#57: City Orange
April. Early morning. Kyōdō, Setagaya Ward.
Sunlight streamed into the east-facing living room. The sounds filling the flat were a news programme playing continuously on the television, the whir of the extractor fan, a pot of miso soup for two bubbling away, and the plaintive, needy cry of a cat.
“Just a moment, Mimosa.”
Already changed into her work clothes and wearing an apron, Kurosu Mikoto turned the hob down to low and took a tin of cat food from a cardboard box beside the kitchen. The moment she set the dish before Mimosa, who regarded her with the imperious air of a queen demanding that she “hurry up”, the cat began devouring her early breakfast with single-minded enthusiasm.
“Go wake your mistress once you’ve finished eating, okay?”
Mikoto murmured the words almost to herself as she held down a spring onion with her ring-adorned fingers and chopped it. Mimosa finished her meal, gave a little “nyaaow”, and gracefully walked from beside the kitchen towards her mistress’s bedroom.
And then—
“Ouch!?”
Her mistress’s scream rang through the flat.
This was a regular morning ritual. Queen Mimosa’s loving greeting of Wake up already was a gentle bite with absolutely no gentleness whatsoever, intended to drag her mistress from the depths of her luxurious sleep.
Hearing the scream, Mikoto smiled happily as she stood in the kitchen.
Breakfast today was pure Japanese fare: rice and miso soup for two, thinly sliced ham, and fried eggs. The salad, however, was only for one. Once she had finished arranging everything on the low table in the living room, the mistress finally appeared, dishevelled blonde hair flying in every direction, accompanied by a tremendous yawn. Her loosened pyjama collar revealed her bare right shoulder.
“Gooh mornin’, Miko’to…”
“Good morning, Shandy-san.”
Their life together in the two-bedroom flat in Kyōdō had begun.
And so the mornings of Kurosu Mikoto and Charlotte Gabriel would begin from here on out.
＊
Yesterday.
Mikoto had finally given up her one-room flat in Machida and moved into Shandy’s home in Kyōdō, bringing only the bare minimum of her possessions. The fact that they had both finally taken the plunge, combined with the impulsive proposal that had resulted from the Waltz of the Flowers incident, had led them to restart their life together under the same roof.
In other words, this was the first morning for the two women, now practically half-engaged.
After finishing their hectic morning preparations, Mikoto relaxed in the living room while waiting for the time to leave for work. Shandy, apparently finally awake, brought her a cup of coffee.
“One sugar, no milk. It’s hot, so please be careful.”
“Have you changed careers from bartender to barista?”
“Well, I’m taking a little break for the time being.”
“Fwaaah…”
Shandy gave a sleepy yawn and began flicking through the television channels with the remote.
Every station was covering little besides the new virus that was spreading across the country. Watching the news, Mikoto thought that the Three Cs and social distancing would surely become this year’s buzzwords.
This unprecedented global pandemic had dramatically changed people’s lives. Its effects were spreading into all sorts of areas.
“Is it really okay to close antiqua? What about money?”
“Yes. I have enough savings to live off for the next six months. Though there are hardly any places to go for fun at the moment, with everyone being asked to stay home.”
“Really? I’m surprised you were diligently saving money all this time, Shandy-san. And that you were actually making a profit…”
“I have plenty of regular customers besides you, Mikoto. Recently, Toko-san and Kotone-san had also been dropping by from time to time.”
“Come to think of it, Kotone was complaining about it. She said she couldn’t go out casually because if the paparazzi caught her enjoying herself somewhere, it’d cause a scandal.”
“Fufu. It’s tough being a popular star.”
Naturally, Mikoto’s life had changed now that she and Shandy had officially begun living together. But the circumstances of those close to them had also changed dramatically with the times.
First, there was Shandy, the bartender at the girls’ bar antiqua, where Mikoto lived. A bar, the very embodiment of the Three Cs—crowded spaces, enclosed spaces, and close contact, was now entering an extended period of temporary closure. And since cocktails could not legally be sold as takeaway, there was essentially nothing Shandy could do. She was practically unemployed.
