[yu/megumi] Let's Just Call This Love
Let’s Just Call This Love
Sato Megumi / Yokoyama Yu
4459 words
Summary: A funeral, a wedding, a late night drinking session before an awkward sort-of confession. Megumi’s not a particular fan of surprises… especially if it involves her messing up.
Author’s Notes: Happy birthday, Yokocho! Wow, look at that… I met a dateline for once! This was a long time in the making... Un-betaed, all the mistakes are my own.
Everybody knows it here but you
I love you girl but you still ain’t got a clue
- Everybody But You / Dave Barnes
The funeral was already underway when she arrived at the hall. She took a seat at the back of the crowd, holding her prayer beads in her hands. The ceremony ended a little after 3 o’clock and Megumi got up to see a familiar person get up from a seat near the front and walk to the back of the hall.
“… Yokoyama-kun?” she whispered, before getting off her seat and following him out of the hall.
She spotted him standing at the end of the corridor, talking to another man, and she stood and waited for their conversation to finish.
Yoko bowed respectfully at the man as he walked away. He got up and turned to walk away, only to stop when he saw Megumi standing there. She smiled at him. He smiled back.
“I heard the news this morning,” Megumi said. “When I got back from my shoot, my manager told me she passed away.”
Yoko nodded. They walked slowly through the grounds of the temple, and Yoko reached out an arm as they were about to cross a large puddle. She took his arm and hopped over it.
“Was she ill?” Megumi asked, once they got to the outer temple complex. They continued down the pebble-lined path.
Yoko nodded again. “She was diagnosed with cancer last year,” he said softly.
“Oh…” Megumi nodded, understanding her sudden disappearance at last. It was a loss; she was two years younger than Megumi, a girl with a bubbly personality and well liked by most of her peers. She worked with the television network, and was a set dresser on the drama Megumi and Yoko were in a couple of years ago. “I’m really sorry to hear that.”
They were approaching the door when Megumi realized she had left her prayer beads behind in the hall. Yoko said he would wait for her, and offered to hold her bags as she walked back inside.
She found her prayer beads where she left them- on the empty seat next to hers, and was about to leave when she heard a conversation outside the halls.
“It’s such a shame… Ogawa-san.”
“Ah, thank you for coming…”
She crept over to the door and peeked out the gap. It was the man she saw Yoko bow to earlier, talking to another lady, probably a relative.
“I’m glad she spent her last days happily.”
“It’s thanks to Yokoyama-kun… even in his busy schedule; he made time off to spend time with her. For that, we are very thankful.”
“I suppose… after all, they were so close… it’s such a shame about the two of them too.”
Megumi’s eyes widened with realization.
“Did you find it?” Yoko asked as she ran to him, panting lightly from the run.
“I did,” she nodded, taking her bags from him with thanks. They stepped out of the temple into the warm sun- Megumi squinted in the light.
“Where do you need to go? We can get a taxi together,” Yoko asked, looking out to the street.
“Yokoyama-kun,” Megumi blurted out, and he stopped in his footsteps, turning to look at her. Later on, she would wander how she could have asked that question so insensitively, but now, all she wanted to know. “Were the two of you lovers?”
Yoko turned to her and smiled, a little awkwardly. “Ah… well...”
“Are… are you okay?” she stammered. She wasn’t sure how to broach the topic- or to reveal what she had heard just a moment ago.
He looked down at his feet for a moment. He took a deep breath before he looked up again, and the edges of his eyes were red. “I’ll be okay.”
She smiled at him and nodded. “Okay.”
* * *
It was a sunny day. Hina placed the bouquet of flowers carefully in front of the tombstone as Yoko lighted the incense. They clasped their hands together and prayed.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it back,” Hina shook his head. A whirlwind of work commitments in Tokyo meant Hina had not been able to make it to Osaka for the funeral. “How was everything?”
“Fine,” Yoko nodded. “Her mother called me the other day and we chatted a bit. She sounded all right, talking about her. I think they’re okay now.”
Hina smiled. She was her parent’s only child; they had been through a lot since her illness was diagnosed. Yoko made sure he was there for her, all the way to her last days.
“How are you feeling?” Hina asked.
“Complicated,” Yoko confessed, as he picked up the bucket and they started to walk back to the temple. “I don’t know what to make of it.”
“Do you still have feelings for her?” Hina ventured to ask.
Yoko just walked silently ahead. Hina sighed and followed.
* * *
“Megumi-san?”
“Yokoyama-kun?” she stammered.
It was by chance, really- she was leaving the television studio and he had just arrived. It was two months after the funeral. “Are you here for work?”
“It’s always work,” he said with a soft smile on his face. “Megumi-san, it’s rare to see you around these parts.”
“So it is,” she nodded, as her manager began to point at his watch. “I’m afraid it’s a rare thing for me to not be rushed as well,” she whispered. “I wish I had more time to walk around town.”
His eyes brightened. “Megumi-san,” he started. “Do you have any free time when you’re here?”
She grinned back.
The hole in the wall restaurant was hidden somewhere in the Kita area of Osaka, and when she walked in Megumi knew this would probably be the best okomomiyaki she will ever have in her life. They picked a table near the back of the restaurant. Yoko seemed to know everyone working in the restaurant, and the proprietress put down two huge glasses of beer on the table even before he ordered.
“Cheers!” he grinned.
“Cheers!” she laughed and they clinked their glasses. She took a huge swing- it seemed the right time and place to do so, and Yoko would not mind. He was easy like that. “Hey, this is a great place.”
“Isn’t it? One of Ohkura’s favourite haunts,” Yoko smiled. “That guy, he always breaks the rules of his diet plan here.”
Megumi laughed. “How is Ohkura-kun?”
“Oh… same old…” Yoko said.
