Yukiko stepped through the door and stood in front of me, holding the paper bag protectively in her arms before her like a shield.

“Were you expecting me?” Yukiko eyed me curiously and I tilted my head slightly.

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“Akari…uh…you’re naked, sweety,” Yukiko said gently. I felt the blood drain from my face and turned and ran as fast as I was able back to the bedroom. “Nice ass!”

“Right?” I sounded like an arrogant fool and immediately regretted saying anything as I pulled on a dress hurriedly, my cheeks now burning with embarrassment. “I-I mean, I was just noticing it!” GAH! I thought, my horror spreading. “I mean, no! Uh… th-thank you!” How could I forget I wasn’t even wearing clothes? What is wrong with me? “There!” I proclaimed proudly, like a child who’d learned to tie their shoes. “I’m sorry about that!”

“No,” Yukiko shook her head sadly. “I’m the one who’s sorry.” Tears began to flow down Yukiko’s face and she lowered her head. She dropped the bag on the ground and grabbed me in her arms. “I am so, so sorry, Akari!” Yukiko sobbed, folding me in her arms and pulling me close to her. My head throbbed in response but I managed to wrap my arms around her in a somewhat surprised hug.

“Y-Yukiko? Is everything ok? Can I help?” I stammered, stepping forward slightly as she began to cry. She dropped the bag on the ground and grabbed me in her arms.

“What are you sorry for, Yuki?” I asked, patting her comfortingly, my hand still holding on to Ms. Bear. She buried her head in my shoulder and cried as we stood in the hallway.

“F-for not coming to see you and r-ruining u-u-us and e-e-everything,” she cried brokenly, hiccupping as her tears overcame her.

“It’s ok, it’s ok,” I soothed. “Come on in and sit down and I’ll make you some tea, ok?” Yukiko continued to cry but finally nodded and allowed me to lead her to the sofa. I set Ms. Bear down on the table and returned to pick up the bag. I glanced inside and found it curiously filled with T-shirts, a plastic banana and a few CDs. I shrugged and closed the door before making my way to the kitchen, looking around for the tea pot. “Think!” I hissed at myself. “Where would you put the tea pot?” I looked in the bottom drawer closest to the stove and was pleasantly surprised to find an electric tea pot wrapped in its cable. “Yusss!” I pumped my fist in triumph, immediately regretting it as a stabbing pain ran down my spine.

“You like Oolong tea, right, Yuki?” I called, now searching for the tea.

“Y-yeah,” she replied weakly from the living room. I found the tea just before the tea pot called out. I poured the water into a cup and put some honey and a spoon and the cup on a tray I’d found that may or may not have been for serving tea and hurried as well as I was able into the living room.

“Oh! I’m sorry about the mess!” I apologized as I saw Yukiko sifting through the papers I’d strewn across the coffee table. “I was doing…research, I guess.”

“You wrote all those songs on whatever you had on hand, huh?” Yukiko murmured, her face hidden by her long blonde hair. I set the tray down on the table and moved across from the couch to sit on the chair across from her.

“I-I guess so,” I replied with a shrug. “I mean, I always was pretty bad at keeping notebooks and stuff. It’s why I always did so poorly in school.”

“So it’s true, then?” Yukiko took the cup from the tray and dipped the spoon into the jar of honey, her face still hidden behind her hair. “You’ve forgotten everything.”

“W-well, not everything! Just, you know, the last year or so,” I replied, my fingers fidgeting idly with the grooves on the chair’s upholstery.

“What’s it like?” Yukiko asked, looking up from stirring the honey into the golden liquid in her cup and fixing me with her deep brown eyes, her lids still puffy and swollen from crying.

“To not know what’s happening?” I asked.

“To have a clean slate,” Yukiko breathed, barely audible above the song playing from the TV.

“It’s scary,” I thought for a long moment before finally replying. “I don’t know who I’ve been this past year. I don’t know this apartment, these songs, this body, this life, anything. Everything I know is ancient history. I mean, I don’t even know my own face. Even the bruises aside, it’s strange. Did I have surgery? Who am I anymore?”

