The sun hadn't come up yet, the room still bathed in near perfect darkness. And still she was already on her feet, the large white shirt the only thing she wore over her underwear. The knocking would not stop. Three short knocks each every time, not too loud, but too insistent to sleep through it. The wooden floor creaked a little under her bare feet, each step just another noise that she wasn't very used to yet. Her surroundings were still alien to her and in moments like these, she couldn't count on the girl she now lived with.
Hitting her right toe on a book that was on the floor for one reason or another, somewhere where it definitely didn't belong, she stumbled a little and made a sour face in the dark. Between her eyes being closed two-thirds of the way and the sharp decline the corners of her mouth produced, she looked grumpy. Being awake at four-thirty in the morning would do that to a person, student or adult alike.
Finally she got to the door. "Yes… I'm opening up." There was little doubt in her mind of who the early visitor was; there were only two people that would knock so early and only for good reason, too. The second she opened the door, cold air, freezing air, caressed her face with the gentleness of a hungry polar bear. Shivering and keeping the door opening to just a gap, she looked outside, at the face of a grown woman with salmon colored curly hair. She kind of expected it to be her.
"I'm really sorry to bother you this early in the morning, Yuno. We have a deadline later today and fell asleep over work last night and we are all out of coffee. Could I borrow some filters and coffee?" Hiro was ever polite even now. It had only been three months since they became neighbors again, here at Hinata Heights.
Seeing Hiro's plight, she couldn't just deny help; that was not in her character anyway. "Wait just a moment." It was too early to measure coffee or take out filters on their own, so she just grabbed a new pack of filters they had barely touched in a week and a tin can that contained coffee grain. "Good luck. I'm looking forward to the new issue." She was too sleepy, too desperate to go back to her warm bed, to make much conversation, even if it felt a little rude. But Hiro would understand, she always did. She must have felt like she was intruding to begin with.
"Thank you so much. I promise I'll return it later." Hiro bowed just a tiny bit before she turned around and scurried off to the apartment right next to the one she had just visited. The door closed again, the cold air still permeating through the living room, she covered her chest with her arms, feeling cold and tired. Waking up so early and going back to bed, that would be a long day. She was lucky that her classes didn't start until later that day so she could sleep in. Or could have, possibly.
"Yunocchi? Was that Sae?"
She hadn't noticed that the door to the other bedroom, the one that was not hers, had opened until the resident living there talked to her. With her eyes practically closed, rubbing the sand of the night from the corners, her voice was ripe with sleepiness.
Making a denying hum, she shook her head twice. "It was Hiro. She wanted to borrow coffee." And as if that explanation had been completely sufficient, the other resident, with her wild and unkempt blonde hair, retreated back within her personal halls, the door quietly closed.
Making her way to her own bedroom, she hit her toe on a book again, although it may have been a different book this time. I wish Miya-chan would clean up her reference material… She thought and finally got back to her small bedroom. Their apartment mimicked the one that Sae and Hiro rented together. She had the western style bedroom, like Hiro, while the other resident, Miyako, was using the eastern style bedroom. Back when they moved in, she had been ready, had prepared a speech and sound reasons for why she would like the western style bedroom. But before she could even say anything, the blonde came up to her just as usual and said to her I can take the tatami room, right? And that settled that.
One knee on the edge of the bed, then another, she crawled under the thick comforter slowly and surely, hiding there from the cold beast that had intruded in her new home. She still shivered a little, the cold slowly leaving her body and the warmth and comfortable feeling of her bed luring her back into the world of dreams. Was that paper due today? No… I think that was the end of the week. I wonder if Miya-chan is done with her assignment yet…
Sleep knocked on her mind's door, inviting itself in and just ready to get comfortable when it was rudely kicked out by more coldness that suddenly seeped into the space beneath her comforter. Shriveling up, trying to starve off the sudden return to the winter-like temperatures, she rolled over, trying to adjust the comforter with her feet, to no avail.
It only took a moment before sleepiness took an even greater backseat for her. Warmth returned to the comforter cave, the cold was driven out, but it was wholly different from before. This was not the warmth of herself, of remaining shut within her sanctuary, but the warmth of someone else. M-Miya-chan? Again? This was by far not the first time this had happened. Sometimes, late at night or early in the mornings, Miyako would invite herself in, taking refuge in her girlfriend's bed to spend a few hours together before the day began properly.
Her Girlfriend. The reality of that still hadn't fully settled in, months later. After graduation, their plans had aligned; they would attend the same college – Ama Art University. It was the same school that Hiro attended, which made them decide on it instead of a slightly better university that was much further away. It was during the middle of a planning session on how to pay for college and finding a place to live that Miyako just came out with it.
Eight months ago, early March
Looking through countless brochures and catalogs, she ruled out one place after another. Too expensive. Too far away. Too isolated. She wanted to be able to live somewhere close to Hiro, Sae and Miya-chan, but renting an apartment at Hinata Heights by herself was just too expensive. And living together with Miyako the way Hiro and Sae did… well that was another thing. Hiro and Sae were like that. If she was honest with herself, she sometimes, very rarely, could see Miyako the same way. Like a dashing heroine that swept her off her feet with her straight-forward personality and impulsiveness. But if she tried living with Miyako the same way Hiro and Sae lived with each other, these feelings would no doubt increase, come more often and eventually spill out. And Miyako didn't seem to feel that way about her. Otherwise, being who she was, she would have said or done something a long time ago now, wouldn't she?
The girl in question, the girl that occupied Yuno's thoughts so much, sat at the other side of the table, stressing about her very limited budget. She had found a few prospects for part-time jobs that she could do to cover tuition and rent, but one way or another, she always came short or had to take so many part-time job hours that she wouldn't have time to really attend college. Being able to attend Yamabuki High had come from a full scholarship, but graduation was around the corner and with that the scholarship would end. Falling over backwards from exhaustion, Miyako rolled over to the side, looking below the small table. "Yunocchi?"
Bending down and looking at Miyako, Yuno wondered what she was going to say. It didn't take a mind reader to be aware of how poorly Miyako's search for a working scenario was going; it was plain to see just from how many red crosses Miyako drew across possible prospects or schedule tables she made.
