Chapter 295 – Interlude 4 – Kaori, The Actress, Part 12

Kaori’s eyes blinked open slowly. The closed windows were made of thick, cloudy glass, which meant that the sun didn’t pour into the room too strongly, and yet Kaori could tell it was morning already. Almost as soon as she woke up, she felt a headache pound against her skull, and she almost whimpered. 

“Crap, I need some water.” 

Rolling out of bed, Kaori walked out of her and the others’ room before moving down the stairs and into the main room. She saw her troupe gathered at a table, as the inn’s workers attended to other customers around them. Kaori cut between everyone and pulled a chair back. Her eyes fell on Sinneah’s glass cup, saw that it was filled with water, and she asked: 

“Please, I’m dying.” 

“Bad night yesterday?” Sinneah asked, passing her the cup quickly. Kaori took the water with gratitude easy to see on her face and gulped down the contents of the cup greedily. 

As soon as she did, she opened her mouth to respond to the larger woman’s question. However, as soon as she was going to, she realized a small problem. 

“I… I don’t know.” 

“What?” Sinneah asked. 

“I don’t remember much of it,” Kaori muttered, looking away. “I, uh… I remember asking for some strong liquor and… Yeah. This was how that ended up,” she gestured at herself. 

“I’m glad it did result in this,” Vermia said, smiling at her. “The view we got to see was a treat.” 

“… What?” Kaori asked, raising a brow. “What are you talking about?”

At that, the girls at the table each gave each other some knowing glances. Kaori’s concern grew in the few seconds that they remained silent. 

Uh… What did I do?  She asked herself.

“Was it that bad?” Kaori asked. 

“Oh, it wasn’t anything bad,” Yumi quickly clarified. “Just a bit funny.” 

“When you arrived here,” Vermia began to explain. “You didn’t do so on your own two feet, dear. The half-demon Savior carried you.”

… What? 

“In quite the knightly fashion, actually,” Vermia added, with a bit of a smirk. “I felt my heart beating a little faster when I saw that.” 

“Wait…” Kaori looked away, but she finished the question in her thoughts.  She had to carry me back here? What happened? 

“All of that aside, however,” Yumi thankfully changed the topic, “we need to start practicing.” 

“Oh, the play’s tomorrow, right?” 

“Yes,” Yumi nodded. “If you want to do anything today, get it out of the way early so we can dedicate the rest of the day to the rehearsals.” 

“Sure,” Kaori replied, before walking over to where Keiko’s father was, behind the counter to her left.

She bought some eggs, bacon, and coffee for herself, returning to the table with her breakfast in hand. Here, her mind continued to wander as she ate. 

Hm… I should probably go make sure that I didn’t embarrass myself too badly. I hope I didn’t do anything too tragic. 

Deciding on that, as soon as she finished her food, she stood up and let everyone else know she would be back in a few minutes. 

Walking quickly out the door, she hurried down the street as she tried hard to remember what had happened. 

I went to that tavern with her, I asked for the strongest stuff they had like an absolute dumbass, and… yeah. I’m blank after that. What the heck did I do? 

In a few minutes, she was arriving at the Kasumi’s house with a couple of different apologies ready to be given depending on how badly she’d messed up. As soon as she got there she was tapping her knuckles against the door, holding an apprehensive look on her face. When the door opened, Kaori bowed, expecting to see Kasumi. 

It was, instead, the half-demon herself who had opened the door. That caught Kaori off-guard, so, she stood there for a few seconds with her mouth open and her eyes looking back into Ash’s own, without knowing how to start this.

Okay, calm down!  Kaori thought.  First things first, does she seem angry? If she does, just apologize and… 

As she saw the woman’s expression, however, she paused.

Ash didn’t seem angry at all, as far as she could tell. If anything, she looked… 

She looks as embarrassed as I feel,  Kaori realized.  What did we do? 

“Hi,” Kaori waved a hand, greeting her, and putting on a little smile. 

Ash didn’t respond. She just kept her eyes settled on Kaori, as her slightly embarrassed expression gave way to one that was more tired than anything else. Kaori cleared her throat and said: 

“So, uh… Last night, huh?” 