“What are the odds of this?” Yukiko muttered to herself, lowering her face and sipping the tea gingerly.

“Oh! I heard you were dating Jin Nakamoto! Congratulations!” I enthused. I remembered seeing Hansamu in concert with Sachi and Mari once. They didn’t write their own music and it was a little over-produced for my taste and they didn’t sing live which kind of disappointed me but I supposed they were talented enough. Though, truth be told, unless he was pointed out to me there was no way I’d know who he was.

“You heard that, huh?” Yukiko chuckled mirthlessly, not looking up.

“Well, it was in the comments on You Tube,” I replied sheepishly, not sure I should have said anything or not. Maybe she wasn’t comfortable talking about it, yet?

“You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet, Akarin,” Yukiko spoke softly into her cup.

“I-I’m sorry, Yukiko!” I hung my head in embarrassment. Yukiko laughed again and shook her head.

“That’s the biggest dagger anyone’s ever used,” she said cryptically. “You? Apologizing to me? After what I’ve done? If you told me two days ago this would be happening I would have cried myself into a coma.”

“I’m not sure what to say,” I mumbled. She was making no sense. Had she had a breakdown of some kind?

“So what research are you doing?” Yukiko asked, gesturing at the papers.

“Well, tomorrow I’m going to try to go through a rehearsal and try to salvage the tour,” I replied with a shrug. “I know I’ve wrecked everything and I have to try to make it right for you and Sachi and Mari and our fans.”

“What do you mean?” Yukiko looked up sharply, looking like a caged animal behind her blonde curtain of hair. “You’re not leaving the band to go solo?”

“Solo? No. Why would I do that?” I asked in confusion. “You’re not making any sense, Yuki.”

“You really aren’t leaving Kunoichi?” Yukiko pressed, leaning forward, staring into my eyes.

“No, of course not! Where’d you hear that?” I was shaken by her intensity. Yukiko always made me a little nervous if I was honest. She always seemed so collected and cool but her emotions could get the best of her sometimes and when they did it was always a little intimidating.

“What time are you going to be at the hall?” Yukiko ignored my question and I scowled. It was things like this that made Yukiko so frustrating sometimes.

“Sachi’s going to pick me up at 10 so I guess 10:30 or so?” I answered.

“Sachi, huh?” Yukiko murmured to herself, taking another sip of her tea.

“Are you ok, Yukiko?” I asked after a long pause. Yukiko took a deeper sip of her tea, finishing it and setting the cup back on the tray. She cocked her head to the side and chuckled to herself. I gazed at her in alarm. It seems something has broken Yukiko, I thought to myself with confusion.

“No,” Yukiko finally replied, looking up at me and smiling slightly. “But I think I might be getting better, Akari. Thanks to you.”

“Thanks to me?” I asked in confusion. She stood and held her hand out to me. I took it cautiously and she drew me to my feet carefully.

“I think I’m going to go home and pass out for the next fourteen hours or so,” Yukiko said with a wry smile. “I’m exhausted but I had to come and check on you. I missed you. Walk me to the door?”

“O-oh, o-ok,” I stammered as she led me by my hand toward the door. She stopped before the door and turned to face me, brushing my hair aside gently with her fingers and tracing the curve of my lips. “Uh…Yuki?”

“Yes, Akarin?” Yukiko murmured, leaning forward. Her lips brushed lightly against the cut and I froze in shock. Her lips moved tantalizingly up and kissed my swollen cheek and eye before she pulled back. “All better?”

“Eh?” I managed. Yukiko chuckled and opened the door.

“My mom always used to kiss my cuts to make them better. I wanted to try it once. Goodnight, Akari, I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh! One more thing, you served the tea in an appetizer tray. I love things like that about you.” With that she closed the door and I was left standing, stunned, in the hallway.

“What just happened?” I murmured to myself.