Between Two Roses - Chapter VII

It was in the late of August when the summer heat gradually faded away and the wind became stronger as the humidity is always getting higher as the autumn comes. It’s also been a month since I met Matsui Rena. And I don’t know whether it’s just me or things got really messed up from the time I encountered her.

Anyhow that was nothing compared with the numerous incoming emails, calls and voice messages in my phone since the day I got beaten, which was a week ago. I had to ignore the tedious and same old story of wanting me to come back, tiresome pleads with money as promised reward, which all done by the same person whose husband gave me a strong blow for three days consecutively. Though the pain gone away, the fear still stayed. I decided to cut off any contacts with Akane since that day, despite the fact that it made me suffering a great loss since I couldn’t work and had to cancel plans during my injury. I also had to temporarily close down my blog until I could get on my feet again. 

     

I looked at my own reflection through the phone’s screen and smiled confidently. My face had completely returned to the previous state, ready for seducing some clients.

Sitting comfortably with a can of juice in my hand, I was on the lookout for some passerby in a certain coffee shop which has outdoor seats. Business had been down recently though I had reopened the blog again, so I couldn’t help but to seek them myself though this was less convenient and made me look like a real prostitute. However, this somehow reminded me to the time I was still new in this career. Except the coffee shop was a host club.

There were some girls passing by caught my attention and I was tempted to do any approaching but they seemed not the type who interested in this kind of things so I remained seated. To tell the truth I was actually a picky person when it comes to anything, including customers. I tended to only accept calls from the good-looking ones and couldn’t be having age gap more than two decades ahead of me so I wouldn’t feel like dating my mom. Though this brought me disadvantages sometimes but beggars can’t be choosers, therefore, I saved up a lot and being stingy at many times.

The can was almost empty and still I had not stood up to come near one though I’ve attempted to throw my smiles at every girl who looked at me. Something unknown just seeped my confidence and drained it out, which was a rare case in me. Probably because I hadn’t really come out and usually only waited at home. 

Suddenly I was in an extremely bad mood.    

Fortunately it didn’t last long as my eyes caught a brownish black haired person wearing a halterneck and knee-length floral skirt above a pair of white sandals. Though I could only see her exposed shoulder blades and waist-length hair, my intuition said she was someone I knew in the past. Getting up from my seat, I walked towards the slim figure.

“Annin?”

She turned her head and as I thought, before my eyes was the familiar foreign beauty in the form of high school girl. I couldn’t recall when the last time we met was but I still remembered those tantalizing eyes and her non-Japanese features which raised her attractiveness even higher. I smiled at her surprised reaction.

“T-Tsubasa-san?!”

“Long time no see. You’re still beautiful, as always.” Seeing her not wearing school uniform and the soft pink lipstick she wore made me wonder if she was going to go to a date as she looked even mature with that appearance.

“And you look amazing too…” she seemed nervous, I internally grinned.

“So, what are you doing?”

“Me? Um…nothing…I guess…”

“A smart girl like you won’t wander aimlessly, will you?” I asked her to join me in the indoor table and ordered tea for both of us. At first she was hesitating, probably she thought I was inviting her for business purpose. Then I managed to convince her that this would be my treat and we were just having a friendly talk and she went along with that. I couldn’t say I wasn’t happy to meet her. She’s just one of those gorgeous women you can’t take your eyes off.

“Well…I actually made promise with someone today…” Annin said it while averting her eyes off me.

“Really? Ah, I feel bad for asking you here. You can leave anyways, sorry for taking your time.” my estimation was right. And since my order hadn’t come yet, I still could cancel it because afternoon tea treats wasn’t suitable for my pocket at the moment.

Annin didn’t move one inch.  

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” I stared at her with a concerned look. She shook her head lightly.

“Somehow…I don’t want to go.”

“Hey, don’t go breaking promises like that, will you? You can’t get married in the future.” I said teasingly without being serious. But the face she made showing that she took this oppositely.

“I don’t care. It’s better for me then.” She put her chin on her palm and stared at outside.

“Something is troubling you? I am here to hear.”

Annin said nothing. I assumed whatever trouble she was facing probably something really personal and a total stranger like me didn’t have any rights to hear. Then I brought up another topic I always wanted to talk about.

“Say, are you a half-Japanese?”

“Do I really look like one?”

“You aren’t?”

“You are the fifth person asking me that, though, if my classmates don’t count.”

“I see. So you are just plainly gorgeous then.” As I finished saying that, I saw she blushed.

Not long after that, my order came; a set of English tea accompanied by small sweets, muffins, and scones which were put in cake stand. I took small shortcake with a whole strawberry on the top and gave it to her.