Then there was Mikoto’s younger sister, actress Kurosu Kotone. The theatrical release of the film in which she played the lead had been postponed. Filming for her drama had been postponed. The variety shows she had been scheduled to appear on for promotional purposes had, naturally, been cancelled. As for her stage production, that had been cancelled outright. Her only remaining job was the daytime radio programme on which she was a regular.
Even though her reduced workload had left her with plenty of free time, she couldn’t go out and enjoy herself, so for now she was sulking in self-imposed confinement at her Yokohama flat.
“Your company isn’t taking a break, then, Mikoto?”
“We can’t get anything done without going in. I talked to Rinko-san about it too. We were saying how jealous we are of Sanae-san’s Hibiya Trading.”
Even among salaried workers, the impact varied.
Employees of Meiji Stationery, Mikoto and Rinko were permitted to come into work and have their working hours shortened, but teleworking was not an option. Manufacturing was all about physical goods. As long as the factories continued operating, there was nothing for desk workers like Mikoto and Rinko to do but come in as well. There was simply no way around it.
Meanwhile, Sanae, who worked for the first-rate trading company Hibiya Trading, had already begun teleworking at the end of the previous month. Apparently she went into the office just once a week; otherwise, she worked from home.
“Having work at all is better than nothing. I’m practically a NEET.”
“Exactly. Apparently my cousin even had her job offer rescinded last month.”
“Your cousin?”
Mikoto showed Shandy an image she had taken directly from a photograph in an old album. Her mother had sent it to her via LINE.
The photograph had been taken thirteen years ago, during a winter visit to Ehime, where her grandmother lived. Fourteen-year-old Mikoto in her school uniform stood beside ten-year-old Kotone, with a girl who appeared to be in the lower years of primary school between them.
Shandy studied the image carefully, then smiled.
“You certainly can’t escape your bloodline. Is the Kurosu family a family of beautiful women?”
“The last time I saw her was at Grandpa’s funeral, so I don’t know if she’s still pretty.”
“What’s her name?”
“Aoi-chan. She’s one year younger than Kotone, so she should be twenty-three this year.”
“Perhaps I should introduce myself? Tell her she’s going to have a new relative?”
“Ah, no…”
Shandy’s hair was loose, her appearance entirely off-duty, and her amber eyes gleamed. This was not the woman of the night, but Mikoto’s lover, her half-fiancée.
For an instant, the conclusion of the Waltz of the Flowers incident flashed through Mikoto’s mind. Her face immediately grew hot.
“Oh, my. You made such a wonderfully dashing proposal, yet you’re blushing like a child? Fufu.”
“Y-you…! If you’re going to say that, you were embarrassed too, Shandy-san!”
“No, I wasn’t. That was acting.”
With a quiet giggle, Shandy lied again.
There was no way that embarrassment, those tears, had been an act. It had been painfully obvious.
But Mikoto did not immediately press her on the lie. Rather, the moment she was confronted with one of Shandy’s lies, Mikoto’s back instinctively straightened. She always felt like trading verbal blows with her. It was a habit she had had ever since they first met.
“…Oh, I see. I didn’t notice at all. I thought Shandy-san had trusted me.”
“Fufu. I’m sure I’ve told you many times how to make me trust you, Mikoto-san?”
Shandy was alluring, mischievous, beautiful. There was no way to read her intentions from her expression. The true feelings hidden beneath layers of lies and mysteries remained just as unknowable as they had been when they first met.
And yet Mikoto knew.
Shandy was a proud, high-handed queen. She was a shy woman who refused to speak her true feelings plainly. Their suggestive exchanges and mutual probing were, in truth, Shandy’s own roundabout, incomprehensible way of expressing affection.
“So I just need to keep whispering words of love to you?”