They talked for hours, and by the time dinner was officially over, Megumi was a little drunk. The last thing she remembered was leaning on Yoko’s arm and thinking “This guy can really drink” as he helped her into the taxi.
“Megumi-san? Where are you staying tonight?”
She mumbled something unintelligible before burying her face into his shirt. He looked at her for a moment, then up at the ceiling of the taxi, before turning to the driver and giving him his address. The rest could wait for tomorrow.
She woke to the sound of her cell phone ringing. Cracking her eyes open, she saw her phone dangling in front of her, and focusing her vision, saw the person who was holding her phone.
She jumped, causing pain to flare at the back of her head and she winced as he placed the phone in her hands.
“I’m sorry, but it’s been ringing non-stop for the last ten minutes. I think it’s important,” Yoko said, before wandering off to the living room.
It was her manager asking her where she was and what she was doing and how irresponsible she was for not telling him where she was. She apologized profusely, wincing whenever her manager wound up enough steam to start nagging at her again. He made her promise to be back at the hotel by four pm, before their live show filming that evening.
Shutting her phone, she sighed and looked around her surroundings. Plain brown sheets, a desk with a shiny silver laptop on it, a well-worn Nintendo DS connected to the laptop and clothes draped across the back of an armchair. She winced at the light spilling in through the windows before dragging herself out of bed, walking out to the door.
Yoko was standing in the kitchen, reading the instructions off a pack of something. He grinned. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” she said, the words coming out more like gibberish as she padded barefoot towards him. “What…”
“This is a remedy for hangovers,” Yoko said with a frown. “Subaru bought it from Okinawa. He said it really works. Do you want some?”
“Oh please,” Megumi nodded. Yoko gestured at one of the chairs at the table, and she flopped down on it, feeling as though a hundred soldiers were pounding on her head at the same time.
Twenty minutes later, the bitter drink seemed to be helping in her cause to become functional, and realization dawned on her… “OH MY GOD, I’M SORRY!”
He laughed as she closed her eyes and pulled her arms towards her chest.
“Oh my… I’m so, so sorry, I totally didn’t mean to get that drunk and it’s just…” she opened her eyes, placing both hands on her cheeks that were rapidly becoming hot. “I’m so sorry, Yokoyama-kun.”
“It’s all right,” he nodded. “Really.”
She looked at him, and he returned her questioning look with a comforting smile, and she grinned sheepishly back at him.
Then her stomach started to growl.
They stared at each other for a moment before starting to laugh hysterically.
“All right,” he said, walking over to pick up his phone. “I’ll order in lunch.”
She spotted the picture on the second shelf in the kitchen. It was stuck on the side of the shelf with tape, next to a bottle of ketchup. They were standing in the middle of a bridge, smiling at the camera. Yoko had one arm around her shoulders, and she had her arm raised. It was a little faded and yellow, like it’s been there for a while.
“Oh,” he grinned, walking in. “That’s…”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to see it!” she exclaimed, jumping backwards.
“No, its fine,” he grinned. “She put it there the last time she came here, I just never put it away,” Yoko said, putting the lunch boxes down and gesturing for her to sit.
After, as they were washing up, Megumi saw him reach out and peeled the picture off the shelf; look at it tenderly for a moment, before putting it into his pocket.
He called her a cab to bring her back to the hotel- she turned to him just before she walked into the cab. “Thank you, Yokoyama-kun.”
“You’re welcome,” Yoko grinned. He waved goodbye as she got into the cab.
* * *
Megumi bit her lower lip. The boys watched in anticipation.
“And I have… a queen of hearts!” she called, throwing her card onto the stack.
The boys groaned, and Kento called out, “No fair, sensei! How could you win all the time?”
Megumi grinned. “I have my secrets,” she smiled.
“Let’s play again,” Hayato said, reaching for the cards. “We can’t let sensei win all the time!” he called as the boys agreed loudly and they started another game.
Megumi liked playing with the boys. Initially they had been hesitant to approach Megumi, but in time they ended up messing around when they during their long hours of waiting. It was just as well, because the boys got restless easily.
“You guys are so cute,” Megumi ended up squealing one night when they were waiting for filming to start and one of the boys- Tsuyoshi, no wait, his real name was Shigeoka started laughing so hard over something one of the other boys said he rolled over and that caused the other boys to start tickling him.
“Ne, Megumi-san,” Shigeoka asked, when the other boys were filming. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
Goku turned around and looked scandalized. Shigeoka was the eldest out of all of them, but he really had not expected him to ask this question to someone they’ve treated akin to a goddess.
“Nope,” Megumi grinned. “Would you like to apply?” she teased.
“Ehh? Really? I thought Megumi-san would definitely have a boyfriend!” Shigeoka exclaimed. “Yokoyama-san told us you were a really nice person.”
Megumi looked surprised. “Yokoyama-san?” she frowned. “You mean Yokoyama Yu?”
Shigeoka nodded. “I was talking to Kami-chan, that’s another one of us,” he gestured at him and Goku, and Megumi took it to mean the collective of the Kansai Juniors. “When Yokoyama-san heard us talking. When he heard I would be acting with Megumi-san, he said I didn’t have to worry, because Megumi-san is a nice person.”
“Ah, really?” Megumi looked up in surprise. “Do you work together very often?”
“It was just that one day, we were back dancing for sempai’s concert,” Shigeoka explained, before the director started calling everyone to get into place. Megumi smiled to herself as she walked on set. Looks like she had a favour to return.
* * *
Erika’s wedding dinner- Megumi found herself in the bride’s preparation room, watching Erika freak out over the seating plan.
“The planner, they kind of screwed everything up,” Erika said exasperated as the hair stylist tried to pin one more flower into her hair. “These people are not supposed to sit next to each other!” she exclaimed, waving the sheet of paper in the air.
