Page 84 of Light Leech

She stopped and gazed up at the building to our left. What I had taken to be nothing more than another advertisement was instead an entire building’s face with three girls in blue, red, and yellow, dancing to a familiar 3Rochi song I couldn’t name. I had seen them before, but now their faces meant more. Each had hair styled in a bob, dyed their individual color with clothes and makeup to match. They moved with perfect fluidity and flawless execution as if they were individual limbs of the same body. Lights projected down the street and onto other buildings with pulses to match the poppy anthem. Pedestrians stopped to watch, some showing excessive enthusiasm as they pointed towards our destination.

The song concluded and the girl in yellow crouched, running her finger across glossy lips and winking as she pointed to the camera.

The time and date appeared with “3Rochi pop-up – first floor of Donki Tower.”

I looked at Naoma to read her reaction. Her eyebrows were flat and her stare pensive.

“How are you feeling?”

She looked at me and her face eased. She sighed. “Ready, I think.”

“Ready to get back into the public eye?”

I expected her to shrug it off and wave me onward, but she took a moment to think about it. Perhaps she was revisiting a day when her image covered that building. The burden of fame aside, she had been loved by countless. Superficial it might have been, but the emotional draw was still there. Not only did she not know if their love would persist, she was a different person than she had been. I couldn’t fathom such an identity crisis but felt close as I recalled wondering if I could remain the person I had been prior to receiving my Bite.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for that, but I’m ready to see if I am. There’s only one way to find out and that is forward. You and the others have shown me the need to push onward despite fear. I think this is one of those situations.

I nodded. “I’m happy to be here with you to do it.”

Her smile was beyond anything superficial. It was a deep expression of gratitude that pushed through the worry that constricted her.

She took my hand. “Might as well commit to the act now.”

I rubbed my thumb across her knuckles, wanting nothing more than that act to be true. “You think 3Rochi will believe that you have a boyfriend? I thought most idols weren’t allowed to date to keep the fan boys dreams up.”

She shrugged. “It’s an older standard. We could have relationships, but they could never be public. I’m not a part of Reef anymore so any rule like that will be insignificant. Besides, they knew about plenty of my past relationships.”

My eyes widened but I tried to keep myself relaxed.

She raised an eyebrow. “I never took you for the jealous type?”

“I–I–”

She giggled. “They were all part of a business deal anyway. You know that, right? That was the old Naoma.”

“And what does the new one want?”

She bit her bottom lip, then spoke. “To find out if this,” she eyed our hands, “is worth my emotions.”

I gave her a half smile. If she wanted this, I would give everything to her but I knew that my life carried a burden like no other. I didn’t need to ask her if it was worth it. She knew the cost and everything about me. If she wanted this, who was I to refuse what I wanted so much as well. It would have been easy to look forward and continue but now was as great a time as ever to confront it. My chest was light and my core burned.

“Is this something you want?” I squeezed her hand.

She smiled, taking it lightly. “Haven’t we been over this?”

“I’m serious. Why make this an act?”

“Because…” She looked up at me with sincerity.

“We keep skirting around it. It’s a passionate friendship that keeps stopping before the best part.”

She let out a light, nervous laugh. “We went on a date, didn’t we?”

“Yeah. I guess we did.”

“What else could you want?” Her voice was soft, longing, and as real as she had ever been.

I pulled her closer and leaned in when I saw her eyes close and lips point towards me. Our lips met, locking with a passion that I had longed for since our first spark of infatuation. That had been a drive of emotions, this was something real and raw, a moment that we had built up to and could now savor.