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ninoexchange2016-06-18 11:52 pm
nino-mod.livejournal.com) wrote in ninoexchange2016-06-18 11:52 pm
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phrenk (3/4)
For: phrenk
From:jade_lil
Part 2
Chapter 3
He woke up to the sound of his phone alarm beeping insistently on the nightstand, realizing belatedly that he was alone. The next bed over was still empty, the sheets un-rumpled so it was obvious that Aiba was right. Ohno either spent the whole night fishing or he ended up falling asleep somewhere else.
He grabbed his phone and squinted at the time, trying to remember when he had set his alarm but couldn’t. It was quarter past six; still an ample time to shower and get dressed before he had to check on his babies and bring them upstairs for breakfast when the familiar sight of his nausea medication caught his eyes, sitting there on the nightstand.
A piece of paper was beneath it, and Nino recognized the handwriting before he even properly read the note.
Nino-chan,
Good morning!
I’ve set your alarm for you so if you’re reading this it means you’re already awake, I’m sorry about that. I could have let you sleep in, but I don’t want Matsumoto-san bitching at you so early because you might just bitch at him back and that’s never an enticing sight, especially in the morning and especially in front of our clients. I’ll come over at exactly seven to bring you a cup of coffee and to help you with your anti-nausea patch when I’m sure you’re done showering, okay?
So wakey wakey, jump off the bed and take a bath. Your babies will want breakfast, mine too, I’m sure, so get up and get going!
Your bestest bestfriend in the whole wide world,
Aiba-chan
P.S. I borrowed the black shirt. I’ll return it to you later, laundered and properly folded. Love you!
He couldn’t help it, he smiled, found himself reading the note again twice before folding it again and rummaging his suitcase for the folder where he would be keeping it, and where he was keeping all the other letters that came before it. He checked the folder and found that the last note he got was from over three months ago, the time when they went with their clients to Kyoto.
He took his pen out and wrote the date behind the paper, before securely slipping it inside the clear plastic sheet. Then he took his phone and typed a quick message to Aiba, grinning despite himself, barely remembering glancing at the other empty bed as he went to take a shower.
+
He and Aiba were lounging at one of the empty tables while their charges were having breakfast and chatting an hour later, when he spied Ohno walking to the other end of the dining room with Jun. Even from the distance, he was, Nino noted, looked nothing like a person who spent an entire night awake. Even from afar, Nino could tell that Ohno looked far more awake than he himself probably was; his hair looking freshly washed and was still damp from shower even though he was still wearing his outfit from last night, the dress shirt and the slacks, minus the suit jacket and the tie.
“What?” asked Aiba.
“Nothing,” he shrugged, trying to act nonchalant but was already failing. Soon, his bestfriend was gazing at him with that awfully familiar arch of his brow, the corners of his mouth curled with impatience.
He should have probably let it out before Aiba start to verbally box his ear if he didn’t. He sighed. “It’s just that - Well, you’re sure Ohno-san didn’t come back last night, right?” he asked. Aiba nodded. “And he didn’t come this morning to shower or change too?” Aiba shook his head.
“I left your room at six,” Aiba said by way of explanation. “and from the time I arrived until I fell asleep around three-thirty, I swear no one knocked on the door. I would know if someone was there, you know that. I’m a light-sleeper,” Aiba explained. Nino nodded, he knew this, of course.
“Of course, Aiba-shi.”
“He might have stayed until morning to fish,” Aiba added, taking another hearty sip of his coffee. Nino wanted to believe him, but the glaring fact that Ohno looked far better than he himself probably did despite the almost five hours of sleep he had made it a little difficult. “Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said, forcing his gaze away from Ohno and Jun, who were later joined by Sho and told himself he was seeing things. Maybe, he was just sour that he didn’t get to spend that first night with Ohno despite his apparent luck he had earlier last night. Maybe, he was really just looking forward to talk to the man, get to know him better; that he was simply feeling bad because he wasn’t able to.
“If I were you, I would just forget about him,” Aiba mumbled, the statement very sudden that it left Nino gaping in surprise. It was the first time he heard such a thing from his bestfriend, afterall.
“Eh?”
Aiba opened his mouth to talk and snapped it close again immediately afterwards. Nino wondered what in hell happened to him, what made him dislike Ohno so much when he’d never bothered with any of Nino’s past relationships before. It was so odd, watching his normally pleasant and cheerful bestfriend turned into this scowling man, wondering what in hell had prompted Aiba to act this way now.
Aiba finished the rest of his coffee in one go and stood up hastily his chair going with him, its legs scraping noisily against the floorboards.
“Can’t you listen to me just this once, Nino?” Aiba said, utterly serious, and Nino swore there was something in his eyes that told him he was anything but. “I mean, you know I’ve never, not even once, gotten in between you and your past affairs but this – Ohno-san is –“
“ – going to be teaching our clients how to do the cha-cha!” Jun cut in, voice unusually loud he effectively shut Aiba up. Nino looked up, confused, until he realized Jun was with Sho, and standing next to them was Ohno himself. Nino stood up, blinking, and this close, Nino was treated with an impending view of Ohno, of his unchanged clothes and shower-damp hair.
It didn’t help that despite the almost faraway look on Ohno face, Nino still found him so irresistibly attractive that he was unable to string two words properly together the second his gaze slid down from Ohno’s eyes to the almost unrecognizable bruise on his lower lip.
“What do you think, Ninomiya-san?” Jun prompted him.
“W-What?” he stuttered; Jun rolled his eyes at him as if the bastard was well aware about Nino’s girly crush on Ohno and was going to embarrass himself if he would just wait patiently. Nino felt like socking him in the face.
“It’s in the agenda, Ninomiya-san, or have you already forgotten?” Jun said, smirking like a total bastard. God, he would give everything just so he would be allowed to erase that permanent smirk tugging at the corners of the other man’s mouth, especially at the moment when Nino wasn’t feeling particularly kind-hearted. He just had an unexpected spat with his bestfriend, after all, and Jun coming in here looking like the world’s happiest bastard was getting on Nino’s nerves.
“Oh, but I clearly remember it was up for discussion, especially since most of our clients are suffering from rheumatism, or have you already forgotten that, Matsumoto-san?” he said, keeping his tone as sweet as he could manage it, giving Jun an equally sweet smile to accompany it. Jun merely raised one perfect brow at him.
“It was just a suggestion from Jun, Nino,” Sho butted in, like always, to break the tension. Nino’s eyes glaze over to Ohno who was obviously keeping his opinions to himself.