“Relax, Eri-chan,” Megumi laughed. “A bride shouldn’t have any sort of wrinkles on her big day, especially not from anger,” she said soothingly, before looking down at the seating plan. She winced.
“You see! I don’t want a blood bath on my wedding!” Erika wailed.
“All right, all right! I’ll grab Keiko and we’ll go see what we can do about it,” Megumi said with a laugh. “It amuses me to see that your guests have tempers as volatile as yours,” Megumi noted.
“I heard that!” Erika screeched. “That is not helping me keep the wrinkles off my face!”
They fixed up as much of the seating plan as they could, and when the guests started taking their seats, Megumi and Keiko both laughed when they saw who they were sharing their table with.
“I think we were being biased,” Megumi frowned.
“Or planned trying to torture ourselves,” Keiko grinned, turning to them. “Hello, Nishikido-kun. I see you brought an interesting plus one with you.”
Megumi started laughing, and Yokoyama grinned. Megumi wondered if Erika had any idea what she was thinking when she invited Nishikido Ryo to the wedding party. Probably that he would not accept.
The dinner ended smoothly, even with the insults Nishikido traded with Erika when she stopped by at their table (“Wrinkles, Eri-chan, wrinkles”) and at the end of the day as the guests stood outside the hall with coloured rice and rose petals, Megumi felt truly happy for her long friend.
“This was a bit of a surprise,” a voice next to her said.
“Eh?” she asked, turning around. “Yokoyama-kun?”
He grinned, holding out his packet of coloured rice. “I never imagined I’d be here, needing to throw away rice. Don’t you agree that rice should be eaten and not wasted?”
Megumi was too shocked from the fact that he had just crept up on her without making a sound, shook her head.
“Okay, that wasn’t funny,” he confessed. “What do you think?”
“A… about what?” she frowned, trying to remember what Yoko said. “Oh, what do you mean a surprise?”
“Erika-san’s choice of a husband. I figured he’d be…” he said, holding his hand up at a higher height. “You know.”
“Well,” she squinted, thinking about what he was asking her. “She really loves him, and he loves her. I’m happy for her. And everyone knows that…” she mimicked his movements. “The taller ones are the scary ones. But then again, you’re not that much taller yourself,” she teased.
Yoko laughed. “I admit, I’m not tall. And I admit… it’s impossible to stop two people who are in love to be together, right?”
Megumi turned around. “Except in death?” she asked softly.
He thought for a moment, his eyes looking in a distance as though he was remembering something… before he drifted back to the present and turned to look at her. “Except in death,” he nodded.
The guests around them started to cheer as the couple walked out of the hotel’s banquet hall; Megumi dug into her packet of rose petals and prepared to throw…
Only to have a shower of rice land on her own head.
She turned around, and Yoko grinned at her. She laughed and tossed her handful of rose petals at his face.
* * *
The next time they met was in Tokyo again. She received a message from him saying he was in Tokyo and suddenly had a free day because of a change in his filming schedule. It was ten AM in the morning; Megumi was not working that day as well, so she suggested a movie.
“No way,” Megumi laughed. He grinned and stole a handful of popcorn- she had not touched it because the movie had just been too interesting, chewing loudly.
He nodded solemnly. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
She shrieked, and they continued walking down the street. Megumi wanted to walk- it was a cool weekday evening and the streets were relatively empty.
They were halfway through lunch at a small Italian café when Megumi ventured to ask again, “Ano… Yokoyama-kun.”
He looked up.
“Are you really okay?”
He frowned. “About…?”
“Your… erm,” she gestured, not sure how to get it across without looking like she was a busybody. “About... What happened. Earlier in the year. About Oga…”
He grinned and nodded. “Oh, you mean about her?”
She nodded.
“Actually,” he said, putting his salad aside. “The doctor released her from the hospital and we spent some time together. I’m very sad she’s gone… but she was at peace when she left. Thank you for worrying about me, Megumi-san.”
“Oh…” Megumi nodded, looking down at her plate. She needed a change of topic, fast. “Oh! I worked with your kouhai on something the last time.”
“The TV drama? I watched that,” Yoko grinned.
“Eh? You did?” Megumi was surprised.
“I watched most of it,” he said. “They’re my juniors, you know. This makes it easier for me to remember their names. Funny bunch… the lot of them.”
“One of the boys… Shigeoka-kun.”
“Shigeoka?” he grinned. “That little bastard. Did he torture you?”
Megumi started laughing, glad that they were safe from that earlier, awkward conversation. “No. In fact, he was very nice to me. He said you talked to him about me.”
Yoko paused, frowning as he tried to remember. “Ah,” he said, slapping his hands together. “I think I remember.”
“Thanks for saying that I’m nice,” Megumi grinned.
“Because you are,” Yoko laughed, turning to Megumi and suddenly putting a serious face on. “You’re a really nice person, Megumi-san.”
Megumi’s mind scrambled to find an appropriate response, and the only thing she came up with was, “Oh, am I?”
Yoko just laughed and continued walking.
Megumi smiled and followed. Yoko wasn’t too bad of a person himself, she realised.
* * *
Ohkura looked up from Ryo’s laptop. “He said what?”
“He said Megumi-san doesn’t have a boyfriend,” Yoko laughed. “That little brat. I think he likes her.”
Ohkura laughed. “Why are you so happy about that?” he asked, turning back to the email he was composing.
“I don’t know,” Yoko shrugged. “I wanted to know if they said anything bad about me. But the little brat was so worried he swore he didn’t say anything else except ask her if she was attached. I told him to wait a thousand years before he had a chance with someone with the likes of her.”
Ohkura laughed and said absently. “Because you want to ask her out first?”
When there was no reply, he looked up from the laptop as a wet towel hit him in the face. “Jerk!” he yelled, as Yoko started laughing manically.
