Deranged Love - Hanma Shuji

Chapter 20

The policewoman walked around her car, her eyes never leaving mine.

A small smile drew itself on her lips as she leaned over the car door and opened it—my throat tightened when Rai left the passenger seat, she did not look at me however. Instead, she went to open the backseat door. I feared what would come out of this. Had she become so important that the police were teaming up with her? Had she not kept her mouth shut?

Aiko stepped out and bowed at the policewoman before watching her get back to her car. That simple action was enough for the penny to drop.

Rai was dating a policeman, it was probably a simple favor from one of his friends to drop the two women here. I had no real proof of that, they could still be working all together but until then, I could at least take a deep breath and relax. That little fright did the trick and helped me focus on something completely other than Shiho's MIA status. When they walked towards the café, they didn't see me right away—I was too far in the back to be noticed if one wasn't fully paying attention. Watching them enter the building, I raised a hand to get their attention and smiled at Aiko who smiled back, then at Rai whose face was showing how afraid she was. From Aiko's reaction, she didn't know about my encounter with Rai last night and I found relief in that, and only that. Because Shiho wasn't there. Because Hanma wasn't there. No one that really understood me was there.

But I had to keep the charade up. The charade of being sane, of being innocent, proper.

Getting out of my seat, I opened my arms wide, "Aiko! It's been so long!" I wrapped my arms around her and looked at Rai over her shoulder, a tight smile on my lips that she hardly returned. "It has, it has. Since the Halloween party, right? You disappeared that night girl, what the hell happened? Haven't heard from you since!" She exclaimed before taking a seat around the square table right where I had seated myself. I sat in front of her, my back to the door, forcing Rai to either sit on my right or on my left. Half-heartedly, she draped her coat on the seat on my left and looked at me with fear in her eyes, her actions as stiff as a stick. I didn't quite like having my back facing the door, I couldn't see people coming in, leaving, I couldn't keep track of who was with us in the room. Worst of all was that I couldn't see if the police were arriving or not.

Chuckling, I took a sip from my drink and looked at the girls, "I went home with a friend, that is all." I had lied enough times about this that I knew what to say or what not to say. Rai however seemed to be dead set on getting information from me; while looking at the menu, she mumbled, "Is it just a friend?" She did not look at me. Aiko nudged her playfully, "Rai, you're so nosy, at least get a drink before asking for gossip!" The ginger chuckled before pointing at a drink on the menu and saying it seemed good. Once they had both decided on their drink, we waited for a waiter to come.

"I saw a pretty girl at the party, been talking to her since. I'd say that evening was a success." Aiko said almost shyly as her face heated up. Resting my elbows on the table, I looked at her with a big smile, "Yeah? Did you get laid?" "You! I—that's not the point, I've been talking to her everyday is what I'm getting at, whether I got laid or not doesn't matter." She said rapidly, a smile forming on her lips just from talking about the girl she had met. Or perhaps she was embarrassed because I was right and she had gotten laid that night, not that I truly cared. It was odd, I didn't feel any warmth in my chest like I would when talking to Shiho, even if when talking with her I was also filled with worry.

With a laugh, I tried to look at Aiko's phone, purposely making it obvious as I hooked my finger onto the screen and tried to push it down to have it flat on the table. "Yeah? Does she send fun pictures at least? Was she fucked up or did you find someone sane?" She slapped my hand away with a loud laugh. At the same time, Rai scoffed on her side, looking at me with something close to disgust. Aiko didn't hear and locked her screen, "She is very sane, but insanely cute and we have the same taste in music—she loves plants too, we're going to take things slow." "Even if you two fucked on Halloween, right?" She looked up at me with wide eyes and a flushed face. I didn't need her to tell me with words that it had happened, seeing her reaction. And yet, she looked down at the table, waiting for the waiter to put their glasses down before speaking, "We were drunk, but it was fun and we talked a lot after..."