Patchwork Inquiry [Nao/Komachi]

i am not interested in fulfilling borrowed dreams

❝

One of the many gifts that Yuki Sonohara had passed to Komachi was the ability to pick up a person's location solely through gossip, observation, and probing questions that wouldn't raise suspicion. Komachi had little issue talking to other people in the first place, so figuring out where she had to head to today posed little difficulty. And today, Komachi was headed to the rooftops.

Kaneshiro Naotora. That was Komachi's target. A friend of Shirayama Misha, one of Komachi's childhood friends. Komachi was rather familiar of the effect Misha had on other girls, where the Russian's natural Onee-sama nature attracted a large number of admirers. Most of them were puppy love and simple crushes, but there were a few whose affections went a little more beyond that and Misha had to politely turn them down. This situation, as far as Komachi understood it, was a little different. Putting aside her best friend's feelings, Komachi was resolved to at least determine for sure how this Naotora (or was it Nao?) saw Misha.

"Tch. Even if even if it's a decline on any side, at least they ought to get the words out." Komachi thought to herself. But that was far easier said than done. That was why the clothier agreed to this intervention. Memories of Yuki, and the feelings that Komachi never got to say, pushed Komachi forward.

As Komachi walked up the stairs, she slowed and softened her steps, masking her approach. To the door. Carefully, Komachi turned the handle and cracked the door open wide enough to peek outside. A little bit in the distance, she could spot the ponytail that Misha had described and closed the door carefully to minimize the sound. Komachi took a deep breath to calm herself, then rushed at the door, slamming it open and stepping out.

"Kaneshiro Naotora!" Komachi exclaimed, throwing her arm out in a dramatic pose. There was that recognizable mischievous grin on Komachi's face that gave way to a calmer but but still boisterous expression and a softer but still energetic tone. "Heya. Ikezawa Komachi, nice to meet you, Misha-san might have told you about me. Got a minute or two or maybe thirty? Misha-san was worried about you, but she ended up sorta busy, so I said I could check up on ya."

Nao Kaneshiro ● notes: ● 395

MADE BY MIZO

The rooftop was a place of solitude where an author could sort through her thoughts and come up with new inspirations.  It helped that this was a particularly nice day overall when it came to the weather too!  Nao sat leaned up against a wall with a notebook in hand, jotting notes down for her next work of fiction.  It'd been a little while since she'd started something new that would be of any considerable length, most of her more recent stuff being just short stories.  Those could be easy to write since you didn't need a huge overarching plot to run with; you did need to have a large amount of characters in mind to keep the short stories fresh though.  A light novel on the other hand allowed her to expand on a smaller cast and flesh it out more. 

Thus far the best she'd been able to piece together was something that felt a bit new in the face of her normal fare.  This time she had a tale about a dashingly pretty foreign exchange student arriving at a private girls' school and meeting a quiet poet girl who hadn't many friends.  They would get to know each other through a series of encounters eventually leading to some kind of event in which they'd be stuck in a small place together.  Some kind of situation that would require the pair to embrace each other, realizing feelings for each other they'd had no idea existed before the event.  That was where she was drawing a bit of a blank actually - what exactly did that entail?  First thing to enter her mind had been a storm with copious rain and thunder, but that seemed a little too.. predictable?  So she'd sat there with her notebook, jotting down any random thought that came to mind for this scenario's culminating moment.  Thus far nothing really groundbreaking had come up, but it was probably only a matter of time.

Then her concentration was thrown off quite unexpectedly when an unfamiliar voice called out to her from the doorway nearby.  The brunette's head jerked up suddenly to see who was so forward as to demand her attention like this.  Almost the next instant she realized that she'd seen that face before somewhere... wait, was that the girl on the poster at the store with affordable clothes?  Misha's friend whose family owned said stores?  Nao's eyes were quite big in surprise at the development as her hands fumbled around with the notebook in an attempt to close it.  Komachi wasn't exactly super confrontational but at the same time it was a tiny bit overwhelming for Nao to take in.

