ChiiMana Situation

(written in 2017)

Chinatsu's mother, Risako, called her daughter again, saying she'd want to take a coffee with her. Being this insistant, Chinatsu had no choice but accept... but as usual, Chinatsu ended up being angry while taking to her mother and went back to her flat, still irritated. She decides to call Manami so as to let out her feelings...

Ikeda Manami was a person Chinatsu could believe. She knew it : since the day they met, Chinatsu knew she could count on Manami. She was actually the only person besides Ume, her best friend, knowing about her family problems and the conflictual relationship she had with her mother. This day, Chinatsu got a call from the woman who gave her life. She didn't know why she picked up, knowing it already irritated her, even by only seeing her name appearing on her phone screen. She didn't know why she accepted to meet her, knowing she always ended up talking coldly to her, and knowing it would end up in heated argument.

She didn't know.
Anything.

"Raaaah I'm tired... I started off the day being enthusiastic and this woman ruined it all..."
These was the thoughts she wouldn't let anybody know. Only her could ear this inner-voice. This cold-hearted, dark voice. As she was seen as polite and pure, she couldn't let anybody know. And yet... Manami knew; and that's why she decided to call her that day : to let out all these dark, cold, endless hatred feelings that were exploding just like fireworks in her mind.

She didn't had to wait long before Manami picked up.

"Ah, Chii~ ! What's up ? I was about texting you about the new drawing I finished about our characters... !"
Usually, Chinatsu would interrupt Manami with some enthusiastic exclamation; but today she didn't... and that's why Manami knew something happened.

"Did something happen ?" Manami asked after some silent seconds where she could hear Chinatsu's breathe, as she if she wanted to let out the air that accumulated too much into her lungs.
"That woman called me," Chinatsu went straight up to the subject. She didn't want to brush off the topic. "Then she asked me to go to the cafe and as always, we ended up arguing..." she finished, sighing.
Chinatsu noticed that cold tone she had when talking about her mother; but she couldn't help it. "People would surely be taken aback and maybe hate me if they knew this", was she thinking.
"I see," Manami answered, "and so, you called me to tell me that ?" Manami knew her way to tell things could lead to misunderstandings.
"Well, yes... why... ? Maybe I'm bothering you... ?" Chinatsu was worried. Ever since Manami was going out with Iwaizumi, Chinatsu, as well as her other circle friends, noticed something changed in her; but she couldn't tell what nor why.
"Not at all, I was just wondering... why me while you have Yahaba now ?" Manami asked straightfully.

Chinatsu widened her eyes. She didn't understand why her boyfriend, Yahaba Shigeru, had something to do with the current situation.

"Why are you bringing up Ruru-chan now... ?
- Well, he's your boyfriend no ?
- Yes he is; but I don't see what he has to do with the current situation--
- Does Yahaba knows about this ?"

Chinatsu noticed the sudden serious tone Manami took to ask that last question. She knew Manami didn't appreaciate Yahaba, but also knew that her opinion about him changed a little before he and Chinatsu went out together.

"Know about what ?" Chinatsu faked not knowing what she talked about, while she knew deep inside her.
"About your family matters and your conflictual relationship with your mother," Manami let out like a bomb.

Some silent seconds follow. Chinatsu take a deep breath and answer :
"He doesn't. And I don't plan on telling him."
Once more, that cold tone.

"Why is that ?" Manami asked carefully.
"B--Because I love him. I want to protect him. He doesn't need to know about that woman and I won't let that woman meet him either," Chinatsu confessed.

Over the phone, Manami closes her eyes, smiling.
"Chii reminds me of the past me. The one I was before going out with Hajime-chan."

"You're wrong, Chinatsu," Manami begins. She didn't call her by her full name often, but when it happened, it was meaning it was a serious talk, "that's exactly because you like him you must tell him."
Manami didn't have lots of love experience. Sure, she once went out with Oikawa, but would that fake relationship really count as experience ? Also, she was the kind to play with the boys who would confess their feelings to her : Chinatsu knew it.
"Where did you get that point of view on love ?" Chinatsu asked in a weary way.
"Words from my handsome and cool boyfriend~ !" Manami went back to an all happy-go-round tone.
"From Iwaizumi-senpai ?!"