“Well, it surely didn’t sound like one, Sho-chan,” he said, emphasizing the –chan just to annoy Jun. It did, apparently, as it was obvious in the way the corners of Jun’s mouth twitched in answer. This time when he spoke again, he was the one smirking. “and as far as I know, we should make their last night here as relaxing as it’s ever going to be for them. Dancing will tire them out, no offense meant, Ohno-san,” he added, gave Ohno an apologetic smile which the other man returned with a small shake of his head.
“It’s still early, though,” Sho said, “we can just ask them what they want to do later during lunch or something. I’m sure we can work something out.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he readily agreed. Jun gave him another of those nasty stares of his, but he knew better than to call Jun out on it and just promptly ignored him. He knew he didn’t really have to disagree with Jun all the time, especially about work and especially in front of a colleague, but he couldn’t help it.
He was jealous of Jun, it was that simple, of how obviously happy he was when he himself wasn’t; how brave (and completely shameless, to be honest) Jun totally was for doing everything in his power to get what he’d been wanting for so long regardless of what the others thought of him.
And it was evident in the way Jun and Sho were acting around each other now that something certainly did change during the past few hours they’d spent in the same room together. It wasn’t something worth being jealous over, really, but it was difficult to think sensibly when he wanted the same thing and didn’t have it, couldn’t have it despite putting up his best efforts to possess it.
It was very childish, but Nino supposed he could act like it if he wanted to, especially since they were here for work and not for their own personal pleasures. And apart from the fact that he was still fairly convinced that this trip had been decided purely for Matsumoto Jun’s own benefit (hah!), there was no way he was going to compromise their elderly clients’ safety and well-being just to indulge Jun and his damn caprices no matter the cost.
Nino knew himself well enough to know he only had a few good qualities to boot and one of them, certainly, was his admittedly soft spot for those old people, whether they were his clients or not.
It probably came with working directly and personally with those elderly clients that made forming an attachment with them so easy (unlike Jun and Sho’s jobs which only involved signing them up for the service and taking their money),that he frequently found himself more emotionally involved with them than he probably should have allowed, but Nino knew things like that happen and he was perfectly fine with it. Jun and Sho probably had no idea how deep his attachment to his clients was and that he never really treated them as such, even those he worked with from long ago, but he guessed it didn’t matter. What was important was that Jun and Sho, no matter how little their participation were with regards to their clients’ safeties, they weren’t stupid enough to force their opinions on Nino especially when it came to activities that Nino had outright declined. They trusted Nino’s judgments after all, had never questioned Nino’s decisions especially when it concerned their clients.
He raised his head to meet Jun and Sho’s gazes straight on. “But I’m not promising anything,” he followed at the same time he spied Aiba leaving the dining room with Maru and the rest of their charges from the corners of his eyes.
“Fair enough,” Sho said. “Either way, will you check back with us once you’ve spoken to them?” Sho asked. Nino vaguely heard him as his gaze followed Aiba’s retreating back. Something in his chest rattled again and it was disconcerting enough he found himself frowning at the hallway Aiba disappeared into along with his charges before he remembered what he’s being asked.
Nino nodded, glancing briefly to his right where Ohno was, quiet as a rock. “Of course,” he answered, distracted, before he excused himself.
+
He had just taken his charges back to their respective rooms and was rounding the hallway towards the one he was sharing with Ohno when Shihori appeared out of nowhere she almost bumped face-first against Nino if it wasn’t for Nino’s unexpected fact reflexes, her usually finely-groomed long hair askew, eyes and lips visibly red.
She was also breathing unusually fast as if she’d been running.
“Shi-chan, what’s wrong?”
For a moment there she remained quiet, and Nino didn’t like the way his imagination was running wild at the sight of her, of her fingers twisting nervously against the top of her dress. Nino couldn’t help but notice that three of her buttons were undone and there were patches of red marring her upper neck.
Something in Nino’s chest rattled painfully at the sight.
Did something happen? Did someone do something to hurt her? Force himself on her? Maybe he should check, maybe he should make sure whoever did this to her wasn’t going anywhere. He was quickly craning his head behind her, his hands protectively on her shoulders. The hallway was empty.
He was immediately but very carefully shaking her. “Shi-chan, are you okay? Seriously, if there’s something wrong, you have to tell me –“ he asked, softly. He couldn’t risk scaring her even more, not when she seemed terrified already. She was shaking beneath his hold and he didn’t know what to do to calm her.
“Shi-chan, I’m serious, if something happened, or if someone was –“
She shook her head in answer, cutting him off before he could even finish. His hands on her shoulders slipped and she side-stepped him, leaving him so quickly he was left there gaping after her in confusion.
Nino was torn between staying there and following her, but it was obvious in the way she had run off like the devil was after her that she wanted to be left alone. He was sure something happened to her, otherwise she wouldn’t ran off looking like a deer caught in headlights but there was nothing he could do if she didn’t want his help.
He turned, already thinking of talking to Aiba when the second he raised his head, Aiba was already there.
“Waah!” he screamed so loud in shock he staggered, almost losing his balance until Aiba’s hands caught him, Aiba’s arms wounding around his waist to steady him. “Goddamnit, Aiba-chan, what the hell!” he hissed, pushing Aiba away with a growl. “make a noise, will you? Damn it, but you nearly fucking killed me!”
“It wasn’t my fault you’re a scaredy cat, Nino-chan,” Aiba chuckled in answer, looking so very different from how he left Nino earlier. Aiba’s infectious smile was back and his earlier grumpiness gone. Nino found himself staring – at the sweat gathering on Aiba’s temple, his bruised lips, his messy hair - until he realized Aiba was snapping his fingers in front of his face to get his attention.
“Hey, are you okay?” Nino vaguely heard him asking. Something was nagging at him. “Dizzy? Do you want me to get you another patch or do you prefer pills this time – Nino?“
He was stepping forward and hooking his fingers against the front of Aiba’s shirt angrily before Aiba could even react.
“What the hell, Aiba-chan, what did you do to Shi-chan?!”
+
Aiba looked positively clueless at first before his eyes widened marginally in obvious surprise. Something told Nino that Aiba knew something.
“I swear I’m going to beat the shit out of you if you don’t tell me what’s going on, Aiba-chan,” he growled, serious.
Aiba’s eyes flickered to the left, a clear indication that he was trying – and very obviously failing – to hide something. “I didn’t do anything,” Aiba muttered, fingers finding Nino’s wrists and tugging. Nino winced but otherwise kept his grip tightly against the front of Aiba’s shirt, unwilling to let go. “Nino, listen to me. I didn’t do anything, okay?”
