by Kayla Morgan
Concern rose in his voice. “Shit, you’re shivering again. I’d better get Obaa-chan.” He turned to leave again, but Emily held onto his arm even tighter.
“Akio,” she begged. “Please stay. Don’t leave me.”
His dark eyes softened. He ran his free hand through his hair and sighed. “If I sit with you, will you go back to sleep? You won’t get better if you don’t get some rest.”
She nodded.
He grabbed his pillow off the floor and carefully slid under the covers. His face was very pink, which Emily didn’t understand. She was just happy. Happy that he was here now. Without hesitation, Emily cuddled up against his chest and sighed with relief
Akio glanced down at her relaxed expression. “Better?”
Emily nodded into his chest. It was only seconds later that her breathing slowed, and she could feel herself falling back to sleep.
The weight she was laying on shifted. (What was it again? Her brain was too tired to remember.) Then, she felt two arms wrap around her. Something soft and warm pressed gently against her forehead.
“Good night, Emily-chan,” the voice told her. And then she was asleep.
chapter seventeen
Her body was encased in a blanket of clouds as she floated gently across the breeze. Far below, she could see daisies blooming and animals scampering across the fields. She was so warm and comfortable. Her arm shifted again across the object she was clinging to as she floated. She hadn’t gotten a good look at it yet, but it felt strong and solid. But also soft. She nuzzled her face deeper into it. It also smelled sooo nice. Like tea...jasmine tea.
Emily’s eyes flew open, and the lovely dream was shattered.
Barely breathing, Emily slowly scanned the room. There was a light blue dresser with clothes still hanging out of the drawers, a desk overflowing with textbooks, and a nightstand filled with framed photos of their friends. The picture staring back at her was from their trip to Akihabara. The one where she was blowing kisses at the camera with the cosplay girls.
Emily desperately tried to breathe, but her lungs had completely forgotten the basic function.
The body under her arm and cheek shifted slightly and let out the small groan of someone still deep in sleep.
In horrified wonder, Emily slowly, painfully slowly, shifted her face until her eyes landed on Akio’s sleeping face.
She shrieked and launched backwards, almost falling off the side of the bed. Akio bolted up.
“Wha-what’s going on?” His brown eyes still trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. His arms lifted to rub his eyes but stopped mid-air when he noticed Emily staring at him in horror from the edge of the bed.
“Wh—?”
That was all she could stammer out. Emily pointed frantically back and forth between her and Akio.
“Emily-chan, I can explain!” he assured her, but his reddening face only made her heart race faster.
Then she caught a glimpse of the clothes she was wearing. His clothes.
“Ohmygod,” she panicked and pulled on the baggy sweatshirt. “Did we—?”
“No! No! Nothing happened!” Akio exclaimed with panic. “Last night we went to the shrine to listen to the New Year’s Eve bell, but you ended up falling in the snow and twisting your ankle. I had to carry you back here to my grandmother’s inn. Remember? You were mad at me for embarrassing you, so you had to ride on my back instead?”
Fuzzy images of people staring at her while Akio carried her through the snow floated back into her memory. She nodded and then peeled back the covers to examine her ankle. A purple bruise covered most of the area, but it was only a little swollen now.
“Your grandma…brought me tea, right?”
“Yes!” Akio exclaimed, looking relieved.
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re in bed with me,” Emily mumbled, staring down at the comforter.
Akio burst into babbling. “Well, you also had a little bit of hypothermia, you know because of your wet clothes? That’s why you’re in my clothes. You had to change! Of course I waited. I waited outside, and um, you changed yourself. And then you woke up in the middle of the night. You were totally freaking out! You couldn’t remember where you were or what was going on. I’ve heard that happens sometimes with hypothermia? Because you get so cold? Anyway, you didn’t want me to stay on the floor. You said you didn’t want to be alone. And so…and so you begged me to stay here…with you. So I did.”
