(Ayano x Kyouko = best pairing)
[Yuru Yuri!]
December whenever
Student council vice president Sugiura Ayano set down the last of papers she had been looking over down onto the table with a weary sigh. She had doing paperwork for the whole afternoon, and now everywhere she looked she saw words and splotches of white flash briefly across her vision; a side effect of her council position.
She leaned back in her chair and admired her handiwork. There was a sizable stack of papers on the table in front of her, more than there was usually. Another stack of papers soon joined it, and Ayano looked up to meet her best friend's soft smile from across the table. Ikeda Chitose straightened her glasses and sighed happily.
There were five of them in the student council room, all seated around the table in the center of the room, save for one, and all had been previously engaged in the battle against paperwork. The president, Matsumoto Rise, sat away from the others at her own desk at the head of the room.
The remaining members, Furutani Himawari and Ohmuro Sakurako, had been surprisingly quiet during the work; only a few jabs and glares had been exchanged over the course of their stay. It was probably because of increased amount they had received, Christmas being only a few days away.
Raising a single slender hand, she brushed a few locks of her violet coloured hair away from her face, and started to rub her tired, equally violet eyes. All this paperwork was tiring, but it wasn't so boring. Ayano had always let her mind wander during this time, and her hands moved on their own accord; well accustomed to the reading and signing of forms.
As usual, her thoughts had to always been drawn to the most ... eccentric member of the school's Amusement Club; the blonde otaku, Toshinou Kyouko. Even now, she felt her face start to heat up at the mere thought of the girl's smile. It wasn't as if this was an abnormal occurrence; it was very rare that she thought of things unrelated to Kyouko. Her mind was unstoppable; every single thought would be related back to the same girl.
If Ayano was out buying clothes, she tended to look for the things that she felt the blonde would approve of. If she was deciding what to do for the day, she frequented places that had a high chance of her "accidently" bumping into the blonde. It was an endless cycle, but it never bored her, or Chitose for that matter.
"Alright everyone," Ayano began as soon as the last of the papers had been stacked and filed away, "Good job today. You can all go home now."
Rise nodded approvingly from her desk. She usually let Ayano talk, as not many people could understand the president's quiet voice, and they were both likeminded anyway.
"Ahh! Finally!" Sakurako groaned, stretching her arms and leaping up, "That was too much work, and Himawari always takes too long."
"That's because I actually do it properly!" Himawari shot back, but remained sitting down, "And stop whining! It's no wonder I'm going to be the next vice president when my only competition is a complete idiot who can't take a little paperwork."
"You'll never win against me with those boobs dragging you down!" Sakurako pointed accusingly, sparks leaping from her eyes. She slammed her hands down on the desk and glared.
"W-what has my chest got to do with this?" The blue haired girl exclaimed, wrapping her arms around herself protectively, blushing heavily. "What a lame comeback!"
"Now now, don't fight." Chitose smiled warmly at the two with closed eyes. She had taken off her glasses, and warm blood was now running from her nose as she indulged in some yuri related fantasy about her friends. "It's okay to be gay! Ehehe~"
The two fighters blushed and turned away from each other, crossing their arms.
"Really Chitose-chan?" Ayano sighed as she passed a pack of tissues over to the white haired girl, "Oh ... uh .. it seems like you got some of your family's bloodline on some of the paper; we have to hand those in you know." She stared at the bloodstained papers, and saw with relief that the writing was still legible. "You know, it's kind of like your personal autograph. I'm sure that most of the teachers know where they come from by now."
"Ahahaha," her best friend giggled and smiled broadly, "Sorry, sorry." Taking the tissues gratefully, she started to wipe off the blood off of her face, and stuck one partly in her nose to soak anything further, "I think they're cute together. Like you and Toshinou-san." A new river of blood started to flow from her other nostril. "Eheheh ..."
Ayano blushed and turned away to start packing her things. The embarrassment rose and she felt her denying side start to kick in. "W-why would I ever w-want to be with her?" she stammered out over her shoulder, while knowing that she would love nothing more than to be with Kyouko. She shoved her books and pen into her schoolbag with unnecessary force. She heard Chitose giggle.
"Ne, Ayano-chan, it's almost Christmas."
Ayano looked out the window in response, observing the snow outside. The town had been decorated with the tell tale reds and greens of Christmas, and you could feel the excitement and general good mood everywhere you went. "Yes, just a few days."