He wanted to believe Aiba, he really did, because he knew Aiba wasn’t the type to force a woman, never mind harass one and the fact that it was Shihori made it even harder to believe Aiba was capable of it. But it was difficult to shove the memories of Shihori’s face out of his mind, the painful tears in her eyes, the miserable curl of her lips.
“But Shi-chan –“
“ – is perfectly fine, as far as I know,” Aiba told him, fingers light and encouraging against his wrist. Their eyes met then, and for one confusing second, Nino realized he couldn’t breathe. He believed Aiba, of course, of course, but it couldn’t explain the upsetting and painful tug he had in his chest at that exact moment, when he was staring at Aiba’s face and knowing he was doubting him.
“By the looks of it, she wasn’t,” he said, tugging his hand roughly away. He turned his back on Aiba if only to swallow the bitter taste of something he couldn’t put a name beneath his tongue, frowning at the space before him without actually seeing anything.
What the hell was happening to him?
He breathed carefully through his nose and let it all out in one go. “She was crying, and she looked like someone had forcefully –“
“Believe me, she’s fine,” Aiba cut in, as if he knew exactly what he was saying as he reached over and squeezed Nino’s shoulder in a way that Nino supposed should be reassuring. He wasn’t the slightest bit assured though, and if that wasn’t enough to confuse him further, he didn’t know what else would.
“How do you suppose I should do that when I saw what she looked like with my own two eyes?” he said, without bothering turning round. It was bad enough that he was doubting Aiba on top of his childish jealousy over Matsumoto Jun’s blooming love life, but to have this unexplainable ache in his chest at the fact that his bestfriend was maybe, probably, in love with Shihori and had probably, maybe, possibly did something so horrible to Shihori? It was completely uncalled for.
“Surely, your eyes have not been serving their purpose well enough for you to believe them,” Aiba returned, sounding gravely serious. He turned around to find Aiba walking away before he could stop him. Nino felt that unfamiliar twisting in his chest entirely difficult to ignore, much less comprehend, as he watched Aiba’s retreating back for the second time that day, wondering what went wrong.
+
Ten out of their sixteen boomers agreed to take up Ohno’s cha-cha lessons a few hours after lunch so they could hit the floor with their dancing shoes later that evening, in pairs. Jun looked far more ecstatic than the boomers themselves it was completely hilarious.
It was a good thing that at least, he was able to still propose his plan in regards to Miho-san’s surprise 75th birthday party celebration, as he had kept himself from greeting the older woman the second he saw her earlier. Sho had agreed to squeeze in the cake-blowing ceremony before the dessert, much to Nino’s delight.
But still, with the oncoming cha-cha lessons and the planned ballroom dancing party later on, he couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
“If one of them breaks a hip or something, we’re fucked,” he whispered to Toma over at lunch, while Maru kept throwing creepy glances at Nino over the rim of his glass.
Their clients were done with their lunch andmost of them were presently lounging at the upper decks drinking tea and playing cards while the others were back in their rooms, napping. He hadn’t seen his bestfriend since the Shihori incident and Nino had this sickening urge to forego lunch in favor of finding Aiba, but he kept himself from doing so.
“I’m not sure Matsumoto-san and Sakurai-san share the same sentiment,” Toma chuckled as he put down his half-empty glass of pineapple juice, glancing behind them probably to make sure Jun or Sho were nowhere near.
“It won’t even surprise me,” he said briskly; “since they would probably just whip out the waivers and insurance papers to our clients’ families’ faces without bothering explaining. I just. God, I hate it when things like this happen,”
“You remember the last time we went on that skiing trip?” Toma asked, shaking his head at the memory. Nino didn’t even want to remember it because that was one of the worst memories he had since working this job after all, but he couldn’t help it.
It was a little over a year ago, around January, maybe a few days before Sho’s birthday when they went on this trip to Yuzawa. They have a total of six boomers then, all male, everyone adventurous enough to sign up for skiing and snowboarding activity led by Sakurai himself.
They haven’t even been there for more than a couple of hours when the accident happened. Tori-san, one of the youngest of the bunch, only sixty-two years old at the time, had collapsed mid-ski and hit himself on the snowy ground, head-first, and died almost instantly.
The paperwork hadn’t been that much trouble; at least not as much as facing their client’s family and explaining to them exactly what had happened. Nino couldn’t bear the thought that someone had died even despite their close watch, and he didn’t think he would ever forget the look of pain and anger on the deceased’s family’s faces as long as he was alive.
But then again, what Joushima-san had told them once they went back to their Tokyo office to regroup, that accidents like that happen and there was nothing - no matter how careful they were - they could have done to stop it.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “And I swear to god if that happens again, I’m quitting,” he said, spying Maru shaking his head and staring at him as if the very thought of Nino leaving the company was painful to him.
“Well, let’s just hope we get through this night and the rest of tomorrow here without mishaps,” Toma said, raising his half-empty glass to his lips. Nino smiled and did the same.
+
“Wow,” he mumbled quietly under his breath, more than a little awed at the way Ohno moved on the dance floor, lithe and graceful and so very different from the usually tamed and quiet man he was used to seeing from the past couple of days since he met him. It didn’t even matter that Ohno’s partners were these old ladies with bad backs and aching joints because damn, the guy could move those damn hips if he wanted to.
For a second there, he was thankful Jun suggested this impromptu dance lesson. Watching Ohno teach the ladies one by one, swaying them with his elegant fingers fanned across the small of their backs made him want to imagine he was one of them too.
“Graceful, isn’t he?” a familiar voice cut through his admittedly stupid daydream. It was Shihori.
“Shi-chan.”
Shihori met his gaze and gave him a wink, playful and endearing that was familiarly hers and it made remembering the sight of her earlier – in tears, hair askew and with marks marring her soft skin – difficult. She took her gaze back to Ohno who was now squeezed in between Miho-san and Rika-san, his arms around the ladies’ waists.
“He was a dancer, even back then,” Shihori said; there was something in her eyes that Nino couldn’t put his fingers on, something that was a little tender, familiar. He couldn’t look away, couldn’t avert his eyes even though he probably ought to. “a choreographer and a dance teacher in his own dance studio,but at one point he got tired of it, said it was probably high time he did something else. Then after that, he went to work under his father – it’s a family business – but he also quit not even six months later,” Shihori continued with an absent-sort of look on her face. Nino wondered why she was telling him this.
“Sounds like you’ve known Ohno-san for far longer than I thought you do,” he said instead.