Emily was so red she would have put a fox’s coat to shame. She hid her face behind her hands to try and block out the humiliation. New fuzzy memories began creeping in. Being sprawled out on the bed in Akio’s clothes saying something that had made him incredibly embarrassed. Her body cuddling up against him without fear. The feeling of soft lips on her forehead.
Her hand shot up to the spot on her forehead where she remembered that last feeling. Akio looked panicked as she touched the spot, but he didn’t say a word.
Had he—?
A knock on the door made them both jump. Mrs. Kenzou’s voice floated through the door. “Akio-kun? Are you and Emily-chan awake?”
Akio burst out of bed and ran out the door to talk to his grandmother, accidentally slamming the door so hard that it rattled the pictures on his bed stand.
Emily melted into the blankets in relief. She needed a temporary halt from all of this awkwardness. Her heart was pounding so hard she was afraid she’d end up passing out. As she took deep breaths to try and calm down, everything that just happened washed over her.
Emily Marie Johnson, you stayed in a guy’s bed last night. And there’s a chance you flirted with him. And not just with any guy, but with Akio, who is only supposed to be your friend. The one that you are sooo not allowed to get close to right now.
A quiet groan left her lips as she chastised herself. “Way to screw up everything, Johnson.”
Well, maybe not everything. She touched her wig which was still stuck in place with all her annoying bobby pins. At least that secret hadn’t come out last night. However, now she had a horrible headache from them digging into her head all night long. So that was fun.
Akio stepped back in the room a few moments later while Emily was still wallowing in self-pity. She shot back up and stared at him, covering herself with the comforter. Which was absolutely ridiculous since she was wearing his huge, baggy sweatshirt that didn’t reveal anything it wasn’t supposed to.
Akio’s arms were crossed, and his eyes kept darting around the room, barely able to focus on her for more than a millisecond. “Obaa-chan wants us to go back to the shrine with her today for hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the year,” Akio explained. “It’s when we make our wishes for the New Year. She wants to know if you’re able to walk yet.”
Emily slid out of bed and carefully set her foot down on the ground. Slowly standing up, her foot ached a little but not enough to be a problem.
“A couple aspirins and I should be fine,” Emily answered. “Man, what did your grandma put in that tea? I thought my ankle was totally done for when I fell last night.”
Akio shrugged and gave her a small glimpse of one of his old easy-going smiles. “She’s a miracle worker.”
“No kidding,” Emily agreed. She was glad he finally managed to look at her again.
They stood in awkward silence; neither one sure what the next move should be. The pressure was killing her, so Emily finally spoke up. “I suppose...I shouldn’t wear these clothes out in public, huh?”
“Oh right!” Embarrassed Akio was back again. “Gomen. Obaa-chan said that your clothes are dry now. She even laid them out, so they wouldn’t wrinkle. I’ll go grab them for you.”
Dressed in her own clothes again and with a stomach full of Mrs. Kenzou’s delicious New Year’s Day breakfast, Emily plodded alongside Akio in the crowd of people headed towards the shrine. Mrs. Kenzou was in front, leading the way. It was warmer today, so all of the horrible ice and snow had been reduced to sloshy piles of slush. It reminded her of
the gray slosh they used to have back home. Normally, it would disgust her, but today, with her tender ankle, she was grateful for the depressing slop. It was better than more ice.
The long line to the shrine gave Emily lots of time to think, which she did not enjoy. Mrs. Kenzou had already remarked multiple times that Emily “reminded her of someone”. But instead of connecting her to “Clarissa-chan”, she kept asking if she was related to her longtime friend Watanabe Shizuku. But Mrs. Kenzou was sharp for her age. Emily figured it wouldn’t be long before she finally put the pieces together, and then Emily’s secret would be out.
Plus, there was that super-fun fact that the guy who she had “slept” with last night was a nanosecond away from her, making it hard to breathe the air around her, let alone form rational thoughts.
