At the possibly unintentional encouragement of one of my readers, I decided to write a follow-up piece to "portrait," though I will admit I kind of slacked off on writing it for a few days before I finally found the energy to work on it.
Oopsies.
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Akari was smiling brightly as she wandered through the shopping district together with Yui, the two girls agreeing to go out together to enjoy the day since Kyouko had managed to drag along Chinatsu early in the morning to some kind of adventure along with Himawari and Sakurako.
Yui was simply quietly enjoying the bright mood that Akari was in, especially considering how the girl tended to get depressed during school when people ignored her. It was a shame that such a bright but shy girl was ignored when she was actually rather intelligent.
Deciding to do something to make sure that they didn't become separated, and also for her own selfish reasons, Yui took the initiative to reach out and intertwine her fingers with Akari's, surprising the younger girl slight.
Turning to look at the other girl curiously, Akari was surprised by the small smile on Yui's face as she looked down at the redhead, which she could only return with one of her radiant smiles that had become much more scarce since she entered high school.
"I think that I prefer seeing you smiling" Yui admitted to Akari quietly, making the girl's cheeks match the color of her hair as Yui continued to lead Akari through the crowds of weekend shoppers. She was glad that it didn't appear to bother Akari in the slightest that they held hands, and Akari was definitely glowing.
Without a specific destination in mind at the moment since that was more like Kyouko to drag them from shop to shop simply looking at everything that caught her interest for only a moment, the pair set a very relaxed pace as they slipped past older pedestrians without releasing each others hands.
In a quiet moment of contemplation Akari had to wonder if Yui minded at all that she was taking up her weekend, but was reassured for at least the moment when she looked to see that Yui was smiling, which (at least to Akari) meant that she must not mind that much.
Yui was under the impression that spending a quiet weekend together with Akari was a vast improvement over putting up with Kyouko and whatever hare-brained scheme she might think up next. She might love her close friend dearly, but putting up with Kyouko was tiring to the soul in large increments, and being able to take a break from her was similar to a balm to the soul.
Overhearing Akari's stomach growl quietly gained Yui's attention, and she turned to look down at the younger girl, whose face had gone bright red from the embarrassing sound. In an attempt to lighten Akari's mood so she might not feel nearly as embarrassed, Yui let out a light laugh before smiling down at Akari.
"Did you skip breakfast?" She asked Akari gently, trying not to push too hard on the younger girl, who she knew was easily flustered at almost any kind of teasing.
Without offering a vocal response to her friend, Akari nodded her head slowly to Yui as her eyes drifted to the ground while her cheeks glowed the same color as her hair.
Gently applying a bit of pressure to Akari's hand in an attempt at reassurance, Yui took the lead once more and pulled Akari behind her in the direction of a small café that she had frequented before and knew could sate her friends hunger for at least the moment. Akari didn't try to fight Yui's control, so she was confident that her friend didn't mind.
Taking seats opposite of one another, Akari was smiling as she wiggled from side to side happily with her eyes closed, and Yui simply enjoyed watching her friend acting a bit goofily.
A nice waitress approached the pair and offered them menus before departing once more, and the two sat in comfortable silence, as they looked the menu up and down for breakfast.
"I should probably apologize for dragging you out so early in the day" Yui offered somewhat sheepishly to Akari, who paused in her playing around to blink across the table at her friend, though Yui couldn't read the expression on her friend's face for the moment.
"What do you mean Yui, I was perfectly happy going out with you today, you didn't really drag me anywhere, I like spending time together with you" Akari replied to her friend in pure honesty, earning another of Yui's rare smiles before the pair returned to looking at the menus.
"I'd be more then happy to pay for whatever you'd like Akari, since it was kind of my fault for making you miss breakfast with your sister" Yui told her red-haired friend, whose face once more lighted up as she smiled at the cool and collected girl appreciatively.
"I'll take you up on this offer today thank you" Akari replied happily, before she became slightly more serious for a moment "but next time we go out like this I'm paying" she informed the older girl in a voice that definitely refused any kind of argument from Yui.
Nodding in acceptance of the terms Yui folded and set her own menu down before gesturing for the waitresses attention after making sure Akari was ready to order as well "could I have two waffles and a glass of orange juice please" She told the waitress, who eagerly wrote down the order before turning to Akari.
Going slightly stiff at the girl's attention on her, Akari's eyes drifted over to Yui momentarily before she gathered her nerves and ordered for herself "I'd like two pancakes and orange juice as well please" she said in a hurried voice, though it appeared that the waitress was able to understand what she had said as she wrote down the two orders and departed.