She smiled, small and mysterious. “He was my junior high prom date.”
“Seriously?!” he exclaimed. Shihori nodded. Nino smiled because he could picture it so clearly; Shihori, on her elegant but cute pink prom dress with Ohno by her side.
“Yeah,” she said with a soft smile on her face. “My classmates were so jealous, especially when he started dancing.”
“I can imagine,” he said, nodding his head. He felt like asking her what her relationship with Ohno was, but he didn’t want to be rude. Besides, it sure didn’t seem like they were more than close friends, and Nino wouldn’t even be surprised if she told him Ohno was her older half-brother because they certainly gave off that impression.
She turned to face her then and Nino swore the soft, almost faraway look on her face was gone, and in its place was something playful, childish. Nino didn’t know what to make of it.
“What?”
Shihori dimpled at him. “You like him, don’t you?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with quiet mischief. Nino felt the heat creep up his cheeks at the suddenness. “You totally do,” she said, “it’s so cute.”
“Shut up,” he muttered, feigning annoyance, though he was pretty certain she wouldn’t be fooled. He wasn’t entirely good at hiding his feelings, after all, especially when he liked someone so much, but he guessed it couldn’t be helped. He just had to avoid making her feel like he wanted her help to get close to Ohno.
She stood up before he was able to rearrange his thoughts, touching his elbow and squeezing. “Well, good luck then,” she told him, still smiling like they’ve just told each other a secret no one else must know. Then she walked away, her footsteps light and her smile still in place. He was glad, to say the least, seeing that she looked marginally better than she was when he last saw her, even if her smile was at his expense.
When he raised his head again, Aiba was there, standing at the opposite end and looking thoughtfully at him. Nino felt that unfamiliar painful tug in his chest again the moment Aiba averted his gaze.
Nino didn’t know whether to be pissed. He took his phone out and typed a quick message to Aiba, his gaze flicking back to Aiba’s face.
Are you mad at me?
It took a while for Aiba to reply, but when he did, Nino realized his chest was pounding.
No, was Aiba’s simple answer, and Nino wondered why it felt so much like a lie. He raised his head and did his best to catch Aiba’s eyes but even from the distance, Aiba was careful not to meet his.
Then why are you acting like you are?
I’m pissed, Aiba admitted; Nino frowned at the message, unsure of what to think, of what to answer. And I hate it. Because you’re so damn stubborn and I hate that I don’t know how to deal with your stubbornness.
I’ve always been stubborn, he replied, fingers shaking as he typed the message away. And you’ve always dealt with me just fine, so what’s the problem this time?
Ohno-san, was Aiba’s simple reply. The sudden rush of annoyance was so surprising he found himself locking his phone and standing up at the same time, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans as he strode his way towards Aiba.
Aiba’s expression was weary, but there was something in his gaze that made Nino pause but only for a second or two because then he realized how absurd it all was. This was his bestfriend he was having a spat with after all and that no matter how damn petty the reason was, they had to fix this.
Screw it, he thought, toughing it up and walking the rest of the way to where Aiba was, stopping when he was merely a few steps away.
“What’s your problem, seriously?” he hissed, only vaguely thankful that everyone was busy and no one was near enough them to hear him.
Aiba gave him a look, an exasperated one at that. “You asked, I answered. Now I’m the one with the problem?” Aiba said. Nino felt justified for wanting to hit him.
“I don’t know what Ohno-san did to you,” he said, more like hiss. “for you to hate him this much.”
“I don’t hate him.”
“But you don’t like him either.”
“You know that’s not mutually exclusive,” Aiba told him, voice unmistakably even. “And besides, you’re the one who has a crush on him, I don’t, so you should not expect me to like him just because you do,” Aiba finished with that same stubborn look that made Nino want to bash his head against the nearest wall.
“That’s not it, Aiba-chan,” he returned, feeling a headache coming. “You know it’s not just it,” he pointed out,“I mean, you’ve been acting weird since yesterday and I don’t know what triggered it. You were okay with Ohno-san before and now –“
“You won’t get it,” Aiba cut in, “you won’t ever get it because you’re too stubborn for your own good, because you never listen, never, even if I begged you to.”
“I’m not sure how you expect me to listen to you when I don’t even know the reason why you’re acting this way, why you’re insisting I give up on the man I like even though you never asked me to before,” he countered, pissed. He didn’t know why it surely felt like Aiba’s dislike to Ohno wasn’t all that simple, even if that was obviously what he wanted Nino to think.
Aiba was quiet for all of two seconds before Nino watched him backed away from the wall he was previously leaning against, eyes shaded with something Nino couldn’t look away from.
“Then don’t,” Aiba said, with finality; his voice is marred with seriousness that made the inside of Nino’s stomach twist. “but don’t you dare blame me if everything goes wrongly because I already warned you. I already did, Nino-chan. The rest is up to you,” Aiba said, giving Nino one last look before he walked off.
+
“I don’t know what his problem is,” he told Miho-san while he was behind the older woman giving her a backrub. They were at Miho-san and Rika-san’s rooms – Rika-san was busy ogling each of the clothes she had laid across her bed, probably trying to decide what she would wear for tonight’s dinner (and ballroom dancing party) while Miho-san seemed hardly bothered. She said she’d rather spend the rest of the evening after dinner on the upper decks and enjoy the view of the nighttime Tokyo skies the way she would no longer be able to once she went home.
Nino spent almost half an hour of his visit here in their room convincing the older woman not to ditch the after party dance, lest their planned surprise birthday celebration would go to waste.
Right now though, the dinner and the dance party after that were the least of his concerns.
His best friend was.
“Maybe you do,” Miho-san told him, apropos of nothing, and Nino found himself frowning at the grey hairs at the top of Miho-san’s head. “Maybe you’re just scared to admit it.”
“Excuse me?”
The older woman looked up then, her fingers finding his and squeezing. The expression on her face reminded Nino yet again of his late grandmother, her smile, the understanding behind her eyes.
“Open your eyes as well as your heart, Kazu-chan,” she told him, tugging him down and placing her wrinkly hand against the front of his shirt, patting the spot where his heart was beating steadily underneath. “Because once you do that, you’ll find that certain, important things have just been staring you in the face, waving at you, trying to get your attention, things you weren’t able to see before because you were too busy staring at something else. You’ll realize you don’t even need to look very far because the one you need, the one you want is just right there, waiting for you to notice it.”
“Miho-san, I don’t understand –“
She cut him off with a smile and a hand pressed against his cheek. “You don’t, not now, but soon,” she told him, patting his cheek in a way Nino supposed was reassuring. “I’m sure you will, very soon.”