"What is it, Miya-chan?"
"Let's live together!"
Her heart explodes into thousand fireworks. It was like someone turned up the heat inside her body, turned it all the way up. She could feel it on her face, on her hands. A bit of sweat, a turbulence of feelings inside, she couldn't tell what Miyako was thinking. "T-That's something couples do. Like Hiro and Sae."
Miyako sat back up, making big eyes at Yuno. "I do love you, Yunocchi." Miyako watched the Jizo statue that had been a high school girl mere moments ago with great interest. "Yunocchi?"
Coming back to life and fumbling about incoherently with her arms, she eventually picked up a catalog, held it upside down in her hurry and hid her scarlet red face behind it. "W-What are you saying, Miya-chan?! You shouldn't joke about that!"
Miyako stared just at the catalog and showed a rare glimpse of being more serious than playful. "I'm not joking. I didn't say anything because I didn't know how you felt. But if we might end up apart, I want to at least try!" She didn't move from where she sat because despite her happy-go-lucky and ever cheerful personality, Miyako was anything but stupid. Although she could be quite the ditz, the careful observe saw that this didn't apply whenever it was truly important. Almost as if the cheerfulness and the ditzy behavior were not her entire personality.
"You… really like me? Even though we're both girls."
"I don't understand what one of those has to do with the other." And there it was, the ditzy reply. "Hiro and Sae are also both girls, you know! Even though Sae isn't very girly."
"I know that." Yuno had learned over three years that if nobody put a stop to Miyako's strange chain of thoughts it would just get weirder and weirder until they arrived at complete nonsense. "You… you really like me? That way?"
"Not like, love! Like, smooch smooch love!" Gesturing, pointing at her lips with both her index fingers, Miyako just couldn't help herself.
It took almost an hour of Yuno having Miyako re-assert over and over and over that she really was serious about that proclamation of love until Yuno finally accepted the reality of it. She had by then grown accustomed enough to the idea of Miyako being in love with her to peek over her catalog. But just seeing Miyako send her tumbling down the emotional staircase she had carefully climbed over the last hour. Her face was not scarlet red anymore, but a distinct shade of embarrassment remained. She had sometimes fantasized about Miyako, but the second she thought about that, she also realized that fantasized was really limited to dream about holding hands and sitting shoulder by shoulder. Not anything that she knew real couples would do like kissing or other things.
"We can live next door to Hiro and Sae!" Miyako was excited about that prospect and searched through her pamphlets the same way only a cat would have been able to; making a mess and pushing most of them off the table. "Hinata Heights!"
Yuno immediately knew that there was a slew of advantages to this proposal, not to mention the lack of having to pay commutes and rent on their own. And those flats came with two bedrooms, she knew that much from having visited Hiro and Sae before.
There was nothing that really spoke against taking Miyako up on her proposition, other than her heart possibly exploding. But this too, Miyako took care of.
"We don't have to be smooch smooch like Hiro and Sae. I know Yunocchi is easily embarrassed." Saying that with her usual wide smile and innocent look, Miyako just disarmed her best friend instantly.
In the end, Yuno was swept along with Miyako's proposition. They contacted Hiro and Sae and from there, the landlord of Hinata Heights. Rent and tuition were still tied to doing some work on the side. Miyako was going to use her large energy reserves to help a small moving company on a part-time basis. They were not regular hours but they were well paid. Yuno on the other hand canceled her initial pick because she found work as a waitress in the family restaurant that was a mere ten minutes on foot from where her new home would be. She could easily go to work before or after classes like that if necessary.
They moved in, they had a small welcome party hosted by Hiro and Sae to which they invited Nazuna, Nori and Matsuri and then their new life began. Contrary to what they expected, work and college both were not too different from the lives they had experienced at Hidamari Apartments. Miyako even often joked about how they were basically living in Hidamari Apartments Mark Two.
The biggest change for Yuno was that there was no change. After Miyako's proclamation of love, nothing had happened. The blonde went about business and fun the same as before, treating Yuno absolutely no different. There were very few exceptions to this and Yuno had gotten used to them over the past seven months. Mostly.
Now, the Bed Cave, Hinata Heights
But having Miyako sneak, or rather barge, into her bed at night still made her nervous. Really nervous. Miyako of course was back asleep within moments after having entered the comfort of the comforter and Yuno's proximity. There was no inappropriate clinging to each other or smothering Yuno with her breasts intentionally. Sometimes an arm or hand was grabbed and it would be wrong to say that Yuno had never woken up and found her face buried in Miyako's breasts, but it was a rare experience.
It took her ten minutes to calm down enough to try and sleep. Confronting Miyako about sneaking into her bed always resulted in the same non-answers. I felt like it! I wanted to sleep with Yunocchi! It's like a sleep over! It was always one of those. Despite her expectations, Miyako never tried anything. And that caused Yuno more stress than the opposite. Because this meant that she, Yunocchi, was supposed to take the first step and every time she even though about trying to kiss Miyako, her head would start to emit steam like a kettle boiling water.
Slipping away to the land of dreams in the end, Miyako was gone when she woke up again. This was also as usual. Being the bundle of energy that she was, Miyako often got up before anyone else; that was unless Hiro and Sae had a deadline coming up.
With college and tuition, Sae had needed a bit more of a job than just writing for that romance magazine. Sae later explained to Yuno and Miyako that through her editor she had been picked up for a bi-weekly release of a short manga that ran eleven pages. It was the same area of expertise as before. Originally, the company wanted to assign one of their artists to Sae's script but Hiro's focus on 2D art in her studies made her an excellent candidate to fill that void.
Yuno liked her part-time job. They never had too much business because the nearby colleges had cafeteria halls of their own, but it still paid decently well and she got more used to dealing with other people. Sometimes she and Miyako would also help out Sae at no cost.