“Yes, exactly. If you want to make me belie—”
“I love you.”
Before Shandy could finish, Mikoto looked directly into her eyes and said it.
Naturally, declaring an already obvious love out loud was embarrassing. This was effectively exactly what Shandy had wanted, forcing Mikoto to say it.
But the only way to change the unflappable queen before her was for Mikoto to take the plunge. It was the one strategy she had learned from playing Shandy’s games.
“I love you when you’re sleepy and off your guard.”
“This is a side of me I show only to you. Do you like it?”
“I love it.”
“……”
Shandy’s eyes widened in dismay.
There was only one way to make her honest: Mikoto had to charge headlong into battle, fully prepared to blow herself up in the process.
Mikoto no longer cared what her own face looked like. She stared only into Shandy’s eyes and continued to pour out her love.
“I loved you so much that I wanted to live together.”
“Th-thank you…”
“I’m happy I get to make you breakfast every morning.”
“I-it was delicious…”
Mikoto rose from her chair and gradually approached Shandy.
A blush spread across Shandy’s cheeks, while her amber eyes darted about. She would not meet Mikoto’s gaze. She was thoroughly flustered.
Suddenly, Shandy too left her chair, retreating backwards, little by little, trying to put distance between herself and the advancing Mikoto.
“Why are you avoiding me, Shandy-san?”
“Social distancing.”
“Even after moving in together, you’re keeping your distance?”
“N-no. Our hearts are very close, you know?”
“But when I come closer, you run away.”
“Isn’t that just your imagination?”
“Because you get embarrassed when I look at you up close?”
“W-who knows… What do you think?”
Shandy’s flustered state was adorable.
She retreated until her back finally touched the living-room wall, leaving Mikoto to corner her.
“Let me see your beautiful face up close, Shandy-san.”
“…M-Mikoto-san? Aren’t you embarrassed?”
A little roughly, just as Kotone had done in a film before, Mikoto planted one hand against the wall, cutting off Shandy’s escape.
The classic kabedon.
“If I’m not embarrassed enough for both of us, you won’t believe me, will you, Shandy-san!?”
“Ah… ahh…”
Mikoto stole a kiss from Shandy’s lips.
The instant their lips parted after that brief touch, Shandy responded with a deep kiss of her own. The warm, sweet taste of Shandy’s tongue swept away the lingering flavour of coffee in Mikoto’s mouth, and with it, even the will to go to work that she would need in just a little while.
Her head began to swim.
She grew dazed, and desires that should have been locked away until night began to emerge.
“…I-I should probably leave soon, or I’ll be late.”
If she stayed like this, she would lose to her desires.
Mikoto somehow summoned enough reason to recover her will to work.
But Shandy had caught hold of the hem of her cardigan, her work clothes.
Shandy was looking down, so Mikoto could not see her expression.
“Um, Shandy-san? I really should…”
“…Can’t you take the day off? I might not be able to hold myself back.”
“Fweh!?”
Shandy’s argument, delivered like a child throwing a tantrum, was so unbearably cute that all Mikoto could manage was a strange little noise.
Her will to work vanished once again, and the desire to spend the entire day making love to Shandy reared its head.
“…Mikoto.”
Even so, work was important.
Mikoto somehow held back Shandy as she tried to embrace her, then took a deep breath.
Forget about it for now. Just for now.
She firmly vowed that they would continue where they had left off after she came home from work.
“S-so I’m going to work, okay!”
“Which is more important, your work or me?”
“I-I mean, that’s…”
That terrifying romantic cliché was delivered with an upward glance, and Mikoto involuntarily held her breath.
Then Shandy’s lips burst into a grin.
“…Fufu, ahahaha! Just kidding. I’ve always wanted to say that.”
“D-don’t joke about things that can stop my heart…”
“But you can’t say that cliché unless you’re actually in a relationship.”
Shandy gave her a delighted smile, while Mikoto’s heart kept leaping in her chest.