* * *
Megumi was acting in Shock when she received a message from Yoko asking if she wanted to get supper after one of the shows. They arranged to meet at an izakaya near the theatre, and when Megumi arrived there were two big glasses of beer on the table where Yoko was waiting.
“I’m sorry, did you wait long?” she laughed, sitting down and picking up the glass. “Cheers,” she said, touching Yoko’s glass before she took a long drink.
“Tired?” Yoko asked, looking concerned.
“A little,” she grinned. “Thanks for asking me out. I think I really needed this.”
Yoko must have ordered half the menu. Megumi ate until she was stuffed, and by the end of the night she was wondering if she should have drank that last glass of beer when Yoko said something.
“What?” she frowned. Was she really that drunk?
“I like hanging out with you,” he grinned, and one look at him showed Megumi that he was completely sober. Which was probably not something she could say for herself... And suddenly, he looked almost too nervous as he asked, “May I ask you out again?”
She looked at him and started giggling. He frowned and waited for her to stop.
“Yokoyama-kun,” she said softly. “I don’t know,” she confessed, looking mournfully at her empty glass. He reached forward and poured her another glass, which she drank so fast even he looked surprised. “What about Ogawa-san?”
“What about her?” Yoko looked surprised.
“Aren’t you still in love with her?” Megumi asked. “You know,” she waved her arms about. “Only in death will two lovers be separated,” she said dramatically, before letting out a long sigh. Then she started giggling.
There was a long moment of silence, and Megumi was looking up at her fingers and giggling to herself when Yoko stood up. “I think I should bring you home, Megumi-san,” he nodded. “You’ve had too much to drink.”
“Have I?” she snorted. He helped her out of the chair, and she remembered nothing after that except waking up the next morning on her couch (she must have somehow gotten into her own house), and tucked in her purse a little packet of powder… Subaru’s remedy for hangovers.
She remembered what happened the night before and felt a bitter aftertaste in her mouth, before she ran to the bathroom and threw up.
* * *
Ohkura came to visit Shock in its second week. She spotted him as he was leaving Koichi’s dressing room, and contemplated for a moment before calling out to him.
“Sato-san!” Ohkura grinned and waved. She waved back and gestured for him to join her in his dressing room.
“It’s been a while,” Megumi said. “Thank you for your flowers,” she pointed at the large bouquet sitting on the table next to her. “How are you?”
“Good,” Ohkura nodded.
They caught up with each other, talking about work and where they had been, before Ohkura laughed and said, “I almost forgot. The other day I heard Ryo brought Yoko with him to Sawajiri Erika-san’s wedding.”
“Oh, yes,” Megumi nodded. “It was a bit surprising. I thought Nishikido-kun would bring you.”
“He asked me, but I was working. I asked him why he didn’t want to bring a girl. He wouldn’t tell me why,” Ohkura snorted. “Did Yoko behave himself?”
“He did,” Megumi nodded.
“Oh, and… Yoko told me that you attended Ogawa-san’s funeral…” Ohkura looked up. “I couldn’t make it because I was in Tokyo working. Were you close to her too?”
“Not… really,” Megumi was surprised that Ohkura was talking about this, suddenly. “I wasn’t really… but Yokoyama-kun was awfully close to her, wasn’t he?”
“They dated for a while, but it ended really quickly. They stayed really good friends, though,” Ohkura said thoughtfully. “But I don’t think they were ever serious in their relationship.”
“Oh,” Megumi said softly. Her eyes grew wide in realization and later… horror. “I see. You mean… they weren’t together, when she…”
Ohkura raised an eyebrow; amused at the reaction he was getting from Megumi. “Nope. From what the others told me, Yoko spent time with her before she passed away as a friend,” he explained. “They broke up a long time ago, before that.”
“I… see,” she nodded, just before an assistant came in and told her the actor’s meeting was beginning.
“I have to get to my seat,” Ohkura grinned, getting up. “Good luck for the show, all right?”
Megumi’s forced a smile on her face and nodded. “Thanks, Ohkura-san.”
* * *
Yoko was just stepping out of the bus when she appeared in front of him.
“Ah…” Yasuda nodded, stepping out of the way. “Should I go first?”
Yoko shook his head and grabbed Yasuda’s sleeve.
“Ano, Yokoyama-kun,” Megumi said, walking up to them both. “May I talk to you?”
They ended up at a coffee house near the train station. Yasuda had abandoned him, saying he had an appointment that he had to take this next train back to Osaka, and Yoko was too rude to refuse such a direct request from Megumi to talk.
“I’m sorry,” she said, after a silence so long that their coffee had turned cold. “I… really shouldn’t have said… what I said that night…”
“It’s all right,” Yoko said, trying not to wince at the memory. “You didn’t know the whole story.”
“I do now!” she said urgently. “And since Ohkura-san told me, it’s all I’ve been thinking about, and I… don’t know how to make it up to you at all!”
Yoko groaned. “Ohkura? When did he tell you all that?”
“When he came to visit Koichi-san during Shock,” Megumi said, and Yoko nodded in understanding. “I… I don’t know how to say this, I mean…. How do I…”
Yoko let her ramble on and waited patiently for her to finish. Finally, she looked up, hands flat on the table and looking straight at him. “Did I blow it? This chance… that… we could…” she stammered. “Hang out?” she finished weakly.
He looked back at her straight in the eye and started laughing.
“Megumi-san,” he placed an elbow on the table and leaned his chin absently on the palm of his hand. “Will you promise not to get drunk and almost break my heart again?”
She stared at him before she started laughing. “I can’t help it,” she confessed. “I’ll probably get drunk every time, just so you can slip hangover remedies in my purse and bring me home.”
Yoko stopped talking for a minute, and Megumi looked up to see him blushing. She started laughing and shook her head, not believing what she just said.
They looked up at each other, and Yoko reached over and placed a hand on top of hers.
