152 Chapter two, 2016, school festival, madness beginning: 2 (2/2)

”Mm,” came the answer.

But that answer wasn't for her. Kyoko guessed her friend spoke with her own memories right now.

”Twice,” Kuri-chan said after a long silence.

”You said it didn't hurt, your first love.”

Kuri-chan smiled, but she never moved her head. Her blue eyes still stared at a landscape of years gone past. ”No, not me. I hurt him though. Fourteen, I was fourteen.” Then she returned to the here and now and caught Kyoko's gaze. ”An ugly kid with long legs. I think you remember.”

'Ah, yes, she looked the same the first time I guess.' ”Why would that hurt him?”

A grimace played over Kuri-chan's features. ”He wasn't very good looking. Strong and fast and very good at football, and he adored me, and I him.”

Kyoko waited for her friend to continue. In the background she heard the other girls giggle as they tried out clothes for the play.

”He was shorter than me. And when I grew beautiful and started modelling he got scared,” Kuri-chan said. ”It took years for me to feel confident in my looks though. Always running to photo shoots, always cancelling with him whenever an opportunity opened.” She sighed and stroked her face with both hands. ”I had him waiting for me, but I never waited for him. In the end I never gave him a chance to follow me. I hurt him.”

”How?” Kyoko asked when she understood that Kuri-chan was finished.

”I always believed he broke up with me, but in reality I forced him to. I enjoyed being surrounded by beautiful boys too much, and I always thought he'd be there for me anyway.” Kuri-chan's hands slid down from her hair to cover her face. ”Damn, that's embarrassing to realise so many years later. And I never apologised to him.”

Kyoko didn't understand those thoughts. Yukio was Yukio through and through. She'd wait for him and she'd ask him to wait for her. Wherein lay the difficulty in that?

”You'll understand one day,” Kuri-chan said as if she had read her thoughts. ”Anyway, I'll give you this one. A first love doesn't have to hurt. I'll give you that.”

That piqued her interest. ”But the second one?”

Kuri-chan grinned and laughed. ”Oh that hurt for sure. I was twenty. He cheated on me on a grand scale.” She smiled at Kyoko who only saw sparkling joy in those eyes. ”Five on the side, or more likely all six of us girls were his playthings. I've never felt so humiliated in my life.”

She had heard that story before. Never so heartfelt though. ”And you never fell in love after that?”

A bubbling laughter was the first answer. ”No, not until I met Ulf. I promised myself never to fall in love again, but he made me break that promise.” Once again those eyes strayed elsewhere, but this time they weren't looking into another world.

It was time to change the topic. ”Why did you want me here?”

The question had Kuri-chan return to reality. ”To give you this.” She dug into her school bag and offered Kyoko a small metal case. ”It's a portable make-up set.”

Kyoko turned the box over and opened it. ”Yes?”

”You can pull that lever.”

She obeyed and stared as the bottom came away. ”Yes?” she asked again.

”You have parents. Parent's never respect the privacy of a teenager in love. That's a false bottom with enough space to hide two of those.”

It took a while for Kyoko to grasp what Kuri-chan meant, but when she did she blushed from her collarbones all the way to her hair.

”This isn't a suggestion. In this case you'll do exactly as told. Get it?” Kuri-chan took both her hands in hers. ”Ulf's having this talk with Yukio as well. Don't you even dare to take stupid risks!”

”It's not like we're going to do it any time soon,” Kyoko protested.

Kuri-chan grinned, took the one Kyoko held in her palm and placed another in the adorned metal case before she put the false bottom and make-up back. ”It's not like they go bad in a few days,” she said and pulled Kyoko to her feet.