Getting back out of bed, the moment her bare feet touched the cold ground she retreated back under the comfortable covers like a cat that had been hit by the first drop of water from impending rain But she had responsibilities now and having slept in, she couldn't drag her feet for much longer. Taking three focused short breaths, Yuno hurried out of bed and got dressed. Her clothes were cold as well. The skirt, the shirt, her socks and slippers, all of it was cold.
Hurrying into the kitchen, there was no sign of Miyako. Looking for coffee filters and the coffee grain for a solid three minutes before she realized that Hiro had borrowed them, Yuno resigned herself to hot tea instead. Looking at the schedule board, which had both very neat and very terrible handwriting on it, she saw that her classes would run from ten to two today and then she had a shift from two thirty to seven thirty. I guess I'll bring back something for dinner. I hope Miya-chan doesn't try to cook. Teaching Nazuna had been one thing, but trying to teach Miyako on how to cook with a stove and oven was a little more than a disaster. In the end, they settled for Yuno cooking for the both of them, similar to how Hiro cooked for Sae and herself.
Boiling water and impatiently waiting by the stove, Yuno considered that maybe she should work a few extra shifts so they could properly afford to heat more often. It was expensive to just heat all day long, especially when they were not home most of the day, but coming back home to a warm place instead of having to wait for half an hour or so before it got tolerable would be a fine boon.
Pouring some hot tea for herself, Yuno let the cup stand on the kitchen board and went to pick up the books that Miyako had left on the floor. She wasn't a neat person by any standard or stretch of the imagination, but she kept her chaos mostly contained to her room. Although sometimes she didn't. Picking up a woolen blanket that Miyako had left by the table last night, something was beneath it. Something plain and white but very soft and Yuno immediately recognized what it was and threw the blanket back on top of it out of embarrassment. W-When did she take off her bra? Just seeing Miyako's underwear was a challenge for Yuno. One that she braved with bravado, sometimes. But not this morning.
Reaching for the blanket, then pulling her hand away three times in a row, Yuno finally succeeded in picking it up and revealing the discarded bra. Picking it up as well, Yuno was both embarrassed and marveling at it. It's… big. Yuno was more on the standard side of things compared. Geez, Miya-chan… don't leave your clothes out here! There was more than just the bra. Under the small table itself was a discarded shirt, socks and skirt. M-Miya-chan! What were you wearing when you went to bed last night?! That made Yuno realize something else. What were you wearing this morning?!
Yuno did most of the house chores, more out of habit than necessity. However, Miyako handled the more physically straining work like grocery shopping, for both of them and taking out the trash. She was also surprisingly good at fixing anything that needed fixing, like the anchoring of the metal bar that carried the curtains by the living room windows.
Putting Miyako's clothes in the laundry basket in the bath, Yuno had half expected to find Miyako just sitting in the small bathtub or on the toilet, beaming a smile at her. But she was actually gone. Returning to the schedule board that hung on the wall right by the kitchen, Yuno checked and saw that Miyako had classes early this morning. They both attended a college for the arts but were largely in different courses. Yuno focused much more on traditional art and old styles while Miyako was doing very well for herself in more abstract and expressionist types.
A quick glance at the clock above the schedule and Yuno figured she still had time before she had to leave. Picking up her tea and sitting by the table, the warm brew helped her feel comfortable, even though they hadn't turned on the heat yet. She wouldn't bother with the heater this morning because she would leave in about an hour and then all that energy would go to waste. Sitting there, alone on a cold winter morning, she couldn't help but reminiscence about her days at the Hidamari Apartments. Not much had changed now. If anything, it was much more like her first year there, all over again. Of course, she worked now, part-time, and went to college and not high school. I miss our uniform. Miya-chan looked really cute in it. Not much had changed when it came to Miyako's choice of clothes. It was still mostly hand-me-downs from her brothers. Yuno was both too short and too slim to hand her clothes over to Miyako.
Thinking about that, Yuno blushed all on her own, holding the cheap cup with both hands and sipping the hot tea much more frequently than she normally would to figuratively drown her embarrassment. Thinking about Miyako being too curvy and tall to wear her clothes lead to thinking about the bra she had just found which in turn lead to thinking about Miyako in a swimsuit for some reason and then Miyako in her old school uniform and finally to Miyako in a yukata. This happened frequently to Yuno and even though she had gotten quite good at making it not show on her face, she was still embarrassed by it.
At this rate I'm still going to be trying to be able to k-kiss Miya-chan when we graduate from college! But as much as she wanted to do something about it, she didn't know what. Hiro and Sae knew about their situation but it was also deadly embarrassing to ask either of them for advice. Trying to sip from her tea again, the cup was already empty and twenty minutes had passed while she was lost in thoughts, playing Miya-chan Dress Up in her mind. I'm sure Miya-chan wouldn't be embarrassed at all if I said I wanted to kiss her. She'd just do it. But I would probably freeze up completely.
Getting up just in time for her legs to not fall asleep, Yuno looked down at the table and decided she would work extra this month. Not to pay for extra heating, not directly at least, but to buy maybe a used kotatsu somewhere. Sae and Hiro had bought one a while ago and lived pretty frugally for a month because of that. I'll talk to Miya-chan about that later. She always knows where to find second-hand stuff.
Getting ready for class involved brushing her hair and teeth, changing clothes once to something more presentable than her high school uniform, which she still wore around her apartment, and making sure she had the right books for today in her bag. She was already by the door, still fifteen minutes early, and putting on her shoes when she looked back, at the empty apartment. I'm glad I moved in with Miya-chan. "I'm going." Saying it to nobody in particular, Yuno went out the door, pulled a key from her pants and locked the door. With the weather being so cold and the college having no dress code at all, Yuno decided that it was okay to wear pants every now and then. Miyako did so all the time, and she had gotten a little desensitized to girls wearing pants now.
On her way out, Yuno stopped by the apartment next door. Knocking and not using the doorbell was because she knew that Sae was most likely still doing final adjustments for her manga and there was nothing worse than starting someone while they were at work. Yuno had enough time to adjust her hair a little bit before Hiro opened the door. "Good morning." Yuno didn't really count their meeting earlier that morning.
"Did you come by for the coffee? I'll go and get-" Hiro stopped when she saw that Yuno was dressed to go out. "Oh, are you leaving for classes?"