Reaching across the table Yui gently took hold of Akari's hand once more and gave it a gentle squeeze to tell the girl that she had done well, making Akari smile in response before Akari tried to start up a conversation.
"So where did Kyouko and Chinatsu run off this time?" She inquired out of simple curiosity of what her friends could be up to, cluing Yui in that neither girl had texted Akari to tell her where they were going.
"Kyouko said something about meeting up with Himawari and Sakurako for some 'adventure,' and dragged Chinatsu along" Yui explained to her friend in a calm voice as their drinks were delivered before their meals.
Yui had to admit that Akari was pretty cute as she sipped at her orange juice, though she kept those embarrassing thoughts to herself and kept her face stoic for the moment "I'm sure that Kyouko will cause no end of trouble for those three with her flights of fancy" she told Akari with a small sigh.
Laughing at their friends antics, Akari appeared to be amused at the thought of the girls playing around together "trust Kyouko to get them into no end of trouble" she reasoned with Yui with a bright smile on her face.
"Sometimes I miss the shy cry-baby that Kyouko was when we were kids" Yui admitted with a sigh, but perked up almost immediately as she admitted secretly to Akari "though I don't mind some of the schemes that she drags us into."
"It's hard to stay mad at Kyouko when she's so cheerful, even when she's acting mean and teasing us" Akari agreed with Yui with a matching smile and a small giggle. "It might be nice if she would stop teasing me about that 'lack of presence' joke that she started at the beginning of the year though" Akari added with a small sigh.
Yui took the chance to reach across the table once more and squeeze Akari's hand in an attempt at comforting the other girl just before their food arrived, making Akari squeak and instinctively try to pull her hand away with a blush. This didn't bother Yui in the slightest though, since she had years to get used to these habits of her friend.
Getting down to eating, Yui smiled to herself as she watched Akari enjoy her pancakes, though she quietly noticed a bit of whipped cream smeared on Akari's cheek, which gave the girl a surprisingly devious idea.
Reaching her hand across the table slowly so as to not startle Akari, Yui ever so gently cleaned up the whipped cream on Akari's cheek with one of her fingers, before bringing it back to her own side of the table and popping the dirty finger in her mouth, all while Akari continued to watch her dark-haired friend's actions intently.
Yui was pleased by the way Akari's cheeks lit up in a full-faced blush at her friends unexpected action, and the red-haired girl turned into a stuttering tomato as she tried to fathom just what Yui had done.
Offering a cheeky smile more common on Kyouko's face than the usually stoic Yui's the older girl enjoyed the way that Akari was flustered by the small action, and took the chance to lean forward until she was practically laying on the table, and used a hand to gently pull Akari forward until their lips pressed together.
Akari completely lost it at that point and slumped in her seat at the bold action from her friend, only able to find a bit of a silver lining that no one else in the sparsely populated café had caught the two girls kissing, as she was sure she would have died from embarrassment.
Smiling and holding a hand over her lips as she sat down on her side of the table once more, Yui decided to tease Akari a bit more "sorry Akari, I saw a bit of whipped cream on your face, and didn't think that you would want anyone to see you like that."
Pouting quietly at how mean Yui was being to her, Akari tried to will her face to stop glowing so red as her heart beat more quickly from the chaste kiss the pair had shared and refocused on finishing her pancakes so that they could continue to explore the city together.
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Afterwards:Chinatsu was glowering as she sat behind a bush across the street from the café that Yui and Akari had gone into, and had watched the entire exchange between the two girls. It was all she could do to muster her self-control and avoid marching across the street and chewing Akari out for making the moves on her Yui.
Kyouko had a wry smile on her face as she sat beside Chinatsu and congratulated Yui for being so devious and giving her a chance with Chinatsu 'obviously Yui agrees that Chinatsu and I are star-crossed lovers!' She convinced herself.
Himawari was pouting at being dragged along in Kyouko's latest antics, when she could have been doing anything else, and was trying not to focus on the beating of her heart as she kept her fingers intertwined with Sakurako's to make sure that she didn't do anything silly.
As for Sakurako, she was drooling in a very unladylike way at the food the two girls were eating as her stomach growled, mostly ignoring the warmth of Himawari's fingers intertwined with her own, and the way that her heart was beating faster as they held hands.
Kyouko had a feeling that something had happened that day she knew Akari had asked Yui to model for her, since the picture had been quite detailed, and Akari couldn't meet her eyes when she had tried to tease the younger girl about that day.