Part 4
phrenkFrom:
jade_lilPart 2
Chapter 3
He woke up to the sound of his phone alarm beeping insistently on the nightstand, realizing belatedly that he was alone. The next bed over was still empty, the sheets un-rumpled so it was obvious that Aiba was right. Ohno either spent the whole night fishing or he ended up falling asleep somewhere else.
He grabbed his phone and squinted at the time, trying to remember when he had set his alarm but couldn’t. It was quarter past six; still an ample time to shower and get dressed before he had to check on his babies and bring them upstairs for breakfast when the familiar sight of his nausea medication caught his eyes, sitting there on the nightstand.
A piece of paper was beneath it, and Nino recognized the handwriting before he even properly read the note.
Nino-chan,
Good morning!
I’ve set your alarm for you so if you’re reading this it means you’re already awake, I’m sorry about that. I could have let you sleep in, but I don’t want Matsumoto-san bitching at you so early because you might just bitch at him back and that’s never an enticing sight, especially in the morning and especially in front of our clients. I’ll come over at exactly seven to bring you a cup of coffee and to help you with your anti-nausea patch when I’m sure you’re done showering, okay?
So wakey wakey, jump off the bed and take a bath. Your babies will want breakfast, mine too, I’m sure, so get up and get going!
Your bestest bestfriend in the whole wide world,
Aiba-chan
P.S. I borrowed the black shirt. I’ll return it to you later, laundered and properly folded. Love you!
He couldn’t help it, he smiled, found himself reading the note again twice before folding it again and rummaging his suitcase for the folder where he would be keeping it, and where he was keeping all the other letters that came before it. He checked the folder and found that the last note he got was from over three months ago, the time when they went with their clients to Kyoto.
He took his pen out and wrote the date behind the paper, before securely slipping it inside the clear plastic sheet. Then he took his phone and typed a quick message to Aiba, grinning despite himself, barely remembering glancing at the other empty bed as he went to take a shower.
+
He and Aiba were lounging at one of the empty tables while their charges were having breakfast and chatting an hour later, when he spied Ohno walking to the other end of the dining room with Jun. Even from the distance, he was, Nino noted, looked nothing like a person who spent an entire night awake. Even from afar, Nino could tell that Ohno looked far more awake than he himself probably was; his hair looking freshly washed and was still damp from shower even though he was still wearing his outfit from last night, the dress shirt and the slacks, minus the suit jacket and the tie.
“What?” asked Aiba.
“Nothing,” he shrugged, trying to act nonchalant but was already failing. Soon, his bestfriend was gazing at him with that awfully familiar arch of his brow, the corners of his mouth curled with impatience.
He should have probably let it out before Aiba start to verbally box his ear if he didn’t. He sighed. “It’s just that - Well, you’re sure Ohno-san didn’t come back last night, right?” he asked. Aiba nodded. “And he didn’t come this morning to shower or change too?” Aiba shook his head.
“I left your room at six,” Aiba said by way of explanation. “and from the time I arrived until I fell asleep around three-thirty, I swear no one knocked on the door. I would know if someone was there, you know that. I’m a light-sleeper,” Aiba explained. Nino nodded, he knew this, of course.
“Of course, Aiba-shi.”
“He might have stayed until morning to fish,” Aiba added, taking another hearty sip of his coffee. Nino wanted to believe him, but the glaring fact that Ohno looked far better than he himself probably did despite the almost five hours of sleep he had made it a little difficult. “Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said, forcing his gaze away from Ohno and Jun, who were later joined by Sho and told himself he was seeing things. Maybe, he was just sour that he didn’t get to spend that first night with Ohno despite his apparent luck he had earlier last night. Maybe, he was really just looking forward to talk to the man, get to know him better; that he was simply feeling bad because he wasn’t able to.
“If I were you, I would just forget about him,” Aiba mumbled, the statement very sudden that it left Nino gaping in surprise. It was the first time he heard such a thing from his bestfriend, afterall.
“Eh?”
Aiba opened his mouth to talk and snapped it close again immediately afterwards. Nino wondered what in hell happened to him, what made him dislike Ohno so much when he’d never bothered with any of Nino’s past relationships before. It was so odd, watching his normally pleasant and cheerful bestfriend turned into this scowling man, wondering what in hell had prompted Aiba to act this way now.
Aiba finished the rest of his coffee in one go and stood up hastily his chair going with him, its legs scraping noisily against the floorboards.
“Can’t you listen to me just this once, Nino?” Aiba said, utterly serious, and Nino swore there was something in his eyes that told him he was anything but. “I mean, you know I’ve never, not even once, gotten in between you and your past affairs but this – Ohno-san is –“
“ – going to be teaching our clients how to do the cha-cha!” Jun cut in, voice unusually loud he effectively shut Aiba up. Nino looked up, confused, until he realized Jun was with Sho, and standing next to them was Ohno himself. Nino stood up, blinking, and this close, Nino was treated with an impending view of Ohno, of his unchanged clothes and shower-damp hair.
It didn’t help that despite the almost faraway look on Ohno face, Nino still found him so irresistibly attractive that he was unable to string two words properly together the second his gaze slid down from Ohno’s eyes to the almost unrecognizable bruise on his lower lip.
“What do you think, Ninomiya-san?” Jun prompted him.
“W-What?” he stuttered; Jun rolled his eyes at him as if the bastard was well aware about Nino’s girly crush on Ohno and was going to embarrass himself if he would just wait patiently. Nino felt like socking him in the face.
“It’s in the agenda, Ninomiya-san, or have you already forgotten?” Jun said, smirking like a total bastard. God, he would give everything just so he would be allowed to erase that permanent smirk tugging at the corners of the other man’s mouth, especially at the moment when Nino wasn’t feeling particularly kind-hearted. He just had an unexpected spat with his bestfriend, after all, and Jun coming in here looking like the world’s happiest bastard was getting on Nino’s nerves.
“Oh, but I clearly remember it was up for discussion, especially since most of our clients are suffering from rheumatism, or have you already forgotten that, Matsumoto-san?” he said, keeping his tone as sweet as he could manage it, giving Jun an equally sweet smile to accompany it. Jun merely raised one perfect brow at him.
“It was just a suggestion from Jun, Nino,” Sho butted in, like always, to break the tension. Nino’s eyes glaze over to Ohno who was obviously keeping his opinions to himself.