"I'm a bit early, so I thought I'd say hello. Did Miya-chan come over? She was already gone when I woke up."
"She came in briefly about an hour and a half ago. I fed her some of our leftovers from last night." We didn't want to eat chilly three days in a row, so we were going to throw it away because our freezer is full.
"Jeez, she's such a glutton." Yuno's smile when she talked about Miyako gave away how she felt about the blonde.
"Do you want to come in? I'm afraid we don't have time to offer you anything right now." Hiro opened the door a little more, inviting Yuno in.
"Thank you, but I'll just get to class a little early. Don't worry about the coffee, I always look for it and then don't make any anyway because it is so bitter. Miya-chan doesn't drink any either." Yuno waved quickly goodbye and headed towards the stairs that lead to the bottom floor. Carrying a large handbag with her, she strongly preferred the feminine option while Miya-chan used a hand-me-down bagpack, that held her books, some art utensils as well as her purse.
=== Hidamari Sketch: Hinata ===
It was finally time for lunch. Yuno was the type that could skip breakfast. Miyako definitely could not and it always showed when she did have to. "Yunocchi!" She was like a whirlwind that traveled the halls of the college. Instead of trying to catch each other as they left their classrooms, they met up by the cafeteria instead. Miyako was naturally drawn there anyway.
"Yunocchi, what are you getting?" Lunch time was when Miyako was the most excited, aside from breakfast and dinner. Her excitement received a serious dampener whenever she had to eat alone. She had made friends in her classes already, but lunch time was reserved for Yuno if she had classes that day.
"It's cold… so maybe shoyu ramen?" The food was very reasonably priced and while the taste could not compare to one of Yuno's home cooked meals, who had been getting even better as of late, it was nothing to scoff at.
"Alright, two shoyu ramen coming up!" Miyako got a little money from Yuno and almost raced towards the ticket machine. This was their little ritual. Yuno would decide on something to eat and Miyako would just get the same, usually with one or two side dishes of rice to add to it. In most cases she also ate Yuno's leftovers.
Sitting at the far end of one of the long tables, Yuno waited patiently for Miyako to return with their food. For some reason, Miyako's sense of balance was almost superhuman. One tray for each, a large bowl of piping hot shoyu ramen on each tray. And of course, Miyako had ordered riceballs as a side dish. Only three of them.
"Thank you, Miya-chan." Yuno got out of her seat and took one of the trays from Miyako. Instead of sitting across the table, Miyako always sat down next to Yuno, beaming at her wide before she picked up her chopsticks and said Thanks for the food.
Eating in relative silence, mostly because it was impossible to talk over Miyako's slurping noises to begin with, the two of them reached the second stage of their ritual a third of the way through their lunch time. Miyako had finished her main dish and was now attacking her side dishes.
"You shouldn't keep sneaking into my bed, Miya-chan." Yuno spoke quieter than usual, because she was embarrassed about that.
"My bad. I ended up there before I knew it!" As usual, Miyako played it off with a big smile. "But I managed to sneak back out without waking you!"
"And you stopped by at Hiro's place to get some leftovers." Yuno liked seeing Miyako eat in general. Cooking for her was fun since, in contrast to what others might think when they saw her, she didn't wolf down everything all the same. She was surprisingly articulate when it came to food and how to improve a meal. In a different life, she might have been a good cook.
"Do you have a shift tomorrow Yunocchi?" Miyako was already done with her side dish and felt mostly full. But since she always ordered large portions, even for Yuno who didn't eat that much, she counted on there being leftovers. Sometimes, Yuno even asked her where she was putting all that food.
"Tomorrow?" Yuno thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. "I'm free. No classes either."
"Then wanna go to the flea market?! There is a really big one at Sae's college and if we show up with her they'll let us in!" Miyako didn't really think about the rules too much. And bending them in harmless ways like that was okay with Yuno as well.
"I was thinking we could buy a kotatsu. The flat is a little too big to just turn on the heating every morning, but if we have a kotatsu-"
"Agreed!" Miyako didn't even wait for Yuno to finish her explanation. "We can invite Nazuna, Nori and Matsuri then and all eat tangerines together!"
You're still thinking about eating? Yuno always felt a little fuller just watching Miyako. "I bet you painted abstract food in class again."
"Eh? Of course not, Yunocchi, I don't think about food all the time."
Eh? Yuno looked at what was still left of her shoyu ramen and felt like she was going to have to roll to class if she forced that in. "Want the rest?" The answer to that was always yes, no matter what the dish was. But she still asked every single time because the very question drew a big smile on Miyako's face. One that was fundamentally different from her typical ever cheerful smile.
Watching Miyako eat the leftovers of her dish, that was as always too much for Yuno to begin with, she already thought about what to make for dinner. "I saw on the way here that the supermarket has a sale on tofu. Do you want tofu steak tomorrow? I'll have to bring something from work today because I won't be home until almost eight."
"Sure. I like anything you make, Yunocchi."
I'd be happier if you were just a little bit picky, Miya-chan.
=== Hidamari Sketch: Hinata ===
Walking quickly through the snow that was still piling up even now, Yuno hurried home as fast as she could without starting to run. The cold and soft white was pressed together under her every step, each one leaving a resounding creak. It had started to snow pretty hard earlier that day and then it had started to really snow and warnings for the night and the next day started to come in. The family restaurant closed an hour early and Yuno got off early as well. It was six-fifteen in the evening now and she hoped that Miyako was not playing out in the snow like a little girl. She would definitely catch a cold.
And just thinking about that, Yuno sneezed. It was freezing outside, her breath turning to big white clouds that dissipated in front of her. The streets were empty and it was already dark now, typical of late November. Hurrying even more, Yuno was almost skipping steps. I'm glad we bought stuff ahead of time at the sale. Miya-chan had a lot of work the last two weeks, so maybe I'll make some Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl for us. We don't really eat meat often but I'll make an exception today.