Weirdly enough, Akio seemed like his old self again. There was almost an air of peace around him that Emily would have loved to borrow. He had also been embarrassed this morning! Why did he get to be normal again while she was stuck being a basket-case?
When it was finally their turn to pray, Emily’s anime-watching skills (plus the handy-dandy direction sign) helped her keep up with the others. They bowed twice, clapped their hands twice, and then bowed again to silently say their wishes for the coming year.
Hands and eyes clasped tight, Emily fervently wished for her interview to go well. That Nakamura-sensei’s brother would see her artwork and be impressed. That she could please, please, please get the internship. When she opened her eyes, Mrs. Kenzou was already done and had walked off to get her fortune for the year. Akio was waiting patiently beside her.
“Gomen. I guess I took too long.”
“It’s okay. There’s no rush,” he assured her, although the gigantic line behind them looked like they disagreed.
As they made their way down the steps, Akio questioned her. “Were you praying for your internship?”
Emily laughed and replied with fake shock, “How did you know?”
Once they picked up their yearly fortunes, Akio smiled widely at his. He refused to let Emily see it, which was so annoying. Emily’s fortune predicted bad luck, so she tied it on to one of the dedicated strings to ward off her bad fortune.
“What did you end up wishing for, Akio-kun?” Emily finally asked.
Akio’s eyes had a soft gleam, and he broke out into a huge grin. He kept his gaze straight ahead as he answered, “I prayed for a wish to come true.”
Emily rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, no kidding. I figured that much. What was it about? Was it about your photography?”
“No,” he replied mysteriously. The cold wind picked up and tousled his already messy hair, making him look even more handsome than before. Emily’s heart skipped a few beats.
“For a wish that I can’t tell you yet,” he finally answered.
“What? Why not?” Emily asked with a laugh. She shoved him out of annoyance.
His boyish grin crept back up. “Because it’s a secret!” he replied. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Emily groaned. “But I hate waiting! Akio-kuuun!”
He shrugged. “You know, I guess I could give you a hint, if you can catch me before I get to the gate.”
“But I’ve got a bad ankle!”
Akio gave her a little sorry-not-sorry wave and began jogging away.
“Akio!” she shouted, but she was laughing all the same as she hobbled after him through the crowd.
But, of course, with his long legs, her bruised ankle, and the thousands of people surrounding them, she never stood a chance.
chapter eighteen
“Well, we’re officially broken up,” Michi announced as soon she entered their dorm after the break.
Emily looked up from her portfolio and got up to help Michi drag all her stuff back in the dorm. She had taken more than Emily would have for only one week back at home, but who was Emily to judge people and their life choices? “So you just broke up, like right before you walked in this door?”
Michi snorted. “Of course not. We broke up last night at the Korean barbeque restaurant down the street. I just thought announcing it as soon as I came through the door sounded so much more enthralling.”
“You’re so dramatic,” Emily replied with an eye roll. But truth be told, she was happy to see a smile on her best friend’s face. “So how did he take it?”
“He said he knew it was coming. We want different things in life. And as he so delicately put it, he ‘needs to fully focus on his business plans, and he doesn’t have time to fool with my ‘long-shot feminine dreams’.”
“Oh my kami-sama, he’s the worst. I still can’t believe how two-faced he is.”
Michi stretched out on her bed. “The pretty ones always are,” she said with a sigh.
“Well, if I ever see him again, I’m going to kick his ass. There is no way I’m letting him get away with treating you like that!”
“I would so pay to see that fight. ‘The shrimp in the wig versus the starter of the soccer team’,” Michi announced with a not-very-ladylike-snort. “You know I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t stand a chance. Do you even know how to throw a punch?”
Emily crossed her arms and frowned back at Michi. “Well, no. But I could really…lay into him. I have quite a few words that I would say that could really beat him down. And also how hard is it really to kick someone in the groin?”
Michi snorted. “That certainly would be a sight! And, speaking of words, how’s your portfolio? Is it done?”
