He said it was fine.
Why?
I kept playing back our first meeting over and over in my head. He wasn't fine with such behavior at all, so why was he saying that?
I thought it was only my family members who went easy on Claire, they were always quick to forgive her, was it because she was cuter? Or was it because she was lighter?
I won't pretend to know that Grandpa didn't treat our Mothers differently. One might argue it's more so because of personality but Aunt was just as boy crazy as Mom. The main difference was she had the opportunity to get a better education and travel, she dated foreign guys in places Grandpa couldn't see.
Claire and I are like night and day. I just took one picture while she posted a whole video on social media.
It's fine?
Was he going easy on her because she's cuter and lighter? Men could never stand to see a cute woman be held accountable for their actions could they?
Or maybe just maybe it had nothing to do with that. Maybe he thought I was just bullying her. I don't regret giving her a piece of my mind but something about this just felt so unfair.
As I stewed on the floor in my room, I heard a knock on the door.
"It's me." Kagami.
He saw that too didn't he?
"What is it?"
"May I come in?"
". . ."
"I'm coming in." He opened the door, and I got up off the floor. "What were you doing?" He stood awkwardly in front of the door.
This was his second time in my room.
"Nothing. What is it?"
"Mmm. I just wanted to see how you were feeling. I hope... you didn't take what just happened personally earlier. Izanagi... he doesn't like it when girls fight about him."
Fighting about him? "It wasn't completely about him though."
"Well, yeah but it's related to him, right?"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
She folded her arms.
"I'm not blaming you for not keeping your silence or anything, I think it's important you let Claire know your honest feelings instead of keeping them in. Otherwise you'd just go on resenting her."
"But?"
"No buts. Well, I do hope the two of you can recover from this."
". . ." She glanced at me. "You're leaving something out. What else?"
How did she know? I scratched my cheek. "Mmm. Well, I like you Amara."
"Huh?"
"You said people hate black people..."
"Ah. That."
"I know you were talking about a massive scale but still... I love you, you know? I hope... you haven't kept something like that in your heart and have been wary about your interactions with me. When I think about it... it makes me feel sad..."
". . ." She hugged herself more tightly. "I've been wary of imparting upon you negative stereotypes. But..." she trailed off.
I nodded. "I see." I stepped forward, venturing further into her room felt like a grave sin but I took another step forward to spread out my arms.
"?"
"Can I have a hug?"
Unlike back then she didn't freeze up, she only studied me for a bit, sighed and hugged me.
"I wasn't really talking about you when I said that, you know?"
"I know."
"Don't take it personally."
"Well, it's because I can't pretend that I'm completely ignorant about that kind of thing, sometimes I forget but...the thought of you one day avoiding me or not wanting to take any pictures of me as time passes, also hit home. The possibility of you suddenly being seen with me publicly and then getting hated on also hit home while I listened to you."
Her head turned to peer at my face. "What are you saying Kagami?"
"Amara, I really want to stay friends with you for a long time. I don't want anything to come inbetween us either."
She studied my face carefully, her brows knitting. "Okay."
"So...have you thought about... you know... entering the entertainment industry?"
She blinked at me. "What?"
"I don't want anyone to feel like they have a right to complain about our relationship. The thought of a bunch of strangers acting like they know me or are entitled to dictate my life... it makes my blood boil."
She pulled away from me and took a few steps back to regard me and perhaps what I was asking of her.
"Will you do it for me? No- for yourself?"