Soyo heaved a sigh as she stood in front of her locker inside the gymnasium locker rooms of Tsukinomori. It was P.E. day, and even though it was a rich girl’s school, changing rooms were still an open place.
“Soyo-chan.” A familiar classmate walked up to Soyo, who was halfway through pulling over her winter uniform’s top. “Do you have a minute?”
Soyo blinked in confusion. It was rare for this classmate to talk to her during P.E. “What is it?” She quickly removed her blouse and used it to cover her front with both hands.
“You have some red marks on your back, and on your nape.” Her intentions were to whisper it but the few other girls heard it and turned to look at them. “Oh no–“
“Um… What do you mean?” Soyo blinked as she felt cold sweat forming around her back, butterflies inside her stomach. She could also feel a brewing anger towards a certain pink haired band member.
“Here.” Someone else walked up and poked a spot in the middle of her lower back. Soyo almost jumped at the sudden jab. “And a few more others. They’re not all the same size, some are smaller than the others, some are redder. The ones on your nape aren’t too obvious if you keep your hair down. Are there any infestations in your home?”
Soyo closed her eyes as she tried to keep her temper. “There may as well be one, now.” She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ll make sure to have it checked.”
“But aren’t those–” Another girl wanted to chime in but the first girl who had pointed it out, covered this girl’s mouth, then smiled wryly at Soyo who only smiled back at her.
“Thank you.” Soyo mouthed at her classmate and quickly got changed into her P.E. uniform while shoving down pent up anger behind her mind. “It’s all right, everyone, thank you. It’s probably just the cat I’ve started keeping being too playful.”
The girl who had her mouth covered finally escaped. “That’s definitely not a–” Then a hand covered her mouth again.
Everyone just turned around and went back to preparing for their P.E. class while thinking: “So she has a lover…”
~*
The lunch time bell rang as the classroom started buzzling of students going in and out to see their friends. Anon immediately sneezed at the same time her phone buzzed because of a message.
You have 1 message from Soyorin✨
[Anon-chan.]
It was a message Anon received during their lunch break, it was from non-other than her beloved lover, Nagasaki Soyo. Just reading it before opening it already sent chills down her back. It’s the period at the end of her name, it’s definitely that.
Tomori who happened to be behind her saw the message. “Ano-chan… Did you do something…?”
“Wah! Tomorin! Don’t just sneak up like that…” Anon almost caught her phone with both hands as it flew up in the air. “I don’t remember doing anything that could make her angry…” If we’re talking about last night, then there’s plenty I did then that would make her very angry…
Tomori only blinked at Anon who just continued to look at the message. “…Good luck.”
“E- Eh… Tomorin, don’t say something so ominous…” Anon swallowed a huge bump in her throat as she replied.
[Y- Yes… Soyo-sama?]
[With that response, it looks like you already know what you did. That’s good.]
Anon blinked multiple times. It was only text, and yet you could feel the killing intent through the phone screen. “A- As expected of Soyorin… So scary…”
However, it wasn’t just that. Anon realized that she still has no idea what it could have been that had made her angry! Was it teasing her so much, and leaving her on edge? Doing it multiple times until it was two in the morning while knowing fully well we both have school today?
“I made sure to give her a lot of massage and aftercare…” Anon mumbled to herself as she hesitated on a response to Soyo’s message.
“Aftercare…?” Tomori blinked.
“I- It’s nothing, Tomorin~” Anon gave the innocent girl a wry smile and started digging through her memories, and made a mental note to dig for her own grave as well while she’s at it.
Soyo always scolded her for undressing from the doorway, and leaving all the clothes scattered through the living room. She made sure to clean the living room this time, because Soyo had passed out after and she felt bad… She made sure that everything was back to how it was, and thankfully didn’t break any of the expensive living room displays and such. She also even made sure that the clothing was also put into the laundry net ready for washing!
Anon knotted her eyebrows, her index and thumb under her chin as she thought long and hard about the events of last night that could have made her favorite easily annoyed brunette angry.