“How do you know I like strawberries?”

“From your perfume?” Of course I know nothing about her liking strawberry and I just coincidentally picked ones which had it. I said like that to make myself look like a good observant.

“Tsubasa-san…” she spoke up after I finished a petite choux crème.

“What is it?”

“Have you ever been in a relationship? Or, are you now?”     

I almost coughed up my tea hearing sudden question like that. Putting down the cup, I answered with another question,

“Why anyway?”

“I just wonder if you have real person you love and you will treat truthfully.”

“I had a girlfriend back then when I was in high school. First and last time I think.”

“What happened to her?”

“She left.” I said it with an unexcited tone as I recalled the face of my former girlfriend. Suddenly I wondered where she could be now in Japan, if she already went back from her studies abroad. Annin’s love for strawberries was also reminded me of her. We used to eat strawberry parfait at the school rooftop.

“Ah, I’m sorry for that.”

“No, it’s fine. We were never been in love anyways. It’s better for her that way.”

Midsummer. That’s how the condition in Japan now. And that’s also how her name spelled. Manatsu.

Mukaida Manatsu.

She wasn’t really good looking; compared to other girls I’ve met in my life but she did have a kind heart. Once a week I took her for a Korean barbecue or some visits to amusement parks. Sounds normal, but we did have quite joyful relationship ones. Something everyone including herself didn’t know was, I didn’t love her at all.

I merely thought it was a children’s love as we were still in high school. Where girls thought of cool and cute person they could date, idols they could meet, upperclassmen they could marry and such. Childish thoughts and something as falling in love were never happened to me. I admit I accepted her confession in the girls changing room that time because she said she loved me, but since I liked to experiment with things, I decided to say yes and thought maybe we could somehow work it out.

And still, the result was useless. I didn’t feel anything at all.   

“…basa-san? Tsubasa-san!”

“Ah, yes?” I realized I had been staring at the untouched buttered scones for five minutes.

“Why are you spacing out? Thinking about her?” she said as if she could read my mind. I nodded.

“Anyway,” Annin took the teapot and pour her third cup of honey lemon tea, “have you noticed the posters in the street lately?”

“What poster?”

“Missing people…”

I was fully aware of what she was talking about. It couldn’t be any other than white papers in front of schools, police stations, and public transportations where Rena’s face printed on them. I realized their amount had increasing as I caught several men in black sitting in the car around Sunshine Sakae and my neighborhood lately. I wonder if this because they witnessed Rena went out for convenience store though she had something to disguise with. I shouldn’t actually feeling troubled by this but in fact, I did. And I didn’t know why.

“You are spacing out again.”

“Ah! I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

We were drowned into the conversation and I didn’t realize I forgot my real intention to go out today was after it started to get dark.

“Thanks for today, sorry for taking your time again.” I said to her as we stood up in front of a bus stop where she needed to part after I attempted to walk her home.

“That was fun…and…” Iriyama Anna looked at her feet, the nervousness I saw just like when we just met this afternoon has returned.

“Yes?”

Without any words, she suddenly shifted aside and kissed my cheek.

“I don’t know when to meet you again, Tsubasa-san…today was like a miracle.” Gradually her words were shaking and I thought she was about to cry as water dwelled up on her corner of her eyes. I hated seeing her like that so I hugged her and stroke her long hair gently. Her strawberry fragrance which I found from her shampoo, invading my nostrils, gave me a scrumptious sensation of delight.

“Don’t cry…” She squeezed herself onto me tighter

“I missed you…”

I said nothing and kept stroking her hair.

“Just let me stay like this…until the bus come.”

“Okay.”

“Tsubasa-san?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I see you again?”

“I don’t know about that…”      

“You never really give certain answer for questions, eh?” her head resting on my shoulder while her arms still around my waist. I just laughed a bit.

“Are you comfortable with this?”

 “With what?”

“Not finding your love.”

“Things will never feel completely comfortable, Iriyama-san.”

Annin replied my answer with a low chuckle, “The answer is just so like you.”

“I wish…you would fall for me, someday.” She parted herself from me when the bus came. Before she stepped inside, I pulled her arm and cupped her face. Her eyes widened in surprise and I heard a small moan as I pressed my lips onto hers.

“Take care, Annin.”