Shivering when a gust of wind hit her legs, Yuno condemned her decision to wear a skirt today of all days. The only pants that weren't in the laundry were tight jeans and she didn't like to wear those very much. Stopping dead in her track and rubbing her legs with the mittens she wore, a rare gift from Miyako, she felt a little better and continued on.
Reaching Hinata Heights, she quickly ascended the stairs and made her way to her apartment. Before she had finished taking off her right mitten to grab her key, the door was opened from the inside and Miyako pulled her inside by her arm, wanting to shut out the cold air from the hallway.
Before Yuno properly registered what had happened, the door was already closed again and Miyako had dived beneath the kotatsu that they had picked up for cheap about two weeks back. It didn't work properly at first, which was why it was so cheap, but Miyako had talked to someone at her part-time job and was taught how to fix what turned out to be a really small issue. That kotatsu had quickly become Yuno's and Miyako's treasure.
"Yunocchi, Yunocchi!" Miyako slapped the ground next to where she sat. They had also bought a carpet to sit the kotatsu on, and what a great investment that had been.
Yuno had barely taken off her mantle and gloves when someone knocked at the door twice. Half dressed to go out, Yuno opened the door and then quickly let Hiro and Sae in. Nobody wanted to stand out there in the cold.
"Holy moly, It's below freezing out there." Sae shook. "We brought a gift. There was a party at my publisher and Hiro insisted we take some back for you two." Holding up a paper bag, Sae revealed the contents to be two boxes of sweet manjuu.
"Thank you! That's really nice of you." Yuno accepted the gift and immediately moved the boxes from the paper bag into the cupboard.
"You have to hide them before they fall prey to Miyako?" Sae smirked a little. "Do you mind if we stay a moment? I'm just glad to be out of the cold."
"Guests bringing gifts are always welcome!" Miyako joined the conversation from across the room. The moment sweets were involved her ears and eyes became cutting edge tools of espionage.
What should I do? It would be rude to not invite them for dinner but we don't have enough meat for four people if I want to make pork cutlet rice bowl. And it was almost like Hiro read her mind. While Sae went over to Miyako, sitting down at the kotatsu, Hiro stayed in the kitchen with Yuno.
"We were overzealous and bought too many eggs the other day. I don't know what you had planned for dinner, but if you like we could make Omurice together. It's been a while since we stood in the kitchen together."
"Omurice?!" Miyako perked up as she heard that, her eyes shining with appetite.
"I guess that decides that." Yuno felt no embarrassment over Miyako's gluttonous display. Those two were well aware of what Miyako was like and she hadn't changed at all. "Should I start frying the rice first?"
Hiro just nodded and was glad she hadn't taken off her coat yet. "Sae! I'll go and grab some of the eggs from the fridge. Is that fine with you?"
"Eh? Sure. I wasn't planning on doing anything with them." It always confused Sae why Hiro consulted her in food matters. If left alone, she would probably live from sandwich bread, cheese, milk and water. Most likely.
It took Hiro only a handful of minutes to leave and return, carrying a ten pack of eggs. Putting it on the kitchen cupboard, she sighed when she saw Sae half asleep on the kotatsu table, watching Miyako peel a tangerine as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. I guess she did work pretty hard the last few days.
While Yuno went looking for their frying pan, Hiro started a conversation with her. "You really settled in here. But it feels kinda like I'm back in my second year of high school. I still remember how shy you were at the beginning."
"Don't remind me please." Yuno wasn't so much embarrassed about it as it made her self-conscious of how much she had changed over those three years. The final year, without Hiro and Sae, had been very different, even though Nori, Nazuna and Matsuri did their best to keep her busy. "Do you want to do the eggs?" Yuno believed herself to be a capable cook, but compared to Hiro she still had much to learn. Or so she thought.
Grabbing the rice from the shelf, Yuno made a mental note to buy some on her way home from classes tomorrow. Standing side by side with Hiro by the stove, Yuno felt like this was her chance. "Hiro… there's something I wanna ask."
Hiro smiled by herself, knowingly. "Let me guess. Things haven't progressed with Miyako at all and you don't know what to do." Hiro expected the usual flustered Yuno reaction and was surprised when it was much tamer than her expectation. She just blushed a little but kept working on the rice. When the sizzling noise of the oil and demi-glace started coming from the frying pain, Yuno nodded once.
"Sae is a little… dense too, isn't she?"
"More than a little." Hiro lowered her voice to say that, even though there was no way that Sae or Miyako could hear her normal voice over the frying pain anyway. "With those two, you have to collect your courage and tell them outright or they won't understand."
"Were you not nervous and scared?"
"I was. But that's part of a relationship."
"What is it like?" Yuno realized she wasn't being specific enough. "I mean dating."
"Special. It's different for everyone, so I don't want to give you strange ideas. Sae can be a bit of a shut-in, so we spend much of our free time at home. I can't see Miyako being like that for example."
Yuno frowned a little at the idea of Miyako trying to stay put all day. "That would be impossible."
"I know it's hard to find the courage to act. But you've grown so much. You didn't get flustered at all when I brought up Miyako. Have you two kissed yet?" And right after she said that, Yuno's face took on a lot of red color. Oh my… I guess that was too much for Yuno.
"Not yet."
Cracking open the eggs and separating shell from contents at a speed that only a skilled housewife possessed, Hiro didn't say anything for over a minute, the two of them just cooking together in peace. "I always thought tomorrow I'll tell her. Or the next time her deadline has passed. Or If she likes what I cooked. But I always chickened out of saying something and it wasn't right until graduation that I finally panicked and said something. You already know Miyako likes you and you like her back, so it's just finding the courage to be a real couple." Hiro didn't insult Yuno by treating her like a child. She couldn't hold her hand.
"You two still use different bedrooms, right?"
And now it was Hiro's turn to blush. "Most of the time." This acknowledgment made Yuno freeze just long enough to for the rice to make a loud sizzling sound that called her back to reality.
Continuing to cook for four people, the two of them were silent until Hiro figured she did have to keep pushing Yuno a little. She couldn't hold her hand, but she could absolutely shove her a little closer to where she had to be to make the jump.
