"What is it now?" A small frown drew over her face as she raised her eyes from the printed piece of paper she had just begun to examine more closely. It was from the so-called "100 EMOJI!" TV program and rested atop her drawer for about two days without ever being paid attention to. The frown turned into an expression of delight as Kana's eyes landed on her ringing phone. Initially, she wasn't too thrilled about talking, but Ruby's call was still very welcome since their last conversation still left a bad aftertaste in Kana's mouth.
10th of January, 11:00 pm, Kana's house
"Hi, Ruby," Kana said, still in the motion of picking her phone up, almost dropping it. The contract she was given returned to its prior spot once more.
"Hey, Kana," Ruby said, "How are you doing?"
"I-I'm fine, but what about you, is whatever bothered you earlier better now?" Kana replied.
Kana heard nothing but breathing for a quick moment, then Ruby spoke, "Yeah, it's all good now, I was just a little beside myself." She cleared her throat, "I just called to apologize for being so mean earlier-"
"Oh no, it's totally fine." Kana interrupted Ruby before she could finish her sentence, "Matter of fact, I never held it against you to begin with."
A faint smile still crossed Kana's lips; she might've never held it against Ruby, and she also didn't think she was being serious, but seeing Ruby this closed off from her after all she had told her still hurt.
"That's good, I like to hear that, and… Uhm…" Ruby said.
"There's something else you want, right?" Kana said, "Come on, out with it."
"Yeah, it's Aqua… He is kinda missing a-" Ruby began — "He is what?" Kana said as she jumped out of her chair, "Did you contact the police already?"
"No, Kana, please listen." Ruby's voice was firmer all of a sudden; however, it had also gotten a lot quieter, as if she wanted to share state secrets. "The police are searching for him because he did something bad, but I need to find him before they do."
"Wait. So let me get this straight. The police are searching for Aqua? This dumb fool really can't stay out of trouble, huh…" Kana's voice, on the other hand, didn't turn quieter; the polar opposite happened, actually, as if Kana had siphoned the loudness of Ruby's voice into her own.
"No… Don't say that. It's really not his fault for once. I will tell you when we have time to speak about it. But for now. Could you help me look for him?" Kana might have siphoned Ruby's loudness, yet Ruby seemingly stole her intensity away.
Nothing but the faint whistling of the cold, fast, estranged, and daunting outside winds could be heard in Kana's room for a few agonizing seconds. "Ruby… I would really like to help you… But you really couldn't have picked a worse moment," Kana mumbled.
"Oh… So you don't want to help?" Ruby's tone of voice was sharper than Kana had expected.
"No, Ruby, please, that's not what I meant. It's just that tomorrow is probably the most important day for my career… of my life, and I still need to practice so much for it," Kana pleaded.
"Let me get this straight. Your career is more important to you than Aqua?" Ruby asked, her voice filled with a sudden venom that definitely wasn't there just a moment ago.
"N-No of cou-" Kana stammered out.
However, Ruby didn't intend to let Kana come to word, "Look, I'm sorry for even calling you," she spat out, "Maybe Mem-Cho is willing to help me."
"No, Ruby wa-" The rest of the words Kana had prepared within her mind didn't even make it out anymore as her hand fell til it hung limp next to her body, and the loud *beep" which signaled the call had ended filled the air with so much carbon monoxide Kana threatened to drown within it.
"I really am a horrible friend," she mumbled, her glassy eyes staring at her own two feet.
It really wasn't much she placed within this room, she had her set-up on one end of it, her bed pushed up against the wall opposite, and a green couch she thought she'd need for whatever somewhere in between. Along the walls were a few closets and dressers. These were filled to the brim with outfits; she was even in desperate need of a new closet since it had gotten awfully packed lately, and the room for it was there; however, never before felt her room smaller.
"no, no, No, No, NO, NO. Why should I always be the one who drops everything? Is a little egoism really that wrong?" Kana said to herself, her small body shaking with rage, "RUBY TREATED HIM LIKE TRASH, JUST WATCHING HIM SLOWLY DETERIORATE. BUT I AM THE BAD ONE FOR NOT JUMPING THE SECOND SHE CHANGES HER MIND?" She screamed.
The screams echoed through her entire house and probably even down the road to greet her neighbours as she hit the armrest of her chair with so much force it hurt. Her mother had already left Tokyo again; she was gone from one day to the next, shortly after Kana had left her room again. She breathed in and out a few times, her lungs loud and uneven. She gripped her armrests so tight her fingernails bored into the plastic. "What are even the odds of me finding a guy that doesn't want to be found in the middle of Tokyo? Ruby wants me to flush my career down the toilet for a 0.001% probability."