"E-er.. um.. hello?  You startled me a bit," Nao admitted as she stood up, tucking the notebook under her arm, "Um.. it's nice that Misha-san was worried about be.. I mean, it's not a good feeling to be worried, but she's thinking about me and that's kind.  But... yes, I've got time..."

She blushed a little as she responded with her own question, "Your family owns some clothing stores, right?  I bought some there recently and they're pretty nice.. so.. thank you?"

i am not interested in fulfilling borrowed dreams

❝

Komachi blinked in surprise, though she realized that she probably shouldn't be. After all, sending Nao to Komachi's shop was Komachi's idea, and the tailor was well aware that her face was used in a lot of promotional material. Perhaps what was most jarring was being thanked for it, to which Komachi responded with a flourish and bow, not too unlike her friend Misha's but obviously much less practiced.

"Thank you for your generous patronage, Kaneshiro-san, and thank you for your time," Komachi said, rather sincerely as she took a seat next to Nao. "Now, I suck horribly at small-talk, and we may or may not have a time limit, so I'll get right to business. Now, where do I start? Maybe with a little backstory about Misha, because there's a bit of a reason why things for her aren't straighforward."

Komachi took a deep breath and closed her eyes, leaning back against the wall.

"Three...heh, even more. Five? Six? Let's say five, but all the matters is that it's been a bit of a while." Komachi started, grinning and chuckling as if she was remembering something absurd. "Five years ago, a young blonde-haired girl was going through her usual Middle School life. She was kind, caring, and graceful. Hell, I'll be upfront, she was really popular. Many of the guys and a lot of the girls became rather enamoured with her. And she shot down every. Single. One. And for a good reason."

Though her head was against the wall and tilted skywards, Komachi opened her eyes and let her gaze shift menancingly towards Nao.

"So, tell me, Kaneshiro-san. Who is Misha to you?" There was no hint of any threat despite the look the tailor had, and slowly she turned her head to face forward. "I know, tough question, but it's the crux of the problem Misha has." "One day, I pretended to be dumb transfer student asked one of those would-be suitors what Misha was like. They had all kinds of flowery decriptions, how it made them feel, similies and exaggerations, epitome of being an onee-sama, so on. But sounded less like Misha and more like some generic girl from a rejected romance novel. It was what they thought Misha was, by fawning at them from afar."

Mischievously confident eyebrows raised as Komachi's expression seemed darkly amused.

"Now, it may seem like I'm just being an overzealous bodyguard, but I would like to think it's for your own good too. So let me ask you: who is Misha to you?"

Nao Kaneshiro ● notes: ● 444

MADE BY MIZO

The once mysterious model from the clothing store ads was standing right here on the school rooftop with Nao.  That in itself had taken a moment for the author to process - it was as if a fictional character leaped off the pages of a book and posed before you.  Nao was that surprised to encounter the girl she'd seen on a store wall not too long ago.. and in person!  Her expression remained a bit confounded as she attempted to keep up with everything that Komachi was unloading on her all at once.  Pink remained in her cheeks as well, having been caught so off guard with questions about someone who was very near and dear to her.  From what she gathered there had been some past history with Misha during middle school in which classmates had started liking her a certain way.  Not too unlike a script outline Nao had drawn up a while back with a girl in school being so overwhelmingly liked that she had at least half a dozen confession letters in her locker on any given day.  Yet that girl hadn't replied to any of them for mysterious reasons, one of which was later revealed to be her heart set on a particular girl.  Now what that had to do with Misha's past she had no clue, and Komachi didn't help it any with her line of inquiry.