Back at the table, Sae and Miyako had jointly demonstrated that even an entire bowl of tangerines are no match for the bottomless stomach of a writer and a ball of pure energy. Not even the promised and approaching Omurice could starve off their fruity demise. Sae was sleepy and a bit tired, but she didn't get many chances to talk to Miyako alone nowadays. "How is college going?"
"Hm, I guess okay."
"You always said not so good when we asked about your test scores in high school and you graduated in the top ten of your years."
"I got lucky!" Miyako didn't like to brag, although she didn't exactly think about it like that. It was more than she wanted to be just like everyone else. And everyone else never did too good on tests because that was how tests went, right?
"You are lucky that you get to go to the same university as Yuno. Hiro and I split up every morning and there isn't enough time to go see each other at lunch and still eat." Although we sometimes brings lunch and meet up halfway anyway. Not in winter, though.
"Yunocchi and I don't really have any classes together. But we always meet up for lunch. The cafeteria is comfy and cheap!" Miyako sometimes let her energetic and cheerful behavior slip away to talk about something a little more serious. "We never see Hiro-senpai on campus though, I wonder why?"
Because we text each other during lunch if we don't meet up. "Hiro's just a busy person." And a busybody.
The conversation died off right there and Sae didn't really feel like forcing the matter. They lived next to each other and if they didn't have much to talk about, that was just how things were. To her surprise, it was Miyako who initiated another conversation a few minutes down the line.
"The art of your manga really improved lately. It's a lot more fun to read."
"Thank you. The art is Hiro's though, so it's not really my accomplishment." Sae knew that this mangaka business was most likely not going to continue after college. Her strengths were pure text and Hiro was not really the type to do well with strict deadlines, huge workloads and stress. And making a real living out of manga definitely required real commitment to it.
"The story is nice too. I'm rooting for Takashi." Miyako reached for the empty bowl and realized too late that they had already demolished all of the tangerines. "Yunocchi! Is the Omurice ready yet?!" Miyako's stomach growled, surprising no one.
=== Hidamari Sketch: Hinata ===
Sae was sound asleep at the kotatsu while Miyako was lying on her side, eyes glued to a comedy program on TV. They hadn't really needed a TV, but happened to find a really cheap one on the flea market. And because they had gotten such a good deal on their kotatsu, they bought it because Miyako was really excited about it.
Hiro sat by Sae's side, about to nod off herself. They had made a little too much Omurice and because they were talking a lot during the meal, they ate all of it anyway, ending up really bloated. Hiro worried about her weight as usual and Miyako made a crude comment or two. All of that was an hour in the past now.
Dishes were piled up in the kitchen together with the cooking tools. The fragrant aroma of the Omurice was still permeating the apartment and it was far too cold to open a window. Yuno herself was reading silently from a novel she had picked up a week back but hadn't had time to read yet. She wasn't really interested in what Miyako was watching. But the more she sat there and read, the heavier her eyelids got. The sounds of the next commercial were already distant and, finally, she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.
But Yuno's sleep didn't last long. She was sure it was the exact same commercial she had heard just before falling asleep that was playing again now, when she woke up. She wasn't lying down on the carpet or resting on the table. Half covered by the kotatsu, her head rested on Miyako's lap, the heat from the table really warming up one side of her face. "Miya-ch-" Yuno blushed when Miyako sealed her lips with the tip of her index finger.
Miyako pointed across the table and Yuno pulled up the table cover a little bit to look below. Hiro and Sae's legs were both there, in a position that made clear that they were both asleep on the other side of the table. Yuno certainly had opportunity and energy to leave her comfortable resting place, but she remained put. Her heart beat a little faster because of it, but she was able to handle something like this. Even though their positions were usually reversed.
"They're both asleep." Miyako was not always loud and energetic. Sometimes, and really just sometimes, she could read the mood and behave appropriately. "They probably worked extra hard to finish their work early."
Looking up at Miyako like this, Yuno felt her heart beat even faster. The serious, caring Miyako that was like a dashing price to her. A really girly looking and poor prince, she added in her thoughts. "Miya-chan, what time is it?"
Miyako only turned her head and checked the clock over in the kitchen. "Eight-thirty." There was still plenty of time before it was time to go to sleep. "It is still snowing outside. We'll have a winter wonderland tomorrow." And Yuno realized now why Sae and Hiro were both asleep without a care in the world. There would almost certainly be no classes the next day and no work either.
Turning her head just enough to glance at the TV from Miyako's lap, Yuno let herself be taken away by it. There was no real harm in just tuning out and letting the TV do the rest. She was comfortable on the lap of the girl she liked, even though she had to make sure not to think about that too much.
There were a lot of anime promotional ads, far too many for Yuno to consider it normal until she checked the channel icon in the top right of the TV. Miya-chan… that's a channel that only airs anime. Yuno wasn't against it, considering that she was an arts student it was like looking at one potential career choice, but she felt it was a bit childish of Miyako.
If she's watched it, I guess it won't hurt to pay a little attention. She always wants me to watch one of these with her anyway. But just as Yuno had found the resolve to actually watch the commercials they were over. The next thing that came on had a really violent opening, with adult girls in fancy costumes beating each other up, only for it to pan to a different scene where those same girls were eating together and then in the forest. I… don't understand this one.
"Oh, it's the new opening!" Miyako trembled a little, giddy with anticipation. And after the initial outburst, she quickly adjusted the volume of her voice.
The shows title came up at the end of the opening and Yuno had great trouble reading it. "D… Dizz… Miya-chan, how do you read that?"
The blonde looked down and was glad that Yuno showed a little bit of interest in one of her hobbies. Until they bought the TV, she hadn't had the money to follow anime or manga series, but she became a real fan since then. "Dissonance."
"It looks a bit violent."
"Hm… I guess so. It used to air in a late night slot-"
"So that's what you were doing up in the middle of the night!" Yuno had never asked what exactly Miyako was doing because even though they lived together, Miyako was an adult and free to do what she wanted.
"Someone at work recommended it to me." Miyako grinned about that as if it was funny.