There was also the issue of them staying up waaay too late, even though Soyo disliked sleeping late. “I mean that one was also her fault for being cute…”
Anon nodded to herself, and solidified her resolve that that one was not her fault.
“Anyone at the receiving end of her ‘then take responsibility’ plus those eyes, and that face… I’m totally not a fault. Totally!” Anon nodded as she closed her hand into a fist pump.
“Anon-chan?” Tomori called out to her, but Anon didn’t respond.
“Still…” Anon opened her eyes and stared at the message waiting for her reply. She grabbed her phone with both hands to quickly type a reply, but her eyes caught the time and realized she won’t have much time to eat. “Oh crap!”
Anon quickly locked her phone and put it in her pocket as she turned to Tomori with both hands clapped together as an apology then dashed out to the cafeteria.
At Tsukinomori, Soyo stared long and hard at the “Read” text on her chat with Anon. She tried her best to dismiss all her budding anger and annoyance at the back of her mind, to be dealt with after school.
~*
“Soyo-chan.” The same friend from earlier waved at Soyo who had already hooked her bass behind her back.
“Yes?” Soyo answered her with a smile.
“I’m really sorry about this morning…” She smiled at her wryly.
“It’s all right. It’s not your fault. If any, thank you for letting me know.” Soyo smiled at her, one scary smile that would end anyone at the receiving end of it. “Good day.”
Her classmate nodded. “Good luck, Soyo-chan’s lover…”
~*
Anon sighed as she tied her hair up in a ponytail. “Why did the a/c have to be down for maintenance today of all days?”
“Stop complaining and just get on with it. Soyo should be here soon.” Taki gently tied her hair up into a neat ponytail and wiped a sweat out of her forehead. “Tomori, you doing okay?”
Tomori nodded at Taki and lifted her bottle of water at her. Taki nodded and turned around, Anon’s eyes caught sight of Taki’s nice, white nape…
Then something hit her.
“Oh crap. Oh damn.” She closed her eyes, finally, as she realized what it was. “Oh, I’m so freaking dead.”
Rana blinked as she downed her bottle of cold green tea. “Anon, dead.”
“Haah?” Taki turned to Anon and raised an eyebrow. “Is this about Soyo? Tomori told me. For all I know it’s probably something stupid.”
“That’s mean! All I did was to give her all my love from the bottom of my heart!” Anon clasped both of her hands to her chest.
Taki narrowed her eyes at her. “Gross. Take that somewhere else.”
“Rikki, if I die today, you can have all of my band goods. Tomorin, please learn the guitar in my stead. Rana-chan, don’t run away so much, okay? It was a good 16 years of life, self.” Anon clasped her hands together as she prayed.
“What the heck of a nonsense are you spouting about?” Taki raised an eyebrow, she spun a drumstick as she sat comfortably behind her drumset. “If what you did made Soyo quit the band, Anon, I swear–“
“It’s definitely nothing like that! Like I said, all I did was–“
Taki just shooed her with her hand. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that already.”
“You don’t even let me finish! But speaking of finished, I think it is definitely the end of me!” Anon panicked as the rehearsal room door opened, and the certain brunette who would put her six feet under ground appeared. “S- Soyorin! H- Hey~”
Soyo walked past Taki with a smile, then turned to Anon with a “smile”. “It’s good to see that you’re very energetic today too, Anon-chan.“
Taki raised an eyebrow, she looked at Soyo, then to Anon. “I have no idea what’s going on, but when you die I’ll take all your Afterglow goods.”
“Anon, good luck.” Rana went to her guitar and started playing some songs.
“Ano-chan… Fighto.” Tomori cheered on Anon as Anon just hung her head in defeat.
“It was a great 16 years of life, self…” Anon murmured to herself as Soyo walked past her and set up her bass for practice.
~*
Soyo sighed as she tried her best to move her hair away from her back, the sweat making her hair stick to her nape.
“Soyo, are you not going to tie your hair?” Unexpectedly it was Rana who asked her.
