|
Lovers of Lost
Dimension
by Bl4ckm4lice Blackmalice’s notes: shadow_siberian is one dedicated beta-reader *hugs*
Chapter
6: Let me see you once,
twice, more
“Where are you
going?”
Kaoru turned to
see the worried face of Shinya. He wanted to
ignore him and just go. After all, the
practice had finished already, and Kaoru was
free to go anywhere he wanted to. But he
already caused his friends too much worry.
“Eat.”
Shinya wavered
for a while, “Where?”
Kaoru shrugged.
Shinya knew
there was no other place Kaoru wanted to go
to other than the sushi bar they visited
yesterday. Or rather the sushi bar in where
they caused a commotion yesterday. Or the
sushi bar that had a sushi boy that looked
like…
He couldn’t
prevent the older man. That was for sure,
but… “Do you mind if I come along?”
Kaoru sighed. He
put his hands on the auburn-haired man’s
shoulders. “Shinya, don’t worry, okay? I’m
sorry for acting like yesterday. I promise I
won’t do that again.”
After that he
let go and reached for the door, “I… just
have to see him.”
************
Miyabi put the
phone down. His tears threatened to spill,
but he didn’t want to cry. If he cried, then
that meant he admitted his defeat,
His defeat over
a dead person.
How ironic was
that.
He didn’t want
to think anything more about the matter at
first. He had lost to Kaoru in the fight a
few days ago. He already knew that there was
an important person for Kaoru that looked
like him. A person named Toshiya. And there
was a probability that Kaoru was… comparing…
thinking… looking at him as…
But he still
didn’t leave Kaoru. He couldn’t.
Why bother to
depress himself more?
So here he is
again, on yet another day, waiting for Kaoru
to come home so they could spend some time
together. Or maybe the whole night if Miyabi
was lucky enough. But the apartment was a
little too big for one person. It was
Kaoru’s apartment, not ‘theirs’ until now,
even after the fight and Miyabi’s threat to
leave Kaoru.
Too big that it
left him a lot of room for fear and anxiety.
He knew that the
ones who knew Kaoru the most were his
childhood friends: Shinya, Die, and Kyo.
They came by quite often, and hung out
together sometimes. So Miyabi only wavered a
bit before he called Shinya and asked about
Toshiya.
Shinya sounded
surprised and asked him about where and how
he had heard about Toshiya. Miyabi didn’t
answer, but he insisted, wanting to know the
answer. Shinya hesitated to tell him, of
course. Shinya was a nice man. He didn’t
want to make anyone feel bad. But Miyabi
convinced him. He could hear Die whisper
something to Shinya, and finally Shinya
spoke his words.
Now that he knew
the whole story, it didn’t make him feel any
better.
More thoughts,
more anxiety.
Miyabi asked
whether Toshiya looked like him.
Shinya went
silent and avoided the question, only
leaving him with advice to not think about
it too much.
************
“What have I
done?” Shinya asked, more to himself than to
Die.
“You just told
Miyabi about Toshiya.” Die answered. They
were walking together on their way home when
suddenly Shinya’s cellphone rang, the name
Miyabi flashing on the screen.
Shinya stared at his cellphone, as if not
believing that he just told Miyabi about
Toshiya.
“You told me to
do so, Die.”
“Miyabi asked, I
told you to answer. It’s as simple as that.”
“He asked me
whether he looked like Toshiya.”
“And I heard you
were not answering to that.”
Shinya had a
troubled expression on his face. His grip on
his cellphone tightened, then he put it back
inside his pocket. “How am I supposed to
answer that?”
“Shinya, Shinya.
Of course you could answer that question.
You just couldn’t, right? You couldn’t hurt
him. But you need to remember that it’s not
you who had hurt him.”
“I know.” Shinya
whispered. Then suddenly he snapped his head
up, realizing something, “Die… how did he
know about Toshiya and their resemblance?
Maybe he didn’t know, maybe he just had the
thought— I mean, where did that come from?”
“Maybe he saw a
picture of Toshiya?” Die suggested, “You
know, Kaoru kept one. Maybe more, I don’t
know, but I accidentally found one when
searching for something inside his room.
Toshiya was what written behind it.”
“That explains…
a lot. But… what about…”
“Kaoru?”
“Are they going
to be okay? I mean, Kaoru and Miyabi.”
Die shrugged,
“Maybe not.”
Shinya widened
his eyes at his friend’s sloppy response,
“You mean you think they might not be
alright yet you told me to answer Miyabi’s
question?! What are you, stone-hearted??”
