CHAPTER 11

“P-Pass me y-your card key, Yuki..” Mayu’s voice was shaking as she had lost almost all her strength in her body from carrying Yuki the whole time. But luckily they were already standing in front of the hotel room.

Yuki took out her card key and passed it to Mayu. Mayu then swiped the card key and entered the hotel room. She then tottered her way towards the bed and landed Yuki on the bed. Soon after that, Mayu laid down on the bed and gasped a little. “Finally..”

“I told you to place me down countless of times, Mayu.. I feel so bad now.” Yuki said in a guilty tone.

“Don’t be.” Mayu flipped her body over and smiled at Yuki. She then sat back up and looked at Yuki’s ankle with concern. “I’m more worried about you. Does your ankle still hurt?”

“Just a little..” Yuki answered with a soft tone.

“Let me help you massage your ankle to loosen the muscle a little.” Mayu helped Yuki remove her shoe like a princess and that made Yuki smile a little.

“You did this a lot to other girls, haven’t you?” Yuki asked Mayu full of doubt.

“Of course not. Only to you.” Mayu shot a childish smile at Yuki that made her heart melt. “Brace yourself.. It’s going to hurt a little at first.”

“Ok..” Yuki bit the bottom of her lips to brace herself for the incoming pain.

As soon as Mayu pressed Yuki’s ankle, she groaned a little. “Ouch. Slow down there, Mayu...”

“Ok. I’ll soften a little. Tell me again if you’re hurt, ok?” Mayu said in a soft and warm tone as she continued massaging Yuki’s ankle.

Just looking at Mayu like this made Yuki’s heart jump a beat. Yes, it was true that Yuki sprained her ankle because of Mayu, but she repented by carrying Yuki all the way back to her hotel room despite knowing she was not strong enough to do something like that. Yuki was definitely taller bigger in size compared to Mayu, so there was actually no way in hell that Mayu could have been able to carry yuki all the way back here without losing her strength. Somehow looking at Mayu massaging her ankle, Yuki had a tingling yet sweet feeling in her heart. To tell the truth, Yuki had never felt this way even with Jurina. This must be what they call ‘love’.

Yuki was just looking at Mayu blankly. She doesn’t even feel anything from her ankle anymore. The world around her became silent. The only visible thing to Yuki right now was Mayu. Her heart kept on skipping a beat that she thought she was going to have a heart attack. At that time, Mayu looked up at her blank face. There it is, Mayu’s beautiful looking eyes. “Yuki?”

Yuki’s mind went blank all of a sudden. She didn’t know why she did that. Without thinking, Yuki grabbed onto Mayu’s face and pulled her in for a sudden kiss. As Mayu never anticipated the kiss, her eyes were still wide open from the kiss. As Yuki pulled Mayu away from the kiss, she realized that she was a little too hasty in her action and cursed herself for that. She didn’t know what had gotten into her that made her do that. She then apologized to Mayu while looking away from her, embarrassed to make an eye contact with her for another time. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“I-It’s ok. You don’t have to apologize.” Mayu didn’t think what Yuki did was a bad thing, so there’s actually no need for her to apologize. 

“Sorry, maybe you should leave.” Yuki tottered herself over to the door and opened it.

“Yuki, but your ankle..” Mayu didn’t want to leave yet, but Yuki was insisting her.

“It’s much better now. Thank you. And I’m a little tired, so yea.. You have to go.”

As Mayu stood by the entrance, she looked at Yuki for one last time. “Are you sure?”

“Yea.. I’m sorry..” Yuki said, leaning on the door. Her face was carved with an apologetic expression.

“No, it’s ok.. So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yea.. Tomorrow 9am at the lobby..” Yuki nodded.

“Good night, Yuki.” Mayu shot a dry smile at Yuki.

“Good night, Mayu.” Yuki then closed the door softly and left Mayu standing alone out in the corridor. 

“She kissed my lips...” Mayu covered her face and it turned bright red all of a sudden. All the feelings were delayed. She’s feeling everything right now.

Soon after, Mayu went back to her room and Rena was already back in her own room. “What in the world happened to you? Your face looks like a baboon’s .”

Without saying a word, Mayu walked over towards Rena and grabbed onto her shoulders. “Rena... Yuki kissed me...in my lips...”

