A Confession Lost in the Noise of Sleep Talk

"You have a gift for me," I asked, my eyes widening.

"The purpose of that first set of questions was to see if the gift I bought you was a perfect fit, but of course, you being you, you wouldn't play along," Fumiko said, groaning.

"Oh, sorry about that. Hahaha. I thought it had something to do with your writing, so I thought I'd have a little fun. I really appreciate the effort, Fumiko-san. I really do."

"And not only that, but I'll have to catch up on work soon," she said, with an angry yawn.

That's right. I forgot for a moment that Fumiko was participating in a light novel competition.

"I understand you might be on a time crunch, but maybe you should at least get something inside your stomach."

She looked at the café food repurposed for the sentai theme this month with a renewed reverence. The burger I ordered with the Ravagers' logo on the wrapper, the surprisingly macabre Conqueror's Steak Basket with fried steak pieces that vaguely resembled the heads of the Ravager members, and the drinks that were served in what looked and felt like an actual chalice and goblet respectfully. The money the restaurant had to invest into such high quality props must've cost them a lot for what'll only be marginal profit.

Fumiko began to down the ranger steak heads with extreme prejudice. With how fast she tore through each individual morsel of food, she couldn't be averaging more than two chews per piece. And then she chased down the mouthfuls of fried steak with the artificially colored drink in the Goblet of Envy. I think it might have been some sort of sports drink.

Wait. So they literally just served us Super Sentai Ravager Electrolyte drinks. Well, I guess there was a limit to how creative a small café like this could be.

I tentatively took a sip of the drink in my chalice, clearly tasting the cherry flavor of the drink. I took a quick bite from the Vengeance burger. It was the café special they served on Tuesdays. I didn't sense too much difference aside from the unique wrapping.

But in the span of several seconds, I felt a strong heat punch at the back of my mouth. Oh wow. That was really spicy. I looked into the burger and saw some sort of red sauce slathered on top of the beef patty.

Vengeance was had, but not by me. It's as if the burger was cursing my decision to eat it.

I noticed that Fumiko was beginning to nod off after eating only a few french fries. I was scared with how her head was subtly bobbing that she'd faceplant head first into the steak basket.

"Hey, Fumiko-san, are you alright?"

"Just a little tired. I'll be alright once I take a nap at home," Fumiko said.

"Just a nap? You look like you could use at least a full night's sleep," I said.

"You worry too much, Kenta. Plus I need to finish the next few--."

***

Her head crashed against the table after a few futile attempts to correct her posture.

I immediately ran over to her end of the table without a moment's pause.

I tried to shake her awake as much as I could, but to no avail.

"Fumiko-san! Fumiko-san!"

The older woman with a bob haircut managing the cash register rushed over to the table to figure out what was going on.

"Is everything alright? What happened to Fumiko-san?"

"She's apparently been taking all-nighters to finish her writing. The lack of sleep must've caught up to her."

The woman put two fingers to Fumiko's neck, and then put an ear to her chest.

I gave a sigh of relief when Fumiko started breathing. She groaned and turned on the table as if she were sleeping in her bed.

"Will you need any help getting her home," the woman asked.

"I think I can handle it on my own. It's kind of a shame most of this food went to waste."

As I tried to prop one of her arms on my shoulder, I noticed a subtle shift in weight.

I turned to my right to see the Red Ravager server lifting Fumiko's other arm onto his shoulder.

"So she's fallen asleep again, huh. Fumiko has always been a reckless one."

Aside from hearing the server speak freely without a mask, I felt a large shock when I could finally see the face of the guy that was serving us all this time. He had a healthy tan complexion, striking golden eyes, spiky black hair and a cowlick that permanently stood up near the back of his head.

He bore an uncanny resemblance to Kaito, the teenage boy behind the Red Ravager mask. It kind of creeped me out how also similarly mellow his temperament was compared to him.

"Yeah. Wait, how do you know Fumiko?"

