A short red head sat in the living room of a one bedroom apartment in Hokkaido. A textbook lay across her lap and a pen scribbled wildly on a notebook to her side. It was the spring term of college at Hokkaido University was in full bloom and Nagisa Aoi was struggling to keep up with several of her classes.
She lived in the International House Keita 8 East dormitory on campus, though she rarely stayed there. Her mother and father made her live in the dorm, so when they planned a visit she would bring a few things back and act as if she had been living there the entire time. Shizuma lived not far from campus, so Nagisa was living with her unofficially for the time being.
"Nagisa? I'm home." Shizuma closed the front door behind her. Shizuma Hanazono could afford to get any house she wanted at the moment because of her thriving businesses. She owned two coffee shops, a bakery, and two super markets. Each one a pain in her ass, but all in the same brought her the luxurious life she wanted. She rented out the one bedroom apartment close to the campus when Nagisa mentioned she would be living on campus. She could afford to buy a mansion, but Nagisa thought this would keep them close by living in close quarters. Shizuma couldn't argue with the feisty red head, so she caved and rented the closest apartment she could find.
"Welcome home." Nagisa's barely audible mumble slowly found Shizuma's ears. Nagisa didn't even look up from her notebook. She was studying French, a subject she always lacked talent in more than others. Three more textbooks were piled up next to her that she hadn't even gotten to yet.
"Are you still studying? You were up before I was this morning, didn't take time to eat breakfast when my alarm went off, and I see you haven't rested to eat lunch either. Why don't you take a break? This won't help you any." Shizuma pulled off her coat and tossed it across the back of the couch. With one quick lurch, she managed to steal the textbook out from under Nagisa's nose.
"Shizuma! I need that." Nagisa sprung up from the couch and jumped up and down helplessly in place, but never could manage to reach the book. Shizuma smirked and caught the younger girl's waist in mid-air. Tossing the book back to the couch, she spun the red head around in a gentle circle, followed by a passionate kiss. She chuckled at the pouting lip protruding from Nagisa's mouth and nibbled the end of it. "I need to study Shizuma. My finals are next week."
"You need to take a break." Shizuma kissed the pouting lip once more.
"I need to take a break? Or I need to eat? There's a difference, especially when you are around." Shizuma laughed heartily for the first time that day. The only part of her day that could make her smile was when she was with Nagisa. Shizuma threw the struggling teen over her shoulder and moseyed her way to the bedroom. "Shizuma!" Nagisa laughed and fell to the bed helplessly.
"The working woman needs her girlfriend to please her on a daily basis or she might die from exhaustion. You refuel me Nagisa." Shizuma winked and pulled the skirt off of the giggling red head. "Working woman needs college girl." Nagisa tried once more to push her away, but gave up in a sigh and gave in to temptation.
"I wonder where Nagisa is. I've tried calling her six times now. She still won't answer." Hitomi looked to her phone in frustration.
"She's probably studying. She told me herself in class the other day, she doesn't even have much time for Shizuma anymore because she's so stressed about finals." Tomao wrapped her arms around her girlfriend in pride.
"Well that's not necessarily a bad thing. Tell me, how did I end up with two daughters that only like girls?" Mrs. Aoi puzzled over the situation, but quickly retaliated when she saw the hurt expression in Tomao's eyes. "Oh dear, it wasn't a shot at you or your relationship with my daughter, I promise. I just always wanted grandchildren, and my boys are going to have children of course but none of them are interested in girls at the moment. Only school and jobs. Now, if it were possible for two girls to have a child, we'd have hundreds by now from the college girl and her floozy of a fiancé." Both girls laughed at the description of Nagisa and Shizuma.
"Well, be thankful then. Since they're girls you don't have hundreds of grandchildren. If Shizuma was a boy we might have a problem though. I doubt having a penis would slow her down any; probably only drive her more." Mrs. Aoi growled at her daughter's statements.
"I don't want to hear about those things. At least I know if you two do it, you do it modestly and pace yourselves. I don't hear about you two constantly getting noise complaints and the police called to your apartment." Tomao blushed harshly listening to Mrs. Aoi talk about her sex life with Hitomi.
"You're right mother, we are more modest about it. But doesn't mean it doesn't happen." Hitomi winked at Tomao, but only received a smack to the arm in return.
