When Jina finally got into the car, Kana had drifted off to sleep. The slam of the door, unfortunately, ruined that bit of peace. Groaning and waking up, she opened her eyes right as Yamazaki turned the engine on, and the car started to move. She felt the jolt of the start and tried to hold on to the window for support. Jina laughed. Kana glared at the girl with nothing but hatred.

  “What? You’re the one who walked off, even though everyone wanted to talk to you.” Jina scoffed, “I tried calling you, didn’t I? RiRi and Sanada wanted to thank you, too, but you’re the one with a stick up your ass.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” Kana whispered, leaning against the window to try to go back to sleep.

  “Why should I?” The goth freak decided that being left alone was not enough, “Is that how you pay back the people who save your life? Walk away like they’re dirt on your shoe? Kana Minami, understand one thing. Just because you have your own ambitions does not mean others don’t.”

  She did not reply. She did not want to engage with her right now. Was this not enough already? She had been utterly and completely humiliated by all three of them, and now Jina was unloading on her. Kana covered her ears with her hands, but it did not help. She still heard every word that her partner said.

  “I’ve been trying, haven’t I? I’ve been trying my best to be nice to you and make friends with you. What have you given everyone else in return? Nobody in that entire group ever told you that your goals were wrong. Nobody ever stopped you from doing what you want. And how do you pay them back? Disrespect, ego, and trash talk. Do you even see other people as humans, or just steps for you to climb and reach the peak?”

  “Yamazaki, stop the car.”

  She whispered, but her voice did not reach him. Hands still on her ears, she looked up, but did not have the energy to move her entire head. What did Jina even know? She just said things without thinking. She said things without understanding. She was a child who thought being exactly like the world asked would get you everything. She didn’t know how to fight. She didn’t know that, because she didn’t know what suffering was.

  And so, Jina continued, “I get it, alright? Ruby Passion is at the top, so they’re your natural enemies. So what? Ever heard of a fun competition? It’s not life and death, Minami. It’s just a business. They’re at the top, and you’re trying to reach the same position. Saying thank you does not ruin your conviction or make you smaller. What you did today? That was embarrassing.”

  “Yamazaki, stop the fucking car!”

  She screamed, and the manager brought it to a screeching halt.

  Kana fidgeted around and found the handle before pulling it and opening the door. Getting out of the car, she shut it behind her and looked around. They were on a bridge of some sort. She had never really paid attention to the road, ever. She didn’t even know what ward they were in. But it was fine. She would find a way and get out. She didn’t need to stay in there and talk to her.

  Stumbling to the edge of the bridge, she leaned against the railing and looked down at the river. Jumping came to mind, of course, but she brushed that off easily. Her life was too valuable to throw away like that. Kana just needed some time by herself. She needed to think and get her mind cleared. Jina would never get it. She would not understand how much humiliation it had caused Kana to sit in the same seat as Akiko Hara.

  How much pain and self-loathing had come out of it.

  She heard another door open and close from the direction of the car. Without looking, she swatted her hand backwards, “Get out! Just go!”

  “Kana…”

  Why did she have to be all nice now? Why was her voice lower and more understanding? Why did she have regret laced in? Only because she had been so brutally rejected. Only because she no longer had someone to thrash, and suddenly realized she had gone too far.

  Jina’s hand landed on her shoulder, and she flinched.

  “Don’t fucking touch me.”

  She pushed it away and started walking once more.

  “Where are you going, Kana?”

  “Just leave me alone.”

  Kana wasn’t sure if she said that one out loud or just whispered it. Either way, Jina did not listen. A second later, the hand on her shoulder was back. Pushed away, it came back once more. And again. And again. Until Kana did not have the strength to keep pushing it away. Until all she could do was let the emotions take every bit of her, and take her right back to the railing, where she leaned and looked down.

  On the road, Yamazaki kept bringing the car forward to keep up with them. It would also help if they needed to make a quick escape, of course. Kana liked how he thought, but she did not want to be happy right now.

  “What do you…know…”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “I…” Jina sighed, “I know nothing, Kana. Because you never say anything. If I am being rude and if I am being insensitive, it is because you are the one who keeps everything to herself. You are the one who still hasn’t explained herself to anyone who is working with you. You are the one who keeps yourself wrapped in that show of lust. All you’ve ever been in front of me is a lying, scheming bitch who only cares about money.”

  “What’s so wrong about that?”

  Kana kept whispering, even as Jina raised her voice. She didn’t have it in her anymore. Flashes of Akiko kept poisoning her mind. Every inch of their bodies was like a dirty swamp she didn’t want to step into.

  “Again, nothing. There’s nothing wrong with that. But you need a reason, don’t you? You need something that drives you so far…”

  “Is it so important? To have a reason? I just want money. I just want to live in comfort and not be kicked around.” She pushed herself back up and looked at Jina. Without knowing why, she pulled her right hand back and slapped Jina in the face, screaming, “Is it so fucking necessary for me to have a reason?!”