Megumi honestly could not remember the last time she felt this happy.
Sato Megumi / Yokoyama Yu
4459 words
Summary: A funeral, a wedding, a late night drinking session before an awkward sort-of confession. Megumi’s not a particular fan of surprises… especially if it involves her messing up.
Author’s Notes: Happy birthday, Yokocho! Wow, look at that… I met a dateline for once! This was a long time in the making... Un-betaed, all the mistakes are my own.
Everybody knows it here but you
I love you girl but you still ain’t got a clue
- Everybody But You / Dave Barnes
The funeral was already underway when she arrived at the hall. She took a seat at the back of the crowd, holding her prayer beads in her hands. The ceremony ended a little after 3 o’clock and Megumi got up to see a familiar person get up from a seat near the front and walk to the back of the hall.
“… Yokoyama-kun?” she whispered, before getting off her seat and following him out of the hall.
She spotted him standing at the end of the corridor, talking to another man, and she stood and waited for their conversation to finish.
Yoko bowed respectfully at the man as he walked away. He got up and turned to walk away, only to stop when he saw Megumi standing there. She smiled at him. He smiled back.
“I heard the news this morning,” Megumi said. “When I got back from my shoot, my manager told me she passed away.”
Yoko nodded. They walked slowly through the grounds of the temple, and Yoko reached out an arm as they were about to cross a large puddle. She took his arm and hopped over it.
“Was she ill?” Megumi asked, once they got to the outer temple complex. They continued down the pebble-lined path.
Yoko nodded again. “She was diagnosed with cancer last year,” he said softly.
“Oh…” Megumi nodded, understanding her sudden disappearance at last. It was a loss; she was two years younger than Megumi, a girl with a bubbly personality and well liked by most of her peers. She worked with the television network, and was a set dresser on the drama Megumi and Yoko were in a couple of years ago. “I’m really sorry to hear that.”
They were approaching the door when Megumi realized she had left her prayer beads behind in the hall. Yoko said he would wait for her, and offered to hold her bags as she walked back inside.
She found her prayer beads where she left them- on the empty seat next to hers, and was about to leave when she heard a conversation outside the halls.
“It’s such a shame… Ogawa-san.”
“Ah, thank you for coming…”
She crept over to the door and peeked out the gap. It was the man she saw Yoko bow to earlier, talking to another lady, probably a relative.
“I’m glad she spent her last days happily.”
“It’s thanks to Yokoyama-kun… even in his busy schedule; he made time off to spend time with her. For that, we are very thankful.”
“I suppose… after all, they were so close… it’s such a shame about the two of them too.”
Megumi’s eyes widened with realization.
“Did you find it?” Yoko asked as she ran to him, panting lightly from the run.
“I did,” she nodded, taking her bags from him with thanks. They stepped out of the temple into the warm sun- Megumi squinted in the light.
“Where do you need to go? We can get a taxi together,” Yoko asked, looking out to the street.
“Yokoyama-kun,” Megumi blurted out, and he stopped in his footsteps, turning to look at her. Later on, she would wander how she could have asked that question so insensitively, but now, all she wanted to know. “Were the two of you lovers?”
Yoko turned to her and smiled, a little awkwardly. “Ah… well...”
“Are… are you okay?” she stammered. She wasn’t sure how to broach the topic- or to reveal what she had heard just a moment ago.
He looked down at his feet for a moment. He took a deep breath before he looked up again, and the edges of his eyes were red. “I’ll be okay.”
She smiled at him and nodded. “Okay.”
* * *
It was a sunny day. Hina placed the bouquet of flowers carefully in front of the tombstone as Yoko lighted the incense. They clasped their hands together and prayed.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it back,” Hina shook his head. A whirlwind of work commitments in Tokyo meant Hina had not been able to make it to Osaka for the funeral. “How was everything?”
“Fine,” Yoko nodded. “Her mother called me the other day and we chatted a bit. She sounded all right, talking about her. I think they’re okay now.”
Hina smiled. She was her parent’s only child; they had been through a lot since her illness was diagnosed. Yoko made sure he was there for her, all the way to her last days.
“How are you feeling?” Hina asked.
“Complicated,” Yoko confessed, as he picked up the bucket and they started to walk back to the temple. “I don’t know what to make of it.”
“Do you still have feelings for her?” Hina ventured to ask.
Yoko just walked silently ahead. Hina sighed and followed.
* * *
“Megumi-san?”
“Yokoyama-kun?” she stammered.
It was by chance, really- she was leaving the television studio and he had just arrived. It was two months after the funeral. “Are you here for work?”
“It’s always work,” he said with a soft smile on his face. “Megumi-san, it’s rare to see you around these parts.”
“So it is,” she nodded, as her manager began to point at his watch. “I’m afraid it’s a rare thing for me to not be rushed as well,” she whispered. “I wish I had more time to walk around town.”
His eyes brightened. “Megumi-san,” he started. “Do you have any free time when you’re here?”
She grinned back.
The hole in the wall restaurant was hidden somewhere in the Kita area of Osaka, and when she walked in Megumi knew this would probably be the best okomomiyaki she will ever have in her life. They picked a table near the back of the restaurant. Yoko seemed to know everyone working in the restaurant, and the proprietress put down two huge glasses of beer on the table even before he ordered.
“Cheers!” he grinned.
“Cheers!” she laughed and they clinked their glasses. She took a huge swing- it seemed the right time and place to do so, and Yoko would not mind. He was easy like that. “Hey, this is a great place.”
“Isn’t it? One of Ohkura’s favourite haunts,” Yoko smiled. “That guy, he always breaks the rules of his diet plan here.”
Megumi laughed. “How is Ohkura-kun?”
“Oh… same old…” Yoko said.
They talked for hours, and by the time dinner was officially over, Megumi was a little drunk. The last thing she remembered was leaning on Yoko’s arm and thinking “This guy can really drink” as he helped her into the taxi.