Nao stood there puzzling at the question and how she should answer it.  This wasn't a novel, so she probably shouldn't look to fiction for guidance on the proper course of action.  Yet she'd never really dealt with anyone who was this.. direct.. before either.  A light breeze picked up and blew through her ponytail, lifting some strands up with each little gust.  A lovely day like day was great for brainstorming and observation of other girls but it was more difficult for the brunette to really focus in on the answer.  What was this girl looking for from her?  A particular answer that wasn't just a general description of Misha while also being honest to her own feelings and thoughts seemed to be a good bet.  For a moment longer she pondered at the question, tapping her chin as she considered it more.

"Who is Misha-san?  Well, she's.. very important to me," Nao finally managed, blushing a bit more at just those words, "Other girls can see her as an onee-sama, but to me she's someone who will listen to my ideas and try her best to help me improve myself.. and someone who worries too much about me when I stumble a little in following her instructions - I'm not really worth that much concern.  But anyway.. um.. I'd say she makes me feel special because of how willing she is to accept my little quirks and my writing.. and me.  Very caring, but that's not all.."

She looked over at Komachi and remarked, "I think maybe I get carried away sometimes, and that seems to upset her.. but even if she gets really quiet, she still helps me all the same.  And she makes me want to do the most I can for her so that she can smile and be herself around me.  I don't need the onee-sama, I just want to see the baker who helped me learn to cook and choose classy clothes.. and I want to see her happy.  So Misha is a very important, special person to me.. but I can't define what we are together."  The brunette blushed more, fidgeted nervously and looked away as she finished speaking - how could she have said all that?!  Gosh that probably sounded just as flowery and vague as the girls who didn't really know Misha.

"I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but that's.. what my brain came up with anyway," she added, feeling now like she'd be dying of embarrassment.

i am not interested in fulfilling borrowed dreams

❝

Well. The answer Komachi got was both expected and unexpected, but overall, satisfactory. "Good grief, Misha-san. Sometimes, you help other far too much. Or maybe...everyone else just is so selfish. Probably the latter," the tailor thought to herself. A mischievous grin spread across her face.

"On the scale of one to ten, I'll give you..." Komachi deliberately paused for faux dramatic effect. "...a seven, maybe even an eight. A lot better than what I've heard before. And most importantly, you figured out the problem really well. The only one that has any right to call Misha 'onee-sama' is...technically her little sister Haruna, but you can make a case for some of her cousins."

With a chuckle, Komachi did a sort of kip up and got standing. "Now, you got one big, big, absolutely huge problem." Komachi pivoted, turning around to face Nao and nearly slamming her foot down. With an unhappy frown, the tailor leaned in towards the writer. "I heard you say 'I'm not worth' or something. Yeah. No, Throw that out. Why? If you aren't worth it, then why be around her? You made it this far, so you gotta be worth something, right?"

Komachi withdrew and starting to walk in a circle. "Look. Let me tell you my story." She pulled out her phone and opened up a photo, then handed the phone off to Nao while sitting back down next to her. "See this girl? Sonohara Yuki. She's why I'm here, in Fukui. She needed a crazy jacket that could carry her stuff while looking good doing so. I made it for her. And then, she helped me find what I wanted, and one of the things wanted was to be at her side. Forever. But she felt so far away. She was tough. She was smart. She could make the biggest bullies run in fear by simply walking near them. How on earth am I going to be able to stay by her side? Especially since I could only reign her in half the time. Another friend of mine, Miharu, could do it so much better than me, and she was also what, track team captain while being her class rep? So I held my tongue. And guess what?"

Komachi drew in a deep breath before blurting out, "She got a girlfriend now! Urgh!"

Growling, Komachi slammed her back against the wall. It took a few more deep breaths to calm herself down before she looked to Nao. There was a mix of anger and anguish on her face as she pointed to the brunette.

"No, it's not Miharu, but it doesn't matter. Now, you don't want that happening to you, right?"

