Chapter 5:

CH-5 (HER NOT-SO-EVERYDAY LIFE)

Unfinished residue

It was already past the time she usually woke up.

As her phone buzzed, she reluctantly snoozed off her alarm.

It was 7 a.m.

Clearly, later than the time she usually wakes up.

*YAWN*

She was clearly exhausted.

And why wouldn’t she be? She had been pulling all-nighters consecutively for three whole days. Eventually, it was no surprise that sleep deprivation would start taking a toll on her body. She was usually never late to sleep.

But this time, it was different. Even though she had no deadlines to meet, no editors to report to, no ongoing projects at hand, she was still pulling all-nighters.

Why? Well, simply because she had a manuscript to finish. As such, she couldn’t even get a wink of sleep.
She had worked on countless projects previously before, some even more demanding than the rest.

For example, during the creation of “Forever was never ours”, she was under immense pressure by her agency. Weekly deadlines, mandatory meetings every Tuesdays and Fridays, even listening to her editor ramble about her recent heartbreak, and whatnot. Yet, she had still managed to get three hours of consistent sleep, daily.

But this time, it was different. This “personal project”, of hers was robbing her off her sleep.

Why?

Because, it was special to her.

She knew she didn’t have much time to finish it.

Yet, she was determined to.

She wanted to see through the end.

And perhaps, write a conclusion that she deemed, was worthy.

Various thoughts raced through her mind as she woke up from her bed, and stood in front of the mirror in her room.

“Looks like I’ve got some serious dark circles under my eyes.

Shit! Kouhai-kun might lecture me again, if he finds out about this. Tell me to take better care of myself. Honestly, he really can be stubborn sometimes, too stubborn for his own good.

Maybe that’s why I-,I-“

She halted her thought process almost instantaneously, as her face went gloomy.

Just then, her alarm began ringing once more.

“Shit! I can’t indulge myself in useless thoughts now! I need to take a shower, before I get late.”

Saying that, she got into her washroom, deciding to take a quick bath.

As she turned on the shower, however, she was met with an unexpected surprise.

“Eeeek-! It’s still cold.

Shit! Let me just turn up the water temperature really quick.”

While the water was getting heated, she decided to apply shampoo on her hair. Finally, when the water temperature reached just about right, she decided to switch on the shower.

“Aaaah……..! Finally! This feels really refreshing.

It feels really good. Feels like I’m melting. It feels like as if all of my stress is washing away.”

After she finished washing her hair, she decided to wash herself, this time, with a hot bathtub.

However, certain memories resurfaced, while she was sitting inside the bathtub.

Kurosawa Emi hated cold water. So much so, that the mere feel of it was enough to earn her disgust.

But more than anything, what she hated the most,

were cold showers.

Maybe because it reminded her of her past.

Of that fateful day.

On that day too,

it was pouring heavily,

And that’s when she met him,

For the first time.

Those memories caused her immense pain, yet were undoubtably precious to her.

Which is why,

she wanted to forget,

and move on.

*BLUB BLUB BLUB*

She was blowing bubbles in her bathtub, and playing with her toy floating duck, while reminiscing about her past,

When suddenly, her thought process came to a halt,

by a voice, which was undoubtedly familiar to her.

“Emi-senpai!

Where are you!

Hurry up!

What’s taking you so long!”

It was the person she expected the least, to barge into her house.

“W-W-W-W-W-W-What are you doing inside my room, Kouhai kun? When did you even arrive in my house? And how the hell did you manage to barge in?”, asked she, while still being inside the bathroom.

“It has already been 40 minutes since my arrival. Also, about barging in, your mother gave me her permission.”, said I, while inspecting her room.

“That still does not explain why you are in my room.”

“Well, your mother was pretty worried about you, since you’ve been consistently pulling all-nighters recently, and in the process, potentially ruining your health. Therefore, she called for me to check up on you.”

“That still does not give you the permission to enter inside my room. How did you even get in?”