“Megumi-san? Where are you staying tonight?”
She mumbled something unintelligible before burying her face into his shirt. He looked at her for a moment, then up at the ceiling of the taxi, before turning to the driver and giving him his address. The rest could wait for tomorrow.
She woke to the sound of her cell phone ringing. Cracking her eyes open, she saw her phone dangling in front of her, and focusing her vision, saw the person who was holding her phone.
She jumped, causing pain to flare at the back of her head and she winced as he placed the phone in her hands.
“I’m sorry, but it’s been ringing non-stop for the last ten minutes. I think it’s important,” Yoko said, before wandering off to the living room.
It was her manager asking her where she was and what she was doing and how irresponsible she was for not telling him where she was. She apologized profusely, wincing whenever her manager wound up enough steam to start nagging at her again. He made her promise to be back at the hotel by four pm, before their live show filming that evening.
Shutting her phone, she sighed and looked around her surroundings. Plain brown sheets, a desk with a shiny silver laptop on it, a well-worn Nintendo DS connected to the laptop and clothes draped across the back of an armchair. She winced at the light spilling in through the windows before dragging herself out of bed, walking out to the door.
Yoko was standing in the kitchen, reading the instructions off a pack of something. He grinned. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” she said, the words coming out more like gibberish as she padded barefoot towards him. “What…”
“This is a remedy for hangovers,” Yoko said with a frown. “Subaru bought it from Okinawa. He said it really works. Do you want some?”
“Oh please,” Megumi nodded. Yoko gestured at one of the chairs at the table, and she flopped down on it, feeling as though a hundred soldiers were pounding on her head at the same time.
Twenty minutes later, the bitter drink seemed to be helping in her cause to become functional, and realization dawned on her… “OH MY GOD, I’M SORRY!”
He laughed as she closed her eyes and pulled her arms towards her chest.
“Oh my… I’m so, so sorry, I totally didn’t mean to get that drunk and it’s just…” she opened her eyes, placing both hands on her cheeks that were rapidly becoming hot. “I’m so sorry, Yokoyama-kun.”
“It’s all right,” he nodded. “Really.”
She looked at him, and he returned her questioning look with a comforting smile, and she grinned sheepishly back at him.
Then her stomach started to growl.
They stared at each other for a moment before starting to laugh hysterically.
“All right,” he said, walking over to pick up his phone. “I’ll order in lunch.”
She spotted the picture on the second shelf in the kitchen. It was stuck on the side of the shelf with tape, next to a bottle of ketchup. They were standing in the middle of a bridge, smiling at the camera. Yoko had one arm around her shoulders, and she had her arm raised. It was a little faded and yellow, like it’s been there for a while.
“Oh,” he grinned, walking in. “That’s…”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to see it!” she exclaimed, jumping backwards.
“No, its fine,” he grinned. “She put it there the last time she came here, I just never put it away,” Yoko said, putting the lunch boxes down and gesturing for her to sit.
After, as they were washing up, Megumi saw him reach out and peeled the picture off the shelf; look at it tenderly for a moment, before putting it into his pocket.
He called her a cab to bring her back to the hotel- she turned to him just before she walked into the cab. “Thank you, Yokoyama-kun.”
“You’re welcome,” Yoko grinned. He waved goodbye as she got into the cab.
* * *
Megumi bit her lower lip. The boys watched in anticipation.
“And I have… a queen of hearts!” she called, throwing her card onto the stack.
The boys groaned, and Kento called out, “No fair, sensei! How could you win all the time?”
Megumi grinned. “I have my secrets,” she smiled.
“Let’s play again,” Hayato said, reaching for the cards. “We can’t let sensei win all the time!” he called as the boys agreed loudly and they started another game.
Megumi liked playing with the boys. Initially they had been hesitant to approach Megumi, but in time they ended up messing around when they during their long hours of waiting. It was just as well, because the boys got restless easily.
“You guys are so cute,” Megumi ended up squealing one night when they were waiting for filming to start and one of the boys- Tsuyoshi, no wait, his real name was Shigeoka started laughing so hard over something one of the other boys said he rolled over and that caused the other boys to start tickling him.
“Ne, Megumi-san,” Shigeoka asked, when the other boys were filming. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
Goku turned around and looked scandalized. Shigeoka was the eldest out of all of them, but he really had not expected him to ask this question to someone they’ve treated akin to a goddess.
“Nope,” Megumi grinned. “Would you like to apply?” she teased.
“Ehh? Really? I thought Megumi-san would definitely have a boyfriend!” Shigeoka exclaimed. “Yokoyama-san told us you were a really nice person.”
Megumi looked surprised. “Yokoyama-san?” she frowned. “You mean Yokoyama Yu?”
Shigeoka nodded. “I was talking to Kami-chan, that’s another one of us,” he gestured at him and Goku, and Megumi took it to mean the collective of the Kansai Juniors. “When Yokoyama-san heard us talking. When he heard I would be acting with Megumi-san, he said I didn’t have to worry, because Megumi-san is a nice person.”
“Ah, really?” Megumi looked up in surprise. “Do you work together very often?”
“It was just that one day, we were back dancing for sempai’s concert,” Shigeoka explained, before the director started calling everyone to get into place. Megumi smiled to herself as she walked on set. Looks like she had a favour to return.
* * *
Erika’s wedding dinner- Megumi found herself in the bride’s preparation room, watching Erika freak out over the seating plan.
“The planner, they kind of screwed everything up,” Erika said exasperated as the hair stylist tried to pin one more flower into her hair. “These people are not supposed to sit next to each other!” she exclaimed, waving the sheet of paper in the air.
“Relax, Eri-chan,” Megumi laughed. “A bride shouldn’t have any sort of wrinkles on her big day, especially not from anger,” she said soothingly, before looking down at the seating plan. She winced.