Yuno didn't say anything else because the episode was starting and Miyako was intensely focused on it. For her taste, it was too violent, even though most of the nakedness and blood was censored. She couldn't follow the story at all because it looked like two super strong girls with pink hair were fighting each other while a lot of other girls watched them. It's violent but… it's animated really well.
Yuno became so engrossed by the episode that she ended up watching all of it together with Miyako until her neck hurt and she left the confines of the lap pillow to sit right by Miyako's side, their shoulders touching as they were glued to the TV. The episode ended with the fight unresolved, leaving both Miyako and Yuno at the edge of their seat. And it didn't end there. Discussing the animation itself much more so than the fight choreography or the story, they skipped right past the following commercials and Miyako stopped Yuno when the next show started to air. This one was much more difficult to follow than the last one, but Yuno tried her hardest. And before they knew it, watching one episode turned into watching the entire early night line up of the channel.
=== Hidamari Sketch: Hinata ===
T-Today. Today I'll… I'll do it. Yuno was trying to increase her courage. Standing out in the cold, snow all around her, Yuno waited impatiently for Miyako to show up. It was the middle of December and so cold that the news were calling it the coldest winter in twenty-five years. And despite that, here she was, surrounded by snow and people just as miserably cold as she was, despite the thick winter mantle and the thick pants that made her legs look fat.
"Yunocchi!" Like a yellow avalanche did Miyako approach the long line, looking kind of out of place in her winter coat, big circular fur hat and knee high brown boots. The boots were almost the same Yuno wore, although the shorter of the two girls stuck to her cross shaped hairpins instead of a fur hat. Something she regretted now.
"You're late, Miya-chan! I've been in line for twenty minutes!" Yuno was cold despite her warm clothes and immediately linked arms with Miyako. She was just about used enough to being her girlfriend that she could do this in public. It was still embarrassing though. "I can't believe I let you talk me into coming to see a movie when it is this cold out."
"You don't want to see it?"
"I do." Yuno's reply was almost inaudible.
"Oh, right." Miyako pulled a small white box from one of her grossly oversized pockets. Inside were still hot pieces of takoyaki that she had bought at a nearby shop that was really making bank selling hot food in this weather.
"Thank you, Miya-chan!" Yuno's mood improved significantly on the spot. Not even blowing much on the takoyaki she picked out, she just put it in her mouth, exhaling hot pockets of hair. But it warmed up her entire body.
"Wow, there's a lot more people here than I expected!" Miyako was tall, for a girl, but had to look at the line from the side to properly tell how long it was. Almost the entire line was men of varying ages. The movie itself was rated mature, so the lowest ages had to be around eighteen to twenty.
The Takoyaki were gone in a flash and Miyako just stuffed the empty package back into the left one of her two huge pockets. The coat was from her dad, which translated to it being way too big for her. It looked like she was wearing a fur cape almost. But Yuno kind of welcomed that. It made the hand pockets big enough for both her and Miyako's hand to fit in together. It was her latest accomplishment. Secretly holding hands in public without blushing!
Spending another fifteen minutes in line, the time finally came to be let in. Showing their tickets, Yuno was surprised when the person at the entrance actually asked for their IDs. Proving that they were in fact over eighteen, they were finally able to enter the theater. It was a small one that could only house about a hundred and forty people. Tickets had sold out, judging by the line.
Yuno volunteered to stand in line a second time to buy popcorn and drinks. They hadn't gone to the theaters ever since they moved out of Hidamari Apartments, so they could afford living it up just this once. Music was still playing by the time Yuno joined Miyako in their seats. The theater was packed and the lights started to dim while Yuno was still taking off her coat and just hurriedly turned it into a cover to sit on.
The bucket of popcorn between Miyako and herself, their hands touched as they reached for it at the same time. And even though Yuno's first instinct was to bail, to pull her hand away, she overcame it and grabbed Miyako's hand instead. But that only lasted a moment because Miyako really wanted to partake in that popcorn.
Yuno's disappointment over Miyako forcing her hand free was short-lived. With crunchy sounds coming from next to her, and all over the theater, her hand was suddenly taken again. Miyako leaned towards Yuno so she could use her right hand to shovel popcorn into her mouth instead.
They watched various trailers and Yuno just remembered to turn off her newly acquired phone in time when the message to do so showed up on the screen. "It's starting, it's starting!" Miyako was so excited that she was moving her own and Yuno's hand across the arm rest.
The opening scene was completely new, a cinematic cut of two adult magical girls, locking in lethal combat with each other, shouting and screaming. They were on a collision course with each other and Yuno really squeezed Miyako's hand as she watched. With the sound effects of them clashing, the screen turned to black and the words Mirrors Unum appeared on the big screen.
The movie was a cinematic adaptation of a big arc in the anime series that Miyako liked and Yuno had started to enjoy as well, even though there were lots and lots of parts where she felt embarrassed or intimidated. Unlike the TV broadcast, the cinematic version was not censored, but Yuno had already prepared herself for that. Or so she thought.
The movie just seemed to fly by. Yuno and Miyako were shoulder by shoulder, the popcorn and drinks long consumed in their entirety, and when the end came, they were both left excited and thrilled. Yuno had missed some of the more gory parts and some of the lewder ones, but there was no escaping the sounds. With the credits rolling and the lights slowly coming back on, they waited until the place had cleared up a bit before they headed out.
Even the cold winds of the outside world couldn't stop them from smiling at each other, walking hand in hand. Only when Miyako smelled fresh waffles, from a truck that was capitalizing on hungry movie goers being, well, hungry after a movie. Yuno would have usually waited on her own while Miyako would go and buy something, but this time they went together.
Talking about the movie at length on their way home, it was a twenty minute walk through the snow and a waste of bus fare, they got quieter and quieter as they neared home. They were only a few minutes out when Yuno stopped, her heart hammering like crazy. I said I'd do it today! Be like… be like Nozomi! Have courage! "Miya-chan… can we…"
"Kiss? Sure." Miyako was by far not as oblivious as most people thought. She turned towards Yuno, the loud creaking noises of her boots the only thing the two could hear. Yuno's face was flushed red, her whole body shaking a little. Miyako on the other hand seemed perfectly relaxed.