“Oh wow, Mayu. Not bad...” Rena nodded her head at Mayu and Yuki’s relationship progressing nicely.

“That’s called progress, Rena!! P.R.O.G.R.E.S.S.” Mayu kept bragging on and on and on.

“Yes, I get it. I feel happy for you too, Mayu. Calm down. It’s already late. We don’t want any complains, alright?” Rena tried to calm Mayu down.

“So, my story is progressing nicely. What about your story?”

“What about it?” Rena shrugged.

“Your story. You and Jurina? When are you both going to progress?” Mayu asked out of the blue.

“There’s nothing between us, Mayu..”

“I know there’s nothing between you both. But I also know that you WISHED there was something between you both, am I right?”

“Stop putting words into my mouth, Mayu. I never said anything like that.”

“I’ve known you almost my whole life, Rena. Those thoughts in that mind of yours are all pretty much transparent to me. I can tell that you have feelings for Jurina. You tend to act a little different when you face her.” Mayu said in a confident tone.

“Just like how you change your attitude completely when you face Yuki?” Rena answered in a sarcastic tone.

“Shut up, Rena. This is not about me. We’re talking about you now.”

“Go to sleep, Mayu. Our flight is early morning tomorrow.” Rena avoided the topic and covered her head with the comforter.

“Tch- Avoiding this again..” Mayu rolled her eyes and tossed a pillow on Rena. 

“Did you just toss a pillow at me?” Rena pulled herself out of the comforter and glared at Mayu.

“No , Sherlock.” Mayu tossed another pillow at Rena again but only this time, Rena caught it.

“Ohohoho... It’s on...” Rena tossed the pillow at Mayu and hence another episode of MayuRena’s pillow fight till late at night.


Next morning

Mayu was unusually early today as she was the first to wait at the lobby couch, complaining about how irresponsible the others were for not being punctual when she was just simply too early. I guess she couldn’t sleep well after what happened last night. Especially the random kiss from Yuki. At that time, two person entered the hotel entrance that made her feel really surprised. It was Atsuko and Minami, and they were holding hands. As soon as Mayu saw Atsuko and Minami holding hands, she stood up immediately. “Oh, hell no.” 

Without questioning the scene, Mayu immediately pulled Atsuko over to her side and warned Minami. “You are one huge stalker, Minami. I thought you were a better person than this. But so far, you’ve been nothing but an embarrassment. Stop bugging Atsuko again and go back to your princess Itano Tomomi. You’re not worth for Atsuko.”

“Mayu, calm down. It’s not what you think.” Atsuko tried to calm down the worked up Mayu.

“Don’t worry, Atsuko. You don’t have to be afraid of this jackass. I know what I think.” Mayu shook Atsuko off.

“Please listen to me, Mayu. We’re back together now.” Minami tried to convince this time.

“Oh you both are back together?” And of course Mayu did not believe Minami one slight bit. “Stay behind me, Atsuko. Let me get rid of this delusional clown for you.” Mayu hissed.

“Mayu, please stop. I’m not lying.” Minami tried to convince once again but to no avail.

“You better get the hell out of here before I punch a hole through your face, Minami. I’m not going to allow you to hurt Atsuko another time.” Mayu grabbed Minami up by her collar, shocking Atsuko.

“No Mayu, stop! Minami is telling the truth.” Atsuko pulled Mayu away from Minami. “It was all a misunderstanding actually. The one Minami loves is me..”

“...” Mayu blinked her eyes at Atsuko. “For real?”

“Yes, Mayu. Minami is teling the truth. We really are back together. It was all a misunderstanding.” Atsuko convinced Mayu this time.

“Huh? But I don’t understand.” Mayu seemed really confused with their relationship right now and how were they able to make up with each other within one day. And of course Atsuko enlightened Mayu of this case and she finally understood everything.

“Oh... So it’s like this...” Mayu nodded her head, signifying that she understood the case now. “But still you made Atsuko cry and I didn’t like it one bit.”

“So.... What do you want me to do about it?” Minami asked.

“There’s still a little time, so there is one thing you can do to calm me down.” Mayu nodded excitedly all of a sudden.

20minutes later..

“OH MY GOD THANK YOU, MINAMI!!!!” Mayu was squishing on a Sebastian soft toy while smiling brightly at Minami.

“You’re welcome.” Minami replied and Atsuko giggled at Mayu’s childishness.

