Grace

It isn’t as though Asuka can’t afford her own apartment.

Her father has given her more than enough to more than cover the cost – not just of her apartment, but also her chosen school as well.  Call it atonement: she may not know the man outside of his famous books and CDs, and she may have only seen him once since her parents divorced (Nationals, and she’s not sure that brief glimpse of the judges’ table counts), but he has more wealth than her mom does, and in his absence, he’s provided this, at least.  It isn’t the same as having him physically here, but she’ll take it.

Having her own apartment would be easier, too.  She could practice without fear of annoying a potential roommate, although not likely without annoying her neighbors.  And there’d be less questions about her disappearances to practice elsewhere, about why she would feel so insistent on continuing to play euphonium even though she hasn’t gone to a music school.  She’s already spent far too much time arguing with her mother about this; she doesn’t want to go through it all again with a new roommate – with a stranger.

And yet.

~

“Matsuda Ryoko,” the redhead says, holding a hand out to Asuka with a bright grin.  “You must be Tanaka-san!”

Over the past several weeks, Asuka has been exchanging emails with this girl, who was looking for another roommate in her three room apartment.  It’s extravagantly large for something in the middle of the city, more than any one of them could afford on their own – even Asuka with her father’s money, even if she decided to forgo college entirely and put that entire funding towards an apartment.  (She wouldn’t.  Her mother would kill her.)  A three person living situation might feel a little packed, but as long as she has a room entirely to herself (and she will), Asuka is tentatively excited at the idea.  If she’d decided to go to a college nearer to them (or if she hadn’t decided to reach out and meet new people), she could have lived with Kaori and Haruka and reached the same result, but if she’s honest with herself….

Sharing a single room apartment would be much better for Kaori or Haruka’s wallets, and while they could stretch for something bigger, Asuka would have been paying the bulk of the rent.  In the end, this would only lead to resentment.  Fighting.  Bitterness.  Maybe not, but it’s most likely, and she doesn’t want to put her friends in a situation that could only result in a split.

No, no.  This is better.

(Maybe, in the future, she’ll change her mind.  For now, though, this is her decision.)

Asuka sets her euphonium case to one side, giving her a free hand to take Ryoko’s in her own.  “Yes!”

Ryoko’s hand is warm, but not uncomfortably so.  They hadn’t sent each other pictures, so this is the first time Asuka is seeing her, and she’d be lying if she didn’t say there was something familiar about Ryoko’s face.  Her hair’s darker and longer than Kumiko’s – she’s certain she’s never met anyone with hair quite this red, certainly not with the white seeded throughout it – and if she’d seen those blood red eyes anywhere before, surely she would remember them.  Or her freckles, which are rare enough on their own without being combined with everything else.

It strikes Asuka that Ryoko, like their third roommate, must have money of some kind.  She’d assumed familial, like her own, and Ryoko never said anything to dissuade that notion.  But looking at her now, Asuka thinks: model.  Not that she’s ever been interested in those sorts of magazines, just that she might have seen her in passing.  Or maybe she just isn’t famous.

Still, Asuka catches herself staring.  “You know, you look—”

“You must have an awful lot to carry!” Ryoko interrupts, dropping Asuka’s hand.  She grabs Asuka’s euphonium case before Asuka has a chance to stop her and lifts it, her cheeks puffing out.  She hefts it and grunts with the effort.  “It’s so heavy, Tanaka-san!”

It isn’t, not to Asuka.

(Or it is, but not with a weight that Ryoko could feel.)

“If you’re having trouble with it, Matsuda-san,” Asuka says, reaching out for her euphonium, “I can—”

“No, no, I’ve got it!”  Ryoko hefts her euphonium case with both hands, her face reddening with feigned effort.

And it is feigned – Asuka knows when a member of her band family truly struggles with carrying a new instrument, and Ryoko isn’t struggling.  Only pretending.  If she was struggling, Ryoko wouldn’t avoid the walls or corners as easily as she is; if there was true fear that Ryoko would bump the case into anything, Asuka would take it from her in a heartbeat.  As it is, she follows Ryoko wordlessly, one of her luggage bags rolling behind her, keeping a careful eye on her case.

“This,” Ryoko says, turning a corner and setting Asuka’s case down in a spacious room, “is your room!”  She props her hands on her hips and flashes her a brilliant grin.  “I’m at the end of the hall, and Haru-chan’s right next door!”  Her face falls then, and her lips purse to one side before she whispers, “I wanted the room next to yours, but Haru-chan gets super jealous.”  She crosses her arms.  “After so long, you’d think she’d be over that.”

Asuka’s eyes light up.  She slaps both of her hands to her own cheeks and dances in place.  “Romance problems?  Drama in our apartment?”

“No, no, no, nothing like that.”  Ryoko bats a hand playfully, but her eyes darken.  “I’m not interested in that stuff, and Haru-chan isn’t either.”  She laughs.  “Romance, anyway.  But drama….”  Her voice trails off, then she laughs again, not finishing the sentence.  “Let’s go get your stuff!”  Her grin returns.  “I want to see what your room’ll look like when you’ve got it all set up!”

Asuka sets her luggage bag in one corner of her room – the same size as her room at home had been, maybe a little smaller, but still plenty of room for all of her things – and then offers Ryoko a small bow.  “Thank you, Matsuda-san.”