That was
close.
Fooling Christina
and Noriko both was harder than he had expected. Playing the buffoon
with Noriko might work, but Ulf needed to make certain Christina got
the message that he’d never be her toy.
How he’d react
should she make it explicit she wanted them to become an item again
he didn’t know. Cave in most likely. He still loved her after all,
but her way of flaunting Ryu in his face made it easier to keep a
distance.
He gobbled up
breakfast as quickly as possible. A trip to Ise seemed like a good
way to get his thoughts elsewhere. With a slightly astonished Noriko
in tow Ulf made his way outdoors where he grabbed hold of Yukio and
Kyoko just as unceremoniously.
Within minutes
all of them shared a taxi. He in the front seat, much to Noriko’s
chagrin, and her seated in the middle in the back seat. That went a
long way to tell Ulf how much Yukio and Kyoko had grown together. The
ever present need for physical closeness had faded, but from the way
they spoke with each other, always giving verbal room for Noriko,
showed an unseen bond between minds which had grown just that much
stronger.
I’m happy
for you. Half a life ago I would have envied you. Ulf smirked and
stared at road ahead. He still did. A little at least. Theirs was not
the sensational love between adults become children again, and
neither was it the tabloid version Christina shared with Ryu now.
Yukio and Kyoko could enjoy what they shared without gawking people
interfering with it time and time again.
With a sigh and
another smirk Ulf turned his attention ahead just as the taxi took
the last curve and parked at the small town train station.
Less than half an
hour’s wait the four of them rode a train in silence. It wasn’t
an awkward silence, nor an angry one. Yukio and Kyoko allowed
themselves to become the children they really were and sat on their
knees with faces glued to the windows and heads together. It was, Ulf
decided, an amazingly cute picture of a young couple in love.
A discrete
shutter sound told him Noriko shared his sentiment, and when he
turned his head he was met by an exaggerated gesture to keep silent.
Not that it was needed. Yukio and Kyoko were immersed in their own
world of two. In any other company what they did would have been very
rude, but Ulf genuinely enjoyed watching the two of them shining with
calm happiness.
A small hand
grabbed his, and he was reminded that there was one more here who
wanted her part of that feeling.
“Noriko?” he
said and glanced at her.
Her other hand
forced him to meet her gaze straight on. “Today you’re mine, so
pay me some attention will you?”
He had
kind of given her that promise. Sure, mostly to keep her lovestruck
nagging at bay, but still. If he didn’t honour his part of the deal
he was an arse.
Giving Noriko her
due he noticed that she had dressed up for the occasion, or at least
dressed up as much as a wardrobe in a luggage allowed. Shorts
accompanied by heels looked strange to him, but here it was just a
natural combination. A part of the doll cute dress code for
adolescent girls and young women. Ulf didn’t really agree with it,
but Christina had made it abundantly clear that when it came to
fashion his opinions were worth less than zero.
A pink top with
something fluffy sewn on that served no function at all apart from
being decoration completed her outfit. It was summer after all.
In contrast his
own khaki shorts and shorts sleeved, likewise khaki shirt probably
made him look like a foreign bum with poor taste in clothes.
A toothy smile
told him Noriko knew what he was thinking.
“That bad?”
he asked.
“Your clothes?
Yeah, they suck,” she said and the smile turned into a wide grin of
approval.
“I don’t
understand.”
“This way I
won’t have any competition. When Kuri picks your clothes you’re…
you know, don’t you?”
“Know what?”
Ulf decided to play dense. He’d never be the kind of girl magnet
that Ryu was, but whenever Christina chose his clothes people turned
their heads after them, and Ulf was honest enough to understand that
all gawks weren’t for her. She had loved showing him off, or rather
showing her acute sense of fashion off.
Noriko poked his
forehead. “Attention!”
“Yes?”
“You’re good
looking enough to make me feel uneasy.”
“Says who?”
“Says the
sister of the prince of Himekaizen.”
There was that of
course. “Why uneasy?”
Noriko fidgeted
and looked down at her hand. The other still held his. “At first I
fell for your looks. I’m a little ashamed of that.”
“My looks?”
“My very own
avenging hero with that delinquent style.”
Oh! She’s
thinking of middle school. “At first?” he said to avoid the
subject. He still fumed at the memories.
“Then I fell
for the geeky you. I know, I have the worst taste in men.”
Well, that hadn’t
lasted for too long. When he became a couple with Christina he gave
that disguise up. Ulf nodded at Noriko’s words. There wasn’t much
he could add.
“But it was the
real you. The you who fell in love with Kuri. That’s the you who
made me love you.”
The conversation
had taken a turn for the worse. Ulf decided against saying anything,
but in keeping his silence he had let Noriko keep the hand she had
taken in hers.
He leaned back in
his seat and watched flashes of summer passing by as the train rode
on.
Sometime later
Noriko fell asleep against his shoulder, and against his better
judgement he allowed her to nestle under his arm.
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