“You see! I don’t want a blood bath on my wedding!” Erika wailed.
“All right, all right! I’ll grab Keiko and we’ll go see what we can do about it,” Megumi said with a laugh. “It amuses me to see that your guests have tempers as volatile as yours,” Megumi noted.
“I heard that!” Erika screeched. “That is not helping me keep the wrinkles off my face!”
They fixed up as much of the seating plan as they could, and when the guests started taking their seats, Megumi and Keiko both laughed when they saw who they were sharing their table with.
“I think we were being biased,” Megumi frowned.
“Or planned trying to torture ourselves,” Keiko grinned, turning to them. “Hello, Nishikido-kun. I see you brought an interesting plus one with you.”
Megumi started laughing, and Yokoyama grinned. Megumi wondered if Erika had any idea what she was thinking when she invited Nishikido Ryo to the wedding party. Probably that he would not accept.
The dinner ended smoothly, even with the insults Nishikido traded with Erika when she stopped by at their table (“Wrinkles, Eri-chan, wrinkles”) and at the end of the day as the guests stood outside the hall with coloured rice and rose petals, Megumi felt truly happy for her long friend.
“This was a bit of a surprise,” a voice next to her said.
“Eh?” she asked, turning around. “Yokoyama-kun?”
He grinned, holding out his packet of coloured rice. “I never imagined I’d be here, needing to throw away rice. Don’t you agree that rice should be eaten and not wasted?”
Megumi was too shocked from the fact that he had just crept up on her without making a sound, shook her head.
“Okay, that wasn’t funny,” he confessed. “What do you think?”
“A… about what?” she frowned, trying to remember what Yoko said. “Oh, what do you mean a surprise?”
“Erika-san’s choice of a husband. I figured he’d be…” he said, holding his hand up at a higher height. “You know.”
“Well,” she squinted, thinking about what he was asking her. “She really loves him, and he loves her. I’m happy for her. And everyone knows that…” she mimicked his movements. “The taller ones are the scary ones. But then again, you’re not that much taller yourself,” she teased.
Yoko laughed. “I admit, I’m not tall. And I admit… it’s impossible to stop two people who are in love to be together, right?”
Megumi turned around. “Except in death?” she asked softly.
He thought for a moment, his eyes looking in a distance as though he was remembering something… before he drifted back to the present and turned to look at her. “Except in death,” he nodded.
The guests around them started to cheer as the couple walked out of the hotel’s banquet hall; Megumi dug into her packet of rose petals and prepared to throw…
Only to have a shower of rice land on her own head.
She turned around, and Yoko grinned at her. She laughed and tossed her handful of rose petals at his face.
* * *
The next time they met was in Tokyo again. She received a message from him saying he was in Tokyo and suddenly had a free day because of a change in his filming schedule. It was ten AM in the morning; Megumi was not working that day as well, so she suggested a movie.
“No way,” Megumi laughed. He grinned and stole a handful of popcorn- she had not touched it because the movie had just been too interesting, chewing loudly.
He nodded solemnly. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
She shrieked, and they continued walking down the street. Megumi wanted to walk- it was a cool weekday evening and the streets were relatively empty.
They were halfway through lunch at a small Italian café when Megumi ventured to ask again, “Ano… Yokoyama-kun.”
He looked up.
“Are you really okay?”
He frowned. “About…?”
“Your… erm,” she gestured, not sure how to get it across without looking like she was a busybody. “About... What happened. Earlier in the year. About Oga…”
He grinned and nodded. “Oh, you mean about her?”
She nodded.
“Actually,” he said, putting his salad aside. “The doctor released her from the hospital and we spent some time together. I’m very sad she’s gone… but she was at peace when she left. Thank you for worrying about me, Megumi-san.”
“Oh…” Megumi nodded, looking down at her plate. She needed a change of topic, fast. “Oh! I worked with your kouhai on something the last time.”
“The TV drama? I watched that,” Yoko grinned.
“Eh? You did?” Megumi was surprised.
“I watched most of it,” he said. “They’re my juniors, you know. This makes it easier for me to remember their names. Funny bunch… the lot of them.”
“One of the boys… Shigeoka-kun.”
“Shigeoka?” he grinned. “That little bastard. Did he torture you?”
Megumi started laughing, glad that they were safe from that earlier, awkward conversation. “No. In fact, he was very nice to me. He said you talked to him about me.”
Yoko paused, frowning as he tried to remember. “Ah,” he said, slapping his hands together. “I think I remember.”
“Thanks for saying that I’m nice,” Megumi grinned.
“Because you are,” Yoko laughed, turning to Megumi and suddenly putting a serious face on. “You’re a really nice person, Megumi-san.”
Megumi’s mind scrambled to find an appropriate response, and the only thing she came up with was, “Oh, am I?”
Yoko just laughed and continued walking.
Megumi smiled and followed. Yoko wasn’t too bad of a person himself, she realised.
* * *
Ohkura looked up from Ryo’s laptop. “He said what?”
“He said Megumi-san doesn’t have a boyfriend,” Yoko laughed. “That little brat. I think he likes her.”
Ohkura laughed. “Why are you so happy about that?” he asked, turning back to the email he was composing.
“I don’t know,” Yoko shrugged. “I wanted to know if they said anything bad about me. But the little brat was so worried he swore he didn’t say anything else except ask her if she was attached. I told him to wait a thousand years before he had a chance with someone with the likes of her.”
Ohkura laughed and said absently. “Because you want to ask her out first?”
When there was no reply, he looked up from the laptop as a wet towel hit him in the face. “Jerk!” he yelled, as Yoko started laughing manically.
