Tokyo Puts on Fake Smiles

TWENTY FIRST ACT: Pyromania

Validation of a Definition for Love

We labeled our relationship because it was the appropriate thing to do, but nothing was ever black and white with Kazuhiro.

We, like lines, were destined to meet at some point. It wasn't arbitrary or fleeting, but it was mutual.

He accepted my voice, I accepted his fingers, and vice versa. My touch, cruel, played with him, just as his psyche did with my heart.

At the end of the day, I could only settle for a kiss.

☻☻☻

On the bench in a park near my apartment, I tried not to close my eyelids. It was a stare-down, me against the black cat sitting on the opposite sidewalk.

Is he also running away from his roommate? I wondered with a sigh.

24 years old, Kougami Ayumi, in the middle of one of the coldest autumns of the last decade, found herself in a deserted park around 1:00 AM to avoid the flirting between her roommate and his so-called friend, Ichimura Nanako.

Deep down, I hoped they hadn't... Troubled by the pressure in my chest, I shook my head and turned back to the cat.

"How long do you think they'll take?" I asked.

But my feline friend couldn't answer. Ignoring my question entirely, he lifted his head high and continued on his way, slipping into a narrow alley, from which I saw the small white head of another cat appear. Or rather, a queen, since at that moment, he mounted her.

"Do you realize I was precisely running away from that?" I clicked my tongue.

I looked up, hoping to lose myself in the vast dark sky, but all I saw was the huge canopy of the tree under which I was sitting.

"Eh?" And one of its leaves fell. Gently, it swayed in the sky. Before it landed on my face, I managed to catch it with my hands.

Yes, 24 years old, Kougami Ayumi. In mid-November and frozen to the bone, I was completely alone, and the universe seemed to be sending me a loud and clear message: get your damn self home.

But no matter how much I wanted to get up and walk back to my apartment, the image of that kiss kept replaying in my mind, raising my body temperature and persistently pinching my chest.

How should I present myself? It was an intimate moment. It's late, but... I looked around at the dark streets, dimly lit by the streetlights. There should be a hotel a few meters from here.

Although I wanted to think that Kazuhiro would worry about me if I didn't come home all night, it comforted me to know that Ichimura would keep him sufficiently distracted to not think about me.

"Who would have thought..." I looked at the leaf in my hands, "I always run away," and I let it fall to the ground.

I stood up, put on my bag, and after giving myself two pats on the cheeks, took the first step. But on the second, I stopped, turned towards the alley where the cats were, and gave a small bow, "Goodbye, it's been a pleasure meeting you," and I left.

☻☻☻

I walked as slowly as I could, fearing encountering something inappropriate, but even almost dragging my feet along the sidewalk, it took me just over ten minutes to reach the apartment.