435 Chapter two, 2018, field trip: 9 (1/2)
Ryu got his arse handed to him by the teachers, and only Christina's blatant lie about him being dragged into an impromptu shoot saved him from further repercussions.
She regretted that a little. There had been an impromptu shoot, one that she hadn't wished for at all. He had been asked to leave, and he had refused. Christina accepted that she loved the boy turning into a man, and his refusal only increased his stocks in her eyes.
In the end he stayed and watched. In the end Christina noticed how even in Kyoto he attracted more than his fair share of attention despite the surplus of male models at the set. It made her feel proud. In that sense she was anything but Japanese. Ryu at the other hand stared with open disapproval at how just about every male present ogled her.
It took some cooing on their way home, and a very thorough biting his face off by some teachers to make him forget his discomfort just to have it replaced by another.
Right now they weren't on speaking terms. He really hated it when she saved him rather than the other way around, and that was a part of Ryu that Christina disliked.
'Idiot!' But the Sweden she once grew up in had shown more similarities than it wanted to admit. 'I'm an adult. Of course I'm going to help you when you need it.' But she was also his girlfriend. At least she should treat him as her peer. 'Damn, I'd like someone to chat with.' The solution came to her just as she voiced the need in her head.
”Sure, but I'll be there as well,” Noriko said when Christina called her.
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”You really don't need...” Christina tried, but Noriko cut her short.
”It's my boyfriend and it's my brother. I'll leave the two of you alone when I'm certain you're not going on one of your crusades.”
An hour later Christina found herself in a crowded tourist trap. She'd been there before, in her previous life. Just after dawn, long before the horde of tourists invaded, freezing her butt off for a shoot while pretending it was another and much warmer season.
Crowded or not, the Arashiyama bamboo grove still enveloped her with an otherworldliness she normally never found anywhere. Apart from people around her world was green, and the never ending chattering still didn't manage to dispel the sound of wind gusts trying to find their way down from the canopy.
Then one face turned the crowd into background, and by his side Noriko walked, hand in his, staring at the greenery and totally oblivious of how Ulf saved her from walking into strangers time and time again.
'I don't get you, but I'm happy for you.' The smartest person he'd ever met, Ulf said, but she sure wasn't street smart at all. Even a parent would have admonished a five year old for walking without paying attention to the world around.
”Noriko!” Christina called to save Ulf from his daycare duty.
His girlfriend finally looked ahead and made her way to Christina without endangering their surroundings. Behind her Ulf let out a sigh of poorly hidden relief. Christina understood him. Even as a friend you just felt the need to protect Noriko whenever she ended up along a lot of people. That need had to be multiplied if you were in love with the petite girl.