Noriko
shook her head while she waited for Kuri to open the door. It was her
first time here, and she regretfully accepted that she was a little
curious. While she would have
preferred to stay with Urufu in the Haven something in Christina’s
voice told her that wasn’t really an option.
But why me and
not Kyoko?
Suddenly
the door clicked open and Christina’s voice called ‘please enter’
over a hidden intercom.
Noriko
did as bidden and got inside.
Two
pair of shoes waited for her in the hallway, and when Noriko looked
into an enormous living room she saw Kuri waving.
“I’ll
be outside for a while,” Christina said to whomever her guest was.
Then she ran to Noriko and hugged her. “I’m sorry, but I can’t
help her. Please forgive me!”
Her?
“What’s going on?”
“It’s
Jennifer. She’s in a bad shape, and I don’t think I’m the one
she needs listening.”
No, no you
didn’t! Now it was too late to
back out. “You owe me for this!”
“I
know,” Christina said, “but I could never understand her the way
you could,” she whispered.
You
insensitive bitch! Why would I want to relive that?
“You owe me,” Noriko repeated.
Christina
didn’t answer. She just opened the door and vanished into the lift.
Noriko
clenched her fists and with worms crawling down her spine she forced
her feet into the living room. When she entered it she saw Jennifer’s
small body hunched in a chair by a large table in the next room.
Of course this
flat comes with a separate dining room. Gods it’s huge!
“Jeniferu,
it’s me,” she said into the silence.
No
answer.
“Noriko,”
Noriko added at a lack of
anything meaningful
to say. Of course Jeniferu would know. I
didn’t know walking trough a room could take this long. But it
didn’t have anything to do with the room. Two years. It
takes two years to walk to that table.
Memories
of what had almost happened filled her mingled with the knowledge
that there was nothing almost for Jeniferu. Urufu saved me,
but Tomasu never made it in time for you. Did
that make Urufu better than Tomasu? Noriko didn’t think so, not if
she was honest, but she also admitted she might have fallen in love
with Urufu the first time just because he did save her.
“She
left me. She didn’t want to talk with me.” The words petered out
and Noriko heard how they were replaced by, first silent, but quickly
wailing sobs.
I’ll
never forgive you Kuri! But Noriko knew she would,
even if it took a long time. Who told her about what happened to
me? Ryu? But then Noriko remembered she herself had told both
Principal Nakagawa and the entire student council last year.
She
rushed to the table and sat down on a chair beside Jeniferu. “She’s
scared,” Noriko heard herself say. She put her hands on the table.
Right now she wasn’t certain if a hug would make the girl panic or
not.
“She?”
Noriko
threw Jeniferu a glance. Maybe they would talk after all, or Noriko
talk, or Jeniferu; she didn’t know. “Kuri,” she said after a
moment’s hesitation.
“Kuri’s
scared? Of what?”
“Urufu
was as well,” Noriko answered. In ways it was a lie, but she
believed he was. She hadn’t asked yet. “They
don’t know what it’s like.” Suddenly afraid of stealing
Jeniferu’s fear Noriko added: “And neither do I, not really.”
“Then
why did she leave you with me?” Jeniferu said and broke down again.
Good question,
Noriko thought. Then she
discarded it. Thinking like that was too close to the cynical
freshman version of herself
from over a year ago.
“Because,”
Noriko began. She dared touching Jeniferu’s shoulder to get her
attention. “In middle
school some boys tried to rape me.”
That
did get
her attention. Jeniferu’s
eyes were suddenly wide open and she stopped sobbing at once.
“Did
they...”
“No,”
Jeniferu’s experience was far worse than Noriko’s, “Urufu saved
me, Urufu and my brother.” Which
wasn’t entirely true. Ryu had been too far away to know she needed
saving.
“I’ve
been so afraid.” And Jeniferu’s eyebrows once again screwed up in
a display of misery.
Noriko
waited while Jeniferu cried and cried. Holding
her seemed fine, and when Jeniferu turned her head and buried her
face into Noriko’s shoulder she did the same. Fears she had
forgotten surfaced and she joined Jeniferu in her wailing.
How
much time passed before they stopped crying Noriko didn’t know, but
certainly more than
for any errand Kuri used as an excuse for leaving her flat.
“Dad
wants me to talk with someone,” Jeniferu said when they had both
run out of tears.
Noriko
stood heating water for some tea and turned at the sound of
Jeniferu’s voice.
“And
you?”
Jeniferu
shook her head. “Not with a stranger.”
A
small cup with sugar made company on the tray where tea bags competed
for space with two mugs and an equally small can of milk.
“A
professional,” Noriko said carrying the set through the room.
“Living room?”
Jeniferu
nodded and rose from her chair. Brown hair, some of it still wet from
tears bobbed around her face and failed in it’s attempt to hide her
red eyes.
Wonder if I
look the same.
Noriko
put the tray on a low table by a sofa, the two pieces of furniture
that tried to hide in the huge space. Now when she wasn’t occupied
with her and Jeniferu’s shared fear she had time to see how the
entire flat screamed of desolation.
“A
professional,” Noriko repeated when Jeniferu joined her. “I
believe you need one.” She looked around the empty room. “I
believe Kuri needs one as well.”
“Do
you mean Kuri...”
“No,”
Noriko said and smiled for the first time since coming here. “For a
different reason.”
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