“It is, actually.” Emily paused. She hadn’t let anyone see any of her portfolio so far. Akio had asked once at the beginning of the project, and she had practically bitten his head off. Because of that little incident, none of the other friends had even dared. But Emily knew she had to start showing people before she let Mr. Nakamura see it.
She took a huge breath. “Doyouwannaseeit?”
Michi popped up. “Really? You’re going to let another human finally lay their eyes on the famous portfolio project? I thought only the gods themselves were allowed such privileges.”
Emily retorted with a deadpan reply. “Keep it up and you won’t show you at all.”
“No! No! I’ll be good!” Michi pleaded with a smile that was half serious and half laughing. “I really want to see it.”
Emily crossed the room, sketchbook in hand. “Fine,” she replied, “but I expect some serious feedback. I need to know everything wrong, so I can make it perfect for Mr. Nakamura.” She handed the portfolio over to Michi with an intense glare.
“You’re really going to have to stop it with this ‘perfect’ nonsense, Emi-chan,” Michi scolded her. “It’s never going to be perfect. You’re only a third-year in college. There’s always going to be room for improvement.”
Emily shook her head. “Nope, not good enough. I cannot embarrass myself in front of Mr. Nakamura. Now, critique me.”
Michi shook her head in dismay but plunged into the portfolio as instructed. At first, Emily stood and watched, but Michi flipped so slowly through the pages that Emily was certain she’d drown in her own panic sweats before Michi ever finished. When she finally couldn’t take it anymore, Emily began pacing the length of their dorm room.
After a millennium, Michi finally looked up. “It looks great, Emi! I especially liked the story about you discovering anime with your grandmother. It was such a sweet story.”
Emily stood wide-eyed and waiting in terrified anticipation. “And…?”
Michi raised an eyebrow at her. “And nothing. I’m serious, Emi-chan. It looks great!”
“But is it perfect?”
“It’s perfect.”
Emily sighed and took the book back. “Well, you are absolutely no help. I guess I’m going to have to reach out to Akio-kun after all. You’re too closely invested in our friendship to see the errors.”
“And the boy who is in love with you is going to see it instead?”
“Akio-kun is not in lov
e with me,” Emily reminded Michi for the millionth time. “Plus, he’s an artist. He’ll be able to see the flaws.”
The next day, Emily met with Akio at Hamada’s coffee shop. It had a real name, but the whole group had just taken to calling it Hamada’s, despite his many protests.
Hamada wasn’t working today, but Akio had told Emily that he was planning to stop by later to talk to them both about something.
“What about?” Emily inquired.
“I actually don’t know,” Akio admitted. “He usually tells me everything, but he’s been really quiet about whatever this is.”
Her worried brain-wheel started turning. “I hope everything’s okay. Do you think something’s wrong at home or something?”
“I doubt it. Hamada usually gets that ‘suffering artist’ look on his face when something’s wrong. And I haven’t seen it this time.”
“You’re probably right. But maybe we should talk about our theories on that a little bit more? I mean he is our friend after all.”
Kami-sama, she was such a coward. She was stalling, and she wasn’t even doing it well.
But Akio saw right through her little anxiety scheme. “We can discuss our weird friend after you hand over that portfolio.”
Emily cringed but handed it over. Why was her heart racing so fast? When she had given Michi the project last night, she had been nervous. But now she felt like she was going to hurl all over this beautiful wooden table in front of her. She had also lost feeling in her her toes and fingers, which was a super-fun new addition to her normal symptoms.
“I need you to be honest with me,” Emily explained, though her voice shook with nerves. “No matter how much it might hurt my feelings. I need it to be perfect for Mr. Nakamura.”
“Understood.”
Last night, Emily couldn’t stand still during Michi’s evaluation. Now, she was completely paralyzed to her seat. The rest of her body was frozen in place while her eyes searched frantically over Akio’s face for any sign of what he might be thinking. He smiled. He nodded more than once. His eyebrows scrunched a couple times, and he gave more than one head-tilt.