Right before she entered and the door closed automatically, I shouted to her my real name and witnessed her mouth gaping in shock as the bus took her away.

xxx

“You might want to take a look at this”

Rena couldn’t take off her eyes at the paper Jurina gave to her. There were some frayed pieces on each of the corner, as if being ruthlessly torn from the wall. Several kanji letters look familiar the time she recognized it was actually her name printed large under the “Missing” and a row of numbers declaring the reward amount. The face in the flyer was indeed hers, only it was taken when she was younger, three years older than the other Matsui who now was staring at her in peculiarity.

“It’s everywhere in the city now. I found this taped on a vending machine.”

Jurina was trying to hide her excitement, as she knew whoever looking for the woman before her right now, had increased the amount of compensation. She could just call them anytime, but she felt like she shouldn’t yet. The escort had just to make sure she would have the right sum of savings in order to carry out her intention to rub out her unwanted past. Something she always put out aside, so well hidden under the sassy yet charming attitude, pretending nothing was ever happened. Acting as if what she had done a year ago was nothing but merely an implausible mistake when it’s actually not. However, something inside her kept nagging to not press the number just yet.

Matsui Rena was at loss of words.

“Too bad, I wanted to take you to regional summer festivals before August ended.” Jurina sighed. She actually meant what she just said though. The smell of yakisoba being fried, fresh shaved ice with flavorful syrups, and the loud enjoyable sound of fireworks were what the young Matsui wanted Rena to experience. Since it would be many people and they could blend well, Jurina thought it was a great idea to take her there. She was just somehow addicted to Rena’s reaction of experiencing new things. Nonetheless, the fact that whole Nagoya would probably already know about Rena kind of disappointing her.                  

“Festival…?”

“Yeah, they have one here nearby and I heard tomorrow is the last day of it. But, can’t help it since you aren’t able to go out. And I won’t let you do any shopping anymore. It’s too risky.”

Rena was suddenly engulfed in sadness realizing that, though she did get her liberation, she still couldn’t enjoy and instead, she felt like she got trapped twice except now she got a company of a mysterious escort girl who happened to share the same family name like her. She didn’t know how long things going to last but she knew soon she would be found by her father’s men. Glancing at her younger photo in the pamphlet, an idea suddenly came to her mind.

“Jurina…”

“What is it?”

“Can you do me a favor?”

“Just say it.” it occurred to Jurina that it was unusual for the heiress to ask things to her judging from how quiet and timid she was.

“Please cut my hair…”

Uncertain of what she just heard, Jurina gave a chuckle in disbelief before confirming things again,

“I’m sorry?”

“Cut my hair, please.”

“Wait, yo-“

“I really want to go out; I want to go out so bad! I don’t care if they caught me again. Even if just a day, I just want to…be free…” the heiress said the last two words breathlessly. As if talking about taboo that shouldn’t be discussed.

Matsui Jurina took a glance to the pamphlet and noticed that Rena’s hair were much longer than she had now, probably the same length as Annin. She currently had the chest-length ones, Jurina pondered whether she had to proceed the heiress’ wish or not since she silently admired the long shiny locks the older Matsui had. And seeing Rena pleading in desperation like that, Jurina’s chest felt hurt a little and she couldn’t help but to gave in.

“I’ll get the scissors then.”

Observing chunks by chunks of raven mane that fell to the floor, Rena nervously wondering how the result would be. She didn’t ask how she wanted to be cut, she just entrusted it all to the young escort who now deliberately trimming the backside of her hair. The light touch of Jurina’s fingers made her flinch as no one ever touched her hair other than her mom and her personal hairdresser. Yes, her family was that rich they were able to hire a personal doctor, lawyer, even barber and hairdresser.       

“There, all done now. What do you think?” Jurina removed the cloth that covered Rena’s front side and brush all the strayed piece of hair on her shoulders.

Rena stared at her own reflection and admiring the younger Matsui’s works. They both look similar with the same hair length; only hers was a bit longer. She never knew Jurina could neatly do such thing which not everybody can.

“It looks…amazing. Have you ever done this before?”

“No, actually…this was my first time. That’s why it takes a long time since I don’t want to ruin your precious hair.” Jurina said sheepishly, knowing she was being praised. “So, how is it? Want me to trim it a bit shorter? Or it was too short?”

The older Matsui shook her head.

“This looks perfectly fine and…” somehow, when she stared at herself and Jurina through the mirror, she found out that now they looked like having the same age.

“You look younger?”

“Yeah…”

Jurina admitted that she liked the new appearance of the heiress. With applying a bit of makeup and wearing more stylish outfits, she was sure the older Matsui would be recognized as really different beings. Seeing the announcement paper again, she couldn’t help but envy the natural beauty the quiet girl possessed.

“You probably talented, you should’ve worked as hairdresser then.”

“Nah, I’m fine with my life.”   