“Well, it surely didn’t sound like one, Sho-chan,” he said, emphasizing the –chan just to annoy Jun. It did, apparently, as it was obvious in the way the corners of Jun’s mouth twitched in answer. This time when he spoke again, he was the one smirking. “and as far as I know, we should make their last night here as relaxing as it’s ever going to be for them. Dancing will tire them out, no offense meant, Ohno-san,” he added, gave Ohno an apologetic smile which the other man returned with a small shake of his head.
“It’s still early, though,” Sho said, “we can just ask them what they want to do later during lunch or something. I’m sure we can work something out.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he readily agreed. Jun gave him another of those nasty stares of his, but he knew better than to call Jun out on it and just promptly ignored him. He knew he didn’t really have to disagree with Jun all the time, especially about work and especially in front of a colleague, but he couldn’t help it.
He was jealous of Jun, it was that simple, of how obviously happy he was when he himself wasn’t; how brave (and completely shameless, to be honest) Jun totally was for doing everything in his power to get what he’d been wanting for so long regardless of what the others thought of him.
And it was evident in the way Jun and Sho were acting around each other now that something certainly did change during the past few hours they’d spent in the same room together. It wasn’t something worth being jealous over, really, but it was difficult to think sensibly when he wanted the same thing and didn’t have it, couldn’t have it despite putting up his best efforts to possess it.
It was very childish, but Nino supposed he could act like it if he wanted to, especially since they were here for work and not for their own personal pleasures. And apart from the fact that he was still fairly convinced that this trip had been decided purely for Matsumoto Jun’s own benefit (hah!), there was no way he was going to compromise their elderly clients’ safety and well-being just to indulge Jun and his damn caprices no matter the cost.
Nino knew himself well enough to know he only had a few good qualities to boot and one of them, certainly, was his admittedly soft spot for those old people, whether they were his clients or not.
It probably came with working directly and personally with those elderly clients that made forming an attachment with them so easy (unlike Jun and Sho’s jobs which only involved signing them up for the service and taking their money),that he frequently found himself more emotionally involved with them than he probably should have allowed, but Nino knew things like that happen and he was perfectly fine with it. Jun and Sho probably had no idea how deep his attachment to his clients was and that he never really treated them as such, even those he worked with from long ago, but he guessed it didn’t matter. What was important was that Jun and Sho, no matter how little their participation were with regards to their clients’ safeties, they weren’t stupid enough to force their opinions on Nino especially when it came to activities that Nino had outright declined. They trusted Nino’s judgments after all, had never questioned Nino’s decisions especially when it concerned their clients.
He raised his head to meet Jun and Sho’s gazes straight on. “But I’m not promising anything,” he followed at the same time he spied Aiba leaving the dining room with Maru and the rest of their charges from the corners of his eyes.
“Fair enough,” Sho said. “Either way, will you check back with us once you’ve spoken to them?” Sho asked. Nino vaguely heard him as his gaze followed Aiba’s retreating back. Something in his chest rattled again and it was disconcerting enough he found himself frowning at the hallway Aiba disappeared into along with his charges before he remembered what he’s being asked.
Nino nodded, glancing briefly to his right where Ohno was, quiet as a rock. “Of course,” he answered, distracted, before he excused himself.
+
He had just taken his charges back to their respective rooms and was rounding the hallway towards the one he was sharing with Ohno when Shihori appeared out of nowhere she almost bumped face-first against Nino if it wasn’t for Nino’s unexpected fact reflexes, her usually finely-groomed long hair askew, eyes and lips visibly red.
She was also breathing unusually fast as if she’d been running.
“Shi-chan, what’s wrong?”
For a moment there she remained quiet, and Nino didn’t like the way his imagination was running wild at the sight of her, of her fingers twisting nervously against the top of her dress. Nino couldn’t help but notice that three of her buttons were undone and there were patches of red marring her upper neck.
Something in Nino’s chest rattled painfully at the sight.
Did something happen? Did someone do something to hurt her? Force himself on her? Maybe he should check, maybe he should make sure whoever did this to her wasn’t going anywhere. He was quickly craning his head behind her, his hands protectively on her shoulders. The hallway was empty.
He was immediately but very carefully shaking her. “Shi-chan, are you okay? Seriously, if there’s something wrong, you have to tell me –“ he asked, softly. He couldn’t risk scaring her even more, not when she seemed terrified already. She was shaking beneath his hold and he didn’t know what to do to calm her.
“Shi-chan, I’m serious, if something happened, or if someone was –“
She shook her head in answer, cutting him off before he could even finish. His hands on her shoulders slipped and she side-stepped him, leaving him so quickly he was left there gaping after her in confusion.
Nino was torn between staying there and following her, but it was obvious in the way she had run off like the devil was after her that she wanted to be left alone. He was sure something happened to her, otherwise she wouldn’t ran off looking like a deer caught in headlights but there was nothing he could do if she didn’t want his help.
He turned, already thinking of talking to Aiba when the second he raised his head, Aiba was already there.
“Waah!” he screamed so loud in shock he staggered, almost losing his balance until Aiba’s hands caught him, Aiba’s arms wounding around his waist to steady him. “Goddamnit, Aiba-chan, what the hell!” he hissed, pushing Aiba away with a growl. “make a noise, will you? Damn it, but you nearly fucking killed me!”
“It wasn’t my fault you’re a scaredy cat, Nino-chan,” Aiba chuckled in answer, looking so very different from how he left Nino earlier. Aiba’s infectious smile was back and his earlier grumpiness gone. Nino found himself staring – at the sweat gathering on Aiba’s temple, his bruised lips, his messy hair - until he realized Aiba was snapping his fingers in front of his face to get his attention.
“Hey, are you okay?” Nino vaguely heard him asking. Something was nagging at him. “Dizzy? Do you want me to get you another patch or do you prefer pills this time – Nino?“
He was stepping forward and hooking his fingers against the front of Aiba’s shirt angrily before Aiba could even react.
“What the hell, Aiba-chan, what did you do to Shi-chan?!”
+
Aiba looked positively clueless at first before his eyes widened marginally in obvious surprise. Something told Nino that Aiba knew something.
“I swear I’m going to beat the shit out of you if you don’t tell me what’s going on, Aiba-chan,” he growled, serious.
Aiba’s eyes flickered to the left, a clear indication that he was trying – and very obviously failing – to hide something. “I didn’t do anything,” Aiba muttered, fingers finding Nino’s wrists and tugging. Nino winced but otherwise kept his grip tightly against the front of Aiba’s shirt, unwilling to let go. “Nino, listen to me. I didn’t do anything, okay?”