Soyo shook her head and smiled at her. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it, Rana-chan. I also had P.E. today, so I’ve sweat a lot the whole day.”
“Okay.” Rana only nodded at her and continued practicing.
Soyo then turned to Anon, and “smiled” at her.
“Brrr. Ugh… Why is it so cold? Is this going to be the body temperature of my corpse? I don’t want practice to end…” Anon murmured to herself as she hugged her guitar. “So she had P.E. today, I am officially double-triple dead.”
With that, their rehearsals ended swiftly. Everyone’s performance wasn’t impacted by whatever was going on with Soyo and Anon, which Taki was thankful for.
“Anon.” Taki walked up to Anon who had just finished packing her guitar into its case.
“I know, Rikki. You don’t have to tell me.” Anon nodded at her with a serious expression.
“I’m glad you do. You’ve matured since then.” Taki gave her a haughty but teasing smile.
“You say that like I’m incapable of growth.”
“I wonder.” Taki waved a hand at her and left to grab her stuff. “Tomori, let’s go.”
Rana had long left the rehearsal room, and the only ones left inside were Soyo who was still arranging her stuff, and Anon who was matching her pace.
Anon hesitated to say anything, but it’s probably best if she kept her mouth shut instead of saying something by mistake and worsening the situation… that she created herself.
She watched Soyo stop a little by her, looked at her with a very scary smile, then walked towards the door. Anon quickly followed her, about a step or two behind.
Once they were outside the vicinity of RING, the crossing was conveniently at a green, and there wasn’t even any space for them to stop and talk for a little until they were at the station.
“Soyorin–“
“Don’t say anything.” Soyo cut her off as they rode the train that headed to her house.
Anon nodded and swallowed the large lump in her throat. A lot of thoughts were circling around her head; stupid, smart, and rational ideas fought each other in trying to decipher whether she’s being taken to where her body is going to buried at, never to be found.
Before a winner could even be decided amongst her worst thoughts, she suddenly found herself inside the 45th penthouse that is her lover’s home.
Soyo quickly removed her shoes and went in towards the living room, Anon only absentmindedly following her. Soyo put down her bag and bass on one of the L-shaped couches, and sat at the end of it.
Anon then silently did the same.
Soyo closed her eyes followed by a deep sigh. “…Any last words?”
Anon blinked multiple times. It was at this moment, when she knew that there was absolutely only thing that she had to do. She closed her eyes and quickly sprinted towards the other L-shaped couch that was adjacent to Soyo. She jumped and tucked her feet behind her, both the back of her hands on her forehead, for a complete flying dogeza.
“I’M REALLY SORRY, SOYORIN!”
Soyo placed a hand over her own face as she exhaled. “I want to know the extent of how much you’re repenting so why don’t you tell me exactly what you’re apologizing for?”
“Um…” Anon raised her head a little to look at Soyo, and found those light blue eyes glaring at her. She quickly looked down right away. “There’s… a lot…”
“I’m glad you know. Well?”
“Uh… I’m so very sorry for leaving kiss marks all over your back? You had P.E. today so someone probably saw and told you about it. I mean, they probably think you’re soiled for marriage, but I’ll marry you all the same!”
“Anon-chan, stay quiet for a moment.” Soyo felt an incoming headache, but it surprised her that she knew exactly why she was angry. “I suppose you could be smart when you chose to be.”
“I mean I was student council president at least at one point in my lif–“
“Anon-chan.”
“Sorry.” Anon slowly moved her toes as her legs were starting to numb from her seiza.
“Since you know what you did, why did you do it?”
“Well that’s because of you, Soyorin. I wasn’t intending to do anything since it was a weekday! But all I did was kiss you, and then you got in the mood, so I also got into the mood and–“
“A-n-o-n-chan.”
“Uuuughhhh, uhhh, I got too into it and I didn’t even realize I left them while we were doing it and–“
“I told you not to leave them, didn’t I?” Soyo crossed her legs and as well as her arms.
“Y- You did but I was just acting on instinct, and I wasn’t really thinking that much–“
“I’m surprised you even think at all.”