Something flicked in Rena’s memory that she happened to be curious about Jurina’s occupation and career. She considered it as a really personal matter and probably the escort could get offended by this, but she really wanted to know the reason Jurina wore herself out for doing something uncertain like that.

“May I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why are you working as an escort?”

“Something is wrong with that?”

“No, I was just thinking whether you ever tried to do another kind of job…”

Jurina was again amazed. She actually would be pissed off at anybody who asked her the same question but this time, she didn’t at all. Not knowing why, she decided to spill out her past to the curious heiress,

“Well I worked in a hotel back then.”

“What happened?”

“Working there didn’t get me much money and experience, so I quit.”

“Suddenly you decided to be an escort?”

“I was inspired actually. Have you ever heard the ‘Love Hotel’ term?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure I know what it means.” Their eyes met through the mirror for a moment before Jurina continued,

“Just like the name, the guests are licentious couples who couldn’t wait to get in their partner’s pants in the name of love,” seeing Rena’s cheeks reddened all of sudden Jurina apologized, “sorry for the language, but it’s true. And I worked there as a staff.”

Rena calmly listened. Jurina took a comb and started brushing the older Matsui’s hair.

“I saw people bringing their girlfriends or boyfriends for a quick night there. While none of them are real girlfriends though they acted like one. That is what differ escorts from usual prostitutes.”

“You become someone’s girlfriend and get paid?” Rena was astounded hearing the other party talking unashamedly about something that supposed to be embarrassing as if they were discussing about a New Year end sale.

“Sort of. Fine dining, bowling, travelling or just simple cuddling. Sexual activities is the least since we provide the love some people can’t afford in life. Though in some cases…they ended up falling for me.”

“Why though?”

“Why what?”

“The reason.”

“I just like living an easy life.”

Rena’s face expression changed.

“What? Did you expect a more elegant answer?”

xxx

Jurina sighed in frustration.

It was late and she should have been home by now. Going out for a day was not a great idea and she even spent some of her cash for an unexpected encounter with a girl she thought she couldn’t meet again. The young escort was again in an extremely bad mood.

“I shouldn’t have treated her that much!” lamenting for the things she just did, Matsui Jurina kicked the can of juice she just littered on the road. She also blamed herself for choosing such a classy café as a hangout place when she didn’t have to. When she remembered the due of paying the flat rent was about the day after tomorrow, she couldn’t help but frown deeper.

After twenty minutes of aimlessly walking and kicking the now dent can, Jurina realized that she wasn’t going anywhere with this. She took the can and threw it to the nearby garbage bin before her eyes caught a glimpse of a figure of woman walking limply. Uncertain whether the woman really wanted to walk to the direction where nobody would take or she just plainly unaware that she was walking towards a dead end since there was only a small cliff ahead, made the short-haired girl itch to ask. She took a quick walk nearing the wobbly figure.

“Miss, I wonder if you know that there’s no alley there?”

The woman stopped walking but answered nothing. Jurina moved to look at the woman’s face and almost wanted to faint seeing how horrifyingly pitiful the condition of her face was. She was probably older than her by few years and had blackened bags under her empty-looking eyes, as if crying or unable to sleep for days. Jurina noticed she wasn’t wearing any makeup except the already faded pink lip gloss and smeared mascara which adding the chaos in her appearance. Not to mention her long hair too was in a mess. She wore a knee-length pale blue slip dress and a pair of slippers. In her hand was only her mobile phone with its lid opened. Apparently she just received a text from someone.

“Miss, are you okay?”

“Go away.”

“Eh?”

“Don’t stop me. I want to die.”

The escort’s eyes widened in surprise of what she just heard. The way the woman stared blankly at her was somehow, though there was no hope in those orbs, gave Jurina unpleasant chills. Never had she had any encounter with someone who intended to lose her life before, moreover someone who was directly about to commit suicide by whatever she could imagine with walking towards a cliff. Thinking about these matters already made the escort internally shivered. However, this didn’t stop her to do impulsive things. She took her hand.

“Let’s go somewhere, okay.”

“Let go of me!” she desperately struggled over Jurina’s strong grip. Saved by her height and strength, Jurina could handle the one who was badly trying to break free from her arms. After one minute of small battle and she got little scratches and bites here and there, the woman finally calmed and hardly trying to catch her breath. In the next seconds, there was silence between them and Jurina suddenly heard a sob.

“Hey, let’s go get some ice cream.” Surprisingly to Jurina, when they started walking with her hand still holding the sobbing girl, she didn’t fight anymore and limply tag along like a hungry stray cat being found by a passerby.