He wanted to believe Aiba, he really did, because he knew Aiba wasn’t the type to force a woman, never mind harass one and the fact that it was Shihori made it even harder to believe Aiba was capable of it. But it was difficult to shove the memories of Shihori’s face out of his mind, the painful tears in her eyes, the miserable curl of her lips.
“But Shi-chan –“
“ – is perfectly fine, as far as I know,” Aiba told him, fingers light and encouraging against his wrist. Their eyes met then, and for one confusing second, Nino realized he couldn’t breathe. He believed Aiba, of course, of course, but it couldn’t explain the upsetting and painful tug he had in his chest at that exact moment, when he was staring at Aiba’s face and knowing he was doubting him.
“By the looks of it, she wasn’t,” he said, tugging his hand roughly away. He turned his back on Aiba if only to swallow the bitter taste of something he couldn’t put a name beneath his tongue, frowning at the space before him without actually seeing anything.
What the hell was happening to him?
He breathed carefully through his nose and let it all out in one go. “She was crying, and she looked like someone had forcefully –“
“Believe me, she’s fine,” Aiba cut in, as if he knew exactly what he was saying as he reached over and squeezed Nino’s shoulder in a way that Nino supposed should be reassuring. He wasn’t the slightest bit assured though, and if that wasn’t enough to confuse him further, he didn’t know what else would.
“How do you suppose I should do that when I saw what she looked like with my own two eyes?” he said, without bothering turning round. It was bad enough that he was doubting Aiba on top of his childish jealousy over Matsumoto Jun’s blooming love life, but to have this unexplainable ache in his chest at the fact that his bestfriend was maybe, probably, in love with Shihori and had probably, maybe, possibly did something so horrible to Shihori? It was completely uncalled for.
“Surely, your eyes have not been serving their purpose well enough for you to believe them,” Aiba returned, sounding gravely serious. He turned around to find Aiba walking away before he could stop him. Nino felt that unfamiliar twisting in his chest entirely difficult to ignore, much less comprehend, as he watched Aiba’s retreating back for the second time that day, wondering what went wrong.
+
Ten out of their sixteen boomers agreed to take up Ohno’s cha-cha lessons a few hours after lunch so they could hit the floor with their dancing shoes later that evening, in pairs. Jun looked far more ecstatic than the boomers themselves it was completely hilarious.
It was a good thing that at least, he was able to still propose his plan in regards to Miho-san’s surprise 75th birthday party celebration, as he had kept himself from greeting the older woman the second he saw her earlier. Sho had agreed to squeeze in the cake-blowing ceremony before the dessert, much to Nino’s delight.
But still, with the oncoming cha-cha lessons and the planned ballroom dancing party later on, he couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
“If one of them breaks a hip or something, we’re fucked,” he whispered to Toma over at lunch, while Maru kept throwing creepy glances at Nino over the rim of his glass.
Their clients were done with their lunch andmost of them were presently lounging at the upper decks drinking tea and playing cards while the others were back in their rooms, napping. He hadn’t seen his bestfriend since the Shihori incident and Nino had this sickening urge to forego lunch in favor of finding Aiba, but he kept himself from doing so.
“I’m not sure Matsumoto-san and Sakurai-san share the same sentiment,” Toma chuckled as he put down his half-empty glass of pineapple juice, glancing behind them probably to make sure Jun or Sho were nowhere near.
“It won’t even surprise me,” he said briskly; “since they would probably just whip out the waivers and insurance papers to our clients’ families’ faces without bothering explaining. I just. God, I hate it when things like this happen,”
“You remember the last time we went on that skiing trip?” Toma asked, shaking his head at the memory. Nino didn’t even want to remember it because that was one of the worst memories he had since working this job after all, but he couldn’t help it.
It was a little over a year ago, around January, maybe a few days before Sho’s birthday when they went on this trip to Yuzawa. They have a total of six boomers then, all male, everyone adventurous enough to sign up for skiing and snowboarding activity led by Sakurai himself.
They haven’t even been there for more than a couple of hours when the accident happened. Tori-san, one of the youngest of the bunch, only sixty-two years old at the time, had collapsed mid-ski and hit himself on the snowy ground, head-first, and died almost instantly.
The paperwork hadn’t been that much trouble; at least not as much as facing their client’s family and explaining to them exactly what had happened. Nino couldn’t bear the thought that someone had died even despite their close watch, and he didn’t think he would ever forget the look of pain and anger on the deceased’s family’s faces as long as he was alive.
But then again, what Joushima-san had told them once they went back to their Tokyo office to regroup, that accidents like that happen and there was nothing - no matter how careful they were - they could have done to stop it.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “And I swear to god if that happens again, I’m quitting,” he said, spying Maru shaking his head and staring at him as if the very thought of Nino leaving the company was painful to him.
“Well, let’s just hope we get through this night and the rest of tomorrow here without mishaps,” Toma said, raising his half-empty glass to his lips. Nino smiled and did the same.
+
“Wow,” he mumbled quietly under his breath, more than a little awed at the way Ohno moved on the dance floor, lithe and graceful and so very different from the usually tamed and quiet man he was used to seeing from the past couple of days since he met him. It didn’t even matter that Ohno’s partners were these old ladies with bad backs and aching joints because damn, the guy could move those damn hips if he wanted to.
For a second there, he was thankful Jun suggested this impromptu dance lesson. Watching Ohno teach the ladies one by one, swaying them with his elegant fingers fanned across the small of their backs made him want to imagine he was one of them too.
“Graceful, isn’t he?” a familiar voice cut through his admittedly stupid daydream. It was Shihori.
“Shi-chan.”
Shihori met his gaze and gave him a wink, playful and endearing that was familiarly hers and it made remembering the sight of her earlier – in tears, hair askew and with marks marring her soft skin – difficult. She took her gaze back to Ohno who was now squeezed in between Miho-san and Rika-san, his arms around the ladies’ waists.
“He was a dancer, even back then,” Shihori said; there was something in her eyes that Nino couldn’t put his fingers on, something that was a little tender, familiar. He couldn’t look away, couldn’t avert his eyes even though he probably ought to. “a choreographer and a dance teacher in his own dance studio,but at one point he got tired of it, said it was probably high time he did something else. Then after that, he went to work under his father – it’s a family business – but he also quit not even six months later,” Shihori continued with an absent-sort of look on her face. Nino wondered why she was telling him this.
“Sounds like you’ve known Ohno-san for far longer than I thought you do,” he said instead.
She smiled, small and mysterious. “He was my junior high prom date.”