“Your mom was kind enough to give me the key to your room. And besides, it’s not as if this is my first time I’m entering your room anyway.

It still looks like a pigsty, just like before, if I do say so myself.”

I mean, can you even blame me? Her bed was messy. Her cupboard, unrecognizable. Her dresses, scattered across the floor. She had littered trash everywhere, including crumbled paper, outdated magazines, juice bottles and wrappers of snacks.

Aside from her reading table, everything else was a mess. It looked like as if a cyclone had left a lasting impression on her room.

As I was attempting to pick them up, and clean the mess, Emi-senpai came out, and started throwing shower bottles and buckets at me. She must have lost her temper because of the constant teasing I had subjected her to.

“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Stop it, senpai!

Ouch! That hurt!”

“It’ll hurt more, if you don’t get out, RIGHT NOW!”

I mean, she is called “The president with an iron claw” for nothing.

Well, I decided to get back at her, as revenge.

“Your cleavage is visible, you know?”

She bashfully covered herself, before staring daggers at me.

“I didn’t know that you were such a pervert, that you had no sense of decency, Emi-senpai.”

I guess, I was pushing my luck with these insults, for, she decided to throw stuff yet again. This time, it was a bucket that hit my forehead.

“Ouch! Now that really hurt, Emi senpai!”

said I, as I rubbed my forehead in the process, while falling on the floor.

Meanwhile, Emi-senpai had already changed into her bathrobe. Maybe seeing me writhing in pain might’ve invoked her inner kindness, as she decided to help me out.

“Here, Kouhai-kun! Grab my hand!”, said she, while extending her palm towards me.

I grabbed on, and attempted to make my stand.

Unfortunately, looks like God probably had other plans for me, for, I accidentally lost my balance in the process, and fell directly over her.

I could smell her lavender shampoo, and her rosemary bodywash, as her sweet smell emanated from her body, while she was staring at my face, in bewilderment.

Her hair, smooth as silk. Her skin, as clear and smooth as porcelain, and her face was devastatingly beautiful, with lips glossy with a shade of crimson.

Looking at her like this makes me wonder, what if the other students saw her in this state? The nickname they gave her clearly doesn’t justify her.

I don’t know what came over me, as I instinctively decided to touch her cheeks.

“Kouhai-kun!”

Her words returned me to my senses, as I realised the situation I was in. I immediately backed off, realising the grave situation I had brought myself into. I closed my eyes, expecting her to reprimand me, while bashing my head against the wall with her bare hands.

But nothing of that sort happened.

Instead, what I got was a light tap on my forehead.

“Heheh… Seriously, Kouhai-kun! You can be a real klutz sometimes.”

“Look who’s talking.”, said I, embarrassed, trying to deflect the conversation.

“Crap! It’s getting late! I guess I’ll have my breakfast before changing into my school uniform”, said she, as she hurried down the stairs.

Meanwhile, I caught a glimpse of her reading table, that’s she uses to write her masterpieces. It was nothing notable, except, something caught my eye.

It was a black pen.

“So, you are still using it, huh?” I murmured to myself, as I made my exit from her room with a smile.

___________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, at the ground floor, was Akeno, chatting with Mrs. Kurosawa, Emi-senpai’s mother, while Emi-senpai was busy having her breakfast.

“I’m so glad to meet you, Akeno-chan!”

“Likewise, Okaa-san!”

“Honestly, you really are such a lovely girl, like the articles say. Not at all like this slob of a daughter of mine.”

“I can hear you, mom!”, retorted Emi-senpai, with a mouthful of toasted bread, packed with jam.

“Hahahaha! You flatter me, Okaa-san! But, Emi senpai is also really amazing! I mean, she alone handles the responsibility of the student council president, not to mention, gets really good grades. If anything, she’s my ideal woman. Maybe if I were a boy, I might’ve definitely fallen for her. Sure, she can be mean and hot-headed sometimes, but it’s because she worries about others, and always tries to do what’s best for them.