The room went quiet as each of the girls busied themselves with either packing their things, or cleaning any dried blood in the room, courtesy of Chitose.
"Ayano-chan," Chitose spoke up once she had finished cleaning the blood off the table. She threw the tissues away and was now smiling at her friend.
"Yes?"
"Do you think that Toshinou-san will do anything for Christmas with all of us again?"
"Eh," Ayano blushed, "I would assume so."
"It'll be fun, won't it?" Chitose squealed happily, "She might even come today, and invite us to the couples' lottery again, because it was such a success last year." She looked to the door of the council room expectantly.
"A success, huh?" Ayano still remembered the disappointment she had felt when she had been matched with Funami Yui instead of Kyouko.
The "date" had been very awkward and uneventful, both not knowing what to say. The purple haired girl had always felt jealous of Yui, because Yui had been close friends with Kyouko for her whole life and saw her every day. That day didn't seem like a success to her.
"I would think she would do something differently this year, if anything." Ayano finished half heartedly, still stung by the experience.
Rise tapped her hand rather loudly on her desk, which wasn't really loud at all, but managed to get everyone's attention. Once all eyes were on the small dark haired girl, she spoke something in her barely audible voice. There was a pause in the room.
Chitose squealed again, and clapped her hands together happily. The remaining council members turned to her in shock and questioning; had she understood? The president's voice had seemed like a whisper of wind rustling through the curtains on a summer day, and no one had understood.
"C-chitose?" Himawari broke the silence, clutching her hands together, "You ... heard that?"
Chitose smiled and brought her finger to her lips, "San, ni, ichi!"
As if on cue, Toshino Kyouko kicked down the door of the student council room wearing her silly signature Christmas outfit, with a hat to match. "HALT!" she exclaimed, putting a huge smile and flashing the peace sign with both hands.
"Uwah ... please excuse us," came Akaza Akari from behind her, shaking her head apologetically. The rest of the school's Amusement Club, Funami Yui and Yoshikawa Chinatsu, stood behind them in the hall, with the latter latching onto the former, unintentionally preventing Yui from smacking Kyouko.
"TOSHINOU KYOUKO!" exclaimed Ayano, bolting to her feet and already blushing as she always did in the blonde's presence, "When did kicking down doors become polite?" Inside, she was secretly happy that they were being invited to this year's Christmas event again.
"Hahaha, sorry, sorry!" Kyouko laughed, rubbing the back of her head, "But I thought that this would be a good opportunity to teach Akari a lesson in presence!" She struck a ridiculous pose. "Well deprived!"
Behind her, Chinatsu suddenly fumed as she heard the line that had been taught to her incorrectly, therefore leading her to accidently crush many children's dreams unintentionally when she had cosplayed as Mirakurun. It was Yui's turn to hold her back and prevent any unnecessary violence.
"W-what do you want?" Ayano stammered out, trying her best to seem angry. Being around the girl made her extremely nervous, and was represented by the blush that stained her face. Himawari moved to hand Chitose a pack of tissues. Just in case.
"We're going to pretend to be couples again!"
[Yuru Yuri!]
Ayano couldn't believe it. Here she was again, in the disbanded Tea Ceremony's former clubroom that had been commandeered the Amusement Club, about to get another shot at a date with Toshinou Kyouko.
Both the student council and the Amusement Club would be taking part in the lottery again, but this time, Chitose's twin sister Chizuru, and the president Rise had been invited, bringing the total number of people up to ten; five couples this year.
Standing with the others around the room, Ayano felt herself involuntarily shuddering with excitement. She fiddled with her red and white school uniform in anxious anticipation.
"Alright everyone!" Kyouko exclaimed, holding up a pink box with several scratched out words on it. "There are 10 cards in this 'Casket of Courtship' ..."
"'Casket of Courtship'?" Yui muttered, "Really?"
"Quiet on the set!" Kyouko shot back playfully, "Now, as I was saying. All these cards have numbers on them. We'll all draw a card one at a time, and whoever has the matching card is your date for Christmas!" She stood on the table as to illustrate her point. "Let the games begin!"
Leaping down from the table, she held out the box to everyone one at a time, letting them all take a folded card. Ayano blushed and avoided Kyouko's eyes and as she fished out a card. She hugged it to her chest and began praying that it matched the number of the blonde's card.
"Alright! Do we all have cards? Oh, sorry Akari, didn't see you there."
Akari sighed as she fished out the final card in the box, already worrying that no one would have the same number as she did. The red haired girl started to shake and sweat nervously.
