Beautiful Lies
by BlueBird
Chapter 4
Surprisingly it was Erika who first moved. She ran to the other side of the street, car lights flashed, a signal horn was heard. Yamapi first thought she would be hit, but luckily Erika was able to dodge the car in the right moment. She didn't care. She ran further, to the two pople who were now looking at the street, to see where the commotion came from, but they didn't notice Erika. Just when she was a few meters away they turned around at the sound of her footsteps. To prevent her dream from becoming reality, Erika grabbed Ryo's arm tightly.
Yamapi had followed her quickly enough to see Ryo's first surprised then shocked face, when he recognized Erika. The shock got even bigger when he saw Yamapi following her. The girl with him had a similar expression on her face.
„Ryo, I...“ Erika said but then broke off since she didn't know what to say. What do you say to someone you havent seen in 8 years?
Yamapi clenched his fist as he thought about the memorial service for his parents he attended this year. He knew exactly that it wasn't basically Ryo's fault. But he couldn't help but thing he was the trigger for it. He came closer to him and looked him in the eyes. What he saw was Sadness, Joy and Pain mixed up. The only thing you could see in Yamapis eyes was pure anger, when he once again saw the dead bodies of his parents in the car. He shoved Erika to the side and with one hand grabbed Ryos collar. “This...” he said and with the other hand he hit him straight in the face, hard, making him stumple abit, but thanks to Yamapis hand on his collar he didn't fall. “is for leaving so suddenly.” he continued with a voice that slowly turns from anger to sadness. “Hey! What are you doing?” Erika said accusingly and the other girl checked, a bit too caring for Erikas liking, if Ryo was alright.
“Dont worry” Ryo just said to her and for the first time in 8 years they heard his voice. Slowly and silently tears started running down Erikas cheeks. “This...”Yamapi started again, this time in a gentler tone than before. He let the collar go and pulled him into a bone crashing hug. “is for coming back” he continued and held his former best friend to him for a moment. When they let go of each other Yamapi smiled sheepishly at him. Almost like he always did 8 years ago.
“Sorry, but you really deserved that punch. Leaving without telling us something and you don't even bother to contact us...” The hurt was clear in his voice.
Suddenly it seemed like Ryo remembered Erika. She stood by his side, quietely crying while looking to the ground. Bye now the tears were freely rolling down her face and the other two noticed too.
”Erika...” Ryo said weakly. He didnt know what to do, he had never been good with crying girls and it didn't look like he improved. The girl just pushed him a little towards Erika and said smiling. “just hug her.”
Ryo obeyed and pulled her towards him gently. He started stroking her hair with one hand awkwardly and Erika started laughing in her tears. “You're still ... really bad with girls” Ryo just smiled at her and didn't respond.
“Ah, sorry. I didn't introduce myself. I'm Aragaki Yui. You are Toda Erika-san and Yamshita Tomohisa-san, aren't you?” Yui said suddenly in her cheerful tone again when Erika had calmed down.
“Yes, but you can call us Erika and Yamapi, no need for formalities. How do you know our names by the way?” Yamapi said surprised and Erika mirrored his expression.
“He showed me pictures of you two” she explained and Ryo looked away slightly embarassed.
“I go ahead and leave you three alone. See you at home then” Yui said happily waving them goodbye. “It was nice to meet you two” she shouted from afar and was gone.
Awkwardly they stood there. Ryo avoided their eyes carefully and looked to the ground instead.
“Shall we go get something to drink?” Erika suggested to break the Awkwardness and the two others nodded.
They bought drinks in the Konbini and went to the park in silence. Each of them having their own thoughts.
There they were alone and would not be disturbed with the conversaton they were going to held.
Ryo sat down at a bench and Erika seated herself beside him. Yamapi decided to remain standing, so that he could look Ryo in the eyes while talking.
“So, do you want to tell us?” Yamapi said after a long silence, looking him straight in the face with a seroious expression.
“Why I left?” he asked, even though it was obvious.
The two other just nodded and Ryo sighed.
“Is it really important? Its the past I can't change anything even if I wanted to...” he said looking at a nearby lake in thoughts.
“But...surely you had a reason to leave. We just want to know why.” Erika said slowly. Even though she had decided not to pressure him about it and now she earned a cold glare from Ryo by asking.
“It doesn't matter” he snapped at her with gritted teeth and stood up.
“Hey, don't talk to her like that! She just asked you a question.” Yamapi said starting to get angry, but Erika shot him a look, telling him to keep quiet.
Then Erika noticed that Ryo started to take deep breaths as if he tried to calm himself down.
“Are you allright?” Erika asked nervously, since she thought he was trying to fight the anger he felt towards them.
“Yes...Yes i'm alright. Sorry” he said closing his eyes for a moment.
“You don't look alright to me.” Yamapi said. His former anger had diappeared after seeing him like that and Ryo continued taking deep breaths for a while without paying much attention to them. After a while he opened his eyes again and looked first to Erika then to Yamapi.
“So, what are you two doing nowadays?” Ryo asked in order to change the topic.
“I'm a photographer and Erika is a doctor” Yamapi said shortly and Ryo looked impressed.
“Doctor and Photographer, wow. Youre doing well you two” he smiled brightly at them and upon seeing this, Erikas heart skipped a beat.
“What about you?” asked Erika interested.
Ryo thought for a bit and answered slowly. “Part-timer, I guess. Tomorrow i'll start at a nearby Konbini.”
Erika and Yamapi couldnt hide their surprise. Ryo had always been the smartest out of them. Always doing great on his exams and being under the Top5 in of their year and now he was working in a Konbini?
“Why?” Erika asked.
“Because I need money to live” he said stating the obvious.
“No, I mean why you do part time jobs. I mean with your intelligence...” she continued.
“Well, I never finished High school, so going to university was impossible.” he said smiling bitterly.
“You didn't continue High School?” Yamapi asked and added after a while. “Why?”
“I...didn't feel like continuing” he said and moved his hand to his hair. A clear sign that he was lying, since it was his habit to run a hand through his hair whenever he told a lie.
But even though the two definetely knew he was lying, they didn't pressure the matter further.
“You're staying here again?” Yamapi asked then.
“Yes, probably for about 6 months” he said and after a while he added. “A friend of mine got a job at a hospital here for 6 months and Yui wanted to take a break from college and a change of environment. So I went with them...”
Erika and Yamapi just nodded.
Ryo took a look at his watch. It was already past nine. “I've got to go home now. Maybe we could meet again tomorrow?” he said and opened his bag. He rummages through it till he finds a pencil and a piece of paper. He wrote something on it and handed it Yamapi.
“My cellphone number and adress.” he explained and Yamapi opened his phone and dialed. He couldnt help being suspicious. He could have just told them the wrong number and he would disappear again, but his cellphone rang.
“Now you have my number as well” he said in order to cover up his suspicion.
Ryo just smiled and waved them goodbye. :::::
First of all, thanks again for the comments.
Sorry again, it took me a while. I had problems with my internet todaym so i had some time to write (i'm so into watching drama again ^^) I also made a Ryusei no Kizuna MV. You can download it at my Livejournal: http://yurisa1245.livejournal.com
I have 5 free days from school, so i should be able to update soon again. Maybe today or tomorrow.