“Have you eaten?”

The girl said nothing and though the sobbing slowly faded, she kept sniffing to her last strength. Jurina scratched her unitchy head. She thought about things of what might cheer up the girl though just a bit.

“A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be walking alone at this hour. It’s dangerous.”

“That’s not funny.” A coarse voice came out from the girl; much a revelation to the young escort. Judging from how terribly she looked, Jurina wondered how much pain and trouble she had suffered until she decided to leave this world.

“I can’t help it if you thought it was a joke. But if you stop crying and making your makeup smeared all the way like that, I would be lying if I said you aren’t pretty.” Based on her experiences, pick up lines always successfully bringing up the mood of their clients in an instant. Though sounds cheesy, all women are actually weak in their ears, or so what Jurina believed. However, the woman said no reply.

“What’s your name?” Jurina asked again in a soft voice, her left arm encircled her waist, making their bodies closer. It was interesting seeing the suicidal girl barely reacted to the sudden intimate actions Jurina had given. The escort thought she had successfully made the woman getting comfortable around her. There was a long silence before she answered,

“Matsumoto…”

“You don’t want me knowing your given name?” Jurina got a little excited when she knew they had similar family name, though it’s not that special if she found anybody in Japan with “Matsu” character in their name. 

“It’s Rina.”

“What a pretty name. Can I call you Matsurina? I’m Matsui Jurina by the way.” the girl didn’t nod nor gesturing anything in particular so the short-haired girl decided to go along calling her by the nickname she just made up.

Jurina knew that the only eating places which open 24 hours were only fast food chains, convenience stores and bars. She intended to take Matsurina to a finer dining, anything as if she was her real client.

“Let’s sit here.” Jurina brought her to a bench near a certain convenience store. She smiled genuinely and told Matsurina to wait before dashing off the store to get two soft ice creams.

“Waiting? Let’s eat before it melts.” Matsurina mumbled an unexcited thank you and instead of having some, she kept staring at it.

“They say ice cream is the best medicine for broken hearts.” Jurina took the girl’s head and leaned it on her shoulder.

“How do you know my heart is broken?”

“Oh, my intuition was correct then. Is that why you decided to jump off the cliff?”

Matsurina answered with a sigh. For a moment they just sat there, enjoying the sweet cold treat. In that peaceful seconds, Jurina’s mind unconsciously wander to the other Matsui who was probably sleeping already, thinking about the summer festival they were about to go tomorrow. 

“He’s cheating on me. And they planned to get married without me knowing.” The suicidal girl broke the silence in a sudden.

“You silly girl.” Jurina said with a chuckle. “He is not worth your dying, okay?”

“He was everything I had…”

“And for him, you’re not.” Though harsh, Jurina couldn’t say anything more comfortable and thinking about sugarcoating lies somehow made her sick.

“Listen, if you died, there are two probabilities. He would either really, really, really sad and mourning about losing you in his entire life, or, he would be amazingly pleased of being able to get rid of you without dirtying his hands. Do you want your meaningless death be laughed by him and his lover?”

Matsurina was listening.

“Don’t make him win twice, dear. You are a pretty, independent and smart being.” Jurina stroke her straight long hair, before tucking the fallen stray to her ear.

“I’ll walk you home.”

When they got into Matsurina’s place, Jurina felt the girl had pressed her body harder onto hers, as if not wanting to apart; her hesitating reaction she animatedly showed back then was nowhere to be seen. That got to the point where the escort felt a pair of moist flesh grazed onto her neck.

“Matsurina?” with the same soothing tone, Jurina called lightly.

“I…I don’t know if I can go through tonight alone….can you stay here a little while?”

Jurina’s mind again wandered to the heiress and her plan about taking her to a festival the next day. However, unable to hold her compassion towards the suicidal girl, she nodded.

“Sure.”

No one remembered who initiated the kiss but here they were, burning in passion, smashing lips fervently as if wanting to eat each other’s faces. While they kissed, suddenly Jurina tasted a salty wetness and she hereby retreat a little only to find that Matsurina was crying again.

“Why are you crying?”

“Because I’m still alive…”

Jurina truly understood the girl still couldn’t let go of her ex-boyfriend completely, let alone casting away the idea of committing suicide. But at least she knew that she had given Matsurina a second thought to reconsider the value of a life. Something she didn’t do for around a year ago and still regretted about. However, as her hands started roaming Matsurina’s body, she intended to make the girl forget anything troubling and feel the pleasure of life though just a bit.

“Go ahead. Cry your whole body out tonight. Let it go, it’s good for you to cry.”     

xxx