"Chinachu, we're going to get each other again, aren't we?" said Kyouko said mischievously.
Chinatsu's eyes widened, and swung for the blonde, "You wish! This thing better not be rigged!"
Kyouko dodged the pink haired girl's open hand and laughed, "Or maybe I'll get to go with Chizuru-chu-chu!"
Turns out that dodging a slap was much easier than dodging a kick to the gut.
"O-okay ... " Kyouko began after a minute on the ground, breathing heavily but still in high spirits despite taking a shot to the gut that would make a kick boxer proud. "Time to unfold your papers. On three! Ichi, ni, san!" She threw her sheet in the air, leapt after it, caught it and unfolded it before hitting the ground on one knee.
Meanwhile, everyone else had retreated to different parts of the room and opened theirs normally, save for Akari, who had accidently ripped hers in half due to her nervousness, and was now holding the two halves together tearily.
The number 3 stared up back at Ayano from the paper. She was unsure what to make of it; would it bring great joy? Or great disappointment? She realized that she only had a small chance of getting the same number of Kyouko, which saddened her. She closed her downcast eyes and waited for the calling of numbers.
Across the room, Chitose beamed with delight at her paper. The number 4 had a little smiley face drawn inside of the triangle, and she was sure that it would be a good day with whoever else possessed the number 4. Happily, she looked over to Ayano.
Doing this, she accidently caught sight of Kyouko's paper, who had her back to her. Chitose's eyes widened as she saw the number 4 with the smiley face on her paper, and she grinned; Kyouko was fun to be around, it would be a good day.
Looking past the blonde to Ayano, the white haired girl's smile suddenly froze. Ah! Wait, Ayano's supposed to go with Toshinou! Going on a "date" with anyone in this room would make Chitose happy, but nothing would make her happier than Ayano and Kyouko together. The smile disappeared off of her face, and she began to panic. What am I going to do?! The smiley face on her sheet urged her onwards.
"Alright! Numbers!" Kyouko announced, folding her sheet and holding it up, "Raise your hand when you hear your number! Ones! You're wanted on line one!" She threw her fist in the air.
"Wow, what a lame line ..." Yui said as she raised her hand wearily. Across the room, Chizuru's hand went up as well. "Ah, Chizuru, looks like it'll be the two of us."
Chizuru nodded back solemnly, and Ayano just wondered if their "date" would be quieter than theirs.
"Awh, Chizuru's off the market," Kyouko said. She could afford to say it, as she standing out of range of any possible assault from the Ikeda.
"Yeah, and you don't even mention me." said Yui. Chinatsu sulked in her corner of the room; she had missed out again.
Kyouko stuck her tongue out good-naturedly and continued on, "Alright, Squad Two! Report for duty!"
Two hands went up. As destiny would have it, Sakurako and Himawari would be spending their Christmas day together again.
"Ugh, you again!? Of all the people here, I get stuck with the booby-monster again?" Sakurako exclaimed, crossing her arms and blushing.
"Hey! I don't enjoy it either!" Himawari fired back, mimicking her date by crossing her arms.
"Eh? But you two were holding hands, and not fighting for once the last time we did this." Kyouko smirked playfully. She definitely knew the attraction between the two. Everyone did.
Both members of 'Squad Two' decided to say nothing further and turn away from each other, blushing even more. They didn't seem ready to confess to themselves, or to each other. Chitose allowed herself a moment of happiness when she saw flashes of happiness pass over Squad Two's faces before being replaced by pouts.
However, panic soon set back in when she heard Kyouko calling for the next numbers. The smiley face on her paper was starting to make her feel guilty.
"Alright, next up is the ...!"
"Ahh ... -!" Chitose ripped off her glasses and started fantasizing. She needed to stall for time. Her mind was working in overdrive, assessing all the possible ways that she could get the two together. She could toss it to Ayano of course, but that would seem too obvious, and would be considered cheating. And besides, Akari would probably get injured somehow.
Akari tossed over another pack of tissues from wherever she was, and Chitose smiled gratefully, accepting it. She wiped the blood with a tissue with one hand and raised her other hand apologetically, mind still racing. There has to be another way!
"Good thinking! Way to make this intense!" said Kyouko as soon as she was sure Chitose was finished and had enough blood to continue being a part of their world, "Next up is the tricky threes!"
Everything moved in slow motion. Rise began raising her hand.
