Jan 7th, 2016 | Hibike! Euphonium | Breathe

[milkbalm.livejournal.com]

title: breathe
day: seven, the theme being "You have to know someone a thousand days before you can glimpse her soul."
series: Hibike! Euphonium
pairing: Kumiko Oumae/Reina Kousaka
Rating: no warnings apply. only fluff, small mentions of surgery/anaesthesia.

Reina looks at the quote, scribbled hastily down on the back end of a school notebook- so unlike her normal neatness.  She swallows, taking it in.

A thousand days.

She'd been so confident she knew Kumiko's soul, what it looked like. Behind the whole 'terrible personality' line, she'd still assumed there'd been some level of deeper understanding. Of Kumiko, of who she was as a person.

But what if she'd misread it all?

She hasn't even known her for a full year yet. And okay, there's middle school orchestra- but that doesn't count, they never spoke.

Maybe she really doesn't know Kumiko at all. Maybe she's been presumptuous this whole time, assuming she wanted to be her friend. Maybe Kumiko's just being polite to her, the way she is to everyone, because Reina's overbearing and bossy. What if-

"Reina, you're looking panicked..." a voice floats out, and Reina blinks, now registering Kumiko hovering by her with a mug of something hot. Her expression looks more worse than Reina feels, frankly.

"What's going on," She murmurs, a trace of anxiety lacing into her voice.

"You had surgery," Kumiko informs her. "You're still on medication. It won't wear off till tonight, probably."

"..Surgery?" Reina asks, accepting the cup. Too hot to drink yet.

"Nothing serious. You swallowed a chicken bone when you were in a hurry to eat. You wanted to leave, go somewhere in a rush, I think. Anyway, now you're here. Your mom's outside talking with the doctor. I think it went fine, though."

Reina stares. Kumiko laughs. "You really don't remember?"

Reina thinks back, a couple of dim memories possibly surfacing. She'd been in a hurry... that's right, it was because Shuichi had spotted them eating at the fast food place after practice. And somehow had managed to join them, and sit next to Kumiko.

She'd looked visibly uncomfortable, not meeting Reina's eyes and helpful cues to leave. Reina'd felt like leaving.

So she'd hurried her eating, and... and..

Reina groans, and sinks her head in her palms.

"See, I knew you'd remember sooner or later! Sorry for jogging your memory, though." The relief in Kumiko's voice is still visible despite it's matter of fact lightness. She bends so Reina can see her coy grin. "I had no idea someone as put-together, as cool as Reina Kousaka was capable of such a thing. I felt the secondhand embarrassment so strongly, ya know?"

"Ah, shut up," Reina says, muffled. Kumiko laughs again, this time more sincere, and something in the air clears, feels better.

....

At home, her mother says, "Your friend seems like a lovely person. She was so panicked. Wouldn't leave your side. The doctor had to personally tell her it wasn't anything serious before she believed it.... yes, the redhead. The cute one, Kumiko? I think?"

The cute one? Reina agrees. She can't wait to see Kumiko next and tease her about this.

But as she laughs, affirms that yep, that one's Kumiko, something in her thinks about it more.

Kumiko was worried. She hadn't left her side.

(She'd been worried. Very worried, if her mother's account is right.)

Reina grows quiet.

---

The next day, she calls Kumiko. She's busy - Reina had recalled too late her grandparents were over- so she leaves her a voicemail.

You're too good for Shuichi. Don't let him upset you. He's your friend, but you can't- don't let him make you guilty because you don't feel the same, okay? Don't let anyone ever make you guilty.

As an afterthought:

I'm sorry if this advice is unwelcome. I thought it was what you needed, but if I'm wrong, I'm sorry. I- I'm also feeling bad for the times before when I thought I had you all figured out . When of course I didn't. There's this really wrong quote... okay, never mind. What I'm trying to say is, I'll never figure you out, but I like you anyway.

As soon as she hangs up, she wants to take all of it back, the sheer oddness of what she'd just said hitting a dissonant chord within.

--

She doesn't call back. Reina resists the urge to bite her fingernails- that's absolutely ridiculous, who even does that- but then the doorbell rings.

Kumiko hugs her before she even says a word.

"I don't know what that was about. Like. At all," she conversationally tells Reina as she removes her shoes and gets herself water. "But it helped. I can't believe you'd be so.. like that, just after your own surgery. You're so.. kind. You're wonderful!"

Reina barely has the grace to accept the compliment properly- she's too fixated on Kumiko's broad grin.

For the first time in a while after reading that quote, she breathes easily.


.
fin.