"Fuck this…" she growled, "It's not like the police are going to execute him the second they find him," Kana said to herself, holding up a pillow in front of her face like she was actually talking to somebody. "I won't do it, not this time. I won't be the one who takes the blow for the mistakes of the others." She placed the pillow back down and closed her eyes. "Calm down, Kana. You can't be angry right now; it won't help your situation… FUCK." She hit her pillow so hard it flew off her desk and across the room.
Her chest rose and fell unevenly dozens of times without her moving even an inch voluntarily. "Why did I even join B-Komachi to begin with?" she mumbled as she stood up and slumped over to the pillow on the floor, "why would that matter now? I did it and I can't change it," she picked the pillow up and hit it a few times with her palm to clean any possible dirt from her floor off, "I should just do my best, and not worry about what happened before."
She walked back over to her desk after she had carefully placed her pillow with the rest on her bed. "Okay," she mumbled as she leaned forward, looking over her desk before picking up the document she had laid down. "I never fully read this… I probably should've though… I was just so excited that someone actually wants me on their program… So naive."
"Okay, they seem to be quite the international name… Weird, I never heard of them. I never really was into this kind of entertainment, so I guess that could be the reason for it."
…
Hours passed by while Kana researched the deepest parts of the internet. The moderator who was supposed to interview her tomorrow was a foreign man named Daniel Brown. At first, Kana thought that this wasn't even his real name since all she found when searching it was some American author. But then she dug deeper and deeper, eventually finding a matching profile. He clearly tried not to be too public about his personal life, but nobody is truly invisible when you know where to search. And Kana knew exactly where to search.
"Hm, interesting…" she said, barely containing growing excitement as her eyes sparkled, "I could definitely use this to my advantage… But maybe it would be too much. I want to look smug and confident, not like an unlikable asshole. I need to carefully match my responses to his questions."
…
Kana just finished binge-watching hours of interviews. The sun had already begun to rise, casting a few rays of its shine against the wall in front of Kana. She stretched herself so hard her joints cracked while a big yawn escaped her mouth. She could barely keep her burning eyes open, red from the unhealthy amount of blue light they were subjected to over the past few hours, as she looked at her phone. It was 8:52 am, 12 hours before she had to be at the studio. "Time for schleep," Kana murmured before yawning again. She wobbled over to her bed, her legs and butt hurting from the hours of sitting still.
The soft cushions bounced her body up and down a few times after she let herself plummet towards them, before she finally lay still, silence engulfing the room as Kana began to drift off to sleep. Kana's tense muscles began to relax as she sank deeper into her far too big mattress — She's only 4'9 after all. — She had just recently adopted the habit of sleeping with a lot of pillows. It made her feel hidden, like the surrounding world couldn't see or harm her. A few last thoughts ran through Kana's mind as she nestled herself particularly close to one of her bigger pillows.
Ruby sounded so unlike herself earlier.
She must be going through a lot lately…
I don't think I'll hold what she said against her,
I know how it is… But what could it be that caused her to be this off?
Kana's eyelids felt heavier by the second. She had a hard time keeping them open, drifting off into microsleep. Then she shot up. "The stalker!" she exclaimed.
January, Morning, Hospital
The room of the hospital was filled with an eerie silence, not even the birds that started singing their songs when the morning sun began to rise were hearable. Then the silence was pierced by the sound of metal clashing against metal in irregular intervals. A man, cuffed to its frame, inhabited the only bed in the room. He grunted heavily each time he pulled, yet it was hopeless; his body was far too weak to even stand a chance against the strong metals.
The memories of that night in which Aqua had brutally beaten him were burned into his mind; it was a wonder he hadn't forgotten them from all the trauma to the head. Half his teeth were just missing, while his entire face was swollen black and blue, more bones broken than not. His face card had already been unlucky at best beforehand, but now he looked the same way he behaved and felt — barely human. — Only his eyes remained perfectly intact; they might have been swollen almost completely shut, but beyond that, barely visible, the burning fire of hatred lived on.
"grrrrr- ggrrrrrm," he tried to form words, to scream and shout like he always did; yet, the only thing that came out was a quiet croaking sound followed by a gurgling deep within his throat. "grrrr- grrmmm- grrrrrrrrm- gggrrrrrmmmm- grm-" he tried over and over again until his throat burnt almost as bright as his eyes.
Why are they treating me like I am the one in the wrong here?
Haven't they seen what this maniac did to me?
He attempted to ruin my face, the face Ruby fell in love with…
His greed sickens me, but he will see what will come from it.
The police are probably just holding me to make my statement against him.
Sharp pain shot from his face all down to his toes when he tried to touch his face with the one uncuffed hand, "grrrrm" he yowled as his hand recoiled back.
No, that's not it, I know how this world works; he will get community service at best.
He will use all the money, which Ruby earned for the two of us, to get a big-shot lawyer.
This world is so unfair, it makes me so angry.
He can do whatever he wants since he has money.
Not with me…
First, I will take care of him, and then I can finally live in peace.
Just Ruby and me.