“…” Again, Ash didn’t say anything. 

“I-I just… I wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything too bad yesterday,” Kaori finally said. “I got slightly drunker than I intended to.” 

When the woman heard her, she finally spoke back. 

“You don’t remember? Is that how being drunk works?” 

“De-, what?” Kaori raised a brow. “What do you mean?” 

“I can’t get drunk,” Ash stated. “Because of this trait that I picked up as a kid. So, yeah, is that a thing that happens when you’re drunk?” 

“Oh. Uh, it depends on how drunk you get,” Kaori said, laughing a little nervously. “And, well, last night I went a few steps over my line, so, yeah.” 

As the half-demon heard that, some understanding finally appeared on her face. 

“So, do I have anything to apologize for?” 

“… No,” Ash replied, shaking her head after hesitating for a short couple of seconds. “You’re fine.” 

“Oh, thank the gods,” Kaori chuckled. “And, here I was worried I’d thrown up in your lap or something. You’d tell me if I did, right?” 

“Yeah,” Ash nodded. “Don’t worry. You’re fine,” she said, once again.

—

Hours Later

“The road ahead is dark, but together, maybe we can push through these struggles,” Kaori read out her lines as everyone gathered in their room. 

“Through these trifles, happiness may yet be found on the other side. Perhaps the doors that gate it must be given but a gentle push,” Sinneah read. “So that our way might be lit through the fervor of our faith.” 

As she finished that up, Kaori let out a deep breath and stretched her arms. 

“Okay,” Yumi clapped her hands. “Let’s start again, from the top. After that, we can start going over the blocking and how we’re going to be moving around the stage, and we can take a break.” 

“Awesome,” Kaori replied.

“By the way,” Yumi said, smiling over at the blonde. “Good job. You’ve been taking to this script more than the others we’ve done. I’m surprised.” 

“The story’s neat,” Kaori shrugged with a smile. I just hope we’ll get enough people to really appreciate it.” 

“Don’t focus on that,” Yumi quickly replied. “You know there won’t be many if any, people there tomorrow. It’s our first play here. We need to establish a presence first before we can ever start worrying about audiences.” 

“Right, right,” Kaori replied, but Yumi’s statement did nothing to lower Kaori’s expectations. She’d gotten too used to having at least a hundred people watching. She knew that wasn’t going to happen, but she still had some hope they’d get a couple dozen viewers. 

“I’m surprised you two aren’t taking the opportunity to rehearse the kiss scene for the rest of the day,” Vermia told Sinneah and Yumi. “Good show of restraint. I’m proud of you.” 

“I’m sure you’d love to see that practice, but it’s the audience tomorrow that we’ll be giving a show to, not you,” Sinneah replied, smirking at her. 

Vermia’s jab had prodded at something in Kaori’s mind, though. That word made her think for a moment. 

Hm… A kiss. Didn’t I… 

Narrowing her eyes, she felt like she’d landed on something important. 

Right… Hadn’t I said something to Ash about that?  Kaori asked herself.  It was right after I started drinking. We were talking and… 

Suddenly, the images her mind had locked off came rushing into her mind, fully unleashed, and Kaori’s jaw dropped as she remembered what had happened. 

She remembered how she and the half-demon had walked outside. How Kaori had tilted her head up and planted her lips on the other woman’s, just outside the tavern. She remembered feeling the cold night air wrap itself around her and seeking warmth from the Savior’s body by embracing it as their tongues danced. She remembered the adorable face Ash had made after that happened, and how she thought she wanted to see that face again in the future. 

Finally, she remembered that it hadn’t been that she passed out. No, she’d  asked  for Ash to carry her back to her room herself. 

“Kaori?” Yumi asked. “We’re going to start again in a couple of seconds. Are you good to go?” 

Kaori blinked. 

“Yeah, yeah…” She looked down at her script, gulping. Her hands shook a little as her eyes went over it. 

That…  Kaori took a deep breath. In her mind, she saw that face Ash had made when Kaori had arrived at her house.

I should probably talk to her, shouldn’t I?