"Stop that!" Tomao turned back to a laughing Mrs. Aoi with a red face. "Shizuma isn't as bad as you think. She really cares about Nagisa." With a long sigh and a heavy heart, she managed to form a sentence that nobody ever would have expected from her. "I'm…I'm glad Shizuma stole Nagisa from the alter. Otherwise Nagisa might not be as happy as she is now." Hitomi looked stunned and hurt at the same time. Tomao still thought about the times and pain when she loved Nagisa instead.
"Tomao…" Mrs. Aoi was cautious in continuing. "Shizuma embarrassed you in front of the entire school and for a while she took your best friend away from you. Yet you still say she's a good person?"
"Y-Yes." She looked to Hitomi for safe pursuit. There was no point in upsetting her because she wanted to defend Shizuma. Hitomi nodded her head and smiled meekly. "Nagisa was my first love." Mrs. Aoi recoiled from the sentence in shock. "I loved her our whole fourth year, and even most of our fifth year. But one day I happened to see them sitting in the court yard of the Strawberry Dorms. Shizuma stood up on a table in front of Nagisa and proposed to Nagisa as loud as she could. She was only playing at the time, neither took it serious, but Nagisa went scarlet red from embarrassment. She kept trying to yank Shizuma down and get her to stop because it was embarrassing, but even though she looked miserable on the outside you could still see the happiness radiating out of her eyes. Shizuma sees it too. That's why she embarrasses Nagisa as much as she does, that's why Shizuma is so dramatic, and that's why it seems like she only wants to toy with Nagisa. Shizuma does it because Nagisa likes the playful side of her. Nagisa herself once told me she fell in love with Shizuma because of all the trouble Shizuma would get in at the Astrea. Even now, as adults living on their own, Shizuma tries to embarrass Nagisa and keep her on her toes because Nagisa still radiates happiness. Nagisa is shy and harmless, and she fell for the only bad girl in school that wasn't so bad after all. If Nagisa ever really told Shizuma to stop, there's no doubt in my mind you'd see a whole new Shizuma."
"I had no idea that you… I mean I just never expected…" Mrs. Aoi cleared her throat to get her thoughts together. "If you've been through all that and still can say Shizuma isn't as bad as I think, I believe you."
"Shizuma, where's my button up shirt I wore the other day on our date? My mother loves that one so I figured I'd wear it when they got here." Nagisa rummaged around the room trying to find certain clothes to take to her dorm for the weekend. Her parents phoned earlier that week to tell her they'd be in town and wanted to come by. Tomao and Hitomi would be with them, also her twin brothers Akihiko and Daichi would be joining as well.
"Here Sweet. It was in the bathroom floor where we dropped it." Nagisa's 'Ah ha' moment didn't last long before grabbing her suitcase and stuffing it in.
"Only thing left it my shampoo and toiletries. My mom might worry about my hygiene if I don't bring those with me." Nagisa giggled at Shizuma, who was shaking her head.
"Your mother would worry period if she knew I was this close. Speaking of that, does she ask about me?" Shizuma was curious to see if Mrs. Aoi had forgiven her yet.
"Actual yes. She asks how you're doing, how your businesses are going, if you settled well from the move from your father, and so on. She asks, I'm just not supposed to tell." With one more shove, Nagisa managed to fit all of her things in one bag. She took a look around their rather small bedroom. It wasn't tiny for the nice apartment, but all in the same it wasn't big either. There were no decorations or pictures on the wall, only a dresser, a desk, and a bed. The bed was a king size, thanks to Shizuma trying to spoil her. But it still managed to seem bare in the homey environment.
The whole apartment was like this. Shizuma would cook three meals a day so there was plenty to cook and utensils to cook with, but the living room possessed only a couch and recliner, the hallway was completely bare, and even the bathroom was bare besides the essential stuff both girls needed on a day to day basis. Shizuma wasn't big on decorating, and Nagisa never had time. The apartment felt like home to Nagisa without even looking like it. On more than one occasion she had brought a friend here, only to have them ask when she was moving or when the rest of her stuff would get here. It was an empty apartment even in their eyes.
"Is something wrong Love?" Shizuma brought Nagisa out of her trance with two arms that wrapped around her waist.
"Huh? Oh! No, just thinking. We need to get going before my family decides to show up early or something. They are supposed to be here in three hours anyway. Come on." Nagisa wiggled out of Shizuma's grip and seized her bag.
"Whatever you like Cutie." Shizuma gave her red headed girlfriend a kiss and took the bag from her. "Make sure you have everything. I'll be waiting in the car."
