Garden: Takashi Morinozuka Love Story

24. A Day at the Bakery

The day went by quickly. Ryo's energy was contagious. For a while, it made Hibiki forget about everything she'd been going through and everything that was to come.

The sun was setting outside, Hibiki flipped the closed sign on the door, but didn't bother to lock it since Ryo still had to leave. She walked behind the counter and into the kitchen where Ryo placed chocolate chip cookies into the oven.

"I don't know about you, but I think we deserve a batch of fresh baked cookies," Ryo declared.

"We hardly did anything today," Hibiki noted.

"I feel as though doing nothing can be just as draining as doing something. Thus, we dine on delectable sugars," Ryo grinned.

"You're so dramatic," Hibiki laughed.

"So," Ryo started as she pulled half baked cookies from the oven, "what are you going to do about Takashi?"

"What can I do? Hibiki said, lifting herself up onto the register counter, her back towards the door and her eyes on Ryo who plated the cookies.

"I'm not sure. Telling him how I feel would be a waste of time, wouldn't it?" Hibiki asked, cluelessly.

"A waste of time? Ssss, ah! hawt!" Ryo said with her mouth opening and watering as the cookie burned it. "Damn, it gets me every time." Unlearning of her past mistake, Ryo popped the rest of the cookie in her mouth and uttered more swears before continuing with her and Hibiki's conversation. "How could expressing feelings like those be a waste of time? Why are you disregarding your own feelings? His right to know? We don't even know if you're leaving yet."

"I'm leaving, Ryo. In eight weeks, six days, and," Hibiki looked at her watch, "12 hours. I'll be gone," she explained.

"Not if i can help it," Ryo muttered under her breath.

"Ryo, I'm serious. I'm asking for your help," Hibiki begged.

"I don't understand why you wouldn't tell him. It's so romantic. Your big gesture just before you ship off six-thousand miles away, your love for each other practically forbidden and neglected by the inevitable space between you! Oh, be still my enlivened heart!" she said, pretending to faint into Hibiki's lap.

"Ryo," Hibiki laughed, "You're not helping!"

"Let's start with this. What exactly would you say to him? You know how you have all these thoughts scarmbled about in your head, but they never come together to form one complete thought? They're just fragments of how you feel, scrambled all over the place. If you're going to talk to him, you should at least know what you're going to say," Ryo explained.

"Well," Hibiki blushed, "I-I would tell him that..." she hesitated for a while, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and imagined Takashi; standing so tall and handsome, his subtle smile raiding her mind. She smiled vaguely as she continued. "I'm thankful for him. He's done a lot for me in such little time. I don't think I've ever been treated this way by someone. He's gone out of his way for me so many times, sometimes I feel like I'm not enough for him. Every time we're together, I'm comforted by this-this warm feeling in my stomach. He takes care of me and he doesn't even have to.

"He's protected me and taught me so much.  There's no way I could ever thank him for everything he's done. Whenever I'm alone, I imagine what we would do if he was there with me. It's cheesy, but my feelings are true." She placed a hand over her bursting chest and her eyes watered. "I don't want to leave him. I want to be by his side. He means a lot to me, Ryo. I-I can't leave him!"

"Hibiki," Ryo whisperered, her eyes widened with surprise. "I never would have guessed  you  felt like that about him." Hibiki nodded as she wiped the fallen tears from her flushed face.