RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Twenty-Four: Unlikely Party-Crasher

The next morning when she woke up, Yuko felt her heart pounding loudly. She could not clearly remember what had made her feel that way as she breathed in and out a couple of times, blinking her eyes at the view of the brown ceiling of her old bedroom back in her family home. Perhaps, she was having that same kind of dream again. But unlike before, she was not aware of what part of the dream it was this time. She did not have any recollection of which among the previous memories of her past life she had dreamt about but she tried to shrug it off as she sighed out loud. 

Feeling none of the stress that she had been enduring before she got back in this place hit her again upon waking up, Yuko Amazawa just casually got up from her bed and yawned so loudly with a smile on her face. For some reason, it felt like it had been the very first time that she really had a good nice sleep.

How long has it been since the last time she ever woke up like this?

She was feeling incredibly relieved and it made her appreciate the bright sunlight coming through the windowpane of her bedroom as she squinted her eyes and stretched her arms above her head. The muscles on her back felt surprisingly relaxed and the entire nerves of her body felt replenished. She could even feel the lightness of her arms and legs as she left her bed and walked towards her private bathroom.

She blindly opened the curtains covering her bathtub and looked at the huge mirror placed across it. As soon as she saw her reflection, Yuko quickly noticed the glowing aura of her face. Today was different and she really liked how the morning started for her. Up until she had finished taking a bath, changing her clothes, walking out of her room, and walking down the stairs to have some breakfast, she had been wearing a smile on her face. Her father who was drinking some coffee at their dining table did a double-take when she walked in and sat across him.

"Good morning," he greeted her, his eyes gawking at her as if to say that seeing her smile that way was actually a really rare thing to happen. She never really smile that much. And hearing her father uttered those words at her, Yuko replied nonchalantly, unable to notice the surprised looks coming from her mother who was now standing beside her father from the other side of the table watching her with bemused grins.

"Good morning."

And perhaps, that was actually the very first morning they all felt like a real family. But little did Yuko know that something else was just about to happen soon after that...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The small gathering of her family was planned to start by late afternoon. It was just a couple of hours past lunchtime when Yuko was suddenly called by her mother who had appeared at the opened doorway of her room, knocking on the wooden frame. Yuko was busy at the time with a few pieces of paperwork sprawled all over her desk table beside her bed. She turned around after getting distracted by the sound of the knock and looked at her mother with raised brows.

"You have a visitor downstairs, Yuko-chan," her mother told her making her frown. A visitor? She had a visitor? How?

She was completely confused when she just nodded back saying, "I'll be down in a minute, thank you." And her mother left after smiling back. Yuko was still frowning when she reached the end of the stairs and crossed the living room, greeting a relative who appeared on her way towards the front door of the house to see who had been looking for her. And when she saw who was standing at the front porch of their entrance, Yuko's straight face broke and her mouth suddenly opened from shock. How in the hell...

"What are you doing here?"

Kyouhei Kurosaki, in all his glorious appearance with that disheveled shirt, left unkempt as he stood before her with messy hair and a pair of eyes that had been shadowed with eyebags. He nervously fidgeted as he looked at her with a reluctant smile. He was unable to explain why he was there and he immediately regretted ever coming there to see her. But things had already been done and he was already so tired of tracking her down the whole night before just to finally find her here. It had not been easy for him at all, and even when it was completely insane that he would go this far, he can no longer take it all back.

He was already there.

"Hi," was all he could manage to say after a long pause. He really did not know what to tell her, how was she going to understand his impulsive urge to see her? Even he could not even explain himself reasonably. He was crazy, all right. But he can't admit that out loud, afraid that it would just infuriate her even more.

Yuko's startled face was immediately replaced by a dark scowl as she glared back at Kyouhei. How did he find her here? She had never told him about her hometown at all but here he was, popping out of the blue without any warning beforehand. And just as she was about to reprimand him for his stupid actions, Yuko's mother appeared behind her with an innocent smile as she interrupted the two of them.

"Are you Yuko's friend?"

Her question caught both Yuko and Kyouhei off guard that neither of them could even answer her rightfully as they stared at her with equal widened eyes. Then Yuko's mother faced her daughter as she chuckled lightly and decided they were not just friends... To which obviously, was the exact opposite of what they really are. But she never commented anything and instead, just encouraged Kyouhei to come inside.

"How nice of you to come here and celebrate with us," Yuko's mother remarked, flitting her eyes back to Kyouhei who just stood frozen from where he was. "Come inside, come inside." Kyouhei hesitated, extremely aware how Yuko had been giving her the stink eye from the near distance. But he had been left with no other choice anymore when Yuko's mother was suddenly reaching out for his arm and ushered him into the house, unable to decline the offer. And as he walked past Yuko, he felt her warmth grazed gently against his side as she followed him with her eyes. 

He knew he was never going to hear the end of this, but what can he do now? He was already inside. And there was nowhere else to escape here so he just had to get on with the mistake he had carelessly committed to.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How long have you two known each other?"

It was not that long before he was already being bombarded by questions about Yuko and their relationship with each other. Kyouhei found himself being put on the spot as he took every serving of tea given to him with the biscuits that were prepared for a party that was actually organized that day. If only he had known about that, he would have taken his time to bring a gift, but his sudden visit caught them by surprise that they did not bother to ask him about anything anymore and began to become more engrossed over the fact that someone who knew Yuko actually appeared. 

"We're colleagues," Yuko intruded to answer on behalf of Kyouhei, who was unable to speak for himself as he felt so nervous to use his voice at them. He could not even make himself look straight at her parents who were both staring at him from the other side of the short-legged table placed in their living room where he was told to seat with the other family members. Kyouhei stood out like a sore thumb, and obviously, he was so out of place but he tried to act decent and polite towards them as he kept his head lowered while taking a sip of tea to calm his nerves.

"He's just here for business," Yuko added after a second when it seemed like she had gathered everyone's attention back at her when she had spoken up. But instead of believing her, one of the family members, a younger woman who had been smiling at Kyouhei so cheekily that it was almost making him feel uncomfortable tried to brush off that clarification, retorting, "Oh don't try to hide it Yuko-chan--" the young woman said, snorting as she smirked at her,--"he's your boyfriend, isn't he?"

And as if the mere word felt extremely blasphemous, Yuko was coughing out loud, stating a strong, "No, no he's not!" while the other family members, including her mother, laughed and started teasing the two.

Kyouhei just felt himself completely melting as he stopped breathing, feeling like he had stepped on a landmine. He was so dead. And as he tried to bring his eyes up to look across the table, he immediately met Yuko's father's gaze, who unlike the rest of the people inside the room, just stared at Kyouhei with deep unreadable eyes and a blank expression on his face.

He was really dead... It was obvious, he was going to face a really big punishment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Twenty-Five