* * *
Megumi was acting in Shock when she received a message from Yoko asking if she wanted to get supper after one of the shows. They arranged to meet at an izakaya near the theatre, and when Megumi arrived there were two big glasses of beer on the table where Yoko was waiting.
“I’m sorry, did you wait long?” she laughed, sitting down and picking up the glass. “Cheers,” she said, touching Yoko’s glass before she took a long drink.
“Tired?” Yoko asked, looking concerned.
“A little,” she grinned. “Thanks for asking me out. I think I really needed this.”
Yoko must have ordered half the menu. Megumi ate until she was stuffed, and by the end of the night she was wondering if she should have drank that last glass of beer when Yoko said something.
“What?” she frowned. Was she really that drunk?
“I like hanging out with you,” he grinned, and one look at him showed Megumi that he was completely sober. Which was probably not something she could say for herself... And suddenly, he looked almost too nervous as he asked, “May I ask you out again?”
She looked at him and started giggling. He frowned and waited for her to stop.
“Yokoyama-kun,” she said softly. “I don’t know,” she confessed, looking mournfully at her empty glass. He reached forward and poured her another glass, which she drank so fast even he looked surprised. “What about Ogawa-san?”
“What about her?” Yoko looked surprised.
“Aren’t you still in love with her?” Megumi asked. “You know,” she waved her arms about. “Only in death will two lovers be separated,” she said dramatically, before letting out a long sigh. Then she started giggling.
There was a long moment of silence, and Megumi was looking up at her fingers and giggling to herself when Yoko stood up. “I think I should bring you home, Megumi-san,” he nodded. “You’ve had too much to drink.”
“Have I?” she snorted. He helped her out of the chair, and she remembered nothing after that except waking up the next morning on her couch (she must have somehow gotten into her own house), and tucked in her purse a little packet of powder… Subaru’s remedy for hangovers.
She remembered what happened the night before and felt a bitter aftertaste in her mouth, before she ran to the bathroom and threw up.
* * *
Ohkura came to visit Shock in its second week. She spotted him as he was leaving Koichi’s dressing room, and contemplated for a moment before calling out to him.
“Sato-san!” Ohkura grinned and waved. She waved back and gestured for him to join her in his dressing room.
“It’s been a while,” Megumi said. “Thank you for your flowers,” she pointed at the large bouquet sitting on the table next to her. “How are you?”
“Good,” Ohkura nodded.
They caught up with each other, talking about work and where they had been, before Ohkura laughed and said, “I almost forgot. The other day I heard Ryo brought Yoko with him to Sawajiri Erika-san’s wedding.”
“Oh, yes,” Megumi nodded. “It was a bit surprising. I thought Nishikido-kun would bring you.”
“He asked me, but I was working. I asked him why he didn’t want to bring a girl. He wouldn’t tell me why,” Ohkura snorted. “Did Yoko behave himself?”
“He did,” Megumi nodded.
“Oh, and… Yoko told me that you attended Ogawa-san’s funeral…” Ohkura looked up. “I couldn’t make it because I was in Tokyo working. Were you close to her too?”
“Not… really,” Megumi was surprised that Ohkura was talking about this, suddenly. “I wasn’t really… but Yokoyama-kun was awfully close to her, wasn’t he?”
“They dated for a while, but it ended really quickly. They stayed really good friends, though,” Ohkura said thoughtfully. “But I don’t think they were ever serious in their relationship.”
“Oh,” Megumi said softly. Her eyes grew wide in realization and later… horror. “I see. You mean… they weren’t together, when she…”
Ohkura raised an eyebrow; amused at the reaction he was getting from Megumi. “Nope. From what the others told me, Yoko spent time with her before she passed away as a friend,” he explained. “They broke up a long time ago, before that.”
“I… see,” she nodded, just before an assistant came in and told her the actor’s meeting was beginning.
“I have to get to my seat,” Ohkura grinned, getting up. “Good luck for the show, all right?”
Megumi’s forced a smile on her face and nodded. “Thanks, Ohkura-san.”
* * *
Yoko was just stepping out of the bus when she appeared in front of him.
“Ah…” Yasuda nodded, stepping out of the way. “Should I go first?”
Yoko shook his head and grabbed Yasuda’s sleeve.
“Ano, Yokoyama-kun,” Megumi said, walking up to them both. “May I talk to you?”
They ended up at a coffee house near the train station. Yasuda had abandoned him, saying he had an appointment that he had to take this next train back to Osaka, and Yoko was too rude to refuse such a direct request from Megumi to talk.
“I’m sorry,” she said, after a silence so long that their coffee had turned cold. “I… really shouldn’t have said… what I said that night…”
“It’s all right,” Yoko said, trying not to wince at the memory. “You didn’t know the whole story.”
“I do now!” she said urgently. “And since Ohkura-san told me, it’s all I’ve been thinking about, and I… don’t know how to make it up to you at all!”
Yoko groaned. “Ohkura? When did he tell you all that?”
“When he came to visit Koichi-san during Shock,” Megumi said, and Yoko nodded in understanding. “I… I don’t know how to say this, I mean…. How do I…”
Yoko let her ramble on and waited patiently for her to finish. Finally, she looked up, hands flat on the table and looking straight at him. “Did I blow it? This chance… that… we could…” she stammered. “Hang out?” she finished weakly.
He looked back at her straight in the eye and started laughing.
“Megumi-san,” he placed an elbow on the table and leaned his chin absently on the palm of his hand. “Will you promise not to get drunk and almost break my heart again?”
She stared at him before she started laughing. “I can’t help it,” she confessed. “I’ll probably get drunk every time, just so you can slip hangover remedies in my purse and bring me home.”
Yoko stopped talking for a minute, and Megumi looked up to see him blushing. She started laughing and shook her head, not believing what she just said.
They looked up at each other, and Yoko reached over and placed a hand on top of hers.
Megumi honestly could not remember the last time she felt this happy.