“I- I thought that y-you would like it,” Touko said, shivering in her heels.
Objectively, yes, Touko’s make-over was beautiful. From the free-flowing locks of wavy hair to the perfectly made-up face to the replacement of her gawky glasses with contacts that showed off her glistening eyes– all the way down to the ball gown and heels that one of Touko’s friends (Sayaka, most likely) had pressured her to wear. Polaris felt like a museum-goer standing before a classical piece, one titled something like “Venus”.
“Why would I like this?” Polaris sneered, turning her nose up. “It’s not you.”
“B-but it’s… it’s better than ‘me’! So much better!” Touko said. Her hands instinctively reached up to tug out locks of her hair, but she caught them as if she were fighting herself. Her grimace formed cracks in the thick foundation, recalling images of the porcelain dolls that Polaris’s mother once collected. “I a-actually look… beautiful, and good enough for you… y-you wear makeup too, a-and so I thought…”
“It was nothing short of patronizing to assume what is good enough for me,” Polaris interrupted. She strode across the cluttered floor of Touko’s apartment and stood before Touko. In those heels, her height almost rivaled Polaris’s. It was the first time they saw eye-to-eye without Touko craning her neck. “Touko. To say that you were not good enough for me already, as my girlfriend, reflects badly on me as well. Yet I know you would never dare to say that I have poor taste, or that I only started to date you out of pity.”
“N-no! I would never,” Touko said. Her eyes widened at the word ‘girlfriend’, as if she were surprised. They had only started to date recently, but Touko acted as if she couldn’t tell if this were a long-term prank of some kind. Every time they went on a date, Polaris couldn’t tell if Touko was too nervous to look at her or if she was looking for hidden cameras, as one might see on a prank TV show. “I-I just… I don’t know why you don’t want a g-girl who dresses up super girly a-all the time, like M-Maizono-san…”
Polaris could only roll her eyes as she pictured Sayaka jumping around on stage, pulling off dance moves with ease thanks to her ball-socket doll joints. That girl could wipe off a face full of makeup and still not look like herself. “I respect that Maizono-san is your… acquaintance, from our time in high school, but she doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest. She is not an interlocutor who can enrapture me with her words, as you can. She does not see past what all commoners see, as you can. She is not the girl I fell in love with.”
Mascara caused Touko’s tears to appear black, leaving inky trails down her cheeks. She wiped with the back of her hand and smudged her lipstick in the process. Looking at the reddish smudge caused her to sob; she took one step toward a tissue box and tripped in her heels. She braced herself to hit the floor like the disaster she was, but a pair of arms caught her. When she looked up, Polaris was holding her. The taller girl produced a handkerchief and began to wipe away Touko’s tears.
“Come on. I have proper make-up remover towlettes in my purse,” Polaris said. “And we can change your outfit, since we are still here.”
“Polaris, are you sure? Y-you want just… me?”
“I only want the real Touko Fukawa,” Polaris said, without hesitation. “Not any other version of yourself that you might try to present to me.”
Polaris helped Touko to the couch and laid her down. Before she could find her purse for the make-up removers, Touko grabbed the other girl’s collar and pulled her into a kiss. Polaris’s eyes widened, but she didn’t pull back. When they parted, Touko’s smudged red lipstick had left a mess on Polaris’s face. Touko began to utter an apology– but Polaris just smiled, and let that be the last bit of the Touko’s makeup that would remain.