  Jina stayed as she was, hand on her cheek. She looked up and switched to the calm one now, “No, Kana-chan. No, you don’t need to have a reason. Is that it? You want money so much that you will only think about yourself? Not even be grateful to someone who saved your life? Is that how small, how pathetic, you are? That’s not it, is it? I might not have known you for very long, but the Kana I know…”

  Kana crouched down and held the bars of the railing, peeking out of them. She didn’t want to show Jina her face. She already knew what was coming. Some sentimental, overdramatic spiel about how she was actually a good person, and how she was helping people once in a while. Probably about how she worked so hard to write those lyrics, and brought some self-confidence to Yamazaki.

  And that was exactly what she started doing. Kana ignored her, though. She didn’t need to hear any of it. Everything she did was to give herself a better chance at getting to the top. Whether it was the lyrics, whether it was getting close to Jina, or forcing Yamazaki to step up. If something good had come out of those things for other people, then good for them. It hadn’t been her intention.

  Yet, she wanted them to understand. Them, at the very least. So, crouched as she was, she whispered.

  “Get Yamazaki here.”

  A second later, he had stepped out of the car and was standing right behind them. This was enough. If they wanted to know, then fine. But telling them this meant she was going to go extra hard on them from tomorrow. She was going to force them more and put them in worse positions. That was the punishment they would have to face for forcing her to speak up.

  “I had a friend…” She started, “Aharu. She was very cute and very smart. We were both seven years old, and decided to make a time capsule. She was so nerdy and into stupid things like that. So, we filled it with so many things we owned, and then buried it below this tree near our place. We promised we would open it ten years from now.”

  Jina got down too and put a hand on her shoulder. Kana still didn’t look back. Her eyes were moist, but she kept them on the horizon. She had rehearsed this a million times. She had reminded herself of this story so many times. It didn’t faze her anymore. She was not going to break.

  “When I turned seventeen, I decided to open it myself. Aharu…died. She had cancer and passed away when she was fifteen. Still, I decided to open it for her sake. But I waited. Like a complete idiot, I waited until it was exactly ten years. Waiting didn’t work, though. Thirteen days before I was supposed to open it, a concert was scheduled in that ground. Ruby Passion.”

  Akiko Hara. That bitch. Kana was going to tear her into a hundred pieces.

  “The stage was facing away from the tree, but barely touched it. They needed to place this metal support, and it needed to be right next to the tree. So, they dug the ground and placed the support. Because our time capsule box, this tiny, transparent plastic box, got in their way, they took it out and threw it away.

  “Akiko Hara…she picked it up. She got it before I could, and laughed. She opened it, went through it, and just laughed. She said that we were stupid to open a time capsule in ten years. And then she burned it. She threw everything it had into a small bonfire they had created backstage, and destroyed it all.”

  “Kana-chan…”

  Jina’s grip on her hand got tighter as she pulled closer and put a whole arm around her. Kana’s grip around the railing got tighter as Akiko’s face got clearer. As she remembered the exact expression that had been on her face that day.

  “Since that day,” Jina asked, “You’ve…hated them?”

  Kana shook her head, “I don’t hate them. Not them, personally. But it taught me how this world worked, Yamazaki. Jina, you'd better learn too. Or else it will be too late. You'd better understand that when you have power and money, everything matters. If you don’t, then even if you pour your entire heart out into doing something, it’ll be worthless. People with power will step all over your life, and do whatever they want.”

  “Ka-”

  Jina’s voice was interrupted by Yamazaki, who put a hand forward, right beside her face, “I promise I’ll try to make Yamazaki Entertainment better, then.”

  Kana’s throat gave up as her eyes welled up. Looking at the hand, unable to hold it back, she let out a loud laugh. Then, as tears fully rolled down, she laughed like she had lost her mind. Sitting down on the sidewalk, she grabbed Yamazaki’s hand and pulled herself up while her joy echoed through the entire bridge. Jina, standing up too, sighed and headed back to the car.

  “Fucking drama queen.”

  “I am going to make them lick the floor.” Kana stopped laughing and stopped Jina in her tracks, “Ruby Passion is not the dirt on my shoe. They’re just three girls who think they own this world. And I’m not going to treat them as anything else. At least dirt gives your shoes grip and keeps you standing. Ruby Passion…I will keep them human. I will make them three adult women who will lick the floor for me, as they are.”

  “And? What do you want me to do? Applaud?” Jina gave her a smug smile, opening the door.

  “No.” Kana started walking back as she wiped her tears. Yamazaki followed. The door remained open for her to get in, “Not just yet.”

  She closed the door behind her, and once Yamazaki started the car, she finished her declaration, “You’ll applaud when we are sitting on top of them.”

  Jina looked at her, curled up her hand into a fist, and lightly punched her arm. It did not hurt at all, but it did bring a smile to Jina’s face. Looking back out of her window, she whispered, “And now, we do it as equals.”

  capable of doing something like that.