“That’s mean! I think about you all the time!”
“Anon-chan.” Soyo closed her eyes, her voice firm, but Anon took a peek at her face and noticed the small tinge of pink on those exposed ears.
“Ehehe~”
“Anon-chan!” Soyo then glared at her and Anon immediately resumed her dogeza. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“I really didn’t remember doing them, I swear! I only knew about them when we woke up this morning and I saw it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“W- Well… I knew that it’ll end up like this, and me, inside my grave, so…” Anon laughed dryly.
Soyo let out an extremely long exhale but didn’t say anything.
“If you had told me, then I wouldn’t have had to feel so embarrassed around everyone. I would’ve known about it and avoided the conversation.”
“I am so very sorry about that…” Anon finally lifted her body from her dogeza pose. “I mean, I’m sorry for not telling you, and putting you through that situation. I’ll do better.”
Anon looked at Soyo, gray to light blue.
“But?” Soyo glared at her.
“…I don’t regret putting them, because I did it because I wanted to. They’re my strong feelings for you, and I love you.”
Soyo kept glaring at her, before finally avoiding her gaze. “…That part of you is extremely unfair.”
Anon only raised her body and fixed her posture as she gave her a big grin, her fang showing as a sign of confidence.
“Haaah…” Soyo just sighed as she uncrossed her arms and legs, and settled her hands behind her as she relaxed.
“Soyorin?”
“What?” Soyo answered without looking.
“Am I forgiven?”
“Maybe.” Came the immediate reply.
“E- Ehh…”
“Because, you don’t really regret it, do you?” Soyo turned to look at Anon, who just looked away.
“I- I do feel bad I put you in a situation buuuut…” Anon grabbed the fabric of her uniform that was on her thighs with both hands. “I also feel good that now your classmates know you’re taken.”
“What if I do the same to you? How would you feel?”
“I’ll wear it like an honorable medal?” came the fang smile response.
“This one’s on me for asking the fool.” Soyo placed a hand over her face once again then sighed.
They were then quietly engulfed by a silence until Anon spoke.
“Soyorin?”
“…What?” Deja vu.
“…Could you help me up? My legs are numb…”
Soyo smiled briefly before her expression turned into a scowl. “Serves you right.”
“You laughed!!! You just laughed didn’t you!? Soyorin!!!!” Anon pointed at her rudely as she struggled to remove her legs from her seiza. “Soyoriiin, help meeee!”
“Help yourself.” Soyo smiled a little before scowling and turning away from her.
“Wah!” Anon screamed, followed by a thud.
“Anon-chan!” Soyo quickly turned to her and found the pink haired girl sprawled on all floors on the carpet. “What are you doing!?”
“Err… stretching my legs?” Anon smiled at her wryly as she used the couch as leverage and helped herself up. “Ahh~ Finally, freedom.”
Soyo sighed again.
“Heyhey, Soyorin.” Anon called to her with a joyful tone.
“What is it this time?” Soyo turned to Anon who was smiling at her warmly.
“Welcome home.”
Soyo looked at her in surprise, then smiled.
“I’m home.”
(Mischievous Pink Cat/END)
Omake
“All’s well that ends well” as Shakespeare said. In the end, Soyo forgave her, cooked her dinner, and let her use the bath. The usual stuff they do.
Until…
“I think I’ll have to impose on you a ‘You cannot touch me for a week’ restriction. So you’ll learn.” Soyo suddenly declared in the middle of the movie they were watching.
“Pardon?” Anon asked in English, an effect of her bafflement.
“You heard me. So you’ll sleep on the couch tonight.”
“S- Soyorin~~~~ I’ll die if I’m not allowed to touch you!”
“Why don’t you then?”
“You’re still angry!!”
“I never said I’ve already forgiven you.”
“Soyoriiiiiiiiin!”
“Anon-chan, you stupid idiot.”
“I’m the stupid idiot that loves you!”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Soyoriiiiin!!!!!!”
(END)