"Well, she has become pretty infamous around these parts," he said with a deadpan stare.

"Yes, I know, but you were too familiar with her."

"I'll tell you more about it on the way to her apartment," he said, lunging forward one step.

He took out his phone with his free arm and speed-dialed a number. It beeped for a few seconds before a familiar feminine voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, um, Kyoko, it happened again," he said.

"Understood, Ryuuji. I'll be at the apartment in about fifteen minutes."

"Thanks once again," he said before hanging up.

I looked at our server who was apparently named Ryuuji. His neck cracked a couple times as he stretched in a full three-hundred sixty degree swivel, shrugging his shoulders as he finished.

"Well, the hardest part of our trip will be to the subway station. Are you ready?"

I stepped forward another foot’s pace to match up with Ryuuji.

"Yeah."

***

We ferried Fumiko's body on our backs the whole way to the station. In truth, I could've carried her without any assistance. There was a benefit to having an athlete's conditioning. Basketball doesn't strictly train for lifting, but I was significantly stronger than when I first joined the freshman varsity team.

It would've admittedly been a bit tedious to carry her by myself and watch for traffic as I crossed the major streets. With Ryuuji's help, we ended up shaving our walking commute time by a somewhat significant fifty seconds.

The two of us sat down on the station bench with Fumiko resting in between the two of us.

"So you're Ryuuji, then? How long have you known Fumiko-san?"

"Well, I assume like most guys that dated Fumiko, several months," Ryuuji said, kneeling his arms against the metal bench's surface.

"That's certainly news to me!"

"Eh, when you know Fumiko, it really isn't."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"If she had broken up with you after that date, would you have been upset?"

"Well, no, I guess. I had a lot of fun with her, and I assumed it would've been the same even if she decided to end the dating experiment then and there."

"That's Fumiko for you, distilled down to an Emperor's brewed potion. Even if the romance ends, your bond with her lingers. After I got over the break-up, I continued being friends with her and I still occasionally hang out with her."

"Oh, so there are dates that still think fondly of her."

"I see no reason not to. Did you think I was a Super Sentai Ravagers fan when I first dated her?"

"I can't tell. You kinda have the same chaotic energy."

"Tch. The point is Fumiko isn't a 'terminator' or whatever crazy thing the students around the school are calling her right now. And I hate how the rumors ballooned out of control like this."

I scoffed and smiled at the outrage displayed by this Kaito look-alike.

"You're right. I want everyone else to see what kind of girl Fumiko-san really is."

Ryuuji and I tapped our IC cards against the readers near the turnstiles before the station and entered the bullet-train when it arrived a couple of minutes later. We gingerly dragged Fumiko onto the subway with us, setting her down in the middle seat in between us. She snored peacefully, at least until she had something to say in her sleep.

"Kaito, what are you doing here? The other rangers need you," she said with a whimper.

***

Ryuuji and I waited with an unconscious Fumiko resting against the door of her apartment after we checked in with the receptionist in the lobby. Much like Kyoko, her fainting was treated as business as usual to the tense employee working at the front desk.

"How do we get inside with Fumiko-san being unconscious," I asked.

"In instances when this happens, either Kyoko or Shun will come with an emergency key."

"I see. So I suppose this is just a common occurrence for her."

"For as long as I've known her at least. I still don't know why she works as hard as she does when it comes to writing. Even for the sake of a deadline, it's still very odd to me."

"As long as we're here, there's something I wanted to ask."

"Oh, alright. What is it?"

"Did Fumiko-san tell you about Hiro?"

Ryuuji blinked and exhaled, and then put his index and middle finger to his forehead.

"The original romantic hero that started it all. Yeah, I guess I've heard of him. But Fumiko didn't tell me about him."

"Then who was it?"

"Shun Kanzaki did. He told me about it after my first date with her ceremoniously came to an end. I still couldn't believe that he was able to remain friends with her after breaking up with her, much less have his current girlfriend be friends with her."