Nao Kaneshiro ● notes: ● 406

MADE BY MIZO

Komachi wasn't quite what Nao had expected out of the girl from the poster, that much had become clear.  Her confidence was the main thing that resonated the same between the images and the actual girl.  There wasn't much time to dwell on impressions about Komachi, though, when the girl was going headlong into a discussion of Nao's own self confidence.  More than just that it was a talk on something that had happened in the past to the fashion minded girl circling her.  All of the details were things that seemed like they were right out of one of the many novels that Nao both read and wrote herself.  A girl goes to a special school to make something fantastic for a specific girl in her life, and they end up having feelings for each other.  Or at least one of them did.  Despite her confidence Komachi hadn't managed to step up to confess to the girl whom she'd liked so much - she'd been too late!  It was a sad story to hear, but for a moment or two Nao wasn't sure why it was being shared with her in particular; what had this to do with anything she'd been through with Misha? 

"It's a shame that it didn't work out for you... it's hard when you like someone but think someone else might be better for them," Nao replied as she gazed upon the picture displayed on Komachi's phone.  Quite a cute girl, it was a shame that Komachi hadn't managed to summon the courage to.. wait, what was the other part of what the fashionista had said?  That same thing happening to Nao?!  Wait, what was she talking about?

"Happeneing to me?  What.. who are you talking about?"  the author asked with her brow furrowed, returning the other girl's anguish and frustration with her own confusion.  And then... she thought of Misha, of wanting to live up to the blonde's expectations and spend time with her doing anything or nothing at all.  Almost instantly her face became incredibly red, her hands shaking a little as she realized what all of those oddball feelings might signify.  As an author of yuri novels it seemed like it had just been right in front of her the whole time!

"Y-you don't think.. maybe.. I l-like Misha-san like that... and s-she likes me?" Nao asked as she put the pieces of the puzzle together.  Then she hesitantly offered the phone back to the other girl, "But.. Misha-san doesn't.. she doesn't seem interested in me like that.. how do I change that if I even can?"

i am not interested in fulfilling borrowed dreams

❝

Slowly, Komachi calmed down, amusement taking over her frustration as she watched the gears turn in Nao's mind. The redness on the writer's face confirmed that Komachi had hit her mark, and with a gentle smile the tailor accepted the phone and pocketed it before standing up again and starting to pace in a circle in front of Nao.

"Well, if she doesn't return your feelings at the moment, nothing you can really do. Remember, the way someone looks at the world is synonmyous to one's self, "Komachi explained, adding, "And let me tell you, I ain't fond of people trying to mold others so they fit into a box. But that's beside the point, now what I wanted to get at." The tailor gave a wink and a grin before continuing to walk around.

"Anyways, you're in luck. If Misha was just going to peg you as suitor she didn't want, you think I'd be here talking to you? Don't answer that. No, she'd probably be rather direct and would have shot you down...eh...a month ago. So what does that mean. Well, I'm not cupid or anything but if I know Misha well, and I do hope I know her well, then I think you got a shot. So, what you have to do, is..." Komachi paused for dramatic effect. "...just tell her how you feel. Be upfront. This isn't some romance novel. No tricks, no redirection. Even if you don't know exactly what's going on...I think Misha would rather hear that."

With a huff, Komachi sat down cross-legged in front of Nao. "Now, I've sorta seen it, and Misha confirmed it. She's been acting, odd, right? Walking on eggshells and the like. Look, she has a clue, but doesn't know everything. So for your sake, and hers, you gotta tell her what's up. I know, I haven't been practicing what I preach. But that's why I want you to at least give it a shot. Call it... a selfish wish, or living vicariously, you what, at this point in time, I really don't care."

Komachi shrugged, but still kept that mischievous smile.

