“What did they send you?”

“Oh, they packaged up some congratulation and good luck cards along with some cd's and some pictures. Remind me to bring them tomorrow so you can see what they look like.”

“Yeah, they're really cute!”

Momo nodded. “Wow. I thought my life was complicated. I had no idea. I'm sorry.” She looked down at her fingers.

“Sorry for what?” Miraki asked, sitting up.

“Well, I kinda dragged you guys into my problems when you have things in your own lives. I feel bad fo-“

“Oh no! Don't you start that again, Momo Adachi,” Rinshai said sternly, waving her finger at her. “Stop saying sorry. It sounds like you're apologizing for breathing and being alive.”

“No, it's not that but… well.” She sighed. “I'll try.” She lifted her head and gave a weak smile and the cousins accepted this as a real answer.

“So, what are you having trouble with?” asked Miraki after a moment of silence.

Momo blushed a bit and scratched the back of her head. “Weelll…”

“Come on, Momo. Get it off your chest. It'll only get worse if you don't try to talk about it.”

The blonde sighed and began her tale. She told them of how she had liked Toji for a long time, how Sae had made “friends” with her and how Toji and her were going out for a while. She also told them, after a bit of prodding, about what happened at the hospital.

“You're serious?! You really beat the crap out of her?!” Miraki asked excitedly.

When Momo nodded sheepishly, Rinshai started laughing.

“That's great!! Oooo, I wish I was there to see her face!!! I mean, I've seen the after effects but it's not the same!” Miraki squealed while giggling. “Oh, that must have been perfect!”

Rinshai nodded in agreement. “I wish someone would have taken a picture of that.”

Momo grimaced. “It wasn't really that funny. I mean, thinking back on it now, I feel so horrible about it. That's why I apologized to her. I could've hurt her seriously.”

“And? It's not like she didn't deserve it. The little witch obviously has a hate club against you at school, can't you see that?” Miraki asked her.

“I can see where Mira's coming from and your point as well Momo, but what happened wasn't really your fault. You obviously didn't realize what you were doing. You had been under a lot of stress lately and I'm sure the whole situation was just the icing on the cake. You're not to blame for your actions.”

“I still feel bad about it.”

“Well, that's expected, of course. I would probabl… nah, I wouldn't have felt bad for beating the snot out of `er,” Miraki said. “I would've laughed all the way down the street.”

“Bloodthirsty today aren't we, Mira?” her cousin said shaking her head.

Miraki laughed.

Momo grabbed another box of pocky, distributed the packages accordingly. She munched on a few sticks thoughtfully as she mulled over what they had said. She would always feel bad about what she had done to Sae. No one deserved what she had gotten. Even if she almost ruined your life? she asked herself. She sighed. “Well, that's one problem that won't be solved that easily.”

“Which one?” they asked her at the same time. Miraki turned to Rinshai and said quickly, “Jinx!”

“Ah, shut up you dork. Let's listen to what Momo has to say.”

“Pftttt.” Miraki rasberried.

“Go ahead, Momo.”

The blonde nodded slightly. “Sae. Ever since I first met her, she's been nothing but trouble. She was always saying what a nice friend she is and how she looks after me but… I see now that she was just using me. She always copied what I did and liked. It's annoying!” Her fists clenched. “I just… I just hate… hate the way that she manipulates the situation in order for everyone to see me as the bad guy.” She explained the time when Sae had “slipped” because Momo had pulled the broom away from her and how Toji had automatically believed the other girl when she said her ankle hurt.

“That little no good…” Rinshai started. “Grrr.. It's people like her that make this world really unfair to live in. I hate that.” She blushed and motioned for Momo to go on. “Sorry, people like her just upset me that's all.”

Momo nodded and continued with her tale. She recalled the time right before she had actually spoken to Kiley and how Sae, after finding out that Momo “liked” him, had immediately started flirting with him. Her eyes sparkled slightly when she told how Kiley told Sae off and how he was always saving her. She then got a bit sad and told them everything with Toji, how she had met him and what she felt for him and how Sae took it all away. How Sae had turned almost everyone in the school against her and after Miraki made a funny face and tickled her for ten minutes straight, she finally spilled about the bathroom incident.

“Hmmm…” Miraki said, thinking about what Momo had just finished telling them. “Hmmm… You know, from what you just said, it's kinda obvious that Kiley likes you. I mean, why would he try to help you out so often? I'm sure he almost died when you almost fell out the window… wait, did he even see that?”

Momo shrugged. “I think so… yeah, I talked to him after that and he told me I was crazy and to never pull a stunt like that again.” She blushed furiously. “And… and then he hugged me.”

Rinshai smiled. “That's so cute!” She fanned her hand in the air and put the other up to her cheek. “Look, Mira, she's blushing!”

Miraki rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you always go for this sentimental stuff.” She laughed. “Ah well.”

The dark haired girl growled. “You kill the mood, you know that.”

The redhead grinned. “Yeah.”

“You suck.”

“Yeah, well so do you!”

“Okay, yeah! Real mature of you… sure!”

“Whatever. I got a pillow here with your name on it!”

“Bring it on!”

Momo watched all this with interest. These two were really the funniest people she had ever seen. She had forgotten how much fun it was to be around them. She hadn't had true friends in a long time and she realized that she missed it terribly. Because of Sae, most of the girls in school wouldn't talk to her, but now that Miraki and Rinshai were here, people were starting to accept her again. They had really changed her life for the better. Her eyes widened as suddenly pillows began flying across her room. One of them smacked her and finally shook her out of it. She smirked and picked up the fallen weapon and heaved it at Miraki.

A tiny blue pillow sailed passed her nose and landed near her trashcan. She scrambled for it and ended up bumping heads with Rinshai who was trying to get it as well. They began to laugh and a large body pillow whacked them both in the side. They turned and saw Miraki with a triumphant smile on her face, one small pillow left in her hand.

Momo looked at Rinshai and at the same time they grabbed the large pillow and hefted it back toward the redhead. She was a bit startled and ended up dropping her own pillow and getting smacked with the large one all at the same time.

This went on for a while and when they were finally tired enough to stop, collapsed onto the floor in giggling heaps.

When Momo could breathe, she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked down at the two cousins, who were now lying sprawled on the floor, and smiled at them gratefully. “Thanks you two. I really appreciate all you've done for me. I don't think I'd be able to get through this without you.”

Rinshai and Miraki grinned.

“That's what we're here for, Momo.”