Apparently, Minami had bought the Sebastian soft toy that Mayu saw yesterday for her. Mayu treated the Sebastian soft toy as if it was a real person and started talking to it. By the time they went back to the hotel lobby, Rena, Jurina and Yuki was already there.

“OMG Rena, look what I got! Minami bought a Sebastian for me!” Mayu placed the soft toy near to Rena’s face. So near that Rena’s breath could reach the toy.

Unimpressed, Rena raised an eyebrow at Mayu. “Who’s Sebastian again?”

“Sebastian from Black Butler!!” Mayu said in a loud and excited tone.

“Oh yay.. Great..” Rena replied with a bland and unconcerned tone.

“Tch.. You will never appreciate good stuff when you see one.” Mayu mocked.

“Trust me, Mayu. I know good stuff when I see one, and I’m pretty sure this Sebastian you’re holding isn’t one.”

Ignoring Rena, Mayu walked over to Yuki and greeted her. “Good morning, Yuki..”

Still being a little embarrassed from her action yesterday, she nodded slightly and looked away. “Morning, Mayu..”

Mayu felt a little dry from Yuki’s reaction. Yuki was still too embarrassed to face Mayu.

“You have yet to greet me, Mayu.” Jurina stood there with her arms crossed.

“Oh, right. Good morning, Jurina.”

Jurina nodded. “Good morning, Mayu.”

“Somebody want to explain what’s going on here?” Rena pointed at Minami and Atsuko. And once again, Atsuko have to tell the whole story to them.

“What a complicated story..” Rena scratched her head.

Atsuko added another statement this time. “Oh, one more thing.. I’m not following you guys back.. I’ll be here a little longer with Minami..”

“Alright. Since you’ve decided, then I guess we’re all set to go home.” Jurina said. 

Mayu and Rena hugged Atsuko for one last time. “Good bye, Atsuko.. We’ll miss you..”

“Thank you both. It’s been really fun to have you both as friends.. I guess I’ll drop by AKB Hotel some time in the future.” Atsuko returned the hug and smiled.

As they were separated, Mayu and Rena walked over to Minami. “And you, Minami. Don’t do weird stuff again, alright?”

“Roger that.” Minami smiled and received two warm hugs from Rena and Mayu as well. 

“So I guess it’s goodbye.. See you back in Japan!” Mayu screamed and waved as she ran towards Jurina’s rented car that’s already waiting for them at the entrance.

“See you! Bye!” Atsuko and Minami smiled and waved back at them.

Four of them entered the car and made their way to the airport. Yuki was unusually silent. She did not speak nor did she disturb Jurina at all. She mere sat there with a dazed expression.

“Ha....” Mayu breathe the air of Hawaii for one last time before entering the plane. “Finally we’re going back home..”

And off they go. Back to Japan. Rena must be really tired because as soon as she sat down, she dozed off almost immediately. Yuki as well. Not sure if she was tired or she purposely fall asleep to avoid talking to Mayu. The plane was silent almost the whole journey. Mayu was playing with her Sebastian soft toy like a little girl and Jurina was reading some magazines. Mayu then shot a few glances at Jurina and decided to walk over to her and sat down opposite her.

“Psst.. Hey Jurina..” Mayu spoke out softly at Jurina.

“What?” Jurina closed her magazine and looked up at Mayu.

“I have something to show you.”

“If you’re going to show that soft toy to me, sorry I’m not interested.”

“No, not Sebastian.. It’s actually a video of you.”

“Excuse me? A video of me?” Jurina raised both her eyebrows at Mayu’s straight forward, yet random statement.

“Right here.” Mayu took out her phone. “Wanna see it? I took this video while on the way to Hawaii.”

“Alright. You’ve piqued my interest.” Even the CEO can be as curious as a little girl at times.

“Here you go.” Mayu opened her Videos folder and clicked play at the latest saved video before handing over to Jurina. The video showed the scene during their flight from Japan to Hawaii. Jurina’s head was laid on Rena’s shoulder, not that Jurina could remember herself doing that. Then it showed Rena stealing a couple of glances on Jurina’s face. 10 times, if not, 20. Rena then tilted her head a little to take a look at Jurina’s face. 