"Shun!? And he broke up with her? Is there anything else I missed from Fumiko's history?”

I ran my hand through the front strands of my hair. Another misshapen piece of the puzzle reared its ugly head to make sense of.

"From what I understand, it was years ago, as far back as middle school."

"One more question, if you please. Why are you going out of your way for Fumiko-san?"

He tilted his head away from me for a moment, before directly addressing me with his golden eyes.

"I guess being a love loser myself, I want to see her succeed finding a love that understands her and will be patient with her."

"Right. You don't have to say anything else. Thanks, Ryuuji."

I couldn't help but feel that I may have probed too far into his personal thoughts. The few minutes of silence that followed felt like they extended for hours, but luckily Kyoko came to the apartment door in the corner with a spare key in hand.

"Sorry for making you guys wait. How is she," she asked, peering at Fumiko's fainted figure.

"Oh, she's doing alright, now. She gave the cashier a scare too, haha, " I said.

We gently relocated Fumiko to the wall outside the door frame so Kyoko could open the door.

"Alright, now we just need to take her back to her room," Kyoko said.

Ryuuji and I lifted Fumiko for the final time, this time with Ryuuji grabbing her by her legs and me grabbing her by her shoulders. On the count of three we released her and rested her head on the poofy violet cotton pillows at the head of her bed.

She turned to her side and gripped my hand without warning.

"Thanks for saving me Zauru. How can I ever repay you," She asked, smiling with her mouth agape, her snoring continuing after she let go of me.

I scoffed at her while in the throes of her somniloquy.

Honestly, what could I even ask from her at this point?

"Well, it looks like you two have everything under control now. I'll be going now," Ryuuji said.

"You're leaving already, Ryuuji," Kyoko asked.

"Yeah. I have a shift I have to wake up bright and early for tomorrow. Give Fumiko my best, okay, Kyoko."

"Okay. Take care then."

"Later, Kaito," I said, replicating the pose he did when he first served Fumiko and I.

"Yeah. You too, Zauru," he said with a petty smile.

Well, I guess I deserved that one.

He waved us off as he exited the apartment door, the door clicking shut behind him.

***

"Ryuuji is actually a pretty decent guy," Kyoko said.

"I suppose. Fumiko wouldn't have bothered otherwise, right," I said.

"I'm sorry this happened on your first date of all things."

"... Why didn't you tell me that Shun was one of Fumiko's original dates?"

"It seemed like a lot to dump on you so soon. The truth is, the three of us have a very complicated friendship."

"Any more complicated than Ryuuji's relationship with Fumiko-san?"

Kyoko sat in the middle of Fumiko's bed, patting Fumiko's hair and smiling.

"Shun has always been way too serious for his own good. When he first broke up with Fumi, he was convinced that he wouldn't date again for quite a while. It was frustrating trying to get through to him, especially since I was such an anxious mess back then."

"So how'd you convince him?"

"I had to socialize with them more than I usually did. Basically, I went against all my previous instincts. I started talking more with both of them in private without the other knowing. Slowly, but surely, I got both of them to slowly talk to each other again. And I suppose that's how all of us became friends."

"And what about Shun challenging me?"

"He's really just trying to root for her happiness, not unlike you I suppose. She seems to be writing with more purpose now. And now that the pressure of the first date is over, she can finally be comfortable around you. Now the two of you can take your time and properly develop your relationship."

"My relationship, huh," I said, scratching my back.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure Fumiko would say it's a 'platonic romance' if she were awake. Right?"

My teeth clenched a bit as I felt my cheeks flush with heat, Kyoko giggling at my expense.

"You figured you've never seen a guy like a girl romantically or something," I said.

"Ooh, so you do like her," Kyoko said.

"Yes. Now please shut up."

As this exchange ensued, Fumiko continued peacefully sleeping on her bed, blissfully unaware of the embarrassing admission I just uttered.