Nao Kaneshiro ● notes: ● 380

MADE BY MIZO

The very notion of what Komachi was suggesting was somewhat alien to Nao, just as all of the swirling vortex of  emotions about Misha had become.  In all of her experience in the world of romance - entirely in the fictional world really - she'd always been led to believe that this was the sort of thing that took a lot of planning.  A girl almost always had a hard time realizing that she did in fact like another girl quite a lot, enough to ask her to date - there was always a chance that those feelings weren't going to be returned in the same way.  This meant that a girl who had fallen for another girl had to make sure that her confession (oh lord, she was going to confess to Misha!) needed to think about the right place to do it, how to say it carefully, all of that.  An important conversation needed a well considered plan and gentle feelers put out before revealing its true purpose.  Something like choosing the right teas for a girl who liked tea.. wait.. Misha hadn't gotten the dramatic purpose of that gesture.  At all.  She'd argued for a more direct route which flew in the face of dramatic pacing in fact.  Just as Komachi was telling her to do now, since it was something that Misha would rather hear.

In that connection Nao knew that Komachi was dead right.  This wasn't the kind of situation in which her wealth of knowledge in romance novels would be at all useful in achieving any kind of satisfactory result.  Someone who knew Misha better and for longer than Nao had was saying that Nao had a chance.  Falling back on approaches which worked in cuddly romance stories would harm that chance.  Misha wasn't the kind of person who'd want to hear a girl fumbling around with her feelings and avoiding the issue before she was absolutely certain her chances were good.  Yet to be direct.. to just say it flew so in the face of her author's sensibilities that she was instantly crestfallen at knowing she'd have to do it that way.  Nao's lips curled down in a frown as she twiddled her fingers and tried to visualize herself talking to Misha that way - no matter how hard she focused on it, though, she couldn't get herself to see it.

"Misha-san has been acting strange around me lately, like she doesn't know how to treat me.  But.. I really, really don't want to screw this up and most people probably don't like it when you're very direct.  It's rude, isn't it?  But Misha-san isn't most people," Nao replied as she attempted again to work through it, "She's really important to me, though, so I don't want to lose her companionship if it goes poorly and I mess up.  But.. I don't know if I could stand to be close to her if she rejects me.. I'd still have these feelings.."

Nao held her head in her hands as she failed to see any way through the woods, "Ugh... Komachi-san, what do I do?  I'm just stuck between a hard deadline and a production offer that's just for an ero game... I mean.. a rock and a hard place.."

i am not interested in fulfilling borrowed dreams

❝

That mischiveous smile never faced from Komachi's face as she watched Nao process it all. It was rather relieving for the tailor that, despite the incredibly heavy-handed approach, she was able to get her point across so easily, and she nodded in agreement when Nao brought up how Misha would prefer being direct. Though Komachi would have preferred a different metaphor, she could understand the fear of horribly messing up the current relationship. For a while, she was indeed stumped over what further advice to give - while Komachi was always eager to help, sage advice was usually the domain of...Misha.

With a bit of a sigh, Komachi tapped her chin and started to think a bit. Suddenly, her eyes brightened as a idea came to her mind. "Hm...you know. Okay, yeah, my situation was, is, whatever, it's different than yours, but, I do think the same thing would apply. So. What should I have done?" With a grin, Komachi stood up and walked a few paces away, facing opposite to Nao. "I'd go find Yuki wherever she was lurking, do this and go-"

Suddenly, Komachi turned around, standing tall with her hand stretched out towards Nao and her fingers spread out. It was an extremely silly and exaggerated pose, but one that Komachi did without hesitation, letting her pride and confidence show.

"Sonohara! You know what?! I like you! Go out with me!" Komachi shouted. Then she lowered her hand and shrugged, ginning. "Then Yuki would apologize for not noticing my feelings and then turn me down in the most horrible, insensitive yet unflinchingly honest way possible because that is Sonohara Yuki. But yeah. Instead of trying to by coy....I should have been upfront with it as I have always been. So that's my advice. Just...don't try to make some big plan or anything and tell her the same way you'd tell her that you want some ice cream or something."

That grin returned as another sinister idea came to mind. Komachi's thumb pointed behind her as she said, "Alternatively, Micchan's down in the kitchens, let's go strike while the iron is hot and the idea is fresh in our minds!"

Nao Kaneshiro ● notes: ● 375

MADE BY MIZO