“Call me what
you want,” Die continued to walk, not
bothered by Shinya’s words, “I just don’t
think… the whole thing is fair for him.”
Shinya stared at
Die with a strange look for a while. The red
head realized it and asked, “What?”
“Could it be
that… you like Miyabi?”
Die jaw dropped,
“Wha—?? No! How could you think like that?”
“Just a
thought,” The auburn haired-man waved a
hand, “Forget I ever said that.”
“I’m not, okay,”
Die sighed. He glanced at the shorter man a
few times. Contemplating. Then he decided to
let the question out as a joke, in a teasing
tone, “Were you jealous?”
Shinya rolled
his eyes, not bothering to look at Die, “As
if.”
Die let it pass.
They walked in
silence before Shinya opened his mouth.
“Die… I…” he paused, “Kaoru went to the
sushi bar again.”
“And you let him
go there?” Die raised an eyebrow at Shinya.
“Did I do the
wrong thing?”
“Why do you
think like that?” The taller man grinned and
poked Shinya on the side, “I just didn’t
think you would’ve let him. I thought at
least you would’ve insisted to accompany
him.”
“So you think I
did the right thing?”
“You’re just
worried about him, it doesn’t have anything
to do with being right or wrong.” Die
nodded, putting one hand under his chin in a
pondering pose, “We’ll just have to see what
happens. Kaoru would let us know tomorrow.”
He yawned, “Aaaah, could we stop talking
seriously? I’m tired whenever I forced
myself to do so, you know.”
Shinya chuckled
and hit him playfully, “Baka.”
Die smiled when
he saw the cheerfulness returned to Shinya’s
face. Even if the drummer was a silent
person, he never suited the gloomy look.
There.
The strange
feeling returned again.
************
Toshiya the
sushi boy was as busy as yesterday. So busy
that he didn’t look at the new guest that
just entered. Instead of striding towards
the rolling belt like yesterday, Kaoru chose
to sit in the farthest table from there.
It seemed like
the waiter was different from the one who
greeted him yesterday, for he didn’t
recognize Kaoru nor told him to leave. He
merely smiled and asked for his orders.
After the waiter
had left, Kaoru never let his eyes go from
the lithe figure behind the rolling belt.
Toshiya smiled
to a customer, and he waved to another.
Toshiya touched
his long ponytail and pouted, apparently
being teased by a customer.
Toshiya wiped
his sweat and huffed.
Toshiya grinned
and chopped more sushi.
Toshiya put down
his knife and started to clean up.
The bar was
ready to be closed. People left one by one,
until Kaoru was the only one who sat still.
The food in front of him was left untouched.
The bar owner
came out from the door to the back of the
bar along with the waiter who served him
earlier. The waiter bowed to him and went
home. The bar owner saw Kaoru and walked
closer. “I’m sorry, sir, we’re closing the
bar… Ah, you are…”
Kaoru stood up
and bowed, “I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve
caused you yesterday.”
The old man
stared at him for a while, contemplating
about what he should do. Before he had a
chance to do anything, Toshiya showed up
behind him. “Is there still any guest?” He
turned and widened his eyes, “You!!”
The tall man hid
behind the bar owner reflexively, whose hand
raised to give a sign to Kaoru ‘Don’t you
dare’.
Kaoru held
himself back from bursting out. He must take
it slowly. He must not scare the young man
anymore. He bowed again, this time as deep
as he could, “I’m really, really sorry for
scaring you yesterday. I was… not in the
right mind. It won’t happen again.”
Toshiya’s fear
hadn’t vanished entirely, but the man bowing
to him seemed really sorry. The bar owner
looked at Toshiya, and he nodded. He decided
to give the man a chance. “It… it’s okay.
Let’s forget about that. My name’s Toshiya…
oh, but, you knew my name already, right?
What’s your name?”
Kaoru slowly
straightened up. In spite of the calm look
on his face, he was actually struggling
inside with all his might to hold himself
back when he looked at the other man’s eyes.
His emotions were not calming down, but he
managed to mutter out, “Ni-Niikura Kaoru.”
Toshiya studied
his feature. Long brown hair, high
cheekbones, sharp eyes, and a bit shorter
than him… but that’s because Toshiya was
very tall. Overall, he didn’t look
dangerous.
The bar owner
looked at Kaoru thoroughly. This man was out
of control yesterday… but he trusted his
instinct and decided to leave the two of
them have a talk, “Now, if you’ll excuse me,
I have to clean up the bar.”