Chitose zoned in onto Ayano. When the purple haired girl's eyes widened, and her hand twitched, Chitose knew that her hand was going up. Locking her imaginary crosshairs on Ayano, she steeled herself. This is not going to be pretty, but for Ayano-chan's happiness, it must be done. She muttered a prayer to herself and prepared for liftoff.
With that, Chitose ripped the glasses off of her face and reared her head back. She let herself go partly into fantasy mode, and focused partly on the task at hand. As a yuri-assisted nosebleed flowed from her nose, she gathered all the energy she had in her slight body and she forced herself to do something that none of the girls there would soon forget.
She sneezed.
It was a spectacular sneeze, fuelled by the desire of her minds and the needs of her friend Ayano. Blood and sprayed through the air in front of her, like some sort of demonic swarm of crimson insects. Under the cover of the crimson mist, Ikeda Chitose flung herself forwards in Ayano's direction, relying on her previous aim to carry her in the right direction. Upon reaching the table in her way, she planted her hands firmly on the impeding piece of furniture and vaulted over it.
Although terrified at the sight of her best friend hemorrhaging whilst hurtling towards her, Ayano had to admit that Chitose looked majestic soaring through the air trailing fountains of blood. It was as if the white haired girl was a dolphin breaching the blood red sea of yuri fantasy. Kyouko's eyes moistened at the sheer beauty of her friend's imitation of a fighter jet.
Time resumed back to normal, and Ayano found herself on the floor beside Chitose. Blood started to rain down around them as she checked on her friend, "Hey Chitose! Are you okay?!"
"Y-yes! More than ever!" Chitose gurgled, "Take this!" She slipped her piece of paper to Ayano, and took the number 3 sheet. "Trust me!" She then passed out; her glasses were in her hands, and her life was in someone else's.
[Yuru Yuri!]
The school nurse came to get her. By then, she was mostly fine. Before she was taken away for a blood transfusion or some other life saving procedure, Chitose passed by Rise with a smile and said "Looks like I'm with you!" whilst holding up a blood stained sheet of paper with the number 3 written on it. Rise nodded, smiling slightly and patted her on the head.
After they had cleaned up the blood of Chitose's magnificent nosebleed, the rest of the girls were back to normal. Or whatever normal was after having to witness such an event. Akari shuddered, she would surely have flashbacks of this event. Miraculously, no blood had gotten on Ayano; it had formed an outline around her. Probably more miraculous was the fact that Chitose hadn't died during the ordeal.
"Okay! Let's get back to business!" Kyouko announced excitedly.
Ayano shifted nervously and took a look at the blood covered number 4 with a smiley face in it. Why had Chitose done it? Was there something that she knew? The face smiled up comfortingly, as if hiding a secret.
"Alright, onward and upward! Number 4 has the great honour," Kyouko announced dramatically as she leapt on the table and struck a pose, "Of spending the day with," Another pose. "Super sexy Commando," A final pose, arms spread and eyes skyward, "KYOUKO!"
Ayano froze. The smiley face in the number four on her newly acquired sheet seemed to beam at her. I got Toshinou Kyouko ... she thought in a daze, a great happiness rising in sync with the blush on her face. She raised her hand triumphantly.
Kyouko looked shocked, and the room fell silent; all eyes were on blonde stared at Ayano, and the latter began to worry. Why isn't she saying anything?
"Aya-chan!" Kyouko squealed, and her face broke out into the largest, most beautiful smile the girl in question had ever witnessed. There was something more in her eyes, but Ayano couldn't decipher it. Suddenly, the blonde girl leapt over and pulled the purple haired girl in an embrace. Yui looked on, expression unreadable, but there was something different in her otherwise neutral gaze. Chinatsu sighed with relief because she would be spared from Kyouko's antics/torture.
Ayano felt her face heat up and energy leave her body as she was held against the girl she loved. She felt dizzy, and fell to her knees in relief.
One day, she would find a way to pay back Chitose, the "fighter jet of joy", her best friend (who was likely having a nosebleed again at this very moment; she can sense yuri moments over long distances) for the bloody sacrifice that she had made today through her glorious voyage across the blood stained sky.
[Yuru Yuri!]
Hey, author here. I thought I'd try my hand at a Yuru Yuri story, because I love the series, and yuri. I'm not good at humour, but please tell me how I did!
Next chapter will be about the various dates going on, but have a heavy focus on AyaKyo, with minor HimaSaku. See you then!
And yeah, Chitose isn't dead.