“Seriously?!” he exclaimed. Shihori nodded. Nino smiled because he could picture it so clearly; Shihori, on her elegant but cute pink prom dress with Ohno by her side.
“Yeah,” she said with a soft smile on her face. “My classmates were so jealous, especially when he started dancing.”
“I can imagine,” he said, nodding his head. He felt like asking her what her relationship with Ohno was, but he didn’t want to be rude. Besides, it sure didn’t seem like they were more than close friends, and Nino wouldn’t even be surprised if she told him Ohno was her older half-brother because they certainly gave off that impression.
She turned to face her then and Nino swore the soft, almost faraway look on her face was gone, and in its place was something playful, childish. Nino didn’t know what to make of it.
“What?”
Shihori dimpled at him. “You like him, don’t you?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with quiet mischief. Nino felt the heat creep up his cheeks at the suddenness. “You totally do,” she said, “it’s so cute.”
“Shut up,” he muttered, feigning annoyance, though he was pretty certain she wouldn’t be fooled. He wasn’t entirely good at hiding his feelings, after all, especially when he liked someone so much, but he guessed it couldn’t be helped. He just had to avoid making her feel like he wanted her help to get close to Ohno.
She stood up before he was able to rearrange his thoughts, touching his elbow and squeezing. “Well, good luck then,” she told him, still smiling like they’ve just told each other a secret no one else must know. Then she walked away, her footsteps light and her smile still in place. He was glad, to say the least, seeing that she looked marginally better than she was when he last saw her, even if her smile was at his expense.
When he raised his head again, Aiba was there, standing at the opposite end and looking thoughtfully at him. Nino felt that unfamiliar painful tug in his chest again the moment Aiba averted his gaze.
Nino didn’t know whether to be pissed. He took his phone out and typed a quick message to Aiba, his gaze flicking back to Aiba’s face.
Are you mad at me?
It took a while for Aiba to reply, but when he did, Nino realized his chest was pounding.
No, was Aiba’s simple answer, and Nino wondered why it felt so much like a lie. He raised his head and did his best to catch Aiba’s eyes but even from the distance, Aiba was careful not to meet his.
Then why are you acting like you are?
I’m pissed, Aiba admitted; Nino frowned at the message, unsure of what to think, of what to answer. And I hate it. Because you’re so damn stubborn and I hate that I don’t know how to deal with your stubbornness.
I’ve always been stubborn, he replied, fingers shaking as he typed the message away. And you’ve always dealt with me just fine, so what’s the problem this time?
Ohno-san, was Aiba’s simple reply. The sudden rush of annoyance was so surprising he found himself locking his phone and standing up at the same time, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans as he strode his way towards Aiba.
Aiba’s expression was weary, but there was something in his gaze that made Nino pause but only for a second or two because then he realized how absurd it all was. This was his bestfriend he was having a spat with after all and that no matter how damn petty the reason was, they had to fix this.
Screw it, he thought, toughing it up and walking the rest of the way to where Aiba was, stopping when he was merely a few steps away.
“What’s your problem, seriously?” he hissed, only vaguely thankful that everyone was busy and no one was near enough them to hear him.
Aiba gave him a look, an exasperated one at that. “You asked, I answered. Now I’m the one with the problem?” Aiba said. Nino felt justified for wanting to hit him.
“I don’t know what Ohno-san did to you,” he said, more like hiss. “for you to hate him this much.”
“I don’t hate him.”
“But you don’t like him either.”
“You know that’s not mutually exclusive,” Aiba told him, voice unmistakably even. “And besides, you’re the one who has a crush on him, I don’t, so you should not expect me to like him just because you do,” Aiba finished with that same stubborn look that made Nino want to bash his head against the nearest wall.
“That’s not it, Aiba-chan,” he returned, feeling a headache coming. “You know it’s not just it,” he pointed out,“I mean, you’ve been acting weird since yesterday and I don’t know what triggered it. You were okay with Ohno-san before and now –“
“You won’t get it,” Aiba cut in, “you won’t ever get it because you’re too stubborn for your own good, because you never listen, never, even if I begged you to.”
“I’m not sure how you expect me to listen to you when I don’t even know the reason why you’re acting this way, why you’re insisting I give up on the man I like even though you never asked me to before,” he countered, pissed. He didn’t know why it surely felt like Aiba’s dislike to Ohno wasn’t all that simple, even if that was obviously what he wanted Nino to think.
Aiba was quiet for all of two seconds before Nino watched him backed away from the wall he was previously leaning against, eyes shaded with something Nino couldn’t look away from.
“Then don’t,” Aiba said, with finality; his voice is marred with seriousness that made the inside of Nino’s stomach twist. “but don’t you dare blame me if everything goes wrongly because I already warned you. I already did, Nino-chan. The rest is up to you,” Aiba said, giving Nino one last look before he walked off.
+
“I don’t know what his problem is,” he told Miho-san while he was behind the older woman giving her a backrub. They were at Miho-san and Rika-san’s rooms – Rika-san was busy ogling each of the clothes she had laid across her bed, probably trying to decide what she would wear for tonight’s dinner (and ballroom dancing party) while Miho-san seemed hardly bothered. She said she’d rather spend the rest of the evening after dinner on the upper decks and enjoy the view of the nighttime Tokyo skies the way she would no longer be able to once she went home.
Nino spent almost half an hour of his visit here in their room convincing the older woman not to ditch the after party dance, lest their planned surprise birthday celebration would go to waste.
Right now though, the dinner and the dance party after that were the least of his concerns.
His best friend was.
“Maybe you do,” Miho-san told him, apropos of nothing, and Nino found himself frowning at the grey hairs at the top of Miho-san’s head. “Maybe you’re just scared to admit it.”
“Excuse me?”
The older woman looked up then, her fingers finding his and squeezing. The expression on her face reminded Nino yet again of his late grandmother, her smile, the understanding behind her eyes.
“Open your eyes as well as your heart, Kazu-chan,” she told him, tugging him down and placing her wrinkly hand against the front of his shirt, patting the spot where his heart was beating steadily underneath. “Because once you do that, you’ll find that certain, important things have just been staring you in the face, waving at you, trying to get your attention, things you weren’t able to see before because you were too busy staring at something else. You’ll realize you don’t even need to look very far because the one you need, the one you want is just right there, waiting for you to notice it.”
“Miho-san, I don’t understand –“
She cut him off with a smile and a hand pressed against his cheek. “You don’t, not now, but soon,” she told him, patting his cheek in a way Nino supposed was reassuring. “I’m sure you will, very soon.”
Part 4