"T-Then… on three, okay?! One-" Yuno already closed her eyes, about to say two when she felt Miyako's lips on her cheek. Opening her eyes in surprise, her nervousness vanished on the spot. "Miya-chan… I didn't mean that kind of k-" The disappointment still a shadow on her face, Yuno was completely taken by surprise by Miyako now.
Her face was burning up, her lips rejuvenated after being exposed to the cold for so long. After taking away her hesitation and fear of failing to do it right, Miyako had now taken away her first kiss as well. She wasn't forceful, she didn't pull Yuno towards, but she squeezed her hand tightly, their faces so close that they could feel the body warmth that came off them. Great white clouds emerged from Miyako's mouth when she finally pulled away, looking a bit impish as she licked her lower lip a little. "You're slow, Yunocchi."
Yuno was so taken aback by all of this that she could not even pout at being called slow. "Were you… waiting for me to ask all this time?"
"Hm… hm… hm..." Miyako bent backwards, bent forwards and finally looked straight at Yuno. "It's a secret!"
"Miya-chan!" Yuno finally collided with reality at full force and blushed all over her face. Hitting Miyako's shoulders with childlike punches for several seconds, Yuno was taken to the next stage of being embarrassed after being hugged in public. Not the way two friends hugged but very clearly the way lovers did. "You bully."
"You're so cute, Yunocchi." Standing there with Yuno in her arms, Miyako hoped that she wasn't being too pushy. She did love Yuno a lot and while she wasn't particularly bothered by taking things so slowly, she did enjoy it more to be closer to her, more like Hiro and Sae were around each other.
"I… l-l-l-love-" Yuno bit her tongue and whined. Why can't anything go well? A-At least… At least we kissed! A real kiss! I didn't hesitate or run away!
Picking Yuno up, and ignoring that the girl's face lit up like a stoplight, Miyako hurried towards their apartment complex. "Yunocchi!"
Expecting Miyako to say something super embarrassing like I love you too!, Yuno inhaled a lot of the cold air all around her, held her breath and then looked right up at Miyako's face.
And instead of something romantic, Miyako's stomach growled. "Yunocchi, I'm starving!"
Yuno couldn't help but giggle. That's the Miya-chan I love. "How does pizza sound?" If Hiro and Sae are home, maybe we can all share a party size one. Yuno felt warm on the inside, even if she no longer thought about anything romantic. She had finally managed to take that one important step and kissed Miyako like a real adult! N-Next is being able to say I love you!
=== Hidamari Sketch: Hinata ===
"D-Dying… I'm dying..." Miyako lamented the heat, sitting around in just panties and a shirt, wearing no bra. It was only the middle of April and yet it was so monstrously hot that it felt like the height of July. The weather had been crazy the entire year. "Yunocchi… can't we turn on the A/C?" Miyako had worked her butt off for a month so they could afford one and Yuno had done her part as well.
Yuno was scantily dressed herself because of the heat, with only a mini skirt and a sleeveless shirt, in addition to underwear of course, covering her skin. Both of them had assignments that were due soon and both of them were suffering from the impossible heat. The kotatsu had long since been put away. An electric fan was providing minimal relief from their suffering while they were pouring over their books. Even though it was a college for the arts, they still had regular classes to deal with.
Yuno was struggling in English while Miyako struggled with Mathematics. They couldn't ask Hiro and Sae for help either because they were busy with assignments themselves. Crawling over the wooden floor, the carpet had been put away as well, Miyako sat next to Yuno and grabbed her hand only to be rejected. It wasn't that Yuno disliked it, but she was so close to failing her English class that she didn't have the luxury to fool around with Miyako. Even though fooling around still had not amounted to more than holding hands and kissing, despite four months having passed since that first fateful kiss.
But she had leveled up since then. Kissing in public, around other people at least, was still too much but she managed to only blush minuscule amounts when she kissed Miyako in general. She had also mastered the skill of letting Miyako into her bed and keep sleeping. Although it was still embarrassing to wake up with her face buried in Miyako's breasts. Or the other way around, although there was not much burying to be had.
Falling over backwards, Miyako just laid there on the floor. "Yunocchi, can't we go to the pool?"
"It's forty minutes on foot..."
"The bus-"
"Isn't coming because they are working on the pipes under the road."
"Then our bicycles-!"
"It is almost all uphill there." Miya-chan… please work on your math assignment. It wasn't immediately obvious to Yuno at the time, but she had become to Miyako what Hiro was to Sae. Although Miyako needed a lot more food and reminders to do her homework.
Having been shot down on all avenues, Miyako returned to her side of the table and started to look over her books again. Only a few minutes passed before she suddenly pulled up her shirt, revealing her breasts to Yuno without a care in the world and fanned herself some air; then sat right in front of the electric fan and had it dry her sweat.
Time stretched the more they tried to focus on their assignments. Seconds became minutes, minutes felt like they became hours. The sun was still high in the sky when their doorbell rang, which was unusual. Their most frequent visitors, Hiro and Sae, always knocked.
Miyako took the chance to abandon her math assignment and rushed to the door. Opening it, she was face to face with three familiar faces. Nori, Nazuna and Masturi, the current residents of the Hidamari Apartments.
Yuno breathed a sigh that contained both relief and restlessness. I guess living here or at Hidamari Apartments, either way, business continues for us as usual. "Nori-chan, Nazuna-chan, Matsuri-chan, hello!" Yuno tried to showcase her English skills and was immediately assaulted by Nori, who answered her with a full length English sentence that Yuno didn't understand at all. I guess the assignment can wait until the evening…"Ah, don't hand the ice to Miya-chan, it'll vanish!" Getting on her legs, ready to intervene, Nori snatched the ice back from Miyako and proceeded to hide it in the refrigerator.
"Some things never change," Nori mused and protected the fridge from a hungry and sweaty Miyako.
I like that they didn't change. I'm still with Miya-chan and surrounded by everyone. It is just like I am still at Hidamari, Yuno thought happily.
=== Hidamari Sketch: Hinata ===