Then, Jurina saw Rena carefully swiping her bangs away so she could get a clearer vision of Jurina. Rena then poked Jurina’s face softly while smiling sweetly and cutely. That was when Rena looked over to the handphone. Rena blinked her eyes cutely a few times to register what was going on at that time. Mayu’s voice was heard then. “Tsk tsk tsk tsk...... Caught you red handed, you little liar..”

Rena remained like a statue and moved without voicing out, forming a sentence. “I’ll kill you if you don’t delete that, Mayu!”

And that was where the video footage ended. After watching it, Jurina let out a smile while mumbling to herself. “Silly girl..”

Mayu took her phone back. “So yeah.. Now that you’ve watched it, you should be able to tell that Rena likes you a lot.”

“That’s not possible.” Jurina shook her head, not believing in Mayu’s statement.

“You have eyes to see for yourself. You know what you saw in the video. Rena really likes you and she really hopes that you would notice her as a girl as well. Of course she wouldn’t admit it to anybody.”

“So what do you want me to do about it?” Jurina crossed her arms.

Mayu cleared . “You could ask her out on a date.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jurina obviously heard what Mayu said, but she wanted Mayu to repeat her sentence just in case she heard it wrongly.

“A date. I’m not forcing you, but I really hope that you would ask Rena out on a date.” Mayu said firmly. Mayu may seem really mean to Rena most of the time, but she actually cares a lot about her. “Think about it.. It’ll be fun..”

“Hmm...” Jurina was actually contemplating about it.

“Why not give Rena a chance? It doesn’t hurt trying to go on a date, right? She’s a nice girl. Who knows? You might have feelings for Rena sooner or later. I don’t want her to live the rest of her life alone.” Mayu convinced.

Remembering Rena’s effort in cheering Jurina up when she was down, Jurina gave it a thought. Maybe trying out a date doesn’t seem that bad, right? Mayu may be right about this matter though. “I’ll think about it.”

“Cool..” Mayu then looked over to Rena to find out that she was still sleeping. “Damn, I hope Rena didn’t hear anything I said about her just now or she would use this as a blackmail.”

The 7 hour flight finally came to an end and they’re finally back in their homeland. Mayu screamed as soon as she came out of the plane. “I’M BACK, JAPAN!!!! DID YOU MISS ME!? WOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!” 

“Did you expect ‘Japan’ to answer you back? Seriously, Mayu. Stop screaming everytime you come out of a plane. Jeez..” Rena rolled her eyes.

“Tch-” Mayu sneered at Rena and she started talking to Sebastian. “Let’s go Sebastian. This lady is crazy..”

“I think you’re the one who’s crazy talking to soft toys..”

Mayu walked over to Yuki and tried to talk to her once again. “Yuki? You’re really silent today...”

As expected, Yuki turned her face away from Mayu. “I’m sorry, Mayu. I don’t feel too well today..”

“Oh...” Mayu then looked at her Sebastian soft toy while pouting a little from being rejected. She then showed it to Yuki. “Here you go, Yuki..”

“Hmm?” Yuki tilted her head a little.

“I’m giving Sebastian to you, Yuki. You can talk to him if you want to. He listens to all your problems. He’s a good listener.. I want you to have him.”

Yuki silently took the Sebastian from Mayu’s hand and looked back at her. “Thank you, Mayu...” Yuki hugged the Sebastian tightly and closed her eyes.

“You don’t have to thank me.. I just want you to have it, that’s all..” Mayu smiled before continuing. “And if I ever made you feel awkward last night, I’m really sorry.”

“Please don’t apologize, Mayu.. It wasn’t your fault at all.” Yuki shook her head gently.

At the same time, Jurina walked over to Rena and cleared . “Rena, are you free this Saturday?”

“Saturday? Oh, I guess I’m free.. Some paperworks that needed to be rushed?” Rena asked, thinking that Jurina was going to ask her to work on that day or something.

After a long and loud breath, Jurina finally uttered the sentence out of . “Will you go on a date with me?”

“E-Eh?” Rena’s eyes widened at Jurina’s face as she had not expect a question like this coming from Jurina’s mouth. “But why??”

“Let’s just say I want to try something that I’ve never tried before.” Jurina replied with a smile.

“I...I guess so?” Rena was blushing a little as she answered Jurina.

Mayu smiled back at her best friend. “Ho..... Good news for you, Rena. Looks like your story is finally progressing..”


Chapter 11
END