After all, she is a daughter of a lovely lady such as yourself.”

Both Emi-senpai and Mrs. Kurosawa’s eyes widened in response to that.

“My my! You sure know how to flatter me!

Here-, as a token of my appreciation, have these pork buns I made. Emi told me that they were your favourites, so I made some for you guys!”

Well, if you know anything about Akeno, it’s that the only thing she can never resist are pork buns. I mean, most of the girls that I personally know of, are foodies.

Is this a pattern? Or am I just overthinking things?

Anyways, I could see Akeno was trying her best to reject Mrs. Kurosawa’s offer, as an act of politeness. I mean, you could basically see her mouth drooling, as she tried to hold off her hands.

Actresses seriously have it rough, having to constantly worry about their body image, and whatnot.

“Just give in!”, said Emi-senpai, while eating her omelette.

“It’s not everyday that you get to taste mom’s cooking, Akeno! Rest assured. If there is anything I still can’t beat my mom in, it’s got to be her cooking skills. I mean, she’s literally a monster when it comes to her cooking.”

“Hey! You are pretty good yourself too, Emi-senpai!”, said I, while munching on my share of some of the delicious pork buns that Mrs. Kurosawa made for us. “I mean, the cookies that you made for me in the home economics room were really tasty!”

I could sense something was wrong, as I uttered those words, as what followed was pin-drop silence. Did I just say something that I shouldn’t have?

“D-D-D-D-Don’t just go around saying embarrassing stuff out loud!”, said Emi-senpai, blushing.

“HOHOHO! What is this that I’m hearing? Is this why you repeatedly requested me to teach you how to bake cookies? So that you could feed your precious ‘Kouhai-kun’?”, said Mrs Kurosawa, grinning, eyeing me.

“Hmph! So, what if I did? I wanted to practice my cooking skills, and Kouhai-kun seemed to be the perfect guinea-pig for me to test it out. It was all in my grand scheme of things, so that I could finally beat you in cooking one day.”, said she, while gulping down her milk.

”Yeah, sure sure! We’ll see.”, replied Mrs Kurosawa, sarcastically.

Sigh......! Like mother, like daughter.

“Senpai! Looks like you’ve got some white moustache from the milk.”, said I, while attempting to clean it with my handkerchief.

“I can take care of it myself! ”, said she, bashfully, wiping it clean, before running off upstairs to change into her school uniform.

___________________________________________________________________________

“I’m really glad that Emi has got new friends now, in high school.”, said Mrs. Kurosawa.

“Before, she used to be socially reclusive, distant, and really quiet. Sometimes, she would skip school deliberately, without any reason. This was prominent while she was in middle school. Thankfully, she started to change for the better, when she entered high school.

It looks like now she has made genuine friends. Everyday must feel fresh to her, for she showcases a wide variety of emotions across her face, emotions that she wasn’t capable of expressing before.

Thank you, for really being good friends with her.”, saying, she bowed to us, to express her gratitude.

Then, looking a bit forlorn, she said, “My little girl has grown up quite a lot. Honestly, a lot has happened in the past, things that she probably isn’t willing to discuss anytime soon. However, within a span of 1-2 years, she changed so much, that sometimes, I wonder if she’s the same little girl of mine as before. While she puts up a positive front, she is the type to really push herself to her absolute breaking point, when the time arrives.”

Then, she grabbed my hands, looked directly into my eyes, and said,

“Whenever that happens,

I want you,

her precious ‘Kouhai-kun’,

to stop her from destroying herself.

This is my one and only request,

as her mother, to the people she considers her dearest.”

I replied, instantaneously, without a moment of hesitation,

“I will, no matter what it takes.”

“Thank you!”, said she, with tear droplets rolling down her eyes.

Meanwhile, Emi-senpai already made her descent from upstairs.

“What are you guys even talking about?”, she asked, inquisitively.