From now on, she would spend every day in the same space as the woman she loved.
It was unbearably precious.
And unbearably embarrassing.
“Now, off you go. Do your best at work. I’ll devote myself to guarding the home while staying home.”
“Please do…”
Bag in hand, Mikoto made one final check of herself in the full-length mirror by the entrance. In particular, she checked that her face wasn’t still bright red and that her lipstick was in place.
As she did so, Shandy came to see her off, still wearing her pyjamas.
“What time will you be home today?”
“About six, I suppose. If I can finish on time.”
“And drinks tonight?”
“You really are Shandy-san, aren’t you? You didn’t even ask what we’re having for dinner.”
“I can’t cook.”
“Then I’ll pick up some soba at the supermarket.”
“Moving-in soba.”
The blonde woman with amber eyes, looking utterly unlike a Japanese person, casually produced a traditional custom that even Japanese people were liable to forget.
The contrast was so strong that Mikoto burst out laughing.
“Anything else? Any requests for me?”
“Then what sort of underwear would you like me to wear?”
Coming after Shandy’s earlier declaration that she might not be able to hold herself back, the question about underwear carried a very obvious implication.
It was telling Mikoto, without quite saying so, what awaited her when she came home.
“I-I can’t… Stop saying things like that. I won’t be able to work…”
“Fufu. I only asked about underwear.”
Shandy giggled teasingly.
Mikoto had no choice but to look away.
The full-length mirror happened to catch her reflection, revealing a face that looked absurdly embarrassed, which left her even more incapable of saying anything.
“Oh, that’s right. Why don’t we make tonight’s game about whether you can guess what underwear I’m wearing?”
“J-just do whatever you want! I’m leaving!”
“Take care—ah, wait?”
Just as Mikoto opened the front door, Shandy called her back.
Mikoto turned around, and Shandy’s face suddenly filled her vision.
Their lips met.
A surprise kiss that never missed its mark.
“There. Off you go, Mikoto.”
“I-I’m off…”
Mikoto stepped outside and locked the door from the outside.
The moment she did, her legs gave out, and she sank weakly onto the corridor floor of the apartment building.
The intensity of the love Shandy directed at her was incomparable to the woman Mikoto had known as a bartender.
Mikoto was utterly enchanted.
“…Have I completely lost my mind? Am I okay…?”
She was so happy it was almost pathetic.
She was completely love-drunk.
She could no longer laugh at Toko, who clung to Sanae morning and night.
Even so, Mikoto steeled herself to work hard so that she could keep this life going.
She turned Shandy’s love for her into motivation to work and began walking.
“…Ah. I forgot my mask.”
Only after she had started walking did she realise the important thing she had left behind.
The mask was essential, both to protect herself and to protect the Shandy she loved.
She opened the front door again.
Shandy was nowhere to be seen in the entrance. She must have gone back into the living room.
Mikoto remembered that she had packed a stockpile of masks among the belongings she had brought from Machida. She opened the door to her own room and—
“…Shandy-san? What are you doing?”
“Huh!?”
Shandy was lying on Mikoto’s bed.
And the clothes she was clutching while lying there were—
“That’s my pyjamas, isn’t it…?”
“I-is it? I had no idea!”
“No, I’m pretty sure you can’t talk your way out of this one.”
Shandy’s face was bright red.
Of course it was.
No matter how she tried to disguise it, there was no escaping the obvious. Lying on Mikoto’s bed while clutching Mikoto’s pyjamas could hardly mean anything other than enjoying the scent she had left behind.
Mikoto felt a little mischievous.
“…Did you enjoy my lingering scent?”
“I-if you know, then don’t mention it! You idiot, Mikoto!”
“Yes, yes. Please, go right ahead—”
Wham!
The price of her mischief was a pillow flying straight into her face.
Perhaps being happily love-drunk wasn’t such a bad thing after all, Mikoto thought.