“Ah, I’ll help
you.”
The bar owner
caught the look on Kaoru’s face and shook
his head, “It’s okay, I could do it on my
own. Niikura doesn’t look like he wants to
let you go.”
Kaoru’s face
went slightly red and waved his hand, “Ah…
no, I…”
“Now, young man,
I trust you not to do anything strange,
okay. It seems like you have many things you
want to talk about with Toshiya,” The bar
owner turned and patted Toshiya’s shoulder,
“I’ll leave you now.”
The two of them
went silent after the old man had left.
Toshiya shifted uncomfortably and decided it
would be better to take a seat. “So, uh,
shall we sit down?”
A muttered ‘oh,
‘yeah’, and ‘sure’ was heard, and they sat
across to each other around a table. Still
there’s no conversation starting, and
Toshiya was starting to get aggravated. “Um…
Niikura-san…”
“Kaoru. Just
Kaoru is fine.”
“Oh, okay.
Kaoru, do you want to explain about
yesterday?”
Kaoru closed his
eyes for a while. What he’s supposed to tell
the young man? He himself was still confused
with what happened. How could there be two
people that looked so much like each other?
Added to that, have the same name?
Wait.
The coincidences
was too coincidental.
As the thought
crossed Kaoru’s mind, a glimpse of hope
appeared. He opened his eyes and fixed his
stare at Toshiya.
Could this
Toshiya is exactly the same with his
Toshiya?
Yeah, it could
be… right?
…Amnesia?
“Toshiya…
Toshiya is gone, Kaoru!!! He’s DEAD!!!”
“Kaoru?”
No.
Too good to be
true. For once, he gave up to his logical
mind and flashed a forced smile at Toshiya.
“I apologize once more. I hope I don’t scare
you again.” When he saw Toshiya’s smile, he
continued to talk, “It’s just that… you
looked like someone I knew.”
Toshiya turned
his head to the side. “Someone you knew?”
“Yeah, a
childhood friend,” Kaoru answered, “He
looked so much like you.” Too much
alike.
“An important
person, huh? I mean, seeing you bursting out
yesterday…” Toshiya leaned forward, “What’s
his name?”
Kaoru felt
himself went dazed under the gaze of those
pretty eyes. Those same pretty eyes. “…The
same name as yours.”
Something
flashed through blue-haired man’s eyes, but
it disappeared in an instant. He averted his
attention by playing idly with his long
hair, “Really? That was a rather huge
coincidence, ne? So, where is he now?”
Another
uncomfortable silence hung in the air. Kaoru
forced a cracked smile, couldn’t bring
himself to say anything. The sushi boy
nodded apologetically. He timidly turned his
sight away, glanced at the clock and stood
up. “Eek! It’s so late already! I’m sorry, I
have to go.”
Kaoru stood
along, “I’m very sorry for holding you back.
Do you need to do something?”
“No… it’s just
that my place’s neighborhood was kind of
dangerous late at night.”
“Should I walk
you home?” Kaoru regretted it the moment he
said those words, “I’m sorry, I was just…”
He didn’t mean anything bad, he was just
worried. But who knows how Toshiya might
take it? If he frightened him again…
Much to Kaoru’s
relief, Toshiya smiled at him, “It’s okay,
don’t worry.” He turned and shouted “Old
man! I’m going home!”
A shouted reply
could be heard and Toshiya was ready to
leave. Kaoru paced to him, “Can I see you
again tomorrow? I mean, here? I’m sorry if
I’m bugging you too much—”
Toshiya giggled
and patted Kaoru’s hand, “Do you realize you
have been apologizing to me all the time?”
“Oh, sorry, I…”
Kaoru blinked and turned his gaze downward,
“Sorry.”
The tall man
giggled again, but then his face turned
apologetic, “Umm, I’m taking some day off
tomorrow, so…”
“Oh,” Kaoru
couldn’t hid his disappointment. One day of
not being able to see Toshiya. “What about
the day after tomorrow then?”
Toshiya grinned
and nodded, “Yeah. I’ll be around.”
The grin was
spread quickly to Kaoru, “Great. See you
then.”
Toshiya waved
and rushed out of the store. Kaoru followed
him outside and stood still until he
disappeared completely. He touched the side
of his own hand which was patted by Toshiya
earlier. Those touches were slight and
short, leaving him yearning for more.
Nonetheless, some warmth seeped through his
chest, and he closed his eyes. “See you,
Toshiya…”
I want to
see you.
|